Turn to Exodus chapter 13. Exodus chapter 13. There are a couple titles that fit
this message. God led them. I think you would
know by this scene what the message is going to be about. God led
them. The long way home. The long way
home. Let me read to you starting in
verse 17. Now, we left off with this chapter
the last time we spoke from it a few weeks ago, and I started
to move on to chapter 14, but there are some things in
chapter 13 that I think that is helpful to us, could
be a blessing to us here in this chapter. Chapter 17, And it came
to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them. Let that be loud and clear. God led them. God always leads
His people. that God led them not through
the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. That
was the closest route to Canaan, was through the land of the Philistines.
But God did not lead them that way. For God said, lest peradventure
the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. He knew those Israelites. He
knew them. But God led the people about
through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children
of Israel went up harnessed. Over in my margin, it says by
five or in rank, and another rendering of that is armed. Armed. They were not a weak,
feeble people. They went up armed, harnessed. You can imagine all those years
in bondage under that hard bondage. They were tough people. Now,
I'm telling you, they were tough people. They lived a tough life. They didn't go home to air conditioning,
you know, and find a fine home. They lived in bondage. And they were a tough people.
And it says they went up armed and harnessed. Someone said harnessed
by grace. They went up harnessed by grace
out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him, for he had said, for he had straightly sworn the children
of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry
up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from
Sukkoth and encamped in Etham in the edge of the wilderness.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud
to lead them the way." They were not wandering Jews. They were
being led, and they had before them A pillar of a cloud, a cloud
that covered them, that protected them from the heat of the sun
during the day, and by night in a pillar of fire. Can you
imagine seeing by night a pillar of fire burning? And it was burning
to give them light, which is a great representation of Christ
who is our light. Christ is our light. And that
pillar of fire that burned by night, no doubt it gave them
some warmth and some light and some comfort. And it also kept
away their enemies. And that pillar of cloud that
went with them by day. Can you imagine seeing that? They did. And they were still
scared to death. But, you know, men are men at
best, and that's all we are to go through this life. By night,
it says, in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go by
day and night. He never, never left them alone. And this is the point I want
us to get through this whole message, if it's ten minutes
or fifty minutes, is that the Lord never leaves His people,
and if we are His, He's leading. He's leading us. We may not be
able to detect it all the time, most of the time maybe, but He's
leading us. And He took not away the pillar
of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from
before the people. They always had His presence.
He was always with His people, leading them and guiding them. Now we must learn to trust our
Heavenly Father to guide us, to direct us. And I pray this
often, Lord give me wisdom, give me direction, give me understanding
as we gather here, as we move on through each year and time
goes by. Lord direct us, guide us, be
our guide. And he is. When I read Scripture,
this is why I stopped and didn't go on to chapter 14. There's
some comfort right here. There's some comfort. He's our
guide. He's our teacher. He's our lesson. He is our guide. He never leads his children down
a wrong path. Would you lead yours down a wrong
path? Now, I know someone's going to
think, well, why didn't, you know, they were the hardest people.
They were strong people, but not a weak people. Why did he go all the way around?
Why did he take the long way home? Because he's going to instruct
and teach his children something about themselves and about him. There's some lessons to be learned. You know, the shortest distance
between two points is a straight line. But that does not mean
it's always the wisest to take. It's not always the wisest. You
know, when we go on vacation, I get the map and I always try
to find the shortest route. The quickest route there and
the quickest route back. But that's not always the wisest.
It's just the shortest to go. You know, we Americans, we want
to get there fast. We want to get back fast. We
want everything fast, whether it's wise or not. We just want
it to hurry up. We're impatient, very impatient
people. But our Heavenly Father never
leads His children down the wrong path. Every path is designed
by infinite wisdom. It's designed by infinite wisdom
and foreknowledge. Job said he knoweth the way that
I take when he has tried me. He knows the outcome. He knows
how I'm going to act. I don't know. There's things
about me that I find out more and more the longer I live. I
find out how old and rotten I am. But you wouldn't have learned
it if he didn't take you down that path. There's a lot of things we would
not learn about ourselves and about God if it were not for
the path that he takes us down and the things we have to experience. Can you imagine? Which would
have been best? Let me ask you this. Which would
have been best for Israel to experience? The parting of that
Red Sea, that great deliverance, walking through, water walled
up on both sides, walking through on dry ground, and then turning
around and seeing all their enemies covered over, gone. Or having
to fight their way all the way to Canaan, having to fight those
Philistines. I think that Red Sea was the
wisest way for God to take them, don't you? Because that's the
way He took them. That's the way he took them.
So infinite wisdom and foreknowledge designs our path. He never leads
his children down a path where he does not lead the way by law. I said there in verse 17,
God led them. God led them. Verse 18, but God
led the people. He led them. Yes, he used Moses. Moses was an instrument, just
as I am an instrument right now leading you, this church, this
congregation. But God is the leader. I read
to you in Isaiah 55 over there, I have given him as a leader
and commander of the people. See, I'm gone. I don't know whether
I'll live another day or I might live another 25 years. God will always be the one leading.
They put another one, another one, another one, but He's the
leader. We look to Him. We look to Him
to lead us. The Lord went before them by
day in a pillar of cloud and at night in a pillar of fire
to give them light to lead the way. He's the leader. And the path that each one of
God's children take is ordained of God. You know, we all have to go through
different things, different experiences. But those things are ordained
of God. They're ordained of God. And it says in verse 17 and 18,
God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near, that was closer, than going around
the way they went. Last prayer adventure, the people
repent. See, God knows them. I'll touch
on this in a minute. He knows His people. He knows
who we are. He remembers our frame that is
dust. And He knew that when they saw
those Philistines, that it would scare them to death and they
would want to go back to Egypt. They weren't ready for that experience
yet. He gives us our trials, heartaches
and these things as we mature and we can handle them. He enables
us to handle them. These little kids, they couldn't
handle the 12th grade right now, but one day they will. One day
they'll grow up step by step, grade by grade, and they will
be able to handle the twelfth grade. Then they'll go on to
be able to handle college. Then they'll go on to be able
to handle a job and a family. You see the process? God wisely,
He wisely takes us down these paths according to His infinite
wisdom and foreknowledge and instructs and teaches us. He
knows us. But God led the people about through the way of the
wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up
harnessed out of the land of Egypt. We need to recognize the
leadership of God in all things. This is important. We need to
recognize his leadership in all things. He never turns over the
leadership of his children to the flesh. Do you know what would
happen? They'd go back to Egypt. They'd go back to Egypt. That's what would happen. So he never
turns it over to the flesh. Now even though we may not recognize
his leadership, he is leading. He never, never turns that over
to anyone and then just leaves them alone. No, He leads. He leads. And the
people that He leads are redeemed people. They are redeemed. They are blood-bought people,
bought by the blood of His Son. Would you turn that over to anyone
else? No. No. Not in any way, shape, or form.
Therefore, this being so, you can be sure that his leading
is out of love. It is out of love. It's out of wisdom. It's out
of mercy. You know the way that God leads
each one of us, the path that we take, the way he takes us
down each path is out of mercy. Whatever heartaches on that path,
it's out of mercy. It's an act of mercy to us on
God's behalf, on God's part. It doesn't look like that. You
think it looked like an act of mercy to the Israelites when
their back was against the Red Sea and there was Pharaoh's army
staring right down their face and they thought death was going
to be imminent? No, they're going to see a great
salvation. They're going to see a great
deliverance. And that's why God led him that way. He led him
that way that they might see his power, his glory, his mercy. That's why he leads every one
of his children down the path he leads them down. His leadership, as I said, is
done in infinite wisdom. However he leads us, and we need
to get a hold of this, however he leads us, is the wisest way
for us. It's the wisest. You know, the
Lord is not caught between two opinions or two ways. Now see,
which way should I do this? It's always one way. It is a
righteous way. It is a wise way. It is a good
way. It is the only way. Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the
Father but by me. There's not two or three ways
of salvation. There's only one. And that one
is Christ. His person, His blood, His righteousness. It's Him. But God is never caught between
two opinions. It's one way. His way. And it's a wise way. Wise. Often we wonder why God leads
us through the fire and through the water. Why does he lead me this way?
I mean, there's a lot of people that do not believe God in their
life. They got nothing bothering them. Well, as David said over here
in Psalm 73, look over here in Psalm 73. Truly God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet
were almost gone. My stead said, well, now I slept.
I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. There are no bans in their death, but their strength
is firm. They are not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride
compasses them about as a chain. Violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression.
They speak loftily. They set their mouth against
the heavens and their tongues walk through the earth. Therefore
his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung
out to them." Why? Why? I thought I was God's child. Why? And they say, how does God
know? Is there knowledge in the Most
High? These are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase
in riches. And listen to him. He said, Verily, I have cleansed
my heart and veins, and washed my hands in innocency. Well,
he's having a bad day there. But on down through here, he
says in verse 16, When I thought to know this, it was too painful
for me, labor in my eyes, it was just too painful to think
about, until I went to the sanctuary of God, Then I understood their
end. Until I went to the house of
God, the word of God was opened, preached, read. Then I said,
oh, I see. Lord, thank you for bringing
me down this path and not leaving me on that broad road of destruction. But you put me on the narrow
path. He did. You wonder why. Why do we have
to go through such things? Well, first of all, because it
is the best way for us, because it is the way of grace. The path that he brings us down
is a path of mercy and a path of grace. And then to teach us to trust
him and depend on him for our needs. We do not trust God nearly as much as we
think we do. And that's why he puts us through
the fire and through the water to make us trust him, rely on
him to provide. Lord, if you don't provide, if
you do not bring me out of this situation, I ain't coming out
of it. I'm not going to get through
this. And that's why he does it. He puts the children of Israel,
he puts their back right up against the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army,
and he hardened Pharaoh's heart. He brought Pharaoh down there.
He didn't tell the children of Israel, he's plenty of land out
there. He said, now look, I'm going
to bring them down here, I'm going to open the sea up, you
all are going to go across, and I'm going to drown them and it's
going to be over. They didn't know. All they knew
was there was Pharaoh's army after them. And then he said,
you tell them to stand still. That's when we see God's power,
that's when we see His grace and we see His mercy, when we
are at our wit's end and we have to depend totally on Him to pull
us out of it. Have to. And He does this that He may
demonstrate His tender mercies toward us. Whatever it is, it's tender mercies.
It's his tender mercies toward us. And that we may see his power
to save. We may truly see the power of
God to deliver us, and to keep us, and to provide for us. That's
why he leads us down the path. That's why we take the long way
home. Look, you know, I thought about this today before coming
over here. Look what he put his son through.
And I thought of this. He could have made us like the
elect angels. Could he not have done that?
Did he not make, did he not, he made this multitude of angels.
And the elect angels fell not because he kept them. He kept them. The others fell
because he let them go. But the ones that did not fall
are called the elect angels. But he did this, that he might make a people like
his son, not like angels. That he might make us partakers
of the divine nature. that He might make us trophies
of His grace. The angels will not. They will
not be able to sing the song of the redeemed. Not like we
can. Not like we can. Not like we
will. Oh, they praise Him. They give
Him perfect praise. They give Him all the glory. But I'm telling you, they cannot
sing Worthy is the Lamb, like you and I are going to sing it. You and I are going to have,
we're going to have such a deep experience. We started the experience
now, but it's going to be deep experience when we stand in this
presence of what grace really is, of what mercy really is. We taste it now. We've got a
taste of it. my soul, we are going to know
what grace is, and mercy, and the love of God, the experience
of that love that saved a wretch like me, who once was lost but
now found. That's why he took us down the path that He's
taken us. That's why His Son came into
this world, redeemed the people. He might receive all the glory,
but then He might receive the glory for who He is. You would not know grace had
you not followed. You wouldn't know mercy. You
wouldn't know it. I mean, know it, know it. You
wouldn't know it. And that's why He's brought us
the way He's brought us. That we might see a great deliverance by His Son. Listen, he led them through the
wilderness because he knew them. He knew them. He knew what that
would... He knew if he took them to the
land of the Philistines. Now, you know, God is God. God could
whip the Philistines without the Israelites. And he could
have given them a heart, you know, not to be afraid. He could
have done that. But he didn't. And there's a
lot of things he can do. You know, all the troubles that
I'm going through, he can just, with a word, the troubles you're
going through, I don't know them all, but you got them, I know
you are, you're in this place. With a word, he can make them
leave. With a word, he can heal. But I wouldn't learn as much
about him and myself if he did that. There is a time when all he needs
to do is speak the word, and we learn something from that.
We learn all. It's part of the power of His
Word. But there are lessons to learn by letting us just go through
the fire and go through the water. He knew them. He knew that the
Philistines would scare them, and they did not need that kind
of scare at that time. He had something else in store
for them. They're going to see Him part
that sea and take them over on dry ground. You know, that keeps
being repeated, that dry ground. They didn't step in mud up to
their knees and try to trudge across through there. They went
dry ground. What a miracle. God did that
one night. Opened part of that sea and dried the ground up. In the Philistines, we'll see
this next time, chapter 14, they thought, well, we'll just go
after them. No, they can't walk the same ground we walked. You've
got to have a different nature. You've got to belong to Him to
walk the ground we walked. They thought they'd walk the
same ground and got drowned. What was life to us became death
to them. You know that that pillar of fire that was there by night,
it gave light to Israel. But you know what? It was darkness
to the Egyptians. It was darkness to them. What's
light to us is darkness to this world. It was night to him. It's light
to you. You hear a man preach the gospel,
and I tell you, I can see it. Listen, when I'm standing here
preaching, I can see the confidence on your faces. I can see it. It's just like, you get it. You get it. But there's some
that I can see that don't get it. It's light to them. Light to them. And there's a time and a purpose.
Eternal Ecclesiastes 3. Why did God lead them the long
way around? Why does God bring me through
what He brings me through? Let's look at Ecclesiastes chapter
3. Let me read this. We know this
one well. To everything there is a season. and a time to every purpose under
the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to
plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted, a time
to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build
up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and
a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and
a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time
to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to
cast away. A time to rend and a time to
sew. A time to keep silence and a
time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate. and a time of peace. What profit
hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? I have seen the travail which
God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in." Now
listen to verse 11. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time. You and I can't always see the
beauty of it, because it's spiritual. It's not something physical out
here that we can see with these eyes. But what He is making out
of us in Christ is beautiful. And there's a time for everything
we experience in order to bring about that beauty. He has made everything beautiful
in His Now what's our comfort? I close.
What's our comfort? As we travel to Canaan's land,
what is our comfort? Our comfort, turn back to Exodus
13. Look in verse 21. Here's our
comfort. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them 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. He's always with us. Isaiah 43. Let me read this to you. I have it marked. 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
told you, he's leading the redeemed people. I have redeemed thee.
I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, not if you pass through them, when, when
you pass 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 only one of Israel,
thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia for thee, since thou wast precious in my sight. Thou
hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore will I
give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not." Now
listen, fear not. Rob with you. He's not waiting
on us. He is not waiting on us. He's
with us. He's with us. I'll bring thy
seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I'll say
to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring
my sons from far and my daughters from the end of the earth, even
everyone that's called by my name. For I have created him
for my glory. And everything you and I go through
is a part of that creating. It's a part of that creation. I've created Him for my glory.
I have formed Him. Yea, I have made Him. He's always
with us. Christ said, I will never leave
thee nor forsake thee. Remember this. His way is always a good way. It is always a loving way. It is always a wise way. It is
always a righteous way. So let's just trust him along
the way as we go home. He knows the way home and the
best way to get there. The best way to get there.