[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the preaching ministry of the Agopic Baptist Church in George South Africa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good morning, everyone.
[SPEAKER_01]: always a joy to have the gathering of the saints at my house.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I don't know why it just makes me happy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure you would feel the same if we ever gather at your house.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to volunteer for that, just let me know.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be happy to do it sometime at your house.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is actually a great joy.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you would, please turn as me to Exodus chapter 7 as we continue our study through this second book of the Bible, Exodus chapter 7.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you remember from previous sermons,
[SPEAKER_01]: Pharaoh is really the one that we are facing down here in Exodus.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the one who represents the world and the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: He really represents Egypt, the oppressor of God's people, and he represents the gods of Egypt in a way.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the one that Moses and Aaron keep coming to.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in a sense though, he truly does represent him, bodies, the world and the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: the one that is imprisoning and slaving God's people.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the one who is opposed to the true worship of Yahweh.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we've seen previously.
[SPEAKER_01]: And up until this point in the book of Exodus, it seems like Pharaoh has had everything his own way.
[SPEAKER_01]: It really has.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just one Pharaoh, but the Pharaohs have had it their own way.
[SPEAKER_01]: An entire nation, a potential worshipers
[SPEAKER_01]: under Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: The infant sons of God's people have been thrown into the Nile to be eaten by Egypt's crocodile gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what happened, Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when Moses then shows up with God's
[SPEAKER_01]: Pharaoh simply makes the slaves work harder, and what happens is that the slaves come to Moses, the Israelites come to Moses and says, just leave us alone, leave us in our slavery.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we saw only a few verses before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Leave us in our slavery.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so far, in Exodus, it seems like the world and the devil seem to have all the power, all the control and all the gods on their side.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where we're at in Exodus.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in our passage today, in Exodus 7, God is about to swallow up His enemies in victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at the passage together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Exodus 7, I'm gonna begin rating in verse one for context, and we're gonna focus on verses eight through verse 13, beginning in verse one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord said to Moses, see I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
[SPEAKER_01]: You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land, but I will harden Pharaoh's heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: And though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: then.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Egyptian shall know that I am the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: When I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses and Aaron did so.
[SPEAKER_01]: They did just as the Lord commend them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 years old when they spoke to Pharaoh and now the focus for this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 8, then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, when Pharaoh says to you, prove yourselves by working a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh that it may become a serpent.
[SPEAKER_01]: First 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded, Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers and the magicians of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Aaron's stuff swallowed up their steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: Still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them as the Lord had said until there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Heavenly Father, I ask that as your word is read and sung, prayed and proclaimed this morning, that your spirit would wield it.
[SPEAKER_01]: for the good of your people, for the saving of the lost, for the cutting away of unbelief that you would crush in our hearts, Lord, any lies that we have believed, that you would consume them, that you would swallow them up by your spirit and have the victory in our hearts so that the light of the gospel can shine brightly
[SPEAKER_01]: your people, the lights in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus name I ask, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't have my slides behind me this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: For those of you who really appreciate those, I don't know that all of you do, but for those who do, the title of the sermon this morning is swallowed up in victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at this concept.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a concept that goes throughout that, that we find throughout scripture, this concept of being swallowed up in victory or God, swallowing up his enemies.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to focus on this passage that of the snakes.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like kind of a strange story.
[SPEAKER_01]: And why is God using a snake as one of his signs?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very strange.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see you again with the Exodus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the title of this morning swallowed up in victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the first thing I want to address is the question, what is the source of supernatural power?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that something that's being dealt with here in our story?
[SPEAKER_01]: God shows a sign through Moses and Aaron of a staff being turned into a snake.
[SPEAKER_01]: but then the magicians do the same thing, mortal.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to ask the question, what is the source of supernatural power?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, throughout history, we know that people have been fascinated by and fearful of supernatural power.
[SPEAKER_01]: Supernatural simply means beyond nature.
[SPEAKER_01]: Today, we say something as supernatural if it cannot be explained by either science or the laws of nature.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible often describes supernatural power being displayed as signs or wonders, those are some words, the scriptures use.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible also makes clear that human beings, all of us, are not born with supernatural powers.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's something that you thought was possible, it simply is not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Human beings are born with natural powers, according to our nature.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are born according to human nature with natural powers.
[SPEAKER_01]: For instance, the power of communication.
[SPEAKER_01]: Abstract thought, self-awareness, and as Solomon tells us, an awareness of eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has placed an awareness of eternity into human's hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're also given the power to produce offspring, which I wanted to say that that's supernatural because creating an eternal soul,
[SPEAKER_01]: your birth, but I don't want to get into that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just say it's childbirth.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a natural power to have offspring.
[SPEAKER_01]: We won't get into the creating of an eternal soul when that happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a big theological debate.
[SPEAKER_01]: But having offspring, we had the ability to move objects.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had the ability to build and break.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Genesis, we're told that God's given us power to subdue the earth, to work and to keep it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He commands that if humanity.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have the power to make choices to anticipate the outcomes of those choices and the power to persuade others to follow us into our choices.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our persuasion.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have the power to deceive ourselves and others.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's an interesting power.
[SPEAKER_01]: The ability to deceive ourselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have that ability.
[SPEAKER_01]: If we really want something we can deceive ourselves into believing it's best for us,
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have the ability to deceive others, but we also have the power to uncover the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are the kinds of natural powers which human beings are typically born with.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are natural are according to our nature as human beings.
[SPEAKER_01]: But human beings are not born with the ability to turn a wooden staff into a snake.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just not something we're born with, no human being, has that ability in and of themselves, in and of themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what is going on in the throne room of Egypt?
[SPEAKER_01]: How do the magicians of Egypt, which magicians is just a term for all of those who are practicing these secret arts?
[SPEAKER_01]: There are different types of offices they had, but the magicians is just describing all of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do they, the magicians of Egypt, do the same thing that Moses and Aaron do when the rod of Aaron turns into a serpent?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where does their power come from?
[SPEAKER_01]: The magicians power?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, the Scripture is first our clear that all power comes from Yahweh, the Creator God.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the beginning there was no power other than God, and then God shows to create lesser powers in heaven and on earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've already looked at the kind of power that human beings have, a natural kind of power here on earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God also created spiritual beings in the heavens with power.
[SPEAKER_01]: He did.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have power similar to humans into some degree.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have the power to speak, communicate, think, decide, reason, power to choose, power to worship, and power to rebel like humans.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got also gave them supernatural power.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we would call supernatural power.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have power to appear and disappear.
[SPEAKER_01]: and the power to intervene in the natural order of the world we live in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Breaking the laws of nature, they too some degree have that ability to break the laws of nature.
[SPEAKER_01]: These spiritual beings were created to worship God and to serve Him day and night for eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't grow old.
[SPEAKER_01]: I doubt personally they very quickly grow tired.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's possible they grow fatigued eventually, but it would be on a supernatural level because they were designed to serve God day and night for eternity as his mighty ministers, servants of God, for the good of humanity,
[SPEAKER_01]: The scriptures also hint at a great rebellion in heaven, whereas many as a third of these spiritual beings rebelled against their creator.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they chose to follow a beautiful and powerful spiritual being, which God had made for his own glory and for his own service.
[SPEAKER_01]: They chose to follow a created being.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the most beautiful and powerful beings God created, he's called the day star, the son of the dawn, or in some translations, Lucifer.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we now call him after this rebellion.
[SPEAKER_01]: We now call him Satan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Which means the great adversary, the great adversary.
[SPEAKER_01]: The power, these spiritual beings were given for beauty, worship, and service to God was from that moment of their rebellion.
[SPEAKER_01]: It became a twisted and corrupted power, which was now eternally bent on you serving the true worship of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they were created for, the true worship of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we are created for, and those fallen spiritual beings have now taken all
[SPEAKER_01]: and have bent it against the true worship of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the purpose of their existence now.
[SPEAKER_01]: For their treachery, God casts these rebellious spiritual beings down from heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: But during this fall, this fall from being exalted in the throne room of God, worshiping him, saying, holy, holy is the Lord, God, the Almighty, after being cast down from that place of exaltation for their treachery, God did permit Lucifer to enter the Garden of Eden, and to tempt Adam and Eve in the garden with the same kind of line that he told all the
[SPEAKER_01]: Lucifer wanted to be like God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wanted to take God's glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wanted to be worshiped as God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he comes into the garden and he's permitted to test Adam and Eve with the same kind of law.
[SPEAKER_01]: Telling them that they could also be like God's.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sadly humanity willingly.
[SPEAKER_01]: chose to join the fallen spiritual beings in the rebellion and corruption.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the fall of humanity.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the rest of the Old Testament describes not the exaltation of human beings as gods, like Lucifer promised them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But instead, the Old Testament tells us that humanity from that point on it enters into enslavement.
[SPEAKER_01]: The enslavement of humanity to the fear and worship of this fallen spiritual beings.
[SPEAKER_01]: The fear and worship of the fallen angels, the false gods, or the demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Deuteronomy 32 Moses reveals to us that when human being sacrificed to idols, they are actually worshiping demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: shake all the garbage that's in our mind from the world around us that when somebody's bowing down to this little Buddha it's actually kind of nice you know if they have community they have their little they they're all knit together around a common purpose it can actually be a good thing for the world or someone to bow down to a Buddha statue or just let them have their shrine
[SPEAKER_01]: But then have it, you know, as long as it's bringing people together and encouraging them to do good works, maybe they even feed the poor from there, maybe they, it just really brings the community together.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen this in movies, where you're watching a movie, it's not related to the worship of false gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then in the movie, there'll be this moment where there's their worshiping and it's considered like a good thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think about the animated Disney movie, Mulan.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's seen as kind of like this good thing for the family and they're looking out for the well-being of humanity.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the Old Testament is crystal clear that when a human being bows down to an idol, they are worshiping demons, the fallen spiritual beings that will inhabit eternity in hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we need to align our thinking as Christians to that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It will give us a zeal for those people.
[SPEAKER_01]: When we realize that those people are actually enslaved to demons, they're not living happy go lucky lies.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they think that's what they're living, it's part of the devil's scheme to blind them, to make them think that their lives are good and happy, that they have a good family life, a good community.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in fact, we must align our thinking to the reality that to worship and idol is to worship demons, those destined for hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Engelations for eight Paul describes the condition of enslaved humanity this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Saying formerly, speaking to the church, formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved.
[SPEAKER_01]: to those that by nature are not gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what the demons are claiming to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're claiming to be deity, to be gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: But in fact, Paul tells us that prior to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, there's the one in true Lord, when you were born again, you were enslaved to the fallen spiritual beings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Satan and his demons are using what remains of their twisted and corrupted power to deceive human beings and believe into believing that they, the fallen angels, are gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they are the gods that can ultimately give and take away life, blessing, spiritual knowledge, and lasting joys.
[SPEAKER_01]: But by believing that lie, humans become the puppets of devils.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pressing entire civilization as powerful rulers like we see with Pharaoh, or blinding the eyes of nations as sorcerers, shamans, or witch doctors, that's where their power comes from.
[SPEAKER_01]: The fallen angels that would blind you and drag you to hell with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is their goal, the purpose of their existence, the blind you and drag you to hell with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that is what a sorcerer or a shaman or a witch doctor, whether they know it or not, that is what they are advancing.
[SPEAKER_01]: In slademen of humanity to demons and the dragging of humanity into hell, we need to think differently.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to get this iron sharp.
[SPEAKER_01]: This needs to be a blade in our hearts and minds when we see others enslave to these types of practices or beliefs.
[SPEAKER_01]: They are enslave to demons or let's bring it a little closer to this community we're living in right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a kind of counterfeit worship that is spread throughout the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: That looks a lot like the worship of the true one God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we only have one God and there's morality tied to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is practiced by in moms in the Muslim faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Gurus in the East, cult pastors in our community.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or other men and women who have believed the lie that there is another way to God, other than not is revealed in the Scriptures, the truth that has once for all been revealed to the saints.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are told in Scripture that even if an angel from heaven in bright, beautiful clothing comes to you and says, I have a new or better or improved gospel, another way to come to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says, let them be a cursed.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many cults have started because angels came and gave another gospel or an improvement on the one we have already been given.
[SPEAKER_01]: By the Lord Jesus Christ and His sent out once, that's what Possible means.
[SPEAKER_01]: His apostles, his sent out once,
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, just in clay case, it's not clear.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am saying that the Bible clearly teaches that Gandhi, Muhammad, and Joseph Smith, the leader of the Mormons, that these are all puppets of demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: puppets, human puppets of demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to shake our mind from this westernized thinking that wants to come and slip into our thinking, that we can appreciate Gandhi.
[SPEAKER_01]: Did he do something good?
[SPEAKER_01]: And say, yeah, what he did, they're good.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was good.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wanted peace, or he said something good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, what he said was true.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you follow Gandhi, you will go to hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is not a good person.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was one good person.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is our prophet, priest, and king, and we will follow no other as Christians.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you do, you will go to hell because you believe a counterfeit religion,
[SPEAKER_01]: and attempted to go to God by some other path.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord Jesus says, I am the way, the truth in the life.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no other name under heaven by which we should be saved, by which we can be saved.
[SPEAKER_01]: So these men who claim to have been given a vision from heaven, but I angelic messengers that lead us to some other way to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're saying, there's a better way or the church got it wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something's happened to this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've been let it straight.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let me tell you what really, what God really wants for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's what these men have done.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have no doubt in my mind that these men really did see and Angelic looking appearing type spiritual being that gave them a new message.
[SPEAKER_01]: The reason I don't doubt that is because look at how successful it's been in the world, the Mormon faith is long.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have no doubt that those were demonically empowered, but to follow these prophets is to follow the demons and the hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what Scripture clearly teaches.
[SPEAKER_01]: these these men and these religions are selling spiritual goods that sound like true religion.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the danger in them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They get so close to true religion with morality, with commands, with faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of these things are words they would use, but they are actually counterfits, counterfits that lead entire people groups and nations to hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, of course there are some in our community that say, I would never bow down to a God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm safe from all this demonic worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people call themselves humanists.
[SPEAKER_01]: They say, if there is a spiritual realm, he's so far away.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't care about us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or I just totally deny that there are even our spirits.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just the natural world and any miracles that happen, anything in the Bible, we're just tricks.
[SPEAKER_01]: tricks or just poor people who don't know better, and there's some scientific explanation.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they think that they're safe from all this demonic language and scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: These warnings are believing the lies of the demons, but if that is you this morning, then think again because humanists and others who follow that same kind of thinking,
[SPEAKER_01]: They have also believed the lies of demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: They actually are believing the lie of the very first, the very first lie of the greatest demon, Satan, when he came in the garden to Adam and Eve and said, you can decide for yourself, what is good and what is evil, and you can be your own God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't need a God?
[SPEAKER_01]: You can be your own one.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what humanists believe.
[SPEAKER_01]: They might not put it in that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you say that I don't believe there is a God and I don't need a God and that's exactly what you believe.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're believing the lie of Satan the very first life that you can be your own God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that way, you are still enslaved to the demons and Satan will have you and hell either way.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will have you as somebody who's fearfully worshiping the demons through bowing down the idols, or he will have you in hell because you believe that you can be your own God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will have you either way.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are still enslaved to the demonic forces in this world.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the condition of humanity, apart.
[SPEAKER_01]: from their creator.
[SPEAKER_01]: Slaves to demons, whether they know it or not.
[SPEAKER_01]: We must as a church start thinking about the world around this that way, whether they're bowing down to idols or their professional white collar, wealthy business, men and women who don't believe there's a God and are just their own God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We must picture them in our heart in mind as those who are enslaved to the lies of demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please, this will awaken in us as zeal for those who are slaves.
[SPEAKER_01]: Slaves.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the condition of Egypt in our passage of this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: and Pharaoh represents the chief human puppet and Satan's war on the true worshipers of the one creator God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is who Aaron and Moses are standing in front of the chief puppet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is where the magicians power comes from.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is the answer to the question of how can the magicians do the exact same thing?
[SPEAKER_01]: They're doing it through the power of the demons
[SPEAKER_01]: If the Lord and His angels are not the power that is with you, then the only other spiritual power in the world is the power of the devil and His demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no other supernatural power in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Either God is with you or it's the power of demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are the only two supernatural powers in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is an essential truth that every human being in the world needs to know about.
[SPEAKER_01]: Aaron Steph swallowed up the demonic steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's think about that for a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: That all power, this would be my second point on the slide behind me.
[SPEAKER_01]: All power will glorify our going.
[SPEAKER_01]: The magicians of Egypt all lined up through down their staffs, and once again, it looked like Pharaoh was going to win as a den of snakes came to life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't forget that one serpent from Aaron staff, and now there's a den of snakes from the magicians that have just come to life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And once again, Pharaoh is sitting there smug.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think you're gonna bring a snake into my courtroom, into my throne room.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's sitting there smug thinking he's going to win again.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then Aaron stuff, swallows them all up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's nothing left at them.
[SPEAKER_01]: And at that moment, if you were Egyptian, and you knew enough about Egyptian culture and how highly they exalt the serpent in the snake.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that culture, if you were an Egyptian or Hebrew in that throne room,
[SPEAKER_01]: He would have begun to realize at that very moment that Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and Aaron, was my dear than the serpent king Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: For that's what Pharaoh was, he was the serpent king.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where he claimed to get his power from the serpent.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ancient manuscripts tell us about this, I'm not talking about, I'm talking about extra biblical resources, ancient texts tell us that the pharaohs were in league with the great serpent.
[SPEAKER_01]: One ancient record even tells us the traditional prayer of a pharaoh as he ascended up to his throne to go and put on his crown which has a serpent fixed to the front of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: What was that Pharaoh's typical prayer as he ascended his throne?
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though it feels somewhat sacrilegious to read this prayer, I think we need to hear this to know what the Hebrews were going through.
[SPEAKER_01]: What Aaron and Moses were facing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I will read you the prayer of Pharaoh as he steps up onto his throne.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let there be terror of me, like the terror of thee.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let there be fear of me, like the fear of thee.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let there be awe of me, like the awe of thee.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me rule a leader of the living.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me be powerful, a leader of spirits.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the Pharaoh we're talking about.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when Aaron staff swallows up Pharaoh's symbol of power, the snake, the snake's sub-egypt, this is where the narrative of Exodus begins to shift.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we begin to see that all power in heaven and on earth, and even the powers of hell will ultimately glorify Yahweh.
[SPEAKER_01]: How will they do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: All powers will glorify Yahweh, either through their loyal faithful service to their beloved God, or they will glorify Yahweh by being disconsumed by the one who is mightier than them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will glorify Him by their destruction.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no other option.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we must all choose which power we will listen to, trust in and work for.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the demons do have power, please.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not denying this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not denying the existence of demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope that it's clear.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be foolish for any Christian to deny that there were demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are some of you sitting in this room who have no doubt about it because of where you live and what you've seen amongst friends or family members in your community walking down your street you have seen it you have witnessed things you cannot explain people who are enslaved to the power of demons so I am not denying that there are demons in the world and that they have been granted power during this age
[SPEAKER_01]: But what the Scriptures claim is that the power of the fallen spiritual beings is swallowed of by our God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there is no reason for Christians to fear demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that there is a temptation in the heart of man to fear things more powerful than us, things out of our control, to fear spiritual beings.
[SPEAKER_01]: But to fear demons, please my friends, think about this, to fear demons is in a way to honor them, to honor them in your heart, to grant them your fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: do not give your honor to demons who would blind you and do you to their own eternal death in hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not fear them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not grant them that honor in your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fear the Lord is what scripture calls us to over and over again because Israel, the Old Testament repeatedly went back to fearing the demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: They would see an evidence of their power or how they were strengthening their enemies and they would believe the lie and they would fear them and what would they do?
[SPEAKER_01]: They would begin honoring them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're how they lived by the shrines they built, by the fact that they stopped coming to God's temple.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not give your honor to the demons by fearing them.
[SPEAKER_01]: For all they will do is blind you and drag you
[SPEAKER_01]: fear the Lord as Scripture's commands, trust in Him, give your honor and strength and service to the Lord who opens the eyes of the nations and who redeems His people from death.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is our God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the God who opens eyes and who redeems from death.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this leads to our third point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our God, Yahweh, He even swallows up death.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Isaiah 25, we hear the promise of God to once more swallow the power of the serpent.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this idea of to swallow up is to decimate it to consume, where there's nothing left.
[SPEAKER_01]: promise from God.
[SPEAKER_01]: On this mountain, speaking of Jerusalem, on this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine of rich food full of marrow of aged wine well refined.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he will swallow up on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will swallow up death forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord, God, will wipe away tears from all faces.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reproach of His people, He will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it will be said on that day, behold, this is our God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have waited for Him, that He might save us.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the Lord, we have waited for Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our King, on the Mount of Jerusalem, God the Father has prepared the life-giving meal for all peoples.
[SPEAKER_01]: through the spread of the gospel of the Son of God, crucified for our sins, through that gospel of Christ crucified, the veil of demonic lies that blinds the nations is being swallowed up by the spirit of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: My friends, that is what happened when we
[SPEAKER_01]: mere human beings, just like Moses and Aaron, when we throw down the gospel of Christ crucified, the Spirit of God is swallowing up the veil that has cast over the nations.
[SPEAKER_01]: Friends, let's think about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This joy God has given us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can we guarantee that every time the veil will be removed?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, but we have been guaranteed that the veil will retreat from the nations.
[SPEAKER_01]: As we've seen over 2,000 years of how the gospel of Jesus Christ, this poor naked Jewish man hanging on a cross, that has spread throughout the known world.
[SPEAKER_01]: throughout the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: How?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because human beings, like Moses and Aaron, with no supernatural power in and of your own, through down the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they got to watch and see how the veil was lifted off the eyes and minds and hearts of slaves.
[SPEAKER_01]: It watched the spiritual chains breaking in front of them, my friends, can we get behind this in our hearts?
[SPEAKER_01]: That we desire this to see slaves freed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of us can more easily get excited about giving a sandwich to someone who's hungry or a glass of water that is good, and that goes with the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: But my friends, it is not the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes with the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It might be the key to unlocking opportunity to share the gospel to someone who's hard and bitter against the world and hates other people.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you give them a glass of water or a meal in Jesus' name, it might be the key
[SPEAKER_01]: That softens their heart to even hear your words, but it is not the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: The good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified for your sins so that you can have peace with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what the Spirit of God takes and the mist, the veil, the
[SPEAKER_01]: of the devil's lies, which they have been holding humanity in for thousands of years.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is being broken.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you think that veil doesn't lie over Heather Park in George in South Africa, then you're mistaken, my friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: The veil has retreated from South Africa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you know why?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's because the gospel came to South Africa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people who love God brought the gospel to South Africa and the veil began to retreat.
[SPEAKER_01]: The veil that was shattered, the chains began to be broken.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is why we live in a place where we have things like freedom of speech.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where you get to vote, where you get to own land, where it's illegal for slaves to be owned, for people to be enslaved, but other human beings, where does that come from?
[SPEAKER_01]: It does not come from the goodness, deep down in the heart of men.
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: when man is allowed to reign and to do what they wish to do apart from the spirit of God, apart from the truth, in the Old Testament and in the new covenant of Jesus Christ, what happens, Egypt?
[SPEAKER_01]: And if the gospel had not come to South Africa in South Africa, it would still be a place like Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: where kings and emperors killed one another and each other even their own people for power and gold and pretty much enslaved their own people for their own purposes.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what South Africa would still be like if the gospel of Jesus Christ had not come to this place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not think for a moment that that power is weakened or that it's no longer a factual.
[SPEAKER_01]: and do not think for a moment that there's not still people in our communities, in our families.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just down the street, you can walk into Blancou.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can walk into Tambiletu.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you walk around here, everyone's hiding behind their walls.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, you're just not going to be able to talk to anybody.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've ripped their doorbells off their walls because they just want to be left alone in the fortresses.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you go online and meet some of your friends or in the workplace,
[SPEAKER_01]: It will not take long to find out that if somebody has not been raised to some degree as a Christian then they are slaves to demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: It will not take long for you to come to that realization as a Christian.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have vails to lies over their eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've been called to throw down the rod of the gospel and watch the Holy Spirit consume the lives of the devil and free the slaves from their bondage to the fallen angels.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're told,
[SPEAKER_01]: that by the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ for our justification for that is why he raised that we could be justified, declared right in the throne room of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That by the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord has also swallowed up death forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that Jesus can say in John 11, I am the resurrection in the life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
[SPEAKER_01]: And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the spiritual reality of our lives right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Will your body die if Christ carries?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, your body will die.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Christ says, though you die, your body dies,
[SPEAKER_01]: and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the potency of the spiritual reality that Christ can even say, you will not actually die.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Hebrews two were told, as Paul praises his Savior, he says, since therefore the children, that's you and me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, that's our bodies, our frail bodies.
[SPEAKER_01]: Since because of that, the Christ himself likewise partook of the same things, the incarnation, he took on flesh and blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: That, and this is the purpose why, that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
[SPEAKER_01]: Slavery to the devil through the power of death because of our sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: For surely Paul says, it is not angels that Christ helps.
[SPEAKER_01]: He did not come and die for angels.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is not angels that he helps.
[SPEAKER_01]: but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as Galatians tells us, the offspring of Abraham are all those who have the faith of Abraham.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're justified by their faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone who believes, my friends, there are still things to be fulfilled in these promises.
[SPEAKER_01]: Has Christ swallowed up death?
[SPEAKER_01]: Once for all, yes he has,
[SPEAKER_01]: But there is coming a day when he will even take away the death of human bodies, or that will end as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there are more things to be fulfilled.
[SPEAKER_01]: But on the cross Christ has defeated, destroyed, consumed, the devil and death.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we cling to these promises by faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as Christians, that means that we do not fear demons.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do not believe their lies, and we do not believe for a second that they can touch us unless our God permits it for a season for our testing for our good.
[SPEAKER_01]: How can testing before our good, the simplest example is just down the street at a gym.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do people go and lift heavy objects over and over and over again for no point?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you being paid to do that?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm paying so I can go do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes no sense until you think about what you have faith in.
[SPEAKER_01]: In a little face kind of way, you have faith that by testing yourself against hard things, you will be stronger.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will have strength to endure heavier things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your life will improve.
[SPEAKER_01]: there will be better health, better strengths.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will function better as a human being because you lifted some random heavy object you paid to lifted over and over again and you sacrificed time and energy and sweat and money.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when it comes to our lives, God says, as a loving Heavenly Father, I'm going to permit you to be tested by life for your good, for your strength, for your joy to come.
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, when we are tested, when we are tried, and we even feel like we might be oppressed from the outside.
[SPEAKER_01]: By the forces of darkness, we do not believe their lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: That they are the gods, that they have some power outside of God's control.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do not believe this lie.
[SPEAKER_01]: and we as Christians go out with joy and we throw down the rod of the gospel in hope and in faith that we will get to see the Spirit of God consuming the veil of death, the lives of the devil breaking the chains of hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we long for the day when our cursed bodies,
[SPEAKER_01]: that are passing away when they ultimately are taken away in Christ grants us eternal glorified bodies.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like his that he rose in, that will never decay.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is created for eternity, glorified bodies as what we call them.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the promise of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me close with this, first Corinthians 15.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul says to the Christians to a church gather just like this this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I tell you this brothers and sisters, flush and blood, our bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
[SPEAKER_01]: These bodies will fade.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will not enter into heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: The hold, I tell you a mystery, though.
[SPEAKER_01]: We shall not all sleep, but we shall
[SPEAKER_01]: in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised in perishable and we shall be changed all of us.
[SPEAKER_01]: For this perishable body our bodies must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality when that happens he says this.
[SPEAKER_01]: when the perishable puts on the imperishable.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the mortal puts on the immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, death, where is your victory?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, death, where is your sting?
[SPEAKER_01]: The sting of death is sin, arson.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the power of sin is the law.
[SPEAKER_01]: The law shows us how sinful we are, how condemned we are in the courtroom of heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, let's walk away with this, admonition from Paul.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, because of this,
[SPEAKER_01]: But we do not ever have to die Jesus says, because we will be glorified, and death will not come for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: The second death being cast into hell condemned by God's wrath, that will not come for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because of that, Paul says, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, the advancement of this good news.
[SPEAKER_01]: Watch the veil be lifted from people's eyes and change be broken.
[SPEAKER_01]: Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever you do in this week to come in the name of Jesus, whether that's get up at 6 AM and go to work.
[SPEAKER_01]: Feed your family.
[SPEAKER_01]: Whether that's your kind to a co-worker who is not worthy of your kindness that you're doing it because Jesus is coming again and he is your God whatever you do in the name of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: know that it is not in vain, whether you are ever thanked or ever find a return in this life, God says, I know, I see.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am coming again and I will reward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not become discouraged and well doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let us go out and advance the gospel in every place we go as those who work faithfully and those who speak the name of Jesus throwing down the rod that can consume the lives of the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray together.
[SPEAKER_01]: Heavenly Father, may your word do its work in us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Father, I can throw my arms out and I can jump up and down and I can raise my voice, but it's not going to change my heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: If your Holy Spirit is not changing me and changing each one sitting here Lord, then we will simply go out in our own strength and we will fail and not a single I will be opened and not a single link in the chains of the devil will be broken.
[SPEAKER_01]: as we do not have the supernatural power to free slaves from the dominion of Satan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet God, you have given us your gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you have told us and commanded us to be careful to do exactly what you say, which is to go out proclaiming Jesus Christ crucified.
[SPEAKER_01]: baptizing them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, making disciples, teaching them to observe all that you've commanded them us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, as we throw down that staff, you have promised to go with us and to glorify your name and to save slaves from hell.
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you please God by your Holy Spirit?
[SPEAKER_01]: and press on our hearts this and may we have a growing and a bounding love for this work of being your servants in Jesus' name.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.