Passover Prep - How Did God Prepare Israel for the First Passover?

Brethren, we are having a second part to a two-part series today. I began last time I was with you, asking the question, how did God prepare Israel for that very first Passover? The whole idea being that we are wanting to prepare ourselves as New Covenant, New Testament Christians for this year's Passover. I went through five of the plagues going against Egypt, and today we'll go through the balance of the other five. I'd like to begin where we kind of began last time over in 1 Corinthians 11. So if you turn over there with me, 1 Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11 and in verse 28, I think it was alluded to, I know it was alluded to in the sermonette today. I talked about it last week, or last time I was here. 1 Corinthians 11.28, but let a man or a woman examine him or herself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Let us examine ourselves and then eat, not examine ourselves and walk away and be hopelessly depressed because we're not all that we should be. I don't know that anybody in this room feels that we are everything we should be. I think everybody as we come to the Passover and we sit in our chairs and we're looking at that table in front of us. We see the emblems of the unleavened bread and the wine on that white table. We're thinking, wow, I've got some work to do.

You know, I've been keeping the Passover a number of years as you have, and every year I'm thinking the same thing. I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. And very much we are examining ourselves. But then it says, and let him or her eat. So the idea is, as we're examining ourselves, we're going to use our prayer life. We're going to use that deep, intense spiritual conversation with God that we have in prayer. We're going to study deeply into the Word of God. We're going to see what his thoughts are on the subject of where we're at and think about our lives and in relation to the Word of God. We're going to meditate, think very intensely on certain areas of our existence spiritually, and again, compare those to Scripture. And we may even be fasting, some of us, as we draw close to God and thinking about the Passover service. We want to make sure, as we're coming to Passover services, that we have the mind of God. Let's take a look at Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, you know where I'm going. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. Philippians 2.5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We want to have his mind. We want to be mindful of the things of God. We want to take a look at where we're at in relation to the things of God. Now we begin to narrow down the subject a little bit as to why we're going through the 10 plagues upon Egypt. There was something God had in mind. Let's take a look at Exodus chapter 12.

Exodus chapter 12 and in verse 12.

Exodus 12, 12.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment.

So this very first Passover teaches us profound and foundational lessons that are of vital importance. They are so important that God gave us in the Scriptures the discussion about what it took to take the Old Testament, Old Covenant Church of God, out of Egypt, out of sin, so to speak, away from Pharaoh, away from Satan, by analogy. This is what it took. And of course, we want to ask ourselves as we are examining ourselves what American idols might we have? What things may there be in our life that are hindering our walk with God? We talked a few weeks ago about having a consistent walk with God and what that entailed. How consistent is our walk? But here we see that God is executing judgments against all the gods of Egypt, and it shows us that God is superior to them, just as whatever it is in our life that sometimes has us pull away, whether consciously or unconsciously away from the true God, either momentarily or maybe as a habitual thing.

God is superior to those things. God is able to utterly defeat those things. As we are examining ourselves, again, this is a positive thing that we remember. That provision has been made for us by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Provision is made for us to give us not only the forgiveness of our sins, but the use of God's Holy Spirit to overcome. And so we rejoice in that. Passoverseas is not just a—and some people have come to me over the years—Mr. D, the Passover season, the whole self-examination thing is such a downer. Well, it can be if we only want to take one aspect of it. But if we think about what has been provided for us, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the ability for us to have the power of God to overcome our various idiosyncrasies and the sins that so easily beset us, then we realize this is how powerful and how positive these days are. So last time I was here, the title for the sermon was Passover Prep, How Did God Prepare Israel for the First Passover?

Same thing today. Passover Prep, How Did God Prepare Israel for the First Passover? Only this is part two. As we did last time, I'm going to go through the next—go through plagues six through ten. With each one, we'll take a look at the type of plague. We'll look at four things. The type of plague, where it's found, the gods of Egypt who are being affected, and a spiritual lesson for us to learn today as we prepare for the Passover. Okay, the sixth plague—and again, I do this for your ease of note-taking. The sixth plague, I should say, is Boils.

Our Boils found in Exodus chapter 9 verses 8 through 12. Boils, Exodus 9, 8 through 12. There are three gods here we can look at. Now, of course, if I listed them all, we'd be here all day. But three Egyptian gods that we can look at here, Sekhmet, S-E-K-H-M-E-T, S-E-K-H-M-E-T, the goddess with power over disease. Imhotep is another god. Imhotep was the god of Egyptian medicine or the god of medicine. Isis was the goddess of healing. Our father God is going to bring all three of those gods up very, very short. So let's begin over here in Exodus chapter 9.

Let's read the section first, and I want to go through and discuss it with you.

Exodus chapter 9 verse 8. So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh, and it will become fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. Then they took ashes from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward heaven, and they caused boils that broke out in sores on man and beast, and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

Why, in verse 8 here, are they taking these ashes from a furnace? What's the rationale here?

From the Kyle and Delish commentary, I want to read you some of their commentary. And I quote, So was from the lime kiln, so to speak, that those splendid cities and pyramids proceeded, by which the early Pharaohs endeavored to immortalize the power and glory of their reigns.

Now remember, in Egyptian thought Pharaoh was a god himself.

And so the ashes were taken from the furnace inside of Pharaoh. And going back now to Kyle, the sixth plague proved to the proud king that Jehovah also possessed the power to bring ruin upon him from the workshops of those splendid edifices, for the erection of which he made the use of the strength of the Israelites, and oppressed them so grievously with burdensome toil as the cause Egypt to become like a furnace for smelting iron. Now, in relation to that, let's put a marker here in Exodus chapter 4. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 4.

Deuteronomy chapter 4.

And in verse 20, Deuteronomy 4.20, But the Lord has taken you and brought you out from the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be his people and inheritance as you are this day. So, the analogy that God is using this furnace as symbolic in a number of ways. It symbolized the power of Pharaoh. It symbolized the power and the glory of Egypt. But it also symbolized the oppression of the Israelites. And God was going to take that symbol and use it as a tremendous teaching tool.

Now, the boils that we're talking about in this particular plague were the first plague which actually could have endangered the lives of people. It could have actually endangered their lives. And God is telegraphing his thoughts here that we see in Romans chapter 6 and verse 23. I'm not going to turn there, but in Romans chapter 6 and verse 23, we see, For the wages of sin is death.

And God wants Pharaoh. He wants the Egyptians. He wants the Israelites to realize that as they worship false gods, that is a way that brings death.

In Exodus chapter 9, going back there, verse 11, And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the boils were on the magicians and all the Egyptians.

What we have here, brethren, is the fact that the false ministers had no standing whatsoever with God.

False ways of looking at things wrong doctrine, so to speak. All those things have no standing before God. They simply bring corruption. And as you and I are endeavoring to examine ourselves this past overseas, and we want to make sure that we have proper standing with God. We want to make sure that we're really boldly embracing that trunk of the tree.

So we have proper standing with God because we have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Because we've got the days of unleavened bread that show that we're living a certain way of life before God.

You recall when I was giving the sermon about consistency, we talked about the life of Demas, who in the early 60s AD was a stout supporter of the Apostle Paul. And he was doing the work with God's people, and very zealous and used by name on a couple of occasions by the Apostle Paul in his writings. And then toward the end of Paul's life, toward the end of the 60s AD, it says that Demas left. He went back into the world.

He went back to false teachings that had no standing with God. So, brethren, I'm not saying here that we in the Chicago church do this, but we don't ever want to even begin to walk away from that trunk of the tree. We want to make sure that we are zealous and on fire for the truth of God. Now, there's something else here I wanted to comment on here in chapter 9 of Exodus, verse 12.

But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.

The Lord did that. Is that fair?

Is God being fairer here by hardening the heart of Pharaoh?

I'd like to read you something from our UCG online Bible commentary that speaks to this point. And I quote, this is interesting the narrative for the first time states that God actually hardened Pharaoh's heart. Yet before this, Pharaoh is seen as hardening his own heart.

So, God did it. Why did God do it? Exodus chapter 9. Let's look at verse 16.

Exodus 9, 16. But indeed, for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that my name may be declared in all the earth. God very much had a plan.

And he's working according to that plan. I want to continue reading in our online commentary from the United Church of God. And I quote, God had every right to shape and mold Pharaoh to be the way he was. After all, God created Pharaoh and was, like everyone else, worthy of death. So God hardening his heart didn't seem to worsen his predicament in the overall scheme of things.

The Lord, it must be noted, though, did not directly make him sin. For God does not tempt anyone to sin. James 1, verse 13. Rather, it was part of Pharaoh's rebellious nature all along.

It was part of his nature. So here we have this sixth trial upon Egypt, the trial of the boil, six being the number of man.

And no healing could take place there. Let's take a look at Exodus 15. Exodus 15, verse 26.

Exodus 15, verse 26. And he said, If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, to give ear to his commandments, and keep all of his statutes, I will put none of these diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you. And very specifically, brethren, we can think about physical healing. But for our day and our times, we want to think about the fact that as we are analyzing ourselves, as we are examining ourselves, that we have healing. And this is the point I get from this plague. As I mentioned last time, the Bible is a living book. You look at it, you get something today, you get maybe additional things tomorrow. But as I look at this sixth plague, one of the lessons I learn, as I was thinking about it and studying it, is that healing, in all of its forms, comes only from the true God.

Healing in all of its forms, whether we're talking about physical healing, mental healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing, that all comes because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice we individually have accepted.

And so that's a powerful lesson. Again, as we examine ourselves, yes, we've got our faults and failings and our issues, but as I've told people from time to time, our church, every one of God's churches of God, is a hospital for sick folks. And every one of us have our ceremonies, every one of us have our idiosyncrasies, we've got our sins, we've got our issues, we've got our hang-ups, but we can come here, and God allows us to work bit by bit to be healed because we have that sacrifice of Jesus Christ to call upon. So this Passover season, let's not just think about the negative, let's think about how God is going to heal. So whatever the problems you or I have, they can be healed. Now it takes our effort as well. We're not robots. God doesn't just wind us up and that's it. We've got to use character. We've got to use God's Holy Spirit. One of the things we can talk about on the days of Unleavened Bread. We're in partnership with God in this healing process. So lesson learned for the sixth plague. Healing in all its forms comes only from the true God. It didn't come from the gods of Egypt. Okay, seventh plague. Seventh plague is the plague of hail. It's found in Exodus chapter 9 verses 13 through 35. Hail, Exodus chapter 9 verses 13 through 35. Number of gods we can look at here. Nut, N-U-T, great name for an Egyptian god.

Sky goddess. Osiris, who was a god of many things, but he's also the god of crops and fertility.

And Set, S-E-T, Set, god of storms. God of storms. Let's go back over to Exodus chapter 9. We're not going to read all of this.

Exodus chapter 9, we're starting verse 13.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. For at this time I will send all my plagues to your very heart, on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.

So here in verse 14, the point is made that our God is a god of unparalleled power.

Again, as we examine ourselves, and we think that we've got these mountainous issues in our life, and we may well have.

We also have a God that is our Father and an elder brother of unparalleled power, that are there to humbly—and there's no being more humble than God and Jesus Christ—to humbly serve us and help us in our times of distress.

Verse 15, Now if I had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed, for this purpose, I have raised you up that I may show my power in you, that my name may be declared in all the earth. So we see something else in verses 15 and 16. Not only is God a god of unparalleled power, our God is also a god of unparalleled mercy. He could have wiped them out, but he did not. Why? Because God loves them. God loved them every bit as much as he loved the Israelites.

Verse 17, As yet you exalt yourself against my people, and that you will not let them go.

Lack of humility. You exalt yourself.

You know, as we heard in today's sermonette, you know, we have the foot washing that is the very first thing we do. We take off our shoes, or, you know, ladies probably don't come with shoes on, but whatever, you know, we take off our shoes, our socks, whatever we got on our feet, we're barefoot after a couple of moments, and we wash one another's feet. We wash one another's feet. It is a loving gesture. It is also a gesture of deep humility. At least it should be. It should be.

And you know, brethren, as I've been going through the various Bible studies, both here and in Beloit, and as we've gone through the Book of Mark, and we've talked about various aspects of humility, I keep on coming back to the fact that it's one of the greatest traits of any of us as Christians. It's the very first beatitude. It's the very first beautiful attitude. It is what we do first at the most meaningful day of the year for us in Passover. We wash feet. And I would say to you that I would believe that we in the Church of God, our Church of God culture, I don't care what organization that you may be a part of, or you have family in, or whatever. If all of us as a Church of God culture were much more humble, we wouldn't see the various divisions we have today, the splits we have today, all the different things we've done. Now, am I saying everybody in our Church of God culture lacks humility? Of course not. Of course not. But some do, and they've caused too much pain and suffering because of a lack of humility. Chapter 9 of Exodus verse 18, Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause a very heavy hail to come down such as not been in Egypt since its founding until now. Strap down to verse 24. So there was hail and fire mingled with hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. So what we have here is God is demonstrating His power by a hail storm mingled with lightning. The fire coming down, that's lightning. It's like their great tribulation. It's like their great tribulation upon sinful mankind. Bet verse 19. Next verse 9, 19. Again, going back to God's mercy, now therefore send and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home, they shall die. What do we see here? We see the grace of God here. The grace of God.

God could have killed off all the livestock. Just let them drop dead, whether they were in the field or in a barn or wherever, in some enclosure. But basically what we're looking at here is God is going to take the life of the livestock that's outside. Outside. God is showing grace to the people and that He's not taking all the life. Verse 20. He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses, but he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and livestock in the field. So here we see we're some of the people were getting it. Some of the Egyptians were getting it. They were they were seeing with their eyes. They were hearing. They were witnessing the power of God, and they were getting it, and they were heeding what was being told they should do.

And again, we've got the understanding of God's power, God's mercy, showing to the people who weren't even Israelites. His love for them.

His tremendous love for them. Turn over to 2 Peter chapter 3.

2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9.

Where it says, Our God is long suffering. God was showing long suffering with Egypt. He kept on. He didn't just destroy them right at the get-go. He was working with them. He wanted them to learn some lessons. He wanted to be an example. He wanted them to be an example to the world as to what happens when people rebel against the great God. So pass over to the time when we come humbly before our great God who has the power and the mercy to forgive. So lesson learned from plague number seven.

A lesson for us today. Our God is a God of unparalleled mercy and unparalleled power.

What is it you fight against? What is it I fight against? Our God is a God of unparalleled power to help us. A God of unparalleled mercy that as we repent and we seek God's help and we don't want to be what we are, that we are forgiven by the great God. Yes, pass over the time as we examine ourselves as a time for sober reflection about the reality of who and what we are. But it's also a time of zeal where we know that we, with God's help, can overcome because we've got that tremendous God of unparalleled power and mercy. Plague number eight. Plague number eight is the locust plague.

It's found in Exodus chapter 10 verses 1 through 20.

God's here would be nut, the sky god, and again Osiris, the god of crops and fertility. So let's turn it over to Exodus chapter 10 verse 1. Now the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show the signs of mine before him. So again, God is using this as a teaching opportunity. God, at some point in the future, when the time comes to raise those who have never understood the truth, in what we call the last great day, Pharaoh will have his opportunity. He will have witnessed all these things, and a mark will have been left in his mind about the power of the true God and his mercy. Verse 2, And that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's sons the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord. So here in verse 2, you know, we've got our parenting class here in the Chicago church, a very fine class, learning a lot of things, interacting very nicely, and so forth. But here we have something, a little something that reveals more of God's purpose for all these judgments. One of the great purposes is to teach the kids. Teach the kids about the greatness and the power of our loving, merciful God. But a God who will act. God is merciful. God is not permissive. There's a difference. So many times today, people mistake the two thinking they are the same, but they are not the same. You can be merciful, but permissiveness is something altogether different. God is not permissive, but God is merciful. So these plagues were to show and showcase God's great power. Verse 3, So Moses and Aaron came into Pharaoh and said to them, Thus is the Lord God of the Hebrews. How long will we refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go that they may serve me. Again, we don't want to be like Pharaoh. We want to be God's humble people, teachable people. Verse 4, or else, If you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I'll bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth so that no one will be able to see the earth. And they shall eat the residue of what is left which remains from you of the hail. And they shall eat every tree and every thing that grows up for you out of the field. And they shall fill your houses, the houses of your servants, the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither you nor your fathers have seen since the days that they were on the earth to this day, and he turned and went from Pharaoh. So what we're looking at here is total agricultural devastation.

Total agricultural devastation. You have total agricultural devastation, and it's awful hard to find something to eat, right? Awful hard to find something to eat. We're looking at a disaster befalling this nation. Verse 7, then Pharaoh's servant said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed? Pharaoh wasn't wanting to get it. To some degree, God was wanting him not to get it, so God's greatness could be shown. But the people around Pharaoh were saying, you know, haven't we learned yet? Let this guy go. So Egypt now is being deprived of its natural beauty. It was a beautiful nation. You know, they were a slave nation. That was ugly, but in terms of the way the nation looked, it was a beautiful nation. But now the beauty is being ripped away from it. Tremendous economic, social, theological issues taking place here. One of the things, as we saw in verses 3 and 4, was a lack of humility. A lack of humility.

Chapter 10, let's drop down to verse 13. So Moses stretched out his route over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. So God flies in from outside the borders of Egypt, the plague. Now, this is important. God is basically telling Pharaoh through this that he's not just the God of Egypt. He is a God that transcends the boundaries of Egypt. And so he flies in these locusts. Now, drop down to verse 19.

At the end of the plague, verse 19, and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea, there remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt, not one. Only God can do that. Only God can do that. I think I remarked when we were going through the first five plagues, you get a fly in your house, you can chase that little guy forever and ever and ever. Eventually, he'll probably die of starvation or whatever, or maybe you'll smash him against the window. And, you know, if you're a guy doing that, then your wife really enjoys you doing that. Tells you to clean it up. But, you know, the whole idea here is the greatness of God. We have a hard time getting one fly out of a house. God got every one of these locusts out of the land of Egypt. A testament to his great power. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. 1 Peter 5, 5.

1 Peter 5, 5. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders, yes, all of you, be submissive to one another, that takes humility, and be clothed with humility. Be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Be clothed with humility. The theological dictionary of the New Testament defines this phrase, be closed with, as this. To wrap up, to clothe oneself with, to draw on closely an article of clothing over the naked body.

So there's a word picture here about actually putting on a garment. A lot of the other Bible dictionaries talk about putting on an apron as a servant. And so we get the idea here, this whole idea is based upon humility. So the lesson learned from plague number eight is be humble before our great God. Before our great God, be humble.

Ninth plague. Ninth plague was darkness. I found in Exodus chapter 10 verses 21 through 29.

I've got a number of gods here. We'll just look at one. The god Ra, R-A, Ra, one of the most one of the most worshipped gods and the pantheon of Egyptian gods, the god Ra, the sun god. Okay, let's look at chapter 10 of Exodus here. Verse 21.

Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward the heavens that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt. Now again, God is the ultimate communicator. God is the ultimate teacher. These people, the Egyptians, were in spiritual darkness.

God wanted to make sure they understood that. And it says there was a darkness which could even be felt. So I don't know if there was some sort of atmospheric situation that was going on here.

Maybe a lot of extra, maybe some extra humidity. I don't know. But a darkness that could be felt. Verse 23. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from their place for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

You know, brethren, think on this.

We know that the darkness lasted for three days. They didn't know that. And I'm sure every minute that passed and that total darkness seemed like an eternity to them. For all they knew, it would never get light again. For all they knew, they were being cursed.

Remember, too, that in this day and age, when there was an eclipse of the sun in the ancient world, that was big medicine, as they would say. Well, not only is there an eclipse here, there is total darkness that can be felt for three days. God is really getting their attention here. Verse 24, when Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be kept back.

Let your little ones also go with you. A little subtlety there by Pharaoh. Go ahead, leave.

But leave your food behind, because most of our food has been destroyed. Leave your flocks behind, because we can eat those. Verse 25, Moses said, You must also give us sacrifices and burn offerings, so we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us, not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord God until we arrive there. So much like Abraham, he knows he's got to go. He's going to take everything that they need, which is all their livestock. He's not going to compromise one iota with Pharaoh.

Again, as we prepare, as we examine ourselves, we ask ourselves about the issue of compromise.

Is compromise any part of our life, your life, my life? God didn't want it here. Moses was going to have none of it here.

Verse 27, But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me, take heed to yourself, and see my face no more. For in a day that you see my face, you shall die. So Moses said, You have spoken well, I will never see your face again. Now, they did see one another again. Let me quote our, again, UCG online commentary. So this can be explained by understanding Moses to have said that because of Pharaoh's raging, Moses would not go to him in mercy with a word from God. In other words, if Moses saw Pharaoh again, it would be to announce unavoidable judgment or it would be at Pharaoh's request to grant Moses and the Israelites permission to leave the land. Let's turn to 1 John 1.

1 John 1.

Starting here in verse 5. 1 John 1.5.

And this is the message which we have heard from him, and declare to you that God is light. 2 John 1.5. And in him is no darkness at all. Quite a contrast to what we saw in Egypt. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ the Son cleanses us from all sin. 2 John 1. Walking in the light. Now, you recall that at this juncture, and even before this juncture, God had made a separation between Egypt and Israel.

Egypt had total darkness, but there was light in Israel, in Goshen, where Israel was staying. So the lesson to be learned here is that God is light, and God's people live in light. God's people do not live in darkness. If we see darkness in our life, we do everything in our power to rid ourselves of that darkness.

Last plague, plague number 10.

It may seem like 12. Plague number 10.

Death of the firstborn. It's the type of plague.

It goes from Exodus 11, verse 1 through 12, verse 30. 11, 1 through 12, 30. We're not going to read all of that.

The many gods here are involved. The many and varied animal deities.

You've got Sobek, S-O-B-E-K. The god that epitomized the might of the pharaohs.

Actually, the son of Pharaoh was considered a god as well, his firstborn son.

We'll just keep it with that one. Exodus 11. Let me go back there.

Exodus 11, verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out here altogether. Speak now in the hearing of the people and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor articles of silver and articles of gold. So through all that captivity, all that slavery, God is saying, you know, the laborer is worthy of his hire. You were slaves, you were not paid anything. You were given a place to live and a little bit to eat, but now you're going to, you know, we're building a nation here and now you're going to get some back wages. You're going to get some things that are going to make you available to have a nation.

Verse 3. Verse 3, And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt. Talk about irony. Pharaoh's standing is almost nil at this point. Moses' standing, it says, is very great. Very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people. Nelson's study Bible says this, Verse 4, Moses said, Thus says the Lord, About midnight I will go through the land of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant, who is behind the hand-mill, and all the firstborn of the animals. So Moses here is talking about this horrible plague that is going to be coming upon the land that is very much going to touch, as we're going to see in a moment, every household in Egypt. Not a single household here is spared. Great sorrow. I mean, the nation is, if you were to stand and take a look at the nation, nothing green. Hail has knocked down most of the vegetation, the locusts ate everything that was left, you had the fires, you know, just total devastation taking place here. And now tremendous death going throughout the whole nation. Tremendous death. God was very much working against all the gods of Egypt. Drop down to verse 8 of chapter 11. In all these your servants shall come down to me saying, Get out and all the people who follow you. After that I will go out. Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger. Chapter 12 of Exodus. Chapter 12, verse 32 and 33. They were told, Take your flocks, your herds, as you have said, and be gone. And bless me also. Talk about being humbled. Pharaoh says, Bless me also. And the Egyptians urged the people they might send them out of the land and haste. For they said, We shall all be dead. All be dead. So you know the story, what took place in terms of the death, and yet, none of that happened in Goshen. None of that happened to the people of God. Final Scripture for today. Don't start putting your things well. It'll be taking a little longer for my conclusion. You say, Final Scripture, and you don't see it down there, but I see it up here. Oh, yeah! Final! I've got 11 more minutes to go here. Let's go to Malachi.

To be a pastor, you've got to have eyes like one of these reptiles. We have one eye on your nose and one eye on the clock. Malachi 3. Verse 16. Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. And a book of remembrance was written before him, for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on his name. Brethren, this Passover season, you rejoice in the fact, as you are analyzing yourself and preparing for the Passover, and all that sort of thing. You remember that you have accepted Jesus Christ, that your name is in that Lamb's Book of Life. You remember that when Jesus Christ returns, you're going to be resurrected. Let's think about those positive things. Let's not pass over a season and be this dirge where our eyes are down and our shoulders are cowered. Our God doesn't want us to live that way. He wants us to see our issues. He wants us to repent of those issues. Sure, he does. But he doesn't want us to go through life just beaten down. Do you want your kids to go through life beaten down? Of course you don't. You want your children to go through life with a great deal of hope and zest and zeal to do the right things. Our God is the same way. So our name is in this book. Verse 17.

We are God's special people. We are His jewels. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not serve Him. And haven't we seen that as we've gone through these plagues that went against Egypt but not against the people of Israel in the land of Goshen? There was a tremendous difference there.

So, brethren, we see here in these ten plagues that Egypt, because of its rebellion against God, was left in his shambles. Their economy was ruined. Their land desolate. In a little bit, their army is going to be destroyed. Their main labor force, the Israelites, are gone. Let's now summarize. The first two plagues I put together, we talked about in those first two plagues, false gods bring death, true God brings life.

For us today, our lesson as New Covenant Christians, always choose the way of life with God. When you and I are having things that confront us, Satan is always going to want us to confront us with choices. We must always choose the way of life with God the Father and our elder brother, Jesus Christ. That's plagues number one and two.

Plague number three, we talked about how God and his ways can't be duplicated. For us as New Covenant Christians, we want to make sure we firmly hold on to that trunk of the tree. I mean, you hold on to that trunk so there's no barbed bark left on that thing. Just hold on to that very tightly. The trunk of the tree. Those issues that deal with salvation. Lesson number four, we talked about the gulf between the true God and the false God. We talked about not compromising. And again, for us as Christians, as we prepare ourselves for the Passover, Satan wants us to compromise.

He wants us to, by little short steps, move his direction. Well, brethren, we don't want to be moving in that direction. We only want to be moving in the direction that God has us to move in. Plague number five. We talked about how God has a purpose, how God's in control. Our lesson today is that we walk by faith, not by sight. He's got a plan. We may not always understand, especially in our lives as individuals, we may not always understand what it is God has in mind.

But you know what? We don't always have to understand. Did Abraham understand when he was told to go someplace? Well, he understood he had to go someplace. Did he understand all the ramifications and all the details? No, he didn't. There have been times in your life, there will be times in the future, where we see things we need to do in Scripture. We may not understand, but as Mr.

Armstrong said, he was going to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days until God showed— well, not so much the Sabbath, but the Holy Days— he was going to start keeping those until God gave him the understanding as to why he was doing what he was doing. He didn't have full understanding at first. Plague number six. We talked about healing, and all of its forms comes only from the true God.

For us today, as New Covenant Christians, let's allow our spiritual doctor to heal us. Let's allow our spiritual doctor to heal us of our issues. Plague seven. We talked about our God being a God of unparalleled mercy and power. I simply want to say, let's remember in our self-examination that truth. Let's remember that our God has unparalleled mercy, not unparalleled permissiveness.

He wants us to repent. He wants us to be the people he shows us to be. But, you know, as we see what we're supposed to be, we're working toward that. If we happen to stumble and fall, that's why we have a Savior. Our sins are covered by that shed blood, and then, yes, we take the power of God, His Holy Spirit, and we move forward as God shows us how to move forward.

Plague number eight. Humility before God. Let's maintain a foot-washing attitude. Again, I think so many of the problems we've had in the Church of God culture is a lack of a foot-washing attitude. And as I've said on a number of occasions, I put the ministry so much at fault in that. Why have we had so many splits over the years?

Has it been the membership? Well, the membership would follow the leader. That's their share of issue. But certainly the big issue in my mind is watching my peers do things because they had to be in control. They had to be in power. And that is not a foot-washing attitude. Lesson number nine. God is light. God's people live in light. As you and I go forward, let's make sure our example is that we are people who let our lights shine.

Let's allow our light to shine so that God is given the great glory. Lesson number ten. Lesson number ten was God's grace upon his children. I don't know if I gave that to you when I was going through the material. God's grace upon his children. His children. And for us today, brethren, truly, we are abundantly blessed children of God. I've said it so many times this sermon.

I'll say it one last time. Let's think on that. As we are self-examining and all that, let's remember how blessed we are as the people of God.