All right, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Exodus 14. Thank you all for inquiring about
my dad and your prayer for him. He's about the same. He's home
and probably will be about like this from here on. His heart's
just not pumping. And he's very weak, very weak. Exodus 14, I'll show you where
I got the title for our message. It says in verse 31, Israel saw
that great work which the Lord did. And I've titled this, The
Great Work the Lord Did. Let's go back up to verse 1. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn, and encamp before
Pi-hi-aroth, between Migdal and the sea, over against Baal-zevon,
before it shall you encamp by the sea. Now you know, from Egypt
to Canaan, coming out of Egypt, going to Canaan, it was anywhere
from a three-day to a ten-day journey. three to ten days. The Lord could have led them
directly out of Egypt right to the promised land in Canaan.
You remember how when Joseph's brothers would come to Egypt
to get corn and they'd go back to Jacob their father, they would
do that in just a matter of days, going back and forth. It was
a very short journey, three to ten days. People will vary on
how far they say it was, but somewhere from three to ten days.
But the Lord didn't take them there. He didn't. And the first
thing I want to speak about is when God delivers his children
out of bondage. He's brought Israel out of bondage
here, out of Egyptian bondage. And when he brings his children
out of Egyptian bondage, the bondage of our sin in this world,
when he gives you faith in Christ, he does not take us directly
into glory. That's what would be pictured
here if he had taken them directly into the promised land. He doesn't
take us directly into glory, but he leads us through this
wilderness, this life. And if you look at the journey
they took through that wilderness, it was just back and forth all
over that wilderness, a 10-day journey. One reason the Lord didn't lead
them the nearest way is the Lord was keeping them sanctified unto
Him. He was keeping them from turning
back to Egypt. Look back at Exodus 13, verse
17. It says, And it came to pass
when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through
the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God
said, lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and
they return to Egypt. But God led the people about
through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children
of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. This is
true sanctification. This is true sanctification.
When the Spirit of God creates a new heart and gives you faith
to behold that by Christ laying down his life on the cross, he
sanctified us and he justified us. He made us holy and righteous
in him. And by giving you this new holy
heart, You trust the Lord Jesus. You look to him to lead you through
the wilderness. And by this work of being born
of the same spirit, given one faith in one Lord Jesus, looking
to one Savior, he harnesses his people together, just like they
came up harnessed together, like soldiers marching five abreast
in rank. That's how he harnessed them
together. And he does that by grace. He does it by grace. Christ is the way and he's the
one that's going to keep us sanctified in him as he leads us the whole
way through the wilderness. Exodus 13, 21, it says there, The Lord went before them by
day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way, and by night
in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before
the people. This is what the Lord said through
Isaiah. In Isaiah 48, 17, Thus saith
the Lord thy Redeemer. the Holy One of Israel. I am
the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth
thee by the way that thou shouldest go." They had this cloud upon
them, this fire upon them, and the Lord used that, and he said,
in the day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes and accomplishes
this work on the cross, he said, my people shall be called holy.
they'll be called holy, when the Lord shall have washed away
the filth of the daughters of Zion." When the Lord's done it.
When he shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst
thereof by the spirit of judgment, by the spirit of burning. And
he said, and the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of
Mount Zion, upon all the local assemblies where he's assembled,
And upon each person individually, a cloud and smoke by day, and
the shining of a flaming fire by night. For upon all, the glory
shall be a defense. And that's Christ. Christ said,
I'll never leave you. He said, I'll never forsake you.
And true holiness is being in Christ, protected on all sides
by the Lord Jesus Christ. and being kept in the way, in
Christ the way, protected by him. He said in Psalm 32, 8,
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt
go. I will guide thee with mine eye.
That's his promise. We want the nearest way, we want
the fastest way, we want the easiest way, but the Lord leads
us the best way. It's not always the nearest,
fastest, easiest way, but it's the best way. He left us in this
wilderness surrounded by enemies. He left us in this body of flesh
that still has a sin nature. He did it to teach us. He has
set the course, and He is leading us, and He is keeping us partaking
of His holiness, keeping us looking to the author and finisher of
our faith. The Lord is doing this. Now go back over to Exodus
14. We see another reason he leads
us in the way is to get honor to himself upon his enemies. Now God commanded Moses to turn
the Israelites south and count very near the border of Egypt.
Now you think about that. They just came out of Egypt and
he turns them to count real close to the border of Egypt. And here's
God's reason for doing it. Verse 3. He said, 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. This is the word of God. 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. They
went there and they camped, and it was told the king of Egypt
that the people fled. Now watch this, and the heart
of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people.
And they said, why have we done this that we've let Israel go
from serving us? and he made ready his chariot,
and he took his people with him, and he took six hundred chosen
chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every
one of them." Now, who's in control of everything that's taking place
here? God our Savior. God our Savior. God told Moses,
I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will come after you.
I will harden his heart and he will attack you. And I'll be
honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host that the Egyptians
may know that I'm the Lord. You remember in Romans 9 he said,
I raised up Pharaoh for this same purpose, that my power might
be known. and that's why he raised him
up. You think about this, 430 years before, 430 years before,
God told Abraham Israel would be slaves in Egypt, and so God
sent a famine to Israel. They had sold Joseph into slavery,
Joseph ends up down there as the second in command under Pharaoh
in Egypt over all the storehouses. God sent a famine in the land
of Israel, and so Jacob sends his sons down there. They don't
know Joseph. He goes down there to get corn,
and sure enough, in time, the Egyptians, they ended up living
there, and the Egyptians began to hate the children of Israel. Why did they do that? Why did
they start hating the children of Israel? Psalm 105.25 says,
The Lord turned their heart to hate his people to deal subtly
with his servants. The Lord did it. But God also
promised Abraham that he would deliver the children of Israel.
And God did it to the very day that God said he would do it.
to the very day. He told Abraham this 430 years
before. God worked all of that to put
him in Egypt. First, it was nice. People were,
you know, gracious to him. Then he turned their heart to
Hadom, and they put him in bondage. But God said, I'll deliver him.
And he sent Moses and worked the plagues, and he brought them
out. And listen to this from Psalm 105, 36. He smote also
all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.
He brought them forth also with silver and gold." They didn't
have anything. They were slaves. He brought
them forth with silver and gold. There was not one feeble person
among their tribes. Egypt was glad when they departed,
for the fear of them fell upon the Egyptians. Psalm 106, 46
said, He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried
them captive. So they sent them out with all
this silver and gold because the same Lord who turned their
heart to hate them turned their heart to have pity on them. And
now Pharaoh, the Lord has hardened his heart and Pharaoh is scratching
his head saying, Why did we let these people go? What were we
thinking? Why did we do it? And he had
no idea that it was God who made them let the people go. And he
has no idea it was God who hardened his heart right now to pursue
his people. And God did it that he might
destroy them all and make his power known. Proverbs 21.1 says,
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of
water he turns it whithersoever he will. And that includes all
men. All men. Shall there be evil
in a city and the Lord hath not done it? Now brethren, our sovereign
savior is working his eternal purpose to glorify himself in
the salvation of his people, and he's working everything to
do it. He's controlling the hearts of
men. He says to us in Psalm 37 5,
commit thy way unto the Lord, and he, trust also in him, and
he shall bring it to pass. commit your way to Him. Trust
Him. He shall bring it to pass. All
right, the third reason God leads us in the way is to humble us.
It's to show us the sin that is yet in us, and it's to teach
us to trust the Lord to win the victory for us. He said there
in Exodus 14 in verse 8, It says, and the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children
of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a high hand. Now, this high hand, when God
first delivers us, when He came and He taught you the gospel
and revealed Christ to you, He set you free and you went out
with a high hand. You went out full of joy. You
were happy. You had a fear of the Lord. You
didn't have a fear of man. You knew the Lord was sovereign
in your salvation and He's all your righteousness. You're complete
in Him. You went out with a high trust in the Lord. And then God
sends the test. Why does He do that? God's sending
a test to them, everything He's doing here by turning Pharaoh
to pursue them. Why does God do that? God will
not let our hands hang down. He's not going to let our, you
know, He said in Hebrews 12, lift up the hands that hang down
and strengthen the feebleness. He's not going to let our hands
hang down. But He's also not going to let us go very long
with a high hand. And the reason is, in either
case, we would start trusting ourselves and not trust him. Proverbs 30 verse 8, the wise
man said, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food
convenient for me, lest I be full, my hands are high, and
I deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and still
and take the name of my God in vain. So the Lord's not going
to let, He's going to keep His trust in Him. Keep His trust
in Him. And God does this by keeping
us knowing we are the sinner. We're the sinner. And Christ
is the Savior. And He often brings these tests
to let us see just how full of unbelief we are. Now, verse 9,
The Egyptians pursued after them all the horses and chariots of
Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them in
camping by the sea beside Paharoth 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 the 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.
Now, you picture the situation here. You got on one side, you
have this mountain. On the other side, you have this
idol God. Before them, you have the Red
Sea. Behind them, you have Pharaoh and his army, 600 chariots, and
all the chariots of Israel, and their hand is not high now. They
don't have a high hand now. They're sore afraid. They're
sore afraid. Immediately, they turn on God. That's what they did. They turned
on God. They voiced it to Moses, but they turned on God. And the
children of Israel cried out unto the Lord, and they said
to Moses, You brought us out here to kill us in the wilderness.
And immediately, not only did they do that, they exalted themselves. as being wiser than God, wiser
than Moses. They said, it's not just a word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we
may serve the Egyptians. It had been better for us to
serve the Egyptians, and we should die in the wilderness. They're
saying, we knew better. We knew better. Two things here. One, they're critical of God.
You brought us out here to kill us. And then they say, and we
knew better. Now, does anybody here see ourselves
in these children of Israel? This is us, brethren. This is
us. Here's the word of the Lord that
the Lord gave his preacher to declare. Verse 13, 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've
seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. The Lord
shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." I can
hear Korah in his heart. It'll be a while before he rises
up against Moses, but it was already in his heart. And I can
hear Korah hear this. And I can hear him say, 600 chosen
chariots. And all the chariots of Egypt
and captains over every one of them are coming full speed at
us. And you tell us to fear not and
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord? That's not practical. What's practical about that?
This is the one practice by which God saves his people. This is
the one practice. You know, talk about practical.
This is the one practice. God makes his people practice
by which he saves his people. It's called faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. If any man practices this, it's
only by the Spirit of the Lord within him. only by the Spirit
of the Lord. He not only defeats the enemy
without. He's not only here waging war against Pharaoh and his army. He's fighting the enemy within
his people in the camp of Israel. This Pharaoh of this blatant
unbelief that's in us, he's waging war against him too. Child of God, fear not. That's
what God says, fear not. Their reaction in being so fearful
was because they feared man rather than God. That's why they reacted
this, you know, all excited and alarmed and all that. They feared
man more than God. It's unbelief. They were attributing
more power to Pharaoh and his army than to God. But remember
this, no one, absolutely no one has the power our Redeemer has. He is power. He is power. Isaiah 43, let's go there. Isaiah
43. This is His word to you and me
who believe on Him. He says in Isaiah 43, But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. Here's the next word that he
gave his servant to declare. Child of God, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. which he will show to you today
for the Egyptians whom you've seen today, you shall see them
again no more forever. This is our gospel. This is our
gospel. Stand still and see the salvation
of God. Stand still and see God do the
saving. Christ alone finished the work
of redemption. He did it by himself, didn't
he? There was no man with him to help him. He did it by himself.
He alone justified His people. He alone made us everlastingly
righteous. He did it by Himself. Salvation
from the first hour He calls us. How did that happen? How
were we made to believe Christ? He did it. He did it alone. And from the first hour to the
last, salvation is by the Lord alone. It's by the Lord alone. This is how God manifests them
that are His. He said there, the Lord shall
fight for you and you shall hold your peace. The Lord shall fight for you
and you shall hold your peace. Isaiah delivered this same message
King Ahaz. But Ahaz and the multitude with
him, they would not stand still and trust the Lord. They feared
man, and so they looked to their own wisdom, their own works,
and they tried to get themselves out of it. This was the Lord's
word delivered through Isaiah. He said, take counsel together.
He's saying this to Ahaz and his men. He said, take counsel
together, and it shall come to nothing. Speak the word, and
it shall not stand, for God is with us. For the Lord spake thus
to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not
walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not a confederacy
to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither
fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself."
That means simply this. Behold Him as being all-powerful
and in full control of everything taking place. See Him high above
all and let Him be your fear. Fear Him. Let Him be your dread.
He shall be for a sanctuary. but he also shall be for a stone
of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of
Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem."
Now think about this statement. When this gospel is preached,
this is what always takes place. Some believe and some stumble
and are snared. It's always the case. Now, In
the scripture, when men opposed the Lord Jesus Christ, they were
100% convinced they were right. They were 100% convinced that
God was for them, and they believed that they were doing service
to God by their opposition to Christ. And those who truly believed
God were 100% convinced they were right. who's going to manifest his right? God. God. He said, There must be also heresies
among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest
among you. He said, It's not he that commendeth
himself that is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. So,
how does God manifest those he has approved? How does he do
that? He makes us fear not, He makes
us stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He makes us know
the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. Now understand this, when Moses
said that, when he said the Lord shall fight for you and you shall
hold your peace, he's not making a suggestion to them. He's telling
them what the Lord's going to accomplish in them. The Lord
shall fight for you and he shall shut your mouth. He shall shut
you from crying out against Him and against His people, and He's
going to make you trust the Lord. And that's what the Lord always
accomplishes in His people. The difference is the difference
God makes by giving faith and sustaining that faith in the
heart of His people so that you trust the Lord alone. trust the
Lord alone. They didn't pick up a weapon.
They didn't run over and start trying to grab stones they could
throw at Pharaoh. They stood still and believed
God. That goes against everything
in our sin nature. That's why it's only God that
can do it. We just have to put our hand to the work. We just
have to try to apply ourselves and interject ourselves and try
to fix it. God's doing the work. It's his
work. It's his work. He'll shut you
up between a rock and an idol like he did them in the Red Sea
and have an army barreling down on you to where He just closes
your mouth, puts faith in your heart, and makes you trust him. Best place you can ever be. Why
does he do this? Well, lastly, God leads us in
the way so that we behold Christ, who has delivered us, who is
delivering us, and who shall yet deliver us. Verse 15, And
the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore cryest thou unto me? Speak unto
the children of Israel, that they go forward. But lift thou
up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide
it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through
the midst of the sea." Now wait a minute. The Lord had just commanded
them to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And now
He commands them to go forward. There's no contradiction here.
There's no contradiction. True faith in Christ stands still. True faith is standing still,
ceasing from our wisdom, and our works, and our way, and our
doing, and all of that. Holding our peace, believing
salvation is of the Lord, and faith is justified as true faith
by trusting the Lord to fight for us as we go forward. It's called walking by faith
rather than sight. Now you think about this. If
you were there and the Lord told you to go into that sea, walled
up on each side, if you walk by sight, you're gonna have a
hard time going across that Red Sea. Because that's humanly impossible. The only way you're going to
go across that Red Sea is by faith, walking by faith. The sea was dried up by a rod. It pictures what's happening
right here. When God conquers and subdues
our sin nature, He always does it with the rod of the gospel
of Christ and Him crucified. That's what the rod represents,
the rod of justice satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified
on the cross for his people so that by him putting away all
our sin, making us the righteousness of God in him, we go across on
dry ground. That means every trial he brings
you through, just like he said, I'll be with you, you're going
across on dry ground. When you go through the fire,
you're not even going to get burned. When you get to the end
and you have to cross the chilly Jordan, you're going to cross
on dry ground because He's leading you the whole way. He's leading
you the whole way. Christ made the way. Christ is
the way. And Christ is going to lead His
people in the way. He's our righteousness so that
we go across on dry ground. And faith goes forward trusting
Christ to protect us. Drop down to verse 19. And the
angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and
went behind them." We were told in the chapter before this that
that was the Lord. This is the Lord Jesus. The angel
of God went before the camp of Israel, and then he removed and
went behind them. And the pillar of the cloud went
from before their face and stood behind 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.
That angel of God is our Lord Jesus Christ. He goes before
us to lead us as our great shepherd, and He's also our rear guard
to protect us. He's the holiness. Being in Christ
is holiness. Being in Christ and protected
on all sides by Him so that no weapon that's formed against
you shall prosper against you. He said, You shall not go out
with haste, nor go by flight, for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your reward. Pharaoh was fighting
a losing battle. He was fighting God, and it was
a losing endeavor that he was doing. But Christ is light to
his people, and he's darkness to his enemies. He was a cloud
and darkness to the to the Egyptians, but he gave light by night to
the children of Israel, so that the one came not near the other
all the night. The same Lord is light to his
people and darkness to the unbeliever. He's protection for his people
and a stumbling block for those who don't trust him. And God
got honor upon Pharaoh just like he said. He destroyed them all
just like he promised he would. and thus he increased fear in
their heart and faith in their heart to trust the Lord and believe
his messenger when he preached to them. It says in verse 30,
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. That's why the Lord's leading
us the way he's leading us. That's always going to be the
outcome. So what am I to do? Fear ye not. stand still, see the salvation
of the Lord, which He will show you today. He will defeat every
enemy we have, brethren. The Lord shall fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace." That's what He commands. Let's
go to Him. Our God and our Father, we thank
You for Your Word. Lord, we thank You that You've given us faith to believe, to
trust you, to hold our peace, to stand still, to see Christ
our Savior and the great salvation he has worked and is working
and we trust shall yet work for us. Lord, we pray you would continue
to lead us in the way. Lord, don't let us try to go
our way. Keep turning us back and keeping
us going in Christ and following Christ. Lord, we pray you would
break our heart. We pray you would keep us from
trusting or having any confidence in ourselves. Make us to have
all our rejoicing in Christ and trust Him alone. Lord, we believe
your word, but we're so full of unbelief, so full of doubting
and murmuring. We murmur when a cloud comes
in the sky or when the weather gets too hot. Help us to know,
Lord, everything you're doing, from the leaf falling on a tree
to the king's heart being turned, is for your people, is for our
salvation. You're working every bit of it
together to save us. Keep us trusting you, Lord. Keep
us holding our peace. For Christ's sake, get honor
upon your name. Pray in that glorious name by
which we're saved. Christ Jesus, amen.