Okay, let's go back to Exodus
14. Exodus chapter 14. Tonight I
want to, by God's grace, tell you the truth. I want to tell you the truth,
and I'm about to. And in doing this, I hope that
it's going to bring some great comfort, not just regular comfort,
great comfort. And the reason I tell you this
is because we need this. I needed this. This is why we
skipped ahead. This is very, um, relevant. Okay? All I want to do is look at a
promise in God's Word. That's all I want to do. Is look
at one promise in God's Word. And here it is. Look at Exodus
14 verse 14. It says, the Lord shall fight for you." That's
it. The Lord shall fight for you. Not only is that true, that is
a promise from God. I'm telling you the truth. There
is no doubt in my mind. Who is that promise to? It's to his people. All of his people, yesterday,
today, and forever. All his children, all his chosen,
every tribe, nation, kindred, tongue, and people, the Lord
shall fight for you. If the Lord is going to fight
for somebody, then he has to fight against somebody else,
right? There's a song that we love. And this is how the words go.
It says, there's a line that is drawn through the ages. On that line stands an old rugged
cross. On that cross, a battle is raging. to gain a man's soul or its loss. On one side march the forces
of evil, all the demons, all the devils of hell. On the other,
the angels of glory, and they meet on Golgotha's hill. The
earth shakes with the force of the conflict, and the sun refuses
to shine. For there hangs God's son in
the balance, and then through the darkness he cries, it is
finished. The battle is over. It is finished,
there'll be no more war. It is finished, the end of the
conflict. It is finished, and Jesus is
Lord. Now whoever the Lord fought that
battle for, That three-day battle. Whoever he fought that battle
for, whoever has been given the victory through the Lord Jesus
Christ over sin and death, here's a precious promise from God.
The Lord shall fight for you. It does not say the Lord has
fought for you. And now you'll walk the rest
of this life alone. It doesn't say that. He said,
I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Go with me to Isaiah 53. The thing I loved about this
was there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. No maybes. The Lord shall fight for you. Isaiah 43. Verse 1 says, But now thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. He said, I created you. I formed you. I redeemed you. I called you. You're mine. So don't think for
one second I'm going to let you go through anything in this life
alone. If I did all that, what makes
you think I'm done with you? Which is what we think. It really
is. I got to do this on my own. Isaiah 43 verse 2, when thou
passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee, therefore
I will give men for thee." I'll kill people for you. That's what
he's saying. And people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every
one that is called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed him. I have made
him." I made him. Verse 18 says, Remember ye not
the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I
will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall
you not know it? I will even make a way in the
wilderness. I'm going to make rivers in the
desert. Rivers in the desert. David said, Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no people. Now, I jump to the worst case
scenario first. That's what I do. And then if it gets better, okay,
I will then become more hopeful. But that's not what God is saying
to do right here. I will fear no evil, David said,
for thou art with me." Here is God's promise in His Word. If God the Father chose you and
if God the Son died for you, the Lord will never leave you
and the Lord shall fight for you. Every battle, every time. All right. Now let's get some
proof on that. All right. Go back to Exodus
14. Exodus 14, the Israelites have
just gone out of Egypt. We've been studying it all this
time. Okay. And they finally go out
at God's command. He commanded them to go. Look
at verse five, Exodus 14 verse five says, and it was told the
king of Egypt that the people fled and the heart of Pharaoh
and of his servants was turned against the people. And Pharaoh,
they said, why have we done this? That we've let Israel go from
serving us. And he made ready his chariot
and took his people with him. And he took 600 chosen chariots, 600 of them
and all the chariots of Egypt and captains over every one of
them. The Egyptians are going after
the Israelites to kill them. We know the story. Verse 13,
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, you shall see them again
no more forever. How was Moses so sure? God said so. Verse 14, the Lord
shall fight for you. And you shall hold your peace. Verse 19 says, now we know that
the Lord was a pillar of fire and a pillar of a cloud, right?
Verse 19, 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. 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, six hundred of them.
And it came to pass that in the morning watch, the Lord looked
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 draved them heavily so that
the Egyptian said, let us flee from the face of Israel for the
Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. All their kingpins
fell out. I don't even know what a kingpin
is. Now you think about that. Here
they are 600 chariots and all of a sudden all the wheels on
all the chariots fall off. Well, that's impossible. With man, it is, but this is
God's battle. Verse 26, the Lord said unto Moses, stretch
out thine hand over the sea that the waters may come again upon
the Egyptians, upon the chariots and their horsemen. 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 host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them.
There remained not so much as one of them, not one. 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." Can you imagine
Israel walking through two walls of water Water. You think they were afraid? You
better believe it. How quickly do you think they
wanted to get through that sea? They had to be thinking, there's
water coming down on us. Afraid. It was water. They could see
the sharks in it. They could see the whales in
it. If it comes down, we are dead. Afraid they made it, though,
why the Lord fought for them? Six hundred chariots. Chariots,
these were mighty men of war. Against these slaves. All their
armor, all their strength, all their horses, all their chariots
didn't do them a bit of good. And what we see in our lives
is something that outweighs us. I can't, I'm no match against
this. Well, it ain't your battle. It's the Lord's battle and the
Lord shall fight for you. Turn with me to Joshua chapter
10. Joshua chapter 10. Five different kings decided
to go to war with Gibeon. Five different kingdoms decided
to go to war against one. Verse 6, Joshua chapter 10 verse
6, And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua, and his name in
the New Testament means Jesus. The men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua
to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants. Come up to us quickly and save
us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in
the mountains are gathered together against us." They're all coming
for us. Come save us. Verse 7, so Joshua
ascended from Gilgal. He and all the people of war
with him and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said unto
Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thy hand.
There shall not a man of them stand before thee. Joshua therefore
came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them
with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way
that goeth up to Bethoron, and smote them to Ezekiah, and unto
Makeda. And it came to pass as they fled
from before Israel and were in the going down to Bethlehem that
the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them to Ezekiah
and they died. They were more which died with
hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with
the sword. Now he told them, you go, the battle's yours. And they barely killed anybody.
The Lord caused it to hail. They were more that died with
hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with
the sword." Well, they were just lucky that Mother Nature caused it
to hail that day and it just so happened that none of the
hail actually hit the Israelites. It only hit the enemy. But they
were lucky. No, they weren't. The God who
still to this day controls the hail was fighting that battle. Fighting that battle, he fought
for them. Alright, now verse 12, I love
this. Verse 12, Then spake Joshua to
the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites
before the children of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel,
Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of
Aalon. And the sun stood still and the
moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their
enemies. Is not this written in the book
of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the
midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that
before it or after it that the Lord hearkened unto the voice
of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel." The Lord said, you
go get them. The battle is yours. And Joshua
said, Lord, would you cause the sun to stand still until we finish
this thing? And the Lord did it. And the
sun stood still an additional day. A whole additional day. Well, that's impossible. Yeah, with man, it's impossible.
But this is the Lord's battle. The Lord shall fight for you. One more go to Second Chronicles,
Chapter 20. Second Chronicles, Chapter 20. Verse one says, it came to pass
after this also that the children of Moab, the children of Ammon,
and with them other beside the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat
to battle. All right, so you got three different
people coming against Jehoshaphat. Then there came some that told
Jehoshaphat saying, there cometh a great multitude against thee
from beyond the sea on this side Syria. And behold, they be in
Hazazon Tamar, which is Engedi. And Jehoshaphat feared and set
himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout
all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves
together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of
Judah, they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in
the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the
Lord before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers,
art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all
the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not
power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?" We're
going to give God all the glory in this thing. Verse 12 says,
Oh, our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us. Neither know we what
to do, but our eyes are upon thee. We're just going to look
to you. And all Judah stood before the
Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
Then upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah,
the son of Jeiel, the son of Madaniah, a Levite of the sons
of Asap, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. And he said, hearken ye all Judah
and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, thus
saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason
of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but
God's." And I'm telling you the same thing right now. I don't
care what it is. Verse 16 says, "...tomorrow go
ye down against them." Show up. Go on down. "...Behold, they
come up by the cliff of Ziz." I can tell you where they're
going to be. And you shall find them at the end of the brook
before the wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not need to fight in
this battle. You don't need to fight in this
battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation
of the Lord with you. O Judah and Jerusalem, fear not,
nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head
with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And
the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children
of the Korites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a
loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning
and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went forth,
Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and ye inhabitants
of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God.
So shall you be established. Believe his prophets. So shall
you prosper. And when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should
praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army,
and to say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever."
They went out to fight, but in the front of the army, he put
singers, singing, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth
forever. Verse 22, And when they began
to sing and to praise, the Lord sent ambushments. against the
children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against
Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and
Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay
and destroy them. And when they had made an end
of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another." Those
three people all came to destroy Jehoshaphat. And they all were
sneaking up into the same place. And they all ambushed each other
and killed each other. Verse 24 says, And when Judah
came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto
the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the
earth, and none escaped. Not one. And when Jehoshaphat
and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found
among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies and
precious jewels which they stripped off for themselves, more than
they could carry away, And they were three days in gathering
of the spoil. It was so much. That battle was
over. Not only did they not have to
fight, it was over before they ever even showed up. It's totally
over. Verse 26 says, On the fourth
day they assembled themselves in the valley of Baraka, for
there they blessed the Lord. Therefore the name of the same
place was called the Valley of Baraka unto this day. Then they
returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat in
the forefront of them to go again to Jerusalem with joy, for the
Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies. And they
came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the
house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all
the kingdoms of those countries when they had heard that the
Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat
was quiet for his God gave him rest roundabout. Soon as everybody
heard God is fighting for them. Nobody wanted a piece of them.
Nobody. Now these battles that are placed
in front of us, and we have them daily, these battles that we are so
sure we're going to lose, we have ourselves convinced, well
nothing ever works out for us, so, you know, we're going to
just think the worst. Our Lord has said this, I am
the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not concerned.
You're not going to lose a battle. You're not. This is the truth. This is a precious promise in
God's word. The Lord shall fight for you. Paul wrote, if God be for us,
who can be against us? Nobody, no thing. I don't care
how many of them there are. I don't care how powerful they
are. I don't care how much money they
have. I don't care how many lawyers they can buy. The Lord shall fight for you.
You know what that means? We're not going to lose. Now, it's going to work out for
good. It may not work out like my simple
mind thought it ought to work out. But the best end result
for that battle is what's coming to God's people. We're going
to win. We're going to win. All right,
now let's close by going back to Exodus 14. Verse 14 says this, the Lord
shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. That's the commandment. That's
the result. If you will know that the battle
is in his hands, then you can hold your pace. Hold your peace,
rest, stand still, rest, go to sleep. Don't worry about it.
You put it in the Lord's. It's already in the Lord's hands.
Bow to that. Lord. We come before you. We call on you. This is bigger
than us. We can't go against this, but
we know that the heathen is in your hands. So we call on you
to fight for us. The Lord shall fight for you
and you can hold your peace. Peace. Rest. That's a promise. That's a good one, too. All right,
let's stand together.