The Second Plague

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Exodus 8:1-15

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Well this morning we continue in Exodus after having spent some time last week in Colossians 1 3 through 15.
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I won't pop quiz anyone if they still know it It's good to refresh every now and then after you put in so much work to Remember it and certainly
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Psalm 99 is is gone. I don't know about you It is for me So it's good to keep up with things even every now and then bust off the rust
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But we want to press on in the narrative this morning in Exodus chapter 8
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We see first God giving a demand and then we see Pharaoh's response to that demand And that'll occupy our times we see
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Not only Pharaoh's initial repentance But then what happens after he finds relief and we want to highlight that with four points of application at the end
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So let's get to it First we see God's demand Exodus 8
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Beginning in verse 1 and the Lord spoke to Moses go to Pharaoh and say to him thus
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Says the Lord let my people go that they may serve me But if you refuse to let them go behold,
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I will smite all your territory with frogs So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly which shall go up and come into your house
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Into your bedroom on your bed Into the houses of your servants on your people into your ovens into your kneading bowls
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And the frog shall come up on you on your people and on all your servants Then the
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Lord spoke to Moses say to Aaron Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams over the rivers and over the ponds and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt So The demand is given and this is going to be a formula and the chapters to come let my people
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Go that will be the constant refrain the constant challenge that rattles in Pharaoh's eardrums
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This is going to be repeated in verse 20 in this chapter 9 1 9 13 10 -3 and then we'll move on from there to that faithful 10th plague in the night of the
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Passover We remember that Pharaoh's heart is hard and you remember that was the case two weeks ago where we left off his heart
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Remains hard after all that we saw in chapter 7 we spoke of that judicial hardening of God that is upon Pharaoh and yet does not render
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Pharaoh to be a puppet or robotic Pharaoh's Exercising his will freely in terms of the bondage of his sin such that he is left without Excuse as every sinner is left without excuse before God God Exercises judicial hardening and yet in such a way that he is not the author of sin
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Neither is the actor or the agent removed from their own responsibility or culpability
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Aaron unlike Pharaoh obeys what the Lord commands So we read verse 6
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Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt Significant language here.
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We've already seen the detail in the first plague with the Nile turning to blood that the rod was to be stretched over five different descriptions of Water over the river over the pools the streams the ponds all the bodies of water and we're gonna see that language
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Here again with this plague if you remember I mentioned this maybe a few months ago
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Egypt is really depicted as the land of waters We began Exodus and the only way into Egypt as it were into Pharaoh's court was through water and the only way the
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Israelites Are coming out is through water. So as far as the evil Empire is concerned
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It's hedged in by water and here all of the waters speak to this evocative image
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Of course water is a picture of sometimes chaos in the Hebrew Bible more importantly death or Sheol And so we have even with this plague of frogs this imagery of Egypt being like the watery grave the place of death like Sheol itself and yet God exercises his power over this land of death over this corruption among his people and the frogs we read come up and covered the land of Egypt We read past these things so quickly without imagining what the details would be like What would it be like to experience this play a few weeks ago?
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My girls were so delighted We often go to the fountain across the common to see if there's any tadpole swimming around With a red solo cup in hand to scoop them up We haven't seen any yet, but the
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Lord blessed them one week where we found a poor toad hiding behind a tree You could have had that poor toad
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He was having a great day until five toddlers showed up poking at him with a stick throwing him into the fountain but with one toe there was this
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Fascination and delight. I wonder if that st. Delight would have been there if they couldn't sleep because frogs were
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Slimely sort of crawling all over them in the middle of the night and every time they opened the microwave or the refrigerator or the car
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Door frogs just spilled out everywhere. They looked frogs were hopping about The term frogs as RA Cole points out in his commentary.
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It's probably an onomatopoeia In other words a word in the original that sounds like the noise it makes and so it most likely is related to Croaker that would be like the sort of translation that works
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Every language has its own unique way of understanding the call of a frog if you're familiar with Puerto Rico They have the little cookies and that's how they hear ribbit.
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It's funny how that works You could talk to other cultures that maybe our brother could help us with Italian I don't know what the
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Scots do for ribbits But here we have croakers the croakers coming out of the
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Nile Most likely the Israelites being those who had dwelt in Canaan didn't have a lot of experience with frogs
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The Egyptians certainly did and here it's almost comical I think
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God does have a sense of humor and look at this plague that he sends Here's the evil Empire the global power of the world at this time
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And yet they can be set almost to the brink of a collapse just by having one Creature grow too much in abundance and be out of its place
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Think of that for a moment. God just takes one of his creatures Multiplies it exceedingly and takes it out of its natural habitat and that's enough to bring a world power near the brink of disaster
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All by one creature We're gonna see that again with lice and with gnats and with locusts locusts covering the land as Spurgeon said in his great exposition
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God has never had a loss for means He can use lions or he can use lice.
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He can use famines or he can use flies in the armory of God There is a weapon of every kind from the stars and all of their courses above down to the caterpillars on the ground
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God can do whatever he wants and he can use essentially any little thing that he has made
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To bring the human race to knots or the evil Empire to not Here he chooses frogs frogs frogs and more frogs and he's sending these frogs out of their domain in the
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Nile Oh the places you'll go They come into your house
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Into your bed. That's the most disturbing one. It's one thing to throw it out of the old crockpot, but in your bed when you're trying to sleep in The houses of your servants on your people on your ovens into your kneading bowls
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There's no escape from these frogs and notice that this is all directed at Pharaoh personally
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They're going to be in your bedroom. They're going to be in your bed They're going to be in the houses of your servants on your people
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This is first beginning with Pharaoh and then from Pharaoh spreading out to affect all of the
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Egyptians and again Notice the Israelites seem to be untouched just as we saw with the first plague
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We don't read of Israelites digging for water. Neither do we deal of God's people dealing with these frogs?
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Perhaps there's relative safety in the land of Goshen where they had been dwelling These frogs are now finally touching
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Pharaoh in a way that the first plague hadn't The magicians had access to clear water apparently
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Pharaoh did as well It was unfortunate as people had to deal with all the blood, but he didn't so he hardened his heart, but here
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This plague is beginning to affect his private life And so we read
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Psalm 105 29 the only time frogs is used again in Scripture seems to be in reference to this plague
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Psalm 105 is an example He turned their waters into blood killed their fish their land abounded with frogs even in the chambers of their kings
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So now this is directly affecting Pharaoh Now frogs in the ancient
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Egyptian mind were divinized They were seen as semi divine creatures and they were respected as such one of the main
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Egyptian goddesses Connected to fertility was the goddess Hekhet and Hekhet was
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Associated not only with fertility but also was seen to assist with childbirth.
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That's the irony Here's that their God of fertility and there's a little too much fertility going on God's making what they would have seen as the blessings of Hekhet into a curse upon the land
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And as we saw with the first plague with the the Nile turning to blood enigmatic or we could almost say a sort of Forced memory of when the
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Israelite sons were thrown into that bloody river even here We can see perhaps a an answering of that great crime as Desmond Alexander points out
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By stating that the Nile will swarm or team with frogs We have a link with Exodus chapter 1 verse 7
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Remember it was then that Pharaoh said the whole land is swarming with these people with these
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Hebrews So then what will we do about it? We'll kill all of their newborn sons
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And so here that particular verb swarm draws us back to Exodus 1 in both cases
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The land was being filled again. We have God confronting Egypt with her national guilt in This sense also this second plague points to the more devastating plague to come the tenth plague where God will not just Enigmatically remind them of the death of the firstborn
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Hebrews, but will quite literally take away the firstborn Egyptians verse 7
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The magicians run to the rescue or at least they try We read they did so with their enchantments
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They brought up frogs on the land of Egypt to now here, of course the text says they did so with their enchantments
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We have to let the text speak But I would think any Egyptian could have made this enchantment work if frogs are everywhere in the land
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Essentially, all they have to do is go More frogs Not hard to replicate the real enchantment would have been removing the frogs which they couldn't even get out of Pharaoh's bedsheets
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We see again these magicians they're about to be outgunned they could hang for two plagues with the third plague
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They completely surrender. We never hear from them again. And as we saw last time, they're only able to copy the plague
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Which in the irony of the story actually increases the effectiveness of the plague
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They're adding more frogs when the whole plague is more frogs. That's a problem not a solution
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Which is a reminder by the way That in our own day we should beware of modern -day wise men modern -day
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Magicians who in trying to answer problems that most likely are direct strikes from the hand of God Often come up with greater problems rather than solutions
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They'll often find ways to make things far more far worse instead of making things better If this were to happen today, what would the response be?
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I think it would be stopped traffic in all the major cities With climate change now posters.
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I Think would be Greta Thunberg saying how dare you in her condescending shrill
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No one would connect this to the hand of God That's what makes the surprising move of Pharaoh that he connects it to the hand of God I don't know that that would happen in our day and age
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We would have all of our magicians come out to speak of climate disaster in the end of civilization as we know it
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Let's talk about this play in light of the ten Some see the plagues as paired There seems to be something to say about the various ways you can connect the dots of the ten plagues
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So we're not committing to anyone but appreciating them all The first two plagues deal specifically with the
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Nile The next two plagues will deal with Insects or things of the air then things of the cattle then things of the crops then thing of things of the land and the people
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Themselves, so there seems to be a pairing of plagues in terms of order There also seems to be a connection between the first and the tenth
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The blood that is shed the second and the ninth where we have the the
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Nile again producing frogs nocturnal creatures of the night and then the ninth plague is that darkness spreading across the land and So on they seems to be paired as well in terms of cardinal order
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There also seems to be a progression with this plague We begin with the water outside of their home in the first plague and now frogs in their homes next lice
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Upon their bodies and so forth. The real key is this Decreation is
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God's judgment Decreation is God's judgment. I hope you remember that from Genesis 1 through 11 there we talked about God as Creator and the emphasis on creation in Genesis 1 through 3 and then in the narrative from 3 forward we have
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Man's response of rebellion to the Creator which is counter creation
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So you begin with creation then you have counter creation God exercising judgment upon that rebellion in the form of Decreation rather than letting the waters recede.
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He lets the waters rise up in the form of the flood. That's a Decreative judgment and all of that brings about new creation
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Noah and a new Purchase on humanity as it were when we see the same
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Emphasis here God's judgment in the form of decreation you remember in the ideal pattern of creation
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Mankind is to exercise dominion over the creatures that God has made So the animals are made in their kind with man having rule over them to bring all of God's creation
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Into order to be fruitful and multiply and exercise in this capacity as vice -regent
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Dominion over all of the creatures that God had made. That's the order of Genesis 1 20a
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But here in judgment that order is disrupted by God rather than the logic of creation
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We have the judgment of decreation now Man is not exercising control over the animals the animals are beginning to invade the man
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In fact that word swarm we've already mentioned it Exodus 1 here in Exodus 8.
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That's the same verb that's used in Genesis 1 20 When creation was swarming or teeming with creatures and God called that good
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Some swarming is good when it's in its proper place and its proper proportion with man exercising dominion
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But then quickly that swarming becomes something bad Becomes something destructive again
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One of the only other places in the Old Testament where frogs are mentioned Psalm 78 verse 45 he sent swarms of flies among them to devour them and swarms of frogs which
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Destroyed them So here we have the reversal of creation Now all of this together leads to Pharaoh's response we see initially
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Pharaoh is repentant beginning in verse 8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron.
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I just picture him flinging frogs off of his cloak as he does so Entreat the
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Lord that is plea or beg or pray to the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my
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People and I will let the people go that they may sacrifice to the Lord Second plague in and this is just frogs and Pharaoh is already showing repentance
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Moses could unfurl the mission accomplished banner. We did it We thought it was gonna take a lot more than frogs
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That wasn't so bad a bloody river and frogs and look at repentance. We're about to be freed
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That's how he probably would have felt This was such a surprising response. He must have been delighted
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Of course Pharaoh was unconcerned unmoved completely with the
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Nile turned to blood remember what we read in chapter 7 He turned went into his house
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Hardened his heart No heating of God's plague But here this little inconvenience in his own personal life a few frogs between the pillow and all of a sudden
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He's ready to repent it goes to show the problem with sin Most people could care less about the consequences of sin until they are
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Personally devastated personally affected by those consequences. It's why our society is the way it is right now
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People say well, I I certainly don't condone that I wouldn't do it personally But I'm completely unconcerned about the consequences of these sins.
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Why well, they're not affecting my bottom line They're not interrupting my personal life So I'm okay to let people in dog costumes march down the street and and Have grown men twerk in front of toddlers.
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I'm okay with that because it's not affecting my personal life. Well, that's a problem It's a problem when sin has no concern from the people of God and God's people don't care about the
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Consequences so long as they are personally unaffected by those consequences Some people go on even when they're affected personally, they still have no regard for sin
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Pharaoh is at least in that respect a leg ahead of many He calls for Moses.
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He calls for Aaron He knows he now is dependent upon them and for the first time he acknowledges the name of the
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Lord We read it right and treat the Lord in treat
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Yahweh That he may take away the frogs from me in chapter 5.
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He said who is Yahweh. I don't know him Neither will I feed him but here
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Pharaoh finally says Entreat Yahweh now. I need
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Yahweh to remove this plague from me. What a contrast in the first plague We read
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Pharaoh's heart grew hard. He did not heed them But now we read in treat the
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Lord. I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord that word
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Entreat in in Hebrew it comes most likely comes from the verb Attar which would mean to supplicate or make supplication to intercede
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Pharaoh's not saying make a polite request. He's he's begging Moses to intercede for him
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This is how that verb is used across the Old Testament In other words, we have
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Pharaoh at the end of this second plague Recognizing Yahweh as Lord and asking that he would be interceded for That Moses would go as his mediator and intercede for him with Yahweh So we have the contest and it seems so successful the all -powerful
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Pharaoh who should be vulnerable to this invasion upon his land who should be able to protect his people
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Instead cannot keep even the frogs out of his own bedchamber Now he's helpless and all of Egypt is vulnerable
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And so as the king who's unable to save his people He must go to the
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God Almighty the God who is mighty to save his own people the most powerful man in the world is
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Reduced to begging Moses to beg for the Lord Let me say that again
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The most powerful man in the world is reduced to begging Moses to beg for the
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Lord That is the effect of the judgment of God he asks for prayer to remove the plague and what do we see here our
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Prayers are more significant in the course of history than the rulers of the nations in the course of history
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Though God's people often feel under the shadow of Babel under the thumb of the tyrant
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Their prayers are more effective to the course of history than the rulers of the mightiest nations on the earth
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Do you know that our Thursday prayer meetings have more? Efficacy in terms of the course of the world than any g7 summit that's ever taken place.
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Do you believe that? History is governed by God moving his people in and through prayer
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By hearing and responding to their prayers Nations rise and they fall on the basis of the prayers of God's people
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If we see that anywhere we see it here and the narrative of Exodus The whole fall of Egypt was precipitated by God's people crying
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Well again, I say this response must have encouraged Moses In fact, we see almost the delight in the way he responds
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Moses says to Pharaoh verse 9 Accept the honor of saying when
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I shall intercede for you He shows him a certain courtesy First of all notice the meekness of Moses As soon as Pharaoh shows any sign of relenting
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Moses is is all sorts of encouragement Yes, I will intercede for you
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Moses doesn't say well, give me some time to think about it you know, frankly, you've just You've been really difficult and I don't know if I want to intercede for you
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As soon as stubborn Pharaoh shows any sign of relenting Moses says yes
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In fact, you let me know when let me give you the courtesy you tell me when and that's when
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I'll intercede for you And that's when the plague will be removed We see the meekness and almost the the joy of Moses for this response coming off of Pharaoh We see him returning good for evil.
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We show we see him showing appropriate respect And this is exactly what Christians are called to do
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We're not to be slow to give mercy nor we to forego praying for those that are in authority over us
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We are to return blessing for cursing and good for evil. We see that with Moses even here
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Pharaoh answers tomorrow. I Think he's in his own way saying as soon as possible
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He's probably assuming that is a hard ask Probably this will take many many weeks.
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It will take perhaps a life cycle some sort of natural phenomenon Maybe there's some some doubt mixed in with this entreaty
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He says tomorrow Moses replies let it be according to your word
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That you may know there is no one like the Lord our God and The frogs shall depart from you from your houses from your servants from your people.
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They shall remain in the river only so this is what Redemption would look like not
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Decreation but rather everything being restored to its rightful order the right amount of frogs in the right place with man exercising dominion over them
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The Lord alone has the power to send and to relieve the plague Moses knows this
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Moses has enough faith to give Pharaoh the ball You choose when to remove the plague when
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I go to intercede God will be able to answer that now This is certainly a step of faith on Moses part
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But also remember what God had charged Moses with you shall be as God to Pharaoh Essentially what you say to Pharaoh shall be
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He's being governed according to the will of God he knows the purpose of God He knows the hardening intent of God, and he's simply being used in this way and yet It is a step of faith
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He had to know that God truly was Sovereign over these creatures that God could in a moment as soon as Pharaoh gave the time
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Remove the plague from him and of course all of that is so that you may know
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Pharaoh's already calling out for Yahweh already calling for the plague to cease and Moses says you still need to know him more
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You know that he has power to bring the plague upon you, but there's still more you need to know about this
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Lord God I'll do this so that you may know there's no one like the Lord our God This is not the
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God of frogs. This is the Lord God who created the heavens and the earth. That's essentially what Moses is saying
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And If you reject it here, you'll see it in greater ways yet to come you'll see it in boils.
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You'll see it in cattle You'll see it in darkness You'll see it in the next generation of Egyptians being wiped down and if you reject it there
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You'll see it as you watch your best soldiers drown in the Red Sea All of this together demonstrates that Yahweh is the sovereign
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Lord Creator of God over the heavens and the earth that is what every ruler must come to know verse 12
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Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. How do you think that went? They must have been high -fiving
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You know Let's let's go to market basket on the way home. We got to get some prime rib. This is a night to celebrate
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And of course Moses immediately cries out to the Lord Moses cried out to the
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Lord concerning the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh that verb It's a very important verb
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We've already seen it and we'll see it again So ah it matches the crying out at the beginning of Exodus When the the people were enslaved in misery and they cried out to God They were essentially begging for his help.
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They were though without an intercessor. They were interceding for themselves so we see this commonly wherever a
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Fervent prayer a prayer out of trouble or desperation is offered.
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It's often with this verb It's often this form and treaty or supplicate We see the truth what
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James said of the Prophet Elijah the prayers of a righteous man are effective Pharaoh understood that Pharaoh desired that Wouldn't that be something to see in our nation?
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Rulers desiring righteous men and women to pray Will you please pray to your
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God for me? Will you please pray for me? Wouldn't that be music to our ears?
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We also see this is a further step of presenting Moses as the mediator God has appointed
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He is now mediator as it were between Pharaoh and the Lord God and soon
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He'll be mediator in more deeper significant ways to God's own people and God himself in fact going on Pharaoh's behalf
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Though Pharaoh didn't deserve it Pharaoh was hard and stubborn and cruel it would have been like begging for mercy upon a war criminal and yet Moses swallows his own sense of Pride his own will and and he in mercy and righteousness
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Supplicates to the Lord and that's going to only prepare him and help him when he has to deal with his own stubborn
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Hard -hearted cruel people and he has to in righteousness in holiness beg
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God to spare them and show them mercy He's learning how to do this here even here in chapter 8.
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We have a long way to go through Exodus and Numbers even here in chapter 8
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Moses is being strengthened with all might according to God's glorious power for all
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Patience and long -suffering and he's developing it all with an earnest consistent and sustained life of prayer
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I Hope we'll see this again and again as we work through Exodus Moses, of course according to the writer of Hebrews was a man of faith.
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Let me go a little bit further Moses was a man of prayer Moses was a man of prayer and these kinds of prayers from these kinds of men received this kind of answer
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The Lord did according to the Word of Moses Isn't that amazing?
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Moses cried out and the Lord did according to the Word of Moses. What a simple exchange
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Pharaoh and all of the people and all the magicians and all the priests are all Crying out and what does that crying amount to more frogs more misery more plague?
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one righteous man Goes to the Lord and cries out and what's the instantaneous response?
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The Lord God did according to his prayer all of the frogs died out of all of the houses out of all the courtyards all the fields and They gathered them together in heaps and the whole land stank
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What's worse than swarms of living frogs? Heaps of dead frogs,
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I would think When I was in fifth or sixth grade, we had a little green tree frog
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I don't know I must have done something right or my parents did something really wrong that we went to Petco and came home with a frog
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But we had this green little tree frog and we called it Elvis and every day when I got home from middle school I'd put a little cricket in his enclosure
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And one day I came home and Elvis didn't seem to be too hungry. In fact, Elvis didn't seem to move at all
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He seemed to be completely frozen and shriveling And this was in the middle of a summer and probably didn't have enough water in his tank
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And I'll never forget I think to this day what that smell was like when I removed the top of it It was disgusting and that was one little green tree frog
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This is no exaggeration to say the land stank And so the
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Ebeneezer's of this plague are all around the Egyptians not piles of stones but piles of frog carcasses
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The word here you remember in Hebrew how you emphasize things as you double it up and the word for heap here is doubled up It's comoreem comoreem heaps of heaps massive endless sites of heaps frogs
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Everywhere putrefying and filling the air with this noxious smell remember in chapter 5 verse 21 the foreman the
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Hebrew foreman had cried out and Part of their cry out was against Moses and Aaron and what did they say?
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You've made us a stench in the land Well now there is an actual stench in the land and it's not
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Moses It's the judgment of God upon Egypt the Nile had brought this stench when it turned to blood and now frogs everywhere turn this land which had been so abundant and lush with Vegetation and produce and agriculture now it has become a stench
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All of this in contrast to what God is going to draw his people toward a land flowing with milk and honey
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Now what does Pharaoh do? The last verse of our passage this morning verse 15 when
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Pharaoh saw that there was relief He hardened his heart He did not heed them
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Even as the Lord had said so all of that repentance all of that Intercession all of seeing
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God's hand not only bring the frogs but remove the frogs all of that amounted to this as Soon as Pharaoh saw relief
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He hardened his heart as soon as some of that pressure was removed.
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He hardened his heart The Hebrew for relief there it comes from a verb that means to be wide or spacious So the idea is as soon as he could breathe
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As soon as there was room to actually move around As soon as he was no longer bogged down with the sense of judgment or plague in that very moment
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He could breathe he used that breath to defy God four points of application
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In fact, we see really three warnings Then I think a note of hope three warnings and a note of hope
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I Think we see a warning to all those Who have tendencies like Pharaoh?
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So let me lay those out in these three warnings. First. We have a warning for those who do not turn to seek the
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Lord Do not turn to seek the Lord we start there We always start here a warning to those who do not turn to seek the
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Lord Of course Pharaoh beginning in chapter 5 would not turn to seek the
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Lord Isaiah 9 13 paints the predicament for the people do not turn to him who strikes them nor do they seek the
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Lord of hosts? Do you see why God is striking according to Isaiah 9 so that people would turn and seek?
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So this is a warning to those who do not turn and do not seek We read that Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not heed
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We see the response of those who heed God's Word Moses and Aaron and we see the response of those who do not heed
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God's Word Pharaoh he hardens his own heart. He looks for any excuse. He quantifies
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This is something that's personally going to affect me or can I wait this out? That is the response of those who do not turn who will not seek
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This is always the case with what we would call willful unbelief willful unbelief
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John Owen He describes a traveler going on his way and then a violent thunderstorm and all of this rain begins to pour out
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What does that traveler do? Well, he immediately goes out of his way. He goes to find shelter a tree maybe someone's house as Soon as the storm has passed.
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He goes back to his way And Owen says so it is with men in bondage unto sin
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They have a certain direction that they're going and Because judgment has come because some calamity or distress has come upon them now
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They're put out of their way, but as soon as it passes, they're back to their way again That's not sin forsaken as Owen says that's sin interrupted
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That's not rebellion removed. That's just rebellion paused and Many people delude themselves with the thoughts that somehow they're walking in God's mercies and graces
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Because their rebellion has been paused But unless your turning results in seeking the
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Lord you should have no such assurance So first and foremost, this is a warning to those who do not turn to those who do not seek the
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Lord second It's a warning for those who seek tomorrow But not today
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What does Pharaoh say? tomorrow, I Find that to be one of the most perplexing aspects of the narrative
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You let me know when you want this plague to be removed Wouldn't you just say now like right now
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Why does he want to have one more night with frogs crawling all over him? Why does he say tomorrow?
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rather than now today Let that be a warning to you so many people say in so many ways tomorrow and like Pharaoh Their heart hardens overnight
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Eternally will likely reveal how many initial stirrings Moments of of almost warming revelation a desire a conviction.
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I Think maybe yes, maybe I will surrender to the Lord Maybe I will take that step of faith the most terrifying costly thing
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I could ever do Commit my life to the Lord Turn to him in repentance and faith make him my
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Savior and my God Maybe I'll do that Tomorrow and then their heart hardens overnight and that scene plays out week by week by week
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Until they just no longer come some weeks ago
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Greg and I went to a conference up in Maine a conference on Spurgeon and one of the talks was on Spurgeon's great love and emphasis on open -air preaching which characterized most of his early ministry and then
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Of course as the churches around him grew he really had very little opportunity to do open -air preaching so busy and often it posed some sort of public risk to gather 50 ,000 people on a street corner or You know on on two -story buildings made in the way they were made but he always encouraged his students and taught them to be open -air preachers and Ed Roman who gave that particular talk gave an excerpt of one of his his nightly evangelistic sermons
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He did early on just want you to listen again to this great emphasis coming from Spurgeon's heart and Why he too would give a warning against those who seek tomorrow rather than now
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Spurgeon says tonight I shall I hope encourage you to seek the road to heaven and For that I must also utter some very sharp things concerning the end the end which corresponds to the lost in the very pit of hell and Upon both of these
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I'm going to try to speak as much as God will help me, but I beseech you This is all his preface as you love your souls
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Way right and wrong this night See whether what I say be the truth of God If it be not rejected utterly cast it away, but if it is at your own peril disregard it
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For as you must answer God the great judge of heaven and earth It will go ill with you if the words of his servant and of his scripture be despised tonight
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You see no tomorrow today There is a showdown that takes place every
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Sunday where God's Word confronts a Pharaoh like sinner and Like Pharaoh here.
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They may be warm. They may be stirred They may be convicted, but none of that matters if they don't follow through if they wait till tomorrow
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It's already gone. It's already gone Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow.
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I will seek relief tomorrow I will change my ways tomorrow is when I will start seeking the
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Lord and tomorrow never comes It never comes I'm I'm convinced the wide path of hell is paved with tomorrows
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Not with people who said never But with people who just said politely tomorrow
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You see the danger of making a temporary commitment to God of making an unfulfilled vow to God You might not have ever uttered that to anyone else, but God knows the state of your heart.
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God knows the state of your heart God knows the measure of revelation and conviction.
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He's brought to bear upon your soul God knows what promptings you've had what exposure you've been given what resolutions you have made
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However secretly he knows what do you think a
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Man had two sons. He came to the first and he said son Go today work in my vineyard the son answered and said
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No, I won't But afterward he regretted it
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And so he went And the man came to the second and said likewise and he said yes, sir,
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I go But he did not go Which of the two did the will of his father and so they said to him the first Jesus said to them assuredly
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I say to you Task -collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you John came to you in the way of righteousness
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You did not believe him but tax collectors and prostitutes believed him and when you saw it you did not immediately regret it and Believe him
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Do you see what Jesus is saying in Matthew 21, there's two types of people
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There's those who in various ways in their life have lived in abject
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Corruption and defiance against God and in all sorts of ways when that Opportunity when that that tracked that talk from the co -worker that opportunity in the sermon that little
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Byway on the radio station, however, something had come to them. They had always just said I will not
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But then afterward they regretted it. They were moved by conviction and they went they believed they followed
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That characterizes the life of so many within the kingdom of God Jesus says this is what the harlots
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This is what the tax collectors were like their whole lives. They'd been saying I will not obey
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I will not follow but when that time of conviction came they went they did it And so they ended up doing the will of their father.
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They therefore found salvation But what is Jesus saying? to the scribes
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You're like the sons who have all the outward show of respect Oh, I go
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Lord that's in Greek Lord, I go Lord Not I will not utter disrespect and contempt, but oh, oh
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Lord I go see how I'm going. It's a present active verb. Even now. I'm going even as you speak and They don't go
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Were they meaning to be deceptive? No They probably just said tomorrow
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I See I want to just not right now tomorrow
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And so Jesus ends this parable with a warning that salvation does not belong to those who have a pretense
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But those who actually repent and believe Even if their whole life
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They had been saying no to repenting and believing if they've come to repent and believe they enter the kingdom of God But there are many who their whole lives say, of course,
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I believe of course, I'll repent tomorrow And they do not do the will of the Father It's not those who almost enter the kingdom not those who hope to enter the kingdom
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But only those who actually enter the kingdom that will be saved People crowd pews on Sundays and they hope to be saved they want to be saved tomorrow
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And they'll never be saved for that same reason But notice what
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I love about Matthew 21 is there's grace for those who initially refused
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There's grace for those who initially refused It doesn't matter if you've said tomorrow for a decade up until this point
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If you would but come today you would find salvation There's grace for those who initially refused
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But there is no grace to be found for those who harden their own hearts and rebellion saying even now tomorrow
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Wm. Taylor in his commentary on this passage This is 19th century
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Commentator he described having an outbreak of cholera in the village where he first served in the ministry and so cholera began to strike all the homes in the village and he said for the first time the church was full of people who had never entered the church before as They're coughing up blood and watching loved ones die and they're being confronted with eternity and the reality and the weight of the grave
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And then he noted as soon as that outbreak passed They relapsed into worst sin than ever before They had one time vowed to God they would yield to him but now they were as far from him as ever
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Do you see the danger of saying tomorrow so this is a warning for those who seek tomorrow but not today third a
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Warning for those who seek relief but not the Lord a Warning for those who seek relief but not the
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Lord When Pharaoh saw that there was relief he hardened his heart
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The begging of Pharaoh was quite literally connected to the removal of the frogs. Remember what we read
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Please intercede for me that these frogs would be taken away. And what does Moses say? I will intercede for you so that you know the
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Lord your God You see that the different desires the different aims
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Moses is essentially saying I will intercede so that you'll turn to the Lord So that you'll know the
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Lord and walk according to the Lord and find his mercy in due time But Pharaoh says no.
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No, no. No, I just want the frogs taken away I just want relief and as soon as relief comes he has no further interest in the
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Lord So he hardens his heart and becomes a hypocrite against what he had said Do you see there's many people who think the plague is the problem when
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Moses is Recognizing the plague is not the problem What has brought about the plague is the problem the plague has come because you don't acknowledge
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Yahweh Therefore the response is not the removal of frogs But you must bend your knee and you must soften your will to the claims of the
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Sovereign God Now, let me be clear. I think Pharaoh was sincere I don't think he was being deceptive
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I don't have any reason to think from the text that he was being manipulative or hypocritical
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I think when he said I will let the Israelites go I Think he was being sincere
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He saw the plague was truly from the hand of God and he knew that it had to be the hand of God that removed the plague
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So then it's almost Mystifying why having seen God's hand bring the plague seen
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God's hand removed the plague He hardens his heart against the Lord Let me tell you that that's not so unique That's not so unique.
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I personally have seen that at least three or four times in people that I know in my life Of people who saw the hand of God heavy upon them
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Who begged and asked others to beg on their behalf for God to intercede? for there to be a relief and As soon as that relief came
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Without perhaps anyone else detecting it they were hardened to God and this does not make them villains in my mind the sad thing is
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I Think so highly of so many of these people I Understand God genuinely did a work and he moved in its powerful way in their lives and they saw that and maybe they don't even realize that this is the case, but They've been led astray they've been self -deceived they're now hardened against the
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Lord There's a situation right now
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Where I wonder if that's exactly what's going on. It doesn't seem to be that it seems to be very optimistic and hopeful
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But I wonder is there a hardening inside? It's causing them to not be able to follow through on anything And where is that going to lead if they haven't responded in this way?
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Were they just seeking relief or were they seeking the Lord? Now it happened as he went to Jerusalem he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee And as he entered a certain village there met him ten men who were lepers.
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They all stood afar off You know how it is with lepers Unclean can't come into contact with anyone can't be in the presence of anyone
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Most likely unless it was another leper had never been touched by anyone So they know the protocol
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Here comes a righteous one here comes a holy one maybe in their minds as holy as the
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Pharisees maybe even more holy They have to stand far away. All they can do is shout out and cry, but they all have some sense of faith
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This is Jesus We've heard that he's making the blind to see in the lame to walk the paralytics are rolling up their bed mats
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He's casting out demons Surely he can heal us they have faith
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And so they lift up their voices they cry out Jesus Lord Have mercy on us
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And when Jesus saw them he said to them go show yourselves to the priests and as they went
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They were cleansed Isn't that beautiful? they had enough faith to know Jesus could heal enough faith to cry out to Jesus for healing and Because they risked that step of faith because they sought that relief they received it they were cleansed
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They finally had relief from their great plague their uncleanness their corruption the misery of their lives.
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They had finally been cleansed and one of them when he saw that he was healed returned and With a loud voice with a crying voice glorified
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God Fell down on his face at Jesus feet and gave him thanks and he was a
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Samaritan In other words, this would be the last person you'd expect this to come from Okay, I was healed by this
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Jewish healer, but that's enough of that need to get back to the Samaritans now Jesus answered and said
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We're not ten cleansed Why is it that you alone have returned to give glory to God?
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And then he said to him arise go
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Your faith has made you well if we're following the statistics of Luke 17 here
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Only one out of ten are actually made well by faith Actually made well in such a way that the relief doesn't just come and lead them astray
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It actually leads them to the Lord only one out of ten return in a God glorifying way
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Thanking knowing and ever after following Jesus only one out of ten
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That means to me that most of the people we encounter in Christianity today are not seeking the
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Lord but seeking relief from the Lord and We may see them cry out to Jesus and we may see them have faith that Jesus can heal and We may mistake that for thinking surely they know and they love and they follow
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Jesus and bring glory to his name and therefore Have the salvation there been made well by his grace and we have to look at Luke 17 a little more carefully
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So many seek relief, but not the Lord himself There's statistics out there that say the church has a real problem retaining believers.
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This is sort of a side But I read these articles all the time Churches have a real problem retaining their believers scores of younger generations are leaving their professions of faith
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Scores of younger ones are no longer walking in their religion and I just look at those and I say what?
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You can't lose what you never had We may have a problem with evangelism we may have a problem with conversion
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We may have a problem with discipleship, but we have zero problem retaining true believers
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Because we don't lose true believers Because true believers persevere to the end
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They don't turn away not returning to the Lord when relief comes if that's the case
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They're not true believers, though. They went out from us. They were never of us Jesus says of those the father gave to me
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I will lose none So we don't have a problem retaining believers We need to make that clear
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We shouldn't speak as though we do So many take the mercies and kindnesses of God as the very occasion to then harden their hearts to him
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That's what we see Pharaoh doing God was kind to give him mercy kind to remove the plague at a moment's notice he could even choose the day and the hour when it was to be removed and All of that kindness instead of leading him to repentance as is the intention of God It only served to harden his heart make him more reprobate and spiteful
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How could Pharaoh ever stomach to look at a frog again? I wonder Did he say put a tarp over all the images of hat?
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No more images of the frog goddess. I don't want to see a frog again. No frog legs on the menu All of these stinking heaps now are heaps of forgotten vows heaps of unfulfilled promises
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Like the endless croaks of all of these nauseating frogs. That's the endless guilt of a sinner who has not been reconciled to Christ Leaping upon him crawling over him by the night croaking in his ears disturbing his rest
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Do you see there must be a following up? As James Orr says if if the things that often produce a trembling of a soul are not followed up They bring about a very special hardening
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That's probably something he had seen a lot as a minister a parish minister in the 19th century going to deathbeds
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This is a warning for those who seek relief, but not the Lord Spurgeon said some folks are so big when they make a promise to God.
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I will do this. I will do that but You cannot my friend
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You reply that you're going to have a new heart and a right spirit Are you looking to create that in yourself?
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You talk as if you were I Think you said that you were going to turn over a new leaf But a new leaf in a bad book might be worse than the old leaf
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You're going to be entirely new are you and are you to do that all yourself? No, you are greatly mistaken
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True conversion does never begin with this talk of what I will do It always begins in casting oneself upon the
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Lord begging him to do a work in us Do you see and that leads us from these three warnings to a note of hope?
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there is a hope for those who cannot make a plea for themselves a Note of hope for those who cannot make a plea for themselves and that's all contained in these words
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Moses cried out and The Lord did according to the word of Moses This crying out of course is not new in the book of Exodus We already saw it in chapter 5 with the foreman crying out
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But what did that crying out amount to without an intercessor without a mediator? They were crying out just like in chapter 1 the
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Israelites were crying out What did that amount to did it relieve their suffering? Did it free them?
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Did it take away the bondage? Did it take away the cruelty? Did it liberate them in any sense at all?
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All of that crying out only further exhausted that further fill them with despair that crying out not
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Having an intercessor not having a mediator appointed all of that crying out amounted to nothing
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Just like Pharaoh's crying out And all that he could do all that he could bring about all that he could command all that he could intercede on All of that would amount to nothing
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He could not remove the judgment of God no matter how much he cried no matter what he did with his own life
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He was utterly helpless The Hebrew foreman were utterly helpless God's own people the
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Israelites were utterly helpless and my friend you are utterly helpless Unless God has appointed a mediator to cry out on your behalf a
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Mediator that God will hear and God will answer and now one greater than Moses has come
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And as Paul writes to Timothy he desires that you would be saved come to a knowledge of the truth
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There is one God one mediator Between God and man
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Christ Jesus and he as the writer of Hebrews says is able to save to the uttermost
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Those who draw near to God through him Why? Why does the writer of Hebrews say that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost
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Those who come to God through him Those who cannot cry out for themselves
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Cannot save themselves cannot do anything to turn a new leaf or put a right spirit within them utterly in bondage utterly helpless
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Why can Jesus not just save them in some mediocre? Half -hazard kind of way, why can
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Jesus save them to the uttermost? Well because the writer of Hebrews says He ever lives to make intercession for them
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He ever lives to make intercession for them and maybe you're not an unbeliever here
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And you're sort of in tuning out saying I am a weak believer. This is still very convicting But I guess this isn't really for me.
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This is more a sermon for the unevangelized. No, no, no listen You've been saved
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Have you been saved to the uttermost? You've been saved.
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You've received the mercy of God, but have you been saved to the uttermost? Is there not some pinch of bondage some
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Stain of guilt some corrupting influence in your life and you feel powerless though. You've tried
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You've covered You've tried to self atone for it in all these different ways You try to mount up good and hope that it doesn't creep out at night like frogs crawling up your bedsheets
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Have you been saved to the uttermost do you know that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for you
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We don't enter in by grace and then finish by works. That was the
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Galatians era It's all of grace and The Christians life is all of intercession as the
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Israelites would come to experience they were utterly hopeless unless there was a mediator Interceding for them with God They could only bring about their own misery and corruption
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They could only warrant God's judgment But the mediator could remove it the mediator could deliver them the mediator could rescue them
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The mediator could convey them safely into a land flowing with goodness and promise.
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Do you know that mediator? Do you know that he's crying out for you? He's living and thrown at the right hand of the
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Father for this very purpose as our faithful high priest Do you know believer? He's sympathetic to your weaknesses
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Not the weaknesses we all have Generically and abstractly know your weaknesses
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He knows intimately He sees you struggle. He cries out and ever lives to cry out if you would but turn and seek him to Do you humble yourself like that leper
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Running back to the feet of Jesus humbled himself to fall down and thank you Lord And now
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I commit my life in such a way Lord. I I want your presence to go before me to go behind me
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There's more. I need to be cleansed from Lord. You've cleansed my skin, but I need you to cleanse my heart and my imagination and my desire
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He always lives to make intercession If that's not a word of hope to those who will not turn will not seek always say tomorrow.
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I Don't know if there is a word of hope I'll close with these words from the great hymn
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Which I just came across this week by Ada Greenaway beautiful him about the intercession of our
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Savior Listen to this He's framing the whole hymn in terms of an intercession a word
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Jesus, of course is the word and he's saying this word this intercessory word is like this a word of pity
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All right, the intercessor who pities us Oh word of pity for our pardon pleading breathed in the hour of loneliness and pain
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Oh Voice which through the ages interceding calls us to fellowship with God again
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You love that contrast is such good poetry such good poetry word of pity for our pardon pleading breathed in the hour of loneliness and pain and What is that intercessory word doing?
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Jesus is completely alone in Solitude on the cross and he's pleading father. Forgive them.
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He's interceding father. Forgive them and Why is he in the loneliness and solitude of that crucifixion?
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Why is he pleading so that we would not be alone? We would not be in solitude
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We would not be left destitute that we would be reconciled and brought into fellowship with God.
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Oh word of hope To raise us near heaven when courage fails us when faith is dim The souls for whom
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Christ prays to Christ are given Again, the souls for whom
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Christ prays to Christ are given To find their pardon and their joy in him
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Oh Intercessor who are ever living to plead for dying souls that they may live
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Teach us to know our sin which needs forgiving Teach us to know the love which can forgive
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Jesus is more faithful to intercede on your behalf than you are faithful to cry out to him for intercession
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Jesus is more faithful to cry out before the father for the sins You willingly commit and you refuse to acknowledge and repent of than you are to even examine yourself in such a way
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Jesus ever lives to make intercession for his people Have you turned to seek the
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Lord? Are you those who had said today whether?
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sometime before or even today Are you those who didn't just come to be relieved but you came to fall down at the feet of the
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Savior He ever lives to make intercession for you.
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Let's pray Father, thank you for your word
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Thank you for our faithful Savior whom you sent to die in our place Who you rose up on the third day whoever lives now to intercede on our behalf we thank you that as the hymn says
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Five bleeding wounds. He bears received on Calvary. They pour Affectual prayers they strongly plead for me
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Thank you for the crucified Savior who cries out on our behalf and We cry out
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Lord. Would you save? Those who have yet to be saved Would you restore and strengthen those who are weak and downcast?