If you're visiting this morning, this is, you come in the midst of a study in the book of Exodus, and we're sort of in the heart of the plagues this morning, Exodus chapter 8, and this morning we come to the plague of flies. This is Exodus chapter 8, and we'll be looking at verses 20 through 32. This is the word of the Lord, Exodus 8, beginning at verse 20. Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people and into your houses. and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies and also the ground on which they stand but on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people dwell so that no swarms of flies shall be there that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth thus I will put a division between my people and your people tomorrow this sign shall happen and the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses. Throughout all the land of Egypt, the land was ruined by swarms of flies. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, go sacrifice to God within the land. But Moses said, it would not be right to do so. For the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us. So Pharaoh said, I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, only you must not go very far away. Plead for me. Then Moses said, behold, I am going out from you and I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord did as Moses asked and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and his servants and from his people. Not one remained, but Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not let the people go. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Well, it should go without saying that we are facing today as Christians challenges. We've been looking at this in our study of the plagues that are really unlike generations before us, especially with the recent challenge that there is happening on a worldwide level, a sexual revolution. You just probably saw that last week, Ireland voted to approve gay marriage. And you're seeing this. You're seeing this sweep through countries. You're seeing this sweep through nations, and we're right on that path. What interests me this morning is not to get into all that, but the drive behind it. The drive behind it, because it has nothing to do with tolerance of different viewpoints. It has nothing to do with varying viewpoints. What's behind it is conform or else. That's what's behind it. That's where what we're seeing happen. Conform or else. There's no allowance of a dividing line. There's no allowance of varying viewpoints to be tolerated. And if we don't conform, we see clearly that assaults and legislation and things are coming. We're a little scared of that, aren't we? Aren't we a little bit scared of what that's going to look like in the future? Aren't we a little bit scared of where it all is going to go? Aren't you wondering how far this might go and if it will lead indeed to persecution? Make no mistake about it, what is happening is an assault on God's creation norms, on what God established at creation, what God defined at creation. And to obliterate distinctions in sexuality, no more distinctions as God has defined them, does that scare us? For a long time, I suppose we could somewhat hide our distinct identity. But have you thought about what it's creating? For those who are willing to stand, it's creating a clear separation in the earth on this issue. A clear separation about who the children of God are. I was giving thought to this. It struck me how much God wants distinctions maintained. It struck me that God even creates lines that drive out and make for separation. As I came to the plague today, I asked this question, what is this one about? What is this particular plague about? And this plague has a great intention that is put in the heart of it that the Lord wants us to see in this particular plague. It is that God is separating out and making a clear distinction about who his people are. God's doing this. And Pharaoh was trying to hold them into conformity, conforming them to Egypt. This is why when you open up the commands and it says, the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of slavery, they were conformed to him. They were conformed to the ideals. And the one of the truths that permeates the Bible is the truth that God has made a big difference between his people and the world. I mean, that truth runs all throughout the Bible and started at Genesis 3 when he separated out two peoples. We struggled with that. And I think at times we're embarrassed about that. I love this message and this particular plague because God is telling us through it, don't fear what's happening. Don't fear. Don't fear what you're seeing happening. I'm making a distinction. I'm making a distinction. And so, as the world says, conform or else, the Lord has a message to them. I'm the one delivering and saving a people to myself. Aligning against me is a death wish. Aligning against me, says Jesus, is a death wish. And you're going to see this morning that whole picture put on display before you. in this plague and i hope it encourages us to appreciate that god is making things clear for us maybe for a while where we've lived and what we've done it hasn't been so clear everyone seems to say they're christian i had somebody say that to me today everyone seems to say they're christians god's making it clear who are his and who are not and we can learn a lot in this plague about the strategy of satan to force us in conformity to his ideals and his thoughts this morning we begin the second cycle of plagues you'll notice again like the first plague in the first cycle moses is sent uh to pharaoh at the river in the second plague of each cycle moses goes into pharaoh's house so you have you have three sets of three and then you have the tenth blow the tenth plague which is death so you have here beginning the second cycle and in each first plague of each cycle moses is out by the river in the second plague he's in pharaoh's house and in the third plague it's just an unannounced blow god's very strategic here and we know he's been kicking over their gods all of this leads to that tenth plague of death which is the path of those who take a stand against the Lord and against his anointed. Verse 20, we come to this morning and we look at this fourth plague of flies. So then the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water or else if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies also on the ground on which they stand. And say to him, thus says the Lord, notice that emphasis in this whole thing again, let my people go that they may serve me. Now I read this this past week and I thought, what in the world? This guy is that stubborn? He goes back out and stands by the river? he goes back to that god again that was the god hapi that the lord had already kicked over he had already turned that god to blood he had already turned their nile worship to blood remember this is all specifically targeted against egypt's idolatry and it's a powerful point i believe to make here that god is plaguing pharaoh's gods and them and systematically and strategically shaming all of them the greatest being this god hapi of the nile i've observed and i've said over and over that the egyptians worship something like 80 different deities they recently uncovered another one they found a hundred mummified cats can you imagine that cats of all things he's out doing morning devotions again out by the river pharaoh would go out to the river and he would stand there and he would sing to hapi we have that documented we have real praise songs documented and he would sing and he would pray to hapi well here's pharaoh before their life source and we have these prayers that he would raise up but there was one that i um I thought was fascinating that I can hear Pharaoh praying out by the river. I call unto thee, my father, Noom. I am in the midst of all my foes. All have joined themselves against me. I am alone. Deliver. Help me, Hapai. Help me. These foes have risen up against me. This God, Yahweh, has risen up against me. Deliver me. On every side, they've come at me. Deliver. As I reflected on this, I keep coming back to the truth. No one's free. No one's free. Look at the power of idolatry. Do you see it? He's back bowing to the Nile. We have to think deeper about the control of sin in people's lives. There was an article on why people have addictions and drug addictions have puzzled scientists for years. There was an article in the Harvard Medical School, a journal that published an article called The Addicted Brain. And what it said there is that we all have a normal desire to satisfy a need or fulfill a desire in our lives. And that is called the reward pathway. Rewards in nature come only after effort and after delay, this article said. But drugs give people an immediate shortcut to the pleasure. And that's why people relapse in all kinds of addictions all the times. especially in great periods of stress. If you were to put this in spiritual terms, when people are stressed and empty and depressed, what do they do? They return to the things that give them release. They return to those things that provide immediate pathway to reward. Sin is an immediate achieving of pleasure in running away from God. It promises immediate release. That's ultimately what sin does. And it's a shortcut to numb problems. That's why we run to it. That's the problem of the sinful nature. We're slave to that path. The Bible says this everywhere. The Bible describes this everywhere. It's illustrating the mind of those dead in trespasses and sins and under the control of the prince of the power of the air when it says, even in Ephesians, that I testify in the Lord that you shouldn't walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind. Having their understanding darkened. Being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them. Because of the blindness of the heart. Who they're completely past feeling. They don't even feel it anymore. They give themselves over to lewdness to work all in cleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, he says. If indeed you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lust. How many times have you run back to the same sin? How many times? How gripping is it? What does it promise you? It's offered you an escape. It's offered you an escape. It's the same old sin, it's the same old idol. And it's offered you an escape into some kind of pleasure realm away from the hardship of it all. How many times have you returned? How many times have you come to the Lord for the very same sin and you hate having to come over and over and over? He has to give you victory. Aren't you seeing it? Now, I say all this this morning. I rehearse all of that to say Pharaoh is like a dog returning to his vomit. People follow him blindly, but this is what makes Exodus so powerful. And I'm going to keep saying it because the Scripture keeps saying it. God keeps coming and saying, let them go. Over and over and over and over. You keep crying out. He keeps saying, let go. He's relentless. He won't accept the bondage for his people. There's no other option than for you to be let go. You get that? He won't have it. I will free you, says the Lord. I'm going to shatter the bonds. God says to Moses, you go into the midst of that place, that Nile, where he's worshiping, and you tell him, he will not hold my people anymore. He needs to let them go. God says, okay. If you don't, I'm going to swarm you. I'm going to swarm you with flies, Pharaoh. It is really, the meaning here is dense or heavy, swarms. I'm going to swarm you with flies. What was that like? Well, do you like one fly? One of my greatest hindrances in preaching is when a fly is up here. You can't see it, and I want to grab and go crazy. Flies are awful little creatures. Did you know there's 119,000 species of flies in the earth? House flies, crane flies, black flies, fruit flies, horse flies, dog flies, blow flies, stable flies, stable flies. I learned in science class years ago what happens when a fly lands. Everything imaginable. You never want it on your hamburger. In the Nile, they carried typhoid fever, cholera, worms. Even the polio and tuberculosis viruses. Swarms of them. When God sent them, we read, the land was ruined, verse 24. Ruined. Whatever it was, whatever kind of fly, we'll look at that here momentarily, it was a bunch of flies that was so common to them, it absolutely swarmed in the heavens and on the ground. one of the most common to them was the dog fly. What an awful name. The dog fly. It would run around, fly around, and drop a needle right into you. Psalm 78 picks up on this so strongly. It says that the flies, God sent swarms of flies that devoured them. The Egyptian dog fly would put long needles right into you, and what's happening is that the imagery that we're getting from this plague is this. The flies were devouring the people. The Bible says they were consuming them. These people were obsessed with cleanliness. This would be like sending a swarm of flies over Hollywood and they're all needling our stars. Let me give you a little more perspective here. What did the Egyptians believe about the fly? Well, one of the flies, the ignumen fly, the Egyptians believed was the revealing of the god Yutachin. They had a flying beetle called the scarab. The Egyptians believed that these scarabs were then in control of the sun, rolling it back and forth to provide light. The flying beetle was regarded as the emblem of the sun and also referenced as the god Kepra, the God of resurrection, by the way. But really, the greatest connection here, I believe, is what the Egyptians knew and what they worshipped as the God, fly God, Beelzebub. You know that name. You've heard that name. He was the great protector who kept the swarms under control, and prevented natural disaster in the land. You know what Beelzebub means? As it was when they understood it? Lord of the flies. Lord of the flies. And now you think about Matthew when they said, he doesn't cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. It became associated with Satan himself, this God. The Philistines were so taken by this God, they also adopted him as their god called Baal-zebub. You see Satan? Oh, he's right behind all this. The question is, what was this plague designed to do? Well, I think verse 22 is the most remarkable verse of the section. This is the heart of it. God gives you the heart of the plagues. But on that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people dwell so that no swarms of flies shall be there. That you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus, I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow, that sign will happen. I love that section. The swarms will be so bad, they will cover the ground, and this guy, one of you walked up last time and says, what's going on with the Israelites with all these things? What's going on with them? Are they getting hit? And the answer is no. One of the greatest messages of these plagues that God wanted conveyed for future generations and for us, but also for them, was the simple truth, I want to make a clear distinction between my people and your people. I want a really clear distinction. Remember Genesis 3 and the two types of people that the Lord set apart. After the fall, he said, there will be the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. The seed of Christ and the seed of Satan. Jesus was saying this all over the place, even speaking to the Pharisees that their father was the devil. Did you catch it? No flies on my people. I am the Lord. But here's the great truth. I want everyone to know I am in their midst. I bet you missed that. I missed it, reading it. I'm there. Glory is in their midst. I think Moses must have been overwhelmed to write this and to reveal this. I can't imagine the excitement when this was communicated and Moses put this down in the Pentateuch, the first five books, and he was describing these realities because this is the name that's mentioned here that appeared to him in the burning bush. I'm coming down to the gates of Goshen. Everyone's going to know this. Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush? We looked at that. Same name here. but it was the malach Yahweh the angel Yahweh is how it's translated this was the promise to Moses I'm going to be with you Moses that's how that's the sign and I'm going to bring you three days out I'm going to bring you to Sinai for the worship service I'm going to be with you the whole way this is the theme of exodus I'm coming down I'm going to dwell with you I'm going to be with you. I'm going to shield you. I'm going to deliver you. Now the text is showing, shouting to us here, and the translators, they put a little number there. Don't miss this. Look at verse 23. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. I was mesmerized when I saw that the word in Hebrew is the word ransom. I will put a ransom right between the people. I will put a ransom right at the gates of Goshen. In their midst, I am in their midst. Now think of the whole story here. I want everyone to know I am in their midst and there will be a ransom there a ransom in the space between goshen and egypt do you see the imagery to this do you see the beauty of the imagery of this here's the picture the lord comes down and he stands there between goshen and behind christ who is the malak yahweh behind Christ are his people, sheltered, safe, kept. No plague can touch them. You know what Goshen means? Drawing near. They have drawn near. It's the land of access. The gospel from the plagues. Did you think it? That day ransom was set up. God came down and said, let them go, and he was not joking. He was not joking, and he was declaring to everyone, and this is the message all over the Scriptures, I could only pray and dream there was somebody who came in here today who's never heard this and says, I get it, I get it, I get it. You need to be bought back. Price needs to be paid for you. Slaves, these slaves had to be bought and purchased. They couldn't free themselves. They couldn't get out of this tyranny of the devil. But God set up a ransom for them. Isn't he wonderful? The greater story here is the story of our alienation from God and his promise and love to bring us back. To make full payment because our sins have so separated us and left us in bondage to another. And the gospel comes and the New Testament's describing this and explaining this in every possible way to us. In him you trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the what? Guarantee of our inheritance and negotion until the redemption of the purchased possession. That's you. to the praise of his glory. He bought you back. He came down here and likewise, Jesus shared him the same. He stood there. He became one of us that through death, through that ransom payment, he might destroy him who had power of death. That is the devil. And guess what he did for you? He released you. Who through fear of death, have you been scared of death most of your life? Have you avoided thinking about it? Have you stayed away thinking about death? Of course you have. He took away its sting and its fear because all your lifetime you were subject to bondage. This is a description of the cross here in Exodus 8. In the midst of the ransom, on one side of Him that day on the cross, was a man who said what? Remember me. He was broken. And the Lord says, today you're going this side. You're going to be with me in paradise. On the other side of Jesus was another who scoffed and laughed and didn't take him seriously. And to this day, he's plagued. This was so impactful. This was so moving. The psalmists were always capturing it. Do you understand that? Psalm 91 is capturing this. And I believe Moses is the author of Psalm 91. But he captures this. Listen to this. Listen to this in this light. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. My God, in Him I will trust. Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand. but it shall not come near you. This is it. This is the whole description of God shielding and loving and protecting you. On the other side, they're being consumed. They're being consumed. The book of Revelation picks this up. Think of the imagery. Stay with me on the imagery. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. He came down. He dwells. He's dwelling with them. And He will dwell with them. And they shall be His people. Separation. God Himself will be with them and be their god but the cowardly the unbelieving the abominable the murderers the sexually immoral the sorcerers the idolaters all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and talked with me, saying, come, I will show you the bride, the lamb, the bride, the lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me a great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. You've got a foreshadow of the future right here in Exodus 8. and this is why we preach. This is the message of the gospel. We proclaim the news, as one pastor said, that if you will come, and the news that sinners of Egypt can enter into the Goshen of redemption if they will trust in Christ as their crucified risen Lord, and I add, who's paid the ransom. Now, how does Pharaoh respond to this? Verse 25. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, go sacrifice to the Lord your God within the land. Did you catch that? You can have your freedom, but you can't go very far. You can't leave our land. You can't get out of our land. Moses says, no way. You know that's totally incompatible. Your sacrifices are not our sacrifices. They will infuriate you. We just can't mingle that up. We can't do it. We must go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he tells us. So Pharaoh says, okay, I'll let you. I will. Now notice that. I will. Notice the arrogance still of this worldly leader. I will let you go sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. Only you must not go very far away. You stay at a stone's throw, Moses. Do you understand what he's showing you? He'll give you a little bit, but how tightly the devil in his realm wants to hold you and keep everything mingled up. Don't go very far. I'll cut you a halfway deal. Don't go very far. you can have your religion, but you cannot separate from us. To which I'm saying, are you seeing the message here all over the Scriptures that when God set apart a people, He praised and said, Father Abraham, that one of the great blessings of that community would be Abraham would train his children to know me and to be separate. And Moses would come down after the golden calf and say so clearly, how will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except you're with us and go with us so we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are on the face of the earth. Satan says, just a little. Just a little. Keep your sin. Oh, don't be so legalistic. Come on. You can marry whoever you want. You can live however you want. and you can come to church and sing praise to the Lord the Almighty. Reminded of the words of A.W. Pink, who said, Satan aims to get the believer to mix the world and the church. Alas, how well he has succeeded. Professing Christians have, for the most part, so assimilated their worship to Egyptian patterns that instead of being hated by the world, they have taught the men of the world to join with them. Thus far, the offense of the cross has ceased. whoa is that true do we have no more offense and no more separation all over the scriptures i don't want you guys loving the world or the things in the world it's all perishing and now you know why the struggle is so hard now you know why the struggle so hard with our children we're pulling them out constantly and we have to and the world and its system and the devil says uh-uh uh-uh uh-uh you see we're fearful that the world wants to blur every line and force us into conformity but i want to encourage you this morning in closing you don't have to fear i have pity on them do you know why i have pity on them because they've taken a stand against the Lord and against His anointed. Bad place to be. They don't have a ghost of a chance without a ransom. They're beating the air. And God's saying to you today, you're the sheep of my care and I love you. Christ has promised you that when you're conveyed into His kingdom, He's going to give you the power to stay the course. You're not on your own. He's with you. His Spirit will provide abundance of power for the fight. But you should know that if you belong to Him, there will be division in your life. It's so important for us. Jesus, when He came, brought a lot of division. He even said it. I didn't come to bring peace, but division between mothers and fathers. I'm dividing out a people to me. You're going to have to separate from the things that are against the Lord. And you're going to have to be willing to take that stand. That's part of the fight until we're in glory. But you should do it with joy and accept who you are. You're servants of the king who paid the ransom for you and loves you. You've got the greatest identity that you could ever be given. And so the words of Paul to the Corinthian church so stands with me as I think about this and close with this. So don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? Or what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are His temple. And God has said, listen to this, I will dwell with them. You're not alone. And I will walk among them. I will be their God. And they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate. Says the Lord, don't touch what is unclean. And I will receive you. I will be a father to you. And you shall be my sons. and my daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Come out and be separate. And he promises you today who look to Christ, he is able to present you faultless before his presence of his glory with exceeding joy into the Goshen of redemption drawing near to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray to him and thank him this morning. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for encouraging us and strengthening us, which we need. And showing us the gospel in the midst of a plague of flies. That you've not left us. That you've not abandoned us, but you are actually with us. You said that, Lord Jesus. Lo, I'm with you to the close of the age. Let us appreciate our identity. Let us be bold about who we are in love. Inviting those on the other side to come into the Goshen of redemption and to be saved. And give us all hearts to see so clearly what it means to be separate and where we are blurring those lines in conformity with the world and the things of the world. Help us to not love the world, but to have our greatest delight, our greatest joy, our greatest satisfaction be Christ. Thank You for teaching us and instructing us today that we might understand the ransom of God. Forgive us our sins. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.