Series: Exodus
Title: God Severs His People
in His Land
Text: Exodus 8: 20-24
Date: October 29, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Exodus 8: 20: And
the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before
Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the
LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21: Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send
swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people,
and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of
flies, and also the ground whereon they are. 22: And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my
people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou
mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. 23: And I will put a division between
my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be. 24: And the LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm of
flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and
into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of
flies.
In the plague of flies, we see
the judgment of God turning a man over to his idolatry by which his entire land
is corrupted. How is this a picture of being turned over to idolatry? Pharaoh
and the Egyptians worshipped Baalzebub, the god of the flies. So sending the swarm of flies, we see a people
and their entire land corrupted with their own idolatry—“the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.”
Psalm
78: 45: He sent divers sorts of flies, which devoured them…50: He made a way to his anger; he
spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;
The wrath and judgment upon
reprobate men is of God. But the corruption is of themselves when God simply turns
them over to their own idolatry. (Turn to Is 24)
Isaiah
24: 5: The earth also is defiled
under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed
the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6: Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that
dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
and few men left.
But thanks be to God there are a
few men left. It is because of God’s sovereign will and grace. Note the
distinction God makes between his people and Pharaoh’s people: verse 20…Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go,
that they may serve me. 21:
Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy
servants, and upon thy people,…22:
And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that
no swarms of flies shall be
there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. 23: And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to
morrow shall this sign be. 24: And
the LORD did so;
Proposition: God puts a division between his people and
the rest of this world. Verses 22-24
teach us how and why and in whom this division is made.
BY GOD’S WILL
Exodus 8: 22 And I will sever in that day the land of
Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be
there;…23: And I will put a
division between my people and thy people:…
God himself makes this
division by his will. This division is
not made by the will of man.
Recently, I had a conversation
with an agnostic. I told him the difference between the truth of sovereign
grace and all other religions in this world is that by sovereign grace God does
all the saving and man does not contribute. His first question was “how does man’s free will harmonize with
that.” My answer was “man’s will is not
free!”
What is it free from? Free
from God? Free from sin so as to be
capable of willing to believe God? Free so that ultimately salvation is of
man’s willingness to accept God! Please understand, none of these things is
true!
Man’s will is never free from
God.
Proverbs
16:33: The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the
LORD.
Proverbs
20:24: Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
Proverbs
21:1: The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he
turneth it whithersoever he will.
Jeremiah
10: 23: O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man
that walketh to direct his steps.
By the first birth man’s will
is not free but is under bondage to his sin nature!
Romans
6:20: For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Ephesians
2: 2: Wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3: Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others.
John
5: 40: And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
Therefore, man’s will is not
the determining factor in salvation. Man is entirely dependent upon God’s
will—who gives who he will a new nature and a new will. In eternity, God chose
to save whom he was willing to save.
Romans
9: 10: And not only this;
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11: (For the children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12: It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. 13: As
it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14: What shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16: So then it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
So in God’s time, all who he
chose are born again of God’s will.
John
1:13: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.
Then God teaches us that
salvation is by his will in Christ Jesus his Son, not our own.
Acts
22: 14: 14: And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou
shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of
his mouth.
So everyone in this world is
divided between God’s children and the children of the devil. And these two
will never get along. This, too, is by God’s will.
Genesis
3: 15: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
We preach this message to the
valley of dry bones—to sinners who cannot make themselves willing to believe on
Christ. And through God’s gospel he
breathes life, makes his people willing in the day of his power and teaches us
salvation is entirely by God’s will, not our own.
SEVERING THE LAND IN WHICH HIS PEOPLE DWELL
Exodus 8: 22: And I
will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no
swarms of flies shall be there;…23:
And I will put a division between my people and thy people:…
God makes this division by
severing the land in which his people dwell.
This word sever means to distinctly mark out, separate and distinguish. The
land God distinctly marked out, separated and distinguished—the land in which his
people dwell—is Christ. Christ is pictured by the land of Goshen. The Lord has distinctly marked out, separated
and distinguished Christ in whom his people dwell just as he severed the land
of Goshen in which Israel dwelled. Speaking of Christ whom God set apart, he
said,
Isaiah
42: Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul
delighteth;…
Psalm
89: 19: Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid
help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the
people.
By God choosing his people in
Christ, God’s elect dwell in Christ.
1 John
4:13: Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given
us of his Spirit.
So the way God puts a division
between his people and the devil’s people is by God marking out, separating and
distinguishing Christ and severing his elect from all other people in Christ.
NO MORE CORRUPTION
Exodus 8: 22: 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 the land in which his
people dwell—in Christ—there is no more curse, no more judgment, no more
corrupting idolatry. Christ has taken
away our curse by being made a curse for us so that in Christ no curse shall
come upon his people. Christ has taken
away our judgment so that in Christ there is no more judgment upon his people.
Romans
8: 1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Christ has taken away our sin
and corrupting idolatry, so that in Christ there is no more idolatry upon his
people.
Hebrews
9: 26…now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself.
Isaiah
30: 22: [By purging our conscience of sin by his blood, in the new man] Ye
shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament
of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth;
thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
Therefore, in “the land of Goshen, in which my people
dwell, that no swarms of flies
shall be there.”
Isaiah
54: 17: No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me,
saith the LORD.
THE PURPOSE FOR THIS DIVISION
Exodus 8: 22….to the end thou mayest know that I am the
LORD in the midst of the earth.
This division is God executing
judgment—that which is just.
Ezekiel
30:19: Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am
the LORD.
The judgment God executes is
how we know the LORD alone is holy and just! God’s chief attribute of holiness is
what separates the LORD from all other vain gods.
Psalm
9: 16: The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the
wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
God always, only executes just
judgment. It is just for God to save and protect those Christ severed from all
others because Christ paid our sin-debt and honored God’s law. And it is just to reject those who refuse
Christ, giving them over to their own depraved will and works of their own
hands, by which they are snared.
WHAT GOD PURPOSES FROM THE BEGINNING GOD DOES
Exodus 8: 24: And
the LORD did so;
Amen!