In this episode, we look at Exodus 7-9, delving into Moses's role and the significance of the plagues in Egypt. Pastor Rod addresses an upcoming women's Bible study at Grace Church, Frisco, examining the book of Ephesians. The podcast highlights the interplay between divine will and human agency in the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, the significance of the Egyptian plagues, and God's demonstration of power over Egyptian deities.

00:00 Welcome and Announcements

01:44 Introduction to the Book of Exodus

02:21 The First Plagues: Water to Blood and Frogs

04:51 The Plagues Continue: Gnats, Flies, and Livestock

07:31 The Final Plagues: Boils and Hail

11:23 Reflections on God's Sovereignty

12:00 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Well, happy Saturday and

welcome to another edition

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of the daily Bible podcast.

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Today is February 1st, 2025

in the year of our Lord.

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And it's also the day that

women's Bible study meets.

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So if you're a lady and you are not

yet planning to do anything between

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the hours of 10 and 12 this morning,

we'd love to invite you to join us.

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So women's Bible study kicks off.

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They're studying the book of Ephesians.

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That's always going to

be worth your while.

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We would love to see you there and Hey,

maybe bring a friend or two to that.

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I know that the women's ministries

that Most of the churches I've

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been in have been pretty robust.

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The gals love to get together

and to do things like this.

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And so we would heartily encourage that.

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We'd love to see you join us

for our women's Bible study.

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We're going to talk about good news,

a study in the book of Ephesians,

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and that's happening again today

at 10 AM at Grace Church, Frisco.

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There's also brunch provided.

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So if you want some something to

eat, that's going to be there.

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All you have to do is register.

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And if it's too late to

register, just show up.

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I'm sure we will figure things out.

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We'd love to have you

join us no matter what.

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Okay, that's all I've got.

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Again, Pastor PJ, in case you're missing

him, will be back with us tomorrow, I

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trust God willing, of course we're always

going to say that, as James encourages us

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we're going to say, if the Lord wills, we

will do this or that, and so we trust if

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the Lord wills, Pastor PJ will be back.

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But until then, it's just

you and I, but that's okay,

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because we have so much to say.

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We probably don't want

a lot of googly anyway.

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All right.

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Let me just fill you in googly.

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Where did that term come from?

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Why do we talk about that all the time?

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One of our people at church, in

case you're just catching up with

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us, called the things that we do at

the beginning of the podcast googly.

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It's the time where pastor PG and

I will kind of shoot the breeze,

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talk about who knows what, whatever

AI technology, dating, whatever.

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And someone called that stuff googly.

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Now, I don't know if that's a

real word, I don't think that

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it is, maybe it is a word.

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I know there's a google.

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com, but I think it just

means goofing around.

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We're not trying to do

a whole lot of googly.

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We're trying to get much more

to the, meat of the word.

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Speaking of that, let's jump in Exodus

chapters seven, eight, and nine.

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Exodus chapter seven.

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I want to start with something that's a

few verses in, . Moses is 80 years old.

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Now remember he's got

three acts in his life.

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Act one, zero to 40, act two,

40 to 80, act three, 80 to 120.

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It kind of breaks down

nicely in that regard.

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And so Moses now is in act two.

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He's working on the

second part of his life.

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He's now 80 years old.

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He's not a young man, but

hopefully he's a wise man.

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He's certainly wiser

than he was 40 years ago.

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But even with this, again,

he's still reluctant.

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He's unsure of himself.

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He's had, he has to have the Lord really

push him and to do so alongside his

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brother to get him to do the right thing.

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And so in Exodus chapter seven,

god says to Moses, look, I'm

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making you like myself to Pharaoh.

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You're going to be my mouthpiece.

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But notice he says also God's

going to harden Pharaoh's heart.

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And I'm going to multiply my sizes,

giving them a preview of what's to come.

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And this is the beginning of

the judgments that plague Egypt.

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You remember, there are 10 of them.

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Something to note before we jump

into those plagues is that each

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of these plagues is really a

confrontation with a deities of Egypt.

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Now, if you want to go through in your

study Bibles or even just look up some

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study studies online, they'll tell you

some of those deities in particular.

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But just know on the panoply of

Egyptian gods, God is confronting

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all of them and destroying them all.

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That's what all of these

plagues are intended to show.

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Yahweh is stronger.

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He's the true God.

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The gods that you serve

are actually powerless.

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But in every religion, there's

always going to be priests.

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There's always going to be mediaries

between themselves and God.

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And here you have the sorcerers,

the magicians of Egypt.

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In fact, Paul tells us in second

Timothy three, verse eight, these

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guys, his names are Janice and Jambres.

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So even though we don't see that

here in the old Testament, Paul

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tells us later, their names were

remembered and they were communicated.

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Second Timothy three,

eight, Janice and Jambres.

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And so that's who we have

stepping into the picture here.

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Pharaoh summons Janus and Jambres to

counterfeit what Moses and Aaron do.

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And so in the first plague,

the water turned to blood.

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Remember, the Nile is their lifeblood.

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no Pun intended.

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It's how they do life.

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They needed water for everything.

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And so for God to strike them at the

jugular Here in the water was a big deal.

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And you might notice here in verse

25, he did this for seven days.

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This is not a 24 hour situation here.

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This is a week long scenario.

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Now it doesn't take long for someone

to die of dehydration or thirst.

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It only takes a couple of days,

as I recall, maybe three days.

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And so this is a big problem for them.

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Nevertheless, even though this happens,

Janus and Jambres, they counterfeit it.

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They can do the same,

but they can't undo it.

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And you notice here the work of

the enemy trying to help Pharaoh

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have a hard heart by demonstrating,

look, God's not that powerful.

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You don't need to pay attention to him.

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Exodus chapter 8 starts us with

plague number 2, which is the frogs.

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And so here, God tells Moses, go

into Pharaoh and warn him, let

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him know what's about to come

unless you let the people go.

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And of course the Pharaoh responds

negatively and he unleashes the plague.

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Verse seven tells us that

Janice and Jambreeze also did

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the same by their secret arts.

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This is going to be a repeated phrase.

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And then after the relief takes

place, as is going to be a pattern,

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The Pharaoh hardens his heart

against God and consequently Renes

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on his promise to let them go.

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And the third plague, you have the gnats.

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And so this is the first time that

they could not produce the gnats.

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Janice and Jamborees could not mimic it.

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They could not counterfeit it.

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They said, this is the finger of God.

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They're starting to realize, oh no, this

is something outside of our magic arts.

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Even still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened

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in plague number four.

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You have the flies.

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Not too different from the Nats, but

still, could you imagine being assaulted

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by gnats or flies all over the place.

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This is the first time, though,

in verse 22, that God says, I'm

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going to deliberately set apart

the land of Goshen, that is where,

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of course, the people dwell.

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You might remember when Joseph

brought Jacob slash Israel, and his

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brothers into the land, and he put

them in the city of Goshen, where

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they could pasture their flocks.

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Remember, shepherds are an abomination

to the Egyptians, for whatever

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reason, and so they're in Goshen.

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This is where they're concentrated.

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And so God says, I'm going to make

a distinction in the land of Goshen,

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where my people dwell, so that no

swarms of flies shall be there.

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Question of course arises, well,

does that mean that the prior

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plagues were afflicting them?

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And I don't think so.

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The reason why I think it's implied in

this is that God has been protecting them.

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He's explicitly stating it here, but

the fact that the plagues are coming

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falling upon the rebellious tells me

that it's probably not the Israelites.

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He's probably protecting them.

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That would make perfect sense.

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It would be consistent with the

way that God is treating them all

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throughout this whole period.

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So I think God is protecting them,

even though this is the first time

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that he explicitly says I'm not

going to let this happen to them.

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Okay.

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Back to the flies.

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So God sends the flies to them and

they respond with, okay, fine, you

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can go, but you have to stay here.

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That's what the Pharaoh says.

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And then Moses responds

with, well, we can't do that.

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You know that your people

hate what we're about to do.

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We can't do that here.

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We have to go three days journey

into the wilderness and sacrifice.

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However, the Lord tells us we don't

know what he wants us to do yet.

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So we're going to have to wait and trust

that he'll tell us when we get there.

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Pharaoh doesn't like this plan,

but he reluctantly agrees to it.

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He says, Hey, you just can't go that far.

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Please stay somewhat local.

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And so Moses said, okay, I'm

going to go pray on your behalf.

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And then we'll see how this goes.

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However, as you've grown accustomed

to verse 32, but Pharaoh hardened his

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heart this time also, and did not let

the people go now really quickly here.

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I haven't pointed this out, but You kind

of get this sense of a back and forth.

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One time it's Pharaoh hardening

his heart, hardening his heart.

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The other time it's God

hardening his heart.

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It seems like both are taking place almost

simultaneously, if not concurrently.

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And I think that's the point here.

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What you are meant to see with this is

that Pharaoh is an active participant.

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And yet God is ultimately

determining the direction.

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God is not forcing Pharaoh.

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Pharaoh is making his own decisions.

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But God is certainly cooperating

with Pharaoh's hardening of heart.

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Even though he called it at

the beginning of chapter 4,

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we're seeing the evidence here.

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This is the Pharaoh working

himself in this position.

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He is choosing this.

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Exodus chapter

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Exodus chapter nine starts with

three plagues, starting with plague.

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Number five, the Egyptian livestock dying.

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God warns him, this is what's

going to happen tomorrow.

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And it's exactly what he does,

but he preserves his own people.

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And so they don't experience

any loss of livestock.

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Exodus chapter 9, starting at

verse 8 through 12, you have the

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sixth plague, which is the boils.

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Moses throws some soot from the kiln

into the air, and it falls like fine

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dust all over the land of Egypt, and

boils break out, sores on man, and sores

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And beast throughout the whole land.

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This is awful.

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Can you imagine this?

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This is what I think Job also suffers

with he has boils all over his body.

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He's using pot shards to scratch it off.

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And so you have that here in mass.

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Everybody's getting these boils, but even

so, despite the fact that God afflicted

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the people and the magicians verse 12, but

the Lord heart in the heart of Pharaoh,

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verses 13 and following the rest of

chapter nine, you have the seventh plague.

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The hail.

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This is interesting because

God tells Pharaoh for the first

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time why this is happening.

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He says here in verse 16, but for

this purpose, I have raised you up

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to show you my power so that my name

may be proclaimed in all the earth.

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You are still exalting yourself against

my people and will not let them go.

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Behold about this time tomorrow, I

will cause very heavy hail to fall,

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such as has never been in Egypt from

the day it was founded until now.

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And so in the next few verses, God

warns him through Moses to say,

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look, this is why you're here.

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I've raised you up for my purposes.

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And really we can say that

for any human authority.

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Any authority whatsoever

is God's ordination.

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He is raising up rulers.

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He's bringing them down.

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Proverbs 21, 1 says, The king's heart is

a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.

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He turns it wherever he will.

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God's the one at work behind every

ruler in every human institution.

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Now, does that mean he's

responsible for the evil?

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It does not, but it does mean that God

is in control such that we could never

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say he must have missed this, or this

was a mistake or he didn't realize

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that what was happening would happen.

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No, God knows he's planning all things,

which means we ought to trust him.

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Even with evil leadership, evil rulers.

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I mean, even if you have a good one

in the office, as good as they can

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be anyway, this side of heaven, we're

trusting the Lord and not the leader.

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God warns him and says, look,

here's what you ought to do.

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And of course, Pharaoh and Egypt seem not

to respond to that warning, because you

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have in verse 25, the hail struck down

everything that I was in the field in all

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of the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

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This is the first time you

have man dying from one of the

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plagues, at least that we know of.

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It's possible that someone died in one

of the previous plagues, but it seems

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like God kept them alive here, however,

because it didn't heed the warning.

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They do die.

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And that's a problem, except in

the land of Goshen, which is again,

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where the people of Israel are,

where God is protecting them.

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Pharaoh calls for Moses and

Aaron and says, Hey, I messed up.

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Yahweh is right.

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We're in the wrong.

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Please have them stop this.

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And Moses responds.

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Now that the text gives us

a clue about what's next.

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, verse 31 says the flax and the barley

were struck down for the barley was in

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the ear and the flax was in the butt.

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So you have two crops that

were destroyed, but there are

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two crops that were protected.

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So you have the wheat and the

emmer that were not struck down

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for they are late in coming up.

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And so you realize here, the

Pharaoh still has an out, he is

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not completely destroyed yet.

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And of course you know that this

is not the ultimate destruction.

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Nevertheless, despite these

things, he hardens his heart.

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In fact, that's what you

see here in verse 34.

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When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the

hail and the thunder had ceased, he

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sinned yet again and hardened his heart.

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Now notice that language there,

he sinned, hardening his heart.

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Now this is not God forcing him, I

feel like I need to keep bringing

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this up because even though the text

is telling us God's on the throne

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here, Pharaoh is a choosing agent.

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He has some kind of, let's call

it freedom, even though freedom

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as we understand it today is

probably not the best term.

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He has agency to make a decision

that sins against the Lord.

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He's doing this of his own accord.

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All the while you have

two wills at work here.

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You have the Lord's will

and you have the human will.

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Both of those are working in conjunction.

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God's will will ultimately prevail.

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Okay, that's chapters

seven, eight, and nine.

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We've covered a lot of territory.

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A lot of the plagues are happening now.

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Remember the plagues are here to

showcase God's strength over and

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against the rulers that is the gods

of the Egyptians and Yahweh is showing

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himself strong and powerful and mighty.

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The weakness of the human

leaders, in this case Moses and

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Aaron, are no problem for God.

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He's utilizing them To

showcase his strength.

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He raises up leaders, both the

good and the bad to demonstrate

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his glory and his honor.

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And that's again,

another reminder for you.

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And for me, we don't need

to rest in our judges.

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We don't need to even rest in our pastors.

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We're ultimately resting in

the leadership of the Lord.

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We want to trust our leaders.

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Of course we want to trust our pastors,

but it's the Lord who leads us.

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And that is something worth

being comforted about.

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Let's pray.

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Lord, we do thank you that you are our

leader and that no matter what's happening

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around us above us No matter what kind of

things take place in our future You are

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the one that we can trust because you're

the one leading us Thank you so much for

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taking care of this body of believers

this local church And of course lord

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preserving your church in mass in total

in total We ask that you continue to do

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that Please protect the church that's in

america help us to continue to do good

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work while we have the opportunity In

this brief season of respite, however

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long it is Let us be on mission doing

your work for your glory and your honor.

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We ask all these things in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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And thank you so much

for joining me again.

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I appreciate that.

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Really, I do.

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And hopefully we'll look forward to

seeing you all tomorrow for another

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edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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This time with Pastor PJ Intoe.

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Speaker: Hey, thanks for

joining us for another episode

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of the daily Bible podcast.

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We hope and pray this has been a blessing

to you and your time in the word.

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If it has, if you would subscribe to

this podcast, leave a leave a comment and

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share it with some friends and family.

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That would be awesome.

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If you need more information about

Compass Bible Church here in North

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Texas, you can go to compassntx.

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org.

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Again, that's compassntx.

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org.

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And we'll be back with you

tomorrow for another episode

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of the daily Bible podcast.