Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleThe Sovereignty of God
Bible TextExodus 8:1-15
Synopsis As we behold our sovereign God glorifying himself on Pharaoh and the Egyptians we are assured that in everything that is happening around us today, God is bringing glory to his name. Listen.
Date08-Oct-2017
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: The Sovereignty of God (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: The Sovereignty of God (128 kbps)
Length 28 min.
 

Series: Exodus

Title: The Sovereignty of God

Text: Ex 8: 1-15

Date: October 8, 2017

Place: SGBC, New Jersey

 

God is sovereign. That means nothing happens in this earth without God directly bringing it to pass: big or small, good or evil. God said,

 

Isaiah 45:7: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

 

Exodus 8: 1: And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2: And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs: 3: And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs: 4: And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. 5: And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. 6: And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. 7: And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. 8: Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD. 9: And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? 10: And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God. 11: And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only. 12: And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh. 13: And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. 14: And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank. 15: But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

 

God is sovereignly bringing glory to his name by delivering his people to serve him.  He is sovereignly bringing glory to his name by sending strong delusion upon his enemies. God is sovereignly bringing glory to his name by making even his enemies bring him glory.

 

As we behold our sovereign God glorifying himself on Pharaoh and the Egyptians we are assured that in everything that is happening around us today, God is bringing glory to his name.

 

DELIVERING HIS PEOPLE

 

Exodus 8: 1: And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

 

Everything God is doing in this world is to bring glory to his name by delivering his people to serve him.

 

Pharaoh was in a powerful position in Egypt. His power was so great that he kept God’s people in bondage.   He is a type of Satan and his seed: wicked spirits, false preachers and wicked servants.

 

Yet, Satan and his seed are no match for our sovereign Father and our sovereign Savior. God has, is and shall set his people free to serve him in and by Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Christ set us free legally in righteousness by Christ our Righteousness. God is holy and righteous. His law must be upheld. God cannot show mercy unless his justice is honored. The soul that sinneth must die because the wages of sin is death. And God will by no means clear the wicked. The only way God can be a just God and a Savior is by providing himself a Lamb to satisfy his justice himself for his people. That Lamb is the Son of God, Christ Jesus. On the cross, Christ fulfilled the righteousness of the law for God and for his people. The negative side of the law is: the wages of sin is death. The positive side of the law is: love God with all thy heart, soul and mind and thy neighbor as thyself. Christ fulfilled the negative for God and his people by bearing the sin of his people and the justice of God. By this he declared God just and he justified his people from our sins. And Christ fulfilling the negative side of the law for God and his people was Christ fulfilling the positive—loving God and his people as himself—greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Therefore, Christ is the only Fulfiller of the Law. That means he is the Righteousness of God.  And to all his believing people, he is the Lord our Righteousness.

 

Also, Christ sets his people free spiritually in holiness by his holiness. We must have a new heart, a new spirit created within in purity, in holiness, because otherwise we are in bondage to sin and unbelief. It pleased God to do this sanctifying work through preaching. Christ has all power to bring his messengers to preach “Thus saith the Lord”—and through his word, Christ sets his people free. (like he did with Moses and Aaron) Christ prays the Father, the Father sends the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit regenerates us, creating a new, holy man within his child. He gives us faith and repentance when Christ enters and is made unto us our Sanctifier and our Sanctification. Then for the first time, the sinner is set free to worship and serve the Lord Jesus Christ alone!

 

Brethren, everything God is doing in this world today—the good and the evil, the big and the small—is God sovereignly delivering his people from the power of Satan and his seed to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

STRONG DELUSION

 

Exodus 8: 2: And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:…

 

God is sovereignly ruling over his enemies and bringing glory to his name by sending strong delusion upon his enemies.

 

Satan and any man that refuses to let God’s people go shall soon incur God’s judgment, as did Pharaoh and the Egyptians. We see God’s bare sovereign power in that he sent this multitude of frogs, that alone shows us God is sovereign to use all things that he created.

 

But notice, God glorified his servants and his gospel by using Moses and Aaron to bring the plague through the rod of God—a picture of the gospel of Christ—“And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.” All judgment upon men is the direct result of their rejection of the gospel of Christ.  If men will not glorify God by believing the gospel of Christ then God shall make them glorify him by hardening them in reprobation.  These frogs are a type of wicked spirits in false preachers by which God sends men strong delusion that they should believe a lie.

 

Revelation 16: 13: I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the false prophet 14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

 

God uses false preachers to lead men away into perverted religion like he used Jannes and Jambres. The apostle Paul declares their wicked spirit. Yet, they are only allowed to go as far as God shall permit them.  They shall never harm God’s people.

 

2 Timothy 3: 2: For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3: Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4: Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5: Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7: Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8: Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9: But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.

 

One of Egypt’s idol gods was a frog. The puffed up, dirty frog is a symbol of a proud, puffed up, arrogant unclean spirit which defiles a man.  So in sending these frogs to overtake Pharaoh and the Egyptians we have a picture of God sending strong delusion so that a man should believe a lie.

 

2 Thessalonians 2: 10:…they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11: And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

 

So brethren, when we see men reject our gospel for delusional lies, remember, God is sovereignly working it in justice to glorify his name and save his people.

 

Romans 9: 17: For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18: Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

 

EVEN HIS ENEMIES

 

Exodus 8: 8: Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.

 

God is even sovereignly using his enemies to bring him glory.

 

Notice, when God’s judgement frightened Pharaoh into false repentance, he did not call Jannes and Jambres to help. He called God’s true servants asking them to call upon the true LORD Jehovah. God made everyone see Pharaoh acknowledge that God is the only true God.

 

Then God in his sovereign power gave Moses wisdom to see through Pharaoh’s phony repentance—“And Moses said unto Pharaoh, Glory over me:…”  So God made Pharaoh announce to all in Egypt that Moses was indeed the true prophet of God.

 

Then by his sovereignty, God gave Moses the wisdom to have Pharaoh himself set the time when God would remove the plague so that it would be obvious to everyone that God did it—“And Moses said unto Pharaoh,…when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.” So everyone saw that God alone sends and removes judgment—there is none like unto the LORD our God.

 

Then God in his sovereignty used his enemy Pharaoh to glorify God by Pharaoh’s fake repentance—“But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” Pharaoh hardened his heart as the LORD had said that he would.  God used Pharaoh to show his servants and his people that God knows the end from the beginning.

 

So everyone in Egypt knew Moses and Aaron were God’s true messengers, their God the true God, and their gospel the true gospel. God showed that without God giving repentance no man can turn himself and believe God.  And God showed that God knows the end from the beginning and brings it to pass!

 

Elect brethren, our hearts may be broken, the days may appear dark, the enemies may appear great, and the lies may appear delusional but understand this. Everything is coming to pass by the sovereign hand of our God as God purposed from eternity. God is freeing his people to worship him.  He is sending his enemies strong delusion that they should believe a lie. And God is making even his enemies glorify him in their delusional state.  Knowing this, we can rest easy!  God is in control! God will be glorified!  His people shall be saved! Christ shall get all the glory and praise!      

 

Amen!