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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleInemistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Let’s see, we’re in the book of Vau. You might know where we are. We’re not in Genesis now. We’re in Exodus. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Exodus. Exodus and we’re talking about Moses. Moses, we’re talking about Moses. And Moses, he didn’t want to go to Egypt. And you know, they’re always making movies and things like that. And of course, ewitness, they do it according to Hollywood style stuff. I’ve never been to a movie in 55 years.

But if it comes on TV and if it’s halfway digit, I might watch it, but most times I don’t. So I know I’ve already read the book, so I cheated. I don’t read the book. So I know how it’s supposed to be. And when they don’t job with this, I don’t like them. But look what he says here in verse 29 or chapter 4, because remember Moses didn’t want to go and so God had to talk him into it and take away all of his objections.

And now he says, I’ll use Aaron and Lord didn’t want to do that, but that’s what Moses, he insisted. So sometimes, you know, people don’t always do what they’re supposed to do. And any time we don’t, it’s going to cause trouble down the road. And of course, Aaron did cause trouble down the road. But he was Moses’s brother. And it’s amazing that, you Moses was out there in the backside of a desert and Aaron probably hadn’t seen him in 40 years and God told Moses, Aaron is coming to see you.

He’s coming to see you. He’s out there in the desert. He’s coming to see you. God, you know, he’s watching and he tells him what’s going on. I think that’s so neat. But look what he says here. Look in verse 27, and the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. Said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and he met him in the Mount of God, any custom in Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord and what he had done.

So anyway they got together after all these years. Any amazing without GPS how you could find each other out there in the middle of a wilderness. I mean that’s pretty good. God can bring people together either. I don’t know maybe they had road signs and all that stuff you know Moses lives here you know I don’t know. But now look what he says in verse 29 and 30 they met with the elders of Israel and told them what was going to be done and in verse 31 yay yay rah rah and the people believed.

When they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and they had looked upon their reflections, then they bowed their heads and they worshiped. So everybody was wonderfully glad. I mean they were just thrilled to death. God heard their cry. Now later on they said, Lord why didn’t you just leave us alone? Why didn’t you just leave us down in here? I mean those onions and garlic and all that stuff. That was better than this junk. We’re not here in the wilderness.

Do you think they complained? All they did. But they asked God to deliver them. Well, He says, I’m sending Moses. So in verse 1 of chapter 5, afterwards Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, does say, if the Lord God of Israel let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, well of course, no problem. Well not exactly. And verse 5 is an interesting verse. He says in verse 5, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.

When I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. So God says, I’m going to bring them out. And Egypt will know that I am the Lord. See, they didn’t believe that the God of Israel was God. They had all of their own gods. But anyway, you’ll look there. in verse 17 verse 17, thus saith the Lord, in this thou shalt know that I am the Lord. The whole I will smite with the rod that is in thine hand upon the waters which are in the river.

They shall be turned to blood, and the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egyptian shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. So God says, I’m going to convince you I am God. Well, he goes to and he texts all of their God. See, they had God to the Nile, they had God to the flies, God to the… You name it and they had it. And so God is going to show their God isn’t God and that he is God.

And it’s all about what God wants to show and to prove to them. So anyway, they had all these problems that hit, but look here in verse 25, and seven days were fulfilled after that the Lord had smitten the river. So God says what he was going to do and then God does it. So God tells him what he’s going to do in advance. And the reason because in Isaiah chapter 48 and verse three, four, and five, where he says, along this line, he makes a statement, he says, I’m gonna show you these things in advance because I know that thou art obstinate and thy neck is an iron sinew and our brow, brass, in other words, your heart headed his stiff neck.

So I’m gonna tell you what’s gonna happen before it happens so that when it happens, you’ll know that I told you so. Doesn’t that make sense? That’s what God does. Now, the gods of this world, they can’t do that. God can do that. God did that. Now look there in verse two. Of course, Pharaoh said, no, and he hardened himself and in verse two, and if thou refused to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs.

Frogs. Frogs are going to be everywhere. In verse three, and the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly which shall go up and come into thine house, into thy bed chamber upon thy bed, upon the house of thy servants and thy people, and into thy ovens, and into thy needing trust. And the frog shall come up both on thee and upon the people and upon all thy servant. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saith the Aaron, stretch forth thine hand with the rod over the streams, over the rivers and over the pond, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.”

Now that ought to be pretty good proof. I mean if that happens then they ought to believe that. And then of course Pharaoh’s going to say yep he’s God and let him go. But in all of these little tests that God did, Pharaoh hardened himself. Now the Bible will use these two phrases. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. And then you’ll also read where Pharaoh hardened his heart. Now God hardened his heart by forcing him to make decisions. See, in order to reveal whether you have a hard heart and your stubborn and rebellious, it’s for God to require something of you.

If God didn’t require anything of you, then there’s no way of knowing if you’re rebellious or not. It’s like a child, if you let him do anything he wants to do, you can’t tell if he’s rebellious or not. Why? You didn’t require anything. Tell him what he can and cannot do and then see what he does. And you’ll find out whether you’ve got to obey your kid on your hands. So God sent the frogs. And it happened just like God said was going to take place.

Now, you’ll also notice that he sent something else here. Look there in verse 16. And the Lord said unto Moses, say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, smite the dust of the land that it may become a lice throughout all the land of Egypt. life everywhere. Now God is doing this but he’s in every one of these he protects the children of Israel so God can whoop them and bless the others and in life that can also have go true.

You’ll find out and this is mentioned in the book of Romans in chapter 9 where God says I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have blessings on those that I want to bless and I can curse those that I want to curse. But you see, what God does is He lets you decide what kind of a vessel you’re going to be. If you become a vessel that’s hardened to the Lord and you rebel against what He wants you to do, then God can use you as a vessel of wrath.

So God shows how He thinks and feels about people who rebel against Him. So by your own choice, you will either be a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor. If you are a vessel of dishonor, then God can use you as an example of his wrath. And he could pour out his wrath upon you. This is what God’s laid down. Before you ever make that decision, you ought to understand how God works. So if you become rebellious to the Lord, you ought to know in advance.

God is going to use you to display his wrath. He’s going to chase in you, discipline you, maybe take you home before your time. But you can’t just do whatever you want and no consequences. But if I become sensitive, teachable, pliable, moldable in the hands of a potter with the clay and you yield yourself and you’re teachable in the hands of God, then God can you make you into a vessel of honor. But see, it depends upon whether or not you are hardened or your tender, flexible, where God can use you, submissive or rebellious.

So Israel was learning a valuable lesson, watching that when you harden yourself to the Lord, God’s going to do this. You would think they would have remembered that always, but they didn’t. They forgot. And the Bible says they forgot, they forgot, they forgot. a whole chapter on how they forgot and they do. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could always remember everything we’re supposed to do? Well, when you go back here, you’ll find out that there’s things that God says is going to take place.

And because of these things, Pharaoh would say, okay, okay, I give in, you can go, and then he’d change his mind. When he takes away the lies or he takes away something, then he’d change his mind again. He did a lot of repenting. But look what he says here in verse 18. And the magicians did so with their enchantment to bring forth lights, but they could not. So there were lights upon man and upon beast. Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, this is the finger of God, and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.

And he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Even his own people said, the magicians, this is the finger of God. We can’t do what he can. Our God can’t do what their God can do. So anyway, goes on down here and says some things. God sends something else. See there in verse 21, he says, “‘If thou will not let my people go, “‘behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee. “‘And upon thy servants and upon thy people “‘and upon thy house, “‘if you ever had one fly, bother you.”

Isn’t it a pestilittle thing? That’s why they call it pestilence. They passed to you. And these little things, one fly. But what if you had millions and millions of flies all over the place? Wouldn’t that drive you nuts? Getting in your ears, getting in your nose, trying to breathe in, swallow four or five of them. Makes you hungry, don’t it?

And he says, I will sense worms of flies upon thee and upon thy servant, upon thy people, and upon thy houses and so forth, and the houses of the Egyptian shall be full of swarms of flies and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell that no swarms of flies shall be there. In other words, this is where God’s people were in the land of Goshen, which is the northern part of Israel where the Nile River comes and splits off in the choice piece of ground.

But it says upon all of Egypt, you’re going to have a problem. But in this one, I’m going to put a border up there and then they can’t go past that. God. So he was whooping one and blessing the other. You think that would make him yield. But then yield? No, not yet. No, there was still a problem. So look what he says in verse 23. And I will put a division between my people and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be.”

So when the next day when it happens, you think, well, they ought to know that. God told them what was going to happen in advance. And they still would not believe. Now here in Exodus in chapter 8, Exodus 8, and there’s a Bible right there in the front of the pew. I want everybody to follow along. We’re talking about Moses going down there to Egypt telling old Pharaoh let my people go. You know about 55 years ago, I saw a movie called The Ten Commandments.

And I’ll never forget when your Brenner says, his God is God. I was a lost man. Oh, I like that. And I like Charleston, Heston, winning and Pharaoh losing. Oh, I like that. But anyway, they’re both dead now, you know. Look now in verse 25. Verse 25 of chapter 8, Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, go ye sacrifice to your God in the land. See there? He finally gives in. No, no, no, no, no. He just told him you can go and sacrifice in the land.

You can’t leave, but you can sacrifice here. That’s a compromise. He’s compromising just a little bit, but Moses would not compromise. He says, when we leave, we’re not leaving anything. So they wanted him to compromise. And he says in verse 27, “‘We will go three days journey into the wilderness. Sacrifice to the Lord our God as he commanded us.” He says, no, we’re gonna go three days journey into the wilderness. Well you can do it right here. No we’re not.

He says let my people go. Pharaoh didn’t want to look. Look he got all this free labor. They were building his cities, working themselves to death. So he says no. Look in verse 28. Verse 28 and Pharaoh says I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness. See there? I’m going to let you do it. I’ll let you go. And he says, in the wilderness, but notice, only ye shall not go very far away.

Intreat for me. In other words, listen to me what I’m saying. I’m giving in a little bit. All right. I’ll let you go into the wilderness so that you can do, but not far, not far. So this is where compromise comes in. Just compromise just a little bit. And Moses says in verse 29, Moses says, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Lord that the swarm of flies may depart from Pharaoh from his servants and from his people tomorrow.

But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully anymore. He’s gonna do it again anyway. You can’t trust this guy. Can’t trust this guy. Luke what he says in verse 31. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses and he removed the swarm of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people, they remained if not how many? Not one fly. There were swarms. Now there’s not one fly. Not one fly in the whole land. Oh, I love that.

I hate it when that got one little fly. If you’re really down in bed and you can hear a mosquito and it stops. He’s landed. Are you gonna drill for oil any minute now? Have you ever slapped yourself in the middle of the night? You think, I got him. He drive you nuts. One little pesti one, but he says it’s not one left in the whole land. But in verse 32, Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time. Also neither would he let the people who wouldn’t do it.

He lied, lied over and over again. He kept lying. So look in chapter nine and look there in verse three. Verse three says, Behold, the land of the Lord is upon the cattle, which is in the field, upon the horse, and upon the asses, upon the camels, and upon the oxen, and upon the sheep, there shall be a very grievous, what we call a pestilence, some kind of a disease. It’s killing them all. And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and there shall not nothing die of all that is the children of Israel.

So Israel is safe. God put a boundary and these died and those didn’t. So even God believed in quarantine. But look down here in verse 9, looking verse 9 says, and it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt and shall be a boil breaking forth with blames upon man and upon beast. Throughout all the land of Egypt, boils all over your body. You ever seen person with a boil? They could get big and bad. And come into a head and, I don’t even want to describe it.

But he had them, they had them all over. And he warned him, says, this is what’s going to happen next. He got had a sequence and he says, tell them let my people go. And if they won’t, this is going to happen. They won’t, this is going happen. They didn’t. This is going to happen. And then you warned them. He says, now don’t lie to me anymore. And it gets worse. And it gets worse. And then he begins, yes, okay, I’ll let you do it.

And then he lied. He takes him away and then he changes mine again. So God is a God of first chance, second chance, third chance. He gave him 10 chances and they wouldn’t listen. But he tried to get Moses to compromise and Moses would not compromise. Look in verse 11. Verse 11, and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the boil was also upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. But it wasn’t upon the children of Israel.

I mean, this is God in heaven, attacking their gods, and showing that he is God. And he says, the reason is to show you that all the people in Egypt, I want you to know, I am God, I am Jehovah. and I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is God, that is the true God. So look in verse 13, and the Lord said unto Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and says, let my people go that they may serve me.

Well, he wouldn’t. So God told Moses, and this is where you will read this in the book of Romans in chapter nine, how that God says in verse 16, and in very deed for this cause have I raised the up for to show in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Why is God doing this? Because God wants everybody to know he is God. And to convince the children of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And the reason he keeps saying Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is to let him know that God is not a God of the dead, of God of the living that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still alive. Even though they’re dead here, they’re still alive. Good thing to remember. Now look in verse 18. They haven’t learned their lesson yet. Verse 18, “‘Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to reign a very grievous hail such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now nothing has ever felt like this before.

There’s going to be hellstones coming and they’re going to be dangerous and they’re going to kill and destroy. He’s going to send them and he says, the hell shall come down upon them and they shall die in verse 19. And so he verse 21, and he that regardeth not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field. And lo and behold, that I, they got hit with the hell, they died. So he goes through and he says, they’re not looking in verse 25.

Verse 25, and the hell smoked throughout all the land of Egypt. All that was in the field. Both man and beast. And the hell smote every herb of the field and break every tree of the field. You’re talking about Egypt. They are being punished, buddy. I mean, this is hitting every aspect of their whole economy. Everything’s happening to them. But remember when Joseph first went there 400 years before, how God blessed Egypt. And everybody would come there and get through.

And God said, that was because of Joseph, one man. And God used Joseph to bring his father Jacob and his sons. 70 of them in total and put them in the choicest land of Egypt in the land of Goshen. most watered place, most beautiful place, and that would belong to them because there was a Pharaoh who knew Joseph. But years has passed. And then the Bible says, there are rows of Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. And if he didn’t know Joseph, he didn’t know God.

And now he’s making decisions and look what he’s doing to his own people. He’s destroying his own country. But that’s the way it goes. Also, if you’ll notice here in verse 27, Pharaoh’s sin and call for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have sinned this time, this time. The Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked. He finally saw the light. He finally saw the light. Do you really think He saw the light. He’s lying again because as soon as God would stop something, He’d change His mind again.

Have you ever been in the hospital and you’re laying there and you’re real sick and you’re great as hope is Lord get well and to live Lord don’t let me die. Lord if you let me live I promise that I’ll do this and this and this and this and then you’ve got well and you didn’t keep your word. I know a lot of people just like that. I went in to see one man in the hospital. I said, hey, what you doing in here?

He said, oh, preacher, I’m so sick. I think I’m going to die. That says, everybody’s going to die sometime. I mean, I’m not the greatest in the hospital visit. I said, what can I do for you? He said, well, pray. I said, pray what? Did I get well? I said, look, you haven’t been serving the Lord, And I told you over and over again, God’s going to chase you and discipline you. Now why should I come in here and ask God to make you well?

I said, you’re probably here because of your rebellion to God. I said, are you going to plan on serving the Lord? He says, no. I said, then I’m not going to pray for you. You’re some kind of preacher. I said, I know it. I said, but I’m not asking God to bless rebellion. I said, now, if you want to serve the Lord and do right, I’ll say, I’ll pray for that. I said, but you already told me you’re not going to and you don’t want to.

I said, your problem is to bring you to the Lord. And if you’re not going to go to the Lord, I said, I’m not praying you to get well. I’m going to pray that God’s purpose will be fulfilled. And if God has to chasten you and discipline you and even take you home, so be it. Scared into that? You say, did you pray for him? No? And I left. Now, you say, that’s cruel. No, it’s not. No, it’s not cruel.

You don’t understand God. I understand what God says in His Word. I don’t ask God to bless disobedience. I want God to bless a person who wants to do what’s right. And I pray that God will put a hedge of thorns about you as it says in the book of Hosea. In other words, if you’re not going to serve a Lord, I pray Lord, put a hedge of thorns about Him. Not to remove the thorns, a hedge of thorns.

God does that. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be. So when you pray that hedge of thorns, it means that everything they do, they hurt themselves by their own decisions. They just get into one problem after another problem after another problem and they’re totally miserable. You say, well, I’m just miserable. Good. You ought to be miserable. When you rebel against God, you ought to be miserable. You ought not be happy. You ought not have peace enjoyed. The the Bible says there is no peace to the wicked.

There’s no joy. Why should I pray that God give it to you? You want peace, love, joy, it’s over? Serve God. He is God. But you can’t play games with God like Pharaoh’s doing. Pharaoh’s playing a game. Is he going to lose or win? When you go against God, you lose. You lose. I learned long time ago, don’t make God mad. Don’t make God mad. So I find out I am a lot happier doing right than doing wrong. I have a lot more peace and joy doing right than doing wrong.

And when a person understands that, it’ll help them make better decisions, wouldn’t it? I think so. Well it’s a new month and that means a new offer to those who support Bibleline. And this month we have something really special for you, the brand new book by Greg Steer, the founder of Dare to Share Ministries, called Gospelize. What a fabulous book written about the model for evangelism according to the book of Acts. Greg is a way of teaching some profound truths in simple and easy to understand ways with practical examples that you can use immediately.

I could not put the book down, and when I finished it, I wanted to stop everyone on the highway and tell them of the free gift of salvation. And this life-changing book is yours for a gift to Bibleline in any amount. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. God bless you and thank you again for supporting Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon? Just keep looking up.