I have a very good friend who
has said to me on more than one occasion, I don't want to hear
a sermon. This person said, I've heard
too many sermons. They said, I want to hear a message
from God through God's messenger. And I understand what that person
means. I've heard many sermons, and
I fear that I've even preached some sermons. But that which I want to hear,
and that which I want to do, even this evening, is to deliver
to you a message from God. You see, anybody can deliver
a sermon. Put a few words on a piece of
paper and get up and talk. Did you know the word sermon
is not found in the Bible? You say, well, what about the
Sermon on the Mount? That title is not inspired. That's a title that men have
given our Lord's message from the Mount. But I'll tell you
what is in the Bible, the word message. Message. Haggai 1.13 says, Then spake
Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message unto the
people, saying, and here was his message that God gave to
him to speak to Israel. And the message was, I am with
you. said the Lord. That's a good
message, isn't it? That's a good message. 1 John
1.5 says, this then is the message that we have heard of him and
declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness
at all. 1 John 3.11 says, for this is
the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another. As I said, most anybody can prepare
some religious remarks, and if they have any public speaking
skills, they can deliver it. I pray that God give me messages. That's what I ask God for, messages. It may be a message of judgment or it may be a message of salvation. There's an interesting story
in the book of Judges, and I'll not ask you to turn there, The
Moabites had taken Israel into captivity, I believe, if memory
serves me correctly, something like 18 years. And they were under the bondage
of King Egelon. He was ruthless and he was very
cruel. God used him to punish Israel. After 18 years of bondage, Israel
asked God for deliverance. Scripture says they cried out
in their captivity. God raised up a preacher. His name was Ehud, the left-handed man. Probably
you remember that story. And God sent him to Eglin. And he said, I have a message
from God for thee. He didn't say have sermon. He
said, I got a message. And that message came from our
Lord for you. And Eglin said, everybody get
out. Everybody get out. I wanna hear what the message
is. And Ehud was a left-handed man, and he pulled out a dagger,
and he put it in the belly of King Eglin. The message was one
of judgment, one of death, one of it's time for you to meet
God. And Ehud shut the doors. and
left, and all the servants of the king thought, well, the king's
resting. They didn't even bother to check
on him. They went to check on him the
next day, doors still locked, and they used a key and unlocked
it. Well, it turns out that was a message of death. But then,
he sounded a trumpet. And then he said to Israel, I
got a message for you too. Deliverance. The captivity is
over. Our God is releasing us from
bondage. Oh God, make me a messenger. I pray a messenger of mercy,
a messenger of grace, But to unbelievers, a message of judgment. Moses stands before Israel. He has a message for them. It's
a message that will result in the judgment of the Egyptians,
but the deliverance of Israel. And my message to you is, the
Lord's chosen people are ordained to everlasting deliverance and
salvation. Our God will save His people. He actually saved us in Christ
before the world began. And He saved us when the Savior
died for us. And He saves us when He quickens
us by His Spirit, and the gospel of the grace of God becomes good
news and sweet news to our souls. And He keeps on saving us. He
keeps on preserving us, so much so that the apostles said, now
is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. And one
of these days, we'll really be saved. when we wind up in glory. In Exodus chapter 14, the Lord
is going to deliver Israel in fullness from the Egyptians. Now they've been redeemed out
of Egyptian bondage by the blood of the Passover lamb, by the
power of God. And I suspect that the Jews said
to one another, now we're on our way. After all, the Egyptians
said, here, take our silver, take our gold, take our jewels,
take everything with you, just get out of town. We don't want
you around here anymore. And they marched out of Egypt
with joy in their hearts and a great smile upon their face. We're going to the promised land
and I'm sure they expected it's going to be a straight line journey
right to the land of milk and honey. But God wasn't going to lead
them in the way that they thought He would lead them. Because there
was much for them to learn. Look at chapter 13, verses 17
and 18. And it came to pass when Pharaoh
had let the people go that God led them not, watch this, God
led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near. For God said, let's peradventure
the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about
He led them through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea,
and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land
of Egypt. Look at verse 20. And they took
their journey from Sukkoth and encamped in Etham and in the
edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them by the way. and
by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day
and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before
the people." And they found out that the way
that God would lead them was not an easy way, but it was that
way that God chose for them to teach them to lean fully upon
Him. It may be that I'm speaking to
somebody tonight upon your conversion, you thought, well, this is a
straight line right to glory. And I'm going to have a rose-strewn
pathway. That is not the case. As we know, The way is often difficult. The way is filled with enemies.
The way is filled with troubles. The way is filled with trials.
But God takes all of these things that happen to us and He uses
them to make for us a successful life. a life in which we're continually
reminded the Lord is our strength, the Lord is our help, the Lord
is always with us, and whatever the Lord in His wisdom brings
to pass in our lives by His divine providence, it's what's best
for me. Psalm 107 verse 7 is a reference
pertaining to Israel and their journey to the land of promise.
And the scripture says, David wrote, he led them forth by the
right way. The right way. And I hope and
pray that as we make our journey toward glory, that we will be
continually reminded by the Lord, this is the right way for me. But though we will forget that
so often, when we get to glory, we will all say when we arrive
there, our life on earth, the way that God took us, that's
the right way. It was the right way for me. And let's look at Israel's journey
here and their path through the Red Sea. Number one, here's a
state of helplessness. Look at 14 verse one, the Lord
spake unto Moses saying, speaking of the children of Israel that
they turn in in camp before Pi-Hi-Hi-Roth, between Migdal and the sea, over
Gisbeel Ziphon, before it shall ye encamp by the sea." Now, the
word pahiroth is an interesting word because it means a hole,
a low place. And oft times in the life of
a child of God, you feel like Has the Lord led me to a hole? To a low place? Well, He did
Israel. And then it says, between Migdal,
and the word Migdal, look it up, means a tower, a high tower. Between Migdal and the sea, over
against Baal-ziphon, which means Lord of the North, This was a
god that the Egyptians worshipped. He was a god of the north border
of Egypt. And his job, the job of this
false god, this idol that Egypt worshipped, the job of that god
was to keep within the boundaries of Egypt all of the servants
and captives of Pharaoh. but He was a God of their own
making. And this is the problem that's
so rampant today. People worship gods of their
own making, and they refuse to worship the God of the Bible,
the God who rules over all things, the God who reveals Himself through
the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of His grace. But people
will not worship the one true living God through the one mediator. They'll have their Baal Zephons
that they worship who cannot help them. That's why Isaiah
says, why do you call upon a God that cannot save? Why do you
pray to somebody who can't save you? And don't you want to ask that
question to so many of your family members and your friends? Why
do you pray to a God that can't really help you? His hands are
tied. He's dependent upon you. The world is filled with false
gods. Well, here goes Israel. They're encamping now in this
area. And then the Lord told Moses
in verse 3, for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel,
they are entangled, they're confused, they're perplexed. In the land,
they don't know what to do. The wilderness has shut them
in. Verse four, God said, and I will
harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them and I
will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the
Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. They're in a state of helplessness.
And you know, this is a picture really of the salvation of sinners. You see, Moses represents God's
law. And God's law leads us to see
our utter helplessness before God that we can't do anything to
bring about our safety. What God does here for Israel
is to disturb their safety, to disturb their hearts. They're
in a bad way. They look before them and there's
the Red Sea. There are mountains on either
side and back behind them, they hear the marching of the drums
of the Egyptian army, the mightiest army in all the world. And here
they are encamped before the Red Sea. They're in a helpless,
hopeless position. And that's what the law of God
does to us. Because it strips us of our self-righteousness
and leaves us naked before a holy God. The law of God exposes our
utter weakness and helplessness and makes us to recognize there's
nothing we can do to help ourselves. The enemy's too great. There
are too many obstacles against us. And that's the way it was
with the Israelites. Moses led them to this hole,
to this predicament. The law of God leads us, as it
were, into a hole. There's no way out. The law shows
us our sin, our guilt, the darkness of this hole that we're in, and
we can't get out. The law kills, but it can't make
a life. You see, it's the law's job to
get us lost. because nobody's gonna wanna
be saved till they're lost. And that's why the law comes
along. Our Lord said there in Matthew, he told the Pharisees,
they that are whole need not a physician. Who needs a physician? They that are sick. This is their
helpless condition. Here's the second thing, it was
a miserable condition. because they had three great
difficulties. Difficulty number one, the Red
Sea stretched out before them. But who put them in this position? This is a trial made by the Lord. Secondly, the Egyptians, being
led by Pharaoh, picture Satan and the world, which would devour
us totally unless God saves us. And then the third obstacle,
not only the Red Sea and not only Pharaoh and his army, the
third obstacle was their own corruption, their own corruption. You see, you get up here, look
at verse number 10. 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 out unto the Lord, and he said, That's good. No, that's
not good. Because they cried out to the
Lord in utter complaint. They murmured against him. and
against his preacher, verse 11. And they said unto Moses, because
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die
in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
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 been better for us to
serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.
Here are three great obstacles that they cannot overcome. They cannot overcome the Red
Sea, they cannot overcome Pharaoh and his armies, and they can't
overcome their own corruption. It's a miserable condition, and
that's the condition we're in. The sea of eternity lies in front
of us. and Satan and the world are opposed
to us and would swallow us up, destroy us. And our own hearts, oh my, the
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Miserable condition. Here's the
third thing, not only their helplessness and their miserable condition,
Number three, gospel directions. Here are the only words of counsel
and directions that Moses and all of God's preachers can give.
Look at verse 13. First of all, fear ye not, stand
still. You know what God did not do?
He did not arm them so that they could fight against the Egyptians
themselves. He didn't do that. He did not instruct them to fight,
to labor, to work for their own deliverance. No. He said, stand
still. And the natural man, when it
comes to his salvation, he doesn't want to stand still. He wants
to do something. Give me something to do. And yet the Scripture says it's
not of works, lest any man should boast. Salvation is not something the
sinner does for God or with God. The command is not to fight, The command is stand still. The command is not only stand
still, but number two, it is stand still and see. You see
that? Fear ye not, stand still and
see. Look, look. You see, Israel had been looking,
they had been seeing the enemy. far too strong, too great for
them. Instead, Moses said, see. See what? The salvation of the
Lord. And I tell you, He who is our
salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Simeon looked in the face of
that infant when Mary and Joseph brought Him to the temple. And
He said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Stop working,
stop laboring, stand still and see, look. Look. He who is our Savior is our salvation. Cease to try and figure out how
you can save yourselves. Stop and look. See who the Savior is. See how
almighty he is. See how glorious he is in redemption. And see the work that he alone
must do. Look to the Lamb of God. Notice
in verse 14, Moses says, the Lord shall fight
for you. This is not your fight. It's not your fight. It's His
fight. He determined to save His people
before the world was made. He determined to enter into the
battle to fight the war for the salvation of His elect. And he
went to the cross of Calvary and there at the cross a war
ensued. A war between heaven and hell. A war between light and darkness. A war between Christ and the
enemies of the people of God, Satan and all of his hellish
crew. A war took place and Christ is
the victor. He won the battle. He won the
war. And we're more than conquerors
through him who loved us. Stand still and see. The enemy's
too great for us. The mighty warrior, Christ our
Savior, he took on the enemies of his people and defeated them
all, crushed the head of the serpent. And then, before the eyes of
Israel, the way of safety opened up. Moses took that rod of judgment,
the rod of justice, and he held it out over the sea. And all
of a sudden, a way opened up. And I'm telling you, the God
of glory and grace, he took the rod of judgment, and he punished
our Savior in our stead, and lo, a way opened up, all the
way to glory. And He did it. He did it Himself. The rod of judgment was felt
in the soul of the Son of God, and we'll never feel it. There's
no wrath, there's no condemnation, there's no damnation to the people
of God. Christ bore it all. He's the
way opened up. And then Moses said in the latter
part of verse 15, go forward. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. And when He works a work of grace
in the heart, we'll enter into the way. It's a narrow way. And there are not many people
who enter into the narrow way, but I'll tell you this, it leads
to life everlasting. Enter into the way. And the same
one who opened up the way of salvation was a pillar of fire
and still a pillar of cloud. It was a pillar of cloud to the
enemy. God doesn't have to show mercy
to anybody. And he didn't show any mercy
to the Egyptians. They had no light. You think
about that. They had no light. On the other
hand, Israel basks in the glow of the light of the presence
of the Lord. You see, he illuminates his people
and leaves the reprobate in darkness. Oh, I'm so thankful God didn't
leave me in the darkness. On the one side is the people
left in darkness, the Egyptians. On the other hand, there are
people in the light of the mercy of God through Christ Jesus. He's light to his people, he's
darkness to his enemies. And then we have the destruction
of the enemies, verses 23 through 28. And when I think about these
enemies of Israel, here's what I see. We have enemies to our souls. Satan and all his demonic force. But the Lord has defeated all
of them. I'll tell you something else,
we got some more enemies. Our own sins. Our own sins. I'll tell you what happened at
the cross. All of our sins were gotten rid
of. Now watch this, look at verse 28. Verse 28, and the waters
returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the
host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Watch this,
and think of your sins. There remained not so much as
one of them. Not one of your sins remained.
Our Lord Jesus drowned them. He drowned them in his blood
and they're gone. We used to sing a chorus years
ago at camp. Gone, gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone. Now my
soul is free and in my heart's a song. You know that, don't
you? Buried in the deepest sea. Yes, yes, that's good enough
for me. But it doesn't have to be good
enough for me, it's gotta be good enough for God. It's gotta
be good enough for God. And Christ arose, that shows
it's good enough for God. And I shall live eternally, praise
God. Every one of my sins are G-O,
you know that song, don't you? G-O-N-E, gone, gone. I love that. There remain not
so much as one of them. Can you enter into the fullness
and the freeness of the forgiveness of all of your sins through the
bloody sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ? He drowned every
sin, not so much as one of them remains. Therefore, when we get
to glory, The sins of God's people shall be sought for. You're not
gonna find a one of them. Not a one. And then here's the last thing.
Salvation accomplished. I like this too. Verse 29 says,
but the children of Israel walked. They walked upon dry land in
the midst of the sea. And the waters were a wall under
them on their right hand and on their left. Literally, the
waters congealed. They're like jello. I wonder
if they looked through the jello and saw the fish swimming. I
wonder about that. But there were walls on this
side, a wall on this side. And I'm telling you, we're protected
on our journey toward glory. A wall of grace on this side
and the wall of justice satisfied on that side. And we walk. Doesn't say they ran. Doesn't
say they was in a hurry. I tell you what, if God has vanquished
all of our enemies, ain't no use to run. No need to be fearful. Just walk. Walk in the right
way that he has ordained for you. And that right way is Christ
himself. And we'll wind up in glory. As
the songwriter said in the sweet by and by, we will. Because our
Lord is leading us. He is the captain of our salvation. He is directing us in the way
that we should go. Jesus, Savior, pilot me.