Hebrews chapter 11. I'm just
going to stay here for just a second, and then we're going to go to
Exodus chapter 14. So we're going to see this here in Hebrews chapter
11, and then we're going to see it unfold in Exodus chapter 14. Hebrews 11. And verse 28, "...by faith they
passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians
a saying to do were drowned." Now the title of the message
is, True Faith Passes Through the Red Sea. True faith passes
through the Red Sea. Now remember, just to give you
an introduction here, we've been looking at the faith of Moses
and how it is it pictures true believers, true faith in Christ. You remember that Moses forsook
Egypt, choosing rather to suffer the afflictions of the people
of God, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches, than
the treasures of Egypt. This is a picture of true faith.
True faith is repentance. We turn from flesh, we turn from
our works, we turn from our nature, we turn from our wisdom, and
we turn to Christ. We see that ours is nothing but
refuse, dung, and we turn to Christ, true riches. Faith in
Christ is true riches. And we rather suffer with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And then secondly, Moses, it
says he not only forsook Egypt and turned to Christ, faith and
repentance, but in verse 28, he kept the Passover. True faith
keeps the Passover. Not in that ceremony, in that
ritual of Passover, but rather true faith keeps its eye on Christ,
our Passover. True faith sees that Christ was
tried, Christ was slain, Christ's blood has been applied to our
hearts, and we eat Christ by faith. And we are ready to go. That's what those people in those
houses, they would gird up their loins, they'd take that robe
and gird it up. And they had a staff in their hand and shoes
on their feet, ready to go. And that's exactly how it is
with the believer. We are eating Christ and we are
ready to go. Ready to be with God, worship
God, serve God. So that's a picture of true faith.
And now we come to this one. True faith passes through the
Red Sea. By faith they pass through the
Red Sea. And that's my first point, is
all true faith passes through the Red Sea. Now consider the
picture, the scene here. Now go to Exodus chapter 14.
Now we'll come back to that verse just in a little bit, because
I need to see the second half of it, but let's see this first
half. In Exodus chapter 14, we see the scene here. The Lord, in verses 1 through
4, He declares a sovereign plan. A sovereign plan. The Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, that
they turn and encamp before Behiroth, between Migdal and the sea, over
against Belzorphon. Before it shall they encamp by
the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children
of Israel, They are entangled in the land. The wilderness hath
shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
and he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh
and upon his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord."
And listen, and they did so. A sovereign plan. A sovereign
plan. The Lord leads Israel into this
helpless place. A helpless place. A place surrounded
on each side by mountains and wilderness. In front of them
is the sea, and behind them Pharaoh pursues. There's no place to
go. God said, I'll harden Pharaoh's
heart, and he'll pursue after them. And so the plan was executed,
and listen, they did so. What God said would happen, happened. And Pharaoh, he rode hard after
the Israelites, and they see him coming. They see him coming. Verse 5, they told the king,
and the people fled. And the heart of Pharaoh and
his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why
have we done this? Why have we let Israel go serving us? And they made ready his chariots,
and he took with him the six hundred chariots and all of his
best men. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's
heart, And he pursued after the children of Israel. The children
of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued
after them, and all their horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his
horsemen and his army overtook them in camping beside Pahiroth
and Belzorphin. 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." Here they
are. Now they're coming. They're entrapped. They're in this position that
they can't go anywhere. And Pharaoh's pursuing. Now let
me ask you, who did this? Whose plan is this? It's God's plan. God did this. I tell you this, God shut them
in. God shut them in. Did you get
it? God shut them in. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Can you not see the sovereignty
of God in this? In Job chapter 12, it says this,
the deceived and the deceiver, both are the Lord's. You got
that? The deceived is the Lord's. And the deceiver are the Lord's. He'll do with them as He pleases.
And as Pharaoh rode hard after them, the Israelites looked up
and they see Him coming. They can't go to the right. They
can't go to the left. There's no escape here. There's
no way out. And they feared. Then what'd they
do? Scripture says in verse 10, they
cried unto the Lord. They cried unto the Lord. They're
brought to despair. They're brought to helplessness.
They're shut in and shut up. Shut in and shut up. To God's mercy and God's power. And what did God do? God said
to Moses, He said unto the people in verse 13, Fear not. Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show you
today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see
them no more. Stand still, is what He told
them. See the salvation of the Lord.
And you remember that pillar of fire, the pillar of cloud
and fire by day that led them to this encampment, led them
to this trap? It removed and went behind them
and separated between them and Pharaoh. And the Lord calls Moses
to stretch forth his hand. And you know what happened when
he took that rod and stretched it out, that the sea parted. And they walked through on dry
ground. They walked through on dry ground. And when the Egyptians tried
to do the same, the Lord removed that pillar
of fire that separated them and they assayed, that's part of
our text, they assayed to do the same. But you remember the Lord made
their chariot wheels to fall off. They got stuck in the mud. They couldn't go forward and
they couldn't go back. They were shut in. But you see the difference between
the shut-ins? Israel was shut in to be delivered. Pharaoh was shut in to be destroyed. They drowned. They drowned. God's people were saved and they
rejoiced and praised God. Now, it must be asked, why did
God deliver them in such a way? Now, why is this? You've seen
those Star Trek shows and stuff where they teleport. Somebody
beams somebody up and moves them. We'd say, wouldn't that be a
good plan? Wouldn't that be something you and I would choose? Why can't
He just beam them to the other side? Just move them over there.
He could do that. Why did God shut them in? And then deliver them by such
a way as through the sea. Why? Why were they made to be trapped?
Why did Pharaoh pursue them? Why did God harden His heart
to pursue them? Why did they need to go through
the Red Sea? Now, if they didn't need to go through the Red Sea,
you believe it, they wouldn't have gone through the Red Sea.
They needed to go through the Red Sea because God would teach
us the Gospel. That's what it is. It's a Gospel
message. He says this as to why he did
this. First, look at verse 4. He said
that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And in verse 18,
he says it again, And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord,
and have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon his chariots,
and upon his horsemen. God said this, I'm doing this
for my own honor. Why does God do things? You mark
this down first, it's for His own glory. Whatever God's doing,
it's for His own glory. Men may not like that, but that's
exactly what God's doing. In your life, in my life, in
everybody's life, God is getting glory for Himself. He will. He
will. And the second thing is that
Israel should see and experience the power and salvation of God. That's why God did it. That His
people should both see and experience the power of God. It'd be one
thing for them to walk up to the sea and say, look, God could
part that. It's another thing for Him to actually do it in
front of their eyes, isn't it? Listen, it's one thing for me
to speak of salvation in Christ. It's another thing for God to
actually do it. The only way anyone's going to
be delivered is if God do it. Experience it. It was to deliver Israel by the
Red Sea that we may see the power and salvation of God in His people
by Jesus Christ." Now, the Lord Jesus testified that there are many who are ignorant
of the salvation of God. You listen. There are many who
are ignorant because they've never experienced it. If you've
never experienced the salvation of God, listen to me, I don't
care how much doctrine you know, you are ignorant of the salvation
of God. Why? You've not experienced it.
You've not experienced it. Jesus said, you are ignorant
of the salvation of God and do err, knowing not the Scriptures
and the power of God. You see, men by nature do not
see the importance of Christ, nor their great need of Him,
because they have not experienced the power of God's grace in their
heart. Men may read this book, but they cannot make any sense
of it. They don't know what it teaches,
even because they have not experienced the power of salvation in their
souls. Paul declares to the saints who
know the Scriptures, he said, it is the power of God. Isn't
that what he said? In Romans he said, I'm not ashamed
of the Gospel. Why are we not ashamed of the
Gospel? Because we know it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Men may be religious, they may
be moral and outwardly righteous before men, But they may be orthodox
in their doctrine, but unless they are quickened by the power
of the Holy Spirit, born again of God, there is no salvation
in their heart. See, salvation is more than the
collection of knowledge of doctrines. The doctrines of the Bible, men can accept them in their
minds, But listen, unless they become real to you in your heart,
you have no salvation. To all who have seen the power
of God, the doctrine of redemption is no mere doctrine. You see, I really am redeemed. It's real. Redemption is no mere doctrine.
but is the constant hope of my forgiveness before God. The doctrine
of regeneration is a reality. The doctrine of depravity is
the confession of my soul. The doctrine of irresistible
grace is my experience. The doctrine of the righteousness
of Christ is all my merit, and standing before God is the reality
of my new nature. This is not mere doctrine. This
is not mere words on a page. But it is experience of grace
in my heart, and in your heart, if you believe. Therefore, to
us, the Scriptures are not confusing to us. We're not ignorant of
these things. You see, we have no need to change
our doctrine. Why? Because the doctrine is
set. It's in this book. And it's in my heart. And we
know this is our salvation. We've experienced it. These saints
here crossing the Red Sea is an illustration of our experience
of grace that has been wrought in our hearts by the grace of
God through faith in Christ. Now then, I have six things.
Six things about this passing through the Red Sea. That is the experience of every
believer in Christ. You have the same experience
of these people at the Red Sea, spiritually speaking, is your
experience. First of all, the saints of God
were shut up and shut in. Or shut in and shut up, either
way you want to do it. They were shut in and they were shut up. The first work of grace that
is to be done by the Holy Spirit is to shut us in to a place where
we become utterly and completely helpless to save ourselves. That's the
first experience of grace. You that have experienced the
grace of God, you will understand this. You were shut in and shut
up to your works, to your religion. And it was God who led the people
out of Egypt. He brought them to the place
that was contrary to all human wisdom. He led them to a place
where they were going to be trapped. A place where they were to encamp.
Pahiroth, listen, it means a hole. That's what it means. A hole. A steep valley. Behiroth was a hole by which
was over against Migdal, which means a tower or a mountain.
There was a hole on their right side. On their left side was
a mountain. In front of them was the Red
Sea. And behind them Pharaoh pursued hard after them. Thus the Scripture says they
were shut in on all sides with no way to escape. Now behold
the picture. Every child of God that is made
to pass through the hole of despair of our sins. Every child of God
is always made to pass through this hole. We become aware of our corruption,
of our condition before God. Thus, Satan is now set against
us. He pursues us. He accuses us
before God, only to add to our guilt and
shame. Behold, the hole, the valley,
is the law, the law of despair. This is what Paul's experience
was. Go to Romans chapter 7. Look at Paul's experience of
this valley, this hole that he had to endure, which every saint
must endure. Romans chapter 7 and verse 9. The apostle says, for I was alive
without the law once. I was happy. I was content. I
was well without the law once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me and slew me. Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was then
that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin." Sinner, have you ever been exposed
by the law of God to be guilty? before God. Have you ever seen the greatness
of God's holiness and the valley of your sin that separated you from God? Paul said the law had a purpose.
The law has a purpose. It is never to save or give life. The law that he thought should
give life only was death to him. The law only exposed sin. It cannot redeem. It cannot deliver. It is a hole. It is a deep valley
which no man can fathom. No man can climb out of. And behold, this was the plan
of God. the plan of God, that this place
was purposed of God for Israel. And not only this, they were
to be pursued. It was God's ordained purpose
that Pharaoh pursue them. And so it is spiritually, when
God shuts a sinner up, shuts him in to the law so that he
cannot turn to the right or to the left, He also ordains the
deceiver of men to pursue him. He causes us to see our hopeless
condition and shuts us in to the deadness of our own souls
to obey God. That we should see God ordained
Satan to pursue after his children. He shuts us in. Have you ever
been shut in? Listen, if you've got a way to
go, you'll take it. But if God ever shuts you in,
you won't have any place to go. You won't have any place to go. Have you ever been shut in? And
not only does He shut them in, He shuts them up. They're not
able to turn to the right or to the left. The hole on their
right. The tower on their left. Their
sins. Satan pursuing them, shut in,
shut in. Has this not been true with you,
believer? God in providence and grace has
led us to be shut in to the mountains of our sin,
the whole of the law, so that we cannot turn to either.
The devil and his guilt pursuing us, death and hell coming up
behind. And notice this, the sea was
before them. What does this sea represent?
God's justice. You remember what washed away
the world in Noah's time was the rain, the water, the sea. Judgment. The sea before them
is the judgment. How vast is the sea of God's
justice that no man could bear its weight. Could you bear the
weight of the sea? You could much easier bear the
weight of the sea than you could bear the justice of God in yourself. Have you ever been so low and
your sin so great that you dare not approach unto God? Have you
ever been shut in like that? Have you ever been shut up like
that? You know what the purpose of the law says in Romans chapter
3? That every mouth may be, what? Stopped. And the whole world
become guilty before God. I know that men always try to
come to God by their merits, by their obedience, by some unholy
mixture of Christ's work plus their free will, Christ's work
plus their religion and their ceremony. But when God will save
a sinner, He must and will shut him in and make him hopeless
of all self-righteousness or salvation by works. He must shut
him up to the mercy of God. Job asked this question. How should a man be just with
God? And when you were shut in and
shut up, is that not the question? How may I escape? How may I be
just before God? How can God be just and the justifier
of the ungodly? Job said this, he said, If God will not withdraw His
anger, the proud helpers do stoop under Him, how much less shall
I answer Him and choose out my words of reason with Him? Whom
though I were righteous, yet I would not answer, but I would
make supplication before my Judge." He realized his sin. He said,
if I were righteous, how would I even speak to Him? How could
I move Him to do anything for me? If I were righteous, I would
just be doing what I was supposed to. I cannot move God. But Job says, if I justify mine
own self, my own mouth will condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, it
shall also prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet would
I know my soul. I would despair of my life. And Job goes on to say, he said,
all my works are vain. He said, if I be wicked, why
then labor in vain? Isn't that where you come to
when God exposed you of your sin, that all your labor is vain? That all your works are empty?
That you could do nothing to be accepted of God? Has God shut you in? Has God
shut you up? If God will ever save you, He
must do this first. He must. And Job lamented, in Job 9.33,
he lamented this. He said, neither is there any
mediator betwixt us. He said, oh, that God would have
a mediator. Oh, that there would be someone
to stand between me and God. Someone to plead my cause. And this is the cry of everyone
who is shut up and shut in by God. Because that's the next
point. Not only were they shut in and shut up, they cried. They cried. Look at Exodus chapter
14 and verse 10. When God shut them in and shut
them up to all their works or efforts, this is the result. Verse 10. And the children of
Israel cried out unto the Lord. As Job cried for a daisman, as
Job cried for a mediator, that one should stand between him
and God, this is exactly what men who are shut up, men and
women who are shut up to themselves, this is exactly what they'll
do. They will cry out to God for mercy. These prophets of old, they spoke
as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And what did they speak
of? They spoke of a daisman. Job
spoke of a daisman, of a mediator. One that should stand between
us and God. Now men by nature will cling
to anything but Christ. I want you to understand that.
If you can find anything to cling to besides Christ, you will. But when God shuts you up, this
is the only thing that will satisfy your soul. The only thing that
will work is Christ. The only place for sinners they
can turn to is God. Those who are shut up and shut
in, they become like that publican. You remember that publican and
the Pharisee went out to pray? We were like the Pharisee by
nature. Lord, I thank You that I'm not
like other men. I thank You that I'm not like that guy. I'm better
than that guy. We relied on our works. We weren't
shut up, we weren't shut in, but when we're shut up and shut
in, what do we do? We become the publican. Lord,
have mercy on me, the sinner. I don't know if that Pharisee,
he looks pretty good. I don't know if I can match him,
but I know this, I am the sinner. Be merciful to me, the sinner. But how shall we approach unto
God? We cry out for mercy, but how shall we approach unto God?
Job said this, if I called and He had answered me, yet I would
not believe that He hearkened to my voice. Job knew he was a sinner. He
was shut up and shut in. If he cried to God, would God
hear me? Isn't that the question of someone who's shut up and
shut in? Will God hear me? Yet see in our text the answer
of God to those who are shut up and shut in, to those who
cry unto God. Look at the answer. This is the
third part. The answer. In verse 13, And Moses said unto
those people that cried, those who were shut up, those who were
shut in, those who cried unto God, he said this, Fear you not,
stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. Now listen, you
who are fearful, you who are helpless, you who are hopeless,
shut in and shut up sinner, don't be afraid. The one who shut you
in and shut you up is God. He led you there. Here's what you need to do. You
listening? Stand still. Stand still. And see the salvation of the
Lord. Sinner, stop working. Cease from your vain efforts
to escape. Stop trying. Isn't that what
men... Well, I'm trying! Stop trying! Give up! Surrender! Stand still! Stop trying to help God help
you. God doesn't need your help. Did
He need your help to shut you up and shut you in? He didn't
need your help. He did it all by Himself. And
you know what? If God will deliver you, He'll
do it all by Himself. He don't need you. You need Him. And listen to what
He said. Stand still. Stand still. You know, when Moses was receiving
the law, he said this, If you want to make me an altar, and
you build it out of stone, don't touch it. Don't make it pretty. Don't chisel it. Don't sculpt
it. Leave it alone. Why? Because in salvation, if you
put your hand to the work, you defile it. You make it of none
effect. It's not powerful. It's not going
to work. Paul warned those Galatians, he said, if you be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. If you don't stand still, if
you don't stop trying to add your work and your will to the
work of Christ, you will never be saved. Stand still. Do nothing. And what? See the
salvation of the Lord. Stop working and look. Look, you remember when they
were bitten by those serpents. They were given that, the Lord
gave to Moses that brazen serpent. He said, you build this serpent
out of brass and put him on a pole and set him on a hill. And then
you tell Israel, look and live. What did that serpent picture?
Christ on the cross. Christ who died for the sins
of His people. Christ, the righteousness of
God. The only Savior for sinners is Christ. Behold, friend, the battle is
not yours. You'll never win it. God must
fight for you. God must fight against your sin.
God must fight against Satan and death and hell, the law and
the justice of God, which shuts you up and shuts you in. God
must do it for you. He must fight for you. There's only one who has fought
and won the victory over all our enemies, is Jesus Christ. You see, He alone has merited
the righteousness of God by His faith. Scripture says, "...even the
righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ."
How is righteousness obtained? Stop working! And look! Righteousness has already been
obtained. See then how He was made sin
for us and suffered under the justice of God, to which suffering
the justice of God was satisfied. Stand still. Stop trying to satisfy
God's justice. And look, Jesus has already done
it. He shall see of the travail of
His soul and be what? Satisfied. God satisfied. Why do you keep working? Why
do you keep working? Look! and see the salvation of
the Lord. Therefore, he says to Moses in
our text, I like this, look at this. Verse 15, and the Lord
said to Moses, why are you crying to me? Go forward. Tell the children of Israel,
go forward. Not to the law, not to the despair
of their sin, not back to death and hell, go forward into the
justice of God, into the sea. And lift up thy rod, and stretch
out thy hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of
Israel shall go through on dry ground in the midst of the sea." This brings me to my fourth point.
The movement of those shut up and shut in. God said, go forward. Now listen, I would never suggest
any sinner go before God in himself. That is a foolish errand. to
try to go before the justice of God in yourself. And listen,
I wouldn't do it myself if God didn't say it. Go forward. Come to Me. Isn't that the command? Come unto Me. All you that are
weary, shut up and shut in. All you that cry for mercy, come
to Me. Stand still. Stop working. See what I'm doing. See what
I've done and come to Me. Come to me. You mean I can come to God? Listen, God doesn't ask you to
come. He commands you to come. Come to me. God says to Israel, go forward
into the judgment bar of God with this confidence, the rod. Moses, had Moses not lifted up
the rod, the sea would never have parted. And you listen,
if God had not lifted up Christ on the cross, the sea of God's
judgment would have never parted. But look, it's parted. The way
is open. Look, the ground is dry. Go forward. And what do those
who are shut up and shut in do? They have nowhere else to go
but forward. And that's what we do by faith.
We go forward. We come to Christ. We believe
on Christ. Don't be afraid. Come forward. come with confidence that the
rod has been lifted up, God has parted His infinite justice,
and we are able to walk to God on a firm foundation that is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Here is the cause. Not to fear. Here is my cause of hope. Though
I be shut in and shut up to sin and guilt, the blood of Jesus
Christ hath atoned for all my sins. He hath redeemed me from
the curse of the law, from the penalty of sin, from death, from
the power of Satan and the justice of God. Oh, how firm a foundation,
you saints of the Lord, which laid for your faith in His excellent
Word. Have you come to God by Christ?
Then I want you to see this. Those walls of water, some say
13 stories high, many others deeper. It never touched the children
of God. They walked through those walls
of water untouched. Believer, as we walk by faith
in Christ, we are untouched by the justice of God. You know
why? Because it touched Christ first. Therefore, the scripture says,
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak comfortably
to Jerusalem, for the Lord has accomplished her warfare. and
has paid double for all her transgression, all
her iniquities. So those walls of judgment, justice,
they're not meant for our hurt, but rather our protection. You
see, no one could come at us from the right or to the left,
could they? No one could come before us, that's where God is.
Though Satan pursue behind us, the justice of God is not going
to touch us. Therefore the just shall live
by faith. I know that we are so prone to
fear. You know, I imagine those Israelites
were afraid. You bet they were. Did they have any reason to be
afraid? No. God had purposed all along
that they make it. He had purposed long before they'd
ever got there that they should make it easily to Canaan. You
listen, God had always purposed for you to make it to glory. And everything He's done is to
lead you to this place where you should trust Him, where you
should believe in Him. And if you trust and believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, I know this, regardless of how you feel, God's purpose that you'll make
it. Now stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Move forward, go forward into
the justice of God, for the blood of Christ hath parted it. And
even so, now that Christ has went before us, He is waiting
for us on the other side. You know, Moses, he went first.
He went through there first. He's a picture of Christ. He
went there first, and he turned around, and he looked, and what
was he doing? He was beckoning them to come. And that's what
he does for us. Christ is on the other side,
beckoning us through the wave, through the justice. Come on,
it's well with you. It's safe. Come on. And what
do we do? We go forward. Today I'm going
forward. I still believe in Christ. And
you know what? I still believe in Christ. You know what? And
I still believe in Christ. And I'm going to keep doing this
until the day that God takes me home, until I actually make
it to the other side. And so will you. So will you. And the fifth thing is the pursuit.
Pharaoh pursued hard behind Israel. And remember, this is the purpose
of God, too. We, like Israel, were given a great victory, a
great season of joy and peace. Isn't that what happened after
the Passover? Don't you think everybody was
happy? Everybody was rejoicing, having a good time. We got all
this, we spoiled Israel, and we didn't even have to fight.
The blood did this for us, and we were so happy. And then what
did God do? He shut them in. Isn't this our
experience over and over? Joy! Joy! Joy! Sadness! Sadness! Sadness! Joy! Joy! Joy! Sadness!
Sadness! Shut in! Shut in! Delivered!
Shut in! Shut in! Delivered! It's our
experience. All the time, Satan is always pursuing us. Always
chasing after us. And you listen. The same God
that ordained your salvation, ordained His pursuit of you. And yet, we who believe in Christ,
we are often found murmuring. Now what Israel did, they cried
unto the Lord, but they also at the same time murmured. Anybody? Anybody? Lord, help me! Oh, I can't stand where I am.
Help me! What happened? Why are you doing
this to me? What's wrong? Why am I in this
trouble? I don't understand. Murmuring
and crying at the same time. I like this. Someone said, let
me not speak of sovereignty and then complain of my lot in life.
It's inconsistent. So our prayer is, Lord, deliver
us from Satan, from sin, from doubts and fears. Lord, let us
obey and go forward, looking only to Christ as the goal Let
us run the race that we have set before us with patience, for Satan will pursue us, yet
he will never overtake us. You got that? Ordained to pursue,
but never to overtake. Was it possible for Pharaoh to
reach them? Now, Pharaoh thought it was possible,
But the Lord knew it was not. He ordained that it would not.
And when He got to the middle of that, you know what happened
to Him? He was destroyed. You know what happened to your
sin when Christ rose from the dead, Christ died for your sin?
Your sin was forever erased. Blotted out as a thick cloud. What then can Satan accuse you
of? Nothing. He rides hard. But in the end, he always is
defeated. Always is defeated. And the last
thing I want to give is a warning. A warning to you that have not
been shut up. You that have not been shut in.
You that have not cried unto God. You that have not experienced
the grace of God in believing in Christ. Listen to this. Go
back to your text for just a minute and look at the last part of
this text. Now, true faith, it goes through the Red Sea. Let me see, make sure I got the
right place. There we go. By faith, they pass through the
Red Sea as on dry ground, which the Egyptians are saying to do
the same, were drowned. Pharaoh and his army are not
only a picture of Satan and our sins and death and hell, but
they're also a picture of false religion. Those who don't have
true faith. Those who are religious attempt
to do the same as true believers. They attempt to make it through
the justice of God to the other side. They attempt to make it by their own determination. Pharaoh was determined, wasn't
he? His heart was hard. He had gotten
the best of his men, the best of his chariots, and that's what
men do. They get the best of their works, the best of their
religion, and they're determined to make it to God. They're determined
to do good works and to prove themselves righteous. But just like Pharaoh and his
chariots, they always get stuck in the mud. The ground is not
dry to them. Religion is nothing more than
a quagmire. It's a quicksand. It always demands
more and there's never enough. And listen, everyone who tries
to come to God by their own works will have the same fate as Pharaoh
and his chariots. The justice of God will in the
end consume them. and they shall perish for eternity. So then, are you, have you ever
been shut up and shut in? Yes. Have you ever had to cry to God
for free mercy without merit? Have you ever been able to cease
from your works and look to Christ by faith? Do you continually look to Christ
by faith? Go forward through the Red Sea
of God's justice. Untouched, always looking to
Christ. Are you pursued by Satan and
your sin always at the heel? then you have this. They, by
faith, pass through the Red Sea. True faith always passes through
the Red Sea. How? By Jesus Christ alone. And all those who do not come
to God by Christ will perish. Now do you see? Have you passed
through the Red Sea? We do, by faith, in Christ. That's
true faith. Do you have true faith? Then
your heart should rejoice. Because that's what they did
when they made it to the other side, didn't they? They rejoiced. In what? The salvation
of God. We didn't rejoice in our going
forward. We didn't rejoice in our... We rejoiced in God. That's
what we do. We rejoice in God. I pray God
give us such grace to do so. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.