Locusts And The Power Of Yahweh

[0:00] I invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Exodus. I know as many of you are here, it's Easter, our favorite Easter text, Exodus chapter 10.

[0:19] I know if you are visiting with us, we're continuing our series to the book of Exodus, and that's why we're there today. And today we're looking at this chapter 10, verses 1 through 20.

[0:30] So if you'll look there with me as I read it. Then the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.

[0:58] So Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?

[1:10] Let my people go that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land so that no one can see the land, and they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your servants, and of all the Egyptians, as neither your father nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.

[1:47] Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh's servants 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.

[1:59] Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined? So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go, serve the Lord your God.

[2:11] But which ones are to go? Moses said, We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flots and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.

[2:25] But he said to them, The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go. Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No.

[2:38] Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, for the locust, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every plant in the land, all that the hell has left.

[2:59] So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. And the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind had brought the locust.

[3:14] The locust came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt. Such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again.

[3:26] They covered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hell had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

[3:42] Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore forgive my sin, please only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.

[3:59] So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt.

[4:12] But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we again ask for your Spirit's help as your word is opened, as we look back at this event and what happened, Lord.

[4:28] We pray that we would learn from it and that you would teach us and that, Lord, our response would be that we would worship you and praise you. We ask this all in Christ's name. Amen. As I was studying for the sermon, one of the commentators I looked at quoted a story that's very fond to our family, and I thought I'd recount some of this as it gives a historical picture of another time that this happened.

[4:57] This is from the book On the Baints of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She writes, Plunk! Something hit Laura's head and fell to the ground. She looked down and saw the largest grasshopper she had ever seen.

[5:10] Then huge brown grasshoppers were hitting the ground all around her, hitting her head and her face and her arms. They came thudding down like hell. The cloud was hailing grasshoppers.

[5:23] The cloud was grasshoppers. Their bodies hid the sun and made darkness. Their thin, large wings gleamed and glittered. The rasping whirring of their wings filled the whole air and they hit the ground and the house with the noise of a hailstorm.

[5:38] Laura tried to beat them off. The claws clung to her skin and her dress. They looked at her with bulging eyes turning their heads this way and that. Mary ran screaming into the house.

[5:50] Grasshoppers covered the ground. There was not one bare bit to step on. Laura had to step on grasshoppers and they smashed squirming and slimy under her feet. Grasshoppers beat down from the sky and swarmed thick over the ground.

[6:04] Their long wings were folded and their strong leads took them hopping everywhere. The air whirred and the roof went on on sounding like a roof in a hailstorm.

[6:16] Then Laura heard another sound one big sound made of tiny nips and snips and gnawings. The grasshoppers were eating. You could hear the millions of jaws biting and chewing.

[6:28] Day after day the grasshoppers kept on eating. They ate all the wheat and the oats. They ate every green thing all the garden and all the prairie grass. The whole prairie was bare and brown.

[6:40] Millions of brown grasshoppers were low over it. Not a green thing was in sight. So that's from a fiction book but it's a historical narrative of what happened in America many years ago and so maybe that account can help relate to it and at least for our kids if you're not familiar with the locust we do get them here.

[7:00] I've seen them in my garden. We've chased them around our garden but they're like a grasshopper. They're bigger. They do have those big bulging eyes and big wings but a thick grasshopper and so that's what's being described here larger than a normal grasshopper and you can see there are times in which historically there have been such pleads but as we read nothing quite like this one.

[7:21] As we look at this account we're continuing to look at how God or Yahweh as he's referred to here that Lord in all capitals how God defeated the gods of the Egyptians and Pharaoh in this great empire of Egypt and so we'll be seeing some of that today.

[7:37] What I'd like for us to look at first is just talk about the plague itself the plague of locusts then secondly the pride of Pharaoh that's mentioned and thirdly to look at a story that's to be taught. So again those three points the plague of locusts the pride of Pharaoh and a story to be taught.

[7:53] So first the plague of locusts. We see in verses four through six that a warning is given to Pharaoh as we look to these plagues sometimes Pharaoh and the Egyptians are giving a warning sometimes they are not and this time we see a warning given.

[8:08] Remember we just saw last week the plague of the hill and it had destroyed almost everything in the land that included beasts plant and tree whatever was outside it had destroyed.

[8:21] Before that was the plague of the livestock that had killed many of those already and so there's not much left in the land of Egypt. You see in verse seven that Pharaoh's servants said to him how long shall this man be a snare to us?

[8:35] Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined? And so before the locusts even come the servants are describing Egypt already as being ruined.

[8:49] Back in our last chapter chapter nine verse thirty two we read that the wheat and the emmer were not struck down for they are late in coming up. Remember we talked about that these last few pleds are going to go over about a three or four month period and so what's being described here we see that when the hell came we can understand this even in terms of crops today some of them had not yet come up out of the ground or had not yet budded and by the time this happens those things now are up and they're maybe ready to be harvested or close to being ready to be harvested and now the locusts are going to come and consume whatever was left.

[9:24] Any of the trees that may have re-bloomed or re-grown branches the locusts are going to take care of that and so this is going to put Egypt in the point of a famine that may last for some time and what little hope they had that they might gain some crop this year is going to be ruined by the coming of the locusts and so now the hell has melted away and the locusts are going to come and eat whatever is left by the hell as we read in verse 5.

[9:57] In verse 12 through 15 we actually see the description of what happened in the plague. The Lord says to Moses stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land all that the hell has left.

[10:14] So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night when it was morning the east wind had brought the locusts and the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before nor ever will be again.

[10:35] They covered the face of the whole land so that the land was darkened and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hell had left. Not a green thing remained neither tree nor plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.

[10:49] And so there we get a very thorough accounting of what took place with the locusts. Locusts can eat their own body weight which may not sound very impressive since they only weigh two grams right that's not a lot but just imagine for us what it would be like to eat our own body weight in a day.

[11:06] Maybe you've seen some of those restaurants that offer those challenges if you can eat the 60 ounce steak you get it for free and people attempt it and the reason they can offer it for free is there are not many people who can eat 60 ounces of steak.

[11:20] Can you imagine eating your own body weight but again their body weight is only two ounces or two grams so that may not sound like a lot but together they can do great damage.

[11:32] Another commentator of Redfield Riken recounted several historical pleads in our country much like what we read from Laura Ingalls Wilder. In the 1920s and 1930s locusts swept across Africa and wiped out 5 million square miles an area almost double the size of the United States wiped out by one plague of locusts and then the Times reported on a plague of locusts in 2001 in Africa and the Middle East where the Dead Sea was as thick as 10,000 locusts per 10 square feet so 10 square feet and they're being 10,000 so historically now we can count for this and scientifically we measured so we're talking 10,000 locusts per 10 square feet that's a very very small area 5 foot by 2 foot if you can imagine probably not much wider than our pulpit as deep as it is that kind of area of the pulpit here we're talking about with 10,000 locusts in it and so

[12:36] I did the math with a little help of conversion and so that that kind of plague then they could eat 44 pounds per 10 square feet 44 pounds of food in one day and so that kind of gives us perspective and then we're told in God's word that this was the worst that had happened and that ever will happen so this great plague of 2001 of locusts in Africa in the Middle East with 10,000 per 10 square feet doesn't yet meet up with the standard of what we see happening here in Egypt so there were more there at that time so at the very least we could say more than 44 pounds per 10 square feet in a day or four I mean if we want to divide that out four and a half pounds per square foot a day there's not that much crop there they wiped it out they desolated the land of Egypt now we talked some all along the way about the different gods that God is defeating the gods of the

[13:40] Egyptians that they worship there's a god M-I-N men who is the Egyptian god of crops and harvest they also have a god of grain they they have a god who guarded the fields the whole job of this god was to protect the fields from any kind of plague and then they had a god who protected them from pests as well and so it's hard to pin down exactly which god it is that Yahweh is defeating in this perhaps God is showing his superiority over multiple gods in this plague none of these gods can help them they can cry out to them but they cannot remove the plague but notice what happens in verses 18 and 19 God removes the plague completely when Moses prays he says a very strong wind that drives them into the Red Sea and notice it's all the locusts not one is left so again this points to the miraculous nature of it the fact that all of them would be blown away we just know humanly speaking that seems almost impossible but God in his power with wind blows them all away and to their death and again we see that this is in response to Moses prayer and I thought maybe just an application for us is what we see in James 4 2 where

[15:03] James asks the question how often do we not have because we do not ask and we're encouraged I think to pray Moses prays and God hears and answers in a magnificent way secondly I want us to see the pride of Pharaoh look with me at verse 3 so Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and said to him thus says the Lord the God of the Hebrews how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me let my people go that they may serve me now we see that question there at the end of verse 3 not a statement but let my people go that they may serve me and that is going back to a question that we have seen all along there is a debate or challenge that is going on between Yahweh and Pharaoh remember Pharaoh was deified in Egypt he was seen as a god and the question is who will the Israelites serve are they servants of Pharaoh or are they servants of Yahweh and so it may seem strange to us that the

[16:07] Lord said to Pharaoh how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me and what's the evidence of this let my people go that they may serve me the pride that Pharaoh is exerting is he won't let them go to serve God why because they serve me that's what Pharaoh is thinking they're my servants they don't serve another god they don't bow the knee to someone else they serve me and so this is why we see it described even as pride Pharaoh thought so highly of himself that he did not believe that Yahweh could be a more powerful god than him or the gods of Egypt that Yahweh could defeat him or that Yahweh was more deserving of service than him and so the question that's asked is how long God asked him through Moses and Aaron how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me how long will it take he has already at this point seen seven pleads this is before the plague of the locust he seen seven pleads and he learned the name of

[17:14] Yahweh he uses it in the passage later on he speaks of the Lord that all capitals Yahweh he knows the name remember that was the thing early even though he is not yet obeying him so he has seen the pleads he has learned the name of Yahweh we have seen already in verse seven that his servants say the land is ruined and so the pleads have been so devastating upon Egypt that even the servants of Pharaoh who are closest to him have the most reason to pad the truth a little bit less Pharaoh be angry even they are saying the land is ruined can you imagine what the people on the streets are saying about Egypt at this time even we saw in the last passage and we're going to see he does this again but we saw with the plague of the hell that he acknowledged that he had sinned and he asked Moses and Aaron to pray to Yahweh for relief you could look back there verses 27 and 28 of chapter 9 then

[18:19] Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them this time I have sinned the Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong plead with the Lord for there has been enough of God's thunder and hell I will let you go and you shall stay no longer and we saw last time that of course after it ended he hardened his heart and he would not do that and so every time that his situation improves the pride returns even though the plague itself may humble him to cry out to the Lord to acknowledge that he was wrong and that Yahweh was right that's huge for Pharaoh to do to acknowledge anyone other than him is right and that he is wrong but especially to do that in relation to his pride and forgets all about the promises that he's made and so Moses' assessment that we saw last time in verse 30 of chapter 9 is correct he said there but as for you and your servants

[19:26] I know that you do not yet fear the Lord and we can talk about the fear of the Lord it's not just that he's afraid of the Lord there's this reverence and awe and wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord Proverbs speaks to that it's talking about not just that we're afraid of God but there's reverence and awe that there's worship of this God and so Moses is saying look even though you're saying this I know you don't worship God yet and yet he still prays to God for relief and he does it again here in our passage we'll see in a moment but Moses isn't deceived and we should not be either what we see demonstrated by Pharaoh isn't genuine belief he hasn't been converted to the God of the Israelites why does he ask him to pray same reason so many of us often times may pray to God we want the situation to be better we want things to change and as soon as God changes the situation we don't need

[20:27] God anymore thanks for taking care of that maybe we acknowledge it maybe we just forget about it we're just glad things have changed and we go about our life until the next disaster happens and maybe we cry out to God again then for relief and so Moses is treating God the way many do I think especially many unbelievers there are people who say I don't believe in God and situations get bad enough they cry out to God and Pharaoh is doing something along that nature now and I wonder the question that goes to Pharaoh is asked not only by him but also by his servants God asked Pharaoh how long for seven then Pharaoh's servants said him how long shall this man be a snare to us so notice they reverse it God is saying how long will you be in your pride his servants say how long will Moses be a snare to us but how is

[21:29] Moses going to stop being a snare to us what is it that Pharaoh's servants are encouraging him to do let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God so they're encouraging Pharaoh to do something what they're really asking is Pharaoh how long will you refuse to let them go don't let this man keep being a snare to us and so in two different ways Pharaoh's question how long and I think the same could be asked of all of us how long will it take you what will it take for you to maybe salvation maybe you're not a Christian here today and you've seen many things much like Pharaoh seen you've heard God's word preached maybe you've read parts of God's word maybe you face calamity and suffering in your life how long will it take before you turn and bow the knee to God maybe Christian it's sin or idolatry in your heart that you're not yet ready to let go of what will it take how long before you put that sin to death you give up that idol that you worship the

[22:37] Lord fully maybe it's a choice of humility or we see even with Pharaoh there's a choice that's given to him between humility or humiliation will you humble yourself or will God humble you humiliate you humble you 1 Peter 5 5 through 6 says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble humble yourselves therefore under so at the proper time he may exalt you this could be the words to Pharaoh at this time humble yourself but it's good for us to remember as well God opposes the proud there's not one of us who doesn't struggle with pride in some area of our life we need to be encouraged that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble therefore we ought to humble ourselves that God at the proper time might exalt us and so Pharaoh hears what his servants say and he actually tells them tells Moses and Aaron that the Israelites can go but only the men he clarifies maybe this this could be part of

[23:45] Pharaoh's own understanding of worship that the worship of God is only for the males in society it probably more likely is a ploy to keep the Israelites as his servants to keep them from leaving for good if he keeps the women and the children then they have to come back they can't really leave even though he knows and we've talked about this already there's talk about them going to worship but it's clear what's being indicated is we're going to go worship God in the desert and we're leaving you for good he will be our God we'll follow him after that so maybe he's saying fine you can do a little worship just like he did before you can go out but not too far no he said you can go out but but only the men can go out and not the women and really he motts Yahweh in verse 10 when Moses answers no we're going to go and we're going to go with our young and our old and with our men and our women and with all our animals he responds no go the men among you and serve the Lord for that is what you were asking and they were driven out from

[24:47] Pharaoh's presence I'm sorry I'm looking for verse 10 but he said the Lord be with you Yahweh be with you if ever I let you and your little ones go so his response to Moses statement is Yahweh is really with you if I'm ever going to let you go and he's saying it sarcastically yeah right Yahweh would have to be with you if you ever think I'm going to let you go and he's not or he's not powerful enough you don't have that kind of power to make me let them go that's never going to happen is what he's saying and so there's this sarcasm where really he's mocking their God yeah your God's really going to be with you if that's going to happen and by implication he's with you if you leave which is quite striking because we know the end of the story don't we they do leave and

[25:51] Pharaoh is defeated and so Pharaoh's mocking statement of God almost becomes not a profession of his faith but a profession of the reality of God God's really with you if you're able to get out of here if I one day let you go that's proof that God is with you and then he does which is quite remarkable and he accuses them of evil purposes and ultimately he drives them out of his presence all these are actions really of a proud man and I think he's accusing them of evil primarily because their intent is to leave him and to no longer serve Pharaoh and so Pharaoh never did humble himself his heart was too hard we see that God hardened his heart for a purpose yet it was fully Pharaoh's sinful choice to refuse to let the people go and then thirdly finally I want us to see that there's a story to be taught look at chapter 10 verses 1 and 2 then the

[26:57] Lord said to Moses go into Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants that I may show these signs of mine and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them that you may know that I am the Lord and so we see at the very end of this is a purpose statement why is all this happening that you may know that I am the Lord and again we can flesh it out some you may know I am Yahweh what does that entail what does my name mean who am I what is my character that you may rightly know and worship me all this is taking place and so there's a purpose statement why the pleads why the hardness of Pharaoh's heart his resistance to let them go it's all so that they may know the Lord and we've seen elsewhere in it says already that it's not just the Israelites who are going to find out they're going to hear of him beforehand and we see as well not just the purpose but that this is something that is to be taught that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how

[28:13] I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them that you may know that I am the Lord so that you isn't just Moses or Aaron it's not just all those Israelites who live in land who is it that God desires may know who he is it's subsequent generations those who will be taught this story so he's brought all this about so that they would tell future generations and that those future generations would know the Lord and worship him and serve him as their God I thought about how we read earlier the account from Laura Ingalls Wilder she wrote of her own experience so that other generations could read about it and learn from what she experienced maybe even be entertained by what she said and if we feel like experiences in our life are such that we want others to know about them we want to pass it on how much more so something of this gratitude God's glory is at stake we should teach others about it

[29:24] Moses reminds the Israelites after they come out of the land in Deuteronomy 6 1-2 and verses 20-25 we read this Moses says now this is the commandment the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it that you may fear the Lord your God you and your son and your son son by keeping all his statutes and his commandments which I command you all the days of your life and that your days may be long and then verse 20 it says when your son asks you in the time to come what is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Egypt with a mighty hand and the Lord showed signs and wonders great and grievous against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes and he brought us out from there that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers and the

[30:30] Lord commanded us to do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always so Moses is reminded them before they enter into the promised land teach these things to your kids and what are they to teach it's interesting Moses has combined two things now because something else has happened God has given his law at Mount Sinai he given them the Ten Commandments and so remember what God did in delivering us from Egypt that we might serve him and what does service look like it's obedience to what God has given us in his word likewise we see in it says 18 after they leave Egypt Moses encounters his father-in-law Jethro and we read in verses chapter 18 verses 8 through 11 then Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to

[31:31] Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake all the hardship that had come upon them in the way and how the Lord had delivered them and Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians Jethro said blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people and that's really close to what we're seeing exactly in the story isn't it Moses listen to what happened what God did to the Egyptians how he delivered us listen to the Exodus account that we're reading that we're studying through right now and what is the response of Jethro he rejoiced for all the good that the

[32:34] Lord had done to Israel he's taking joy in what God has done in delivering the Israelites but notice it doesn't stop there he says blessed be the Lord who has the God who is sovereign over all gods the God of gods the king of kings he's come to this knowledge and what has brought him to this knowledge even can I say this profession of faith what's brought him there it's what's happened in the Exodus it's these pleads that have come upon Egypt it's the miraculous deliverance of them from the hand of

[33:36] Pharaoh and Egypt and so he says gods because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people what did God say how long will you oppose me in your pride they dealt arrogantly with the people and God has shown himself to be more powerful and stronger if you read through the book of Psalms there are numerous times in which we see the Exodus account recounted in the Psalms that reminded this over and again and there's so but this Exodus account is really the prototype or the shadow of the gospel itself and so it becomes the archetypal salvation of the Old Testament what does it mean that God will save us well here's an example of salvation God saved us from the Egyptians he brought us out of bondage and he brought us into the promised land this is what salvation will be like and so we understand that what we're reading here is pointing us to a greater reality and that greater reality is something that we can relate to that we are born in bondage to sin much like those

[34:56] Egyptians were being born in slavery and bondage to the Egyptians we too are born in slavery to sin and we need deliverance from that and we serve this God really the God the prince of the power the air we're servants of Satan in our sin and we need deliverance and how are we to have that deliverance well I don't want to spoil too much of the coming weeks because we're getting very close but we understand that the Passover points us to the death of a lamb so that the firstborn child would not die and this all is pointing us to the reality of the fact that God would send his firstborn son as that Passover lamb who would die in our place that we would not face death and even as we celebrate today Christ is resurrected he did not stay dead but he was resurrected his sacrifice was sufficient God received that sacrifice and so we're reminded of the gospel and even as they are brought into the promised land we're reminded that this world is not our home much like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness we're wandering in a place that really is in our home and we long to be there to enter into that promised land of a new earth and a new heavens we rejoice in that day so again the story is teaching us the gospel it's teaching them the character and the power of God who is Yahweh what is he like well this shows us what he's like it teaches them to look through salvation look for salvation through a son that's to come through a sacrifice a Passover lamb that one day would come it also teaches them that they were saved to glorify God they're to know who the Lord is we see even the response of Jethro that he responds in praise of God it's the end for which God has made man that we would glorify him and enjoy him forever and so there's a lot that's being taught to them so what are you to do?

[37:06] you're to teach this to your kid and your grandkids why? so that they may know and worship the God and so it's to be passed on to generation from generation to generations and I think we need to be encouraged that parents we have that same responsibility today God's given us His Word we're to keep on teaching the story it's one reason we preach through God's Word the way we do because we believe that it's the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes and so we preach the Word of God we teach the Word of God we teach it to our kids we teach it to our grandkids and again it's not just the Exodus we've been given so much more now in the fullness of the Word of God and we understand even in greater depth than Moses did the reality of the salvation that came through the Son of God Jesus Christ and so what I see being communicated to us here is teach the Exodus to your kids but don't just teach it as some neat story isn't it cool that God delivered them but teach them the Gospel account teach them how this points us to Christ give your kids the Gospel that they may praise the Lord and worship Him and so we have a greater story or at least a more full accounting of the story of the Gospel than is given even in the Exodus and so here at a day like Easter we celebrate Jesus' death and His resurrection you know we gather on Sundays because it's the Lord's Day we're celebrating every Sunday the resurrection of our Lord so that's for all you who are disappointed

[38:42] I didn't preach an Easter sermon every Sunday we're celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and this day is no different I see even in the account of the Exodus when we're told teach this to our children what we're being communicated or what's being told to us is to teach the Gospel communicate the story of God's salvation and how He's done that that our children may know God His character, His power, His attributes that they may worship Him and serve Him and that God may be glorified on the earth I think of Paul when Paul said we preach Christ crucified may that be our story as well whatever we say whatever we teach may we preach Christ and Him crucified let's pray together dear Heavenly Father we do thank you for your word and we pray that we would take to heart what we've seen here that you would work in the hearts of all who are gathered here that we would believe the truth the reality of what we see here that we would know that there is salvation in no other name but in the name of Jesus Christ Lord we think of the pleads that fell upon Egypt and as horrific as they are we know that there is a day of judgment coming

[39:51] Lord even earlier in our scripture reading from earlier we read in Acts He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead to Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name Lord we know that Christ has been appointed to be the judge of all the earth and that one day there will come a judgment and those who have not put their trust in Him will face something far worse than what the Egyptians face but Lord we're encouraged by those words everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name Lord we pray that would be true of all who are here today that we would put our faith in Jesus Christ and that in Him we would find that deliverance that salvation that exit us from our slavery to sin that we would find forgiveness of sins and that we would know that there awaits us eternal life with our Heavenly Father we pray this in the name of our great Savior

[40:55] Jesus Christ Amen