A Prelude to Death

[0:00] If you'll please open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 11.

[0:30] Today we'll be looking at the entire chapter, which is only 10 verses, but chapter 11 verses 1 through 10, if you'll look there with me.

[0:42] The Lord said to Moses, yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.

[0:55] Speak now in the hearing of the people that they ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry.

[1:08] 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, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.

[1:21] So Moses said, thus says the Lord. About midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die for the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle.

[1:45] There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord mates a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

[2:06] And all these, your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, get out, you and all the people who follow you. And after that, I will go out.

[2:19] And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

[2:32] Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land. If you will, let's look at chapter 12, verse 29 through 32.

[2:45] At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock.

[3:02] And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

[3:12] Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel and go serve the Lord. As you have said, take your flots and your herds, as you have said, and be gone and bless me also.

[3:30] Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and pray that you would help us to understand it now, that you would apply the truth of your word to our hearts by your spirit.

[3:42] And that you'd be glorified in the preaching of it. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. We have come finally to at least the warning of the tent plague.

[3:53] And you see, I skipped a little bit and we went ahead and read the tent plague. One reason I went ahead and read that is because you see it's really a repetition. It's the fulfillment of exactly what God said. We have an interlude in between that Lord willing, we'll look at next week.

[4:07] But for now, we see the warning of the last of the 10th pleads. And this chapter really is a transition into that last plague. It's a conclusion of the first nine pleads and really an introduction to the 10th.

[4:21] And as I said, we've already now read what happens in the 10th plague. We see that God is the God of life and of death. He is sovereign over our time on earth.

[4:34] You may remember back in our last message, chapter 10, verse 28. Moses made a claim. Then Pharaoh said to him, get away from me. Take care never to see my face again.

[4:44] For on the day you see my face, you shall die. And so Pharaoh has threatened Moses' death. And we've already seen that Pharaoh believes himself to be a God.

[4:58] And so he's exerting his sovereign power as God to declare when Moses will die. When you see my face, you will die. I think that's true because we see later on in the same book, Exodus 33, 20, when Moses is on Mount Sinai to receive God's word, to meet there with God, what God says to him is this, you cannot see my face, for man should not see me and live.

[5:29] And so the proclamation of Pharaoh is very similar to what God would say later on. You can't see me and live. He's warning Moses almost with divine power and authority. I have the power over life and death for you.

[5:41] And God's response is, no, I do. And he demonstrates that to the nation. So let's look at what happens here in this chapter. First, we see the Lord speaking to Moses in verses 1 through 3.

[5:55] I would argue that this is apparent. As we think of the chronology, we have this parentheses right here. We have a stopping. There's information being given to us that probably doesn't follow the logical chronological order in verses 1 through 3.

[6:08] In verse 1, we see, As we look at that, remember what we saw at the end of chapter 10, 28 and 29.

[6:26] I just read part of that already. Then Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me. Take care never to see my face again. For on the day you see my face, you shall die. Moses said, As you say, I will not see your face again.

[6:38] So the question then is, does Moses immediately leave Pharaoh's presence? If so, what happens in verses 4 and following in chapter 11? Because he's speaking to Pharaoh.

[6:49] And what I'd argue is that verses 1 through 3 are one of two possibilities. Either Moses is in the presence of Pharaoh and God speaks to Moses in that moment, the words that we read in verses 1 through 3.

[7:03] Or what I think more likely is that Moses is now including in parentheses here, this is what God told me before I entered into Moses' presence. But either way, God is telling Moses something.

[7:19] I think verse 2 even indicates that this message preceded Moses being in Pharaoh's presence. Look at verse 2. Speak now in the hearing of the people that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of his neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.

[7:39] And so, again, this isn't crucial for you understanding the passage. I'm just trying to help in us formulating this. But for now, he was told to speak now in the presence of the people.

[7:49] In all likelihood, when he receives this message, he's with the people. If he later returned to Pharaoh, then we have a problem because Pharaoh's already said, I'm going to kill you if I see you again. So I think in all likelihood, he's recounting what happened before he entered into Pharaoh's presence to discuss with him the night plague when he was driven out or the response to the night plague of darkness.

[8:10] So he's giving this message to them. Now he's in Pharaoh's presence and he's speaking to him and he's recounting this is what he's heard from the Lord. And for the first time, Moses is told in verse 1 that the tenth plague will be the last plague.

[8:26] Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh. This whole time, Moses hasn't known, at least it hasn't been recorded to us, that he has any idea how many plagues there will be. He's just going about the work as God has ordered him to.

[8:38] But now he's told there will be one last plague. And he knows the result of the plague. Look at the last part of verse 1. And afterward, he will let you go from here.

[8:49] When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. And so there's one plague left, and we know the end result of this plague is Pharaoh's going to drive out the people. He's going to let them go. Not just the three-day journey, as had been mentioned or proposed, and not just the men or just the men, women, and children without the animals.

[9:13] As Moses had said, you're going to let us go even to the very last hoof. He's going to drive all of them out, including all the animals, everything they have. Now God had promised this back in chapter 6, verse 1, before any of the plagues began.

[9:29] But the Lord said to Moses, now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand, he will send them out. And with a strong hand, he will drive them out of his land. And so again, we see God's sovereignty over Pharaoh.

[9:42] And everything that has taken place so far, God's known, we see at the end, God knows Pharaoh's hard heart. He knows how many pledges there will be.

[9:56] He knows at what point Pharaoh will drive them out. And he's planned this all along. And so as Pharaoh sets himself up as God, God shows him to be God of gods, reigning over Pharaoh, reigning over the gods of Egypt.

[10:11] Now he's to speak to the Israelites, verse 2, and ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry.

[10:27] And so jewelry here literally means articles. It probably indicated some kind of, it could have been anything artistic hanging, not just necklaces or earrings or whatever we might think of, but a whole host of other things.

[10:42] Your fancy stuff in your house, give it to us. Your nicest things, bring them to us. And so they're to ask the neighbor of that. And as we see neighbor there, remember they're living in the land of Goshen.

[10:53] It's not, we're not talking about net store neighbors. We're talking about people in surrounding lands, maybe people you see when you pass going to work. They might not know you very well at all. Just go ask people to give you their good stuff.

[11:04] I mean, you know how well that would work, right? I mean, if I just told you, go out and ask people in Hazleton if you can have their good stuff, some of you might not make it back alive, right? But they're to go and ask for these things.

[11:18] How is it that the Egyptians give away their good stuff to the Israelites? We know that that plan wouldn't work for us in Hazleton.

[11:31] So how do they pull it off? Well, look at verse three. Yeah, verse three. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and wore over the man. Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

[11:48] So two parts of that. God's given them favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Why would that be? They're slaves.

[11:59] They're probably, if we even, not that they're arguing a caste system, but these would have been the lowest people in society. They spoke a different language. They may have been able to speak your language, but they were really a different cultural people.

[12:15] Why would they find favor? Well, God's doing something. In the heart of the Egyptians, to cause them to find favor. Or for the Israelites to find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.

[12:28] So God's done something miraculous, as it were, to make them be light. Apparently so light that you're glad to give them your jewelry. Some of you don't even like your own family enough to give away your jewelry, right?

[12:39] But they find such great favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, that they're giving away their best things to the Israelites. And then secondly, it's because of this fear or reverence for the person of Moses.

[12:54] He's regarded as great in the land. By now, they've seen nine pleads. And whether or not they understand fully that Yahweh is behind it, Moses is the one that's come before them. He's the leader of the people, and he's caused these things to happen, whether directly or indirectly.

[13:09] And so what we see expressed, I think, in terms of their favor for the Israelites and their reverence for Moses is in some way or another a realization that there's a greater God than our gods.

[13:22] We'll see later on that in the Exodus, there are some Egyptians that actually leave with the Israelites. There are some who maybe have become believers in Yahweh.

[13:35] But even if they're not to that point, they at least have a reverence for, they know how great this God is and his fear for him and his people. They revere them. They respect them. So these are natural outworkings of the pleads themselves, but also the supernatural work of God in the hearts of the Egyptians.

[13:56] We see a fulfillment of what was promised in Exodus 3, 20 through 22, where God said, So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go, and I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.

[14:13] And when you go, you shall not go empty. But each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, so you shall plunder the Egyptians.

[14:28] You're going to rob them. You're going to take their wealth from them. God's going to conquer them without really any military effort. Not one Israelite will have to fight, and yet you're going to defeat them, you're going to kill off many of them, and you're going to take their wealth from them when you leave.

[14:45] And so maybe we could say that the Israelites are repaid for the labor that they've done as slaves. There may be some truth to God repaying them for their labors, but I think it's more than that. God is defeating the Egyptians.

[14:59] He's bringing judgment upon them, and as he said, he's showing favoritism, partiality to his people. The Egyptians have no more hope in their gods to protect them. Yahweh stripped that away, and so now the Israelites are feared because our gods can't stop them.

[15:16] Our gods can't prevent whatever it is that they're going to do. And then in verses 4 through 8, we see the response or what God says to Pharaoh. Now, if what I made sense in the introduction, if what I said in the introduction made sense, my statement about making sense didn't make sense.

[15:37] If what I said in the introduction made sense, you'll follow that I think chapter 10, verse 28, is a straight continuation to chapter 11, verse 4.

[15:48] We're picking up where we left off. So Moses said, he's continuing to speak to Pharaoh. This is before he leaves Pharaoh's presence for the last time. And it's apparent here that Pharaoh does not share the reverence for Moses and Yahweh that the rest of the nation has.

[16:05] We saw the reverence mentioned in verse 3, but Pharaoh doesn't share that same reverence. What's coming now is going to be a final judgment on the gods of the Egyptians.

[16:17] Chapter 12, verse 12. If you'll look there with me, we see God saying, for I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments and the Lord.

[16:37] Now, I've argued all along that the gods of Egypt are spiritual beings that they're actually worshiping. And I said, that may be hard for us to think about because when we think about other religions and we tend to think they're just worshiping make-believe stuff.

[16:59] But God's going to show His power over these gods. He's going to put these gods in their place. He's speaking as though these are real spiritual beings, entities. And this last plague, along with all the plagues as we've seen so far, is going to show that power.

[17:14] God's sovereignty over them. In all of them, I've talked to you about one god or another.

[17:25] This god, maybe Osiris, is the god of the dead. There's other gods that are related to death. But Osiris was the god of the dead. He was really one of the great gods.

[17:36] And here, God is showing His power over the dead. That He can bring death and that Osiris cannot stop it. He predicts there will be a set time as we've seen before. About midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt.

[17:49] And we see in verse 29 of chapter 12, the fulfillment. At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. So there's an exact time that's going to take. You'll have no doubt when midnight comes, the firstborn will die.

[18:03] And interestingly enough, in verse 4, we see how this happens. About midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt. This is God speaking.

[18:16] Yahweh's going to go out. This may be the angel of the Lord. This may be, it's often God's spoken of, especially in the prophets, as a warrior, that God goes before His people to fight for them.

[18:29] But God is going to bring this death Himself. I tend to think this means God's not using secondary means. We've talked about this some, right? We understand secondary means.

[18:40] God's not just using some disease. Just imagine there is no disease possible that could isolate and pick out only the firstborn in every family. Right?

[18:50] No disease is that specific. There's not any genetic differences between the first and secondborn. How would they even know? God is doing something miraculous here.

[19:01] He is sovereignly bringing death apart from secondary means. I say that apart from secondary. God may have all caused them to have a heart attack at the same time.

[19:14] But we understand the natural course of events that wouldn't have happened, especially to young children. But God, however, does this Himself. He goes about and does it. It's divine judgment upon the Egyptians.

[19:26] There's no mediation by Moses or Aaron. This is the first time that hasn't happened. Every other time Moses and Aaron, they've lifted the staff. They've been involved in this. But this time, God is doing it apart from any mediation.

[19:42] Every firstborn will die regardless of their status or position. Even the handmaiden who's working at the mill. And we see the fulfillment in chapter 12 that it talks about even the slave in the dungeon.

[19:55] that every one of them, there's no exception, all Egyptians, the firstborn child in every family will die regardless of their age. I just thought it would be a good experiment for us to get an idea of this because I don't know how this will turn out either.

[20:10] But let me explain to adults and kids alike. When we think of firstborn, we tend to think of children. It just means the firstborn in a family. That means there may be some of you who are elderly who are the firstborn in your family.

[20:24] But if you will, how about, could you raise your hand if you're the firstborn in your family? The first child born in that family. How many do we have here? Yeah, it's exactly what I expected.

[20:36] There's more than we might think when we think of firstborn. I would have guessed about 40% of our congregation is firstborn. Every family that has a child has a firstborn child. Right? Not every family has a second child or a third child.

[20:49] So if you pitch, we're only going to kill the fifth child in every family, there wouldn't be so many families affected. But, it's a firstborn child. And so, I didn't even look back at the Medinas, which, they have twins, which one are you first?

[21:07] So, even with twins, there's always one that comes out usually first. And so, the firstborn in every family dies. And so, this affected every family and every household.

[21:20] there's not one household that's exempt. Every household has a firstborn in it and every one of them lost a child. A child.

[21:31] At some point, a child. An adult, perhaps. Even the firstborn of the cattle, it says, all the firstborn of all the livestock is what it says in verse 29.

[21:44] And so, remember, the livestock has already had a plague of their own. Then they had the hell that killed many of them. Some of them may have been kept in the barns and survived. Or, at this point, they may have actually bought some from the Israelites or from other surrounding nations.

[21:56] They brought more livestock in and now the firstborn of those die. And remarkably, this includes even Pharaoh's son who was to sit on the throne.

[22:12] We don't really know from historical record about the Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh's spoken of later on in the passage it may well be that someone else was appointed because the firstborn child normally was the Pharaoh.

[22:24] It could be that Pharaoh himself died. But at the very least we're told that his son who was to sit on the throne was to die. Now, why is that remarkable? Remember what we said about Pharaoh already?

[22:35] Pharaoh is considered a god. And so his son was a son of a god. He too was divine. He one day was going to take over the throne. Even the child was worshipped in the country.

[22:47] And so God didn't just defeat their gods, God killed their god. And so he overwhelmingly shows his power over Egypt and their gods.

[23:04] Now Moses and Pharaoh both knew this plague was coming for a long time. Chapter 4, verse 22 and 23. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me.

[23:21] If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. So before the pledge started, Moses told Pharaoh, here's what's going to happen. You're going to let us go and if you don't, God's going to kill your son.

[23:36] And we go through all the pleads and Pharaoh doesn't do it. Knowing that this is coming and in the end it's exactly as God said. And we get a glimpse as to why firstborn sons.

[23:50] I mean, God could have wiped out the entire nation. God could have picked something else. Why the firstborn? Well, we see it's because of God's view of Israel. You've hurt my firstborn son.

[24:05] My firstborn has been mistreated by you. If you won't let them go to worship me then I will take the life of your firstborn. And so we see that it's divine justice.

[24:19] It's retributive justice by God for how they have been treating the Israelites. And we're going to get to this more. But let me just say it also ultimately points to Jesus Christ, doesn't it?

[24:33] Israel was their firstborn son but so is Christ. And it's Christ who's going to have to go to the cross and die that his people can be saved and delivered from their bondage to sin.

[24:44] We'll get more on that Lord willing but for now I just want you not to miss that there's a reason for the firstborn and ultimately it's pointing us to Jesus Christ. But for now at least it's God's view of his people Israel.

[24:58] They're his children. And so Egypt loses their children. And we see in verse 6 that the Egyptians will cry greatly throughout the land.

[25:10] There's even maybe a play on words back in chapter 2 23 and chapter 3 in verse 7 and in verse 9 we see the Israelites cried to the Lord and the Lord heard them and delivered them.

[25:24] And now the Egyptians are going to cry but it's a whole different kind of crying. It's the loudest weeping that had ever been heard in Egypt maybe in the world based on the language it's hard to tell exactly if it's all the world or just in Egypt.

[25:36] There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as there has never been nor ever will be again. Is God talking universally throughout the world? Perhaps. But can you imagine every household maybe it starts with they hear a screaming next door and they wake up and honey did you hear that?

[25:55] You shake them and they're dead and now you're screaming and you go into your kid's bedroom and one of your children have died and now you're wailing all the more and your neighbor hears it and it just spread throughout the land so there's not a household that isn't crying because they've lost someone.

[26:17] Look at verse 7. Then they shall take I'm sorry verse 7 of chapter 11 but not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel either man or beast that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

[26:35] So we see a purpose given to us. This is going to come about that they will know that God makes a distinction between these two people the people of Egypt and the people of Israel. No person or animal will even threaten the Israelites.

[26:50] They will be completely untouched unharmed none of their children will die. And again the purpose is so that Pharaoh in Egypt will know that the Lord makes a distinction between those who worship Him and those who worship the God of the Egyptians.

[27:08] Between those who are His children and those who are not His children. Now that may be quite remarkable but I want you to consider Matthew 25 Jesus' words in verses 31 and following He says when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him then He will sit on His glorious throne.

[27:37] Before Him will be gathered all the nations and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right but the goats on the left.

[27:50] Then the King will say to those on His right come you who are blessed by my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then He will say to those on His left depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

[28:09] And so the Lord's returning and what we see here is really a foretaste of that final judgment. God will judge the world He will make a separation. There will be someone who's right and someone who's left.

[28:23] And so as hard as it may be for us to reckon with what happens here realize that we're getting a foretaste of a much greater judgment that will come. It will be done again and in a greater way.

[28:38] And the result of this plague will ultimately be God's worship. Verse 8 God now speaking through Moses through or through Aaron through Moses through Moses through Aaron to Pharaoh God says and all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying get out you and all the people who follow you and after that I will go out and he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

[29:09] And so Pharaoh's people are going to come and bow down perhaps physically to Moses ultimately to Yahweh bow down and beg them to leave.

[29:20] So again I would argue it's going to end in the worship of God by a people who worship other gods. And in verses 9 through 10 we see Pharaoh's response there's not a lot here.

[29:34] Verse 9 even may be out of order it's probably a summary of what God has told Moses all along. Then the Lord said to Moses Pharaoh will not listen to you that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

[29:46] We've seen that same phrase repeated multiple times even from the very beginning. Why has Pharaoh not listened to Moses? Did Moses fail?

[29:58] Did God fail? Could he have done a better plague early on? What if he would have done the tenth plague in the first time? No this was all so that God's power may be manifested plague after plague after plague that they may know who God is that it may end ultimately in his worship.

[30:14] God knew how Pharaoh would respond to every plague all along the way. That's why he brought the plagues. To get Pharaoh to respond in his hardness that he may bring another plague and another plague and ultimately that Pharaoh would drive them out and God's power would be displayed before them.

[30:31] We see that really in verse 10 the sovereignty of God over Pharaoh's heart. Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh all cumulatively all nine leading to the tenth and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

[30:47] And so again the sovereignty of God. How does this apply to us? What application might we make from this passage? I said from the very beginning that the purpose the reason for these plagues was that Yahweh would be known by Pharaoh and by the Egyptians.

[31:06] And by the end that's the case. Pharaoh uses Yahweh's name proper. We talked about it just LORD in all caps here in the passage but he uses Yahweh's name.

[31:20] Yahweh has shown himself to be greater than the gods of the Egyptians. He's defeated God after God after God and ultimately even Pharaoh's household. And how's it going to end with the Egyptians coming and bowing down before Yahweh?

[31:37] Some of them apparently in genuine faith others in service or in fear for the power of God but God's power is known.

[31:49] Philippians 2 10-11 tells us that one day at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[32:06] Realize that day is coming. There will be a day when even God's enemies will bow down before him and acknowledge that he is who he says he is. We see a taste of that here in Egypt.

[32:19] I tend to think even Pharaoh verse 31 then he summoned Moses I'm sorry chapter 12 verse 31 then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said up go out from among my people both you and the people of Israel and go serve Yahweh as you have said 32 take your flots and your hurts as you have said and be gone and bless me also bless me also what is he asking here pray for me on my behalf ask God Yahweh to bless me why God I can't bless myself I've learned that I'm not God and he is and so as I'm obeying him God has said you will let them go you will drive I'm doing what he said I will do I'm obeying your God will he bless me for it would you pray that he would so every knee perhaps in Egypt the people are coming before Yahweh and saying we know your power and it scares us get out and there will come a day when

[33:38] Christ returns he will judge the world and every knee will bow and acknowledge who he is and I realize that God sovereignly going through a land and killing every firstborn child ethically may be very hard for some of us to digest especially in today's culture doesn't seem very politically correct how does God do this and what I want to argue my second point of application is that God is right to judge sinful man at any time and in any way he would choose God is right in what he does God has not sinned he has not wronged the Egyptians do you remember how the book of Exodus began with Pharaoh attempting the genocide of the Israelites by killing all the firstborn or all the male children and so it begins in that way and God again I would say retributive justice for what

[34:46] Pharaoh does what the Egyptians have done Pharaoh receives divine retribution you tried to kill my son your son dies now God doesn't always work in a one to one ratio God is often gracious slow to anger but I think understand that God is right in doing this I think if if that is the consequence for attempted murder not just attempted Moses was attempted murder most of the children his generation died if that's the retribution for killing God's son imagine for killing Christ God incarnate the true son of God and I think there are well I guess we weren't there were we none of us are guilty we we sometimes listen to the song the hymn

[35:50] I think it's in our hymnal were you there when you crucified my Lord and the chorus that repeats is I was there and the idea was I'm the one I'm responsible and I think all those who will not bow the knee to Christ in worship are drawing the same conclusion as those who put Christ to death have you doubted Jesus claims do you not believe that he truly is God we ought not be surprised to hear of a final judgment for those who would oppose his son put his son to death really oppose God himself as I think about that I want you to understand in the broad sense we must understand that all have rebelled against God that we are born in sin that we choose to sin and all have sinned and fallen short of

[36:56] God's glory none of us meet the standard and so remember as well that we're told in Genesis the wages of sin is what it's death so I mean if you went to your job and you worked all week and you didn't get your paycheck your wages that were due to you you'd be pretty upset not fair I sin and he hasn't killed me yet why am I still alive God's treated me unfairly you realize that the only time we think God's unfair is when we don't get what we want to get when we don't get what we don't really want what we deserve the wages of sin is death we don't want to get what we deserve and so I hear sometimes people ask but no one ever asked how can there be good in the world how can there be grace how can anyone be saved people ask how could

[37:57] God send anyone to hell how can he take the life of these Egyptians how is he not taking your life yet how has he been so gracious to you already those aren't the questions we're asking but they ought to be what is amazing is not that God chose to end the life of some who rebelled against him and sinned against him and didn't worship him what is truly amazing is that God withholds his wrath at all from those who rightly deserve it Psalm 103 verses 8 through 13 says the Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love he will not always chide nor will he keep his anger forever he does not deal with us according to our sins that's not fair is it right no one's complaining I don't hear you guys he's unfair he does not deal with us according to our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities he owes us but he's not repaying us you'd be upset if someone owed you some money and didn't repay you but your iniquities have bought you something death why why does he not repay us for as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us as a father shows compassion to his children so the

[39:39] Lord shows compassion to those who fear him my prayer is that this is where you'll end this is the focus that you'll see not that the Egyptians died but that ultimately our God is a gracious God that those who love him he is merciful to he casts their sins far away from them he loves them as a father and has compassion upon them what a gracious God we have and so we sing about amazing grace grace truly is amazing because it's not deserved death is deserved we ought not be amazed when death comes upon us we ought to be amazed when grace comes upon us Ezekiel 33 11 God says as I live declares the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their way and live turn back turn back from your evil ways for why will you die O house of Israel and so we see the nature of our God

[40:39] God is not delighting in even taking the life of these Egyptians it's necessary for his plan he's sovereign he's right in what he does but it's not God's joy to take the life of even the wicked what does he desire but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn back turn back from your house of Israel and that really leads to my third and final point for our message why will you die today come to repentance God's desire is that you would turn from your wicked ways that you would put your trust in his son that you may know life and the question that's asked to the house of Israel there in Ezekiel really is a question for us why will you die eternally spiritually if you come to

[41:41] Christ he will not turn you away there will not be one person who's wrongly condemned to hell all of us I try to be inclusive in my application let's not be inclusive here all of you in this room who have not trusted in Jesus Christ and are cast into hell it ultimately will be because you've chosen not to follow him Pharaoh is judge God hardened his heart but Pharaoh also hardened his heart and I want you to see that God is patient for the sake of your repentance why has God not repaid your iniquity he's waiting for repentance well that doesn't mean that once you repent you will be dead right away either but he's given us time Christ has not yet returned because he wants to give time for but perish but that all should reach repentance so why has

[43:10] Christ not come back yet that you may repent but he goes on but the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed God is patient but he will keep as promised Christ will return there's coming a day of judgment and so my prayer for those of you who don't know Christ is that you will see all the pledge the tent plague all the pledge cumulatively that you will see them as a warning cry to you that you would come and bow down before the Lord that you put your faith in Jesus Christ why would you die my prayer is that you would have life in his son let's pray together dear heavenly father we thank you that you have not left us to our ways that you have not left us in our sin that you sent your first born your one and only son that he may come live a perfect life and die for our sins that you would cast our sins as far as the east is from the west that we may know your steadfast love and your grace and your mercy and your compassion

[44:28] Lord we pray that we would rejoice in those things today that we would worship you for them we pray also for those in this room that don't know you that you would humble them today soften their heart bring them to salvation Lord we know that your desire is for repentance we pray that they would not die spiritually but that they would have life in your son in whose name we pray all these things Amen