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 with heartfelt gratitude to the program of this ministry from the precious Word of God. We do humbly but earnestly pray that the hearts as well as the consciences of our beloved hearers may be blessed under God for their spiritual welfare. as we study in the book of Exodus these plagues that God sent upon the land of Egypt long ago for even our learning today. We continue in considering the plague that God sent upon Pharaoh and the land of Egypt in relation to the plague of Hale. We would today read particularly in this visitation of the plague of Hale verses sixteen and seventeen. from chapter nine in the book of Exodus, and then verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight. God saying, through Moses is servant of Pharaoh, and in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go. Reading in verse twenty-seven and twenty-eight, we find these words. And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Intreat the Lord, for it is enough. that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail. And I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. May God bless the reading, as well as the hearing of this precious portion from his word. But we have a particular theme to bring today on this subject of the visitation of hail, as God's judgment long ago. This particular plague... was also directed against the pride of Pharaoh. It was not only directed as a visitation of judgment upon the land of Egypt, for their pantheistic worship, nor was it only visited upon the gods of Egypt, as we have also noted. But it was a particular judgment that was by God directed upon the very personal pride and the exaltation of Pharaoh long ago. Now may I go back in memory with you to one of the earliest verses in the Word of God. Do you remember reading, if ever you have done so, you will, when the serpent came into the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve, he set before her that temptation of the forbidden fruit. This wonderful fact, in his sight, as well as in her sight, unfortunately, that if she ate of that fruit, Satan said, Ye shall be as gods. It is remarkably true that even in the land of Egypt, in the great realms of the Pharaohs long ago, they themselves consider themselves to be, even as gods. For in Egyptian pantheism, if history would be incomplete, unless the pride of its kings should be considered. The court itself, the court of Pharaoh, was like the king. The chief nobles were also young pharaohs in miniature, and even their servants cringed before them and crawled at their feet. Such was the domineering pride of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and the king particularly who was standing before Moses. Now if we can accept what has been suggested, the claim that Meneptah, a son of Ramses the Great, one of the greatest of the pharaohs, if we can accept him as being the pharaoh of the Exodus, who contended against the almighty God, he was a pharaoh himself who believed himself to be the incarnation of deity. He was called, in Egyptian pantheism, the living representation of the deity. And he was addressed as such, and believed to be so by his people. So we may recognize that God visits directly in judgment the very pride of this Pharaoh, saying in verse sixteen of our chapter, In very deed, For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Now there's one thing in the Scriptures that's very evident, and it is again and again repeated throughout the Word of God. The Lord resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace to the humble, according to the book of James. And pride is one of the greatest sins to the heart of God, as he beholds it in the human race. And my beloved, the pride of this man, Pharaoh, God directly judged it by the visitation of the hail. In verse seventeen, he declares very expressly, You have exalted yourself against my people, that you will not let them go. And so the visitation of hail. came upon him because of his self-exaltation. And sad is the fact that that judgment brought upon him some form of penitence, but not sufficient, to do the command that God had declared, let my people go. Now let us continue this thought and link it with a theme we have been suggesting from these messages. that in the plagues of Egypt we see the character of the world even today as you and I live within it now what is the character of the world in relation to this particular plague may I quote the words of the Apostle John in first John chapter two reading at verse fifteen through seventeen when John writes even to the children of God love not the world Neither the things that are in the world, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father but of the world, and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. We have already noted, in connection with the fair rose, how in their great greed for glory they thus manifested and exalted their own name. Beloved, may I ask, can you look around, can you see today, by careful as well as quick observation, that there's much in the human race that manifests pride? For when John wrote to the family of God long ago, he declared what the world in its character, under sin, And under Satan existed to be. It consisted of two particular things, lust and pride, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and then pride of life. Now you take those things together, lust and pride. What does lust mean? It means lusting and desiring for what I do not have. And then when I have obtained it, then come at pride. Have you never read the wise man's statement that a holy spirit goes before a fall and pride, pride in its exaltation, will lead ultimately to a fall? Now let me present to you very carefully and clearly the pride of the human race is someday very soon to come under the judgment of the Holy God and the visitation of his wrath. in the day of coming judgment. Or when we think of God's judgments to come upon this world as recorded in the book of the Revelation, how it will bring man's self-exaltation to the ground. My beloved radio friend, may I say what God's purpose is in relation to the future? There is only one person that God declares will be properly and righteously exalted to be over the earth. Now, may I quote the words, Paul by the Holy Spirit has written in Philippians chapter two, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to recognize his humility and then his ultimate exaltation and glory. Here are the words. And may we be reminded, Christian believers, This is the attitude of heart and spirit of soul that should be in you as well as in me. Says Paul writing in Philippians two beginning at verse five, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought in that robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name. Now note the next words, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, my beloved radio listener, Christ only is the worthy one to be exalted. And you and I, we are worthy to be humbled. And oh, how responsible we are to humble ourselves, as Peter writes, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Now, in closing Let me bring the premise that we've used right through these lessons. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God, even our Father. And the great sin of pride. Oh, my beloved listener, the Lord would have you and me humble before him. And if never you have come to him, come today as a poor guilty humble, but confessing, deserving, how deserving, sinner, and finding him that grace and redemption that will bring you to himself and bring you ultimately to his glory. Let not the day of judgment fall upon you unsuspectingly and with eternal destruction. Father, bless thy truth, we pray, for thy glory and the blessing of our friends. In Jesus' name, amen.