Go ahead and turn with me to
Exodus chapter 14 again, if you would. There's one thing that all God's
people know for certain. God has shown and taught all
his elect people that they're unable to save themselves. What
a sound picture of that we have here in the 14th chapter of Exodus. The people of Israel, as we've
seen in past studies, they're trapped. According to verse 3,
Pharaoh would discover that they were entangled. And that word
means perplexed. They were confounded in the land. The wilderness had shut them
in. They were certainly perplexed and confounded as they looked
around them. And now they hear the sound of
the chariots and the soldiers marching toward them. There were
mountains on each side, a tumultuous sea in front of them. And now
with Pharaoh and his army coming, they had no place to go. Pharaoh,
he's all in, it's no holds barred. As many as 200,000 trained soldiers
have been commissioned by Pharaoh, their commander in chief, and
there's no turning back as far as he's concerned. Pharaoh's
heart was hardened, and he was determined to bring Israel back
to Egypt or to kill them in the process. What really, I think,
bogs the mind of most men and women as they read through the
pages here of Exodus is the fact that it was God that led them
there. Many would ask, why would the
Lord do such a thing for his own honor and glory? In chapter
13, verse 17, it says 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 returned 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. And
then here in verses one and two of chapter 14, we're told that
God instructed them to turn them about and send them to the place
right here where they were encamped by the sea. And according to
verses 4 and verses 8 and 9, it was God that hardened Pharaoh's
heart to pursue after them with all the horses and chariots and
horsemen and army to overtake them by the Red Sea. And I've
tried to imagine this in my mind's eye many times. Can you imagine
the fear? The army of Pharaoh, they were
armed with the best weapons and the best armor that the wealth
of Egypt could afford. And then you consider that Israel
had no weapons at all. Probably not a pocket knife between.
They had been in bondage and slavery for 430 years. No weapons, no knowledge of war,
no place to run. Most people would say that Israel
didn't stand a chance. Redemption is not by chance,
never has been. Salvation is of the Lord. It
would be the Lord that would fight for them. And what a marvelous
thought that is. All that Israel could do was
just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You see,
God will bring his elect to the place where they see their inability. And they'll see that they can't
do anything to save themselves. completely dependent upon Him. Salvation is of the Lord. Verse 10, 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 as we
discussed last time, they cried unto the Lord, but in verse 11,
it says that they said unto Moses. They were making their complaint
to Moses, but they were angry with God. And hear me when I
tell you that in complaining and in murmuring about the slightest
or smallest thing, complaining against any divine providence
is nothing but enmity and hostility against the Lord. Now their complaint
in verse 11 is this. They say, because there were
no graves in Egypt, thou hast taken us away to die in the wilderness. Wherefore hast thou dealt us
with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? And I think about how
similar that statement is to the one that Paul anticipates
from every unbeliever according to what he said in Romans chapter
9. He said, you're going to say this. You're going to ask this
question. And it's true, when you preach the sovereignty of
God and the salvation of sinners, people are going to say, well,
why did He make me this way? Why hast thou made me thus? And
that's pretty much what they asked here. Wherefore hast thou
dealt thus with us? Why have you dealt this way with
us? We don't question God. We know
this much, that He did it for His own glory and for His people's
good. And in verse 12, they sarcastically
asked, 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 it's here that our true nature is clearly seen. Men would rather be left to serve
their sin and live what time they have on earth, rather than
to submit to God, trust in Him, bow to God's Son, and live forever. When God reveals to a sinner
that they're hemmed up with no place to go, with no ability
to help themselves, with no ability to defend themselves from the
impending doom that awaits them, it's then that they will see
that God has brought them to this place, this place of helplessness. And all there is to do is simply
fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. And
here's the promise of God to those who do, verse 13. He says,
for the Egyptians, who very well picture our enemy of sin, whom
you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you
and ye shall hold your peace. Now that's the gospel. God doing
for you what you cannot do for yourself. And to all whom God
gave to Christ before the foundation of the world, Christ came into
the world to redeem and deliver them from their enemy of sin.
And he shall not fail. Not one sin will remain past,
present, or future. Now, if you're a sinner and you
see that you are a great sinner, that'll be the best news you
ever heard. You'll see them again no more. Your sin's gonna be
put away. The Lord shall fight for you.
Now, let me just say that another way. Salvation's of the Lord.
Now look at verse 15. This is the heart of the message
tonight. And the Lord said unto Moses,
wherefore criest thou unto me? Now we're not given a single
word of Moses' prayer here. But we know, according to that
phrase, that he cried unto the Lord. That's about all we know. Maybe this was just a silent
cry. Maybe this was a plea from his
heart for help. You know, you can pray unto the
Lord without uttering a word. Moses no doubt knew and believed
what the Lord had told him. He faithfully declared the word
of the Lord to Israel concerning their fear for their enemies
that fear not. Don't fear these soldiers that
are marching toward you. And they shouldn't have because
they had seen the Lord's mighty hand in delivering them and the
plagues out of Egypt. He tells them concerning God's
divine intervention in fighting for them, just stand still. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. God's going to take care of you.
And no doubt Moses, here's a picture of our mediator, the Lord Jesus.
No doubt that he was making intercession for Israel for their faith to
fail them not. We're not told his prayer, but
God says, wherefore cryest thou unto me? Now listen to me on
this. I wish there were some folks
here tonight that could hear this. There's a time to pray. There's a time to thank God for
answered prayer. There's a time to seek help from
the Lord. It's time to thank the Lord when
He helps you. But there's also a time to believe.
There's a time to receive. There's a time to go forward. Yup, true faith, no doubt, fears
not. True faith stands still, yes.
True faith sees the salvation of the Lord. But true faith also
goes forward. God tells Moses, wherefore cryest
thou to me? God's saying this is not the
time to pray. This is the time to believe the Lord. Speaking
to the children of Israel, that's what he says. Isn't that what
preaching is? Go forward believing what Christ
has done. We walk by faith and not by sight,
but we do walk and we walk forward. We don't dare walk backwards.
We don't even look behind. We forget those things which
are behind and we press on forward. We go forward knowing that the
Lord is not only fighting for us, but that the Lord Jesus has
finished the fight for us, and he was victorious. Faith goes
forward trusting in Christ alone. Now, if I had to trust in something
that I had to do in order to be saved, then I could see not
going forward. But knowing what my Lord and
Savior has done for me, I'll go forward as God commands. We
go forward with the assurance of Christ's finished work. How
do we go forward? Well, we go forward standing
still. We go forward not by a work of
righteousness that we've done, but according to His mercy. And that's what we see here in
verse 16. Look at this first word, but. God says but. 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.'" Now look down at verse 21, "'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 their right
hand and on their left.'" Now we know that Christ is the one
mediator between God and man. There's only one way that sinful
man and a holy God can be reconciled, brought back together. And that's
through the mediator, Christ Jesus. And here, Moses very well
pictures Christ, our one mediator. Moses is the one who tells the
people to go forward. And it's Moses that shows them
how they can. And again, verse 16, God says,
but lift thou up thy rod. What does this rod of Moses picture? What's these verses talking about?
Well, I don't think there's any doubt that the rod of Moses here
pictures the holy law of God, and no doubt pictures God's holy
justice. You know, as we'll see in a future
study, it's the same rod that smote the rock from which the
water came out. And it pictures the holy law
and justice of God that smote Christ the rock, which out of
it flowed rivers of living water. How many times was that rock
to be smitten by the rod? Only once. Why? Because Christ, having offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. He sat down because the work
was finished, nothing else to do. And he sat down on the right
hand of God because his work was finished. And this rod pictures
the holy law and justice of God. And then God tells Moses in verse
16, to stretch out thine hand over the sea. Do you remember
when God gave Moses this rod? Do you remember what God had
Moses to do? At this same time, the Lord told
Moses, he said, put now thine hand in thy bosom. And when he
took it out, behold, it was leprous. And then God said, now put that
same hand back into your bosom again. And he put his hand into
his bosom again, and he brought it back out. And behold, it was
turned again as his other flesh. But Moses' hand here pictures
Christ bearing the sin and the curse of his people by his own
hand. And he satisfied the rod of God's
justice that was against you and I. That's the only way that
you and I can be reconciled to God. Only by the hand of Christ
can that which was leprous with sin be made as white as snow. The sea here, no doubt, is a
picture of God's wrath and judgment and justice against sin. So Moses
gives the command to go forward. Then he stretches forth his hand
with that rod in his hand, God's law and God's justice in his
hand. And the sea divides and God's
people go on dry ground to the other side. Now the law of God
is in Christ's hand. Moses stretches forth his hand
with the rod in it, and Christ stretched forth his hand in perfect
righteousness with the law of God in his hand, and he did so
to fulfill and satisfy the law and justice of God for us. You
see, the law is in Christ's hand. And it's only when God the Son,
by His own work of righteousness, fulfills the holy law of God
and satisfies His holy justice, that we're able to walk through
the judgment and wrath of God on dry ground. Because Christ
dried up the wrath, judgment, and justice of God that was against
His elect. And here is the picture, God's
mediator, Jesus Christ, pictured by Moses, affectionately commands
God's people to go forward. And they will go forward, because
when he stretches forth his hand with the law of God in it, that
same law that would have once condemned us, now opens the way
for us. and demands the deliverance of
every child that Christ justified. Why? Because Christ fulfilled
the law. He dotted every I, he crossed every T, and the law
was fulfilled. And us being in him, the law
has no claim on us. We're not guilty of the law.
We go forth with confidence. And we go forth with assurance
that Christ, as we saw Sunday, is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes and trusts in him. Now, will any
of those who go forward with Christ be lost? Were any of the
children of Israel lost as they walked through the Red Sea? No,
every single one of them made it to the other side. The Apostle
Paul answers that question very plainly with five questions in
the eighth chapter of Romans. The first question Paul asked
in Romans 8 was, if God be for us, who can be against us? That's
a good question. If there are any who can be victorious
in fighting against God and His people, I don't know who they'd
be. Sin can't, there remain not so much as one of them, we're
told in verse 28. And those who Christ fights for
always wins. None whom God is for can be defeated. The second question that Paul
asks is if God spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us, shall he not with him freely give us all things? If
God spare not the Lord Jesus Christ, the darling of His heart
for us, will He not with Him freely give us every single thing
that God, a holy God, requires? You better believe He will. And
He gives them to us freely. He had God's rod of law and justice
in His hand. And because of that, God's law
and justice is turned into dry ground. And we're able to pass,
we're able to pass on dry ground. The third question Paul puts
forward was who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Who can charge one that God has justified? If God justified a
sinner, he did so justly by the substitution and sacrifice of
his perfect son. Who is going to lay anything
to their charge? The fourth question Paul submits
is, who can condemn one of God's elect? Who is he that condemneth?
It's Christ that died. Is there any for whom Christ
died that can be condemned? Will there be any who do not
cross on dry ground that Christ died for? Absolutely not. None. And then Paul's fifth question
was, who shall separate the people of God from the love of Christ?
No one can. You see, having loved his own
that were in the world, he loved them to the end. He said in Romans
8 there, he said, nothing can separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus. That's the key phrase, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Hebrews 11, 29, that great chapter
of faith says, by faith they, speaking of Israel, passed through
the Red Sea as by dry land, And then it says this, which the
Egyptians, a saying, and that word a saying means attempting
to do or drown. Now you think about this with
me for a minute. Faith goes forward, seeing and beholding the Lord
fight for us. I have no doubt that my sin has
been put away. And you know when I usually doubt
that? is when I start looking within and to me. But as long
as I keep my eyes on Christ and His work of righteousness, I
have no doubt at all that my sin's put away. And going forward,
they saw the Lord doing their fighting for them. They didn't
have a single weapon. We don't have any carnal weapons
either. We don't need them because we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, and against powers, and against
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. We don't have to fight. The Lord
fights for us. Look at verse 17 here. And I
behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians that they shall
follow them. And I will get me honor upon
Pharaoh and upon all his hosts, upon his chariots, and upon his
horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know
that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh,
upon his chariots, and 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 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, to God's people, so that
not one came near the other all the night. I don't think there's
any doubt here that the angel of the Lord is the Lord Jesus
himself. Christ comes between his people
and their enemy. He's, as I said a moment ago,
the one mediator between God and men. That's what a mediator
is, is a go-between. And Christ is a light to His
people and He's darkness to their enemy. He is His people's shield
and protector so that none could come near the other all the night. You remember, and I remind you
again that God has brought Israel, His people, to the place where
they are made. made to trust Him. God brings
His people to the place where they have no other choice but
to trust Christ. They can do nothing. They can
go nowhere. They have no defense. All they
can do is stand still, fear not, and see the salvation of the
Lord. Have you been brought to that place? That place to where
you see that there is no life apart from trusting in Christ
to fight for you. You know, what a great mercy
that is. If our enemy seeks to hurt us, gonna first have to
defeat omnipotence. Ain't nobody gonna get to us
without going through God first. And if our enemy seeks to hurt
us, it'll have to defeat God to do it. Verse 23, and the Egyptians
pursued and went in after them in the midst of the sea, even
all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Have you ever
thought about why they did that? Well, we know it was because
the Lord had hardened their heart. And we know that the Lord was
gonna get honor out of it, honor and glory. What makes a man to
try to come to God by the works of his own hands? What makes
a man try to do that? What makes a woman try to do
that? Well, their heart's been hardened by sin, and all God
has to do to harden a man's heart, just leave him alone, leave him
to himself. And sometimes, God hardens a
heart in reprobation where a man or a woman can't believe him.
And that is such an alarming thing. Why would God do such
a thing? You might be surprised at the
answer. You probably wouldn't, but this
world would. And the answer is for his own
honor and for his own glory. And again, verse 17 and 18, he
said, I'll get me honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his host,
upon his chariots and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall
know that I am the Lord. Well, you would have think they'd
known that by now and all they'd seen. But he said, the Egyptians
shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten me honor upon
Pharaoh, upon his chariots and upon his horsemen. Every man
and woman born, created and born into this world were so for one
reason, and that was to glorify and to honor God. That's the
purpose that God made us for. And sinners are either going
to honor Him in His grace or they're going to honor Him in
His judgment against them. Pharaoh and the Egyptians honored
God in his judgment against them. Look at verse 24. And it came
to pass that in the morning, watched the Lord, capital L-O-R-D,
God Almighty, God the Father. He looked upon the host of the
Egyptians. How did he look upon them? We'll
read right over these things if we're not careful. He looked
at them through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and he
troubled the host of the Egyptians. That pillar is Christ, and any
who endeavor to come to God any other way, God troubles them,
just as He troubled the host of the Egyptians. And the Lord
looked at His enemies through Christ. You see, the judgment
of God that troubled the Egyptians came through Christ. Why? Because
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son. All the judgment is in the hand
of God's Son. All the children of Israel went
into that sea committing themselves unto Moses, being baptized unto
Moses according to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 2 which says
they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
And what a picture this is of the sinner publicly professing
Christ in baptism. It's the believing sinner's profession
that Christ is all their salvation. That's what baptism is. When
Christ died, they died. When Christ was buried, they
were buried with Him. When Christ rose, they rose with
Him. And that's the picture we have
here of Israel. They're going forth into the
waters by faith in Christ alone. But the Egyptians, they went
into that sea by their own strength. Nobody told them to go that way.
They were going by their own strength. Look at verse 26. And
the Lord said unto Moses, and again Moses picturing Christ,
our mediator. And he said, stretch out thine
hand, that same hand that satisfied God's justice for his people. And God said, you stretch out
thine hand that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians,
upon their chariots, and 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 hosts of Pharaoh that came into the
sea after them. There remained not so much as
one of them." But the children of Israel walked upon dry land
in the midst of the sea. And the waters were a wall unto
them on their right hand and on their left. 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. All those
who attempt to come to Christ by the work of their own hand
will perish in the judgment and the wrath and the condemnation
of God. Israel saw the Egyptians dead
upon the sea shore. But those who went forward in
Christ, this is what I want you to see, those who went forward
in Him and in His work of righteousness, every single one of them were
saved. That's how we go forward. We go forth while standing still
in His work of righteousness. The Lord Jesus' work of righteousness. That's how we see the salvation
of the Lord. No other way. And here's an interesting
thought. Israel didn't see it until they
went forward. They would have never seen it
if they hadn't went forward. Dear believer, go forward walking
in the faith of Jesus Christ. All who do will see the salvation
of the Lord. How do I know? Look at verse
31. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did. You
know, I don't know how folks can read the scriptures. If they
honestly read the scriptures, I don't know how that they could
deny that salvation is the Lord's doing. It's just so clear, so
plain. 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. Now first, do
you notice that this was the great work which the Lord did?
This is the Lord's great work. And when you see the great work
of the Lord, the result is always the same. First, the people feared
the Lord. They feared Him reverently. Not
with a slavish fear like they did the Egyptians, but with a
reverential respect. That's what the word fear here
means. A reverential respect and honor
for the great things that God had done for them. And they believed
the Lord, it says, and His servant Moses. Do you believe tonight
what I'm telling you? Well, all God's people will. If you've seen His great work
of redemption, and I trust that you have, you see that this is
the work that the Lord did, not the work that you did. As we
said in the beginning, there's nothing that you and I can do
to save ourselves. And if you see that, you'll fear
the Lord and you'll believe Him. And you'll also believe the servant.
Why? Because it pleased the Lord by
the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. May
God be pleased to make it so.