This evening in Hebrews 11.29,
the Holy Scriptures set forth that
the people of God did something by faith that, humanly speaking,
is impossible to do. That's what the scripture says.
They pass through the Red Sea as by dry land. And then, when
the enemies of the Lord's people tried to do the same thing, they
perished. The scripture says, which the
Egyptians are saying to do, We're drowned. Now, I want you to take
your Bibles, and you can mark your place there in Hebrews,
and turn back to Exodus 14, and I want us to read the 14th chapter
of Exodus. Now, this is the account of what
happened concerning that 29th verse there in the book of Hebrews
11. Exodus chapter 14. This is what
the scripture says. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and
encamp before Pi-Ha-Hi-Roth, between Migdal and the sea, over
against Baal-Ziphon. Before it shall ye encamp by
the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children
of Israel, they are entangled in the land. The wilderness has
shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
that he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh
and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am
the Lord. And they did so. And it was told
the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh
and his servants was turned against the people. And they said, why
have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot
and took his people with him. He took 600 chosen chariots,
all the chariots of Egypt, captains over every one of them. And the
Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he pursued
after the children of Israel. The children of Israel went out
with a high hand, but the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses
and chariots of Pharaoh's and his horsemen, his army, and overtook
them in camping by the sea beside Pihahiroth before Beelzebub. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the
children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians
marched after them. And they were sore afraid, and
the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said
unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, Hast thou
taken us away to die in our wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we
may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not. Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you today.
For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them
again no more forever. And the Lord shall fight for
you, and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Wherefore cryest thou unto me?" Speak to the children
of Israel that they go forward. Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch
out thine hand over the sea, and divide it. And the children
of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
And I, behold, I, will harden the hearts of the Egyptians,
and they shall follow them. And I will give me honor upon
Pharaoh, upon all his host, upon his chariots, upon his horsemen.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. when I have
gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, upon his horsemen.
And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed
and went behind them. And the pillar of the cloud went
from before their face and stood between them. And it came between
the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And it was
a cloud and darkness to them, But it gave light by night to
these, so that the one came not near the other all the night.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused
the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and
made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the
children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the
dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on the right
hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and
went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's
horses and chariots and horsemen, and came to pass. But in the
morning, watch, the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians
through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the
host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that
they drave them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee
from the face of Israel, But the Lord fighted for them against
the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come
again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, upon their horsemen.
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea
returned to his strength. when the morning appeared. And
the Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians
in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered
the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that
came into the sea after them, and there remained not so much
as one of them. But the children of Israel walked
upon dry ground in the midst of the sea, and the waters were
a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And thus
the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians.
And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel
saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians.
And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His
servant Moses. Almighty God had told the nation
of Israel Through Moses, I'm going to take you out of Egypt.
And I'm going to lead you into the land of promise." Well, all
those plagues came. And the Lord, on that last plague,
the one we looked at last week, the Lord told Moses, He said,
I'm going to bring you out this time. You're coming out. So by
faith, Moses, the Scripture says, kept the Passover. And that night
the Lord came through, and every place where the blood was not
on the lintel of the doorposts, across the top and on the sides,
every place where the blood was not, God killed the firstborn
in that family. And the Scripture says that Moses
was told by Pharaoh, you know, he got out, he took out. Well,
now here they are. And Scripture says that the Lord
told Moses exactly where to bring the people of God. He said, I
want you to take the people of God and I want you to encamp
before Piraeus, between Migdal and the sea. God put them in
a place where they were hemmed up. They were between the sea
and the wilderness. A little strip of ground. And
Almighty God said to Moses, He said, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's
heart. Someone says, you mean the Lord
hardened Pharaoh's heart? Yeah. Yeah, the Lord hardened
Pharaoh's heart. I looked that up today. Hardened. Hardened. And here's what it
says. To give him up to the hardness
of his heart. To leave him to the corruption
of his wicked nature. Now here's what's happening.
Almighty God has brought his people out of Egypt. And now the scripture says that
the Lord has left Pharaoh to his hard heart. If Almighty God
leaves a man, leaves a woman, to the natural depravity of their
own heart. Man, by nature, is dead in trespasses
and sins. He cannot do anything to recommend
himself, to reconcile himself, to make peace between him and
Almighty God. If God Almighty leaves a man
to himself, That man will rebel against God. He will die in his
sins. And he will die in his sins doing
exactly what he wanted to do. Now the question is, does God
have the right to do that? Well, you go back and read Romans
chapter 9. And tell me what the Scripture
says. God has the right. God Almighty
left Pharaoh to his own depraved heart. And the Lord says He did
this? He said, I raised you up to make
My power known. The problem with today's preaching
is that men do not realize who God is. They preach this little,
impotent nobody. They make him out to be like
an old grandfather that's just trying to do something for his
grandkids. I love my grandkids. Man, I'd
do things for my grandkids I wouldn't have thought about doing for
my kids. You know what I'm talking about. You kidding me? But now
my grandkids. They make God out to be like
that. And Almighty God is God Almighty. Now the Scripture says back in
Hebrews 11, I want to show you something here. There's an amazing
passage of Scripture right here. Hebrews 11.29. The Scripture
sets forth something here. It says, By faith, by faith,
they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land. By faith. Now, you know, I want you to
think with me about something here. I'm going to turn back
to Exodus 14, and I want to bring something out that might at first
appear to be a contradiction. Somebody was saying, well, I
tell you what, the Bible is not always consistent. Oh, yes it
is. There is no inconsistency in the Scriptures. The inconsistency
is just our understanding. But God is not inconsistent.
The Scripture says, by faith, they pass through the Red Sea. Now, you hold your place in Exodus
14, and I'm going to read you a passage of Scripture that we
looked at a few months ago out of Hebrews 3, verses 16-19. You just stay in Exodus. Hebrews
3, verses 16-19, it says, For some, when they had heard, did
provoke, howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But
with whom was he grieved? Who was the Lord grieved with
for forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned, and whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them
that believed not? Who was God displeased with?
Those that didn't believe Him. Now, the Scripture we just read
in Hebrews 11, 29, by faith, by faith, they walked across
on dry ground the Red Sea, part of the waters. By faith, they. Who were the they? Who were the
they by faith? Well, I can tell you this. It was not all of those that
came out of Egypt. I just read to you in Hebrews
3, 16-19, that there were some, there were many that came out
of Egypt that did not believe God. They did not. They provoked. They resisted. They spoke against what Almighty
God had to say. In fact, back in Exodus 14, where
you are right now, the Scripture says this, and I want you to
look at this now. And this is an amazing, amazing truth, but
it's a truth based on what we read out of Hebrews 11. When it says, "...by faith they..."
And you know, The only one that has true faith is a believer. All men, the Scripture says,
has not faith. All men have not faith. It's
given unto you to believe. When Almighty God calls a man
out of darkness, regenerates him by grace, faith is given. Until then, he does not have
faith. He's dead. He's dead. He doesn't believe
God, doesn't know God. But the Scripture says in Hebrews
11.29, by faith they... Who were they? Well, I know this,
Moses believed them. Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, and any
of the other objects of God's mercy. In fact, you remember
this, except for Joshua and Caleb. The only ones that went into
the promised land were those except for Joshua and Caleb.
All of them except those two, Moses did not. Remember that? Joshua, Caleb. 20 years old and older. If you came out of Egypt and
you were 20 years old and older, the only two that were in that
category were Joshua and Caleb. They were the only two that went
into the promised land. All of the others, 20 years old
and older, died in the wilderness because of unbelief. How many came out of Egypt? Oh,
I've read all kinds of numbers. It doesn't matter. It was all
of them. They all came out. Two men. Two men that God was pleased
to show mercy to. that was in that 20 and above
age. All the rest of them were all
the children. God didn't let them. Now I want you to look
in Exodus 14. By faith, they. Who were they? Well, I know that
Joshua and Caleb were two of them. But I know those that went
across the Red Sea. that knew God. I know Moses did. I know Aaron did. I know Joshua
and Caleb was there. And any of the others that were
the objects of God's mercy, I don't know. They're not named. But
the Scripture says in Hebrews 14, verse 10, it says, When Pharaoh
drew nigh... I want you to look at the wording
here. The children of Israel. lifted
up their eyes. And behold, the Egyptians marched
after them, and they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel
cried out unto the Lord." Alright, now here's one group. That's
one group. They're distinguishing. There's
two different groups that's doing something right here. The children
of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And verse 11 says, "...and
they said, Now here's another group. Here's a group that doesn't
believe God. And they said unto Moses, Because
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou brought us away to
die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we tell thee in Egypt? saying, let us alone that we
may serve the Egyptians, for it has been better for us to
serve the Egyptians that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses
said to the people, fear ye not. Stand still. See the salvation
of the Lord which He will show to you today for the Egyptians
whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more
forever. Here is two groups of people. There were some that walked across
by faith. They had to be believers. They had to be believers. No
unbeliever walked across by faith. A bunch of them went over. There's
no doubt about that. The whole nation walked over. But only some went over by faith. The Scripture says in Hebrews
11.29, by faith they knew God. And the Scripture bears out in
Hebrews 3 that there were many of them that didn't believe God,
that didn't know God, and perished in the wilderness. But some believed
Him. All of them walked the cross,
but only some knew Him. But for the benefit of those
some that knew Him. That whole nation walked across. God Almighty, for the sake of
some, permitted that whole nation to walk across that Red Sea on
dry ground. Let me show you something. Turn
to Acts 27-24. Acts 27. We've gone through the
book of Acts here a few years ago. Acts 27-24. Now I'm going
to show you something. Here's Paul the Apostle. Acts
27, verse 24, they are out in the sea. There is a storm. This boat is just going to pieces. Paul the Apostle is on that boat
and a bunch of other soldiers on it. Acts 27, verse 24, saying,
Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar. And lo,
God hath given thee all them that say with thee." There was
a whole bunch of people on that boat. But there was one man on
that boat that Almighty God looked and had mercy on, had compassion
on. It was Paul the Apostle. And
Almighty God had purposed that Paul was going to go and stand
before Caesar. And God Almighty was going to
preserve Paul the Apostle. And for Paul's sake, here's a
beautiful picture of the Gospel right here. We could start talking
about Paul being a picture of Christ. And for Christ's sake,
God has had mercy on many. For Paul's sake, all of them
that were on that boat were safe because God was going to have
mercy on one. The Lord is often pleased to
spare unbelievers temporarily for the good sake of His people. The Lord had brought those Hebrews
back in the wilderness to that very spot that they were in. And it was in that spot that
God was going to demonstrate in the trying of their faith.
You remember, we've read that. James says that the trying of
your faith. You know what this is? Proving.
Proving of your faith. God gives His people faith. And Almighty God is pleased and
He is honored in the proving of that faith. Not that God needs
to know whether or not you have it. He knows you have it. He gave it to you. But He gives
a proving of it and sends trials and tribulations and proves or
shows, manifests that faith to His honor and to the good of
God's people. Well, I'll tell you, there's
nothing that's more encouraging to a believer than to see a believer
that's tried, that's tested, that's being proven, that has
to go through the fire and see them stand with consistency and
with dignity before God, and to walk by faith, believe God,
and say, as David said, it's good that I've been afflicted.
that I might learn of thy statutes." Well, even as the Egyptian army
approached, and those rebukes from so many of those Hebrews
rang in Moses' ears. Can you imagine? I mean, here
was Moses listening to God's direction, God's leadership,
and God told him. He said, you're going to walk
across on dry ground. You're going across the sea on
dry ground. I don't think it had ever been recorded that God
had opened up a sea and that they walked across. I mean, that's
just, humanly speaking, that's impossible. That's impossible. Open up a sea and drive the ground. You're going to walk across.
And while God Almighty is instructing Moses on what He's going to do,
here's all these unbelievers. All mingled in with the few of
God's elect in that group. And they're asking Moses, let
me ask you something, Moses. What, the graveyards in Egypt
weren't good enough for us? Did you have to bring us out
here in the wilderness so we could die out here in the wilderness
like this? Get us out here in the middle
of nowhere? Moses told them, he said, stand
still. and see the salvation of your
God. Only by faith can a believer
rest in the unerring and unfailing Word of Almighty God while apparent
disaster is all around. That's why I'm saying we look
around today, I look around and we see stuff that's going on
Things you hear on TV, and I'm telling you, but for the grace
of God. You'd think, you've got to be
kidding me. You've got to be kidding me. I know this. Romans 8.28 is still Romans 8.28. All things work together for
good. To them that love God, to them
who are the called, according to His purpose. The Lord had
instructed Moses on what God was going to do for the children
of Israel, for the sake of His elect in that group. And everybody
else was a temporary beneficiary of it. There was a lot of them
that went across that Red Sea. and saw the deliverance of Almighty
God that died in the wilderness. But God was merciful to those
that He was going to show mercy to. And the Lord's people, there
they were, hemmed up between the Egyptians and the Red Sea,
but they were safe. They were safe. Boy, I tell you
this, only by faith will a man believe that. This is what Moses
said. God told us that we're going over. Can you imagine the
grace of God to teach a man, to settle a man's heart, and
say, you know what? God's going to open up this sea.
He's going to open this sea up. And we're going to walk across.
The Scripture says, in the moment of their need, God told Moses,
He said, I want you to take your rod, stretch it out over that
water. And Scripture says God sent a
strong east wind. And that wind began to blow.
And I'm talking about this was a strong east wind. It was a strong wind. We just had a little breeze come
through this morning for a second or two. God sent a strong east
wind and blew and split that water with that wind. And the Scripture says that wind
blew, and it blew all night. And God divided the water and
dried the ground. And it was dust. It was dry. And the people began to walk
across. He told Moses, he said, don't
cry unto me, you tell the people to walk across. And they started
walking across. And with the wind blowing and
keeping that water and not blowing the people away. And the water
stood up. I got to thinking about that.
I wonder how loud that was. Can you imagine the tumult that
was going on? I mean, the water was standing
up and you're thinking, water doesn't stand up. And here we
are out here in the middle of this. And the only thing that's
holding that water up is God's power and God's Word. And God
said, you're going to go across. You're going across. And the
Egyptians, they saw the people of God. Walking across that water. And God had gone from the front
part of where He was, in that cloud, and moved to the back
part. And in that cloud, in a pillar
of a cloud, it was between the nation of Israel and the Egyptians.
And on one side of the cloud it was light, and it just lit
the way. They went across during the night. It was at night. It would be
bad if it was in the day, but it was at night. How fearful
would that be? But God Almighty said. And those
Egyptians, when those Israelites went across, Moses told them, he said, don't
be afraid. And the natural inclination of
a man's heart is to be afraid when we're helpless. when you
can do nothing else. Boy, we're in a perfect position
for the display of God's honor and God's glory. Moses said,
Believe Him. Believe in God. He shall show
you His deliverance. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord which He will show to you today. The Lord had promised,
I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
How He's going to deliver is not always apparent. But I know this, His Word is
sufficient. And what did they do? They walked
in the light that they had. They had one of three choices. They can go back toward the Egyptians
and die. They could stay where they were,
and die. Or they could walk between two
pillars of water that stood up according to the Word of God
and walk across on dry ground. And they started walking. That
was all the light they had. Wherefore, criest thou unto me,
speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. at your Word. This is all we've
got. That's all we need. The Lord
led His people and He directed them. The Lord Jesus says, My
sheep, they hear My voice and they follow. They walk. And when
Almighty God was pleased to open up that Red Sea, and oh, what
a beautiful picture of the salvation of God's elect. That red sea,
as I've said before, that's a picture of Christ. That sea was rent. It was opened up. That sea took
the brunt of God's power. When God blew upon it, that sea
opened up the way. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm
the way. I'm the only way. I'm the truth. I'm the life. They passed by
way of the Red Sea, opened up, and so do we. We go by Christ
and Christ alone. Not by our free will decisions,
not by our baptisms, not by coming down and taking the Lord's Supper,
not by our being good. Christ and Christ alone. And by faith. They walked across
on dry ground and God Almighty held that water back. By faith,
they were convinced in their heart, God is not going to let
us perish. They were convinced. By faith,
a man or a woman is convinced, I know this is so. I know this
is right. And the Scripture says, they
came approaching the other side, and Almighty God It held those
Egyptians back. Those Egyptians couldn't come
in until God allowed them to come in. Let all the nation of
Israel go across. And the Scripture says that the
Egyptians, a saying to do, were drowned. I looked that word up
too. Experimenting. That's what it
meant. Experimenting. Testing. They made it across. Maybe we
will. Experimenting. They are saying
to go. And they were drowned. Why? They didn't enter in by faith. They went on presumption. They walked by sight. Well, I
see where some of them made it. Well, if they can do it, So can
we. We'll show them. We'll go on
in. And the Hebrews were going by
God's way. And the Egyptians thought that
going by the way that they thought was available also to themselves,
they'd make it across. But you remember this. The Lord
said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. It's not a him that willeth,
not a him that runneth, but God that shows mercy. You come in
your own strength before God Almighty, and He is a consuming
fire. What do we do? You cast yourself
upon the mercy of God, and if you can do that, God's already
saved you. I can tell you that right now.
Man or woman have a heart to cry unto the Lord, Have mercy
on me. God's already given him life.
Or he'd have never said that, never asked that. Well, in the
ending right here, here was just retribution for what Pharaoh
wanted to do. If you remember, when years and
years before, Moses at this time, He was over 80 years old. Remember,
he was 40 years old when he left Egypt. First time he killed that
Egyptian, 40 years old. He was 40 years in the desert. And God was preparing him to
go back into Egypt and lead the people of God out. So I know that he's 80 years
plus at this time. But you remember when we looked
when Moses was born? Pharaoh was fearful. How strong
the Hebrews were starting to get. There were so many of them. And Pharaoh said, all of the
male babies that you see born, you throw them in the river and
drown them. God's not mocked. Whatsoever
a man sows, that's what he's going to reap. Pharaoh wanted
to drown and annihilate the nation of Israel. And God Almighty turned
the tables on him and did to Pharaoh and his army exactly
what Pharaoh purposed to do to God's people. Don't touch mine
anointed. You do my prophets no harm. Almighty
God is God by faith. They walked across on dry ground
through the Red Sea and the Egyptians, a saying to do the same, were
drowned. Lord, bless these words to our
heart. Cause us to behold the wonder
of your glorious grace and mercy. For Christ's sake, Amen.