All right, we're here in Exodus chapter 9, and we are looking at the sixth plague here
tonight, the plague of oils.
And this is a short section of scripture here dealing with the sixth plague, and we just
have three simple points, a pretty basic sermon here tonight.
There's a lot of great information here, and let's start here at verse number 8.
The Bible reads, And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take two handfuls of ashes
of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven inside of Pharaoh, and it
shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth
with blanes upon man and upon beasts throughout all the land of Egypt.
They took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it up toward
heaven, and it became a boil breaking forth with blanes upon man and upon beasts.
Now, if you're looking for a specific god or goddess that this is an attack on, it is
the goddess Isis.
And Isis was one of the most famous gods or goddesses in ancient Egypt.
And when we're saying Isis, we're not talking about like the Islamic military state in the
Middle East, Isis.
What we're talking about is a goddess who was the Egyptian goddess of medicine and peace.
And here's what it says about Isis in more detail.
She was the goddess of the moon, protector of women and children, healer of the sick.
Isis was the wife of Osiris and mother of Horus.
And I would say Osiris and Horus are two of the most famous Egyptian gods that you probably
have heard of before.
Her legend eventually found its way to Greece where temples still stand in devotion to her.
Having resurrected her dead husband, so she apparently resurrected her husband from the
dead, Isis helped her son to avenge his murder in his battle against Seth.
She endured as the most important goddess in ancient Egypt until the end of the civilization.
The temple of Philae in Aswan was built in her honor, and it was famously relocated from
its original location in the 1970s to protect it from flooding caused by the Aswan High
Dam.
And so I would say this is the main person it's an attack on because she was the protector
of women and children, the healer of the sick.
And what we're seeing here with the sixth plague is an attack on the people personally
themselves.
Whereas the earlier plagues, it was not an ailment upon the people themselves, it was
upon the animals or there was animals filling their land, water to blood and those things.
Now when we look at these verses that we just read in verses 8 through 10, this is very
different than what you're seeing with a lot of the other plagues.
What you see in verses 8 and 9, God says to Moses, this is what you're going to do.
And in verse 10, they do it.
You do not see a warning given to Pharaoh this time.
Because isn't it true when we're looking at all these plagues, it's like, if you don't
do this, then this plague is going to be poured out.
But in this plague, the sixth plague, there is no warning.
There's no indication that there's any warning.
God just says, hey, you know what, this is what I want you to do in verses 8 and 9.
And then all of a sudden they took ash to the furnace and stood before Pharaoh and they
just did it.
No indication.
They said, hey, if you don't let us go, we're going to do this.
They just did it.
Now go back to verse number 1 and let's see the comparison.
And point number 1 is there is no warning given by God for this plague.
There's no warning mentioned by God here in Exodus chapter 9.
They just poured out the plague without warning.
Exodus 9 verse 1, then the Lord said unto Moses, going on to Pharaoh and tell him, thus
saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me, for if thou
refuse to let them go and will hold them still, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon the cattle
which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen,
upon the sheep, there should be a very grievous moraine.
So the fifth plague goes along with other plagues where basically I want you to go into
Pharaoh and tell him, thus saith the Lord, if you do not let my people go, this is what's
going to take place.
That's exactly what we saw last week.
Then it says in verse 4, and the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the
cattle of Egypt, and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.
And the Lord appointed a set time saying, tomorrow the Lord shall do this thing in the
land, and the Lord did that thing in the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died, but of the
cattle of the children of Israel died not one.
Pharaoh sinned and behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead, and
the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.
Now, depending on the plagues that we're looking at here of these 10 plagues, some give more
detail than others.
It doesn't tell you how long they're talking to Pharaoh.
With the fifth plague, which we just read, the one that we covered last week, it specifically
says, hey, I want you to go in and give a warning, and then it doesn't really tell us
the response of Pharaoh, it just says, okay, now you're going to do this.
We can tell from the context, obviously Pharaoh did not take heed and just said, well, I'm
not going to let your people go.
But the Bible does not directly tell us that, but what it tells us in the fifth plague,
first I want you to go in and warn, and so that is exactly what they did, right?
This is very different, though, than the sixth plague because there is no indication that
they're going in to give any sort of warning or give any sort of speech, just they go in
and all of a sudden, the next plague comes, okay?
Go to Numbers chapter 14, Numbers 14, and here's what we need to understand in life.
God does not always give us warnings.
Often God does give us warnings, or often we see certain things in our lives where we
realize, you know what, I need to get right with God, I think God's mad at me, things
are not going my way, but don't think that God is obligated to give you a direct warning
saying, if you do this, this is going to happen.
God might just decide, you know what, you've broken my rules, I'm just going to pour out
judgment upon you for what you did.
So it is certainly true that God will often give us warnings, and I would say that's his
usual pattern and he's very long suffering to us, but it's not like he has to do that,
and it's not always going to be the case.
So every time when you make a decision to commit a sin and willfully go against God,
just realize there's no guarantee that afterwards you can just say, I'm sorry, and God's like,
well, if you do that again, this is what's going to happen.
God might just be like, you know what, no, I'm not giving you a warning.
It's just like, it's too much, broke my rules, you knew what was right, it doesn't matter
that you expected a warning, I never said I was going to give you one, right?
Now numbers is a great example because we're in Numbers 14, and this is after 10 of the
12 spies refused to go to the promised land.
And you have Caleb and Joshua who say, let's go, we can win that battle, we can overcome.
We talked about maybe a month ago or so about like Caleb being a very, man, that was very
valiant, a man filled full of courage and bravery, and of course, Joshua is a very brave
and mighty man in the Bible.
But then the other 10 said, we cannot go, and they rile up and energize the crowd to
want to kill Joshua and Caleb, and then Moses and Aaron, and all of them that are standing
up for the things of God.
And so they refused to go in, and then let's see what happens here in Numbers 14 verse
one.
And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night.
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation
said unto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt or would God we had died
in this wilderness?
Well, I mean, if you're so content to die, if you're so decided to die, then just kill
yourself.
It's like, would God we had died in the wilderness, then just jump off a cliff, right?
You want to complain, but it's not like it's that hard.
I'm sure that you could kill yourself if you wanted to.
So they're like, I mean, we wish we had died, it's not, well, then just kill yourself, right?
I mean, if that's what your decision is, just kill yourself then.
Verse three, and wherefore hath the Lord brought us onto this land to fall by the sword that
our wives and our children should be at prey?
Were not better for us to return into Egypt?
And they said one to another, let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt.
And, you know, as I mentioned here recently, does anybody in their right mind think that
they could actually walk back into Egypt?
I mean, are you kidding me?
It's like with all the people that died in the Red Sea, and then all of a sudden you're
just going to walk in a little bit later and say, you know what, it was just a misunderstanding.
It's like, I know your brother's dead now, I know your mom and dad died, I know all these
people died in the flood, you lost your husband, but it was just a mistake, it was just a misunderstanding.
In life, sometimes you make decisions and there's just no turning back.
And honestly, I really feel that way, like I don't even think I could possibly go back
to my old life, you know, not serving God and just be completely wrapped up in my old
career and everything.
Because at this point, it's like on my resume, it's like, you know, an evangelist and everything,
it's like, I don't think I'd be accepted back in my old life.
And for them to think that they're going to walk back into Egypt is insanity.
They would be killed right upon interest.
And in fact, given the fact that Egypt was a wicked culture, they would probably be tortured
to death would be my guess.
And I don't know if they're dumb enough to actually think they can return into Egypt
because I would like to think that on the way they would realize, you know what, I don't
think they're going to let us back in.
So I don't know what they would plan, right?
It's kind of like a little kid that says that they're going to run away from mom and dad,
like I hate you dad, I hate you mom, I'm running away from home.
And then they run outside and then it's just like, okay, where am I going to go now?
What do I do, right?
It's like at this point, regardless of if you're upset about what happened, your best
place is to be in there with the group of people out there in the wilderness.
There's just no turning back at this point.
Verse five, then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation
of the children of Israel, Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which
robbed them that searched the land, rent their clothes.
So they tear their clothes because of course, you know what, they're people filled full
of wisdom and they realize God's wrath is going to come on us.
God's going to be angry with us because we did not do what he said.
They don't exactly know what's going to take place, but they know that God is going to
be very mad at them for what just took place.
Verse 39, go to verse 39.
And Moses told these things on all the children of Israel and the people mourned greatly.
And the context is that basically God has decided, you know what, okay, you're not allowed
to be promised on it anymore.
You're rejected.
It's like you had your opportunity.
You did not go in and because you disobeyed, you're going to be disinherited from the land.
I'm going to wait for this entire generation to die off and you are not going to be able
to enter the land.
You say, what's your point?
My point is God didn't really give them a warning about this.
They did not expect this.
God did not say that if you don't do this, you're going to have to be wandering around
for 40 years.
You're not going to enter it.
What took place is they had direct instructions from God.
They disobeyed and God's like, you know what, okay, you're not allowed in anymore.
And of course, then the people are very sad about this, so I go, wait a minute, never
mind.
Verse 40, and they rose up early in the morning and got them up into the top of the mountain
saying, lo, we be here and we'll go up onto the place which the Lord hath promised for
we have sinned.
They said, we're ready to go now.
It's like we did wrong.
We messed up.
Now we're going to go.
And what they think is that God's going to be like, okay, go up and then we'll let by
guns be by guns.
You can enter in.
I'm going to give you the land.
That's not what takes place.
Verse 41, and Moses said, wherefore now do you transgress the commandment of the Lord,
but it shall not prosper.
Go not up for the Lord is not among you that you be not spent before your enemies.
And Moses says, look, the only, here's the thing, they're going to a land filled full
of people that they can logically not defeat.
They're bigger than them.
Now they're not like grasshoppers compared to them like they claim like they're giants
like you know what Jack and the Beanstalk or something from the fairytale like they're
500 feet tall.
They're a lot taller than them though.
There's more of them.
They've got weapons.
They're ready.
They're prepared.
I mean, I'm sure they've got a defense set up if anyone tries to enter in.
I mean, if it were a fight where God is just not involved, then there's no way they would
win.
Right?
It's like for example, you know, professional sports is entertaining, but I don't think
God really cares who wins professional sporting events.
So it's kind of like someone's a lot better than the other person.
Well this person is going to win.
That's just the way it is unless God were to choose to intervene, which I just don't
think God would do that for a sporting event.
But with this war, basically God's just kind of like, you know what, I'm not going to help
you.
The thing is, if God doesn't help, they're not going to win because yes, they could have
conquered the land.
You know, it would not have been a problem because God was with them and God has the
ability to do things through you that you could not do in your own flesh.
There's nothing too hard for the war, but now that God is not among them, Moses is saying
don't go up.
You're going to be smitten.
You're going to be killed.
You're going to be destroyed.
For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you and you shall fall by the
sword because you're turned away from the Lord.
Therefore the Lord will not be with you.
And so I wouldn't say that God is fighting against them here.
I would just say that God's not fighting with them.
And the thing is, if God's not fighting with you, then good luck, right?
Verse 44, but they presumed to go up onto the hilltop.
Nevertheless, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and Moses departed not out of the camp
and Moses is like, I'm not going up.
This is what you call a kamikaze mission, right?
This is a suicide mission.
You're going to go up and you're going to be destroyed.
You're going to go up and you're going to be killed.
You're going to go up and you're going to be smitten and you're going to be defeated.
Then the Amalekites came down, the Canaanites, which dwelt in that hill and smote them and
discomforted them even onto Hormah.
And you say, what's your point?
Here's my point.
There's no warning given by God about what's going to take place because I'll be honest
with you, if I lived during this day, I would not have expected this to be what would basically
be the last straw where God's like, I'm not letting you enter in.
I would not have expected that to be the reaction of God.
Now, of course, every reaction of God is correct, but that's not what I would have expected
either.
And of course, the people didn't expect that.
Now, I don't know about Moses and Joshua and Caleb, maybe they thought that would happen
or not.
I'm not really sure.
But the average person there was not expecting because they would have never done that if
they realized, well, this will be the reaction.
And the idea was they're going to complain.
They're going to murmur.
They're going to try to get their way.
What they're trying to do is get the leaders to change their ideas and opinions.
And, you know, they do this all throughout the time as they're with them.
And you know, what's the reaction?
Well, God's like, you know what, I've dealt with this long enough because this is numbers,
right?
This is further along.
I mean, we've gone through the book of Exodus and, you know, they got on God's nerves many
times and they're complaining and not doing what God said.
And then eventually it's just like, okay, you know what, that's it.
I'm just taking it away from you.
I'm not going to give it to you.
Now, he promised them essentially an inheritance if they did what was right.
So this would be like you're passing down an inheritance to your son and then all of
a sudden your son does something to make you mad, it's like, all right, never mind.
I'm going to give it to somebody else, right?
And so basically that generation is going to die off before they get it in or in.
But what we're seeing is God does not really give them a warning.
He just says, you know what, I'm not letting you enter in.
Go to Exodus chapter nine, Exodus chapter nine.
Now, obviously I'm going to give you this from a human perspective and obviously I'm
a father.
I try to be a good father, but obviously I'm not God that's a perfect father and none of
us fathers are in this room.
None of the mothers in this room are perfect, but we're trying our best.
And you know, here's the thing about this.
So obviously this is just an example from my life, but I would just say this, that with
my kids, I usually give them a warning, usually, but not always.
Now sometimes maybe I don't give them a warning because I'm just not in that great of a mood
and I lose my temper or whatever, but there's just some times where it's just like, you
know what, I feel like I've given you chances in the past and it's like, you're doing the
same thing.
It's like, no, there's no warning today.
And it's like, well, but wait a minute.
I mean, yesterday I got a warning.
Like you said, if you do this again, then I won't, but it's like, well, I decided not
to do that.
I mean, we don't always as parents give warning to our kids.
We often do.
We often give them that second chance.
We often give them the third chance.
But you know, as it's been stated before, God is not the God of infinite chances no
matter what.
I mean, eventually God will pour out his judgment.
Eventually you can make God mad.
And I can say as a parent that usually I give my kids warnings, but there are times when
my kids do something wrong and I give them no warning and then they just immediately
get spanked and they didn't expect it.
And then I explain to them, well, this is why you got the spanking.
And they expected a warning.
They expected a second chance because other times they got that.
But that doesn't mean that you're always going to get that.
Right?
Or sometimes when kids are in trouble, then all of a sudden say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
And it's just like, well, it's good you're saying I'm sorry, but it's too late.
Sometimes it's like, you know, and look, it's definitely true.
When your kids say they're sorry and they meet it oftentimes you'll go light on them
because they, but sometimes they're doing that to get out of trouble, right?
Just like all of us did as kids, just like we do as adults also too.
Sometimes we say sorry because we're trying to get out of whatever, you know, the punishment
or problem is going to be or whatever.
But what I'm saying is, you know what, sometimes God gives warnings, but sometimes God does
not give warnings.
Just like with our kids.
And what we see point number one is this, that God does not give a warning to Pharaoh.
And it's like, but wait a minute, God gave warnings at other times.
Yeah, but that doesn't mean that every single time Pharaoh, before every single plague,
let my people go or this will take place.
And so most of the time just go in and then they just, and then the plague is just poured
out upon them.
Point number one, we see that there is no warning given to Pharaoh.
Point number two, let's see the physical pain upon man.
It says here in verse number 11, and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the
boils, for the boil was upon the magicians and upon all, upon the magicians and upon
all the Egyptians.
And so this plague specifically is a plague that is very painful upon man.
The first plague we saw was the water being turned to blood.
Plagues two through four were with various animals, very disgusting.
Plague number five is really a financially crushing one with the death of livestock.
But plague number six is judgment upon the people themselves where everybody is going
to be hit by this, right?
Turn your Bible to the book of Job.
Turn to Job chapter two, and you know, I'm sure probably everybody here is familiar with
the story of Job and you know, in Job chapter one, right off the bat, you see a very righteous
person, a very godly person who has been blessed with a big family and he's a very wealthy
man.
And as we've said, having money does not mean that there's anything inherently wrong with
money.
I mean, there's people in the Bible that have a lot of money that are right with God and
Job's a great example.
He's a very rich man, he's very right with God, and he did nothing to deserve what took
place.
He did not have some sort of sin.
Of course, his friends have the reaction that a lot of people have.
If something bad is happening to you, you must have done something wrong, right?
And you know, I would say this, that when we think about this on an individual level,
when things take place in your life, you ought to ask yourself the question in your mind
and think about it yourself.
But I would caution all of us to have that reaction toward other people when something
goes wrong, where something goes wrong in someone's life.
Well, I mean, if they went soul-winding every week, I don't think this would have happened.
It's like, you got to be very careful to say certain things like that because I mean, if
God, and not just the words themselves, but if God sees what you're thinking in your heart,
it might be like, okay, well, we'll see.
I mean, maybe some random thing is going to happen to you too to kind of teach you that
no, that doesn't necessarily mean you did anything wrong.
Now, of course, it can.
I mean, it is certainly possible that if something bad happens to someone, it's like, well, that
is certainly possible that it's the judgment of God or whatever, but it might not be.
I would even say this, I think we should be cautious to assume that when something bad
happens to someone who's not a godly person, like an unsafe person or a bad person, I think
we should also be cautious just to say, well, you know what?
That's the judgment of God.
It's like, well, I mean, you don't necessarily know that.
I mean, the Bible tells us specific examples, but the truth is this, there's a lot of ungodly
people that live long lives and so it's like they don't always have something come down
on them.
And so obviously it's possible and when things happen to wicked people, you could oftentimes
sort of see the fingerprints where maybe, you know, they're being judged for something,
but I just think we should be cautious because we don't really know what God's doing, right?
We should certainly be cautious though when something happens to someone that is a safe
person and not have this attitude, well, I mean, it's because of this, right?
We have no idea.
That's the reaction his friends have and unfortunately that's the normal reaction that we have as
people that we got to fight against.
But in Job chapter one, what takes place is he loses all of his children.
He loses his money.
And if you remember, as I preached through this recently, I showed you that when you
really look at that story, it's like one person's talking and he's not even done talking and
then all of a sudden the next one comes and the next one comes where basically Job has
not even had time to process all of this information, but nothing has happened to the physical flesh
of Job.
By the end of Job chapter one, he is physically fine.
His kids are dead.
He's lost his money.
I mean, he's struggling, obviously he doesn't understand and all of these things, but nothing
has actually happened to his flesh.
So basically what the devil tries to do doesn't work because he's trying to get Job to curse
God.
It does not work.
And then the devil has a backup plan where the devil is like, you know what, what I'm
going to do is I'm going to harm him personally and that is going to cause him to end up cursing
God.
And notice what it says here in Job two verse one, again, there was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to
present himself before the Lord.
Now, I do want to say this on a side point and this would not be the main verse I would
use, nor would Job one be the main verse that I would use.
But Job two verse one disproves the idea that the sons of God are fallen angels.
And the reason why it disproves that is because if fallen angels are a son of God, then Satan
is a son of God.
Right?
Well, here's the thing, notice what it says in verse one, again, there was, and they never
mentioned that.
So they don't want to say Satan is the son of God, they'll let all the other fallen angels
be sons of God.
They'll never say that.
Well, of course, then Satan would be a son of God also, if that's what you believe.
But notice what it says in verse one, again, there was a day when the sons of God came
to present themselves before the Lord.
Doesn't tell us the sons of God, who they are, they're just the sons of God, okay?
And notice this, and Satan came also among them.
It does not say, and Satan was one of them.
He came also, meaning in addition, meaning he is not one of the sons of God.
He came also among them, and that's the same wording in Job chapter one.
And so they like to, people like to go to the book of Job at the end, and they use one
verse to try to overhaul everything the Bible says about sons of God, being people that
believe on the Lord and are saved.
And then they'll say, well, look at the end of Job, well, let's just go at the beginning
of Job.
Because, and you know what, I made a short video about this like four or five years ago
on our channel, and it has a lot of views, because people are like obsessed with this
topic.
And then like people criticize like, you're being too like specific on the wording or
two.
That's exactly what that word means also, it means in addition, it means he's not one
of them.
And the way the Bible would have worded it is, and Satan was one of them.
But it says he came also, so the sons of God came, and guess who also came, meaning he's
not one of them.
And that is Satan.
You say, well, who are the sons of God then?
They're people that believed on the Lord.
You say, well, how are they presenting themselves before the Lord?
Because people in the Old Testament went to heaven, okay, I don't have time to go into
all these topics, but say people were in heaven in the Old Testament, just as you see Elijah
going up, Elijah is not just hanging out in the sky here today.
It's like, you know, you're out, you know, you're wanting to look at the stars and everything
and look at the planets, you're out, I spotted Elijah, he's up there, I see him hanging out
there.
That's who the man on the moon is, right?
It's like, no, he went to heaven, okay.
And the sons of God are presenting themselves before the Lord.
Of course, I don't really know what the sons of God are, you know, whether or not this
is a daily thing, a weekly thing or whatever, God just wanted to speak to them, maybe he's
just talking to them about the Word of God, teaching them more, I have no idea.
These are people that believed on the Lord that lived, you know, in the past.
And then Satan also came amongst these people that actually believe on the Lord, people
that died to save people, and he also comes to present himself before the Lord.
And the Lord said unto Satan, from whence comest thou?
And Satan answered the Lord, and you know, this is funny when you really break down what's
being said, because Satan's, the same thing in Job 1, Satan specifically goes to bring
up Job, and God brings him up first.
This is exactly what Satan wants to bring up.
And notice what God says, Satan, from whence comest thou?
Where'd you come from?
And Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and from the earth and from walking
up and down in it.
It's interesting because of the fact we really see the power of God here in this short conversation
when you stop and think about it, because what we see is that Satan is going to and
fro in the earth.
It's like, well, that's interesting because God's everywhere, he doesn't have to travel.
He's everywhere, right?
We see the omnipresence of God, the fact that Satan cannot be everywhere at once.
We see this distinction, whereas God doesn't have to go to and fro in the earth, right?
He's everywhere.
And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job?
What do we see there?
The omniscience of God, because that is exactly what the devil wanted to talk about.
So we see the omnipresence of God that he's everywhere.
We see the omniscience of God.
You know, you also see in this story, in this conversation, the omnipotence of God, the
fact that he's all powerful because he says, I'll let you do this, Satan, but you can't
do this.
So in this short conversation, we see the omniscience of God, the omnipresence of God
and the fact that God is omnipotent as well, which are kind of the three characteristics,
probably the three main ones you think of that the average person would think of.
Tell us what God is like, all powerful, everywhere, and he knows everything, right?
All of that is described here in these verses, in this conversation between God and the devil.
And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job?
That there is none like him in the earth, perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God and sheweth evil.
And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him,
without cause.
Verse four, and Satan asked the Lord and said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath would
give for his life, and put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and
he will curse thee to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, behold he is in thine hand, but save his life.
And so when God says, I'll let you do that, but save his life, we're saying that God is
all powerful because he can stop it if he wants.
So when Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot unto his crown, and he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and
he sat down among the ashes.
Now I used to be kind of confused about this story because when I read all the things that
happened to Job, I just thought that, you know, the punishment that the devil gives
to Job in chapter two is nowhere near as bad as chapter one.
Right?
I mean, wouldn't it be far worse to lose your children than to be struck with an ailment
that's eventually going to go away?
Even the money.
I mean, because if this was permanent, that would be a different thing, right?
Because obviously, you know, all of us, I'm sure we all value our health.
I would value my health more than wealth.
But here's the thing, this isn't forever.
But yet, Satan is very confident that Job is going to curse God to his face and it kind
of confused me.
But I think this is the reason why.
Because Satan is thinking the way that he is, is going to be the way that Job is.
And for someone that's completely self-centered and only cares about himself, he probably
thinks, you know what, if his skin is cursed, he'll curse God.
And in reality, someone who loves his kids, and we saw that in Job chapter one as he's
making offering for them, it's like that is far worse than having your own skin cursed
and having an ailment and health problems.
I mean, it's far worse.
I mean, it's not even close.
This is not really something I thought about before I had children.
But being married with children now, it's just like, the punishment is far worse in
Job one than Job chapter two.
And you know, it's kind of interesting because one thing that really made me think about
this is actually Richard Dawkins.
So I've been talking about a lot on the series on Saturdays, because when I read his book,
I was just amazed in all, I'll talk about it more on Saturday, because give me the Sermon
on Creation versus Evolution.
But literally Richard Dawkins view of how evolution works, the mechanism that he thinks,
it's called the selfish gene, the quintessential book on evolutionary biology, because he says
that inside of all of us, we are all 100% evil and selfish and only care about ourselves.
And anything good we ever do is only because we're going to get something out of it.
And it's like, you're describing a reprobate, Richard Dawkins, what is it that the mechanism
that you came up with, that became very famous, that a lot of evolutionists that are really
into this stuff are all for, you're literally just describing a reprobate.
And it's just like, well, I mean, if that's what's on the inside of your heart and your
mind, that's what the way you're going to think of it like, well, everybody must be
like this.
This is the way we are.
No, no, no, that's just you, Richard Dawkins.
And here's the thing, I think with this, I think that's the way it is with Satan, where
he just kind of thinks, well, everybody cares about themselves.
It's like, well, that's the way you are, Satan.
That's not the way everybody is, though.
And I'm not saying that what took place in Job 2 is not a big deal at all.
I mean, obviously, this is horrible what took place and obviously the pain.
And it describes it as being extremely serious to the point where it's far worse than anything
I've had happen physically.
But it's not as bad as Job 1.
And I think the reason why Satan comes up with this plan is, you know, he just figures
out, wow, you know, everybody's like, no, that's, that's just you, Satan.
Go to Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians 5.
So when it comes to boils and blanes, let me just give you the definition of this.
A blane is an inflamed swelling on the skin.
A boil is an inflamed pus-filled swelling on the skin caused typically by the infection
of a hair follicle.
And you know, I don't think this is the exact same thing, you know, but blisters can be
very painful also.
And I've had times where I've had, especially I used to do a lot of running and every once
while you get new shoes and you get big blisters and then it hurts to even walk in them or
it's very sensitive, especially on the heel or if you get a new pair of dress shoes, right?
I switched a long time ago to the comfortable dress shoes because, you know, the old fashioned
ones, it's like you put your foot in there and then like the next day at the back of
your heel, you got like this massive like blister that, I mean, your heart is a rock.
It's like a weapon.
I don't know who invented the normal dress shoes, but it's like, you know what, I heard
this a long time ago from someone, they said, well, you know, I go out soul winning, so
it's like I don't want to wear out my feet, it's like, yeah, that's what I do.
I have the comfortable, somewhat dress shoe now because it's just far more practical.
But blisters can be extremely painful to the point where it's just like, you know, you
can't really walk around much or trying to avoid it.
You know, everywhere you step, it's really painful.
And you know, obviously this is worse than that, but it's kind of the best way I can
think about it.
But it says here in Ephesians 5 verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not even spot a wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So have men to love their wives as their own bodies.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourished it and cherished it, that even as the Lord
of the church.
Now, when it comes to our own flesh, we naturally care about our flesh, the things that we want,
right?
Before a person's married, they care about themselves primarily.
I mean, before you're married, you have the freedom to go out and do whatever you want.
You have the freedom to go out and I want to just go to this restaurant.
I don't have to tell anybody about it.
I don't have any rules or anything like that, but you know, it's obviously different when
you're married.
It's like, I would never recommend to any husbands or wives to just leave the house
and just don't even tell your spouse what you're doing.
It's just like, you know, well, I mean, I wish I had known about this, right, or whatever.
It's like, you know, when I was single, though, sometimes it would be like late at night.
It's like, you know, I feel like going to the gym.
It's like 11 o'clock at night.
I don't feel like sleeping.
Let me just go to the gym and then I come back and take a shower.
But I don't leave the house, you know, at like 11 o'clock at night.
You say why?
Because I have a family and kids.
And you know, when you get married and you have a family, especially when you have kids,
it really teaches you that your life's not about you.
And you know, you hear these things preached and, you know, I heard preaching like this
a long time before I was married, before I had a family, and you kind of understand it.
You hear it.
It makes sense.
But it's completely different when you're actually married and you have kids and you
have a family.
Thank you.