Exodus, chapter 14. We're going to begin our reading in
verse 1. I want to read this chapter in its entirety, and
I believe I will. I'm just going to read the chapter,
because it is a wonderful, wonderful blessing. It was a blessing to
me. Chapter 14, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and
encamp in Pihiroth between Migdal and the sea, over against Belzephron,
before it shall you 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,
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." In other words, the Israelites
went as God told them. In verse 5 it says, "...and it
was told the king of Egypt that the people fled. And the heart
of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and
they said, Why have we done this? that we have let Israel go from
serving us. And he made ready his chariots
and took his people with him. He took six hundred chosen chariots,
and all the chariots of Egypt, and the captains over every one
of them. And the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children
of Israel. And the children of Israel went
out with a high hand. 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 beside Pihiroth
and Belzephon. 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 unto the Lord. And they said
unto Moses, And they said unto Moses, Because
there was 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 to die in the wilderness. And Moses
said to the people, Fear not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians
whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more
forever. The Lord shall fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Why criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel,
that they go forward. If you remember, what was forward?
The sea. The sea was forward. But lift
up thine rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and
divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground
through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden
the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. And
I will get me honor upon Pharaoh and upon 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. 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." That's where the Egyptians were coming from.
So, just to make sure we got our bearings right, they're going
forward into the sea, and the Egyptians are pursuing them from
behind. And the cloud, the pillar of
cloud, moved behind them. And it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud
and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to
the Israelites, so that the one came not near unto the other
all 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 on dry ground. And the waters were
a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the
Egyptians pursued and went after them to the midst of the sea. even all of Pharaoh's horses,
and his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass that in the
morning, watch, the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians
through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the
host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels." The
Lord took off the wheels of their chariots in the midst of this
sea, and they draved them hard. so that the Egyptians said, Let
us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them
against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Stretch out thine hand over the sea, and the waters may come
again upon the Egyptians and upon their chariots and 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 middle 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 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." What a great
history! What a great history of our God
delivering his people from their enemies. Now, what I want us
to notice mainly tonight would be in verse 19 and 20. The title
of the message is, A Great Division. I want us to see that God made
a great division between his people and the Egyptians. Read this again with me. It says,
And the angel of the Lord that went before them, 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 came between
the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Can you see
that? Here, the nation of Israel, they were set in a trap. They were set in a wedge. They were wedged in and could
not move. And God moved Pharaoh to chase
after them. And God put his pillar in between
them so that they could not come together. They could not even
see each other all through the night. And it was that same pillar
that was a light to Israel and darkness to the Egyptians. A great division. This religious
and self-righteous age that we live in talk a lot about unity. They speak a lot about unity,
not unity of Christ and His church, not that we should center around
one gospel, that we should be of one mind, one heart, one spirit,
no. This religious age is talking
about the unity of all religions, the unity of all governments
and nations, They desire that everybody just get along. Everybody
just put aside your divisions and just come together and everything
will be alright. But this is not so in the true
church of God. This is not to happen in God's
church. God has many times in Scripture
set forth this same example of division, dividing His people
from those who are not His people. The Scripture says that there
is only one gospel. Galatians chapter 1, Paul said,
he said, if any man preach another gospel, than that which we have
preached. Let him be accursed. Let him
be separated from us. Let him go to hell. It's how
serious this is. There is only one gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and it was never meant to unite the church
with the world. Never. This gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ alone, without the works of man, without the
will of man, without the deeds of man, that salvation is completely
and totally the work of God. This is the gospel that divides
men. It is not the gospel that unites
the world with the church. It doesn't unite the world to
the church. This gospel. This gospel of God's
grace, it has a way of dividing men all by itself. You know,
I don't have to be offensive. I don't have to be rude. I just
have to tell them the truth. That's all I have to do. You
see, the scriptures are very plain that God looks at men in
a horizontal fashion. All men are equally sinful, all
men are equally unworthy of mercy, unworthy of grace, unworthy of
God's favor. But see, men like to see themselves
in a vertical line. They like to see ranks and sections
and divisions of men. The Scripture doesn't make any
division about men in this sense. All equally worthless in the
eyes of God. The gospel declares that God
is absolutely holy, that He will, with His might and His vengeance
and the total character of His holiness, He will punish everyone
who has been found guilty of sin. Without exception, God must
punish sin. This gospel divides. You see, men believe God only
to be good and just as themselves. They don't see God to be as He
truly is, holy, holy, holy. They see God as some weak old
man who can't do anything for anybody unless they allow Him
to do something. They see God as unjust and unholy,
in that they think that Christ died for their sins, and yet
their God can demand payment at their hands. That's unjust. Their God is unjust, unholy. But our God is in the heavens,
and our God hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. This gospel
divides. This gospel divides. Our God
is holy and just and merciful and loving, and our God has purpose
to save a definite number of people. Our God has given all
of those people to his Son's charge. And his Son has come
and redeemed every one of them with his blood. He has risen
victoriously and is seated at the right hand of God, interceding
only for them. And he will call every one of
them." This gospel divides. And any other gospel is not the
gospel. False religion believes in salvation. of God can come from any experience,
that you can muster up salvation by some emotional experience
or some entertaining experience or some means of pacifying the
flesh, but the gospel, the gospel of God's grace says that the
preaching of the gospel is God's means of salvation. This is the
only means that God has chosen to save sinners. Scripture says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, Paul said, to them that perish, the preaching of
the gospel is foolishness, but unto us. You see the division?
But unto us. It is the power of God unto salvation. to everyone that believeth. Now,
just these few examples. I've put just a few of the essential
examples that show us the great divide between grace and works
religion. There is a great difference in
our gospel of grace and their gospel of freewill works religion. There is a great division. And
there is no unity. There can be no unity. There
can be no unity. Jesus said, I came not to bring
peace, but a sword to set a mother-in-law against
her daughter-in-law, to set a father at variance against his son.
And the gospel does that, doesn't it? All by itself. I don't have
to go around trying to divide myself or make myself appear
to be better than everyone else. The gospel of God's grace stands
on its own, and I just need to proclaim it. I just need to tell
people. Jesus Christ was set for the
rise and fall of many in Israel. And he did not come to unite
himself with this world. He did not come to take his people
and unite them with the world. He is caused of great division
by his gospel. Now, in this text, we see the
greatest picture of God's division. The division of God's children
and the children of Satan. Between those who are in bondage
to sin and those who have been set free by the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And this is something that I
urge you strongly to consider concerning yourself. Which side
do I stand? Where do I stand in this great
division? Well, if you stand on the side
of the gospel, then the plight of Israel is your plight. You can identify with everything
these people went through in this one section of Scripture.
First of all, God's people are led by God. God's people are
led by God. The Lord sent them to this wedge,
this entrapment, this enclosure. Now, you think that's strange.
I mean, why would God send his people into a corner? You see,
where they were, there was mountains on the right, mountains on the
left, a sea in the front, and God sent Pharaoh from behind.
They were enclosed, wedged in. You see, friends, they were in
a hopeless situation. They were in a helpless situation. You see, these people had no
way of defending themselves. They were a slavish people. They were just delivered three
days ago from being slaves. They were not soldiers. They
could not defend themselves against a mighty army as Pharaoh. Some
believe he had 600,000 men marching. 600,000 men marching after those
slaves. These people had a three-day
head start, and Pharaoh caught up with them in a day and a half.
He was moving. He was moving fast on them. But
God led them there. God led them there. And only
the children of God are led to a place of hopelessness. Have you ever been led to hopelessness? Have you ever Experience the
conviction of sin. Because that's exactly what this
pictures. Sin. When a man is convicted
of sin, he finds himself in a helpless and desperate situation that
he cannot escape. He cannot escape. God had led his people out of
bondage by the paschal lamb. He had already sacrificed that
lamb at Passover. Friends, even so, Jesus Christ,
for his people, before they knew it, he had shed his blood for
their sins. He had already redeemed them.
He had already freed them. He has already fulfilled all
our righteousness and redemption, and yet, truly, not one of God's
people is truly free until he is born again of the Spirit of
God. Until he understands his hopeless
and helpless condition before God, he is not free. He is not truly free. So, God in grace and providence
leads all his chosen people to the same dead end. Have you been
to the dead end of yourself? Friends, God must first shut
us up to any hope of helping ourselves. Have you been here? Because God leads every one of
his people here. Every one of them, not one. God will break our spirits and
our wills. God has broken my will to fight
against his sovereign, his sovereign being. You ever come to the point
where you feel you know that there's no hope unless God does
something? But God doesn't have to do anything. God didn't have to save me. He was righteous if He let me
die in my sins. You see, that kicks against the
very nature of man, but a man who's entrapped, a man who's
enclosed in conviction, he knows this, either God has to save
me or there is no hope, I'm doomed. We heard this last Sunday, Cody
said this, a man said that a sinner is a sacred thing, for the Holy
Ghost hath made him one. Everyone's sinners. Everybody
born of Adam's race is a sinner. But only God's people recognize
that they are sinners in need of mercy. Only God's people. Are you such a sinner? Are you
such a sinner as this? Have you been led to this point? Well, then I have a great message
for you. I have a great message of the
gospel, a message of comfort here in God's word. Let's look
back at our text to these who were entrapped, who had the mountains
on the right, the sea in the front and Pharaoh in the back.
Here's God's word. Go back to chapter 14 and look
over at verse 13. And Moses said unto the people,
fear ye not. Now what a strange thing that
is. These people were no doubt afraid.
They were scared. They said, would to God we would
have went back. Would to God, why did you bring us out here
to die? But isn't that how we feel in
conviction of sin? Oh, would to God that he never
opened my eyes to this. But God says to those in this
condition, fear not. Fear not. Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Why? Why such an absurd thing
as fear not? How can he tell a sinner like
me to fear not? Fear not, because God's promise
has promised to save His people from the bondage of sin, Satan,
death, and hell. God promised this. That's why
you should fear not, because God promised to save sinners.
Look at this in chapter 14. If you notice, verses 1 down
through verse 4, the Lord tells them what He is going to do,
doesn't He? Didn't He say that? He said, look, you go and stay
here in this entrapped place, and I will make Pharaoh come
after you, and then I'll destroy him. Is that not plain? Is that
not what God says even before He sent them out there? Even
before they were wedged in? Did He not promise that? Even
so did God promise His people from before the foundation of
the world that He would save them. He promised. He has given
us his word and the only hope for sinners is that God would
show mercy to a sinner who deserves no mercy. And God has. He said, I will
be merciful to whom I will be merciful. Is that not gracious
that he would be merciful? He didn't have to. He doesn't
have to. Yet he says he would. In Deuteronomy 7, we know that
the Lord said this about his people. He said, I've not chosen
you because you're a great number to people. Matter of fact, you
were the smallest. He said, I chose you because
I loved you. I loved you. Is that not a great
promise? God has promised to deliver us
even before we felt the conviction of our sins. Do you need mercy? Are you fearful? Trust God's promises. Trust God's promises and don't
be afraid. Number two, God says to the sinner
in conviction, stand still. Stand still. How does God deliver
sinners in such a condition? How is it that he causes them
to not fear in such a place? He does it absolutely, completely,
and without exception by his own sovereign power. So he says
to the sinner, stand still. Don't move. Don't move. Stand still. If anyone is to
be saved, he must stand still and cease to work for his salvation. cease, quit trying to please
God. You can't do it. Quit trying. God says, just stand still. Believe
my word. Trust my grace and surrender
all your works and obedience as nothing but filthy rags. That's what it is to stand still,
isn't it? Everything and everything I've done and everything I can
do is nothing. Nothing. It's worthless to save
my soul. A sinner must see that salvation
comes only by the will and power of God with no works or righteousness
or goodness of their own. Have you seen that? Has God made
you to stand still? I tell you, there is nothing
greater in this world than to stand still. Stand still. I know a man who's troubled,
who's constantly, supposedly under conviction, but he never
listens. He never stands still. He's always
trying. He's always trying to work it
out. And every time he calls, he says, I know what you're going
to say. You're going to tell me just to go and sit and hear
God's man preach. Yes, that's exactly it. You got
it. But he still won't stand still.
He still will not yield himself to God's man and God's message.
Why? He's trying to work. I tell you, it takes the power
of God to make us stand still. It is just natural for this flesh
to desire to earn God's favor. Just stand still. God says, don't
be afraid. Stand there. We must yield to God because
it's not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but God
that showeth mercy. It's God that shows mercy. And
God's going to show mercy to people who don't deserve it.
Isn't that the definition of mercy? People who don't deserve
it? I mean, if you deserve it, it's
not mercy. It ceases to be grace if you
do anything for it. God will show mercy. And friends, when God shows His
mercy, He makes a great division. He
makes a great separation. between us and this world. What's the great separation?
See the salvation of the Lord. Here's the separation. It's the
salvation of the Lord. Look what God commanded Moses.
Go back to your text and look at this in verse Wait a second, lost my place,
in verse 15. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest
thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they
go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and
stretch out thine hand over the sea, and what? Divide it. Divide it. You know that rod is the same
rod that he used in the judgment of the Egyptians. It was the
same rod that he used to put forth to turn the Nile into blood. It's the same rod that God used
in judgment for all of those judgments. And yet now he is
commanded to lift the rod of judgment. What is that? Remember when Jesus Christ said, as the serpent was lifted up
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."
You see, God lifted up His Son in judgment for our sins. Jesus Christ stretched out His
hands on the cross and suffered the judgment of God for the mountains
of our sin, for the sea of our sins. He stretched out his hands. And what happened when he stretched
out his rod of justice on Christ on the cross? When he stretched
out his hands in death, the sea of death parted. That sea separated
them from safety. That sea was trouble to them. Until when? Until he was lifted
up his rod and stretched forth his hand. I'll tell you, our
sins were troubling to us until Christ was lifted up for us. And when he stretched out his
hands in death, he said, it is finished. And the walls of our sins separated. And the sea that once was devastating
to us is now safe, safe. They went through on dry ground. They went through on dry ground,
can you imagine that? You imagine that the faith of
this thing, the walls went up hundreds of feet on either side
to the right and to the left, and there was dry ground and
they went through. And can you imagine that some
of them eventually figured out where they were and they looked
at the side and they go, oh, man, and they just fell to the
ground in fear. When they got to the ground,
they could move their hands around, say, oh, wait, that's dry. That's
dry. Isn't that what we do sometimes?
We fear. We fear the walls of our sin
would collapse on us at any moment, and we fall to the ground and
see that Christ is a firm foundation. Christ is firm. Our sins are
parted. They'll not touch us again. They'll
not harm us. The sea that was seen to crush
us, Friends, it has become our protection. All who believe on Jesus Christ
alone, the Scripture says, have been baptized with Christ in
His death. What does that mean? Well, baptism
is a picture, isn't it? It's immersion. And what were
the children of Israel doing? They were being immersed under
the sea. It was a picture of us being
united with Christ in his death, in his burial, and his resurrection. So that when he died, we died.
When he rose again, we rose again. And when he sat on the throne,
so did we. That's amazing. Absolutely amazing. And believer, we are surrounded
by the protection and power of God. in verse 20, you see that the
children of Israel were all night, they were protected because of
this cloud of division that God set. And I like this, so that
the one came not near to the other all night. When they shot
their arrows into that cloud, not one of them got through.
Not one of them got through. It was darkness and confusion. The gospel to the lost is darkness
and confusion. But to us, what is it? It's light. I understand. I see the salvation
of God in Jesus Christ alone. That's the miracle. That's salvation. And I'll tell you, one day God
will truly stretch forth his hand, not in salvation, but in
judgment. When every one of the children
of Israel made it safely to the other side, It was then that
God commanded Moses to stretch forth his hand. Notice there's
no rod in this, just his hand. Judgment's passed. His people
are fine. The judgment is on them. Stretch forth his hand. See my hand? See how you spit
on the Son of God? And when his judgment comes,
the water returns to its strength, and people who are without Christ
will drown in the depths of hell because of their own sin. There will be a great division
that day. Where will we be? I pray that God, by his grace,
would give us A greater faith to hold to Christ. To love Him and see what He's
done for us. To serve Him with gladness and
joy because He has taken away all of our sins. Is that not
great? Have you been in the place of
conviction? Have you been in the place where
God has brought you to the end of yourself? Have you ceased from fear by
trusting God's grace and promises? Have you stood still, ceasing
to work for your salvation? Then you've seen the salvation
of the Lord, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I'll tell
you, just as sure as those people were going to make it across
that ocean, across that sea, Every one of God's people will
make it to glory, and not one will be left. This is the gospel
that divides. I'm so thankful for that division.
It keeps us from the enemies of our souls and will lead us
to glory. I pray to comfort you, strengthen
you. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.