WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.679 Good morning, church. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.879 Passage this morning is Exodus seven, fourteen through twenty-four. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.400 Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:12.560 He refuses to let the people go. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:16.239 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:21.440 Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:29.679 And you shall say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.000 But so far you have not obeyed. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.759 Thus says the Lord, By this you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:42.479 Behold, with the staff that is in my hand, I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:49.280 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:01:06.560 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:09.280 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:17.439 In the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned to into blood. 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:23.040 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:29.439 There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt, but the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:34.959 So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:39.920 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not take even this to heart. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:46.239 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.000 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:49.840 Please be seated. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:52.560 Good morning. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:55.040 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:56.319 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.719 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.000 Happy Memorial Day weekend to everyone. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:09.280 What a wonder that so many people have died for our country. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:17.039 And we uh have such a debt of gratitude, and uh this is a wonderful weekend of remembrance for that. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:22.719 Um I'd ask what your Memorial Day weekend plans are, but you're all the ones that stayed in town. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:27.120 Um so thanks for being with us this morning. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:40.879 Um today we're looking at the first plague, and we're sort of kicking off our summer of plagues, um, which is that this uh it's like a Winsome summer series. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:51.919 We're trying to be very focused on just like drawing people in, so we're gonna market the summer of plagues up and down Tennyson Street and uh see if we can, you know, pack this place. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:03.360 Um so we're going to yeah, take the first half of the summer and move through the first nine plagues, and then that'll wrap up our time in Exodus for the year. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:17.919 And then at the beginning of next year, we'll pick back up in Exodus, and we'll pick back up right at the tenth plague, which is the Passover, and then we'll see the Exodus itself as we continue our march through Exodus, which will take several years. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:21.520 Um, so we're going to move through the first nine plagues this summer. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:32.960 Then at the end of the summer, we're gonna finish up with a seven-week series in Titus, and then in the fall, we'll be back in Mark uh for uh our continued uh march through Mark. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:36.639 I think this will be our fifth year uh in the Gospel of Mark. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.360 So it's been a joy to work through these books together. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:43.840 So, with that, as we move into our summer of plagues, let's pray. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:51.520 Holy Father, you are mighty and glorious. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:54.159 You are absolutely just. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:03.680 And Lord, in your absolute justice, your wrath is revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.680 Father, I pray that you would give us eyes to see that. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:16.720 Lord, that you would even strike a right terror in our hearts regarding your justice and your wrath. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:30.160 Lord, that we might be rightly frightened away from our sin, away from the unthinkable cost of not giving you the honor and glory that you deserve. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:53.439 And might we run and see more sweetly the grace that you offer to us, as we see more plainly the wrath that we deserve, the wrath that was born by your son, and savor more completely the grace that you have to offer us, Lord, and hold it more tightly. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:56.079 We'll lift this up in Jesus' name, amen. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:07.360 So as we're looking through the plagues over uh this next little while, we're we're seeing the mechanism of the deliverance of God's people. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:17.519 And the way that the Lord delivers the Israelites is by showing his wrath against their oppressors, against the Egyptians. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.680 And it is by his wrath that he delivers his people. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.040 It is a salvation through judgment. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:35.120 And that is the pattern by which God always saves in Scripture, and it is the ultimate pattern by which he saves, is we are saved by the judgment of God. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:06:02.399 And this is shown most completely in the cross, where it is in the cross, on Jesus, on the cross, that the wrath of God comes down and his judgment is poured out onto Christ, that we might be saved, and we might be spared from this wrath of God that we deserve, so that the one who had never sinned is treated as sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:09.360 And so, as we're looking at the judgment, there's this sense in which we're also looking at his deliverance. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:15.519 We don't often talk about wrath, and by we I mean me, as I'm typically the one preaching when we all get together. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:20.319 And this is sort of an opportunity, I think, to make up for that in a sense. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:36.079 We have this uh clear sort of understanding and ability even to filter and see the grace of the Lord, but we we neglect to see this balance and that the Lord's grace is shown often through his judgment. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:39.360 And so we need to be able to see and understand both of these. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:43.199 And so this is a heavy topic that we're moving into, which is the wrath of God. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:49.040 Now, when we look at the plagues, these are kind of hard things for us to understand intuitively. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:07:05.920 So I hope that we'll get, we'll gain through this series an ability to understand the plagues and what it means when the wrath of God is revealed in these really explicit, undeniable ways, which it is revealed in in the plagues. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:08.720 But these are all towards this one end. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:15.439 All the plagues are towards this one end, which God described to Moses last week. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:35.199 You know, the text we covered last week in Exodus 7, verse 5, he says, The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:43.439 So all the plagues are to this end that they will know, the Egyptians will know that God is the Lord. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:52.560 And I think there are three perspectives that we can take to understand what is being revealed in these plagues. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:55.600 These are three perspectives on the on this one event. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:08.560 All these perspectives are aiming at this one thing, which is revealing that God is the Lord, but we can look at that from these three different ways, these aspects of God that are being revealed to the Egyptians. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:11.279 The first is God's power. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:19.120 So when he reveals himself in the plagues, he is showing his absolute power over the creation. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:22.879 Now he has an absolute power over the creation because it is his. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:24.720 He is lord of it. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.360 He is lord of the creation. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:36.159 So when he is able to bend the creation to his will, even thrusting it into chaos, we are shown that he is able to do that because it is his. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:42.159 So that means any order that is in the creation is there because of him. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:44.799 He is the creator and the sustainer. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:56.159 So God's power also reveals that the sources of power that the Egyptians thought held the world together were not the true sources of power. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:06.000 It is not the God of the Nile, which allowed the Nile to be fertile and provide the lifeblood for the land of Egypt. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:10.320 It is the God of the Hebrews that allows the Nile to be fertile. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:12.080 It is his power. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:17.440 Secondly, after power is the Lord's authority. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:19.840 So you can think of power and authority. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:30.639 You can picture like a king, and the king can be, you know, uh he's the king is the one who has the authority. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:35.039 But the king's bodyguard, you know, he's very powerful. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:47.200 So when you approach the king, the the bodyguard may step in, and and he is the one who is strong, and he's probably stronger than the king, and maybe a better fighter than the king, and he's carrying weapons that the king is not carrying. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:10:00.159 He has this power, but really it is the king's authority which guides this power, because the king at any moment, although he is perhaps not the strongest person in the room, is able to say to the bodyguard, don't hurt that person. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.799 And by his authority, he is able to guide his power. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:08.799 So this next thing that we see, do you get the authority-power distinction? 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:13.200 Sometimes those can just kind of, you know, we can lose the distinction. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:16.879 The authority of the Lord is shown in his word. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:21.759 All of the plagues are guided by the word of God. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:25.440 He is the one who ought to be obeyed. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:36.879 The Lord has the absolute right to say how things should be and to require of us perfect obedience to his word. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.879 He is the one who has all authority. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:47.759 Now, this is speaking directly against and sort of unmasking the false authority of Pharaoh. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.639 Pharaoh thinks that he has an authority totally of himself. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:11:05.600 And so he will act in disobedience to the Lord, but it will be revealed that in disobedience to the Lord, his power is shown to be absurdity and foolishness. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.559 And so the authority of the Lord will be shown. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:12.960 And lastly, the presence of the Lord. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.919 The presence of the Lord will be shown in these plagues. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:17.519 He is not a distant God. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:19.440 He is a God who sees. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:23.840 He is a God who honors the promises that he has made to his people. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:38.159 And by his presence, working in the world to show his power and authority, we will clearly see that the presence of the false gods of Egypt is a false presence. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:44.000 It is not the God of the Nile to the Egyptians was this god Hopi. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:52.399 And we will see that Hopi's presence is insufficient when compared to the presence of the Lord. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.159 It is only the presence of the Lord that is truly effective. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:07.519 So this is a riff on this one theologian who I love, his name is John Frame, and he describes things in three perspectives all the time. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:14.080 And he describes the Lordship of God as being demonstrated in these three perspectives, his power, authority, and presence. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:26.159 And I think that these map perfectly onto how we are to understand the wrath of God being revealed as showing to us the Lord's power, authority, and presence. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:32.960 And I also think that this is exactly how Paul teaches us to see the wrath of God. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:36.879 We oftentimes are just blind. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:44.559 We think that there is no revelation of the wrath of God, that the wrath of God does not take place in the world anymore. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:55.600 And we often think, like, you know, it sometimes, sometimes people, you'll often hear people say, like, yeah, he's not one of those like fire and brimstone wrath of God preachers. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:59.200 And we say that and we're like, yeah, those people are crazy. 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:02.480 You know, the people who are talking about the wrath of God. 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:08.879 And we make a distinction of like, so long as we're not like those wrath of God people, we're the grace people. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:14.799 But I hope to show that that you can't understand one without the other. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:23.919 That in seeing the clarity of the wrath of God revealed, we see the absolute demands of his justice. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:43.919 We cannot understand a perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, and just God interacting with a sinful world if we aren't able to see his wrath revealed against that unrighteousness and against that dishonoring of who he is. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:52.720 So Paul kicks off his letter to the Romans by explaining to us how we are to see the wrath of God. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:14.000 In Romans 1, 18 through 19, he says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:22.159 So he's explaining that the wrath of God is revealed. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:27.759 He's not saying he doesn't just say will be revealed. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.720 He's saying it is revealed now. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:42.720 So that if you look out into the world and you aren't seeing the wrath of God manifest in the world, then your eyes are not trained. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:49.279 And you're not picking up on the reality of the way that God is interacting with the world. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:56.080 Because one of the ways that God interacts with the world is by revealing in ways that can be seen his wrath. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:57.519 And what is it revealed against? 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:05.279 It's revealed against all unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:14.559 For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:26.320 The fact that God is God, that he is there and he is real and he is the creator is plain. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:42.639 So that when you hear people speaking and denying the existence of God, denying his work in the world, this is a suppression of the truth which in the heart in their heart of hearts they know. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:51.759 They know because it's been clearly revealed, it's been plainly manifest. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:16:00.799 And so God reveals his wrath against this unrighteousness, which suppresses the truth. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:12.799 When we say that there are ways that the world works, which are just outside of God, there's just the way things are, which is the way that our culture mostly operates. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:19.200 God is not really present, he isn't really authoritative, his word isn't really the word of God. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:28.000 He doesn't have any real power, he's impotent in the world, and so we can act however we'd like with no fear of consequence. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:31.440 God's wrath is revealed against that. 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:34.559 It's revealed because of this denial. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.279 So in he continues on in Romans 1.20. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:45.200 So so how is it how is it that we can say that people really know that God exists? 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:51.840 Like we we all talk to people and we know folks that say, like, no, I don't think that God exists. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.240 I there there is there is no God. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:17:06.319 Uh I had there I had this one instance in my undergrad where I was sitting in a class and we were talking through like some morality of some book, because you know, undergrads. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:13.200 And this one student goes, uh, there is no God, there is no karma, we can do whatever we want. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:20.079 And I remember thinking like, wow, that's that's a that's a horrifying worldview. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:23.359 That's just an absolutely terrifying opportunity. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:36.079 It's um one of uh Dostoevsky's most terrifying characters uh plainly says, There is no god if there is no God, therefore everything is permissible. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:38.400 There is no God. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:41.279 Everything is permissible. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:52.799 That uh um uh student that I was in class with uh went on to uh be a uh a murderer and a No, he didn't. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:01.200 But we can see within his moral frame, he could have. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.440 There's nothing prevented that. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:09.920 He he could at least think whatever he wanted about anything. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:15.759 There was no relationship that he couldn't just cut off. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:24.160 There was no minor transgression against him that he couldn't say, I'll never forgive you. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.400 It's all permissible. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:28.240 Everything's permissible. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:54.319 So why is it that we can say we ought to know in Romans 120, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:00.319 The word here is look at that word, clearly perceived. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:12.240 This isn't just this isn't just shown, you know, or available to be looked at, but you might have missed it if you weren't looking in the right way or from the right direction. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:13.920 Perceived. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.039 That means you look and you know. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:21.519 You look and you see it. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:24.480 You look at the world. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:26.640 People come from all over the world. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:30.319 I was talking with uh John Kushner off this past week. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.359 We were on a bike ride and it was beautiful, and I was like, gosh, it's so beautiful here. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.240 Love living in Colorado, this is such a great place to live. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:37.200 And he grew up here. 00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:44.000 He was like, it wasn't until I went to college in Arkansas that I realized like people really love Colorado. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:51.759 And I grew up in Florida, and Colorado is like the way we talk about Colorado in Florida, I can't believe I live here. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:53.759 I can't believe anyone lives here. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:57.200 This is I thought this was just a place where you go on vacation. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:04.160 Because to come out, if people are coming from all over the world to see these mountains, because what are we seeing? 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:05.359 It's glory. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:07.039 It's glory. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:12.079 People will say things like it, like I just am filled with such gratitude when I see these mountains. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:17.839 And there, and then there's a follow-up question, which is like like gratitude, like thankfulness, like thankful, like to who? 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:19.359 To who? 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:25.119 But that's not, you know, we don't think of gratitude anymore as something that has an object. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:30.160 We think of gratitude as a life hack where we journal it and then we experience feelings of happiness. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.480 It's been clearly revealed in the things that have been made. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:41.279 You look out into the world and you see plainly the things that have been made. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:49.200 And what you're perceiving is there's an eternal power that holds this together. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:55.039 This could only come from the mind of a divine nature. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:04.240 And to create a counter-argument would take tons of work, loads of ink spilled, and it has been. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:10.480 We can come up with some way of describing this existence that doesn't require God in it. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:19.200 And so we spend all this time trying to, but it is a foolish suppressing of the truth that we know. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:25.279 The only explanation for this is that it was made. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:40.240 And the only type of being that could make this is an eternal power with a divine nature. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:45.759 But we suppress that truth. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:22:13.279 Now, this shows us the power that God reveals in his creation, and so because our unrighteousness is a suppressing of the truth, and therefore For a denial that it is the Lord's eternal power which holds all of these things together, then the wrath of God will be a plain demonstration of his power. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:16.400 And that's what we'll see in the plagues. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:29.680 Because to counteract this unrighteousness, to demonstrate the foolishness of this unrighteousness, he will make manifest and make explicit and clear his eternal power. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:41.279 So when we look at these plagues, we should look to see the Lord clearly demonstrating his eternal power as it comes up against our unrighteous suppression of it. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:43.519 Paul continues on. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:59.119 We're given thanks, not to him. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:02.160 Not to him. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.759 We are not honoring him as God. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:13.920 This is the authority of the Lord being undermined. 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:19.359 The world is upheld by the word of his power. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:27.680 It is his word which speaks all of creation into existence and upholds it. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:30.559 This is all done by the word of God. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:31.359 What is the word? 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.640 It is the authority. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:37.440 It is the king who is able to say, Don't attack that man. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:44.000 Or the weakened shriveled old king who's able to say, take that entire nation. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:45.279 Why? 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:48.799 He doesn't, he's look at him, he is frail and not powerful. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:51.279 Well, because he has the authority. 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.880 And that authority ought to be honored and respected. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:59.759 Now there is one true authority in the world, and that is the word of God. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:03.680 He has all authority in heaven and on earth. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:05.359 So what does that authority deserve? 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.680 It deserves to be honored. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:14.160 It's honored by praise and by obedience. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:16.799 Who are you to tell me what to do? 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:22.559 He he God might say, I'm the one who gets to tell you what to do. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:31.519 I have that authority as your Lord. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:47.599 So in that lack of honor given to the Lord, in that lack of gratitude given to the Lord, our hearts actually harden and distort. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:56.240 And it says, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 00:24:57.119 --> 00:24:59.200 Futile in our thinking. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:01.759 Our foolish hearts are darkened. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:06.000 This is what it means to not honor the Lord. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:07.200 And you can see that. 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:15.200 I'm just going to keep using this example of the coming to the mountains, and there's gratitude, and then there's to what? 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:18.240 Don't you see that's the story ends there? 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.880 And ultimately this is futile. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:26.079 Because someone else might walk up to them and say, Enjoy your gratitude feelings. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:27.519 Those are, of course, not real. 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:32.400 These are just chemical reactions towards things that your small human mind can't grasp. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:37.039 It's a gratitude to nothing. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:51.359 And I've done some calculations recently, and I have some bad news about the forthcoming expansion of the sun that will swallow up these mountains you love so dearly. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.240 And the world ends in futility. 00:25:54.480 --> 00:26:03.039 And our foolish hearts are darkened by dishonoring the Lord, plunged into a world of meaninglessness. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:07.440 Ultimately, isn't it all meaningless? 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:33.519 So in the plagues, we will see the word of God operating in absolute authority, and it will be brought into contrast, opposition to the greatest authority in the world at that time, who is Pharaoh, the highest king, the one whose word could command the greatest action. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:44.720 But in the disobedience of Pharaoh, in his neglecting the authority of God, we will see him become futile in his thinking. 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:50.640 And we will see his heart become foolishly darkened. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:59.039 And even at the end of the plague we'll look at today, we will see the story end in destitution and futility. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:23.119 Paul continues on, one twenty-two through twenty-three, claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:34.640 And here we see the neglect of the presence of God, that he is present to us, able to be known by us. 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:41.440 We are the types of things that are able to truly know him in truth and to give him honor. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:44.880 But we neglect his real presence. 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:54.000 And therefore we attribute his power and authority to things which are just in the creation. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:59.200 And we honor and glorify those things. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:05.279 And so we exchange his real presence in the world for things which are more salient to us. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:07.920 And we and we worship things that are in the world. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:17.359 We worship money, we worship sex, we worship uh fame and prestige and security and safety, that those things might be able to accomplish in our behalf. 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:25.279 And we worship those as the true authority and as the true power that exists in the world. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.079 And we say, those are the things that are really present. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:33.599 And those are the things that are truly meaningful and truly matter. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:50.240 And so the Lord to the Egyptians, by his plagues, will make known his presence, and he will unmask the absence of those things that they had trusted in. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:29:06.799 Throughout the plagues, God will show, almost plague by plague, that the gods that the Egyptians worshiped, the gods that they thought were most present and most powerful and authoritative, were no gods at all. 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:17.279 That Hopi, the God who ruled over the Nile River, will be unmasked when the Nile turns to blood. 00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:21.599 We will see he is not the present authority. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:24.799 God is the present authority. 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:26.160 Okay. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:53.519 So as we look through these three perspectives, his power, authority, and presence through each of the plagues, we'll see that God is looking to unmask the foolishness of the hardened hearts of the Egyptians, make it especially plain against Pharaoh, so that there might be some Egyptians who seeing this plainly might perceive that the God of the Hebrews is the true God. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:59.039 He is the one with the eternal power and the divine nature. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:02.400 He is the one with all authority, with all power. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.519 He is the one who is truly present to save. 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:15.359 So in this sense, the plagues are sort of like anti-miracles. 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:20.640 That's probably not exactly the right way to say it, because there's a sense in which they are miracles, because they're these wonders and these works. 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:44.000 But they're like, in a sense, operating like the opposite way that we typically see miracles operating, but they they work in the same sort of pattern, where they are an extraordinary event which is meant to snap us out of our stupor so that we might say, this is actually the way things always ordinarily happen. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:51.599 There are one extraordinary event that's meant to teach us how things ordinarily happen. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:57.519 So consider Jesus when he heals the man with the withered hand, and we look at that miracle. 00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:04.960 And what we're meant to conclude is all healing comes from Jesus. 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:09.359 He is the one with the power and authority over all healing. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:18.400 So this extraordinary event teaches us how an ordinary thing happens when he multiplies the loaves and the fishes to feed the 5,000. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:28.319 We are meant to conclude: oh, he is the one who has always been providing the sustenance for us. 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:32.559 So it so this extraordinary thing snaps us out of our stupor. 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:41.279 In the same way with the plagues, we're meant to see, look at the plainness of the wrath of God against unrighteousness. 00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:54.640 Our eyes might be opened in the way that Paul is calling our eyes to be opened here, to look out into the world and see his wrath is always being revealed against unrighteousness. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:32:06.720 Then we can see, if we take our blinders off, we can see that the unrighteousness of the world receives the wrath of God. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:11.279 And we'll be able to see that made more plain. 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:19.359 So we're going to work through this text, but we're going to work through it with these themes of authority, power, and presence. 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:26.000 First, we're going to look at how the authority of the Lord is revealed in this plague when the Nile is turned into blood. 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:32.559 Each of the plagues begin with this phrase, then the Lord said to Moses. 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:50.799 The plagues are always begun with the Lord's authoritative initiative, and him speaking his authoritative word to Moses, here is what you are going to do. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:33:01.200 And so the Lord commands Moses in Exodus 7, 15 through 16, go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water. 00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:07.759 Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent. 00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:18.880 And you shall say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:22.079 But so far you have not obeyed. 00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:34.319 Twice now, Moses has gone to Pharaoh, and told him to let the people of Israel go, that they might worship him in the wilderness. 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:40.000 Twice Pharaoh has not obeyed the authoritative word of God. 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:49.039 So Pharaoh thinks that his authority is greater than the authority of God. 00:33:49.359 --> 00:33:51.440 He has said earlier, who is this God? 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:53.200 I have never heard of him. 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:56.480 But we can hear from what Paul has taught us. 00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:57.759 He knows. 00:33:58.880 --> 00:33:59.839 He knows. 00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:04.000 He's suppressing the truth of who God is. 00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:17.440 So we see that this becomes a contest of the Lord's authority because Pharaoh has not obeyed God's command. 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:24.960 Now, this denial of authority will have these plain consequences. 00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:32.880 The Lord will make the consequence of denying his authority explicit through the plagues that are to come. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:45.519 And by his word, he announces this terrible wonder which is going to take place against that lifeblood of Egypt, the Nile. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:50.079 Egypt has been referred to as the gift of the Nile. 00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:56.400 All of Egypt's year was structured around the flooding patterns of the Nile. 00:34:56.880 --> 00:34:59.440 All of the life of Egypt is given by the Nile. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:11.199 Do you remember one of the things that we learned in our time in Genesis is if there's a famine in Canaan, you head to because Canaan depends upon the rain. 00:35:11.840 --> 00:35:15.840 And so if there's no rain in Canaan, then you're in a famine. 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:20.320 But if there's no rain in Canaan, in Canaan, there's something you can count on. 00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:22.400 Nile's gonna flood. 00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:26.000 The Nile doesn't depend upon these rain patterns. 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:32.000 It's gonna flood, and so Egypt is gonna have some food when nobody else has food. 00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:41.039 Okay, so the Lord will announce this terrible wonder that's going to come against the lifeblood of Egypt. 00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:54.000 And he does it by his word, which means he is saying that my word is true, and you deny it at great peril. 00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:02.480 In verse 17, thus says the Lord, by this you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:11.679 Behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood. 00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:19.199 The Lord's authority is shown in saying what will take place beforehand. 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:26.639 In telling Pharaoh, look, you you don't need to wonder, was this some terrible natural phenomenon? 00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:29.039 Was there something that happened upstream? 00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:39.199 And there's something we need to monitor here about the Nile, and we need to make some intervention for it. 00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:45.920 No, you you can know by the authority of God it will turn to blood by the Lord's power. 00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:57.599 So he gives him the interpretation of what is about to take place, in that we see the authority of God demonstrated, but Pharaoh will deny the authority of the Lord. 00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:00.719 He will not trust in his word. 00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:05.360 He will not bring himself in obedience to the word of God. 00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:11.280 And therefore he will experience plainly the power of the Lord. 00:37:12.239 --> 00:37:15.199 So let's look at the power of the Lord demonstrated in this story. 00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:17.920 In Exodus 7, 20 through 21. 00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:21.840 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. 00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:31.840 In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:39.679 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. 00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:44.000 There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:48.880 The power of the Lord. 00:37:51.119 --> 00:38:01.360 The Lord, by his great power over all of creation, is able to accomplish anything that he desires. 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:06.480 We exist just by his word. 00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:12.320 So what is it for him to all of creation comes into existence by his word. 00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:16.960 What is it for the Lord to look at the Nile and say, blood now? 00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:22.159 Now you're now instead of water, your blood. 00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:32.239 You know, we don't, we this is this is alchemy to change the substance of something. 00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:55.599 And so the Lord takes this, takes this center of the life of Egypt, that which they had understood gives them their consistency and their power, their predictability, their food, their water. 00:38:57.119 --> 00:39:02.639 And God turns it into an image of death by filling it with blood. 00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:12.079 Now this story begins with uh meeting, the story of this plague begins with meeting Pharaoh at the edge of the water in the morning. 00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:20.159 And that's something like a callback, and it must have been a pattern of the Egyptians to go out to the Nile River in the morning. 00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:32.639 Uh some commentators think that this was perhaps a a, there they were actually doing something like a cleansing ritual to honor the god Hopi of the river. 00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:40.320 So he's met in the morning to turn the Nile into blood. 00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:54.239 Now, the last time that we saw this meeting of an Egyptian on the banks of the Nile in the morning was in Moses' own story, because that's where he is placed in a basket. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:06.159 And Moses's, excuse me, Pharaoh's daughter comes and finds Moses hidden in the basket at the edge of the Nile. 00:40:06.639 --> 00:40:12.960 Now remember, why is it that Moses was hidden in a basket at the edge of the Nile? 00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:33.119 It's because Pharaoh, in the most egregious abuse of his power and authority, making nothing but wickedness present to the people of God, he commanded that all of the newborn infants of the Hebrews, all the newborn male of the Hebrews, were to be cast into the Nile and killed. 00:40:34.719 --> 00:40:41.760 And so Moses is hidden so that he might be spared and not meet the same fate of his brothers. 00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:54.320 So this means that the Nile is full of the blood of Israelite boys. 00:40:56.480 --> 00:41:01.840 But Pharaoh might have thought that blood was washed away. 00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:24.159 And so the blood of the Israelite boys to Pharaoh was invisible. 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:32.639 God, in his justice, shows I see the blood. 00:41:34.159 --> 00:41:37.599 I see the blood which fills denial. 00:41:38.320 --> 00:41:40.800 And now you all will too. 00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:51.039 You see the justice in the wrath of God being revealed, you'll all see the blood. 00:41:51.440 --> 00:42:02.719 Because this thing which I made as the giver of life, which I have fed you with, you have used for destruction. 00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:10.719 And so the justice of God is revealed in his wrath against the Egyptians on the Nile. 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:21.280 But Pharaoh's heart remains hardened, even at this unthinkable demonstration of God's power. 00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:24.639 Look, the Nile is turned to blood. 00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:27.199 All of the water in Egypt is turned to blood. 00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:33.280 If you had just a vessel of water in your home, that water was turned into blood. 00:42:33.519 --> 00:42:36.239 But there must have been some water left. 00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:46.559 Because the magicians, in verse 22, it says, But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. 00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:54.719 So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them as the Lord had said. 00:42:57.199 --> 00:43:11.119 So the Egyptian magicians come to Pharaoh and they say, Look, this blood thing that we have going on because of Moses, that might seem like an incredible demonstration of the power of God. 00:43:11.920 --> 00:43:23.039 But look, this water, we, however they do it, they definitely this, this is how you do magic, turned into blood. 00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:35.599 Pharaoh seeing that his magicians were able to turn the water into blood as well, his heart is hardened again. 00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:47.760 Now, wouldn't you think Pharaoh would ask his magicians to turn the blood into water? 00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:58.880 And then maybe if they had turned the blood into water, then Pharaoh might have said, Oh, this power. 00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:02.320 Is not greater than ours. 00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:05.360 In fact, it's not even a threat to us. 00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:08.719 We are the ones with the true power. 00:44:09.039 --> 00:44:17.679 But look at the foolishness, the absurdity of the sin of Pharaoh. 00:44:19.360 --> 00:44:24.079 And this is the foolishness of a heart that denies God. 00:44:24.880 --> 00:44:38.639 If we have our own ability to multiply his wrath against us, then we think we have something like a real power. 00:44:40.800 --> 00:44:42.400 That is not power. 00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:52.000 By the power of Pharaoh, all he is able to do is plunge himself closer to death. 00:44:57.280 --> 00:45:00.719 But that power was enough to harden his heart. 00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:05.519 This is the way our hearts work. 00:45:06.559 --> 00:45:16.320 And Paul explains this as he continues on in that next verse in Romans, as he's describing how it is we are to see and understand the wrath of God when it's revealed. 00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:28.960 Romans 1.24, he says, Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. 00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:42.880 Pharaoh is only able by his power to multiply the wrath, to multiply the impurity. 00:45:43.039 --> 00:45:48.239 This water that they would have gone down to to rinse and make themselves pure is now just blood. 00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:51.679 And now, because of his power, he just has more blood. 00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:54.800 But he thinks, oh, but this is a real power. 00:45:54.960 --> 00:46:02.320 See, he's given up in the lusts of his flesh to deny the authority of God. 00:46:02.719 --> 00:46:05.519 Because what does he ultimately want to do? 00:46:05.760 --> 00:46:07.039 This exposes. 00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:11.360 Pharaoh doesn't want to restore order, to care for his people. 00:46:12.239 --> 00:46:15.679 That is not the highest thing that Pharaoh is aiming at. 00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:22.480 The highest thing that Pharaoh is aiming at is his own authority over against the authority of God. 00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:30.880 And if he gets anything, even in even something absurd, like they didn't need more blood. 00:46:33.519 --> 00:46:51.760 But if he gets even something absurd that feels like this expression of his own authority, then he's given over in his own lust to deny the authority of God. 00:46:54.639 --> 00:46:58.320 The text goes on to tell us that Pharaoh did not take even this to heart. 00:46:58.480 --> 00:47:16.159 We think, like, man, if I saw things going really badly, like if I saw God, God's wrath revealed in the world, like Pharaoh did, then I would, then I would, I would be like, no, I'm not going to go against that God anymore. 00:47:16.559 --> 00:47:19.360 My heart would be changed and it would be transformed. 00:47:19.679 --> 00:47:21.920 But that's not the way our sin works. 00:47:23.360 --> 00:47:32.800 We are so corrupted in our hearts that we'll even heap it, we'll heap more wrath upon ourselves, so long as we can show we're the ones doing it. 00:47:38.480 --> 00:47:48.159 And we can see this take place in our own culture in these sort of absurd ways that we don't think of as the revealing of the wrath of God. 00:47:48.239 --> 00:48:01.840 But look, the the wrath, the part of the revealing of the wrath of God is being given up by God in the lusts of our hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of our own bodies among ourselves. 00:48:03.599 --> 00:48:08.400 So there's two sorts of visions of wrath that we're seeing in the plague. 00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:13.840 There's the water that is now blood, that is the wrath of God. 00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:16.079 But where else is the wrath of God? 00:48:16.559 --> 00:48:23.599