How does God save his people? That's the one question I want
to answer in this message. How does God save his people? Now, the answer is found in many
places in scripture, but tonight I want you to turn to Exodus
chapter 14. I'm certain that the first 14
chapters of Exodus are specifically written to teach us how it is
that God saves sinners. I'm certain that that's the case,
because Moses was inspired by God to give us this summary of
all that has transpired in these 14 chapters, beginning at verse
30. Exodus 14, verse 30. Thus the
Lord saved Israel. This is how he did it. 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. Did you ever wonder where the
children of Israel got the arms and weapons with which they defended
themselves and conquered their enemies all the time they wandered
through the wilderness. And when they came at last into
the land of Canaan, they had no weapons in Egypt. They were
slaves in Egypt. They couldn't even get straw
to make bricks in Egypt. And they carried no weapons with
them out of Egypt. But on the seventh day, After
the Passover night, when all the host of the Lord went out
from the land of Egypt, Israel crossed the Red Sea by the mighty
hand of God and saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore, all their
foes, Pharaoh and his armies, his horses, and his chariots
overthrown in the Red Sea. And then as the Lord God had
brought the waters together again by a mighty rushing wind, they
see these armies of Egypt that had been drowned in the Red Sea
washed up on the shore with all their weapons laying beside them.
And they went around and gathered them up. And thus, the weapons that Pharaoh
and the Egyptians thought to use to destroy the children of
Israel were made to be instruments for the good and the care and
the protection of the children of Israel for 40 years. When I read that this afternoon,
actually this morning, two blessed declarations from the Word of
God came immediately to my mind. In all these things, We are more
than conquerors through him that loved us. All that which we thought would
destroy us, the Lord God our Savior makes to benefit us. And no weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper. You take those two things home
and you'll take home enough. We're more than conquerors through
our Redeemer. And no weapon formed against
you, my brother, my sister, shall prosper. There is a reference
to this passage here in Exodus 14 in Psalm 74. Turn there if
you will. Hold your hands here in Exodus
14. God's people are described by
the psalmist in the first part of this psalm as his congregation,
which he purchased, his inheritance, which he redeemed, wherein he
dwells, his turtle dove, and the people of his covenant. Then
in verse 12, the psalmist describes God's salvation of Israel on
the day they crossed the Red Sea. God is my king of old, he
writes, working salvation in the midst of the earth. What
a word. What's God doing? Working salvation
in the midst of the earth. What's he doing all the time?
Working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide
the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the
dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan
in pieces. and gavest him to be meat to
the people, gave him to be food for strength to the people, inhabiting
the wilderness. Now, this is Moses inspired summary
of the whole thing. Thus, the Lord saved Israel. How did he save them? How does
he save his people by his grace in Christ? Let's look at this
14th chapter one more time. And I want us to camp for a little
bit by the Red Sea and here see the glories of our Redeemer just
as clearly as we see his glories by the Sea of Galilee. First
thing is this. Israel's infancy was infancy
in a cradle of miracles. Imagine how that nation began
in its earliest days. Abraham was 100 years old, and
his wife Sarah was 90 when she brought forth a son, in whom
and by whom God Almighty said he would send the Redeemer in
this world. Abraham was 100 years old. So folks lived longer in those
days than they do now. He was still 100. And she was
still 90, and it had been a long time since her womb had dried
up. But by the miraculous intervention of God Almighty, Sarah conceived
by our father Abraham and brought forth a son out of whom God Almighty
said, I will make a great nation. And all the days of Isaac and
his sons on this earth were filled with trouble and difficulty as
they wandered here and there, faced this enemy and that. And
then at last, God Almighty brought Isaac's family, Abraham's family,
Jacob's family down to Egypt. Seventy people in all. Seventy
people brought down to Egypt in desperate need. The only reason
they went there is because they were starving to death, and they
couldn't get corn anywhere else. They came down to Egypt, but
before ever they came to Egypt, there was a man in Egypt, God
had set on the throne of Egypt, to whom he had given all the
stores of Egypt. That man was Joseph, their brother,
whom they thought they had destroyed long before. Joseph, whom they
betrayed, sold into bondage and presumed was dead. Joseph had
been through so much. He was arrested, he was falsely
accused of this and that, but he wound up sitting side by side
with Pharaoh on the throne of Egypt, and Pharaoh turned over
to Joseph all the substance of the Egyptians, and when Joseph
first saw his brothers coming to buy corn. He graciously, wisely
manipulated things to make certain he got the whole family under
his care. And if you look at the manipulation,
you would think those fellows were treated awfully cruelly.
You'd think, well, what's this fellow doing? How he's deceiving
his brothers? And that's what they thought.
But all the while, he was graciously manipulating the affairs of their
lives, even the troubles they experienced, to bring them down
to Egypt. And at last, he made himself
known to them. And when he did, he said, I'm
Joseph. I'm in the place of God. You thought to do me evil, but
God did it for good as it is this day to save much people
alive. And so the children of Israel
were brought down into Egypt and cared for by divine intervention
in the continual exercise of his providence, working salvation
in the midst of the earth. And then while they were in Egypt,
Joseph died and there rose up another Pharaoh who did not know
Joseph. And the children of Israel had
multiplied greatly. And the Egyptians began to fear
them. So they had made them their slaves to make bricks for them. And they decided they would start
to oppress them. And oppress them with cruelty
they did. They beat them and they persecuted them. They oppressed
them. The children were slain. But
all the while, we read that the children of Israel were fruitful
and increased abundantly and multiplied and waxed exceeding
mighty, and the land of Egypt was filled with them. God graciously
nurtured that nation in a cradle of miracles. Here's the second
thing. Let's jump ahead by long ways. At last, at the end of 400 years,
The children of Israel are brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand
of God. The Passover is instituted and
the Paschal Lamb is slain, representing, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ,
our Passover, who was sacrificed for us, who was slain for us. And the children of Israel were
preserved by the blood applied to the doors of their houses.
And they took the spoils of the Egyptians, The Egyptians plucked
off their silver and their gold and gave it to them and said,
here, take these things and get out of the land. I think about
that, I think how they must have danced as they marched along
out of that horrible place of bondage and oppression and slavery.
Now, they're carrying all the treasure of Egypt. all the riches
of that pagan nation, all the things that those Egyptians valued,
they're carrying it out with them. How they must have danced
as they marched along out of the land of Egypt that night.
But their dancing didn't last long. Soon the children of Israel
were hedged in on every side. And so it is with God's salvation. At first, they marched like soldiers
in a dress parade, returning from a mighty victory. Then suddenly,
Pharaoh and the Egyptians are on their backs. They ran until
they could run no further. Every door of escape was shut,
sealed before them. Their joy turns to fear. Hope
withers and despair sets in. The fiery and cloudy pillar that
followed them had led them right to the door of destruction. Would God do that? Would God
do that? He always does that, working
salvation in the midst of the earth. The Lord Jesus led them
out pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire and led them right smack
dab into the face of the raging Red Sea with mountainous rocks
on either side of them and Pharaoh and his armies rattling their
swords behind them and they're shut in, completely shut in. In front of them the billows
of the raging Red Sea On either side of them, walls of rocks,
impossible to climb. Behind them, an enraged army
of Egyptians. And within them, the worst thing
of all, a fearful heart of unbelief, trembling. They had the word
of God, yes. They had the promise of God,
yes. They had a long history experiencing God's miracles,
yes. But they had within them an evil heart of unbelief. If they move forward, they march
right into a watery grave. If they don't, they'll be mowed
down like withered, dried grass by Pharaoh's armies. Everything
seems ready to devour them. A cruel, shameful, painful death
seems certain and imminent. Every child of God knows something
about such things. The Lord God speaks by his servant
Hosea and talks about how he will hedge his own about. And he hedges them about so that
he may allure them to himself alone in the wilderness and speak
to their hearts. And so it always is when God
comes to save his own, he graciously wisely shuts us up. He shuts us up. I don't mean
he just shuts our mouths. I mean he shuts us up. He puts
us in a straight place from which there's no escape. The fact is,
if you've never been shut up, you've never been set free. If
you've never been cast into the prison where no water is found,
you've never been brought out to liberty. If you've never been
the Lord's prisoner, you've never been made his freeman. Many dreary
years, I slaved at bricks beneath the yoke of hell's foul prince. Then I heard the word of God's
grace. and God speaking by the gospel. And I thought my chains would
break with ease. Canaan's sweet rest seemed right
at hand. But suddenly, terrors gathered
around my soul. The memory of my guilt and my
sin spread like a black sea of utter darkness before me. Deep,
called unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts, all thy
waves and billows went over me. The Lord cast me into the deep
in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about.
All thy billows and all thy waves passed over me. The law thundered. And the fierce sword of God's
justice seemed to be glittering before my very face. My corruptions,
my iniquities, my transgressions, my sin, all came rushing upon
me. And all hope was gone. Because all hope in myself was
gone. Blessed hopelessness. Blessed
despair. I was shut in and hedged about
on every side. Five things suddenly seemed to
dawn upon my soul by which all carnal hope was smitten, and
I was slain before God. Now, I'm going to give you these
very briefly, but I want you to hear me. I want you to hear
me, young and old alike. Sooner or later, you're going
to have to deal with these five things. Sooner or later, you're
going to have to deal with them. For the first time in my life,
I saw my sin. God, the Holy Spirit, convinced
me of sin. Now, I had known all my life
I'd been a bad person. I'd known that all my life. I'd
known all my life I'd been a rebel. I had known all my life I had
committed iniquity. I had known all my life I had
done worse things than most people I knew. I knew those things,
but I never knew my sin. Never knew what I am by nature. Never knew the plague of my heart,
the corruption of my soul, the vileness of my being until God
showed me my sin. And he's going to show you that
one of these days, either to your damnation or to your salvation. But your sin, he will show you. I saw that not only were my deeds
evil, but my heart. Not only were the ungodly things
I performed evil, but that which I thought was good, my righteousness
was just filthy rags. And I saw for the first time
the infinite, holy requirements of God's law and justice. I thought like everybody else
did. You sitting here, You've heard better, so in your mind
you know better, but you still think this way until God changes
your thoughts. I thought really that God would
accept anything I'd bring to Him. All I had to do was just
make up my mind to start serving Him. How many times have you
heard folks talk about conversion this way? Well, I decided to
start serving the Lord. Once you give Jesus your heart,
as if he would accept that vile thing. No, no. Let me tell you what
God demands. It must be perfect to be accepted. That means, Ben, if you offer
God a thought of praise, it's got to be perfect or you won't
have it. I just stretched that out anywhere
you will. I'm going to give God my life. You're going to give
him a perfect one. I'm going to devote my life to
the service of Jesus, a perfect life with perfect service. God
demands perfection and you can't give it. And I saw I could do
nothing, give nothing, offer nothing to God Almighty. Everything
I had to give, would only aggravate my guilt and damn me before him. Third, seeing the holiness and justice
of God in some measure, I was convinced I needed a substitute. That's the purpose of God's law.
That's the purpose of God's law. Read Galatians chapter 3. God
did not give the Ten Commandments as a rule of life so we could
teach folks to live self-righteously and presume they were living
righteously. He did not give the Ten Commandments as a rule
of life so that we could get folks to start living and acting
religious when their hearts are full of hell. And no question,
the law given, those 10 commandments, is a proper standard of civil
law in any civil society. But it is not a standard of law
by which God's people live in this world. The law was made
for the ungodly. The purpose of the law, insofar
as God's elect are concerned, is one purpose alone. Oh, God,
I could make this world hear this. One purpose alone. to shut men up to Christ, to
shut us up to faith. It has no other purpose. And
when it served that purpose, its purpose is ended. The law
shows us our need of somebody to obey it for us. The law shows
us God demands righteousness. We can't perform it. We need
somebody who can and will. The law shows us that God must
and will punish sin, and we cannot satisfy God's justice. We need
a substitute, one to stand in our stead before God Almighty,
who is of infinite worth, who can both bring in everlasting
righteousness and put away sin by his one act of obedience under
death. And that substitute is Jesus
Christ the Lord. And fourth, And this is perhaps the most
difficult of all. I saw that the only way a sinner
can ever have God's salvation is by faith in Christ, by faith,
by faith. I knew that I must believe on
the son of God, just as you know you must believe on him. And at times, I even deluded
myself into thinking a profession of faith was believing on him,
into saying a prayer was believing on him. I deluded myself into
thinking that past experiences that had no effect on my life,
walking down an aisle, repeating what I was told to repeat, was
believing on him. But I knew in my soul and God
convinced me, oh, God convinced me that I could not believe. I tried. I knew I had to. I knew I was
responsible to. I knew God commends me to. But I couldn't believe. I could
not by any means muster faith from within. And I saw then that
faith is the gift of God. I was absolutely totally shut
up to the sovereign will of God. Darwin, he could save me or damn
me. It was up to him. He could give
me faith or send me a strong delusion to believe a lie. It
was up to him. He could give me faith or leave
me to myself. It was entirely up to him. By
these five things, I was slain, and all hope in self was destroyed. And I was compelled then to fall
on my face before the throne of the sovereign Redeemer and
cry, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. The Son of God says, look unto
me and be you saved. But if that's all he ever does
for you, you'll never look. It won't happen. He says to his
own, look unto me and be ye saved, and then he graciously hymns
us in, hedges us about, and shuts us up to himself, forcing us
by sweet, omnipotent mercy to look upward to him, crying, bring
my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name. And he brought
me forth also into a large place. He delivered me. How come? Well, this is the way the Bible
puts it. He delivered me because he delighted
in me. Delighted in me? I had no idea
that was so until he delivered me. He delivered me because he
delighted in me. He says his delights were with
me before the world was. He who stood in my surety, delighting
in the sons of men before ever the world was made. He delivered
me because he delighted in me. How I thank God for that grace
that shut me up to my Redeemer. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that
day. All right, here's the third thing.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So to create
faith in his unbelieving people, the Lord God sent a messenger
to his people, a prophet to lead them in the way. Let's look at
this messenger for a minute. Moses comes riding above the waves of trouble. He comes with the calmness of
unshaken faith. and speaks as God's messenger
to his people. Now Moses saw everything they
saw. He could see the raging Red Sea. He saw the mountainous
piles of rocks on either side of them. He could hear Pharaoh
and his horses and his soldiers behind them. He saw everything
they saw. And yet he was undaunted because
he knew very well when Christ goes before All is safe and all
is well. All is sure when he gives his
promise. And Moses had God's promise.
Come back to chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. The Lord spoke
to Moses out of the bush. He revealed himself as Jehovah,
the great I am, who's come to save his people. And in verse
12, the Lord God speaking to Moses out of the bush said, certainly
I will be with thee. This shall be a token unto thee
that I have sent thee when thou has brought forth the people
out of Egypt Well now they're out of Egypt They're out of Egypt
But they're standing in front of that Red Sea Pharaoh and his
army is ready to kill them. They can't escape in any direction
But God said when you brought them out of Egypt You shall serve
God upon this mountain. And the only way they could get
to that mountain is to go through that sea. The only way to get
there was to go through the Red Sea. Moses had been taught that Christ, the Savior, The
seed God promised to Abraham, the seed God promised to Mother
Eve and our father Adam, the seed that God had promised he
would send to save his people must come, but he must come through
the tribe of Judah. Therefore, Judah's tribe must
be preserved and must be saved. Moses believed God. He said,
I don't know how we're going to get through there. I don't
have any idea what God's going to do. And I don't have any idea
how close Pharaoh is going to get before he does it. But I'm
going to tell you something, fellas. We're going through the
Red Sea. I know we're going through the Red Sea because God said
it. Because Israel cannot perish. God's chosen this people. God's
chosen them. And so Moses speaks to the children
of Israel. Verse 13. Moses said unto the
people, Fear ye not. I've said that so many times
to so many people. And when I say it, I think, I
wonder if I'd pay any attention if I wasn't in their shoes. Easy
enough said, but oh, here's the foundation. Fear you not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you this day. 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." Here is a gospel warning. There's
no hope in self. Moses said, stand still. You
can't help yourself by willing something. And you can't help
yourself by doing something. Stand still. But here are gospel
tidings. See the salvation of the Lord. It's finished. Christ has done
it. The debt is paid. Sin is put
away. Righteousness is brought in.
All by the doing and dying of the Son of God. Neither the wrath
of man, nor the malice of devils, nor the rage of hell can harm
those for whom the Son of God has lived and died, for whom
the Son of God speaks and says, I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Someone said, stand then behind
the fighting God and you are high as heaven above all hearts.
Stay, child of God, whatever your trouble, behind the fighting
God who fights for you. And harm cannot come near you. Then the Lord spoke by his messenger
again. He said, speak to the children
of Israel that they go forward. What? Go forward? That's the watchword of God's
Israel. Forward? Onward, upward, heavenward. Danger threatens, forward. Ease allures, forward. Worldly
pleasures seduce, upward and forward. Hell rages, onward and
forward. God speaks distinctly. Go forward. He will not lead except in the
path of safety. So you can go forward. Now I
can hear men with their carnal reasons say, now that's not,
that doesn't make any sense. Stand still and go forward are
two contradictory statements. You cannot possibly do both.
But when grace gives light, faith has sight. And I'll tell you
what faith sees. that carnal reason can never
see. Faith sees that the revelation of God is one. The word of God is one whole
revelation. And those things that appear
to be contradictory to carnal reason, to intellect and brilliance
on the part of man, Walk in perfect symmetry when God gives the light
of faith. I often hear folks talk about
God's sovereignty, and so you can't possibly declare that man's
responsible for his guilt and his sin and declare God's absolute
sovereignty. I reckon I can. The book does.
Explain that. I don't have to. I didn't know
it was confusing. I didn't know there was a problem with that.
What God reveals is so, and faith sees it as one word from God. The believer, seeing the salvation
of the Lord, makes no step to expiate sin. He makes no step
to pay his debts. He makes no effort to appease
divine justice. He makes no effort to procure
redemption or righteousness for himself. And yet seeing God's
salvation, the believing sinner goes forward, growing in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, like the Apostle
Paul, forgetting those things which are behind, I press toward
the mark. I haven't gotten there yet, but
I'm pressing. toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God that's in Christ Jesus. What is that
prize? Everlasting glory. The believer stands still and
sees the salvation of the Lord. And as he sees his salvation,
goes forward. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that
day. He sent a messenger to them.
He commanded faith in them. And he gave them faith. And giving
them faith, he led them forward. Here's the fourth thing. Look
at verse 19. Here's Christ himself, the angel
of the Lord, who performed the work of salvation for his people.
And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed
and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud went
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 he gave light by night to
these, so that the one came not near the other all that night."
The Lord Jesus is a high wall of defense for his own. He encompasses
his blood-bought flock, they who would injure his redeemed. They who would do harm to his
people, they who would hurt his chosen, must first defeat his
omnipotence. No enemy can touch you except
first he pass through him, the angel of God, Christ our Redeemer. What floods of light, flow from
the crucified Christ to the believing hearts. He is light before them. We see in Christ crucified all
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. But to those
behind, to the reprobate, the unbelieving, whom he leaves to
himself, to themselves, the crucified Christ is darkness and confusion. Next, the angel of the Lord,
our blessed savior, opened the sea by the rod of Moses. Now, I've got to hurry, but I
want you to see this. Moses, you remember back in Exodus
3, when the Lord spoke to him out of the bush, Moses' hand
was first made leprous, and then it was made whole. And
it is that worthless, leprous, withered, dead hand that God's
pleased to use for the good of His people. And I promise you
that's the only kind of preacher, the only kind God will ever use. One who is made leprous before
God that he might be made clean by God. But there's more than
that here. Moses, as you know, throughout
the scriptures, Old Testament and new alike, represents the
law of God. Things written in Moses. Moses
said, that means the law said. Satan disputed about the body
of Moses, not about where he was buried, raising his body.
He disputed about the law, wishing to raise up the law against Joshua,
the high priest. Moses represents the law of God. And the angel of the Lord takes
Moses into whose hands he has put this rod. And he says to
Moses, lift up your head. And by the rod of God's law,
the Red Sea opened before the children of Israel. Now hear
me, my friends, the only way God Almighty ever saves anybody
is by his law. Oh brother Don, that's not right.
That's exactly right. Read this book one more time.
By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. Justice and righteousness
are revealed in the sacrifice of God's darling son, that God
may be just and the justifier of all who believe. Well, how
is it that the law opens the way of life before God's people? Justice satisfied demands the
release of the captive whose ransom price is paid. Do you
understand that? These fellows out here at North
Point Prison, do you know when they're going free? Do you know
when they're going to walk out? When they paid their debt. I'll
guarantee you not one fellow over there is going to stay one
night longer than the law requires him to stay. Because they're
not renting a hotel or boarding house over there. They're renting
a prison. That ain't much of one. It looks like a hotel or
boarding house, but it's a prison. And when the payment is made,
when justice is satisfied, the prisoner has got to go out. Now hear me. Jesus Christ has
satisfied all the justice of the holy God on our behalf. And by the demands of justice,
that very law, which would have condemned us without him, demands
our liberty because of him. because he has put away our sin
by the sacrifice of himself. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that
day. And look at our text one more
time. Let me show you the result of God's salvation. The last line of verse 30. Here's
the result. It's always the result. These
are the things that always accompany salvation. The result, not the
cause. The result, not the cooperation. The result of God's salvation.
Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. They saw their enemies dead,
never to rise again. When He, the Spirit of truth
has come, He'll convince you of sin, of righteousness and
judgment. All sin slain, never to rise
again. And Israel saw that great work
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. Israel saw how the Lord God condemned
sin by the sacrifice of his son. That's the picture. We see sin
condemned and punished and judgment satisfied by Jesus Christ the
Lord. And the people feared the Lord. They believed him. They worshiped
him and believed him. When does a man Believe Christ. When God, the spirit of truth,
speaks the word of your salvation in your soul, you'll believe
him and not until then. When God reveals his salvation
in you, you'll believe him and not until then. And those who
were saved by God gave God all the praise. And we'll get to
that shortly. Exodus 15, they sing unto the
Lord, saying, he hath triumphed gloriously. Thus, the Lord saved
Israel that day according to his purpose, to fulfill his covenant
promise, the cause of his choice, saved them by blood, the blood
of the Passover lamb, saved them by effectual power and distinguishing
grace, saved them by the word of his servant Moses, that which
he proclaimed to them by man, and he saved them completely.
Every foe conquered, never to rise again. And he did it all
for the praise of his glory.