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Preacher: Ross Macdonald
Scripture: Exodus 8:16-19
Well, that was a short reading from Exodus 8, but those are the verses we're looking at this morning. Relatively short plague the third plague compared to the fourth plague which will take up the rest of chapter 8 next week.
So we're working our way through these plagues. And if you remember there's various ways that one can understand the structure of the plagues. There's I don't think one way we're meant to understand them, but we can just appreciate the sophistication of how Moses is writing this account.
We have a way of understanding. Sort of a series where there's parallels between the first and the tenth the second and the ninth the third and the seventh and so on. We can see it as divided in a half where One through four and five through nine each sort of begin and end on a similar theme and ten is off on its own.
Perhaps the most popular way of understanding the ten plagues is to see a series of threes. So we have plagues one through three.
Four through.
Six seven eight nine and then ten is off on its own and in every account the significance of The tenth plague is preserved.
Now.
Whatever scheme we adopt we we do want to appreciate the fact that if this third plague it's coming all of a sudden. Every plague is God dialing up the intensity of his judgment upon the evil Empire and with that we'll see continually this expansion and devastation all the way up until the tenth plague which finally Causes Pharaoh to cast the Israelites out of his Empire.
And with this third plague it comes without warning that would be true of the third and the sixth and the ninth plague. There's no preamble. There's no condition stated. There's no warning the plague just comes.
And so we're gonna look at these verses first, we'll see the dust of the land in verses 16 and 17 and we'll see the finger of God in verses 18 and the first half of 19 and then The second half of 19 we'll see the response of Pharaoh.
Of course a major emphasis with every plague. The way that every plague ends is how is Pharaoh going to respond? And so that's been the conclusion of each plague and we're gonna look at that response Briefly this week next week in a lot more detail.
So first the dust of the land verses 16 through 17. So the Lord said to Moses say to Aaron stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the land. So that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt and they did so.
For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth and it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt and just in saying that you can see the repetition and again repetition equals emphasis all of the land of Egypt both man and Beast all of the dust in all of the land of Egypt became lice upon man and beast.
Pharaoh last week where we left him was begging for intercessory prayer. Go to Yahweh and intercede for me. He was ready to send the Israelites out. It seemed like Moses was about to break out the champagne.
But that was all premature. We read as soon as he saw relief he turned aside and hardened his heart and so this may be a direct response to Pharaoh's lack of response it may be that Aaron in response to Pharaoh's defiance in Response to his sort of deceitful maneuver is now striking the ground.
Immediately bringing judgment upon the land without warning without condition. When it comes to broken resolutions one point we could make here when it comes to broken resolutions. Every time someone makes a good resolution and then breaks that resolution.
It only becomes harder and harder to follow through. How many people have begun with one diet fad and followed that through for the last 13 years? You break one you break one every year and it gets harder every year to follow through.
You follow it through for less and less and less. When you make a good resolution and then you break it it becomes harder and harder to follow through. Well when it comes to breaking resolutions with God.
That person every time is tempting God to act in a sudden way without warning. God does not owe warnings. God does not owe delays and Pharaoh's experiencing that for the first time. He always thinks maybe I have a little room to barter with God as they're giving me the Word of God as they're reminding me Of the condition of God, maybe then I can make a sort of fast and loose decision about what I'll do.
Well, this third plague comes with no warning and it comes with no condition. Pharaoh looks and Aaron's rod is striking the dust of the earth and all of a sudden there's lice or we'll get to. What other insect that might be in a moment and that's everywhere covering man and beast.
So I want you to appreciate the significance of what's different with the third plague. It comes without warning. It comes without prologue. It comes without condition. It comes without opportunity to negotiate.
It comes without opportunity to.
Repent.
That is significant for those who break resolutions. They've made toward God. It may be that his judgment will come without a chance to repent. We see that in the third plague God's Word does not come as a warning it rather is an immediate judgment.
Psalm 105 31 and recounting this says he spoke so it's still his word. He's still speaking his word, but instead of speaking his word as a warning. He's speaking his word as a judgment. He spoke and there came a swarm of flies and gnats in all of their territory.
Now I noticed someone of five has gnats in translation and here in Exodus 8 we have lice. What's going on with that? Well, the third plague is a plague of in the Hebrew canine. Canine could be translated as lice could be translated as gnat.
Really anything that could be a small insect. Maybe even a small flying insect or hopping insect that means gnats are often a preferred. Translations. Sand fleas mosquitoes. What's common in the land of Egypt?
Some translations or some commentators even argue it could be ticks. And maybe none of you really thought about this plague in any great detail until you think about it as a potential plague of ticks.
The other week.
Alicia and I on one day, I think we found four or five ticks. And Alicia was beside herself. Yeah, you know, you find one or two and your skin is crawling. And so we go around and we say this to everyone.
It's a bad year for ticks. This is the worst year for ticks. No, no, no, that would be a bad year for ticks. Swarming on every man and beast. That is a bad year for ticks.
The word.
Translated lice that's following after the Aramaic and interestingly a first century Jew named Josephus who wrote antiquities. He argued that this most certainly was lice. But the Greek and the Latin traditions and their own historians of the time saw it as gnats.
And that word gnat in Greek could also be translated mosquito. They were very familiar with the region and the insect life of the Nile Delta origin. On his homilies on Exodus. Said whatever it was. Having wings and flying in the air when it lit upon a body.
It stung most bitterly so that what a man could not see flying he would at least feel stinging. What an awful plague that would be. Some of you have maybe gone to the beach. I think that was winger sheer beach where you see it's a beautiful beach, but there's all these horse flies.
You don't see him flying, but you feel them stinging. And so you're looking around on the beach you can't see anyone but just beach dwellers sitting on their towels under their umbrellas. And you'll see most of them randomly throughout the day.
That's what it would have looked like throughout the land of Egypt. There's people convulsing and writhing about as they were being stung by these little tiny creatures. We read all of the dust of the land.
Became lice throughout all of the land. What's the last time you've dusted a room maybe that's been neglected every now and then. I Take out the old feather duster and go across the top of my books. And especially that top bookshelf in my study by the time I get to the end of the row the clumps the cascading clumps of dust.
Can you imagine what it would be like if all of the dust that accumulated in this dry? region of Egypt were to become lice or gnats. And of course, there's an idiom there in Hebrew dust is often a Hebrew description of Enormity.
We saw that throughout Genesis. It was told to Jacob as it was told to Abraham your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. That means innumerable beyond measure and here the plague is coming like the dust of the land innumerable without measure swarming every living thing and.
Then also that choice of the word dust may have even more Evocative meaning we see later in Scripture that term dust is often used to denote grief or shame. And so you if you're grieving a loss or maybe you're ashamed from some great evil or others are ashamed of your evil.
What do they do? They lay down in sackcloth and dust or they put ash upon themselves. It's a sign of great shame or great grief. Humiliation in the book of Job is those who lie down in the dust. Defeated enemies those who are humiliated and defeat are those who lick the dust.
So here also you have this imagery being unloaded in the term and of course God Through his judgment through these plagues is going to raise his people up from the dust. Another idiom of God. Bringing restoration and showing favor.
One of the points he made last week was all of these plagues. Imbue the Creator God with his definitive rights over all that he has made. All of the pagan nations Attributed different aspects of creation to different gods.
They were pagan polytheists. There was a god of the river a god of the Sun a god of the sky a god of animal life a god of fertility. And so forth. Here is the Creator God Showing forth his sovereignty over all that he has made in contest against the idols of fallen man's imagination.
Here also were brought back not only to the Creator but to the account of creation because God formed man from the dust just as easily as God can form man from dust and Make him the crowning triumph of creation to rule with him over all that he had made.
Exercising dominion so God can take dust and turn it into a plague into a judgment into a defilement of the land. What was the result of the fall? Well, it brought death upon the world. And how is that described?
From dust you came to dust you shall return. So here the judgment imagery of dust is certainly being evoked. What was the curse upon the serpent in part? It was to consume dust for the rest of its life.
An image of defeat an image of decay an image of creation reversal. Rather than being formed into something good and glorious you're being deformed. Decreated back from which you came and so we have this reminder of judgment as decreation and even here Turning the dust into gnats or lice is a picture of that cosmic good order of God being Overturned and undermined in God's judgment and be reminded as Pharaoh was to be reminded.
He can use one sliver one splinter one Aspect of the endless variety of what he has made and just by putting that out of order He can bring the greatest empire of the ancient world to ruin. He can do it by causing stars to fall out of their orbit or he can do it by Increasing the amount of lice that is the power of God.
He has everything at his disposal. He can choose to use their water. He can choose to use the teeming frogs. He can choose to use little flying insects to break down the proud arrogant empire of evil.
That brings us to the finger of God. Secondly verses 18 and 19 we read. Now the magician so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice. But they could not. So there were lice on man and beast and the magician said to Pharaoh.
This is the finger of God the magicians. These sort of clowns that we've been tracing for the past two plagues. Have been trying to mimic each plague and we've noticed the irony of their mimicry is actually Furthering the plague because they also can turn freshwater to blood.
They actually spread further the plague upon the Nile because they also can make frogs increase. They only add to that plague but here they're trying to mimic their casting spells. They're working their enchantments are doing all sorts of ritual rites and none of it is to avail.
We read simply they could not. I Don't know what they tried. The text doesn't tell us. I think you can do some things to train insects. I Was amazed this week to see a video clip of I don't know where these facilities exist.
But it was a facility where they used bees and trained them to detect Explosives and it showed this very incredible operation of these bees that would be put in these little sort of plastic collars and put in this machine and they would begin training them to go after sugar water laced with certain traces of Explosives and eventually they would be trained to associate food with explosive chemicals.
And then they would release these bees and they would be able to ascertain where explosive traces might be found far more sensitive than Trains dogs or any other animal? Well, I don't know if they were training gnats or lice.
I don't know what they attempted but you can do a lot with bugs apparently but you can't make all of the dust of the land turn into bugs and that's what God did and That was enough for them to realize.
This is the finger of God. We can manipulate things that are we cannot create things that are not this is the finger of God. I I see that phrase and we'll see it in more ways than one at the very least.
Admitting there's something unique about this God. Something unique to his ability to create not to manipulate or effect. But actually to bring something out of nothing and that is unique upon God. Arguably not even Satan with all of his counterfeit signs and wonders can bring something out of nothing.
This is unique to the Creator God. It's common for scholars, especially in the past century to go to these Ridiculous lengths to argue for a naturalistic explanation of the plagues. They say this was an unusual phenomenon an incredibly dense rainy season a red algae bloom that caused a Nile to look Like blood which killed the fish and then the frogs seeking to come out of that toxic River ended up Swarming the land and then they died most likely because of natural occurring toxins from the algae bloom and that led to flies and maggots infesting them and they just want to have a sequential order to how these things happen and It doesn't take long before you actually run out of logical explanations even in that train of thinking.
I prefer to take the testimony of these magicians. They knew far more about the cycles of the Nile over their time Than any ivory tower academic and they said this is the finger of God. We've had rainy seasons.
We've seen algae blooms. We know the difference between blood and swarms and plagues and the finger of God. They essentially acknowledged to Pharaoh as his divine counsel. We have no answer. Neither. Can we bring any relief?
We have no answer. Neither can we bring any relief? Now it would seem like they're on the cusp of total surrender. But they are not. Because the magicians don't describe the plague to the finger of Yahweh.
But simply to the finger of Elohim and Elohim is reserved as God, but it's also in the plural. Depending on the context and this is a legitimate context. It could be translated gods. So Elohim is used to speak of the Lord God but God has already revealed himself according to his covenant name.
Yahweh and Pharaoh had Begged Moses and Aaron to intercede to Yahweh. Here the priests don't say this is the finger of Yahweh. But rather reserve some legitimacy to their power. Well, we're not saying this is the God of Moses and Aaron.
We won't dare bring up Yahweh's name, but this is above our pay grade. This is the finger of God. Deity, maybe the gods some unknown God or the gods in general. They're essentially acknowledging a higher power than they have access to but they fall short of acknowledging Yahweh.
Believing in a higher power is not the same thing as believing in the Lord. If you go on the street and you ask a lot of people About their spiritual state or if you're you know, you have a moment to talk about the Bible.
You usually the first thing they'll say especially if they're trying to get rid of you fast is I believe in God. It's like go away and you're thinking well if you believed in God, you'd love to sit and talk to me about him.
He wouldn't be using that as a as a way to get away from me. I believe in God. Leave me alone. I believe in God too. Let's talk. You know, where do you worship? But usually what they mean by that is yeah, yeah, yeah, I believe in some higher power.
I'm just not interested in whatever spiel you have they believe in God, but they don't believe in the Lord. And that's what these magicians are like. They believe in the supernatural. They've had their hands in the middle of it.
They believe in their pantheons. They believe in divinity. But when it comes to the actual truth of God, they will not bend their knees to Yahweh. Though clearly everything that Moses and Aaron are doing is in light of Yahweh having utter power Over all of their enchantments over all of their land.
There's nothing they can do to prevent it. And it's interesting that they along with the whole priestly class would have been uniquely struck by this plague. Frogs hopping about is one thing. Water that's turned to blood is another but to have insects crawling all over your skin and all over your animals.
That disrupts your ability to be ritually clean in worship and the Egyptians were notable in antiquity for being Shaven that was the imagery they used they would literally scrape their bodies. They didn't want hair follicles or grime or louse or anything to be impure as they went through their religious ceremonies.
Well now they're completely corrupted. We'll see that again in chapter 9 the priests and the magicians are not able to come to Pharaoh. Because they have these boils they're ritually unclean for worship and the sacrifices are unclean.
They're covered with all sorts of Infested insects. That's not something you can offer to the gods. So in Contesting Pharaoh in the Empire God is contesting his idols. Contesting the false gods. Well, the phrase finger of God is very rare.
This is the finger of God they say. It only occurs in a few places in Scripture. And when you come across Details like that it it raises questions. Why might that be if it's only a few places why here and why there?
Later in Exodus and The only other time it appears in the book of Exodus. It's when an Exodus 31 we read that God With his own finger writes the Ten Commandments upon the tablets of stone written by the finger of God highlighting the intensity of their importance the intimacy of that act.
Not speaking through a prophet to give these Ten Commandments to his people but giving them to his people by his own finger. We have it in the most intimate terms the tablets of testimony. That would be in the Ark of the Covenant and therefore in the presence and worship of God.
Thereafter for the Israelites not only in the most intimate Moments in Scripture, but also in the broadest details of Scripture. We read in Psalm 8 when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers.
The moon and the stars which you have ordained. What is man that you take thought of him? So here we see not so much the intimacy but the power of The finger of God there it's almost like it's it's just his fingertip that can affect the heavens.
That's how powerful he is. It's effortless. The work of his fingers is that which man can never comprehend in Contrast to Pharaoh's counsel and the gods of the Egyptians. What's emphasized is their powerlessness?
Again, what stands out is this little phrase. They could not. They could not. We saw this with Pharaoh's wise men already in Genesis 41. When these perplexing dreams came upon Pharaoh and he gathered all his wise men all his magicians.
Maybe some of these were their great great great great grandfathers and they could not. We see it again in Daniel same Situation. Strange dreams a strange writing on the wall gather all of why my wise men all of my sages and astronomers.
What do these things mean? They could not Isaiah 1912. And a great prophecy against Egypt in the days of Isaiah. Where are they? The Lord says where are your wise men? Let them tell you now let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
Do they know are they so wise. Let them tell you what I'm going to do to you. He says later on in a judgment against Babylon. Isaiah 47 stand now with your enchantments with the multitude of your sorceries in which you've labored from your youth.
Perhaps you'll be able to profit. Perhaps you'll prevail. You're wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let all the astrologers all the stargazers stand up and save you from what I'll bring upon you.
So we find throughout the prophets the mocking of these wise men of the Council of Kings. Who boast as though they understand all the mysteries of life and can read through history and have the strong gods at their disposal.
And God in contest says you cannot you cannot. The response of Pharaoh. Exodus 819. Pharaoh's heart grew hard. He has not only the testimony of Moses and Aaron saying thus saith the Lord.
But.
Now he also has in a different tone the testimony of his wisest men His most powerful men the sorcerers and magicians of the palace and they to say This is the finger of God. You're better off with Moses and Aaron than us.
We can't even keep up anymore. This is the last time they try to mimic what God is bringing upon Egypt. But instead of heeding them saying if my wisest men say that this is the finger of God then surely I must bend here.
Surely I must at least admit Moses and Aaron have some unique understanding of something that I don't some unique power that I am at the disposal of. But instead Pharaoh's heart grew hard. He did not heed them.
Just as the Lord had said it's the last time we'll read this phrase just as the Lord had said. It's been this fourfold reminder. This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our sight and yet it doesn't make Pharaoh a puppet.
As You can plainly see he is fully responsible for his condition before God. Pharaoh is now fully irrational. If he had been clinging to some semblance of a reason why he would resist the testimony of Moses.
It was because he could rely on the magicians. But now even the magicians have turned and admitted we have no answers we can bring no relief and Pharaoh has committed himself now to Irrationality if he seemed to be reasonable taking the counsel of his wise men.
Now he is rejecting the counsel of his wise men who will only get more aggressive with their demands. Just send the people away. What are you doing to the land? What are you doing to your empire? He gets more on loose from reality.
The finger of God of course was not more evident in lice than it was in frogs or than it was in the bloody waters of the Nile. The point is that what is obviously the finger of God to all who can see in here is Not the finger of God or at least not the finger of God to be feared for a blind heart of unbelief.
What we take away from this little moment with the magicians. I find to be a great encouragement when Moses 40 years in the Midian ragtag robes entered into the presence of Pharaoh and saw the wisest most powerful men Flanking the court of Pharaoh.
He must have had butterflies in his stomach. His heart must have been pumping and over the past Two weeks some of us went to these town hall meetings some of us braved going up to that microphone. Maybe you have some Nerves about it all and all of a sudden you have to stand up and stare down the the town board and you weren't nervous.
But as soon as you get up on the microphone you get that hundred-yard vision and you start to feel light-headed. And your heart start pumping. Well, that's just the town council. Can you imagine what it would have been like to go before Pharaoh and to see these wise men scowling mocking?
They know 13 different languages. They have all the wisdom of the world and the treasures of the world at their disposal. They're looking at you a shepherd. What a joke you have no idea what you're talking about.
We can do everything you can do we can do it better. They have no fear utter confidence. Moses is already showing a complete lack of confidence. He has his brother speak for him. I'm a stuttering fool.
What could I even say before them and you see all of that unravel here at the third plague? So here's the great encouragement. One time or another sooner or later All lying mouths will be stopped. Isn't that an encouragement for the people of God?
One day or another sooner or later all Lying mouths will be stopped. Of course unbelief loves to be kept up and propped up by smooth lies and. So unbelievers surround themselves with liars. Who they parade as truth tellers?
But even when those truth tellers are exposed as frauds when the lies become evident to all with hearing and sight. That unbelief will not all of a sudden become belief. Do you see it with Pharaoh even when the lies are exposed?
Even when the fraudulence is apparent to all. When the foolishness and the folly is obvious. Unbelief will not become belief even when lying mouths are stopped. And what does that point to the reality in Pharaoh's heart.
The reality of an unbelieving heart? What's the cement? That's hardening that heart more than anything. Pride. Pride. I read a great article this week by a medical student out in Texas. If you ask me after I'll try to send you the link and I don't.
I don't agree with everything that he framed in the letter, but he basically as a seven-year med student is owning up to the fact that there was no consensus and many of the voices that were arguing against the machinations of government.
Forced.
Vaccination were short-sighted. We're denying and muzzling legitimate and valid concerns were turning into a Political bludgeon that which had a democratic basis and so forth and he's just owning up to it all and saying we've lost our credibility.
We've shot credibility in the face. We're seen now as untrustworthy and it was just like yes.
Yes.
Finally, you know someone who's owning up to the lies and the fraudulence and they're exposing things and it was refreshing to read it again. I don't agree with everything the way it was framed but it was honest enough to say we really didn't know what we were talking about and when there were valid counterpoints and valid voices.
Pushing against the evidence. We didn't listen to them. We wouldn't give them a hearing. We doubled down our on our own stance in our own efforts and we went really beyond any reasonable data. And it was just refreshing to read that.
But all those.
Intractable people on the other side. Not for a moment convinced or persuaded by that neither will they say We were wrong. We are untrustworthy. We kind of blew it all. Lying mouse will be stopped sooner or later one day or another.
But that doesn't mean that unbelievers become believers. Even when the liars and the lies that they spew fall away the hardened heart of unbelief remains. Why. Because it's been hardened by pride. Pharaoh's pride is the cement of his heart.
So we shouldn't think that people are so easily dissuaded by lies. So much as they want to be lied to. Because of the blindness and the hardness of their own heart. C .s. Lewis captures this point really well in mere Christianity.
He says with God you come up against something which is in every respect Immeasurably superior to yourself unless you know God as that and therefore, you know yourself as nothing in comparison. You do not know God at all as Long as you are proud.
You cannot know God as Long as Pharaoh is proud. He cannot know the Lord and even the magicians who admit that they're bankrupt. Will only know a God they don't know. They won't actually come to know the God whose testimony And signs are right in front of their face.
Why would that be. It's because of pride it's because these magicians are proud men. They can admit they're bankrupt and they have no answer and they can't bring relief, but that doesn't mean they'll bend their knees to Yahweh.
So Lewis says a proud man is always looking down on things always looking down on people. And of course as long as you're looking down you cannot look up. In short Pharaoh refuses.
To hear.
What is being said to him and to see What is being done to him? Pharaoh refuses to hear what has been said and to see what has been done. So here's the two points of application.
First.
God must be known by word and by deed. God must be known by word and by deed. Pharaoh will not hear the word and he will not see the deeds. Therefore he cannot know he will not know God even unto his own ruin.
God must be known by his word and by his deeds in Acts chapter 2 great parallel to Jesus own ministry in this respect. Where the part of Pharaoh and his magicians is played now by the leadership of Israel and the Pharisees and the scribes.
In an Acts chapter 2 as Pentecost is breaking out Peter cries out men of Israel. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles wonders and signs. Which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know.
So he's speaking to the leaders who for three years have rejected the ministry and the teachings of Jesus and to this point still Reject him, but now as these disciples are being filled by the Spirit Peter in preaching to this multitude outside of the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.
He says men of Israel Hear these words right. God must be known by his word hear the word hear the message hear the testimony and what is a testimony? God himself attested this Jesus to you by signs by miracles by wonders.
You know this already you saw this already. You can't pretend that you didn't hear what you've heard and what you're hearing now. You can't pretend you haven't seen what you saw but pride. Cements your heart and unbelief so that you will not believe.
John chapter 11 in the days of the ministry we read many had seen the things that Jesus did and they believed in him. That's the proper response to God attesting a man with great signs and wonders. That's not something ongoing.
You don't get to demand God give you a little private miracle show. You have Moses and the prophets listen to them. Even if God were to raise a dead man in front of your eyes, you wouldn't believe him.
So you don't get a little private showing but God in history. Does these wonders and signs to show that he is doing something authoritative and his message is to be heard? His word is to be believed. Many had seen the things Jesus did they believed in him?
That's the proper response to the revelation of God whether in word or in sign. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus did. These were the holy men. These were the leaders of Israel.
They were looking for affirmation. This is wonderful. We saw with our eyes. Is this right? Is this true? John 11 47. All the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and they said what are we going to do?
This man works many signs and if we let him alone, everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will take away our place and our nation. That's like these magicians. They gather together amongst themselves Janice and Jambres and whoever is part of their motley crew and they say what are we going to do?
This man is able to do many signs. But if we follow him, we're gonna lose our place and our nation. They recognize this man. That's Jesus is doing many signs. And if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.
That's a problem for them. Instead of it being instructive to them. Maybe we too should believe in him if God is doing signs through him. So they don't have an appropriate response why. Because they don't recognize the finger of God in their midst and That draws Exodus 8 in this whole parallel all the way through Jesus ministry when we come to Luke chapter 11.
And I mentioned how rare this phrase is the finger of God and I think Luke In recording. This is not lost on the significance of Exodus 8 and I hope I can show why. So in Luke chapter 11 beginning in verse 14 Jesus is doing the very signs that we just read about from Acts chapter 2 in John 11 He was casting out a demon.
It was a mute demon and When the demon had gone out the mute spoke and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said. And you know who the some of them were. He's casting out demons by Beelzebub the ruler of the demon.
Others testing him sought from him a sign from heaven. But he knowing their thoughts said to them. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. In other words, some of these leaders some of these chief priests and scribes some of their own sons had begun to follow after Jesus most likely part of those that had or were about to be sent out by Jesus to do many of these signs and wonder and Jesus says you're gonna deny it when your own sons are saying.
This man empowered us with the power of God to do all of these great signs and you reject even their testimony. They'll be your judges when a strong man. Oh I skipped a line. Sorry verse 19 if I cast out demons by Beelzebub by whom do your sons cast them out?
Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God Surely the kingdom has come upon you now one of the details that's embedded within Luke 11 that I don't think is lost is The significance of the name Beelzebub which translates to Lord of the flies or ruler of the flies and I think the phrase finger of God and The the name Beelzebub with a reference to flies is hovering around the context of Exodus chapter 8.
And what is the context that we've just been looking at in Exodus chapter 8? It's the magicians. It's the wise men. Acknowledging there's legitimate power here, but we will not say Lord. We will not say Lord we see the signs we recognize the power we frankly don't have an answer for it, but we will not say Lord and so Jesus in confronting these hearts of unbelief these proud hearts is saying If these signs that you see the signs that your son's doing if these signs Show you that the finger of God has come upon you as it came upon Egypt in the days of Exodus 8 the finger of God that you recognize and that Doesn't lead you to proclaim and identify me as Lord.
Then your judgment will be the same as the judgment on Pharaoh if I cast out demons with the finger of God. The kingdom of God has come upon you. That's what Jesus The kingdom of God has come upon you.
Do you know what that is chief priests and scribes do you know what that is those who go three times a year to stand at the steps of the temple and Lament and cry out for God to establish his kingdom and for the throne of David to reign over the earth forever.
Do you know when you lament and weep? Asking that God would come and put all of the world to righteousness and you essentially pray every day with every morning and evening sacrifice Lord let your kingdom come and Yet here you deny the very finger of God, which says the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Why?
Because of the pride in your heart. Because of the pride which leads to unbelief. They wanted to explain away what they heard. They wanted to explain away the things that they saw. In 2nd Timothy. Paul describes Those who are lovers of self.
Not lovers of God lovers of pleasure. And he says there's this type of person they become false teachers. They're not just false teachers, but they become false teachers creeping into women's houses causing all manner of vice and sin and corruption leading the gullible astray.
And Paul, of course, we've already seen this reference to the magicians. He says they're Always learning never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Janice and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Notice that resist the truth? Not just I don't understand or oh, there's lots of different opinions out there who can know who's they resist the truth? Men of corrupt minds. Disapproved concerning the faith and they will progress no further.
Their folly will be manifest to all as theirs also was. So we read this account of Exodus and these Egyptian magicians their foolishness is evident to us. We read the narrative and we just kind of laugh.
These clowns these fools that in the day were the wisest scholars the most powerful magicians the sorcerers the brilliant academics. The people that would make your your knees shake and Moses shut up his mouth.
And we look at them and Paul's saying just like these magicians. They're just fools. They're clown. When you give in to pride and you don't hear what's being said to you. You don't see what's in front of you and you have a heart filled with pride filled with the the pride of unbelief.
You too will be resisting the truth and inevitably the day comes when your foolishness is obvious to all. I have friends. That used to worship in the same rows that I did and used to read the same books that I read.
And we used to gather in the wee hours of the morning to pray and we used to rebuke and reproof each other almost as a hobby and I look at their lives now. They've been led astray and their hearts are now too proud to turn around and their foolishness is so obvious.
It's obvious to anyone who can just look and just see. It's obvious to everyone except them. Lying mouse will be stopped but lying mouse and lies evaporating doesn't turn a heart of unbelief to a heart of belief.
Pride must be conquered grace must influence. Repentance must be sought. Humility must adorn. I was reading this week. Actually, I was looking at an article. It's interesting. It was I mentioned this some of the guys yesterday morning.
These illustrations these French illustrations from the 19th century about the turn of the century. About what the year 2000 would look like and there was a series of maybe 20 or 30 illustrations. And it was interesting to see what what their conception of modern life would be like, of course.
They're all very positive. If you were to ask people in the year 2000 what might you know, the year 2100 look like it's gonna be. Like Wasteland Mad Max, you know, it's not gonna be these Jetsons like imagery but one of the things that struck me was how off they were and Their greatest insight about how things might be was just foolishness and when we are a hundred years Forward and we look back we can laugh we go if only they could have lived to know.
Oh, man, that's amazing that they thought that they thought that we could ride giant seahorses and undersea races. Like how is that even what are you even doing? We laugh at their foolishness, but then we read the modern-day equivalent and we go.
You've all Harari who's on the World Economic Forum. Had this viral clip this week about the possibility of using artificial intelligence to create the one true universal human religion. Including its own AI generated scriptures and people go.
Wow. Maybe that would bring about world peace. And maybe this would be the answer to all of the world's problems and there's people that are like this is really brilliant. You know Janice and Jamboree's are really on to something.
Look at our great capability and sophistication and we as Christians look at that we go. What foolishness? What foolishness? You don't know the things you speak of. You'll be the laughingstock in a few decades time.
The day comes when all of the worldly wise men fall short and they no longer speak with confidence. They no longer know how to act rightly and their foolishness is evident to all the greatest minds the greatest scholars the greatest Unbelievers and agnostics and atheists who always prophesied the doom of Christianity are now seen to be liars and frauds.
Usually men of ill moral. And that goes hand-in-hand with unbelief. My point is not just to spotlight the worldly wise men and the bankruptcy of Of all unbelief and the fact that a proud heart will always resist the truth.
My point is to say. Even now like Pharaoh it may be. That you remain hardened to the things of God. Not because you haven't heard the right things. You don't believe the right things. You don't know the right things.
You haven't seen the right things. But simply because you have a heart filled with pride and unbelief. You don't have a love for the truth. If you eat enough lies, you develop a taste for lies just like those bees being trained you start to associate that with Goodness, you start to live off of lies becomes your steady diet.
You surround yourself with these things. So you resist the truth because you don't have a love for the truth. Neither. Can you discern the truth? We of course see the finger of God everywhere as Spurgeon says we look at creation.
We open a history book. We look at Providence. We open up scripture everywhere. We look anywhere we look all at once at any time. We can say this is the finger of God. There's nowhere a Christian can look where we can't say that we look at everything.
We pick up a blade of grass. We pick up a book off of a library shelf. We look at anything and we look at everything and we say it's the finger of God. God is Everywhere. God has made all things on for himself.
We we can't see things any other way. It's amazing then that humanity has a willful power of blindness the self-blinding capacity of sin. Pride which causes not just the hardness of heart but a refusal to hear man rendering himself unable to receive the Word of God.
And that's what Paul says is so different about Christians what he says to the church in Thessalonica. You received the Word of God. Which you heard from us and you didn't receive it as a word of men.
You took it as it really was the Word of God. And that's the difference. The Word of God is constant. How many millennia now has scripture been under attack and every generation thinks this is it? We finally had the breakthrough.
We finally had the top-of-the-hill moment and soon organized religion like Christianity will be no more. How long have scholars and skeptics taken out their exacto knives and tried to quibble with every jot and tittle of the Bible?
And here we are millennia later. People come and go they're like grass they rise up they they tall they they they're mounting up in the day. And then they're cut down in the next. People come and go empires come and go nations like dust on the scales crises come and go famines wars devastations.
Persecutions and afflictions they all come and go. Great tides and sea changes of technology. Whether the the bright ages of enlightenment if we could put that in scare quotes or the Dark Ages all these things come and go.
The Word of God remains forever. Paul says to the church at Corinth. We speak these things not in words. Which a man's wisdom could teach. But what the Holy Spirit teaches. Why was the church at Thessalonica able to receive the Word of God not just as the words of men?
Because they weren't just taught by the wisdom of men. They were taught by the Spirit of God and Paul is saying that to the church at Corinth. We speak these things not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches.
Why is that? Well Paul goes on to say. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. It's foolishness to him. Foolishness to him and he cannot know them because they're discerned.
Spiritually.
That spiritual you might as well make that a capital S. They're discerned spiritually with a capital S. You have a lot of people today say I'm a very spiritual person. I read the Book of Mormon and the Quran in the Bible.
I like it all. Oh, then you haven't read it very carefully. You're not a spiritual person at all. You're fool. You can't see when things contradict. You can't recognize a claim and and of course you couldn't you couldn't know the truth.
Because the truth has to be discerned by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you can only receive what's given by the wisdom of men and all of the wisdom of men is foolishness ultimately. Only the counsel and wisdom of God abides forever.
That is what remains forever.
But the hardened heart of unbelief.
Even when magician and wise councils and University systems collapse even when all of the amounted wisdom and accumulated insight of civilization fails even when plague after plague and and Devastation after devastation wreak havoc upon the land.
Even then a proud heart will not bend to the claim of the Lord. Does that not tell you something utterly? Stupefying about the effects of sin. That all of the plagues that God could bring upon the earth not just with one creature out of proportion in place.
But everything in complete havoc still would have not enough power to raise a dead heart to salvation of faith. Does that not tell you something about the absolute hopelessness of the effects of sin? Thomas Brooks,.
I was reading Brooks this week in precious remedies. Oh. You know, it would have been a better sermon just to read a whole chapter from Brooks my favorite Puritan. Absolutely.
He says Oh souls.
It were better that all Temporal plagues that ever came upon the children of men since the very fall of Adam should at once meet upon your soul. Every single plague throughout human history from the fall forward.
Take the plug and package that with Justinian's plague and the bubonic plague and just keep throwing all the plagues together and at once all of that lands upon you. It's better for you to experience that.
Then be given over to the least spiritual plague the least measure of spiritual blindness or spiritual hardness of heart. Nothing will better that man. Nothing will move that man who's given up to a spiritual plague.
Let God smile or frown. Let him stroke or strike. Let him cut or kill. He minds it not. He regards it not. Let life or death or heaven or hell be put right in front of him. It stirs him not. He's mad upon his sin and God is fully set now to do justice on his soul.
This man's preservation is but a reservation for condemnation. This man can set no bounds to himself. He has guilt in his bosom vengeance on his back wherever he goes. Neither ministry nor misery neither miracle nor mercy can mollify his heart.
And if this is not a soul in hell on this side of hell, what is? It is better to have an ulcerated body than a seared conscience. It is better to have a no heart. Than a hard heart. It is better to have no mind than a blind mind.
God must be known by word and deed. The psalmist prays. Inclined my heart to your testimonies. You have your you have your testimonies. You have your wondrous deeds and your people write and celebrate and sing of your great testimonies.
But sometimes my heart is not bent toward them. It's not open toward them. So the psalmist is praying incline my heart open my ear open me up to your testimonies. I don't want to be driven aside by the foolish wisdom of the passing age.
I want to read and meditate and hide your word on my heart. I want to cleanse my way by doing so. So we hold on to that word of God because it's the only way we can know God. We know him by his word and the deeds that are contained and shown in his word described by his word.
We hold on to that word. We hold fast to that word. We proclaim that word. That word is the only thing that abides forever. Even the present form of this world passes away. But not the Word of God. It's the only thing that's going to matter about our lives as eternity draws near the only thing.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that the Word of God is the only thing that ultimately matters about your earthly existence? The Word of God the only thing that's living and will abide. And so you must hear this word.
You must believe this word. You must cherish this word. You must live your life utterly dependent upon this word. Believing every jot and tittle of this word as if you were clinging by your fingernails to a life raft floating at sea Over the abyss.
This is life. To whom else will we go Lord? You have the words of life. All else is death and deception. God must be known by word and deed. Second point and briefly if God must be known by word and deed.
Then God's people must be known by word and deed as well. God must be known by word and deed and therefore God's people must be known by word and deed. I love this phrase word indeed. It appears throughout the New Testament.
I Won't go into all of the references there. You could find easily a dozen. But everywhere the New Testament authors want to hold together. The testimony of Christians by their words and by their conduct or their life their practice.
So the Christian message is not just a message though. It must start and always be at least a verbal message. But it's a verbal message that then absorbs and incorporates every aspect of that believers life.
It's the word that's in us. The word that therefore acts through us. Paul says I Don't speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring Gentiles to obedience by word and by deed.
And that's not just the great signs and wonders. That's even the shipwrecks and the whippings by word and by deed. This is how God is bringing Gentiles to obedience. Both by ways that I triumph and ways that I suffer all sorts of affliction by word and by deed.
God is working these things through me. Acts chapter 4 of course after Peter and John are Used to heal the lame man and word of this comes back to the very same adversaries from Luke chapter 11. And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men.
They marveled just note God chose to use untrained and uneducated men. I Mean very skilled and very well trained in in the commerce of fishery. But not so much to go toe-to-toe with the scribes and God said no, that'll do.
That'll do. I know there's people that feel even at SLBC. Well, I you know. If I say something then Ross is gonna just fold his paper over and look at me and go who is this who darkens counsel? Using words without wisdom.
You probably will have the most insightful and helpful thing to say that night.
Because that's how God works.
They marvel at these men. They know that a great work has been done and they have another counsel just like we read from John. They conferred among themselves saying What do we do notice? They're always asking that question.
What are we going to do now these poor guys? What do we do now? Indeed a miracle a great sign has been done through them. It's evident. All right, we see it. We've heard about it. We see it. We can't deny it.
Does that make unbelief belief? No, why pride, right? So what do we do now? We cannot deny it. The word has gone throughout all those who dwell in Jerusalem so that it spreads no further among the people.
Let's threaten them. So that from now on they'll speak to no man in his name. And so they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Who do you think is bargaining from power here?
Who do you think is bargaining from power? We forget sometimes that we are always bargaining from power.
Always.
That's why I love so much reading about these underground pastors in in Wuhan and Beijing. They know they're bargaining from power. Even when they're cuffed to these steel tables and being interrogated.
They're just completely Completely aware of the fact that the God who is with them is greater than anything the Chinese government can throw at them. They're aware of that. We're not always aware of that.
So they give this command you better stop doing these things and you better stop using this name and then we'll go easy on you. But Peter and John answered and said Whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God you judge.
We're not gonna stop speaking these things and what are they speaking literally in verse 20? We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. The things that we have seen and heard why because God must be known by word and deed and God is not going to act in the ways that he's always acted at the birth of the church or when he's Collapsing Pharaoh's power in Egypt.
And so where are the deeds going to be evident? Where is the word going to glow through acts? It's going to be in his people. That's why God's people must be known both in word and in deed so that just as Peter and John Went with great boldness knowing God is at work in us and through us.
Therefore. We will not stop speaking. We'll not stop testifying. We'll not stop living and acting in this way. So we too must have that same boldness. This is God making a testimony through his people his word on their mouths.
Becoming their testimony to his word. Their lives being changed by his spirit. Becoming deeds in the sight of all. Oh. It would be that Christians would learn how to put aside any unnecessary Infighting some infighting is necessary frankly, but where there can be True brotherly love may we abound in it?
May that be part of the testimony? May there be all these other Gifts and graces that God gives to his spirit because this is part of having word and deed before the sight of men. I was reading a book by Bruce Ashford called every square inch.
Not through it yet. It's a good book. I take issue here there, but it's a good book. It's a great title every square inch what a great title. And he's talking about cultural context and what that demands of Christians and he says this every cultural context is structurally good but directionally correct.
He's saying the fact that you have various cultures is not a bad thing. That's a good thing the gospel comes to every tribe and tongue the uniqueness of cultures is part of the way that God has Allowed humanity to create and develop when he divided the nations.
He didn't say well I'm dividing you for now at Babel, but the day will come where I sort of congeal you into a Indistinguishable mass of one culture. No, no. No, he says in fact, I'm gonna keep you that way I'm singling out Israel.
But even when the fullness has come you'll retain your national cultural identity and the gospel will take root in that. So structurally it's good, but directionally there's corruption. Just because there's a cultural form doesn't mean it's a good cultural form.
I don't know why we've been trained like Mavlov's dogs to say well, it's you know, it's it's called it's their culture. So you can't touch it. It's cultural. Well. Some culture you should touch some culture is abominable.
Some culture should be changed, but it's directionally corrupt not structurally corrupt. For this reason Ashford writes we should live firmly in the midst of our own cultural context while seeking that structure living in our culture as our culture while Seeking to steer our cultural reality toward Christ rather than idols.
That's directional you see. Every culture has a bent toward idols and Christians must live by word and deed in a way that they're exerting a guidance or a presence or an Influence toward Christ away from those idols.
That doesn't mean that the culture has to collapse. It just means that directionally the culture needs to be saturated with Christ's will and bring glory to Christ. Every dimension of culture whether it's art science.
Politics is an arena in which we speak about Christ with our lips and reflect him with our lives. That's in word and in deed. So much of our lack and loss of influence in our culture at this time is because we've short-circuited Word and deed and it's become either words without deeds or deeds without words and you have Diametrically opposed groups you have groups that are just all about love and will never mention sin or the gospel.
Oh dear.
No.
There are other people that they circle around and put themselves in the echo chamber and it's all gospel and Hardcore doctrine and there's never any glow that comes out of that chamber. There's never any effect upon those outside of it.
You see that's a problem. It's in word and in deed. We remember that Jesus Christ as Paul says in Titus 2 gave himself for us so that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and Purify for himself his own special people zealous for good.
Works or.
Translation good deeds same word. So what does Jesus do in our redemption? He redeems us from lawless deeds and Gives us a spirit that makes us zealous for good deeds. So that we may have in word and in deed.
The advance of the kingdom before us. Final point as we come to a close. We're surrounded by a endless chorus of Magicians in our day. Janice ease and Jamboree's. However, you would make a plural out of Janice.
Magicians can mimic a lot. They can Strut around as if they understand all the perplexities of life and know just how to act. But as we said all lying mouse will be stopped sooner or later. The bankruptcy and the fraudulence will be exposed.
And it was exposed because these magicians could not bring living things out of the dead ground. They could not bring lice out of dust as Moses did and there there's a good insight. That whatever false religion whatever idolatry can mimic it can't bring life out of death.
Whatever our cultural idols promise in security and in prosperity. They can't bring dead morality into a new and living principle. Only the gospel brings life out of death. Only the Christian gospel Takes dead and lost and ruined sinners with proud hardened hearts that all the plagues of history could not move.
It makes that hardened heart a heart of flesh. And makes that once lost sinner a beloved son or daughter of the king. And fills them with the spirit. So they're zealous to have Redemption from all that lawlessness and loss in their life.
To be filled with a desire to live a life in word and in deed that's worthy of that calling from the Lord. Only Christianity can do that. Only the gospel can do that throughout the history of the church.
Persecution has fallen most heavily on those Who have sought to preach the gospel and sought to live out the gospel and I think frankly where we are right now is in That place the modern world doesn't hide their hatred for genuine Christianity where genuine Christianity can be found.
We can see the play as it's being written. They'll simply export anything that resembles historic creedal Christianity and they'll say that's extremists domestic terrorism. That's white nationalist Westboro Baptists, you know Christian jihadism.
It's the United Methodist with all their rainbow banners and drag queen preachers. That's real Christianity, even though it was born yesterday. That's what real Christianity is. We can see that play. We know that the forces that are against us are great.
But As we established and as we see here in Exodus chapter 8 verses 16 through 19 All lying mouths will be stopped. All frauds will be exposed. The Word of God abides forever. Therefore God must be known by word and by deed and God's people must be known by word and by deed and we should have great courage in these days of magicians and charlatans.
That when we're walking according to God's Word and we're not resisting the truth of that word and we're walking in the light as he is in the light. Our day of triumph is sure our day of deliverance is nigh.
May God comfort your hearts and establish them in every good deed and word. Second Thessalonians 2 217 let's pray father. We thank you that your word truly does abide forever. We pray with a psalmist you would incline our hearts to receive the testimony of your word.
We pray even now Lord your spirit would aid us in examining our own hearts to see if there's any Compartment of pride that's preventing us from hearing your word rightly hearing it earnestly. Receiving it as we ought may you examine us Lord by your spirit and show us any unpleasing way within us Lord.
Show us where we're not Steadfast in the truth, but rather resistant to it Lord. And abide with your people still. We often feel untrained uneducated unprepared unable to withstand the magicians and the onslaught of hostility.
We know Lord you have deigned it to be for so we are not greater than our master. This is how he walked in this world standing before Herod or Agrippa pilot. So to Lord give us a holy confidence in your word.
Knowing that that that word alone abides forever all other words fail all the words pass away and turn to dust. But our lives correspond to your word knowing but that's the only thing about our lives that will last into eternity.
Everything else is rubble hay and straw to be burned. May you be building through your word and through your deeds in our lives many precious metals that will survive that day. These things we ask in your son's name.