Exodus 8:16- The Finger of God

Intro: You think that YOU have problems/ Tonight we're going to see a group of people who were PLAGUED by problems

A) The reason that they were plagued by problems is because they REFUSED to obey the commandments of God

B) God commanded the Egyptians.... Specifically Pharaoh.... to let the Israelites go into the wilderness to worship God

Pharaoh hardened his heart- resisted the promptings of the Lord –

C) Did you realize that the same thing is happening when we resist the

Promptings of the Lord in our Lives - Sin & Hardening hearts

We often think of sin in the terms of doing what we shouldn’t do

D) But listen to what James said in Ch 4: 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

E) We are sinning & hardening our hearts when we simply refuse to do the things God is asking us to do

1) Pharaoh refused to let his workforce go

So the Lord sends TEN PLAGUES upon the Egyptians in order to liberate His people for the purpose of WORSHIPPING & SERVING Hi

A) We have looked at the first two plagues upon Egypt already

B) The first is recorded for us in CHAPTER 7 beginning at Verse 19

Where The Lord turned the water in all their streams, their rivers, their

ponds, all their pools of water into blood

C) Their source of life was turned into blood & all the fish died and the

water smelled

D) It took Pharaoh seven days to even ask Moses to remove it !!!!

The second Plague is recorded at the beginning of Chapter 8

God sends Frogs - EVERY WHERE

B) TOMMORROW

God's choice of plagues has been very interesting

A) Turning the water of the Nile into blood was God's way of pronouncing judgement upon Egypt by cutting off their source of life

B) By having Egypt over run by frogs we saw how that which was once a source of pleasure to the Egyptians had become a plague to them

C)Tonight look at the 3^rd Plague - Turns the dust into lice – Read v.16-19

Now we see this third plague...... a plague of LICE

A) The very thought of LICE almost makes you itch

They are simply GROSS

They fasten to your skin, and they puncture your skin with their little

beak and then SUCK out your blood

C) They prey on you, multiply on you, live on you and live off of you

D) The interesting thing about this plague is that the Egyptians HATED lice

1)Remember, they deified almost any and every living thing around them

BUT - not lice

E) Lice were hated by the Egyptians So much so that the ancient historian, Heroditus, tells us:

that the priests of Egypt would shave their entire body from head to toe every-other day in order to keep lice from infesting them and thus protect themselves from the pollution of lice.
So when God brought this plague of lice upon them it was a very gross thing to them -

Life Source / Pleasure to Plague / & Now – the thing they hated most was upon them !!!!!

Also interesting to note that the Egyptian Magicians & sorcerers had the power or ability – I believe ( Demonically) to duplicate the first TWO

They couldn’t take it away – they just made matters Worse

If I am Pharaoh – shoot those guys – WE DON’T NEED MORE PROBLEMS WE NEED THESE REMOVED !!!!!

D) But when the magicians were called into the court of Pharaoh

They tried their hand at duplicating this phenomenon

1) But they were UNABLE to do it

E) And When they were unsuccessful, they said to Pharaoh

V. 19 This is the finger of God

But When Pharaoh heard this proclamation from HIS OWN magicians, we are told Pharaoh's heart grew hard, & he didn’t heed them,

A) He wouldn't respond to it

B) The finger of God was pointing to the Egyptians and they DID

NOT respond to it

C) The dust being turned into lice reminds us of the world being cursed

Recall In Genesis Chapter 3 we remember how God CURSED the

ground because of Adam's sin

The world is cursed & The Magicians could do NOTHING about that

1) They could do NOTHING to change the curse that was placed upon planet earth

This is the first of several instances in the Scripture where we read of the finger of God

A) The SECOND time that we read of the finger of God is in Exodus 31:18

18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

B) God's finger wrote the very commandments that Moses came down with from Mt. Sinai

It is the commandments that are written with the finger of God

that point at you and me in judgement

C) You see, man has this idea that deep inside he is really pretty good

That we are all basically O.K. and will make it into heaven as long as

we don't blow it too badly

D)God gave the Law.... written with His own finger..... to dispel the idea

that we are righteous enough to make it into heaven

Rom. 3: 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Gal. 3:24 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

It is the Law of God which points the finger at you and says that you are going to be judged

We read of the finger of God not only here in Exodus 8 bringing forth judgement with lice,

and not only in Exodus 31 bringing forth JUDGEMENT in the Law, we also read of the finger of God in Daniel 5

C) There, Belshazzar the king of Babylon was throwing a huge party

D) In his drunkenness he commanded that they bring forth from his treasure room the golden and silver cups that were taken from the Temple in Jerusalem when Babylon conquered the city

E) These cups were HOLY in that they were consecrated to the worship of God

1) As they drank from the cups they praised the gods of silver and gold

D)Then something radical happened/ fingers of a mans hand appeared- wrote on the wall

E) This is what was written on the wall:

Dan. 5:25 MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

Check out the kings response:

Dan. 5: 6 King Belshazzar was very frightened. His face turned white, his knees knocked together, and he could not stand up because his legs were too weak.

Nobody could understand what the writing meant and they brought Daniel the prophet who gave the interpretation

A) Dan. 5:26 Thou art weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.

B)In other words You have gone too far- God has weighed you in the

balances and you've come up short

C) The finger of god declaring: You are JUDGED

D) So we have three Old Testament instances of the finger of God

The finger of God in Egypt....The Finger of God in

Sinai...The Finger of God in Babylon

E) In each of those the finger of God related to JUDGEMENT

But in the N.T. we also have a couple of References to the finger of God A) First in Lk 11: Where Jesus is seen casting a Demon out of a man

that was deaf & dumb

B)But the Religious leaders who were Jealous of Jesus & His popularity

accused Him of casting out Demons by the Power of Satan

Jesus refuted that accusation by basically saying that – would mean that Satan was Divided against himself – STUPID

C) Then Jesus made this statement : - 20 "But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Now it that instance the finger of God is equated w/ His Power over Satan forces & Demons

I love that Great – comfort – We often think of Satan as such a strong one – Yet he can’t w/stand the finger of our God!!!!

My friends, you are no match for Satan, and when he wants to fight you just run to your elder Brother, who is more than a match for all the devils in hell.
-- D.L. Moody,

Power of the Gospel – Preaching of Christ

The preaching of Christ is the whip that flogs the devil. The preaching of Christ is the thunderbolt, the sound of which makes all hell shake.
-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

There is ONE MORE instance in which we see the finger of God

That is found in the John 8/ Story of a woman caught in adultery

TURN

Jesus was teaching in the Temple

The Pharisees brought this unclothed woman to Jesus & said that she was

caught in the act of adultery/ seeking to trick Him

B) They said: "Master, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery"

1) If they were so interested in righteous judgement, where was the man?

John 8:5-6 5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.

C) Here was the Dilemma - If Jesus said: Stone her".... He would no longer be seen as gracious and merciful

D) If Jesus said: "Let her go"..... they would accuse Him of being a Law breaker and thus unholy

1) They thought that they had Him - But Jesus didn't say a word

John 8:6b But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

Instead With His finger.... the finger of God ..... because He is God..... He began to write in the dust

John 8:7-8 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Now What Jesus wrote, the Bible does not say-

But from their reaction, it would seem very possible that Jesus was writing the names of the men holding stones,

and with each name perhaps he listed a time and a place and an act that they had done in violation of the Law of God- FOR WE READ

John 8:9 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

C) Jesus then looked at the woman and said

John 8:10 "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one

condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more

Note the Contrast :

A) The finger of God through Moses showed JUDGEMENT, but the finger of God seen in Jesus Christ showed JOY

B) The Finger of God through Moses ... who represents the Law and religion and rules.... showed DEATH

C) The Finger of God through Jesus.... who represents Grace and Mercy.... showed LIFE

D) We have w/ Moses ... the Law.... and LICE

We have Jesus Christ..... Grace..... and LOVE

Everyone of us have a decision to make/ Christian and non-Christian alike

A) You can try to keep a set of rules to be right with God

B)IF you try to do that, THEN you will fell the finger of God

pointing at you to CONDEMN and JUDGE you

1) All have sinned & fallen short of the Glory of God

The Law can only do ONE thing - Condemn

C) OR - You can humble yourself before Jesus Christ

IF you do, THEN the FInger of God will point at you to INVITE

you to come for forgiveness

D) You will here those words - Your sins are forgiven.... Go your way and sin no more

Christians - Be careful

A) May God help you to NEVER subtly go back to the Law

B) Thinking that our RIGHTEOUSNESS before God is based upon our personal devotion and perfomance

1) Going to church... Tithing... Reading.... Witnessing... Ministering... Manifesting spiritual gifts

C) The Word says that we are RIGHTEOUS RIGHT NOW- IN CHRIST

1) God NEVER looks at you apart from the righteousness of Jesus Christ

D) God ALWAYS sees you POSITIONALLY as being in Christ and thus as righteous and holy

Has the Law attached itself to you like LICE that is sucking the life out of you?

A) Don't let the LICE of the Law plague you anymore

B) The Law called LICE out of the dust to plague man

1) Jesus wrote in the same dust a message of love saying: I don't condemn you... go your way and sin no more

C) LIVE for Jesus... LOVE Jesus..... WORSHIP Jesus....

NOT to gain standing with Him

BUT - Because He loved you and died for you to DELIVER you from

the finger of God's judgement that points at us in the Law

IF you are outside of Jesus Christ tonight , then you have the finger of God pointing at you in judgement

A) But IF you come t Jesus, you will find the finger of God bringing you the JOY of having forgiveness of sin and rightstanding with God

B) Back to Exodus -VERSES 20 - 24

VERSE 21 I will send swarms of flies upon thee

C) FLIES = a swarm of noisy little beasts/ Flies really BUG me

1) Flies are a source of TORMENT aren't they?

D) Check this out – Psalmist writing on this scene declared in

Ps. 78: 45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,

E) They were literally eaten up by these swarming noisy little beasts/ Maybe they were – huge horse flies

Now This could speak of the eternal TORMENT of those who die outside of Jesus

A) Satan’s names is BE-ELZEBUB = Lord of the flies

B) Torment for eternity

C) So Flies were every where !!!!!!

VERSE 25-29

A) Pharaoh offers up a string of compromises 1^st sacrifice to your God in the land

B) Where did God tell them to go sacrifice?

In the wilderness

1) This a an attempt at compromise

C) Moses is saying: There is no way that we are going sacrifice sheep here because the Egyptians can not relate to it.... It is totally weird to them

1) The Egyptians said: Don't deal with sheep.... Sheep speaking of Jesus

D)That is exactly what happens to Christians in this Egypt that we live in

"You Christians are CRAZY"

"It's an abomination about how your are talking about blood all of the time"

"Talking about a man slaughtered on a Cross"

"How gross... How bizarre.... How primitive"

28 And Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Intercede for me."

A) Here is another attempt at compromise

B) Satan like Pharaoh never stops at one !!!!!!