I invite you to turn this morning as we continue after some weeks to the book of Exodus chapter 10 verse 21. It was good to be on a two-week vacation to drive through and see parts of the country like Zion and Bryce. To be reminded how many times I have to stop to take children to the bathroom. There are so many things that go on, but it's good. But one of the things that I really appreciated was seeing the beauty and the storms. There's so many storms that we passed through and saw. And I thought, it's so good to be disconnected from all electronics and to look up and to see God's creative design, His power, to hear the thunder. There's one thing that I think hurts us seeing so much sun. We don't hear thunder. We don't see much lightning. And these displays of God's power are reminders to us that He is on the throne. And I wanted to encourage you with that. It's important to unplug and to reflect and to think about all that God has made for us that we might glorify Him and what He has set before us as we live in this theater of glory. This morning, we're considering the ninth plague of darkness, A much more serious plague. They all are serious, of course. But these are intensifying. And this morning we come to the plague, of course, just before the end. So this is going to have some real great significance all throughout history when we look at this plague of darkness. This is the Word of God. Exodus 10, verse 21. over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the people of Israel had light where they lived. Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, go serve the Lord. Your little ones also may go with you. Only let your flocks and your herds remain behind. But Moses said, you must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings and we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us. Not a hoof shall be left behind for we must take them to serve the Lord our God. And we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go 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 may the lord bless the hearing of his word one of the things that Jesus said will take place after the tribulation of those days in which we live is that the sun one day will no longer give its light. In other words, he is going to turn out those lights for good. I've often thought, do people ever think about, do we ever think about what it's going to be like or what it would be like to have absolutely no light we walk into a room we sit in a room now we hit a light switch and voila there's light we take all of that for granted of course but what a blessing it is that we have lights to turn on we don't even know how we would handle it if if the lights that we have created went out you know the electricity our computers our lives would stop as we know it if our lights went out you ever thought about if God turned out his lights imagine the problem of that what if the sun went out for good one day I raised that this morning because in the scriptures God often uses darkness to describe the coming day of the Lord the coming day of judgment that that ultimately they are going to be people outside of jesus the lord said over and over they're going to be cast into outer darkness darkness is often used in the scriptures to describe the spiritual condition of people's heart you have all this use of darkness well as we come to the ninth plague this morning in exodus god turns out the lights on egypt he hits the switch and in the midst of this little goshen remains lit up it's a remarkable thought it's an imagery to try to get little goshen and the people of israel are in the light but all around them thick darkness the lights have been turned off thick darkness has filled Egypt it's a it's a powerful plague it's a unique plague maybe one we have not given the attention to as we should but think about it it has the effect this morning of making everyone ask if that's true if that's going to happen am I in the light and am I headed toward the light remaining in that light or am I in the darkness heading ultimately permanently for outer darkness that that's the ninth plague of exodus that's the question god is judging egypt with the plague of darkness to teach if you will the world for the need of his light how to find that light that's the ninth plague what we have before us is this precursor to the final plague, the final plague of death. So notice this has run its course. It has gotten very serious. And it's no surprise that what we find just before the end, just before the final judgment on the nation of Egypt, final judgment, which is death, is that the lights go out. The coming of the Lord in Scriptures is usually preceded by a commotion of the stars, the luminaries, and the sun, and the moon. revelation says this that the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast think about how this applies to pharaoh the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and its kingdom was plunged into darkness people nod their tongues in anguish before i answer the question this morning as to what this plague all meant it's really important to understand what has happened to Pharaoh. I really believe he is the key to understanding this. He represents that nation. He represents those people. And what God is teaching us about him gives us some context here of why we have come to the end, why we now have reached the end of the plague cycles, ultimately now next to end in death. We see that at the end of this plague this morning in verse 28. When Pharaoh says to Moses, get away from me. Notice how abrupt and strong that ending was. Get away from me. You better take care that you, now think of the arrogance of this, you never see my face again. If you see it again, you die. Moses says, as you say, it's done. Over. I don't think we realize what a decisive moment this was. this is the end pharaoh just himself sealed his doom you better never look upon me again that's the end this was last call you ever thought about that last call that day essentially the lights went out forever in egypt even though this was just three days the lights were out forever in Egypt. Of course, in the promises of the gospel, the Lord would open that door to Egypt again, but I mean for that nation at that time. What the Bible calls reprobation is really presented in front of us this morning. We don't like that word. It's a tough word. It's a word that we've not given a lot of thought about, but here we have it presented in a sense that Pharaoh himself has given himself over. Ephesians says that occurs, of course. Ephesians says people do that when they harden their heart. It starts kind of, we might think, innocently, and it works its way out by drifting to a hardness of heart and giving oneself over. Ephesians says having their understanding dark and being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness of their hearts, who being, here it is, past feeling, They don't feel any more of what they do. They have given themselves over. Key verse. Pharaoh just said, I'm done. It's over. No more. Moses, you better never gaze on me again. It's a sobering point of the passage. The light is now gone at Pharaoh's own word. Egypt is now, at this point, past hope. The next thing is death. I'm going to come back to this. But I believe that helps us understand and set some kind of context and help for what's going on in this plague as it is the final last call for Egypt. It's the final last call for Pharaoh. The Lord is using darkness here to show us what ultimately is the outcome that people in the darkness and walking in the darkness, it's going somewhere. You don't stay neutral. There's a path people walk. And this morning, the text is explaining what that darkness is like. The text is explaining where it's leading people and it's so important that we then think about how the text shows us the light. Coming to the light. The necessity for remaining in the light. And those are the things I want to consider, what the darkness is like, where it's leading, and the call to come to the light. Look at verse 21. The Lord says there to Moses in verse 21, as we open up this ninth plague, then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt. Wow. By this point, Egypt is systematically destroyed, by the way. I mean, the thing is in ruins. It has been a complete reversal of creation. If you look at it, it's kind of come full circle here. A complete reversal of creation. The waters, the beasts, the insects, the creation, and now light and darkness. All of this has been reversed on them in ultimate acts of judgment. And everything now, the waters were hit, the creatures were turned against Him, and now the luminaries that were in place, the Lord has just summoned them and just flip the switch. There's a reason God chose darkness next to last, didn't he? Moses on numerous occasions told us that one of God's purposes specifically was to knock over and to destroy the gods of Egypt. That's what these plagues are doing. The God is assaulting their gods. When we come to this, darkness may not seem that great. I mean, when I first read it, I thought, oh, darkness, you know, we could handle that a little bit, couldn't we? Lights going out, maybe? A couple days? No one really, when they come to this text, no one really thinks of this as a bad plague. But we really should begin with, this morning, thinking about what they believed about the light. That may help us a little bit because darkness may not seem as threatening as what we've already experienced. I'm going to suggest it's the worst of threats. Egyptians and Egypt was obsessed with the sun. This is not surprising. Everyone knows this about ancient Egypt. Like everyone else, there were a whole bunch of gods connected with the sun. But let me just say throughout history and every primitive civilization there have always been people there have always been leaders there have always been nations that have idolized and worshiped the sun whether it be the Aztecs or the Incas you could go through many many many who bowed down to the sun I think even of one of those groups it may have been the Aztecs who took an obsidian knife every year and they went out and they took a victim, they took a person, and they would cut out the heart, the beating heart, and hold it up to the sun. There were a whole pantheon of gods in Egypt surrounding the sun. Aten was the deified sun disc. Atum was the god they believed who caused the sun to set every night. He is sometimes depicted as a black bull carrying the sun disc between his horns, But nobody held as much esteem, as much greatness, as much honor as the great sun god, and I'm sure you've heard his name throughout history, Ra. Amun-Ra, the sun god. I really don't know how to properly convey how powerful this god was to the Egyptians. Every morning they would rise and they would sing a praise song to Amun-Ra, just like the Nile. There is none like you, Ra. You know what they thought? The life-giving power of Ra, every time they saw the sun, has risen upon us today. Engraved in Egypt were the words, Ra. I am the great God who came into being of myself, who has no opponent among the gods. The real offense to this idolatry is who they believed was Ra's son. Think about this. Do you know who Pharaoh was in Egyptian religion? The incarnation and the son of Ra. Interesting. He was most of all a sun worshiper. Not only every morning did he go out to the water, but he went out before the sun and he had so much affection for this God because this God was his father. Pharaoh was known as the son of Ra, the personal embodiment of the solar God. Pharaoh alone on earth was known as the living representative and incarnation of the sun God. Think of the offense of this for a moment. Think of the offense and think of Satan, what he's just done. I mean, you want to talk about an antichrist? They've uncovered that this was said about Pharaoh. He looks upon Ra when he rises. Be joyful, entire land. Good times have come. The Lord has ascended into all the lands and orderliness has gone down to its throne. The king of upper and lower Egypt, lord of millions of years, great in kingship just like Ra, who overwhelms Egypt with festivals. The son of Ra who is more excellent than any king. We have also found this. the name of the king is in the sky like that of raw nobles rejoice when they see him the populace gives him praise in his role of the child as the one is one pastor noted this is what children in school were taught to say about pharaoh that was the secular education that's what moses got by the way a son of the covenant was trained in the secular schools to say that about pharaoh remarkable By the way, it shows God can protect your children. See what the devil's doing. What an attack on the triune God when we look back at this. What an affront to the eternal Son of God through whom everything was made and to whom all glory and honor, dominion and power belongs forever and ever. Amen. Their sitting on the world throne was known as the incarnation of the Lord of heaven and earth. Satan had set up a man of sin. Satan had set up an antichrist. Remember, 2 Thessalonians says, seated over all that's called God or that's worship, so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself to be God. That's an antichrist. You're starting to learn your God now. What do you think he's going to do in this situation? Flip out the lights? Just what he does. He hits the switch. Moses, I want you to walk out there and I want you to stretch out your hands toward heaven. Put them up. And all of a sudden, as Moses does that, thick darkness comes. It goes dark. Now, we know nations were talking about this by this time, that a temple of the light would be set up as a banner for the nations. But here's my point. Darkness was something that was going to be talked about in all the nations of the earth as God's judgment. This plague of darkness came at the end of a long teaching session now through all of these plagues about what? The human heart. The human heart. What should be the effect? You want to say to Pharaoh, What are you doing, man? Stop hardening your heart. Don't be stubborn. Stop refusing him who speaks. You realize the entire Bible applies this? Jesus used darkness extensively in his teaching. Extensively. In fact, in John chapter 12, you have the end of his teaching ministry to the Jewish nation. And then you have the events of the cross taking place, his leading up to that Passion Week there. But in John 12, he ends his teaching to the Jewish nation. And John 12 ends his teaching, you have essentially his last sermon to the Jewish nation. What do you think he said in his last sermon, last call? In John 12, we read that Jesus spoke and departed and was hidden. What were his last words? Put it this way. If this was the last sermon that Jesus ever chose for you to hear, it could be, by the way, what do you think he'd say? What would he choose to say to you? If you knew this was the last sermon you're going to hear, Would you hear it differently right now? Would you pay attention? Would you still nitpick? I don't think so. Would you really listen? What would you do differently? Would you have regrets? Would you say, I wish I had listened? We're all used to this. We come here every week after week after week. We're here, we're challenged, and this goes on, and it's always gone on since the beginning of the world. This has always gone on. God has preserved His church and He's preached and He's preached and He's preached and He's preached. Here's His last sermon. Here's His last words to the Jewish nation. Last call. A little while longer, the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe the light that you may become sons of light. Last sermon. It's Tuesday afternoon when he said it. Judgment day is the cross a few days away. All the while Jesus has been among them doing powerful signs, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. He's raised the dead and he's been saying, come to me, come to me, I'm the light. Come to me, come to me, he says. Final plea. Language of walk in the light means come to the light. Believe in the light. Stand in the light. Enjoy the light. Be forgiven by the light. Well, last call for Egypt. Here it is. Before permanent darkness would overtake, you have this three-day window. And that is the divine creed. That is what he had allotted left. Three days. The next thing it says is that deep darkness came over all the land of Egypt for three days. It was a darkness that could be felt. No one could move or rise for three days. Next to death, this was awful. They had three days to taste what it was like to be away from the presence of God. They had three days to experience his withdrawal and what outer darkness is like. Notice the first plagues were kind of a nuisance. We got a kick somewhat out of frogs and these sort of things. Now this has gotten intense. It's darkness that can be felt. It's indescribable, isn't it? They say that in those Lewis and Clark caverns, I mean, some of you have probably been down. You go down deep into these caverns, and then the guides will do, you know, you guys ready? You guys ready? We're going to turn out the lights now, and you're not really ready for it. And they turn out the lights, and it is something, let me tell you. Some guys got lost down there years ago when it was first being discovered. And two days later, they found one of them. Lying on his side, he thought he was sitting upright against the wall. Your depth perception's gone. He'd lost his mind and gone colorblind. If you were standing here, it said, completely silent, you know, and no one moved for 10 minutes, I guarantee, this is what one of the guides said, if you were standing in here for 10 minutes in complete silence of darkness and no one moved, you would fall over. Darkness. It's a plague that never goes away, it seems. What is all this describing? nothing we ever want to face. The great day of the Lord, Zephaniah 1, is near. It is near. And it hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter. There is mighty men. There, mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble, a distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, the day of clouds and thick darkness. Here I have to preach as a pastor what nobody wants to preach or we hear very little about today, but it's hell. I know of no description better in the Scriptures for us to get an understanding of what hell is going to be like for people. We don't hear a lot about it, but Jesus talked a lot about it. I hear today, almost incessantly, all Jesus was about is love. He was also warning about judgment. In almost every connection to hell, he spoke of people being cast into outer darkness. I know of nothing more terrible than what's described, totally separated from all light, alone in blackness forever. That's what separation from God is like. Whatever we wake up to in the morning and we enjoy light and we are able to walk in light and have everything held together is because his presence is here. He's not far from any of us. They felt hell for a minute. It's awful. They didn't see one another, verse 23. In heaven, that's one of your blessings, by the way. You get to see one another. They couldn't. They couldn't get up. That's the experience of darkness. Here's what I want you to think about this morning. This was not new. You say, well, what a terrible thing. They were in it. Egypt was in darkness. Pharaoh was living in the darkness. What do you mean, pastor? What do you mean he was already in the darkness? Everything that you're seeing right now go on in our country and in the world where decisions are made that are against God, that is darkness. They're living in it. They say that we've entered kind of a new middle ages of darkness, even in the church. Three days. Last call. Repent. Turn to the light. Now, it's pitch black. we read that Pharaoh called for Moses. Here's my question. If you follow this question, I think it'll really help you with the plague this morning. Did the call come after the darkness had ended? Or was it during the three days of black darkness? Pharaoh, Moses! Moses! Before or after? Goshen's lit up, by the way. Did you catch that? They're in the light. I'm trying to capture what I believe is the imagery here. Moses was the light. He was able in the previous plague to walk out in the middle of the hailstorm and not get hit. Now, if I have the imagery right, he walks out into the darkness. Here's Goshen. He hears cries from Egypt. Moses! It's a little bit like a parable Jesus told. Abraham, come. We're in the darkness and I need water for my tongue. Moses, he was just in the presence of God. Here's what I believe you have, and I believe Scripture interprets Scripture. His face is lit up. Moses' face is lit up. This would be something Israel was going to get used to seeing when he came down from the mountain in God's presence. He would come down from the mountain and that face was lit up and they would have to put a veil over the face and Paul applies that later. But that face was lit up. His face, he walks, his face is a light in the darkness. Moses in our scene approaches Pharaoh for the last time, last call. Pharaoh says, what do you expect? Every other time he said, take it away. You better never look on my face again. Whoa. Moses called, Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go, serve the Lord. Only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Your little ones can go. Last time he tried to hold the kids, he says, you can go. But we're keeping your cattle. Does this guy have any sanity? He has no say in this whatsoever and doesn't even realize it in the darkness. He just won't surrender. He just won't bow to the will of God. Last week, not the children. Okay, the children can go. Cattle stay, Moses. Moses says, uh-uh. Pharaoh was probably hoping they'd all die in the wilderness without food. Moses is saying, which we're going to learn, the Lord wants us to present a sacrifice. We haven't yet been instructed on what that worship's going to look like. The lambs go. He understands something. Pharaoh, no way. To which I say, the darkness was not just without, the darkness was within. We just won't bow. We just won't turn ourselves. We'll look at everyone else and point there. Us. The fundamental problem is the darkness in our hearts. And it's great. And here you receive this response of the light. I can't. We all go out. Not even a hoof stays. Isn't that awesome? Not even a hoof. Everything about us as a people comes out. Everything that belongs to us comes out. We don't belong to this world. All the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Are you amazed at the hardness and darkness yet? Does it trouble you? All he had to say was, think about this, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's all he had to say. He wouldn't say it. You ask, well, why don't people come to the light? When we have light in front of us, which teaches us of the true light, why don't people come to the light? Jesus told you. In the middle of saying, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Then he said this, the part we never read after it. And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world. Light came. And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. Explain that. he does not want to have what he loves going on in his life and in his heart behind closed doors ever exposed he doesn't want light coming in there people in darkness don't want to do what's right they don't want what's right in fact they hate what's right they won't come to the light because they don't want to stop what they're doing they don't want to have their lives uncovered all over the new testament it goes like this but he who hates his brother is in what darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he's going because darkness has blinded his eyes. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Here's the end of it. Pharaoh says to Moses, you get away from me. Don't you ever look on my face again. And you think, what arrogance? Whose face? He's looking on his face. What just happened was Pharaoh said, I don't want your light anymore. Done. There's a breaking point when someone says, that's it. And in the face of light, they choose darkness and they walk forever into it. Read Romans 1. Never look on me again. Point of discipline where you have to say, okay, Moses, you chose it. so be it i will never see your face again that's a tragic moment in this study now i want to lift you up as high as i can right now have you thought about how wonderful the grace of god is in your life that you know the truth and are in the light we thought about it you never earned it you were never good enough for it you never did enough that god said wow that's such such a good son i'm going to give him light you were darkness and in his wondrous love he took us and conveyed us out of the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his son in love that's the gospel and now every time the lord speaks of you he wants you to make sure you're is Goshen, all over the New Testament. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So walk as children of the light. Who's the light? Moses walks upon in there with a lit up face. Can you see Christ? I am the light of the world. He stood up to the multitudes, hands up, come to me. I'm the light. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but he's going to have the light of life. What a gospel call. Come to the light. Come to the light. Paul, when he was applying Moses' lit up face in 2 Corinthians 3, turned it to Jesus. And then he said this, For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts. He lit up that dark heart with his light to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. His face radiates. His face is the light. He's the only light in this world. That's it. There's no other light. He's the light. You say, well, how do I know I'll never have to face this dreadful darkness forever and ever? How about this? Now it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over the earth until the ninth hour. The sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And He cried out with a loud voice, that eternal darkness fell on his soul that day three hours in the torment of his soul everything went black when he was on the cross to tell everyone whatever darkness god would require of mankind because of sin jesus took it right then and there so that you will never go out into it if you believe in him and now you understand revelation says there's no need for sun in Revelation. In the new heavens and the new earth, you don't need a son, by the way. He is your light. You get to gaze on his face for eternity. The new heavens and the new earth, the son, Jesus Christ, is the eternal light. Right now, we who have Christ are already dwelling with him in the heavenlies in Goshen, in the light. We need to learn to think of ourselves as children of the light and believe that he is so wonderful to us that the day of darkness can never overtake any of us or our children who believe in him and that gives me a serious plea then to all those who are stiffening their hearts to god's word pharaoh kept hearing the calls to come come come and he slowly drifted and drifted and drifted and drifted until it got to this point don't do it Don't do it. Think of yourself this way. I close with this. But brethren, you are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief. In other words, when it does go dark, you're not in darkness. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We're not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do. They go through life sleeping. Let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet of the hope of salvation. For God did not, listen to this, isn't this wonderful? God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the day of darkness cannot touch you. For Pharaoh and the world, death was around the corner. enjoy the light you have. Walk in the light. I think you should treasure being at church, by the way. Anyone who says, I don't want to be at church is saying I'd rather stand in the darkness. Believe in Christ. And I close with John 8. I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Amen. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for confronting us with a very serious reality this morning, one that we never hear much about. It's hell. And the reality of darkness that is present now and that ultimately is coming, for those who don't have Jesus, will go into outer darkness. And I pray that this would so confront anyone here who doesn't have Him or who mocks Him or hardens His heart to Him that they would say, what am I doing? I today come to the light. I today believe the light and may we all enjoy that light and marvel that you've given us that light by which we will forever be in the presence of your glory in heaven, being able to see one another, know one another, enjoy one another because of the face of the Lamb which is lit up forever and ever. And in that light and life, we pray in confidence in Jesus' name. Amen.