Exodus chapter 14. I hope the
Lord will bless this. I was blessed studying it. I
asked Mindy, which she would rather hear Ephesians 1 or Exodus
14. She said, that's a hard decision. I said, well, we hear Ephesians
quite a bit, don't we? We don't hardly go through a
message without quoting Ephesians once. But this in Exodus 14. In Hebrews 11, we looked at how
Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ's
greater riches. and all the treasures of Egypt.
He forsook Egypt. And then it says that all of
Israel left Egypt, and they all passed through the Red Sea. They
all went through the Red Sea, which the Egyptians, assaying
or attempting to do, were drowned. All the children of Israel went
through and made it on the other side. But all the Egyptians were
drowned. How sobering is that? The thing
that is going to destroy us and our children, unless God has
mercy on us, is this world that we're passing through. The things
of this world, the people of this world. Satan is the great
deceiver, like Pharaoh. He's a great deceiver and has
people captive. He uses deceitfulness of sin. Scripture talks about the deceitfulness
of sin. I gave you those verses Monday
morning. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from
the living God. Deceitfulness of sin. And Paul
talked about the deceitfulness of riches. In other words, these
things lie to us. It promises pleasure and it ends
up in great pain. Riches don't make us rich. They
make us poor in faith and peace and these things. Listen to 1
Timothy. Paul, I just quoted that partially
to you. Paul said this. He said, they
that will be rich, all those that will be rich, those that...
Now, all of us, comparatively, to our brethren in Mexico, are
rich beyond your understanding. I mean, every person in here.
We've got brethren that still live with dirt floors and grass
huts, don't we? They don't have a car, they never
will have a car. They might have a bicycle, some
of them. And we've seen, those who've been down there, we've
seen 10 or 12 people from a visiting church pile in the back of a
little small Toyota pickup truck in the bed and drive, ride two
or three hours just to hear one message, gospel message. And
then ride back late at night and get up at dawn to go to work
out there in that hot Mexican sun. We're rich. But now he said,
they that will be rich. That means those that that's
what you're after. They fall into temptation and snare and
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drowned men in destruction
and perdition. And that's the world. That was
Egypt. That was Egypt. So this is a
needful message. You know what is it that saves
us? It's the gospel that saves us. The gospel is the fire of
God. It saves us. Well, it's the preaching of the
gospel. Please, God, by the foolishness of preaching. Everything God
said to the Israelites was through Moses, wasn't it? A man. Now,
he's just a man. I keep emphasizing this. Why? Because it's true. It's true. Everything that God says to his
people, he says through the Word, and that through the preaching
of the Word. Despise not prophesying or preaching. What you're hearing tonight,
I hope you'll be glad that you were here. If you hadn't been
here, you wouldn't hear this tonight. All the warnings and
the promises, we're going to get both. We're going to hear
both. All this exhortation, forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together as a matter of some end, but exhort one another. And so much more as you see the
day approaching. I hope it's apparent to you that
I'm very serious about this. I think every message is vital. We just don't know what we're
gathering from every message. You know that you eat food, you
eat meals, and you don't, your body needs it. You mothers, did
you ever think, you know, if your children missed one or two
or three meals, oh well, what's one meal? Never. Never. You're concerned about their
welfare, aren't you? You want them to eat? My mother
fixed three square meals a day. Every day. What if one of them
didn't show up at the table? What would my mother say? Oh,
well, Paul, he's... No. Who cares? No. Every meal's important. So, all the Lord did for the
Hebrews, He did through the preaching. everything they heard. Every
promise. Every warning. Every promise. God said to Moses, go tell these
people. Go tell them. What if they hadn't
been there? They'd have been shaken with
fear. They'd have gone back to England.
And the Lord fed. The Lord led. The Lord taught.
The Lord brought the people into the promised land through the
preaching of the Word. It's the means that God uses.
You know, God may use means to heal you physically. He may not.
He may not. But He always uses means to save
and keep you saved. And that means is the gospel. There is no other means. God
never bypasses those means. He always uses them. So, I urge you, like Paul, to
keep yourselves under the Word. Now, do you remember in chapter
14, look at verse 13. Moses said of the people, fear
not, fear ye not, fear ye not, stand still, see the salvation
of the Lord. Now, where did I hear that? But Moses wouldn't have
heard it if God didn't tell Moses to tell him that. Fear not. They were shaking with fear.
But he told them, fear not. Do you remember Isaiah 30? Do
you remember that? It said their strength is to
sit still. Sit still. And he said, in returning
and rest, you'll be saved. Quietness and confidence shall
be your strength. We gather strength there together. And we come where Christ is. That's the bottom line. We come
to worship Him. We come, we want to hear from
Him. Christ is where His people are,
always. He said, we're two or three together,
that's where I am. And we come. That's the nature of sheep. Sheep
have to have a shepherd. And sheep have other sheep. They have. That's the nature
of the animal. They congregate. They gather together. Especially
when they're afraid. Have you seen a flock of sheep
when something frightens them? What do they do? Do they each
want to go their own way? No. I mean, they... And I guarantee you, if there's
something out there to get those sheep, that shepherd is right
nearby. And the enemy's got to get by
that shepherd. So we come here to huddle together,
don't we? Around the great shepherd. That's the nature of sheep. He
said, fear not. Stand still. Huddle up. I love, I wanted to, I had it
to read to you in 2 Chronicles 20. I don't have time tonight
either, I don't think, but that story, read it for yourself,
where Jehoshaphat and all of Israel stood before the Lord,
they were surrounded by the enemy, and Jehaziel, a man preached
one message, he preached one message, John, only message he
ever preached. It's the best message anybody's
ever preached. He said, the battle's not yours, it's God's. He said,
you won't need to fight this battle. Set yourself, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. Where'd he get that? From
Moses. And then he said, fear not, you'll
be dismayed. He said, tomorrow, go out against
them. Remember? That's what Moses said.
He said, stand still, God said. See the salvation of the Lord.
We will show you today, the Egyptians, your sins, your enemy, you've
seen today, very soon you'll see them again no more. Never
again. The Lord shall fight for you.
And He did. Christ did, didn't He? On Calvary's tree. Tell them
the warfare is accomplished and Christ won. by himself, purged
our sin, sat down at the right hand. He said, you'll hold your
peace. You'll hold on to your peace. What peace is it we're
holding to? Christ. The blood of his cross. And then
the Lord said to Moses, tell them, go forth. Go forth. Where? Through the sea. Tell them to
go forth. There's a great gulf fixed between
us and the other side. You know, this, that Red Sea
that was before them represents, and we've seen it many times,
but it represents this present evil world that is red with the
blood and death of human beings due
to sin, evil, wickedness. Remember in Genesis 6 the Lord
said the whole earth had corrupted His way and was full of violence. And it's never been more so than
now. Never. And this present evil world like
the Red Sea is just because of evil and wickedness and violence.
This is mankind. Mankind is like cattle that fatten to be slaughtered. That's true. That's what Scripture
said. That's what Psalm 37 said. How are we going to go through
this life without being slaughtered, without being overcome? How are
we going to get through this world without being... It's full
of wickedness and violence and violent and evil. The God of
this world is... It's dangerous. It's dangerous.
For them to go through that Red Sea was... It's perilous for
them. The Egyptians tried to make... They didn't make it.
How are they going to get through that? Here's what the Lord says
to Moses, verse 16. Lift up your rod. Lift thou up
thy rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divine.
And here's the promise. The children of Israel shall
go on dry ground through the midst of that sea. All of them,
all of them. Every single one of them are
going to go right through the middle of that sea that's going
to drown all of Egypt on dry ground. Every single one of them,
from the youngest to the oldest, the weakest to the strongest.
Oh, what a promise that is. What's the dry ground? Well,
first, let's look at this rod, okay? He told Moses, and Moses
represents Christ, doesn't he? Moses is God's man. Christ was
the man of God, the God-man. Moses was God's prophet. Moses
even said, there'll be a prophet like unto me who will arise. Him. He's the one that you'll
follow. That prophet. Christ is that
prophet. So Moses represents our Lord
Jesus Christ. And God told Moses to lift up
his rod and his hand, and the sea would divide. And the children would go over.
The rod. Do you remember how this started? Back in Exodus
4, you don't have to turn, but this started when God said to
Moses, who was a shepherd, Remember, he led the Jethro's flock to
the back side of the desert, and there was a burning bush,
and he went up to see it, and the Lord said, What is that in
thine hand? Do you remember that? I know
you remember every point of that message. I'm sure you do, if
I asked you. Anyway, he said, What is that
in thine hand? He said, It's a rod. The shepherd's staff,
a rod, that is what you're going to lead, my people, through the
Red Sea and through the wilderness and all the way to the Promised
Land, that rod. Christ is the rod. Christ is the hand of God. He's the hand of God. He's the
Son of the right hand. The right arm of the Lord. His
Word. Christ's Word is the rod. The
rod and His hand. That's what He uses. Alright,
now listen. I just looked up the word rod. It means branch. What's a branch? You've cut a branch off a tree?
Where's the branch come from? Tree. Christ is the tree of life
and His arm is that rod. Listen to Psalm 110. Listen to
this. Psalm 110 verse 2. The Lord shall
send the rod of thy strength out of Zion to rule in the midst
of thine enemies by his power. His people will be willing in
a day of his power. Gospel power. Christ is that
rod. Christ is the power of God. The gospel is the power of God.
Listen to Isaiah 11. This is it. There shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow
out of his root. And the Spirit of the Lord will
be upon him, and be of wisdom, and understanding, and counsel,
and might, and knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. And he'll,
with righteousness, he'll judge the poor. And I could just keep
on reading. Isaiah 11. When's the last time
you've read that? Isaiah 11. Read it. Rod means scepter. A scepter. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of his kingdom. A scepter, the kings of old used
to have these rods in their hand, you know, sometimes long thing
on the end of it, but they ruled. Everything they did was by this
rod, didn't they? They would make their decrees,
they would make their decisions, they would make their choices
of people, they would dub knights or whoever pleased them accepted
or rejected by that rod. They did it all by that rod.
Christ is the rod by whom God rules everything, by whom He
makes all His choices, elects in the Beloved. Accepted or rejected,
He entered out of Christ. He is that rod, scepter, scepter. A rod is a walking staff for
support. What do you lean on? Or rather,
who? Christ. Who is this coming up
from, from, what was it, the woman in the Song of Solomon,
he said, who is this coming up leaning on her beloved? Christ. We lean on the everlasting arms
of our Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? He's our support. And in His word, remember thy
word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
It's all my support. His words, all my comfort. And then the rod is for chasing.
The rod is for correction, isn't it? His rod and His staff, they
comfort man. Whom the Lord loves, He chases.
You remember the story of Walter's little Mexican foster daughter
that Maybe you haven't heard this. Somebody. Somebody hasn't. Good. There's one. Brother Walter
Gruber had five of his own children, and they fostered a Mexican girl. Chela was her name. Beautiful.
She was one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen. And she
was just a model child. She came from a very poor village,
one of those dirt floor houses. And they took her into their
home, a nice home, you know, tile floors and windows, a roof,
food every day. She was just so happy to be there. She was a model child. She never,
ever did anything wrong. Whereas, Brother Cody, and Kevin, and Lisa, and Vesta,
and Gina, all of them, you know, like our kids, they're always
getting in trouble. They took it for granted, you
know, like we did. Well, this little girl, she saw
Cody and Kevin being the rod. Walter didn't spare the rod,
he spanked them. And she saw this. She knew Cody
and Walter and Betty loved their natural-born children. One day,
little Chayla was acting totally out of character. She just pitched
a fit. She just was acting bad, ugly. And Walter saw it and said, Chayla,
what's wrong with you? You better stop this. Well, she
didn't. She kept on. He said, Chayla,
I'm going to spank you. So he did. He took her in the
room, and I don't know what he used, but he had a switch or
something, and he spiked her. And while he was spiking her,
she had a great big white tooth grin in the midst of that brown
face, with tears running down her face. It hurt, but she's
grinning the whole time. And afterwards, she said, Now
I know you love me like your own children. whom the Lord loves. He uses the rod. The world isn't
using the word of God. The world's not chasing another
word of God. The word of God doesn't bother
the world. It corrects us that way. It chases them. Whom the Lord
loves. He convicts them. Chases them. Brother Ron read
from Lamentations 3 tonight. The very first verse. I'm the
man. who has seen the affliction of
God, the wrath by the rod of His wrath. Did our Lord love
His Son? Did He love us? How do we know? Here in His love. Not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to take the
rod of His wrath, to take our weapon in our place. Now I know
He loves us. That's how we know. That's how
we know. Throw that rod. Now he said,
hold up your rod, hold up your hand. And he said, the children
of Israel, go back to the table, all the children of Israel shall
go through this sea, this Red Sea. Didn't our Lord Jesus Christ
say, you must, didn't the Word of God say, you must, you must,
you must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven?
Why am I going through this? You must. You must. If you had no troubles, you'd
want to stay here. If you had no troubles, you'd
like the Egyptians. Psalm 73, David said, they don't
have trouble like I do. I'm plagued all the time. You must, through much tribulation,
take great comfort if you go through great tribulation. Take
great comfort if you go through heavy trials. Know this. Know this. That to trial your
faith, work with patience. And patience, experience. And
experience hope. All God's people go through much
tribulation. All of them. They all had to
go through that register. Our Lord said, in the world you
shall have tribulation, didn't He? In this world, to His people.
That was a private conversation with His disciples when He said
that. In the world you shall have tribulation. But, what's the next word? But
be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Who's
that? The rod. I'm going to divide this and
you're going to go through. Through me, through him, through
Christ. Christ is the Red Sea. The cross, where he shed his
precious blood. The cross, the blood of Christ. It saves us, but it's going to
damn those that don't believe. So all shall go through, he said,
on dry ground. Dry ground. Hmm. What's that? That's Christ the rock. Christ
the rock. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is what? Sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Christ is that rock. Dry ground. You won't sink. Trust Christ,
you won't sink. You'll fall, but you won't sink. He won't mire up. He delivered
you out of the muck in the mire. You might fall back in it, but
He'll bring you out of it. You're not going to sink. You're
not going to drown. Trust in Christ. You will not
drown. You will not be overcome by this.
Do you hear me? There's no other way, except
trust in Christ. And what you'll find, it's like
the Israelites going through the River Jordan, same thing. The
priests went before them holding the ark. Remember? Look to the
ark. And they stepped, and every step they took, it was solid
rock. And the Lord had them take those
stones and put a memorial up there on the other side as to
show them, this is what you stood on. This is how you passed through.
Remember that. Christ is solid rock. He is that
eternal memorial of how we make it through this world. And he
said in verse 17, I go through the midst of the sea, verse 17,
I, behold, I will harden, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians. I will harden them. You remember,
go to Hebrews 3, I sent you this word, this memory verse, verse
says, And if you're like me, you easily forget. But look at
it again with me, okay? Hebrews 3. It says, the Lord
said, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians. Hebrews 3,
look at verse 12. Well, look up at verse 7. Well, as the Holy Ghost said,
today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in
the provocation. Your father's tempted me, verse
9, to prove me. I saw my work 40 years, but I
was grieved with that generation. Now in verse 11, I swear my wrath,
they won't enter. So he says, verse 12, take heed,
brethren. lest there be in any of you,
that includes me, an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. Exhort one another daily. You
know, whenever we get together or talk to one another, let it
be a word in season, okay, or else our gatherings are useless. We need to build up one another
on this most holy faith. You know that? Husbands and wives
and brothers and sisters, whenever you talk to one another on the
phone, say something worth saying to help one another, exhort one
another. Verse 13, while it's called today,
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness We've made
partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our company
steadfast unto the end. That's Christ. That's the gospel.
Hold fast unto the end. He said, I will harden the Egyptians. Brothers and sisters, we are
absolutely in the last days. 2 Timothy 3 clearly describes
the last day. Perilous time. It doesn't talk
about dangers all around us. It talks about how wicked and
immoral and perverted society is. It's never been more so than
it is now. Never to the degree it is. See,
there are more people now than ever before. That's the way it
was before the flood. And that's the way it is now.
Absolute perverted society. The whole head is sick, the heart
is in pain. Do not become insensitive to
sin. Please. May the Lord keep us
like Lot. Lot lived inside of him. Do not. May the Lord keep us
vexed by all the wicked conversations around us and the wickedness
within. May the Lord keep us vexed. Do not ever become insensitive
to sin. Do you know what the gospel is
called? Listen to Titus. The faith of
God's elect, the truth, is after godliness. That is, to make us like God,
to make us like Jesus Christ. That's why God saves the people
out of this God-forsaken, wicked place. Don't ever forget that.
The truth of God teaches us to deny ungodliness. To live, to
deny worldly lusts, that we should live soberly and righteously
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and glorious appearance of our great God and our Savior Jesus
Christ, who gave his holy righteous self for us wicked sinners. How can we live like that? Do
you hear me? Do not ever become insensitive
to sin. Do you remember when the Lord
first dealt with you, how you just recoiled at movies and things
you saw and heard? Do you remember that? God forbid
that we should ever leave that sensitivity to sin. He hardened
the Egyptians. The world is hardened to the
law of God, the Word of God. Goodness, righteousness, holiness
hardened. Purity? Nothing pure. Nothing pure. Romans 3 clearly tells what mankind
is by nature. It's an ugly picture. And such
were some of you. But you washed. You washed. What did you get washed in? What
did it take to wash you from that filth? The blood of God's
Son. You see the cause there and you
see why we should want to live Like him, in this present evil
world. He said, I will harden Egyptians.
This world has never been more hardened to sin than it is now.
Ever. There's nothing, no holds barred. No right, no wrong. It's about over. I will harden
Egyptians. They're going to come after you.
They're going to come after you. That's what Isaiah said. Those
that depart from me will make themselves a prey. They're the
prey. Predators are after them. He said, I'm going to get
me honor upon Pharaoh. Look at verse 17. I will get
me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his host, upon his chariot, upon
his horsemen. I'm going to get honor. You know
God's going to be honored by every human being that's ever
walked on this earth. Either in their damnation, by His justice
served, or their salvation. He's going to be honored. Yes,
He is. Yes, He is. I want to honor Him with my whole being right now.
mind, body, soul, and strength. Don't you? I really do. I'm going
to harden Egyptians. I'm going to harden them. But I'm going to get honor on
them, he said. All their hosts, their chariots, their horsemen,
everything, everything the world trusts in, I'm going to get honor.
God's going to be honored. Everybody's going to see someday.
You know, this world was a vain thing to trust in, wasn't it?
Egypt, why did we look to man? Why did we look to technology?
Why did we listen to what man was saying and rejected the word
of God? Why? Why? Why? Why? And all of us
are going to say, why did he reveal this to me? Why, why,
why did I find such grace in his sight? Why me? Why me? Ruth, isn't that right? Rahab,
Rahab, why me? The harlot. Why? Ephesians 1. The good pleasure
of His will. Even so, Father, it seemed good
and I said it. And then verse 18, I close. And Egyptians shall
know that I am the Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue
shall confess. In the name of Jesus, every single
tongue of every single human being that's ever lived is going
to say, He's Lord. Reluctantly. reluctantly. But God, His people are willing
in the day of His power, the day of the gospel power. They
see His glory now, and they, by His grace and by His mercy,
they willingly and lovingly, He's my Lord. That's my Lord. They love it, I have to say.
And they know He didn't make Him Lord. God just revealed to
them. Egyptians will know that I'm
the Lord when I've gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his
chariots, upon his horsemen. That sounds like Romans 9, doesn't
it? It is. Word hasn't changed. Old Testament,
New Testament. Romans 9. What do you think about Romans
9? Do you like Romans 9? Do you know how many people would
like to take Romans 9 out of the Scriptures? Like Ephesians
1, where it says, For this purpose, Pharaoh, I've raised you up and
dumped you in the river. What if God, willing to show his wrath,
made one vessel of honor and another vessel of dishonor? Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated? Not of him that willed it, but
of God that shall have mercy. The whole world hates that. They
hate that, vehemently hate that. What do you think of that? Why? Manny and I were talking about
this, and I've asked you before, is there one verse in this Bible
that you would take out? Is there one verse in this book
that you don't like? There are thousands we don't
understand, but we wouldn't take it out. We're going to understand
someday. But thank God He has given us
an understanding of what we need to know, or rather, who God is,
what man is, who Christ is, and what salvation is. What more
do you need to know? Nothing. In closing, turn to
2 Peter 1, and I'll close with you, I promise you. 2 Peter 1. The Lord said, I'm going to,
all Egypt's going to know that I'm the Lord. I'm going to get
honor on Pharaoh, upon all the Egyptians, upon the whole world.
God's going to be honored by every human being. And God's
people are going to honor Him for such great, so great salvation. But look at this. 2 Peter 1,
let's read these first four verses. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ. to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Oh, grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
according as his divine power hath given unto us all things. that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature. having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. All Israel, all who trust
the Lord, all who believe in Him, all who look to the Lord
Jesus Christ, all who stand on Christ's solid rock, are going
to go through this world on dry ground. That's a precious promise. Okay, stand with me.