Chapter 5

Please read Exodus, chapter 11.

While they were travelling through the desert there would be a test of their attitude. A tabernacle was to be built, in which the Lord could live amongst His people. For that purpose they were asked for a free-will offering of silver and gold. Were their hearts ready to meet such a request? The Lord God did not need their silver and gold. He desired the love of their hearts!

Exodus 11: 4,5,6 “So Moses said ‘This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave-girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt - worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.’ “

Pharaoh’s heart was hard, he decidedly would not yield, the Lord made it harder still. No, the Lord was not cruel! All His very serious warnings were of no avail. Pharaoh hardened his heart. Anyone doing that will reap the result, eternally bitter consequences. When God makes the distinction we are wise to find out what kind of difference it will make to us. We learn that it will be the serious question of life or death.

Exodus 11: 7 “But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

Remember God’s words to Moses and Aaron?

Exodus 6:6,7,8 “Therefore say to the Israelites: ‘I AM the Lord, and I WILL, bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, I WILL free you from being slaves to them, and I WILL redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I WILL take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then YOU WILL KNOW that I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD Who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I WILL bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I WILL give it to you as a possession. I AM the Lord.’ “

Does this help you to know that the God of the Bible is the God of grace?

Here He introduces Himself as the One Whose stupendous power will act in

limit less grace.

He knew exactly where they were at, and how they were. But none of that could ever undo His love or His oath that He had sworn to their forefathers. Six times He spoke to Abraham ‘I will’. And six times He repeated the same promise to Abraham’s descendants. For you and me, God knows all about us. The very worst of our sinfulness does not stop Him from loving us. Love us, to the extent of giving us His dear Son, Jesus, Who carried the guilt of our sin to

the Cross and there endured the burning anger of the most holy God. The God of the Bible always knew what was needed and He never held back.

Our sinfulness had to be dealt with, and God’s holiness satisfied. Jesus did both.

Exodus 11:9,10 “The Lord had said to Moses ‘Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you - so that My wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.’ Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.”

Are you waiting to see wonders? Are some Christians tempting you to come and see a miracle? Do you think you may become a christian believer after you have seen a demonstration? Today it is my privilege to warn you. The Lord Jesus Himself wants to speak to your heart with these words:

John 20:29 “ . . . Blessed are those who have NOT seen and yet have believed.”

What was the crucial word in John 3:16,17? You exercise faith every day of your life. In hundreds of different ways, What about having faith, believing the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you like to see something? Settle down for a while. Then see Him, suffering and dying on a cross, carrying your sinfulness. See Him, Who knew no sin, but was made to be sin, when He embraced the sin of the world. See Him, while He paid the penalty for sin, which was due to you and me. And then BELIEVE that the holiness of God was satisfied with that payment. It settled the account between God and the believing sinner. Once and forever!