Dear other radio friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of our beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We speak with gratitude that we have the privilege of coming to you with the Holy Word of God in His blessed and holy name. We continue our study, which we have in the book of the Exodus, the second book of the Bible. and our continued theme regarding the world in which you and I are living in, as revealed in the story of the judgments of God that were poured out upon Egypt long ago. We come to a plague, which is the fourth one in the character of plagues we are studying, in chapter eight in the book of the Exodus, and we read from verse twenty through verse twenty-four. And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, And stand before Pharaoh, Lo, ye 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. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of the ocean in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there. To the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth, and I will put a division between my people, and thy people. Tomorrow shall this sign be. And the Lord did so. And there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servant's houses and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies. May God bless the reading and the hearing of its precious and of his holy word. Let us prayerfully, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, consider the lessons that we may learn from the fourth plague in Egypt, the plague of flies. The probability of this plague was that they were either dog flies or some beetle form, probably a beetle it is most understood, for the beetle was the symbol of creative power to the Egyptians. And one of their deities, by the name of Ta, was occasionally represented by a scarab-headed beetle. Now, if it was a beetle, then Egypt was to be tormented by one of its own deities. And the plague might also have been a judgment upon the air, which was deified as the god Shu, the son of Ra, by the Egyptians in their pantheistic belief. Now we note in the opening of our reading in verse twenty, the contest between God and Pharaoh continues. And at the command of God, Moses demands of Pharaoh as he comes to the river Nile without doubt. Let my people go that they may serve me. May we repeat that there is undoubtedly there is a warfare a conflict that rages between God and the hosts of evil. The adversary Satan, an adversary of both God and man, does not desire the liberation, the bondage lifted from those who were his prisoners. But God is, in his patience and in his grace as well as in his power, victorious to bring about deliverance for those who trust his beloved Son. Now as we look at this plague, let us again be reminded, it was a visitation not only upon the people of Egypt, but upon the deities, the gods which they worship. Again we repeat, in all of the Egyptian pantheism of that day, they had a God that they acknowledged as a deity who was a creative power, supposedly. And God inflicts torment upon the Egyptians for worshiping that God. A heathen God, a figment of their own mind, but behind which was the power and the wonders of Satan in all of his power, and the plague was thus also perhaps a judgment upon another God. and that is the air. They even deified the air. One realizes by the name of a god they call Shu, SHU, they worship the very air that they breathe. Strange to think, but how true it is, that men, supposedly with great intelligence, for the Egyptians were a race of people that were in science, greatly developed. But here are men, with all their science and knowledge, who worship what God creates, rather than worship the God that creates all things. And the very air that they breed, they worship as a God-called shoe, claiming him to be the Son of Ra. Now the Son of Ra was the name they gave, Ra was the name they gave to the Son, which they also worshipped. that God brings his judgments, and he fills the air with flies abundantly. They come into the house of Pharaoh, swarms of them in the houses of his people, swarms of them upon the ground, and thus God visits in retribution and in judgment the gods of Egypt, as well as the worshippers of those gods too. Now it is quite notable in this judgment that God puts a separation between his people, the Israelites, and the people of Egypt. In verse twenty-two of our chapter, God declares, 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 that thou mayest know that I am the Lord, in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division, meaning a separation between my people and thy people. Now may we point out something that is unusual, but must be noted. Beginning with the fourth plague and going on through the ninth plague, we shall note the plagues that follow in this category from plague number four, through plague number nine, they do not come upon the land of Goshen that part of Egypt where the Israelites dwelt. God placed a separation between his people and the people of Egypt. Now here as we see the separation between the Israelites and the Egyptians, we have a suggested commentary that certainly should be remembered and known by the people of God. There are many things that are taking place in this world, through which even Christians must travel, and in which they must and they do dwell. But may I point out, there is a separation between God's people and the people that do not know God. There is a separation in the word of God stated between those who are Christians. Christ ones, born-again ones, redeemed ones, and those who were unredeemed, who were unregenerate, who know not the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. When you read in John chapter seventeen, verse six, verse nine, and verses fifteen through seventeen, in John chapter seventeen, in the great prayer of the Lord Jesus, As he prays to the Father, he distinctly states there is a difference between his children and those of the world. Those who are his belong to him. Those who are not his belong to the world. And in those statements, the Lord says they are in the world, those that are his, but they are not of the world. And I would like to point out, as in this plague of Egypt long ago, the Christian believers should realize, as in the land of Goshen, God kept his earthly people Israel free from this plague of flies because of the divine separation that has been made. So even today, the Christian believers should realize his responsibility and her responsibility. to live and walk a path of separation. May I also emphasize a scripture that is found in Second Corinthians, chapter six, and in a portion beginning at verse fourteen to the end of the chapter. The Spirit of God through the Apostle Paul emphasizes again that separation of those who belong to Christ from the world in its character in which they may be living. What fellowship of light with darkness, writes the apostle? What fellowship hath good with evil? What fellowship hath Christ with Belial? What fellowship have the children of God with idols? Wherefore come out from among them, says the Lord, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, God Almighty, and I will be a father unto you. And ye shall be my sons and be my daughters. My fellow believer in the Lord Jesus, this fourth plague is a very vivid illustration that God expects his people to live separated lives from the world in its character under sin and the power of Satan. Wherefore come out and be ye separate. the Lord God Almighty. Now God will not be the Father He desires to be, to His people, blessing them, helping them to know His love, His grace and His care, when His people walk away in paths of disobedience according to the character of the world. Now the believer is in the world that God does not desire the world to be in the believer. And it is sadly possible, and too often true, that Christians conform their character and their pattern of life not to the Lord, but unfortunately to the world. May I make a plea that as the people of God, we may recognize the division, the separation, God makes with his children and the children of the world that we may walk pleasing to him while walking in and through this world. Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit will sanctify the truth to the hearts of the believers in Jesus' name. Amen.