Exodus 8 & 9. Introduction

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1 Exodus 8 & 9 Introduction -Pharaoh has now witnessed two miracles; a rod becoming a snake, and the waters becoming blood. Neither of these persuaded Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go & serve the Lord God. -Pharaoh s heart was hardened towards God. God was extending His mercy to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh had his own agenda, which was, the building of his own kingdom. -The self will of Pharaoh blinded him from seeing and discovering the will of God for his life. Sadly today many people are blinded to the will of God because they are too focused on doing their own will. 8:1-15 I. God s Continuing Work A. In these verses I want to look at 3 things: 1. The purpose of the Exodus. 2. God as True repentance. 1. The Purpose of the Exodus a. that they may serve Me. b. The Israelites were in bondage to Egypt. They were servants to the Pharaoh doing whatever he commanded. c. This was not God s intent for Israel, His intent was for them to serve Him. d. Serve = bad, aw-bad' A primitive root; to work (in any sense); by implication to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service. e. God did not want Israel to be bondservants of Pharaoh, rather bondservants of Himself. Being a bondservant of the Lord God brings a person freedom, the freedom to no longer sin, the chains to sin have been released. f. That is still God s heart for people today. People choose whom they want to be enslaved too, either Satan or God.

2 2. God as 911 a. Entreat the Lord that He may take away frogs from me and from my people. b. Pharaoh has had enough of the frogs and he cried out to Moses to have God stop the plague. The situation had become so terrible that he wants it to end ASAP. He tells Moses that he would let the people go. c. This was a 911 call of Pharaoh. Realizing things were bad he turned to God. His heart was not for letting the Israelites go; his heart was for his own relief and comfort. d. There are times when people today make rash vows. They cry out to God in a moment of desperation and they seek His help, but they don t care about having a relationship with Him, they simply want to do what they think is best for them. They want to use God. e. Pharaoh s heart was revealed when after the Lord took the frogs away, he did not let the people go. How sad! 3. True Repentance a. when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them b. Pharaoh was not repentant and he did not let the people go, instead he hardened his heart. c. One moment he is crying out for help and willing to let the people go, the next moment he is concerned only about himself. d. When it comes to sin we often times cry out for forgiveness, but then the very next day we go out and commit the same sin, and we never truly repent. To repent is to have a change of mind.

3 8:16-19 II. Finger of God a. The magicians of Pharaoh could not duplicate what God did even though they worked hard. b. The magicians testified that it was by the finger of God that the lice had been brought forth. c. Finger of God- I love this!!! God threw down this third plague with just a finger. How mighty and powerful is God!! d. Deuteronomy 9:10 The the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God e. Luke 11:20 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Words of Jesus f. All of this to show the mighty power of God. With just His finger He works miracles. 8:20-32 III. A Difference a. In order to get Pharaoh s attention Moses is sent by God once again to speak to him. The same message is given to Pharaoh, let My people go. b. Since Pharaoh does not let them go God places a fourth plague on them; flies. c. Swarms = Sorts of flies. This meant that there were multiple types of flies. One of the types is believed to be the beetle. d. For the Egyptian the beetle was sacred and here is why; The beetle would, from time to time, shed their outer carapaces when they got too small and grow a newer, bigger one. The Egyptian saw in this behavior a rebirth, they thought the bug was immortal, constantly being reborn. They wanted immortality too so they really got into studying the beetle and incorporated it into their religion. e. Imagine the scene as the Egyptians have to shoo away and kill the very objects of their worship.

4 f. How bizarre to worship something that you could kill. How crazy are the things we place ahead of God? g. Beyond the plague of flies we see how cherished the Israelites were to God. (The miracle of this plague could not be denied since its location was distinct and one particular region was set apart.) h. You are cherished by the Lord, and set apart for His purposes. 9:1-18 I. Disease, Boils & Hail (God s Timing & Man s Pride) a. God is going to great lengths to get Pharaoh to wake up and recognize that He is God, and to let His people go. b. The Lord s timing is perfect. i. Vs. 5 Then the Lord appointed a set time ii. Vs. 14 for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart iii. Vs. 18 Behold, tomorrow about this time c. A part of God s timing was geared towards giving Pharaoh time to repent and have a change of heart. d. Why God tarry s today is to give mankind time to turn to Him. e. God is outside time yet He works in time, He is all powerful. Sometimes we lose sight of God s perfect timing and we rely on our time, this is bound to cause stress in our lives. When things don t go as planned we should not worry, because ultimately God is in control. f. Vs. 17 As yet you exalt yourself against My people i. Pharaoh s ultimate problem was that of pride. He could just not let go of his will, his way, and his power. By not giving up and surrendering to the Lord God he would eventually have everything stripped and be brought low. ii. Pride can easily creep into a person s life and when it does it blinds us from a dependency upon God. iii. Read Isaiah 14:12-15

5 9:19-35 II. Comfort to the Israelites a. God was working so mightily on behalf of the children of Israel. b. Our focus has been upon Pharaoh and his hard heart, but all the mean while I believe God is also working in the hearts of the Israelites. His power is on display for all to see, not just Pharaoh, meaning, the Israelites are getting a taste of the awesome power of God, soon they will need to remember His power and might as He leads them out of the land of Egypt, they will need to trust in Him to work miracles on their behalf..