All right, we're here in Exodus chapter 8 and we're looking at the fourth plague.
We're looking at the plague of flies and third sermon in Exodus chapter 8 and we have three
points here tonight.
But let me just give you a bit of an introduction to this sermon just because we have three
kind of organized points.
Just some extra information we start off in regards to flies.
Of course, the first plague was water to blood.
The second plague was frogs and the third plague was lice.
When we look at both frogs and lice, they're kind of known to be just, it would be kind
of disgusting and obviously there's a lot of other problems it would cause, but with
the flies I would say it's pretty similar.
Once we get to the fifth plague, the death of the livestock, that's going to be a bit
different.
But with flies, flies are similar to frogs in the fact that they're one of the animals
that has this major metamorphosis.
For example, frogs start off as tadpoles and they become frogs, caterpillars become butterfly.
Flies start off as maggots and so for me, I don't know if it's because we're so used
to flies.
Growing up, I'd have flies around me all the time that you, it's like you just get used
to it.
But maggots are disgusting, right?
I'm sure all of us have seen this.
Maybe you forget to take the trash out or whatever so it misses like the garbage man
and the trash gets old and what happens when you have old trash that starts to get really
smelly?
It gets filled with maggots, right?
Now what's interesting about this is just a few hundred years ago, it kind of makes
me think of this for this science series we're doing, you know, the leading scientists were
teaching that maggots spontaneously generated from rotten trash and rotten meat and things
such as that.
The reason why they came to that conclusion is because you have, you know, trash and then
all of a sudden it's filled with maggots, it's like, well, it must have come from the
rotten trash.
Now, of course, if you're a Bible believer Christian, you'd never believe that because
we don't believe that just life creates itself.
We believe that God is the one that actually is the creator of life, which is the next
sermon in the science series and, you know, but they just figured, well, we see maggots
in the trash that must be where it comes from.
Of course, now they know that flies just like things that are dirty and they will lay eggs
in the trash and so when you're finding dirty places, flies hang out and they basically
just lay the next batch of future flies right there on what's dirty.
So from that we can learn about flies that they're a dirty animal, right?
I'm sure you already knew that, but they hang out around things that are dirty and that's
how they pass on diseases because they will go from rotten trash, they'll go to human
and animal feces, you know, just anything disgusting and they fly around to everything
and they're not a picky animal when it comes to what they eat and what they touch and the
issue is they are passing viruses from one person to the next and I think I mentioned
this recently, it's my opinion that because if you look at the continents in the world,
the continent that has the biggest outpouring of HIV is certainly Africa, there's no question
about that based on the statistics they give us, but it never really made a lot of sense
to me because they're like the most anti-LGBT.
So how could you be the most anti-LGBT continent and yet you're filled full of HIV, it doesn't
really seem to add up and so with HIV, the way they test it is actually very different
in different countries and it's also something that can cross test into different diseases
and a lot of things they can cross test with would be like malnutrition and diseases they're
getting from flies just, you know, just from the dirty, you know, stuff that they're getting
as a result of what the flies are passing on and so it's my opinion that that's really
what's going on there.
It's not a matter of fornication being a bigger issue there than anywhere else because in
Africa they're like the least friendly to the LGBT, they're the ones that are anti against
it, it's like no homo is welcome in our country, they'll kill them in certain countries and
so the big HIV crisis, I don't think it's about HIV in terms of an STD, I think it deals
with flies and just being dirty and malnutrition and things such as that.
Now when it comes to flies, if you're looking at one of the false gods of Egypt to associate
this plague with, Kepri is the name of the one you'd be looking at.
According to this pronunciation, in Egyptian it has H with a circle under it, little semi
circle under P-R-I or P-R-J, I'm not sure how you pronounce that but also transliterated
Kepara, Kepra, Kepra, Kepri is a scarab faced god in ancient Egyptian religion who represents
the rising or morning sun, by extension he can also represent creation and the renewal
of life and I remember when I was a lot younger, you'd see movies that would come out of Egypt
and they would always be obsessed with the scarab, that would be a big thing, I remember
watching The Mummy, I'm not recommending you watching movies, I'm just telling you, I remember
it's like this big thing like the scarab beetle and everything like that and so that really
kind of comes from Kepri, obviously beetles are over there but then Kepri is like the
god that they worship and so Exodus chapter 8, let's look at verse number 20, it says
and the Lord said unto Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, lo
he cometh forth to the water and say unto him, thus saith the Lord, let my people go
that they may serve me, else if thou wilt not let my people go, behold I will send swarms
of flies upon thee and upon thy servants and upon thy people and into thy houses, the houses
of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies and also the ground whereon they are
and as I said, flies are annoying but I guess you just kind of get used to them, you know,
and you know they're around, you just kind of kill them or whatever, fruit flies are
big where I'm from where you can kill like 10 every time you take a shower or whatever
but the bigger issue is the fact that they're going to be spreading and passing disease,
diseases throughout the country, it's not just that they're going to be annoying, they're
going to be spreading diseases, it says in verse number 22, and I will sever in that
day the land of Goshen in which my people dwell that no swarms of flies shall be there
to the end now may us know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth and in verse
number 23 we come to our first point where it says and I'll put a division between my
people and thy people, tomorrow shall this sign be and point number one is the division
between the holy and between the unholy and what God says in this plague is I'm putting
a division between my people and thy people and your people, the Egyptians are going to
be filled full of swarms of flies whereas my people are going to be doing perfectly
fine, right?
And you know, honestly, when it comes to us living our lives in a certain way, reading
the Bible, going to church, not drinking alcohol, you know, just living a normal life, here's
the thing, it's like when you live that life, you know, there's going to be a good result
whereas if you live a life of getting drunk and doing drugs and smoking and all those
things, watching worldly movies, pornography and all that stuff, it's going to have an
effect in a bad way and it will become very evident.
I mean, it's always interesting to me when you see people that have lived, you know,
a very sinful life and they age quickly, like when you look at their face, it's like they
look old, right?
There's a famous baseball player, you know, a long time ago and yeah, he was like a very
fast player and he was, the reason, one reason why he's so famous, he's a very good player
but he looked really old and it had been known that he used to be a major drug addict, I
mean, he looked like 20 years older than he actually was because living that sort of
life actually ages your body, I mean, you're going to have a side effect and what God says
is there's going to be a division between my people and my people and you see the result
of the swarms of flies on the Egyptians, no swarms of flies on God's people.
Go to Genesis chapter one, Genesis one.
And so, apart from these plagues, having a primary purpose in my opinion of getting
some of the Egyptians saved, this is really like the only option they have, it also taught
God's people a lot, a lot of things as well, I mean, besides just having patience and things
such as that, I mean, one of the things he's teaching right here is, hey, this plague is
teaching you, do you see the division between those who serve God and those who don't serve
God?
Look at the end result of those that do not serve God, look at the end result of a wicked
nation versus look at my people and, you know, they should have just seen that and said,
hey, you know what?
I don't want to end up like this, I don't want my life to be a wreck, but unfortunately
people see things, they just kind of forget about it.
The Bible says there's a division between my people and I people, Genesis one verse
one, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form
and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters, God said, let there be light and there was light and God saw the
light that it was good and notice this and God divided the light from the darkness.
Now say, wow, pastor, that's actual physical light and physical darkness, what does that
have to do with spirituality?
The Bible says that all scripture is given to us by inspiration of God and it's profitable
for doctrine and throughout the Old Testament what you see is stories and in verses that
have a direct application, a physical application with a symbolism of soul winning, right?
Or a symbolism of living godly or a symbolism of something else.
And so yeah, physically, yes, God separated the light from the darkness, right?
But it's not only that, what he's teaching us right at the beginning is God is a God
of what?
Unity?
No, he's a God of division, the light, the darkness and of course light and darkness
are used throughout the Bible symbolically, right, I mean light being in the presence
of God's light, right, dwelling in the light, right, versus dwelling in darkness, those
that don't want to be in the light, those that hate the light, whose deeds are evil
or in darkness.
I mean that symbolism is all throughout the Bible and we're seeing right at the beginning
in Genesis 1 that God divides the light from the darkness.
Go in your Bible to Joshua 24, Joshua 24.
As you're turning there, let me just read you in the book of Luke where it says, suppose
ye that I am come to give peace on earth, these are the words of Jesus Christ, suppose
ye that I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, but rather division.
Now if you were to make that statement today without quoting the verse and not making it
obvious what the context is, just saying, you know what, hey, I'm not coming to bring
peace.
As a pastor, I'm coming to bring division.
People would be horrified.
That's horrible.
It's like, you know, a good man of God is just going to unite everybody together.
It's just going to be full of peace and everyone's going to love them.
But is that ever what you see in the Bible?
I mean Jesus said, I did not come to bring peace, I came to bring division, right?
I mean it's just like everyone around the world, what's the one thing missing?
World peace, world peace.
I would love it to be famous just for a day or something.
It's like what's the big thing missing?
We don't have enough division.
Because everyone wants to unite everybody, right?
It's like you always hear this on the news, we got to unite, set aside the differences
and unite together.
It's like, no, we need some division.
And you know, here's the thing about this, all of us would love to have peace and unity
with everybody.
That'd be great where everybody you meet you get along with and no problem.
Here's the problem with that mentality though, you've got to deny things that are true in
order for that to happen.
It's like, you know, the problem is we believe different things.
The problem is we have different gods.
The problem is we stand for different things.
It's like, well, you know what, you just aborted your baby, but hey, you know what, oh well,
how are you doing?
Right?
It's like it doesn't make any sense.
There are things that you just cannot just allow.
I mean, and God is a God of division.
And here's the thing about this, when you look at our church, you know, our church has
a sharp line in the sand, a sharp division where there's a lot of people that would never
want to come to our church and there's even saved people that would never want to come
to our church.
And if a saved person came, oftentimes it's like, well, that's the last time they're going
to come.
Right?
It's just reality.
But here's the thing about this.
When you read this story, it's like there were a lot of saved people coming out of Egypt.
I don't think everyone was saved coming out of Egypt, obviously, but obviously a lot of
them were.
I don't know what the percentage would be.
It'd be a pretty high percentage.
You wouldn't have the situation in anywhere in the world today of that high of a percentage
of saved people.
I would say the majority probably were saved, in my opinion.
And here's the thing about this.
I mean, if the majority of people are saved, does that mean that they all want to serve
God?
No.
In fact, there's a lot of them where it's kind of like, they say, well, let's go back
to Egypt.
It's like, how about this?
Okay.
You do that and the rest of us will go this way.
Right?
They're lying in the sand.
You go back to Egypt if you want and then we'll just keep on trusting in God and following
Him.
Right?
What's interesting is they throw that out.
Let's like return back into Egypt.
It's such a stupid statement to make that is out of reality because they would kill
you before you even enter.
I mean, what a stupid statement to make.
Do you really think the Egyptians would let you back after so many of them were killed?
They would kill you before you even got there.
People are just so dumb they don't think about, so let's just return to Egypt.
Yeah.
That's a great idea.
Yeah.
They're going to kill you before you get there.
What are you talking about?
I mean, literally, it's like, it's a point of no turning back.
In our lives, we ought to have this sort of mentality where basically I have decided to
follow Jesus.
What does that song say?
No turning back.
I look at my life and I'm just thinking, I don't, I couldn't return to my old life.
I mean, I'm so far removed from it.
It's been a long time.
It's like I have a completely different set of friends.
I mean, it would be like impossible to go back and just live like I used to live.
I mean, it's just like, we ought to have the mentality where it's like, hey, you know what?
I'm past that.
I've, I've decided to follow God.
I've decided to follow Jesus.
There's no turning back.
But we see that God is a God of division and notice what it says here in Joshua 24 verse
14.
Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth.
And you know, Joshua 24 is actually my son's chapter that he read this morning.
And you know, sometimes I get a chance to discuss the chapters with him.
And, you know, he asked me what the word was going to say.
Whenever there's a word you don't understand, you know, let me know.
And he was asking me, what about the word sincerity?
And because a lot of times, you know, of course, if you're older, it's like we're used to these
words so we know what they mean.
And so, you know, in case you don't know what that means, sincerity means like basically
with your whole heart, it's real, it's not fake.
And it's really powerful when you think about it, to serve him in sincerity, because a lot
of people can go through the motions.
It doesn't mean that they actually do want to serve God though.
It's kind of like, well, I read the Bible because I have to read the Bible, but it doesn't
mean that they actually want to read the Bible, right?
Or I go to church because they have to go to church, but they don't really want to go
to church.
And what the Bible says is, hey, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth
and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt
and serve you the Lord.
And when he says put away the gods which your father served, you got to realize this is
not that long after they're leaving Egypt.
It's like the next generation with Joshua there.
And so he's talking to people and we're reading about the fathers in Exodus through Deuteronomy,
where a lot of them are getting killed for wanting to go back to Egypt and everything.
And what Joshua says is, hey, put away those gods.
It's like forget about your old life.
Forget about what you heard.
There's nothing great in Egypt.
There's nothing great about those gods.
It's nothing that you're missing.
Sometimes we as Christians, we can get this mindset like we're missing something by serving
God, right?
So what can take place if let's, because I, you know, I didn't grow up in this type of
church, but from my perspective, getting saved later, sometimes you can kind of think back
to things in the past where you have like warm, fuzzy feelings, but it's over.
It's done.
I have warm, fuzzy feelings about a lot of things from my childhood, but it's like I'm
not going to sit around and play Super Mario Kart for 10 hours.
It's not going to be the same anymore, right?
I mean, it's like you move on.
It's different.
But then somebody could grow up in a church like this and this is all they know and they
could have the mindset, what if that lifestyle will bring happiness?
Because it is very easy to grow up in a church like this and get that sort of mindset where
you just kind of want to try out.
It's like, man, what if I did this?
What if I did that?
And you know, it's one of the things I think of with my kids.
I really hope they realize they're missing out on nothing.
They're missing out on nothing by, it's like, oh man, I'm missing out on the smoking, the
drinking, the parties.
It's like, you're going to destroy your life.
You're missing nothing.
And you know, it's not just me saying this.
Every adult in this room would say the same thing to their kids.
It's like, you're missing nothing.
And one of the things you see here in Joshua as you're reading and in other parts of the
Bible is just always remind your kids, tell your kids.
Because the thing is, our kids didn't necessarily experience the bondage from the past that
we did.
Right?
They didn't experience the sin that we did.
And it's important for us to let them know, hey, you know what?
You're not missing anything.
That lifestyle is garbage.
I wasted 20 years of my life.
I wish I had just learned about this a decade before that, right?
Verse number 15, and if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day
whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other
side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but as for me in
my house, we will serve the Lord.
Of course, there's a very famous verse, Joshua 24 verse 15.
Joshua says, it's up to you.
I'm not going to force you to follow.
It's like, you want to serve those gods, go ahead.
But as for me in my house, we're going to serve God.
Look, every husband, every father should have this sort of mindset for his family.
It's not just I'm going to serve God.
When Joshua says we will serve the Lord, what does that mean?
It means it's not just me as the husband, but also my wife, also my sons, also my daughters,
everybody in my family is going to serve God.
Now, obviously, you know what?
There's ages, you know, where you start learning more, you get older.
I mean, a lot of the kids in this room are very young.
They're too young to really go soul winning, but, you know, they can start that process
of learning verses and reading the Bible and developing a walk with God, developing a prayer
life.
We can put those patterns in them.
And as they get older, of course, the goal is they'll become a soul winner.
They'll be reading the Bible's jealousy for themselves.
And the goal is not just that as husbands we serve God, we want our whole family serving
God.
Right?
And we need to have this mindset.
We will serve the Lord.
Take the lead as the father, take the lead as the husband.
Make sure your whole family is serving God.
Verse 16, and the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord
to serve other gods.
You go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, 2 Corinthians chapter 6.
And, you know, I wish that when you read the Bible, you would see that they just were serving
God for a long time.
But really, the only time I really see God's people that seem to be pretty, pretty close
to God is when Joshua was leading.
And then after that, it's just, it just falls apart.
Right?
And obviously, during the days of Moses, they weren't that close to God.
I don't think it's the fault of Moses, I think it's the fault of just a lot of people that
are not on board inside, you know, the congregation, because it's, although I think most of the
people were saved in the congregation with Moses, a lot were unsaved, right?
And so imagine if we had a church with 100 people, and it's like, 60 are saved in 40
or not.
It's going to be a disaster of a church.
That's kind of the situation that Moses has, just kind of shows you, yeah, we need to make
sure we're very clear on salvation, because we're not trying to get a bunch of unsaved
people at our church, right?
And during the days of Joshua, though, they're pretty close to God.
I mean, you read through the book of Joshua, they do pretty well.
They're not perfect, obviously.
But they're following pretty closely.
But unfortunately, after the book of Joshua, what comes next?
Judges.
I mean, do God's people ever really get close to God after that?
Not really.
There's moments, but then it's like, all downhill, right?
Second Corinthians chapter six, verse 14, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light
with darkness?
You know, probably the best application of verse 14 is not to marry unbelievers, right,
if you're a saved person.
But I don't think that's the only application that we can draw from verse 14.
Look, if you zealously want to serve God, and then there's somebody else that is saved,
but doesn't really want to serve God, is that really who you want to marry?
I mean, as a guy, you're reading the Bible for 40 minutes every day, you're going sowing
and going to church, trying to make changes in your life, and then you're going to marry
someone who wants to watch all the Hollywood movies and listen to rock music, doesn't want
to go sowing.
Is that really going to result in a happy marriage?
It's going to result in a disaster.
I mean, you're trying to like cleanse yourself, you're trying to get close to God, and then
all of a sudden, she's turning on the radio and it's like, you know, stairway to heaven,
it's just like, what a disaster.
Or on the other side, what if you're a woman, you say, well, you know what, it's like, you
know, he's saved, he doesn't really want to serve God, it's like, okay, so you're going
to let the leader of your home, you want to serve God, but you're going to marry someone
who doesn't really want to serve God, and he's going to be the one that's leading you?
It's like, well, good luck with that.
I don't think it's just merely salvation.
I would say that, hey, marry someone that is at the same level spiritually.
Marry someone who also loves God, don't marry someone who's just not that interested in
serving God.
Why?
Because it can make your life a disaster.
Especially as you're raising kids, you need to be on board with these things.
I'm trying to get your, look, if Joshua said, ask for me in my house, we'll serve the Lord,
do you realize how much harder that is if the whole family is not on board?
Because we've got to realize with kids, kids are just not naturally just going to start
serving God on their own.
I mean, yes, Daniel purposes in his heart, but I also think he probably had a mom and
dad that really kind of pushed him in that direction.
Of course, there's a free will choice that is made, but it's like, you're not going to
see kids, you say why?
Because serving God's hard.
It takes time to read the Bible and to pray.
I mean, you're getting involved in church.
That means a lot of your free time, you're basically rowing away.
I mean, that's kind of a tough sell for a young kid that wants to play video games and
sports and all these things, right?
To basically, well, you know what?
Get involved in church and you won't get to hang out with as many people.
People won't like you.
I mean, it's just like, that's going to be a tough sell, which is why you really need
to impress it upon the kids to read the Bible and have that personal walk.
So on the inside of their heart, they have this attitude, you know what?
I'm purposing in my heart.
Doesn't matter if it, though none go with me, as we sing in that song, I've decided
to follow Jesus, though none go with me, still I will follow.
And that's the mentality that we need.
And so the Bible says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?
What concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
What agreement hath the temple of God with idols, free of the temple of the living God,
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people.
Wherefore, come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing, and I will receive you.
And so this is where we'll say the doctrine of separation from verse 17, be ye separate,
make a division, right?
Touch not the unclean thing.
As someone who's trying to live a clean and righteous and holy life, have this attitude
that I want to be separate from those that do not.
Now, of course, marriage is a great application of this, but even outside of marriage, the
people that you're close friends with ought to be people that love God.
Why would you want to be friends with people that don't really love God?
And a lot of people, they hang on to friends that are, people start serving God, and then
they have their church friends, but they hang on to friends that maybe aren't that interested
in serving God, and they're bringing up all these things, and what you're doing is doing
this in-between thing that is going to tear you apart.
It's like, look, and I just had the mentality a long time ago, it's like when I changed
a lot, I remember just, you know, this is over a decade ago, just completely deleted
Facebook.
I said, I just don't want to know what's going on with anyone that I grew up around, because
I'm just a different person, and, you know, and it's not that I hated all those people.
There's a lot of people from my hometown.
Like, I tried to give people the gospel, I gave the gospel to a lot of people in my hometown
the first couple of years after I got saved, then after the point, that point, I'm kind
of like the crazy guy from Bridgeport, West Virginia who got religious in college or whatever.
It's like, I got some people saved, and it's like, I'm a different person now, and a lot
of people I had been friends with, I had hung out with when I was younger, but it's like,
I'm a different person at the age of 23 than I was at 16 or whatever, right?
And so I was just like, I just kind of want to move on and just, I'm a different person
now, it's whatever.
And the idea is, you know, just being separate from those that don't love God, right?
Turn your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter 2.
Look, obviously, when it comes to this, you know, everybody makes their own choices.
Where are you going to draw that line?
And I can't make that choice for you.
Not everybody's in the same situation, not everybody feels the same way, it doesn't affect
everybody the same.
But those are the decisions that you need to make.
But I'm just going to say this, that the people that you should be close to are people that
love God.
And I would say this is why it's so important to have, one of the big reasons it's so important
to have church, because you can have people to be close to at the local church.
Look, I don't hang out with other people in Pampanga outside of people with this church.
I mean, there's certain people I might see, because maybe there's a place I go or something
and I see the same person, I say hello or whatever, but I don't hang out with anyone
in Pampanga outside of people at this church.
Right, and, you know, obviously I'm not originally from Pampanga, so that might be a little bit
different, but I'll just say that, you know, also with my wife, you know, she knows plenty
of people here in Pampanga and she just has the mentality, I'm a different person now.
Even with family, it's just like, well, they're Catholic, I'm not.
It's kind of like this massive, you know, thing and standing in the way of us really
being all that close.
Right, Bible says in 1 Peter 2, verse 7,
The Bible says that we're meant to be a holy nation, a peculiar people.
It's peculiar to be holy in 2024, for sure.
I mean, if you're serving God and you're reading the Bible and going to church, people will
think that you're strangers.
They just will. I mean, when I work secular jobs, I would bring my Bible to work and I
would read during my lunch break.
There are other people that I don't know if they were saved or not, but they said they
were Christians. But I don't really think people were really reading the Bible if they
said they were Christians. I mean, I would just have my pattern.
It was lunchtime. It's like, I got a busy life.
I need to get my Bible reading in.
And so it's lunchtime. I'm getting some reading in, some memorization or whatever.
And it's like, or I would show up early and read the Bible and then people would just
kind of look at you kind of like, oh, that's kind of strange.
It's like, I mean, it's like, well, what's strange about reading the Bible?
It's the most read book in the history of the world.
What's strange about that?
It's by far the most read book in the history of the world.
And then people look at you like you're insane in 2024 for bringing your Bible to work.
It's like, that's so strange.
It's like you're not watching any videos, you know, and they're just reading the Bible.
And it's just like, that's just the way it is.
If you're trying to live a holy life, you're going to be looked at as being strange for
those people that knew you in the past before you really got right with God.
They probably look at you as being very strange now.
What happened to you?
You used to be so normal, you know, you're popular.
Everybody likes you and look at you now.
It's like everybody hates you and whatever or whatever.
It's like, well, you're a peculiar person.
That's what the Bible says.
It says here in verse 10, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people
of God which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Now, being a peculiar person and where it's kind of like everybody looks at you a little
bit different, it makes you feel like you almost just don't really fit in anywhere.
And notice what the Bible says in verse 11.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lust, which
were against the soul.
The idea is as a stranger and pilgrim, it's just like this world is not my home.
It's like I just don't really fit in.
Now, of course, in the local church, you fit in perfectly, right?
It amazes me people that will kind of do the in-between thing of being in church, but then
kind of being in their old life.
It's like, well, you're not really going to fit in anywhere if you're like that.
It's like, why not just, you know, dive into church?
Because guess what?
You'll fit in perfectly, right?
But in this life, we're like strangers and pilgrims.
The way we live our lives is just we're just different than other people.
And whatever home you live at, whether you rent an apartment, a house or whatever you own,
it's like you're just passing through.
You're a stranger in this world.
You're a pilgrim.
You're on a journey called going to heaven.
And it's like, it doesn't really matter what happens here.
It's like this is only temporary.
Turn to your Bible to Exodus chapter eight.
Exodus chapter eight.
Seems kind of foolish to set our affection on things on earth when everything's going to
pass away and mean nothing.
It's going to get to heaven and, you know, you're having conversations with, and look,
the Bible doesn't talk about heaven that much, so I can't, but I'm just saying, let's say
you're having a conversation with somebody else in heaven, which I'm assuming would take
place. Nobody really cares about, well, you know what?
I did, you know, this or this.
I won this competition or whatever.
I think nobody's going to care.
It's going to mean nothing.
Look, all of us, all of us waste time on things that we shouldn't, but, you know, it's like
an epidemic in 2024 where people are doing like nothing with their life, just focusing
on TV and video games and all these things.
And it's like it's a waste of time.
It's like that's great that you beat Final Fantasy number twenty eight or whatever, it's
just like nobody cares in heaven, right?
Exodus chapter eight, verse twenty four.
And the Lord did so, and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh and
into a servant's houses and all the land of Egypt.
The land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies, and Pharaoh called for Moses and
Pharaon and said, go ye sacrifice to your God in the land.
So temporarily, Pharaoh says, OK, I'll let you sacrifice.
Whatever one, we see the division between the holy and the unholy.
Whatever two, we see detestation and detestation
means to strongly hate something.
So if you say I detest, it's like do you,
Pastor Succu, do you hate kimchi?
No, I detest kimchi.
I mean, I strongly hate it, is what I'm saying.
I don't just hate kimchi, I detest kimchi, right?
I strongly hate it.
And so it's like you say, well, you're just joking.
No, not really.
But it's like to despise or to detest is to extremely hate something, OK?
Not just on a small level, but on a big level.
And so we're seeing it mentioned here in verse 26, where it says,
And Moses said, It is not me so to do, for we shall sacrifice
the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God.
Moses says that the Egyptians will detest us and hate us if we sacrifice.
Why is this?
He says, Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians
before their eyes, and will they not stone us?
Moses is saying they're going to kill us.
We will go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice
the Lord our God as he shall command us.
But why is it that Moses says they're going to kill us if we do a sacrifice?
Why is that an abomination?
Well, let's just bring it to a modern day example.
What would happen if you sacrifice the cow in India?
They will stone you.
They will burn you to death.
I guarantee you that would happen.
I mean, if you just went into India and just killed a cow
in a very Hindu area, you're just going to be beat to death.
That's what's going to take place.
What was the most worshipped animal in ancient Egypt?
The cow.
It's the reason why they have the golden calf in the book of Exodus.
The Bible talks about that.
And the cow was the most worshipped animal.
So what Moses is saying is if we sacrifice the cow in front of them,
they're going to kill us.
They're going to stone us.
Quite honestly, this is probably Pharaoh's plan, to be honest,
where he's like, I'll let you do this.
I mean, Pharaoh's not.
Pharaoh's an idiot in some ways,
but I'd imagine he's a very educated, intelligent person.
He's a fool.
But I would imagine that's actually his plan.
I mean, I could be wrong,
but I would say Pharaoh's probably a very smart person.
Moses is like, no, we're not going to sacrifice the land
because the people are going to kill us.
Right?
And of course, that's exactly what happened.
Just like in India today, they would kill you.
Or just like in any country with a strong religion.
I mean, let's say that you're in Thailand
and you just smashed a statue of Buddha
in front of a bunch of Buddhas.
They're going to stone you.
That's what's going to take place.
I mean, imagine you go to Rome
and you've got a statue of Mary in your arms
and you're like, bam, we're going to kill you.
Right, I mean, I'd dare anybody
to go to the Catholic church over there
with an idol of Mary
and just start yelling and smash it into the ground.
I hope you don't go home to heaven early.
I don't know what's going to take place.
Because when people are rapidly in a false religion,
they might just tear you apart.
What Moses is saying is they're going to kill us
if we sacrifice a cow, we sacrifice animals.
And why?
Because they worship animals.
I don't know what's going to take place.