Beloved radio, friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of our beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We welcome you again to the study of God's precious word and to the solemn lessons that we are finding in the book of Exodus. We have reached chapter ten in this book of Exodus and have now begun the consideration of the ninth plague in Egypt, which was the plague of darkness. Again we would read in the word of God from chapter ten, beginning at verse twenty one, to the end of the chapter, verse twenty nine. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt, three days. They saw not one another, Neither rose any from its place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And Pharaoh called unto Moses and said, Go ye, serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be stayed. Let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not an hoof be left behind. For thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God, and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come hither. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said unto Moses, Get thee from me. Take heed to thyself. See my face no more. For in that day thou seest my face, Thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well. I will see thy face again no more. May the Lord bless the reading and hearing of his word. May the Holy Spirit speak very deeply to our consciences and our hearts as we continue the consideration of this great plague of darkness. We have already noted that it was a particular judgment upon the gods of Egypt. and upon the Egyptians, because of their pantheistic worship of the celestial bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. Practically, many of the stars, most of the great celestial bodies were worshipped, and they had the name of their gods, such as the god Ra, that represented the sun, and the god Horus, which represented the sun, and the god Tum, which also represented the Sun, likewise with the Moon, likewise with celestial stars. And we have noted that without question of doubt, that when this plague began, it must have been when the occurrence of some grand ceremony in honor of a celestial body was about to take place. Beloved, may we note something very carefully. But I want you to think of what soon will be found as we go through these chapters ahead. This plague of darkness was also for the Egyptians the prelude to coming death. For when we come to the tenth plague and the last great plague, God's great visitation of death came upon the land of Egypt, upon both man and beast throughout all the land. And this plague of darkness was a prelude to that. But may we also remember, as we noted in our preceding message, that in verse twenty-three at the end of the verse, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Now I would like particularly at this point to emphasize to all my listeners, your soul and mine, in relation to God, is either in the light Or we're in the darkness. And we're either facing eternal death. Or we are facing eternal glory. For just as the darkness was the prelude to coming death for the Egyptian. And the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Though on one hand there was darkness about to end in death. On the other hand there was light. Which was the prelude to life. liberty and redemption. My beloved radio friends, may I state in relation to God, there's no twilight. You cannot be in the middle of it. You're either living in the light or you're living in the darkness. Or may I raise the question, my friend, where are you in relation to this? Can you say my soul is in the light of God? Or do you have to confess I am in darkness? Now as we consider this judgment, please note as we have read its reaction upon Pharaoh, he was willing to let the people go. And he calls for Moses, but also he says, you can go with your little ones, but don't take any cattle. Now when God liberates anyone, he liberates them completely. And Moses rightfully declared that you must give us our animals, our sacrifices and burnt offerings we need. to sacrifice unto the Lord. And our cattle shall go with us. We'll not leave one hoof behind. And my friend, may I declare, when you go on in the ensuing chapters, you will find not only did Moses and Aaron and all the children of Israel, with their families and with their children, go out of Egypt. But they took their cattle. Not one hoof was left behind. Now may I point out to you a wonderful principle right here? When God delivers, He does it completely. All that men and women would realize His great deliverance of salvation is a complete one. To deliver man, not only from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin, and someday from the very presence of sin. But Moses, as he contended against Pharaoh, found that the Lord again had hardened the heart of Pharaoh to show his power. And Pharaoh would not let them go. And Pharaoh gives to Moses an edict and ultimatum. He says, you get out of here. Don't you ever come and see me again. For if you do, it will be death. And Moses said, you've spoken rightly. I'll never see your face again. But beloved radio friend, look, I want to develop this theme. The theme of darkness. For the theme of darkness is a great one in the Word of God. revealing to us solemn but eternal lessons now may we may we just think of this what is darkness for instance when the day ends what happens well what God does he withdraws the light of the Sun the light of the Sun moves away from the earth and the shadows of darkness settle in upon us what happens in the morning when the Sun rises The darkness is dispelled and disappears when the light of the sun comes up. So that we could say darkness is the withdrawal of light. Now I want to spiritualize this in a more particular way. Darkness, spiritual darkness, is the withdrawal of divine light for this world. Beloved, I don't know whether you know this. Do I realize it as I should? I ask myself this question. Do you realize that the divine light of God's word seems to be with being withdrawn from this world? For when the light is rejected, one is well said, Light rejected bringeth night. And may I emphasize emphatically do it? We are living in a day when the world is rejecting what is the light of God. And that light of God is the word of God. The psalmist properly wrote, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. And when the light of Holy Scripture is rejected by this world, there's only one thing going to happen. It's going to get darker. Darker spiritually, darker morally. And if you have any conception, observation, common sense, can you not realize that darkness is becoming deeper in this world, spiritually and morally? Men are becoming so blind to the light of what is the truth, to the light of what is true morality. And nothing but the darkness of sin seems to be settling down upon the souls, the minds and the hearts of so many today. May I say again? Darkness is the withdrawal of divine light. Now may I bring to you the words of the Lord Jesus in relation to this world of darkness. For you remember when the Lord Jesus came into this world, he declared, I am the light of the world. And again may we say, not only is the world departing from the light of Holy Scripture, as they do so they reject the one who is the very light of the world in south. And that one is the Lord Jesus. Well, may we have sung in the past and still continue to do the invitation of that hymn. The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin. But the light of the world is Jesus, like sunshine at noonday. His glory shone in. The light of the world is Jesus. Come to the light, tis shining for thee. Sweetly the light has dawned upon me. Once I was blind, but now I can see. The light of the world is Jesus. But may I bring before you the words of the Lord Jesus when he was upon the earth, as they are recorded in John chapter twelve and verse thirty-five. For the Lord Jesus had been giving the light, not only that he himself was the light, but he had been giving the light of the word of God to those blind Pharisees and the many in that day who refused and rejected him. Now please note these words, they're solemn, but they're very vivid. Then Jesus said unto them, John twelve, verse thirty-five, Yet a little while is the light with you. Please note that. Yet a little while is the light with you. You cannot always have the light. It will not stay with you all the time. Now he adds, Walk while ye have the light. Let darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. And may I reemphasize my radio friend, Take the distinction between light and darkness. As in the land of Egypt, they rejected God. They worshipped their idols. They refused to give them up. All right. God says, I'm going to let it get darker for you. And when they rejected, thus is light, and rebelled against it, it became dark. Now listen to the Savior's words. Walk while ye have the lightless darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. My friend, if you're walking in the dark spiritually, you don't know where you're going. I'll tell you where you are going. You may not realize it. May God wake you up to the fact you're on the way to hell. But the light of the gospel and the light of God's words, the light of salvation, the light of the Lord Jesus Christ, decides to shine in your heart. For he gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the darkness of this evil world. Oh, Father, may the Holy Spirit use thy word to bring someone out of darkness into light. For Jesus' sake, amen.