Bible Text: Exodus 8:16-10:20 | Speaker: Pastor James Hinton | Series: Exodus

God is gracious and long-suffering, but there comes a time when He will no longer tolerate the disobedience and arrogance of defiant sinners. “To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless, to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd” (Ps. 18:25–26, niv). If we walk contrary to Him, He will walk contrary to us (Lev. 26:23–24).

“God shows Himself to each individual according to his character,” wrote Charles Spurgeon, and no individual in Scripture illustrates this truth better than the king of Egypt. For months, Moses and Aaron had dealt with Pharaoh, but the king was unwilling to obey God’s command or even acknowledge God’s authority. The water courses in Egypt had been turned into blood, slimy frogs had invaded the land, and swarms of pesky gnats had irritated the people, but Pharaoh had refused to bend.

What did God do? He declared all-out war on both the ruler of Egypt and the gods of Egypt. The Lord sent six painful and destructive plagues to the land, and then a seventh plague which brought the death of every firstborn son. As you study Pharaoh’s responses to these plagues, you see the moral and spiritual deterioration of a man who wouldn’t submit to God and paid a terrible price for his rebellion.