Passage: Exodus 8:20-32

The Big Idea

The fourth plague sends swarms of flies on Egypt, but not on Goshen. God makes a distinction between His people and Pharaoh’s. Then Pharaoh starts offering compromises: “Worship your God here in the land.” “Go, but not very far.” Satan knows a little compromise keeps God’s people fruitless. Moses refuses. God calls us to come out and be separate, not to earn His love, but because we’re His children and His temple. Jesus offers His easy yoke, and the Son sets us free indeed.

Stronger Than What Held Them

Exodus is about redemption: God taking His chosen people out of the world into His service and His land, for His glory, because He chose them and made them promises.

To do that, God has to be stronger than whatever is holding His people captive.

In Egypt, that was Pharaoh, his armies and his magicians. Exodus shows God is stronger.
Centuries later, Jesus came casting out demons wherever He went. He showed He was stronger than every spiritual power holding people captive.
The enemy’s only real claim on people is sin. Jesus was sinless, and He removes sin from our lives.
Jesus is the fulfillment of everything Exodus pictures. And you are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).
The gates of hell can’t stand against Him and His church (Matthew 16:18). That doesn’t mean believers never suffer or die. But we give our lives to Jesus to use as He sees fit, and sometimes people watch believers die well and come to faith.

The Lord of the Flies

When Jesus cast out demons, the scribes from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul! He drives out demons by the ruler of demons” (Mark 3:22).

Beelzebul (or Beelzebub) is a name for Satan, often explained as “lord of the flies.”
Satan always leads spiritual rebellion against God’s rule. Whenever someone rejects Jesus’ lordship, they’re siding with the kingdom of rebellion.
Satan rules the demons, fallen angels who once served God and now rebel.

The Bible talks a lot about Satan. That makes some people uncomfortable. But refusing to talk about the enemy in the middle of a war doesn’t make you safer. Satan loves to influence people. He and his demons whisper lies and tempt us to turn from Jesus constantly. We need to know his strategies (2 Corinthians 2:11).

And every moment, we choose a side. Some choices are bigger than others. Baptism is a big one: announcing to the visible and invisible world, “I choose Jesus. He is my King.”

And Jesus doesn’t share you. He’s jealous over you, not to use you, but to live in you and supply everything you need.

Come Out and Be Separate (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

Paul writes: Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers. What partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness? What fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony does Christ have with Belial? What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters.”

You can’t stay connected to the kingdom of darkness. Come out.
Why? Because you’re God’s temple. Fittingly, Exodus ends with the building of the tabernacle, a picture of how God wants to live in and through us by Jesus.
“I will welcome you, and you’ll be My children.” God is looking for sons and daughters who share His heart, and He’s able to make you one.

Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29).

Flies, but Not in Goshen (Exodus 8:20-24)

The Lord told Moses, “Get up early, meet Pharaoh as he goes to the water, and say, ‘This is what the LORD says: Let My people go, so they can serve Me. If you don’t, I’ll send swarms of flies on you, your officials, your people and your houses. Egypt’s houses will be full of flies, and so will the ground. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms will be there, so you’ll know that I, the LORD, am in this land. I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will happen tomorrow.'” And the Lord did it. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and his officials’ houses, and throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

Serving God is the theme of this plague. If Pharaoh won’t let Israel serve God, God will show Pharaoh whom he is really serving: the lord of the flies.
Separation. For the first time, God explicitly spares Goshen. The rebellious kingdom is judged; those who belong to God are spared.

Compromise #1: “Sacrifice Here in the Land” (Exodus 8:25-27)

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron: “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

There’s an old fable about a hunter who went out in winter to shoot a bear for a warm coat. The bear said, “Wait, why do you want to shoot me?” “Because I’m cold.” “Well, I’m hungry. Maybe we can compromise.” In the end, the hunter was wrapped in bear fur, and the bear had his dinner. We always lose when we compromise with sin. It consumes us in the end.

Pharaoh was saying:

You don’t have to follow all of God’s commands. Just some. Just look sincere.
Give me a little allegiance. Keep a little fear of me. Follow me a little.
He was happy to let them feel like they were serving God, as long as it was mixed with a little disobedience.

Pharaoh knew what Satan knows: a little compromise keeps God’s people fruitless. A little disobedience sabotages our calling.

Moses said, “That wouldn’t be right. The sacrifices we offer the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices they find detestable right in front of them, won’t they stone us? We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as He commands us.”

Moses was committed to obedience.
What fellowship do God’s people have with the enemy? Satan doesn’t just find you annoying. He hates you. He hates your worship and your trust in Jesus.
Moses got it: “We can’t serve both God and you. We’ll serve God only.”
He wouldn’t trade the Word of God, who can’t lie, for the word of a man deceived by the father of lies.
That doesn’t mean we never stumble. It means we don’t agree to disobey God. By faith, we set our aim on obeying Him, and when we stumble, we get up, confess and turn our eyes back to Jesus.

Compromise #2: “Just Don’t Go Very Far” (Exodus 8:28-32)

Pharaoh said, “I’ll let you go to sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, but don’t go very far. Now pray for me.”

Still compromise.
It doesn’t matter how small or reasonable it looks. If you commit to holding back from God, you’re still living in Pharaoh’s world, under his rule.

Moses said, “As soon as I leave, I’ll pray to the LORD, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh, his officials and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceitfully again by refusing to let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.”

Moses was saying, “No. I’m leaving. And you’re a liar.” It runs in the family, the family of the father of lies (John 8:44).

Moses prayed, and the Lord removed the flies. Not one remained. But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time too and wouldn’t let the people go.

The Son Sets Us Free

God called Israel out to be His children. He calls us out too.

Jesus said that no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Then He invited, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:27-30).

Jesus knows the Father like no one else. No other religious founder can make that claim.
He knows how to be the Son, and He reveals the Father to those who come to Him.
He invites us to leave behind everything the world says we have to do and be, and follow Him.

Some say grace means sin no longer matters: follow Jesus, do whatever you feel like, and He’s fine with it, so repentance is outdated. That’s not grace; it’s compromise with Pharaoh. Grace doesn’t make us comfortable in Egypt. It brings us out (Titus 2:11-12).

A true child of God wants to honor the Father. If you look at your heart and realize you don’t have that desire at all, what do you do? You need a new heart. Ask God for one, in faith: a heart that wants to serve Him. That’s His promise of grace (Ezekiel 36:26).

But are you willing to turn from what you want? You can only turn fully to Jesus by turning away from everything else. Get out of Egypt.

What I want, or what He says? In marriage, work, parenting, relationships, free time, church time, alone time, busy time?

Slaves of sin (John 8:31-59)

Jesus told those who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered, “We’re Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anyone.” (Egypt, anyone?)

Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave doesn’t remain in the house forever; a son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.“

There’s the connection. Sin is the real slave master.
The answer isn’t fighting harder. It’s being born again, receiving the heart of a son.

As the conversation heated up, Jesus told them that if God were their Father, they would love Him, and that their murderous intentions showed whose children they really were: the devil’s, who is a murderer and the father of lies. They claimed to be on God’s side, but their actions showed otherwise. He said, “Whoever keeps My word will never see death.” And finally, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” They picked up stones to throw at Him, but He slipped away.

Moses knew that compromising worship in Egypt could end in stoning. Jesus wouldn’t compromise either, and they tried to stone Him.
He wouldn’t lower His standard because people had the right ancestry or lived in the right neighborhood. You can’t serve God and keep compromising.
It’s a good thing when the Spirit convicts you of sin. Turn right away.

Not Even a Taste of Death

When we come out to serve God without compromise, we will never “see death.” Israel wasn’t stoned. Neither was Jesus that day. The world can try to stop you from serving Jesus, but it can’t. Even if it kills you, it can’t really touch you.

Donald Grey Barnhouse, driving his children to the funeral of their mother, saw the shadow of a large truck pass over their car. He asked his daughter, “Would you rather be run over by that truck or by its shadow?” “By the shadow, of course. A shadow can’t hurt you.” He said, “Your mother has been run over by the shadow of death. Jesus was run over by the truck.”

Grace Takeaway

God makes a distinction between His people and the world, and He calls us to come out, not to earn His love, but because we already belong to Him. The enemy can’t stop that, so he offers compromise: stay close, don’t go too far. Don’t take the deal. Take Jesus’ easy yoke instead. If the Son sets you free, you’re free indeed, and for His children death is only a shadow.

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Plagues 104: Flies