Beloved radio friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of our blessed faith to the Lord Jesus, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. According to the will of God our Father, I wonder my radio listener, have you found why the Lord Jesus came into this world? For your own redemption, and the deliverance of your soul from the darkness and the penalty and the ultimate judgment of sin. Upon the cross of Calvary he died to save you and to bring you out of the darkness of sin into his marvelous light. For we continue on the ninth plague of which we are studying in the book of Exodus chapter ten. The plague of darkness. We wish to continue emphasizing enlightening our hearts and our minds concerning the awful state the world is in in its spiritual and in its moral darkness. Let us read the words again in chapter ten of Exodus verse twenty one through twenty three only. 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. Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven. 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. My radio friend, may I state that there is a division in this world. There are those who are in the darkness. And thank God there are some who are in the light. Meaning this, some are still living, dwelling in the darkness of sin. Others by the grace and the power of God have been brought out of that darkness and into the light of the gospel and into the light of salvation. Now in relation to God, in relation to your soul, where do you stand? For there is light in the dwelling of all who have the Savior, but there is nothing but darkness for those who are lost. Now we have noted very carefully that the plagues in Egypt They typify the world in which we are living and the character of this world, as it is under sin, Satan, and the dominion of the wicked one. When the Lord Jesus was upon the earth, he called himself rightfully the light of the world. We noted in our closing of yesterday's message, he spoke concerning our responsibility to walk while we have the light. For if we fail to walk in that light, darkness will come upon us. And the Savior declared, He that walketh in darkness doesn't know where He's going. Now listen, friend, take what the Lord Jesus says in illustration. If you're walking in the dark, you can't see where you're going. And may I say, I do it with a heavy heart and with a solemn realization of its truth. There are many today walking through this world who do not know they're on the way to a dark, endless, painful eternity. An eternal hell. You know one of the saddest facts, may God help me to realize it more fully, is that many today are walking in the darkness of sin and don't know it's taking them to hell. Oh, may God, by His Holy Spirit, awaken some precious souls to realize their state and turn to the light. And that light is the Lord Jesus, the light of the world. But then again we wish to continue to state. That which took place in Egypt, the plagues, We find in the book of the Revelation very similar things shall yet come upon the world in like character, not just upon a land, not only upon one nation, but quite generally upon all the earth. I'm going to turn to a word in the book of the Revelation, chapter eight. And I want to read in the twelfth verse. For in this eight chapter of the book of the Revelation, we have what is a coming judgment. For if you will begin reading in chapter six and on through the book of the Revelation, all that is in the future. And it brings from chapter six to the end of chapter nineteen the record of the judgments that God is going to pour out upon this sinful, sin curse, God rejecting Christ, refusing world. And in Revelation chapter eight and verse twelve, we have the description of one of those coming judgments. It is a trumpet judgment. founded by the fourth angel as it is recorded. Now I wish you to note the similarity of the judgment to the judgment that was poured upon the land of Egypt centuries ago. Here are the words. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day shunned up, for a third part of it, and a night likewise. First of all, it is perfectly obvious, it may not be all over the whole earth, but anyway, partially there's going to be a visitation of a similar judgment. The sun darkened, the moon darkened, and the stars darkened. Now this could undoubtedly, as far as I'm concerned, could certainly probably be literal. But I want to go further than making it a literal judgment, which it could possibly be. And I want to make it very clear that what is of greater judgment is the spiritual character of the condition of this world and the coming judgments upon it. The sun is the light that we derive the light from, our heat and warmth from for the earth. The moon reflects that light at night, in the shadows of the night, and so we have the light of the stars also in the night seasons. But do you remember a statement we made in our preceding message, and we repeat it now. What is darkness? Darkness is the withdrawal of light. Now may I again repeat that sentence and add another words. And I want to make the application in its spiritual meaning. Darkness is the withdrawal of divine light. Meaning this, when men reject the light of God's Word, when men reject the revelation of his truth and the revelation of himself, they can only go in one direction, they go into darkness. They go into darkness. And how we must realize When men refuse the truth of God and the light of God and the light of the world who is Jesus, they can only go in darkness. And when the end of the age comes, now please let me repeat this very carefully, not just upon an empire only as in Egypt long ago, but oh the visitation of the withdrawal of divine light upon the whole world in that coming day. Let me read another verse. in the book of the Revelation too. It's in chapter sixteen in verse ten. This is the conclusive judgments in chapter sixteen of the Revelation, the final and conclusive judgments that God records that will be poured out upon the world at the end of the age, just before the coming again in power and glory to the earth of our Lord Jesus Christ with his saints. And here are the words. Now this is the fifth angel, not the fourth angel of the trumpet judgments, the fifth angel of the vial judgments. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast. And let me please pause for a moment to remind you that these vials were called and are written in the Word of God as being the vials of God's wrath, the vials of its fury, his great displeasure for the ungodliness and the wickedness of humanity that is upon the earth? Oh, my beloved, would to God we realize we're headed for judgment in this poor, wicked world. Now, anyone with common sense, if they will not let the devil blind them, should realize something's bound to happen as you and I look into the future of this world we live in. How much longer can it go on in the mess that it is in, and in the moral decay, and the ungodly character that it possesses? When God is rejected, his word is rejected, the light is rejected, there can be nothing but darkness. And here we have, and we come to the point, where God particularly will visit in judgment, the very throne of the person who will be one of the greatest human powers at the end of the age, leading men and women in the darkness of sin. The beast. The fifth angel pauses violent upon the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was full of darkness. Full of darkness. And the result? They nod their tongues for pain. Now one wonders, how could it be so dark? How could it be so dark? Well, beloved, let me say again, please let me quote the divine principle that we've already stated, that darkness is the withdrawal of divine light. And not only does it bring the withdrawal of spiritual light, it ultimately consummates in divine judgment, in divine displeasure, in divine retribution. And when you think of the kingdom of this wicked one, who's going to be the political power of that day in the kingdoms of the world, says the Lord, this kingdom is going to be full of darkness. Now, I'm going to be very frank. I don't want to live in darkness. And I thank God I don't have to. For the spirit of God for which I am grateful have translated me out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. praise His name. But may I remind you that the day is coming, and I would like to quote from Second Thessalonians chapter two, part of verses one through twelve, particularly toward the end of that section, that in that great day of spiritual darkness, when the beast and the false prophet, the great Antichrist, will be upon the earth. We read, for this cause, because of men's wickedness, because of their departure, because of their going on in darkness, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now let me link this with what we saw in the land of Egypt. We declared that this plague of darkness was the prelude to coming death. Now my radio listener, would you take home to your conscience and to your heart whether believer or unbeliever? the spiritual darkness and the moral darkness that is upon this world and in this world today is a prelude to coming death and divine eternal death in judgment if men and women refuse to come to the light my beloved again may I say the Lord Jesus wants to save you out of this evil world why don't you come to him and trust him as your savior and come to the light today Oh, Father, bless the truth of thy word, for thy glory in Jesus' name, amen.