Beloved radio, friends, in the precious and wonderful name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed Redeemer and Savior, we greet you again. We welcome you to the study of God's precious and holy word, and our portion in the book of Exodus chapter seven, which we are now considering. For the benefit of any who may have joined us, and not having heard what has preceded this message today, We would state that we are considering out of the early chapters of the book of Exodus, from the story of the great deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, the character of the world in which you and I live, and the message of a greater deliverance, that even our God above in heaven, through His beloved Son, whom He sent to the earth, and who went to the cross of Calvary for us, We are considering a greater deliverance that has been wrought and desires to be effective in the hearts and lives and souls of men and women when God saves them by His grace from the realm of the devil and translates them into the kingdom of his beloved Son to the realm of the Savior. We have noted indeed that the characteristics of this world in which we now live It's a world that indicates that men and women need to be saved. They need to be delivered from the bondage of sin, from the tyranny and the oppression of Satan, and be brought in saving grace and power to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have noted in our preceding message the first plague that came upon the Egyptians as God visited in judgment the gods of Egypt. We read again in chapter seven, verses nineteen through twenty-one, for brevity's sake, that first plague when the waters were turned into blood. The Lord spake unto Moses, say unto Aaron, take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds. and upon all their pools of water, and that they may become blood, and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded. And he lifted up the rod and smoked the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died, and the river stank, And the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. Now, once again, may we emphasize what the word of God declares. These plagues, beginning with this first one and going down to the end of them, were definite divine judgments and visitations of God's wrath upon the gods which the Egyptians worshipped. In Exodus chapter twelve, we notice in verse twelve that there is a statement that declares, God himself speaking, to say, Against all the gods of Egypt, will I execute judgment? Now may I remind you that we should realize these plagues were not only against the Egyptians, which is very true. and visitations of divine displeasure and judgment upon the people of Egypt, as well as the throne of Egypt, for their tyranny and oppression against the people of God. But they were also direct visitations against the gods that Egypt worshipped. May I emphasize, and don't be ignorant of this fact, the Egyptians did not worship the true and the living God. Their worship consisted of worshiping gods that they had made for themselves out of the celestial bodies of heaven above, gods that they had made for themselves upon the earth, whether animals or creatures and whether creation, the natural creation. They had made to themselves a system of gods in the system of Egyptian pantheism. for their own delight. Now, beloved, I want to say very frankly, if men and women do not worship the true and living God, they're going to have their own gods. Gods that have been created by men, as well as at the instigation of Satan, who's the god of this world, and the prince of heaven. But those gods that men create will someday be visited with divine judgment and execution that will be drastic as well as eternally devastating. There are many gods in this world. And men and women, whether they believe it or know it or not, if they don't worship God, they've got their own gods which they worship. So were the Egyptians. Now one of the great gods of Egypt was the worship of the River Nile. the God that they expressed as meaning or called by name, H-A-P-I, Happy. The River Nile was the very life of Egypt. Food and wealth and beauty were all derived from it, and this God was important to the Egyptians. All along the River Nile they had built temples within the towns along the river, and they had special priests who were in exclusive service to this so-called deity. And these priests believed that the river was to be considered most sacred. And to them it was. At the time of the year when the inundation, the overflowing of the Nile, took place, which it did annually, one of the greatest ceremonies was held in honor of this God. The image of this God that they worshipped was the image of a man that was corpulent, that was large, symbolic of having blessing and prosperity. They made offerings to this God. They presented prayers to him, for they believed that the prosperity of the nation was dependent upon the rise and the overflow of the river Nile. Now God comes to visit in judgment this God. You may ask the question, why did he so visit the God which was worshipped by the worship of the River Nile. May I point out to you something very careful. Note it very carefully. First of all, it was a judgment upon the Egyptians for their idolatry. This was one of their gods that took the place of the true God, the God who was the God in heaven above, the God who was their Creator. And that was one reason God's judgment fell upon the Egyptians for their idolatrous practice of acknowledging their material blessings came from the River Nile, which unquestionably by nature was certainly a productive agency to bring fruit, produce, and all that they enjoyed in the way of food and provision. Where did that food and provision come from? Where did the river come from? All had been provided by the Creator above. And my beloved radio friend, may I please remind you as well as mine own heart. It is said in the word of God, all good gifts come from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no shadow nor turning. My beloved, let's give the true glory for the blessings of evil nature to the God of creation. But not only was this a judgment upon the Egyptians and their idolatry, it was also a judgment upon them for their cruelty. Now, if you followed these lessons in the book of Exodus, you may remember in chapter one of the book of Exodus and verse twenty-two that the emperor, the Pharaoh of Egypt, commanded, when any Egyptian found a male child born to the Hebrew people, They were to throw that baby boy into the river to the crocodiles. My beloved, I want you to think of something. Do you remember the verse in Galatians six? I believe it is in verse nine. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. And when God visited the river Nile in judgment and turned the waters into blood and all the waters of the Lamb, Do you know what God was doing? The God of heaven gave to them blood for the waters in which they had cast the male children of the Hebrew people. He gave them death instead of life. He gave them corruption instead of fruitfulness. For the river, as it was turned into blood, made the fish die in the river, and the river stank. What a smell it must have been. As all those dead fish turned up, my beloved, what a red tide it must have been. Now, beloved, let's take the application. What do you think of this present evil world under Satan? The rivers and the streams and the ponds and the pools and the vessels in Egypt were certainly suggestive of the streams that this world holds and offers to the human race. And may I suggest, when you think of the river turned into blood, this world is nothing but a place that is filled with moral death. This is the world's sad history, which God will someday visit with judgment. And oh, my beloved, may I remind you that you do not find life eternal in the streams that the world has. said the Lord Jesus to the woman at the well in John four, as he spoke of the well of water, Jacob's well, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. My beloved, I want you to realize life in its true blessings cannot be found in the streams of earth, but must come only from a risen, glorified Christ. Christ alone can give you and me the eternal blessing that we need for our souls. Well did the poet say, I tried the broken systems, Lord, but are the waters failed. They mocked and fled me as I stooped to drink. They fled me. They mocked me as I wailed. But he added, now none, but Christ can satisfy none other name for me. There's love and life. Lasting joy, Lord Jesus, found in thee. Now my fellow believer, let me state, you and I who are saved, this world is a place which the saint should never place his affections upon. We drink, not from the water of the world, we drink from the water of heaven. Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit will cause everyone to realize that only Christ can give the true and living water in Jesus' name, amen.