Exodus chapter 14 again tonight
a Couple studies ago in Exodus
chapter 13 Verse 17 we saw that God led them that being Israel
It says not through the way of the land of the Pharisees Although
that was near I've mentioned it to you a couple times now
that if you look on a map and You'll find that when Israel
left Goshen, they were not really all that far at all from the
land of promise. It was a fairly easy trip along
the Mediterranean Sea to get to the land that God had given
and promised Abraham decades before. That way presented no
treacherous terrain. no mountains, no water to cross,
pretty much just a scenic route and a trip right into the land
of Canaan, the land of promise. But God in His sovereign providence
shows great mercy to Israel without them even knowing it. And as
you remember, He knew that any conflict with the Philistines,
a nation that was accustomed to war, that would send Israel
fleeing back to Egypt like scared dogs with their tails tucked
between their legs. So God took them, and let me
add, acting in great mercy. God, with a pillar of a cloud
and a pillar of fire, led the people, it says there in Exodus
chapter 3, by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. God was leading
them, so it had to be the right way. Sometimes the way God leads
on this journey home is not the easiest and the most convenient
way, naturally speaking. I wish we could learn that. God
was leading them, and it was the right way, and it was the
best way, because we truly don't know what's best for us, do we?
We think we do, but we don't. And that's why we've got to trust
him. We've got to submit to His will
and His purpose, and we should never question His providence.
He's always working all things together for our good. That's
what the scriptures teach us. And if we really believed that,
then we wouldn't grumble and complain about the way and the
lot of life that we've been handed. Yet usually, at the first sign
of trouble, we're thrown into a tailspin when and where we
question God's will and God's purpose and God's providence
in our lives. And it's by a way of grumbling
and complaining that we prove what we really think of God's
leading in our life. Oh, that God might be pleased
to give us the mind and the heart of Christ and enable us to pray
as He did, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. Well, that's
a good way to pray. Lord, not my will, but Thine
be done. You know what's best. You know
the best way, you know the right way. Enable me to submit to it. Israel gives us a very accurate
example and picture of ourselves. We've said that for years now,
we know it so. If we could only trust God at
every turn, we see that in doing so, we would have so much more
comfort and peace and assurance. But we just don't do it. May God enable us to grow in
grace and in the knowledge of Him and trust Him at every turn. Now before us tonight, we see
again the sovereignty of God and the salvation and deliverance
of His people. May God use these verses to teach
us some things and strengthen us in faith. So with that said,
chapter 14, look at verse 1. We read, and the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, that they
turn and encamp before Pihahirath, and that means a place of gorges,
a place of deep pits, between Migdal and the sea, and Migdal
means a place of towers, a place of inaccessible access, just
an inaccessible place. And he said, over against Belzephon,
which means a place of destruction, before it shall ye encamp by
the sea. Now that doesn't sound like a
very good place to me. And yet, that's where God leads
them. They're there by the leading
of God the Holy Spirit, and God led them there on purpose, and
God does all things on purpose. No accidents with God. Now look
at verse three, the Lord speaking to Moses says, for Pharaoh will
say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land. The wilderness hath shut them
in. And it had. This place that God
led was actually a tactical and a strategical nightmare for them. There was no place for them to
retreat, no place for them to go hide. Truly, they were shut
in and somewhat lined up like sheep to the slaughter. And in
verse four, God continues by saying, and I will harden Pharaoh's
heart. We see that phrase again. And
he shall follow after them and I will be honored upon Pharaoh. And upon all his host, and the
Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. So we see that Pharaoh here does
exactly what God said he would do. And in verse five we read,
and it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the
heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned. Who turned his heart? We know who turned his heart.
The heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the
people, and they said, why have we done this, that we have let
Israel go from serving us? Who turned the hearts of Pharaoh
and his servants? Well, who turns every heart?
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and as the rivers
of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. Do you believe that?
I do. Not like I should, but I do believe
that. And look at verse six, and he, Pharaoh, made ready his
chariot, and he took his people with him, and he took 600 chosen
chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every
one of them. Pharaoh took the best that he
had, and then he rounded up every available chariot in Egypt that
he could find. And many biblical historians
think and write that Pharaoh's army here could have been made
up as many as 300,000 experienced men of war. Some say even more
than that. That's a big army. At this time
in history, there was no army that was more powerful than Egypt. But you know, in God's deliverance
of Israel out of Egypt, he took Pharaoh's army just completely
out of the equation, didn't he? Yes sir, he did. No natural,
physical army can prevail against the supernatural armies of God. What army can defend against
water being turned into blood? What weapon can be used to defend
against frogs and lice and flies and disease? What army can fight
and be victorious over hail and lightning and death? The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds. And then in verse 8, 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, verse 9, but 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, this seemingly impossible place that God had
left them. And once again, we're informed
that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and yet Pharaoh did
exactly what he wanted to. And in verse four, God said,
it would all come to pass for his own honor and glory. so that
the Egyptians might know what? That the Lord God of Israel was
and is the only true God and Lord of all. Friends, one day
soon, this whole unbelieving world, all those who mock God
as Pharaoh mocked God, will know as Egypt knew, and every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess, will confess that Jesus Christ
is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. God always causes
all things to work exactly as He had predetermined them, and
what God purposed in eternity, He brings to pass in time. And in verse 10 we read, and
when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes,
and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. Now this was no,
just no casual approach by the armies of Egypt. These soldiers
were marching. They were marching with power
and purpose to either destroy Israel or to bring them back
to the bondage of Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of armed
soldiers marching in unison. Thousands of chariots roared
as they raced to the coast of the sea. I bet you could hear
that noise for miles. Let's don't be too hard on Israel. We would have been scared too.
Read on in verse 10, and they, now who, do you see here what
the Holy Spirit calls them? He calls them the children of
Israel, they're his children. They were sore afraid and the
children of Israel, now notice this, little things like this
I want you to notice. And the children of Israel cried
out unto the Lord. Now remember where they were.
No place to go. They've got mountains and valleys
and rocks and cliffs and gorges rushing with water. And in front
of you is the Red Sea. No place for them to go. Or is
there? God's always able to make a way
and escape. But they didn't think there was
any place to go, and they were sore afraid. That word sore there
means exceedingly afraid. Actually, it means to be terrified.
Terrified is what they were. Now let me ask you a question. Should they have been? Not really. After all they'd experienced,
after all God had done, should they have been exceedingly afraid?
No. But you know what? Neither should
we be. I've seen some pretty amazing things. But as usual,
when trouble comes, it's a different story. You know,
I was thinking just today that, of course, we all have come to
see just how quick life passes by. Life truly is a vapor. It's here for a moment and faded
away, isn't it? But I was thinking just today
that God's always taking care of me. He's always taking care
of my family. What really makes me think that
he would stop? How plain and simple is the promise
that Christ made? We can all understand it. He
said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I'll never leave
you. We know what that means. I'll
never forsake you. Did he mean what he said? Well,
he's not a man that he can lie nor the son of man that he can
repent or change his mind. Yes, he meant what he said. Oh,
why do we worry and fret? Now I want you to look closely
at the last part of verse 10 and verse 11 here. It says, Israel
was sore, exceedingly afraid, and they cried out unto the Lord.
Did they cry out for deliverance? Did they cry out for help? Did
they cry out for mercy and grace? No. It says in verse 10 that
they cried out unto the Lord, but verse 11 says, but they said
unto Moses. They may have been speaking and
complaining and grumbling to Moses, but their cry and their
complaint was unto the Lord. Every crying complaint is really
unto the Lord, because He's behind everything. Do we understand
that to murmur against the providence of the Lord is to actually oppose
the sovereign God who brings all things to pass? They complained
to Moses, but their cry was unto the Lord, for it was really God
that they were angry with. When we get angry, most of the
time, our anger is really at God. They spoke to Moses, but
it was directed at God. You can be assured that God knew
who they meant it toward. And look at what they said. They
said, because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us
away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt 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 we should die in the wilderness. Now it's here that we just see
the wickedness of sin in the heart of these people. And it's
found mainly in three words, let us alone, let us alone. The absolute worst thing that
could happen to us would be for God to leave us alone. By our
sin, we're condemned already. Scripture's clear about that.
And unless God gives us life and faith in Christ, we will
die in our sin. I sure don't need for the only
one who can save me to leave me alone. I'm not a very bright
man, but I know that. If there's only one who can save
me, I don't want him to leave me alone. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. We ought to be thankful
that the Lord doesn't answer these kinds of prayers. We ought
to be thankful that the Lord doesn't give us our own way.
At the first sign of trouble, Israel here shows their true
colors, and most of the time we do too. After all they'd seen,
they'd seen some miraculous things. They really sarcastically here
kind of say, obviously there wasn't enough places to dig graves
in Egypt. So Moses, you and your God, you
just brought us out here in the wilderness to die and just to
rot, you and Mephibareus. Can't you just hear the enmity
for God in that statement? They charged God really with
murderous brutality when He had again and again and again shown
himself so merciful to me. Well, you just brought us out
here to let us die in the wilderness. With disgust in their hearts,
they said, we told you to leave us alone. Why wouldn't you just
leave us alone so that we could serve the Egyptians? We didn't
ask for your help. We didn't desire your intervention.
We were doing all right on our own. Does that sound like someone
that knows and believes God? A true child of God, I pray,
Lord, don't leave us alone. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave us alone that we may serve this world. Don't leave us alone
that we may trust in mammon instead of God. Don't let us have any
confidence whatsoever in our wicked will, work, worth, or
way. It's the worst thing that could
happen to us. The worst. Look at 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. Now there's a good kind of fear,
that fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom, that fear
that is afraid to look anywhere else but to Christ, a fear of
God that makes a man afraid of sin, A believer is someone that
fears God. And then there's a bad kind of
fear. And that's the fear spoken of
here in verse 13. It was a fear of mistrust and
unbelief. It was a fear of man. It was
the fear of Egypt and Pharaoh. A fear of death. How could they
fear after all they'd seen? How can we? It's because of the
same fall, I can tell you that. And again, 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 have seen today, ye shall see them
again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace. My, what beautiful instruction
there. What great mercy that the Lord
did not let them have their way. What mercy it was that God did
not leave them alone to themselves. I think about it all the time.
God wouldn't leave me alone. God refused to let Israel alone,
and God refused to leave me alone. And it's the greatest mercy that
He could ever show any of us. Because it's no way dependent
on you and I. You and I, if left to ourselves,
would never seek Christ or come to Him for life. Why? Well, for
one, we cannot come. We don't have the ability. We're
dead in trespasses and sin. And secondly, it's not our will
to come. You will not come to me that you might have life.
So, the Lord says, fear not. And then he said, stand still.
Have you ever really thought about what you do when you stand
still? Nothing. You don't do a thing. Just stand. Stand still. If you belong to Christ, when
it comes to your deliverance from the bondage of sin, God
will show you that you cannot do a thing. Just stand. Stand still. Everything that
God requires must be perfect to be accepted. And when you
see that you cannot provide what God requires, perfect righteousness,
perfect holiness, perfect justification, no sir. When you see that you
can't provide what He requires, it's only then that you'll truly
desire to know the way, the right way. And it's when God shows
you that there is no other way by which a man can be reconciled
to God. Then a true sinner will seek
the way, the truth, and the life, and that's Jesus Christ. I've
heard this pretty much all my adult life, but you know, I think
I'm beginning to see it. Salvation's in a person. Jesus
Christ is salvation. By His own shed blood, He fulfilled
and satisfied all the holy requirements of the law and the justice of
God that was required for us to pay. The wages of sin is death,
and Christ died the just for the unjust to bring us to God.
That's the only way we're ever going to get to Him. Only one
substitute for sin, only one righteousness that is perfect,
only one mediator between, the God-man Christ Jesus. And the
only way that Israel is going to be saved from Pharaoh's army
is to get in and go through the Red Sea. Did you hear what I
said? The only way a child of God will
escape Satan's fiery gates of hell is to be plunged in and
under the sea of blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. How can
I be saved? by standing still and seeing
the salvation of the Lord. God says fear not, stand still. What could Israel do to get out
of this mess? Huh? They were shut in. Pharaoh said
they're entangled in the wilderness, they're shut in. They could do
nothing. What could they do to save themselves? They could do
nothing. You know, I suppose one of the
hardest things in the world to do is nothing. What must I do
to inherit eternal life? Where could they go? They were
in a place where the only way they could be delivered was by
the miracle of being separated from their charging enemy. But
how could that be accomplished? Only a supernatural miracle of
grace and mercy can put away our enemy of sin. What could
they do? Well, we're told here one thing
in three parts. First, they must have faith.
Stand still. Secondly, they must stand still
to see. And thirdly, they must look for
the only salvation there was, and that was the salvation of
the Lord. Fear not. Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. You're going to have to stand
still in order to look. And you're going to have to look
in order to see that there's only one way to be delivered.
If you're trusting in Christ, you'll never see your sin again. Isn't that what he said about
the Egyptians? After this day, you'll never
see the Egyptians again. And if you're trusting in Christ,
you'll never see your sin again. Why? Because it's forever put
away. It no longer exists. Your enemy
of sin is gone forever, and with it, all the penalties that he
carried with it. Fear not. Have faith. Basically
the same thing. The opposite of faith is fear,
and the opposite of fear is faith. Fear not, that means have faith.
Have hope. Have confidence. Have assurance.
Stand still. Stop doing. Stop doing. Oh, let me tell you about all
we're doing. Stop doing. Just stop doing. and trust in
what's already been done. And look and see the salvation
of the Lord that's in Christ in him alone. Isn't that what
old Simeon said? That's what he did when he laid
his eyes on the Lord Jesus, his words were, now let me depart
in peace for my eyes have seen thy, the Lord's salvation. Have you seen it? How's Israel
gonna be saved? By passing through the waters
of the Red Sea safely on dry ground. That proves to be how
God's saved. How will God's people be saved?
By passing through the crimson blood of Christ, the one mediator
who stands between the enemy and God's elect, who've already
safely passed to the other side from death into life. How are
God's elect delivered and saved? By standing still, holding their
peace, and seeing that the Lord shall do their fighting for them.
The Lord shall fight for you. Now the religion of this world
says do something, but God says stand still and look and see
the salvation of the Lord, because the Lord will fight for you.
And we see the Lord fighting for his people right here in
this chapter. Look down at verse 22. 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. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the
midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his
horsemen. And it came to pass that in the
morning, watch, the Lord look unto 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 drove them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee
from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against
the Egyptians. Back in verse 15, And the Lord
said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward. Now is this a contradiction? The Lord had said, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. And now he says, go forward.
Now God's showing them the only way that they can go forward
is into the Red Sea. And that's God's path. This was
the command of God and this was an act of faith by them. Hebrews
11, 29 tells us that. By faith they, Israel, passed
through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians assain,
and that means tried. The Egyptians tried to do and
were ground. God says, go forward. Go forward. You know, there comes a time
when we just have to believe God. There's a time that we have
to just trust Christ. Go forward. Go forward in faith
and love and grace and confidence with assurance. But go forward
forgetting those things which are behind you. But go forward. God says go forward and as always
with the command comes the power to obey. Look at verse 16. That's exactly what we see here.
God tells Moses, but lift up thou 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. And I,
behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall
follow them. And I will 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, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh,
upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen." This is about the
glory of God. We see that. Salvation is about
the glory of God. Verse 19, 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, 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 their right
hand and on their left." Now here's what I want you to see.
The only thing that was keeping Israel from drowning and dying
was the will, the purpose, and the power of God in Christ. That's what faith believes. The
child of God knows that apart from the will, purpose, and power
and precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no salvation. God gonna teach that to every
believer. No salvation apart from Christ.
Verse 26, and the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand
over the sea that the waters may come back 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 when the waters returned,
and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host
of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Now look at this. There remained not so much as
one of them. They were all killed. Not one
enemy of God's people was left. They were all put away. So it
is with our enemy of sin. It's in the Red Sea, which no
doubt pictures the blood of the Lord Jesus, that we see that
God puts away our sin and there remained not so much as one of
them left. Not a one. What can wash away
my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
God provided the way and Christ is the way. He didn't just make
salvation possible, no sir. He provided the way, and Christ
is the way, and the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to
the Father but by Him. May God enable you and I to stand
and see the salvation of the Lord. Amen.