(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Welcome back to Church Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletins one more time today and go through some announcements. If you need a bulletin, would you lift up your hand? One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. All your knee, oh, right here. God bless you. See that hand? All right. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, The flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Isaiah chapter 40, verse number eight. And our service times are 10 30 a.m. for our Sunday morning preaching service. Sunday evening service is 3 30 p.m. We're going to be in pictures of the Antichrist, the series. I'm not sure how many sermons I'm going to preach out of it, but tonight's number two, and we're going to be looking at Pharaoh, the Pharaoh with Moses and the Exodus and all that. And then Thursday, Bible study will be in Titus chapter number three. And our sowing times were listed below. We went out sowing today and it was pretty hot out there. Did anybody get a salvation? No? Well, we definitely went soul warning. We're out there in the hottest day of the year making sure people don't go to hell, but not everybody chooses to be saved. Right. So but God still rewards you for the work. And you know what? We get paid to get a free work. You know, it's a free workout, you know, from God. And he rewards us for those things. It's kind of like when you work a physical labor job, you know, and you know, you're working hard. It's like you're being paid to work out. So think about that for a second. You get some extra benefits from being a soul winner. And even if nobody gets saved, you know, you got in shape a little bit. Right. So anyway, if you look down at our praise report, you see the salvation's baptisms and attendance totals. If you weren't here this morning, I just want to let you know about our church in England. Brother Ian went to Warsaw, Poland. He preached to like 100 people. And so who knew there was 100 people in Poland that were actual, you know, new IP listeners or whatever. I don't think all of them were necessarily. But hey, you know, and the word traveled to Europe into these faraway places. And they're like, you know, a man of God is going to come and preach to us. It's like a very heavily Catholic country. And they do not like the queers over there either. Just so you know. So they're like, you know, the reputation preceded him, I guess. But after the service, he baptized 65 people. And so he was like, you know, how Aaron and her had to lift up the hands of Moses. Like his son, Jack, was having to help him with the baptisms. Now, he said it got pretty difficult, though, like because I've done 12 in a shot before and like that gets tiring. He was a 60, 65. That's crazy. Right. So but that was a great trip. And he's looking forward to going back there. There's supposed to be a church planted there at some point in the future, in the near future. I think a man from Verity Baptist Church in the Philippines is going to be starting a church there. So that's coming hopefully very soon. Anyway, so we're just trying to help them, you know, kind of, you know, nobody's there that can baptize and things like that. So Ian was just going over there to encourage them in the word of God and to get ready for church services, you know, three times a week, that kind of stuff. So anyway, and then we do have some upcoming events. We have a trip to Furcrest, Washington. It says the 26th and 27th, but you can obviously just drive up there if you're close enough. Or if you live up in that neck of the woods, it won't be that far for you. But Furcrest, Washington, it's basically going to be like the Tacoma area. So we don't have like a pinpointed spot yet, but we'll get one here really soon. Of course, breakfast, there'll be breakfast and lunch served and all that kind of stuff. So and then September we have a Yakima soul winning trip. That'll be the 29th through October 1st, which is Thursday through Saturday. And then October 28th and 29th, we're going to have another Blaine soul winning trip there. And then a cross border event. So we'll be meeting with our brethren here at Foundation Baptist North and having a preaching service with them. And we're, you guys all know all this stuff, so I'm not going to go through it. At the bottom of the page, usually the offering totals are there, but for some reason it keeps getting cut off. But we'll just put the full totals in there next Sunday so that you'll know what came in for this last month. So anyway, we sing Happy Birthday to Eileen and Owen. And so I think that's all I got for announcements. Let's sing another song. All right, our next song will be song number 463, His Eyes on the Sparrow. Song number 463, His Eyes on the Sparrow. The song might be a little slower than you kind of anticipate, but we're just doing it how it's written. So if you don't like it, blame C.D. Martin for writing it so slow. Song 463, His Eyes on the Sparrow. Let's see it out first. Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely? And long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is He. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Let not your heart be troubled. His tender word I hear, and resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears. Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Whenever I'm tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him. From there He sets me free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me. Amen. God bless you all. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Exodus chapter 4, the Bible reads in verse 1, And He put forth His hand and caught it, and it became a rod in His hand, that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom, and he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again, and he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land, and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since, thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind, have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well, and also, behold he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. And Moses went, and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all these wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand, but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn, and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me, and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass by the way in the end, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Sephora took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went, and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs and the sight of the people. And the people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. And of course we know that there is, even amongst us today, many anti-Christ, but there's only one the anti-Christ. So there's different people, even saved people in the Bible that would picture the anti-Christ. And when I preach about one of the saved people that I believe, picture the anti-Christ, I'll explain that to you. Because there's lots of people, like even Absalom pictures Christ as he's hanging from that tree. And Absalom probably wasn't saved. He was probably a reprobate. But he's still picturing Christ hanging in the tree, thrust through with a dart into his heart or whatever. So anyway, I'll get to that later, but I need to kind of pick up the pace here, and I'm going to preach about Pharaoh tonight. And the Pharaoh that I'm talking about is the Pharaoh, of course you guys, if you were paying attention to the Bible readings, talking about the Pharaoh when Moses was a grown adult. He'd already, you know, remember when Moses was born, they were actually murdering all the male children, and put him in the river. And so at a certain time when Moses' parents couldn't hide him any longer, they'd put him in like a little ark, and put him in the Nile River. And you know, Mary and his sister went to see what was going to happen to him. Moses', I mean, excuse me, Pharaoh's daughter picked Moses up out of the water, named him Moses. And he became trained in the ways of Egypt. He grew up in the king's house. And then at a certain age, he basically kind of rebelled against the Egyptians. He knew he was a Hebrew. He ended up murdering a Hebrew and burying him in the sand. When he found out that people knew about it, he fled for his life. The Pharaoh at that time tried to kill, have Moses killed, so then he went out to, you know, a faraway place and lived in Midian, with the Midianites. And so 40 years go by after this, and so there's another Pharaoh. But, you know, Pharaohs are mentioned multiple times in the Bible. The first time is in Genesis, chapter number 12, where Abram goes and he deals with a Pharaoh, I think, concerning his wife there. And so Egypt is a really powerful nation in the Bible, but you know, obviously Egypt is really nothing compared to its former glory of what it once was. And really if you think about it, Egypt was like probably the first nation that kind of dominated the known world at that time. And I personally believe that because of the famine that came during the time of Joseph, that that's really what put Egypt into power as one of the most powerful nations on earth. Let's look at Genesis. We're going to come back to Exodus 4. Let's look at Genesis, chapter 41, verse 56. Genesis 41, verse 56. So the first point of my sermon is that Pharaoh was the king of the most powerful nation on earth at that time, like the Antichrist will be someday. Someday the Antichrist is going to rule the whole world. He's going to rule for 42 months. That's what the Bible says. And Pharaoh pictures the Antichrist in that way that he's the ruler of the most powerful nation on earth at that time. So let's look at Genesis 41, verse 56. So you have the Pharaoh of Abram, which is in Genesis, chapter 12. Then the next time we see a Pharaoh in the Bible, it's Joseph. And that Pharaoh is good to Joseph and to the children of Israel. He allows all of Jacob and all of his family to come. And there's much to be said about the Pharaoh allowing Joseph to be basically the ruler underneath him. And in Genesis 41, verse 56, there's this famine that Joseph predicted was going to happen through a dream that he had. So the dream was that there's going to be seven years of plenty, and then there's going to be seven years of famine that will basically just wipe out that seven years of plenty. And it's going to be a very sore famine. And look at what it says in verse 56. It says, And the famine was over all the face of the earth. So does that mean the whole earth? Yes, it does. And Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians, and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn because the famine was so sore in all lands. So here you have all nations of the earth coming to Egypt to buy their grain in their store because Joseph was wise enough to take a portion of that plenty that they had and put it in these storehouses. And so people were coming to buy food from them because there was no other supply of food. Isn't that what the Bible says? The famine was over the face of the earth. And so I believe that this kind of is what made Egypt the most dominant country on the face of the earth at this time because if it wasn't for them, everybody would have died. If it wasn't for what Joseph and the plan that he brought forth, they would have all died. Now look at Exodus chapter 1 verse number 8. Exodus chapter 1 verse number 8. The Bible says in Exodus 1 verse 8, Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. So this kind of brings us a little closer to where Moses is. And basically what that means is this king didn't recognize who Joseph was and the great things he did for Egypt. And basically all the things that Joseph had done that were great were kind of just like cast aside and this new king was evil. He wanted everybody to just, he wanted the Hebrews to serve in rigor and hard bondage and basically made them slaves, which is a really wicked sin. So we were talking about servants this morning, but these were slaves. These are people, they're already living in the land, they're already prospering and doing well and multiplying. And actually the Bible says that they, the more that they persecuted them, the more they grew. And so they wanted to try to kill them all off and that's why Moses got to this point where he was supposed to be killed if he was a man child. So this is a different king, this is not the same king with Joseph, but now look at Exodus 3, 9. And we come into where the Pharaoh that I'm going to be preaching about has come into power. Moses has left for 40 years, God calls him back at the burning bush and all that. Look at verse 9, it says, Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth children, the children of Israel out of Egypt. Basically Moses is like, how am I going to do this? What am I? I ran off, I have nothing to really do with these people anymore. And this Pharaoh that's ruling right now, he still holds them into slavery, they're building the store cities of Ramses and all these other places. So they're in hard bondage at this time when Moses comes. So God has heard their cry, they've been in Egypt for about 400 years I believe. And so this is kind of where the story picks up. But the Bible says that the Antichrist will be the ruler of the whole world. Let's look at Revelation chapter 13, verse number 2. So, I mean, in history you can see that Egypt was a very powerful nation. They built these big giant pyramids and all this other stuff, and been a very powerful nation. Now they're just like nobodies. You know, in the world, people just like to go on vacation to see the pyramids there. That's pretty much kind of the extent of it and see the old stuff that they made. But the problem with the Egyptians is that they were really idolatrous. And Pharaoh, they were worshipping other gods. So God judged them according to what they had, basically what they had been worshipping, what they had done. And so he puts all these natural disasters on them because they're worshipping animals. You know, if you look at their hieroglyphics and all this stuff from ancient Egypt, which is still intact, you can see that they were just idolatrous, basically worshipping the devil. I mean, flat out just worshipping the devil. And so this man here is a wicked man, and God has heard the children of Israel through their tribulation, and He wants to help them out. Now Revelation 13 2 says, And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. Now I would say the same holds true to Pharaoh, because there is this spirit of Babylon that has existed for many, many years, and it started in big nations in Egypt. You know, obviously the Tower of Babel is what we talked about last time, but that nation was broken up really quickly as far as like this one world, you know, the Nimrod trying to be the one world ruler of the world. God came down and said, nope, this is over. I'm going to confound your languages and everybody's going to be separated or whatever. But where you see this Babylonian spirit, you know, the spirit of Babylon comes into Egypt, and lo and behold, they're all worshipping false idols, they're all worshipping animals, you know, the kings will say that they're living gods and all this kind of stuff, right? So this is the same thing that you see happening in the book of Revelation. So, and it's interesting because it says the beast was like unto the leopard, the feet were like the bear, the mouth of the lion and the dragon gave him his power. The dragon, of course, is the devil and his seat and great authority. So it has likenesses of all these other kingdoms that had already ruled before. You know, what did the leopard represent? It represented Greece. You know, the bear was the Medes and the Persians and so on and so forth. So, I mean, it had all these different world rulers and world systems, you know, they all kind of have this likeness and this spirit that comes upon them. Anyway, look at verse 3, it says, And I saw one of the heads, as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. Now, this is talking about how, you know, the Antichrist, the beast is going to be wounded and either killed or appeared to be killed. I think he's probably actually killed. And because it says his deadly wound was healed. If you get a deadly wound, you're dead, right? You get a shot in the head and like, you know, JFK, you know, you're not coming back from that. But apparently this guy comes back from something similar to that and it says, And they worshiped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And I kind of brought this up this morning, how the dragon just, that's what he wants. He wants to be worshipped. The dragon is the devil. The dragon is Lucifer. The dragon has fallen from heaven and he wants people to adore him. It says, And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. So how long is his reign? Forty and two months. And he opened his mouth and blasphemied against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. So, you know, he's given all this power. The devil's given him his seat, his authority. This guy is the ultimate ruler of the whole world. And then look at verse seven, it says, And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. So Pharaoh is like the Antichrist in the way that he's a king of the most powerful nation on earth. And you'll see this through all these different kingdoms where these kings get this ultimate power. And that power is obviously given to them by the spirit of Babylon. So anyway, let's look at number two. Number two tonight, let's go back to our text in Exodus chapter four. So number two, Pharaoh was a reprobate hater of God. Okay, this Pharaoh was not just, you know, a bad guy that like never heard the gospel or something. This guy, you know, he witnessed all these things that God did. And, you know, we're not going to go through all the scriptures where it talks about it, but like over 12 times, 13 times, the Bible says that either God hardened his heart or he hardened his heart against God because of the power that God was showing. And, you know, he would say, okay, Moses, make it go away. And then Moses would, you know, he would make it go away, the plague, whatever plague it was. And then it would say, then Pharaoh hardened his heart. You know, so nothing that God did was really getting his attention. And even though he saw the power of God, he saw the plagues in the mighty hand of God, he still, even though Egypt was totally destroyed, even his own people said, don't you see that, you know, Egypt is destroyed? Like, what are you doing? And so, and people will say, well, hey, there's no historical evidence that this Pharaoh ever existed. You know, if you look online and you try to figure out who this Pharaoh was, there's like 20 different opinions about it. I honestly don't care. It doesn't say what his name was, don't care. So I know that he was real because the Bible says that he was. And if you don't find any kind of historical evidence about it, well, maybe, you know, the Bible, world history is just that, his story, right? So, to the spoils, you know, to the victor go the spoils, a lot of history is skewed in the fact that, like, it's telling things from one person's side of the story. And do you think that the Egyptians really wanted that in their history, that God totally wiped them out and destroyed everything that they had and put them into, you know, took the children of Israel out. God wins, their gods lose. They're not going to put that in the history books. So, I mean, I'm going to take the word of God over a history book any day of the week. If a history lesson goes against the timeline and the truth of God's word, I'm going to just be like, okay, bye, you know, I don't care. And people will think, well, that's really narrow-minded, you know, but yet these same people will accuse us of, you know, believing a book written by men. But then they're going to hold books written by men from ancient history where there's not a lot of evidence from back then and then say that that's better than the Bible, that's more evidence than the Bible. They didn't believe Ur of the Chaldees existed. They didn't believe that Babylon existed. There was all kinds of books or, I mean, cities where, you know, God destroyed the place, AI, Jericho, all these places, but guess what? They were real places and archaeologists found them, but then people still won't believe, you know. And so really the only proof and evidence is that people will believe God's word and get saved. All right, so Pharaoh was a reprobate hater of God like the Antichrist will be. Exodus 4.21 says, And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand. But I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go. Now people will look at that and go, well, that's God just choosing who's going to be saved. That's not true, though, because God knows the end from the beginning. He knows everything. He knows who's going to choose him. He knows what vessels are fit for destruction and which ones are, you know, fit for the kingdom of heaven or whatever. He knows what Pharaoh's going to choose. And, you know, he chooses Pharaoh as a spectacle to the world to see and to view God's power. Because after this all happens, people are afraid of the children of Israel. People are afraid of the God of Israel. And all this stuff was done so that the world would know who God was, okay? So look at Exodus 7.14. So I told you there's multiple verses where the Bible talks about him hardening his heart, this Pharaoh, and God hardening his heart. So isn't that what Romans chapter 1 says, that they didn't want to retain God in their knowledge? God gave them up to vile affections. God gave them over to a reprobate mind. You know, they wanted to, you know, and the Egyptians are like a picture of this, right? They, you know, they want to change the truth of God into a lie. They want to, you know, change, you know, they want to worship the creature rather than the creator who's blessed forever. They want to worship some amalgamated animal, some animals that didn't even exist, and they put them together and call them gods or whatever. This is the road to reprobation, folks. This is the downward spiral that Egypt has taken. Exodus 7.14 says, and the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. Exodus 8 verse 15, you can just keep turning, I'm just going to keep reading. Exodus 8 verse 15 says, but when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. See, God already knew what Pharaoh was going to do. But see, Moses was supposed to go and do all this stuff anyway, in spite of the fact that Pharaoh was going to harden his heart. See, because he would say, I'll let the people go, but, you know, these are the terms and conditions. And it's like, no, God's going to make the terms and conditions, and Pharaoh would say, okay, just make it all go away, and then you can go. And then as soon as, you know, Moses would get rid of that plague, then he would just not let them go. But see how it says he hardened his heart? It wasn't God hardening his heart this time, it was Pharaoh hardening his own heart. Now skip down to verse 32, it says, and Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go. So here's another instance where Pharaoh's hardening his own heart. Exodus chapter 10, verse number 1. So you see, even after a while, these plagues that are happening to him, and we'll go into the plagues here in a little bit, but the plagues that are happening, you know, it's beginning to harden the heart of his servants also. You know, and in the end, it's the whole army. And isn't that how the Antichrist works too? You know, he's going to make this mark that you have to have in your forehead or in your hand, and then ultimately the whole army that he leads is going to be a reprobate army. Because nobody can buy or sell except for they have the mark. So how is the Antichrist going to have people in his military, his police force, his hospital workers, all these different things, if they don't have this mark? You're not going to be able to do it. Just plain and simple. So anybody under the control of this government that the Antichrist ultimately will be the leader of, you can't do anything, I mean anything. You can't buy or sell. You can't have a job. Nothing. Unless you have that mark. So that's the direction our world's heading in. I mean, just look at the fact that I go to Orlando to preach a sermon, and the next day all the pastors that are there associated with us, all of our, what is that company? Huh? PayPal. Gay Pal. Gay Pal just totally just canceled us all in one day. So I woke up and our church donations were down because Gay Pal can just choose to shut us down. So imagine if there's someone that hates Christians and you've got a visa card or you've got a MasterCard, they can literally stop us from doing anything. They can stop us from flying. They can stop us from traveling. It's kind of hard to use your credit card when you're canceled. So this cancel culture is a step in the direction of shutting Christians down with the ability to just shut us down at will. Now turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. We were in this verse earlier today, but it correlates here. So Judas Iscariot, there's going to be a whole sermon about him, but Judas Iscariot, and obviously he never ruled the world, but he's, all these people picture the Antichrist in one way, shape, or form. Now Judas was called the son of perdition, right? Now there's another man that's going to be called the son of perdition, and it's here in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3. Judas everybody thought was saved, including all the disciples, but what ended up happening, he ended up betraying the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was a traitor. So why is this guy called the son of perdition? Well because people probably think he's saved also. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of phony baloney Christians and a lot of people out there that think he's the Messiah. When he steps into the temple, he's going to proclaim that he's God. So why would people not, there's going to be people that think he's saved. So why would he not be called the son of perdition? Look at what it says, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed. This is the Antichrist, the son of perdition. Now perdition means the utter loss of the soul, or a final happiness in a future state. That's probably for Buddhists or whatever. Future misery or eternal death. What's eternal death? It's a not life, it's unalived in the lake of fire. The impenitent sinner is condemned to final perdition. So someone that's a son of perdition means that this person is not saved, they never got saved, that's what Judas was. The Bible makes it very clear that Judas was never saved. So, now you see that the Antichrist is called that, why would they call him the son of perdition if he isn't linked somehow to Christianity in some way, shape or form? Like I said, so the Jews, they're going to think he's the Messiah, and that's why they're going to allow him to walk into that temple. But then when he says he's God, you know, then they're going to freak out. And then he's going to set up this image inside the temple, and then people are supposed to run for the hills, right? So look at it says, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God. So he's putting himself above God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This is the ultimate blasphemy that you could do, is to proclaim yourself to be God in front of everybody, to go in and say that you're God, you're above God and all this stuff. He's the son of perdition, but also the Pharaoh is like him, because he is not able to be saved either because he is a reprobate. He's like the Antichrist will be, because he's also a reprobate. So he's just like his daddy, the devil, right? So Pharaoh is like his dad, which is the devil, and the Antichrist is like his dad. See, Jesus was like his dad. Jesus was like his father, right? So Jesus was the image of God, and you know, this guy is the image of the devil. So what is the devil like? Subtle. He's subtle. He tricked Adam and Eve into eating of the tree of good and evil, and the fruit of the tree. You know, he lied about God's word. He was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. And so what would you expect the Antichrist to be just like him? Judas was also possessed by Satan himself. You never see that except for in the garden when he possessed that serpent, that he was in that serpent and then talking through this serpent. But you don't see Satan actually possessing people throughout the rest of the Bible until it comes to Judas. Now Judas, remember the sop was dipped, and when he dipped the sop, Satan entered into Judas. So at some point, Satan is also going to enter into this beast, this Antichrist person. But you know, Pharaoh was, his power was given to him by the devil too. And he was obviously resisting God, resisting God's man, Moses and Aaron. And look at Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12. It's interesting that he's called the son of perdition too, right? Because Jesus Christ is the son of God, but this guy is the son of perdition. Look at what it says in Isaiah 14, 12. See that's the end of the Antichrist also, is in hell in the sides of the pit. But you know, this is what the Antichrist comes in and does. He does everything that his dad wants to do, right? Doesn't his dad want to exalt himself above God? That's what it said, right? Second Thessalonians there. So this is what the eventual thing that this Antichrist is going to do. And so Pharaoh also does these types of things when it comes to resisting Moses, and saying who is God, and saying that he's going to do something, and going back on his word, he's just a liar. And he also hates God and hates his people. Number three tonight, Pharaoh ruled at a time when God judged the world through plagues, like the Antichrist will someday. Because you don't see, there's not a lot of times when God just, you know, it was known for a fact that these plagues are coming from God. You know, you think of Elijah not allowing it to rain for three and a half years because he prayed earnestly. You think about, you know, Sodom and Gomorrah being turned into ashes, and hell fire literally being poured upon them. We saw, you know, but there was nobody left to tell the tale after that, it's just the Bible telling us what happened. Basically in Lot, you know, but his end was in the end of, in some kind of a cave, drink getting wasted. So, not a really good situation there, but here you have a time where there's multiple plagues being poured out. Moses is telling them, this is God doing this, and you have ten plagues that happened to Egypt. Now, when you look at Revelation, there's also plagues that God unleashes upon mankind in the end. And I kind of said this this morning, but, so this is an incomplete judgment. Now, Egypt was completely judged, and again Egypt pictures the world, so it's a picture of the world being judged completely. But what happened was only happening in Egypt, and Goshen is the place where the children of Israel lived, and none of these plagues touched the children of Israel. So, anybody that's saved is not going to have these wrathful things happening to them. You know, the people that are marked on their foreheads, you know, by God are the 144,000. They're not going to be, you know, the plagues are not going to happen to them. The plagues are not going to have an effect on them, these scorpion, you know, these women scorpion haired things that come out and sting people and don't let them die. Those aren't attacking the 144,000. They're not attacking the children of Israel. They're just attacking the people that have the mark. So, anyway, so the, you know, the Pharaoh ruled at a time when God judged the world through plagues, like the Antichrist will do someday. So, let's, I don't have time to go through all the scriptures, and I told you this morning that I'm going to actually do a study in Exodus, because when I began to write this sermon, I was just like, man, there's so much here. It's just impossible to get done in one sermon. So, I'll come back and add detail to some of this stuff, but just for sake of time, I'm going to just list what the plagues were in Egypt. So, but the first thing that happened was the snake thing, right? I'm going to get to that at the very end, but remember, he has the rod of God, and then Moses throws it down, and then he runs away from the snake, right? So, that's the first thing that he does in order to get them to believe that he is from God, he goes to Pharaoh's court, and then they all throw their snakes. You know, they all throw their rods down, and they all turn into snakes, right? So, it's like not impressed, Moses. So, he comes at them with the plagues here. So, the first plague is the waters become blood, they can't drink anything, all the things die in the water, and you know, in case you didn't realize this, that's a pretty dry part of the country. So, if your gigantic river can't supply water, then the people are going to get thirsty. So, that's the first plague is the waters become blood, then the frogs come, there's frogs in their cupboards, there's frogs in their bed. I mean, a lot of little girls are probably very terrified when these frogs were unleashed, and you know, then they started to die and stink up the whole land. So, it's like a bunch of dead frogs in the land, so that's the second plague. Then the plague of lice, my wife's worst nightmare come true. As a matter of fact, she had a dream last night that she had lice, and she woke up and went and checked her hair just to make sure she didn't have it. So, that is a bad plague, because lice, you know, lice is hard to get rid of, and so if it's in your hair, like, they actually make these, they lay eggs in your hair, and those eggs, you can put all kinds of stuff in it, and it's not going to get out. You have to comb them out with a comb, a fine-toothed comb, and get them all out, and if you don't get them all out, and those lice hatch again, they reinfest you. So, lice is a really bad plague. I don't know if they just all shaved their heads in the end or what, but there was a lot of rid needed at that time, so that's where rid was invented, no I'm just kidding. But lice, that's a bad plague. And then you have the plague of flies, and then the plague of livestock and all the animals dying, the plague of boils all over their bodies and things like that, the plague of hail, and then you had the plague of locusts, and then, you know, locusts aren't like grasshoppers. You think of locusts, they're like these little, you know, things, but if you've ever lived in like a desert area, I used to catch, you know, I would call them grasshoppers that are like that long, some really big ones. They don't bite and hurt you or whatever, but what do they do? They eat everything around. But locusts are like small trout, you know, they're huge. I mean, there was a video that came out not too long, you know, maybe it's been several years now, but in Egypt, a whole bunch of locusts that were flying through the city, and they're really big. They're like giant locusts. Anyway, giant grasshoppers. So, number nine is darkness, thick darkness. Number ten, the death of the firstborn. And this is what ultimately, you know, let, you know, then Pharaoh let the people go, because everybody was wailing because of the death of the firstborn. But all throughout this, Pharaoh just keeps hardening his heart and saying he's going to let the people go, and he doesn't. But after this one, they spoil the Egyptians, they take all their stuff. It says they borrowed it, but they were never planning on giving it back. So I think borrowing might have meant something different back then than it does now, because usually we say, can I borrow 100 bucks? It's like, yeah, sure, just make sure you pay me back on Friday or whatever. But they're like, hey, let me borrow those jewels. Like, okay, see you later, sucka. You know, but anyway, now, so in the end times, there's going to be some plagues that are poured out upon man. It's going to be a complete wrath of God judgment upon the earth. And you know, Jesus starts to open the seven seals. Now those seals are not necessarily, those are not the wrath of God. And we kind of talked about that this morning. These seals allow the devil to unleash his wrath upon mankind, which is the saints. So these things are allowed to take place by the opening of these seals. Then you have the trumpets that happen after that, and they're the complete wrath of God on earth in Revelation chapter 8 and 9. So after, remember chapter 7 this morning, it was like all these people appear in heaven, and then the wrath of God in the next chapter begins to be poured out upon the earth. And many of these things that I listed to you that are the plagues that Egypt went through happen in the end times. So you got all these, not everything happens, and not everything happens in the same sequence. That's why it's a picture of what's going to be happening. So he's a picture of the Antichrist. And these plagues are a picture of what mankind is going to go through yet in the future. Then you have the seven vials, the seven vials of wrath of God upon mankind, after the tribulation, of course, and after the rapture. So Revelation chapter 16, you'll find those. And I mean, just for the sake of time, I don't have time to read whole chapters of Revelation to you right now, but I just wanted you to see that there are these ten plagues that happen in Egypt, and once Egypt's destroyed, then what happens? Well, the Pharaoh comes and tries for one last scare. He tries to come to get them. But I don't want to get ahead of myself because I'm going to cover that here in a minute. But again, the wrath of God on Egypt was local, it was partial, but again, they represent the world, so that does picture what happens in the end. Number four tonight, Pharaoh spoke great things against God. This is a very short point, but he did do these things like the Antichrist will someday. In Exodus chapter five, if you turn over to Exodus chapter number five, it says in verse number one, And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I, let Israel go. So here's Pharaoh, you know, he's resisting the will of God, he's resisting and speaking ill of God. It might not seem like he's saying that bad of things, but he's saying, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? You know, that's speaking great things against the Most High. And he says, I know not the Lord. So what is he telling you right there? I'm not saved. Because in the Bible, when someone says they knew not the Lord, it always means that the person was unsaved. Neither will I, let Israel go. That's a statement you got to believe. But it wasn't until his hand was fully forced, until people were just like, Dude, come on, it's over, you lost. You know, every plague that went through there, you know, had some kind of major effect on their economy. And ultimately, we don't really know how all that, you know, was recovered. You know, Pharaoh gets killed in the end. So we don't know who became Pharaoh after him, there's a lot of speculation about that. Revelation chapter 13 verse 5 says, I won't have you turn there, just stay in Exodus 5 verse 6, but in Revelation 13, 5 it says, And there was given him a mouth, speaking great things, and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And you know, he has this power to continue forty two months, but it's all through the plagues of the wrath of God is upon him through most of that. Forty two months, just like, you know, God allowed Pharaoh to continue for a certain short amount of time, and while plagues were being poured upon him. So, and it says that he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. So, you know, the Antichrist is going to do the same thing Pharaoh was doing in the book of Exodus. Number 5 tonight, Pharaoh puts God's people through tribulation and great tribulation like the Antichrist will do one day. You're still in Exodus chapter 5, look at verse number 6, the Bible says, And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, He shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore, let them go and gather straw for themselves. So they're already in a tribulation, they're already in affliction. Remember, God heard their affliction and he said, you know what, I'm going to go down and do something about it. And then all these, you know, he sends Moses in there and all these plagues break forth. And then the first time Moses, like, comes to them, then he turns them against the people. He turns, you know, Pharaoh turns the tables and makes Moses to be hated by the people that he's supposed to be there to help. Because they're already going through tribulation, now he's going to put them through great tribulation. Now, he's not killing people like the Antichrist, so again, it's a picture. But, you know, he needs people to build these cities. He needs people to, you know, to do his will and to bear these burdens because they certainly don't want to do it. So, and then it says in verse 7, He shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore, let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tail of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them. Ye shall not diminish ought thereof, for they be idle. Therefore they cry, saying, let us go and sacrifice to our God. He's basically saying, well, you obviously have a lot of free time on your hand because now you want to go worship God, you want to go serve God. It says, Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein, and let them not regard vain words. Here's, again, so he's speaking the word of the Lord to him, and what's Pharaoh calling them? He's calling them vain words, useless words, useless language. And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye, get the straw where ye can find it, yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as then there was straw. So basically they're having to get the same amount of work done that they were already probably pressured to do a lot of hard work, and now they're telling them they have to go around and find the straw to mix with this brick. So they went from persecution to great persecution. They've gone to tribulation to great tribulation. And the officers and the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as heretofore? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick, and behold, thy servants are beaten, but the fault is in thine own people. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle. Therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now and work, and there shall no straw be given you, yet ye shall deliver the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in an evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not diminish aught from your bricks of your daily task. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh. And they said unto them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made our saber to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of the servants to put sword in their hand to slay us. So this is kind of like, you know, modern day Christianity. It's like Moses and Aaron are there ripping and putting these forth, these plagues, and trying to help them to be freed. And they're like, You've made us to stink in the eyes of the law of the land, the president, or whatever, the king of the land. And you put the sword in their hand to slay us, when they're just afraid to preach what's right and true. And then they're, you know, they're whining to the men of God that are actually getting up and preaching the Bible, and speaking out which is right and true. And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so even treated this people? Why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people, neither hast thou delivered thy people at all. So this is, you know, Moses is just like, you know, what's going on here? I thought you said you were going to deliver the people, and now they're upset with me. You know, and this trend continues on through Moses' whole leadership, that the children of Israel are always whining and complaining and going against them, trying to, you know, stone them to death in all manner of different things, complaining constantly. Now turn over to Matthew chapter 24. So the real great tribulation is going to be a lot worse than this, but, you know, when you're being forced to work in unsavory conditions, you know, I'm sure that they weren't having, you know, Gatorade brought to their job sites to make sure that, you know, they probably didn't have umbrellas and cooling stations for them. You know, you're serving with rigor in a desert place. It's going to be, it's going to feel like tribulation. You know, we were out there for like an hour, you know, soul winning or whatever, and we finished our map and we're like, all right, let's go. Get in the air conditioning. You know, we're doing what God asked, but, you know, he's not making us like overdo it to the point where we're going to, you know, die from doing his work or whatever necessarily. So, you know, but these guys, they are going through some tribulation. It's hard, it's pretty hardcore and Pharaoh has made it worse. And so this is what's going to happen, you know, during the tribulation period on this earth. And once, you know, the Antichrist is revealed for who he is, when there's going to be no doubt about it, then there's going to be a great tribulation. There's going to be worse persecution. Look at Matthew chapter 24 verse 15. The Bible says, And when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them that be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let them which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days, but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, to this time, no, nor ever shall be. This is going to be, in the end times, soon in the future, or whenever this happens, it's going to be so bad that it's going to be like nothing that's ever happened to Christians in all time. And it's never going to be anything like it after it. It says, And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. So God is even merciful in the tribulation that we go through during that time or whatever Christians are there, if it's us, if it's some other generation, you know, God is still merciful. Even through tribulation, God, you know, allows us, you know, and some people, you know, being killed is going to be an escape for them. Because, I mean, who wants to be around? I mean, if it's reprobates ruling the world this time, there's going to be sodomites ruling over us, ruling over this world. And the last thing, I'd rather have my head cut off than have some sodomite doing some weird stuff to me. All right? I might pull a Samson, I might pull a Saul, just follow my own sword at that point. Because I don't want to, you know, have to go through any of that. But, I don't know. I know suicide's bad, but I would just be like, cut my head off right now, please. You know? So, anyway, we don't want to be around any freakery. You know, I definitely don't want to be. I already have to look at them enough and it's already disgusting to me. So, anyhow, let's look at point number six. So, you know, point number five is that there's going to be, you know, Pharaoh had tribulation put upon the people, but he also made their tribulation greater. And so, that's a picture of the Antichrist, you know, in the New Testament. It's explained by Jesus that there's going to be a tribulation, but there's also going to be a great tribulation that's going to be worse than anything you could possibly think of. So, for a lot of people, working in the hot sun would be a pretty bad tribulation, but it's, you know, running for your life, not being able to buy or sell or work or anything like that. You're hunted. That's going to be a lot worse, right? Number six, Pharaoh tries to murder God's people at one final battle, excuse me, where he is destroyed, like the Antichrist will do one day. So, now, all the plagues have happened. You know, Pharaoh, all the firstborn are killed. There's a great lamentation throughout the land of Egypt. And let's skip over to Exodus chapter 14, verse 4. Now, there's a lot of detail that I'm leaving out that I would like to get to, and I will when I get to that study, but I just, again, I just don't have enough time for that. So, Exodus chapter 14, verse 4 says, And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord, and they did so. And I behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them, and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts, upon his chariots and upon his horsemen. So, you know, God hardens Pharaoh's heart again, and then he hardens the hearts of the Egyptians also. So, you know, there's your reprobate army right there. There's your reprobate army right there. He hardens their hearts, they follow after them. I mean, it's not like, you know, you're like, well, how do you know they're reprobates? Well, he hardens their hearts, and then they follow after to murder a bunch of people that can't defend themselves. So, the people are running for their lives, you know, and then these guys want to track after them. It's not them that killed the firstborn. It's not them that plagued the whole land. It's God that did that, the hand of God that should have recognized that a long time ago and gotten right with them. Look at verse 23. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses and his chariots and his horsemen. And it came to pass that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud and troubled the host of the Egyptians and took off their chariot wheels and they draped them heavily so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord frighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon the chariots, and upon the horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared and the Egyptians fled against it. And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea, and the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. So here you have their backs against the wall. I didn't read that part of it, but their backs against the wall. They're at the Red Sea. And then God allows the East Wind to come, and it makes this way of safety, this corridor of safety for them. The Egyptians follow them into it, and then God destroys them and overthrows them in the sea once the children of Israel are already there. And so this will be similar to what happens, obviously different parties, different things, but it is a picture of this final battle where the Antichrist is going to try one more time to come against the Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. He's going to come with his big army, and the Lord is going to destroy them. But one more verse I have to read in Exodus 14.31. It says, And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. Now I'll turn to Revelation chapter 19, and we'll see the parallel, you know, not the parallel to it, but where, obviously I love this whole chapter, but I'm not going to read the whole thing. My wife's like, you always read this part. I love this part of the Bible though. I love when God's people win. I love when God smashes His opponents and those people that try to make us feel terrorized and all these people that have tried to murder and kill Christians over the years. I love it when, you know, we see God get the victory here. Revelation 19 verse 19 says, And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and then that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of burning, of fire burning with brimstone, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that had sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. That's the gross part, right? But you know what? Hey, that's what they get for messing with God. That's what, you know, this beast gets for trying to say that he is God. And he rises this big army against God, against Jesus. You notice that it says that he, you know, they're gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. Well, it's funny because, you know, these people were taken and just thrown in the lake of fire. You know, Jesus was like, that easy. They're not even close to as powerful as God is. Not even close. All these things that people have feared on the earth, but God can just be like, okay, lake of fire, goodbye. And then it's over. It's just like Pharaoh charging in, and the people are afraid, and then just the overturning of the seas, and they're all dead. It's just without drama. It's not like, you know, it's not like Pharaoh got his shots in and killed some people. No, all those Egyptians were killed. They didn't touch a hair on any of their heads. That's the same thing that's gonna happen at this point is that God, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna come back on a white horse and then all of his saints with him. We just get to sit there and watch it all happen. It's over. They're done. And then we go into the millennium after that, and there's judgment and so on and so forth. But I got one last point, and I'm almost done. Number seven is the last point. Pharaoh's false prophets can do wonders just like the false prophets of the beast. Now, let's turn back to Exodus 7. This is kind of out of place, but I kind of meant it to be that way because, you know, Pharaoh obviously represents the Antichrist, but he also has false prophets that, you know, that they oppose Moses. Now, it doesn't tell us their names until you get to the New Testament, but they're actually named these two main guys. Now, Exodus 7, verse 10, you know, you have Moses and Aaron. They keep going to Pharaoh. And it says in verse 10, And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. So remember, God kind of tested this with Moses beforehand. And Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. So they were allowed, you know, these people, they're not like fake magicians. It's not like it was like one of those, you know, on the Fourth of July, you light those snakes, and they just kind of like come out of the... It's not like fake snakes. They're really able to do this stuff. So, you know, obviously they have the power of the devil on their side, just like in the end times. I mean, when's the last time you saw someone throw a stick down and it turned into a snake? Anybody ever seen that? I haven't seen it. But, you know, it's just like, you know, showing us a picture of what these false prophets are going to be like in the end times. We were warned against them. Jesus said there'll be many false prophets. There'll be many, you know, false Christs that are going to come. There's going to be many. And Pharaoh had a lot, too, on his team, but he had a couple main guys. And we'll get their names here in just a minute. I'm sure some of you already know who I'm talking about. But, anyway, it says, For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. And Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. So the snake of Aaron's rod ate all the rest of the snakes. And he hardened Pharaoh's heart that he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. Now skip down to verse 20. And it says, Moses and Aaron did so, and the Lord commanded, and he lifted up the rod and smote the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh, in the sight of the servants, and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died, and the river stank. And the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. So, I mean, here, you know, Pharaoh has these people that have power, too. So it's not as if he doesn't have, you know, some semblance of power and magic or whatever you would call it. But God's, you know, God isn't magic. God just, you know, it's just his power. But, see, his magicians were allowed to do the same thing. They had power to turn things into blood also. Now, let's skip over to Exodus chapter 8, verse 17. We only have three more places we're turning. This is one of them. Exodus chapter 8, verse 17. The Bible says, And they did so, for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beasts, and all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. So that's a lot of lice. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there was lice upon man and upon beasts. And 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. So their enchantments had limitations, okay? And look, the Bible explains to us that even if there's people in the end times with power to call down, this false prophet has power to call down fire from heaven and all these different things, but we don't trust in people's display of power. We're supposed to trust in what the book says to us, what the book tells us to do, and Jesus said if they're in secret chambers, believe them not. If they say, hey, I'm in a desert place, don't go. Don't believe them. So there's a case where it's like, you know, maybe they're showing it on television or something. Like, look, Jesus is in a desert place. They're going to be doing all kinds of things to try to trick us and to get us killed. But you can't trust what your eyes see. You can't trust what your ears hear. You know, we live in a time where, you know, people can, you know, do all kinds of imagery on television and make you think somebody did something that they didn't. I mean, it's probably going to get even worse than that where it's like literally looks like, look at this Christian, what he did. He killed all these people. It's just like, no, that's not real. You know, and so if they can do that with television and camera work and stuff like that, and then there's people that are actually on the payroll of the Antichrist that can bring fire down from heaven, that's really, they're really doing it. How is the beast able to come back to life? You know, obviously God is allowing them to use these powers, and Satan's using all of his power that he has in order to try to convince the world to worship him and to believe in him. So, but there was limitations, all right? So there's going to probably be limitations, you know, in the end times too, and you're like, well, how is anybody going to be able to survive with all this technology and all these cameras and all this stuff? Well, God can make us invisible to people, right? I mean, how else will we be able to escape it? I mean, they got drones that, you know, can scan, you know, you can't even hear them half the time. I mean, they got a lot of technology that we probably don't even know a lot about. But, you know, the people that are scared and hiding in caves with their can of beans or whatever, those are going to be the people that probably aren't, you know, they're just, they went to their silo, their nuclear silo, and they're, you know, they got, they're pulling out their MREs, and they're like, well, we're going to have a macaroni and cheese again tonight, kids. You know, those are the people that God, you know, God's going to protect the people that are going to be going out and doing great exploits, doing great things for him, and those are probably going to be the people that make it to the end. You know, but the people that are afraid, you know, the people that are like, you made, you know, you put the sword in the hand of the Egyptians, Moses. Those people are the ones that are going to have a hard time in the tribulation period. Now, let's look at 2 Timothy 3, verse number 8. So, Pharaoh had magicians that were legit magicians, legit sorcerers, you know, I mean, obviously, they're wicked as hell, but he had these people that worked for him and when they could do something that Moses did, it hardened Pharaoh's heart even more. It's like, well, why do I need God if I have these magicians that can do the same things? But then, when they couldn't do the same thing, he hardened his heart anyway because the guy is just wicked. Now, look at 2 Timothy 3, verse 8. It says, and it's going to give us the names of the two main people that messed with Moses while he was coming to Pharaoh. It says, now as Jans and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. So, what does that tell you about these men, about these sorcerers? That they're a reprobate. They're a reprobate concerning the faith. The anti-Christ is going to be a reprobate. His magicians and his sorcerers and his false prophet is going to be a reprobate also. It says, but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. What is that talking about? At some point, their folly was manifest, right? And it's the plague of the lice. They could not replicate that. They could not, they couldn't, they could only go so far, and so these people, these two guys resisted Moses. This is what the people that resist the truth do. They want to resist the man of God. They want to resist, you know, the truth and get other people to believe their lies. It says their men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. They're not going to proceed any further though. Their folly is going to be made manifest and, you know, God's team wins, like always. Now, I just want to wrap it up with Romans chapter 9. Why, you know, why does all this happen? Why did He do the things the way, why did God do things the way He did? Because God wants to show people in spectacular fashion how He is above everything else. All these animals that they worshiped, it should be no surprise to us that God uses animals to judge them. He uses lice, He uses frogs, and the river that they probably worshiped to get all the stuff that they wanted, you know, God made that to where they couldn't even use it anymore. So God is judging their gods, their false gods, their demons that helped them or whatever. Look at Romans chapter 9 verse 17, it says, For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. So why is God, what's the ultimate reason why He allowed Pharaoh to be raised up into these high positions and to, is so He could show His power in Pharaoh. He could show and proclaim His name to be declared throughout all the earth. He took the most powerful man in the world and humbled him and killed him in the Red Sea. He destroyed everything, all their flocks, all their food, everything. He destroyed their water sources, everything. So what? So He could show the whole earth that He is God and that His mighty name would be declared among the heathen. And when they went into the promised land, everybody knew exactly what God was coming for them, the God that destroyed Egypt, the most powerful place on the planet. Look at verse 18, it says, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he'll have mercy, in whom he will he hardeneth. Thou will say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? or who hath resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against God, shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath bidded to destruction? What's the point while God wants to, you know, He wants to show His wrath and to make His power known and He allowed Pharaoh and gave him long suffering to a certain extent, but ultimately, what was Pharaoh's end? To be destroyed. So anybody that wants to be opposed to God, they might have their little haha moments on the internet with their fake little profiles that they have or they're just bashing God's people and saying all manner of wicked things about them and all these people that are plotting behind the scenes and like they just live to hate God every single day, they live to hate God's people every single day, they live to just slander God's men every single day and all they want to do is just turn people away from the faith. Well, you know what? God's going to allow them to endure for a little while, but they are vessels meant to destruction and God is going to take care of business and whether they let them live to be 9 or 99, God is going to have His justice and have His judgment and you know what? The people have nothing to say about it. And God is going to laugh at these people one day. God is going to come down and He's going to have His power shown to the whole world because I mean, what's the whole point of these judgments in the last part of the seven years? So that people can see the power of God and people are still going to say they're still going to blaspheme His name even though they see the power just like Pharaoh did, right? And the Antichrist is still going to fight against and his last stand is against Jesus Christ at Jerusalem and he's still going to try to come at him even though he's basically destroyed the whole world at this point, God through His wrath. So the whole judgment is going to be of God just like it was upon the land of Egypt. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great study in your Word and I pray that you would just help us and help me as a pastor to see these things and help me to discern the Scriptures and Lord, I pray that our people would diligently search the Scriptures and see that these things are so and I pray that you would just help everybody as they go home tonight. Lord, help us to stay cool and we thank you for the opportunity to serve you and we thank you for all the wonderful and mighty works that you do in this world and that you're going to do in the future. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. All right, our last one will be song number 526, When We All Get To Heaven, song number 526 in your Blue Hymn books, When We All Get To Heaven. Song 526, When We All Get To Heaven, let's sing it out on the first. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus Sing His mercy and His grace In the mansions bright and blessed He'll prepare for us a place When we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus We'll sing and shout the victory While we walk the pilgrim pathway Clouds will overspread the sky But when traveling days are over Not a shadow, not a sign When we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus We'll sing and shout the victory Let us then be true and faithful Trusting, serving every day Just one glimpse of Him in glory Will the tools of life repay When we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus We'll sing and shout the victory Onward to the prize before us Soon His beauty will be hold Soon the pearly gates will open We shall tread the streets of gold When we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing that will be When we all see Jesus We'll sing and shout the victory Amen. you