Do you sometimes feel that you
are trapped in hopeless despair at the end of a dead-end road
with nowhere to turn? You're stuck and full of fear. If so, I've got a message for
you, a word of instruction from God Almighty specifically for
you when you're trapped in utter despair. when you are at the
end of a dead-end road covered with darkness. The message is
very simple. The instruction is very clear.
You'll find it in Exodus chapter 14. Here it is. Stand still. I have received calls the last
several weeks from fellows, preachers, received two calls today. A couple
of preacher friends going through some difficulties, and they called
to get my advice. And before they ever asked the
question, they said, I think I know what you're going to tell
me to do. And they were right. Nothing. Just stand still. When you're
in a dilemma, stand still. When you're in a hard place and
you don't know what to do, dead sure, don't do anything. Stand
still. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. I just told you Bible's open
here at Exodus 14. I want to show you several things
in this passage as they relate to you and I, God's people in
this wilderness. First, understand this. We are,
while we are in this world, a people pursued by a furious foe. The Lord God hardened Pharaoh's
heart. After he let the people of Israel
go, God said, I will harden his heart, and he will say they're
entangled in the wilderness. Let's go after them and overtake
them and bring them back. And so Pharaoh, having been defeated
Utterly defeated in his purpose, utterly defeated in what he intended
to do, is now furious. There is no foe so furious as
one who is defeated. He may be locked up, he may be
bound in mighty chains, he may have no armaments, he may have
no ability, but a defeated foe is the most furious foe there
is. In Revelation chapter 12, you
see a vivid picture of this. John draws a picture given him
by the Holy Spirit of God's church, a woman, a woman in the world
persecuted by the dragon. And when he gets to the end of
the picture, he says concerning this dragon, Satan, that roaring
lion who roars against us continually, He is furious because he knoweth
he hath but a short time. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great
Redeemer, is described in Revelation 20 as the angel, the mighty angel
who came down from heaven having a chain, the chain of his own
omnipotence in his hand with which he bound the prince of
this world, that one who deceived the nations. He bound him. He
said, now is the prince of this world cast out, and I, if I be
lifted up, will draw all men unto me. But though Satan has
been thoroughly, completely defeated by our Redeemer, though he is
bound in the arm of our Savior's omnipotence, bound with the mighty
chain of his omnipotence, yet Satan is a furious foe who goes
up and down through the earth as a roaring lion seeking whom
he may devour. Look in Exodus 14, verse 9. The Egyptians pursued after Israel,
all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and
his army, and overtook them in camping by the sea. Pharaoh took
everything at his disposal and went after Egypt, and so it is,
Satan pursues us. He can do no harm. He cannot
harm God, his cause, or his people. And yet his rage is not diminished. He calls you and I much trouble. He roars against us like a lion
who's caged or a dog on a chain, growling and barking. He can't
do any harm, and yet he causes us much trouble. roaring against
us, seeking whom he may devour. He persecutes God's people, raises
opposition to us as long as we're in this wilderness, and causes
us trouble, and yet he can do us no harm whatever. Still, he
is furious. His fury is impotence, but he
is furious nonetheless. The children of Israel here had
come out of Egypt. They'd been completely delivered
from their captors. And this picture that we have
from the time of their deliverance out of Egypt, all the time they're
in the wilderness as they cross the Red Sea, and in their 40
years until they cross over the Jordan River and take possession
of the land of Canaan, is a picture intended by God to be a picture
of our experience of grace in this wilderness called the world. It is a continual experience
of God's grace. And the Lord God here has them
in the wilderness. He's led them forth to the Red
Sea, surrounded with mountains, with Pharaoh breathing down their
necks, ready to devour them. And they're brought into utter
despair so that they despair of life. They're dead sure they're
about to perish. They're certain that Moses had
brought them out of Egypt only to have them destroyed in the
wilderness. And they begin to think, and even said, it would
be better had we stayed in Egypt to start with. Now hold your
hands here and turn to 1 Corinthians 10. I want you to see clearly
that their whole experience is intended by God to portray our
experience of grace in this world. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat
the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was
not well pleased. for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. Now these things were our examples to the intent
that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither did the idolaters as
were some of them. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication as some of them committed. and fell in
one day, three in 20,000. Now do you see what he's doing? He's taking in the whole history
of Israel from the coming out of Egypt to the coming into the
land of Canaan. Neither let us tempt Christ as
some of them also tempted and were destroyed as serpents. Verse
10. Neither murmur ye as some of
them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these
things happened unto them for ensamples, that is, they happened
for this purpose, that they should be examples, and they are written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. As you and I make our way through
this wilderness to our heavenly Canaan, Satan pursues us in a
fury, and therefore we are urged to cast all our care upon our
God, being assured that the God of all grace will perform to
the end that good work of His grace that He has begun in us. As we are pursued with this furious
foe, learn this too, like the children of Israel here entangled
in the wilderness, we are often entangled in this wilderness
called the world. In verse 3, Pharaoh said, ìThey
are entangled in the land. The wilderness has shut them
in.î And when he overtook them, he overtook them, entangled in
the land, shut in in the wilderness in hopelessness. Thatís often
where we find ourselves. Now I remind you again, they
came this way because God by purpose brought them this way. I don't pretend to understand
all that I know the Scriptures teach with regard to our experiences
in this world. But this I know, this I know,
whether we are entangled by our own fault, by our own faults,
by our own weakness, by our own unbelief, and by our own sins,
Or we are entangled by trials and temptations of providence.
Or we are entangled in some other way. It is all according to the
purpose of God who leads us always in the right way. Always. Don't misunderstand me. I make
no excuse for unbelief, ungodliness, rebellion. sin in me or in you. It is excuseless, and we must
bear it ourselves as we walk before God. We must bear it in
our own consciences, acknowledging our guilt before Him, trusting
Christ alone as our Redeemer, confessing our sin, looking to
Him alone for forgiveness. But don't ever imagine that God's
people at any time are not in his omnipotent hand, and their
steps ordered by him. You just read it, Psalm 37. The
steps of a good man are ordered by God. I can't tell you all
the reasons why the Lord God was pleased to lead Lot through Sodom, but
He did. and left Lot to himself to have
incest with his daughter, but he did. And it was according
to his purpose, for out of that incestuous relationship came
a woman named Ruth, through whom came the Son of God to redeem
us. I don't know why the Lord God left David to himself on
his palace wall to look at Bathsheba as she bathed and to steal that
man's wife who was his loyal friend, but he did. Why on earth
should God leave this man who is a man after God's own heart
to take his own dear friend and have him murdered to cover his
sins? I can't tell you. I don't pretend to understand
all the reasons, but there's no accident with God Almighty. There is no such thing. And there
are no accidents in the lives of His people. Their steps are
ordered by God. Well, how can you say that? from
David and Bathsheba, King Solomon, through whom came the Son of
God into this world. And for some reason, in his wise
and orderly good providence and infinite wisdom, Our God is pleased
to lead his children, not immediately into glory, but in the most direct
way for his glory, through this wilderness, entangled and entangled
and entangled and entangled again in this wilderness. With this
much I'm certain of as well. God's great purpose in everything
he does, His primary purpose above all else in all his works
is the manifestation of his glory. He raises up Pharaoh and destroys
him to show his glory in him. He raises up nations and destroys
them to show his glory in them. And preeminently in the salvation
of his people, whether we talk about our Redemption by the blood
of Christ, or we talk about our election from eternity, or we
talk about our calling and preservation by the Spirit of God, or we talk
about resurrection glory. God's primary, preeminent purpose
in saving His people is to manifest to us and to all wandering worlds
His glory, the great glory of His grace. We read in Psalm 106,
verse 8, that He saved them for His namesake. That's the reason
God had mercy on you. For His namesake. That's the
reason He chose us, called us, adopted us, accepted us, redeemed
us, forgives us of our sin and keeps us, and He will present
us at last, faultless before the presence of His glory, that
we should be to the praise of His glory. That's God's primary
purpose. in everything he does, especially
in the salvation of his people. But we have a real problem seeing
God's glory. And the problem is us. As long as self stands in the
way, you can't see God's glory. And in order for God to show
you his glory, David Peterson, he's got to move David Peterson
out of the way. He's got to move you out of the
way. Bless his name. He knows how to do that. He knows
how to do that. Israel, he led them forth, we're
told in Isaiah 63, twice in verses 12 and 14, to make himself an
everlasting and a glorious name. That's the reason he led them
this way. And he does this with them entangled. Look at verse
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, terrified. The children of Israel cried
out to the Lord. And they said to Moses, they
said two things seem contrary to one another, don't they? They
cried out to the Lord. And then they cried to Moses.
The fact is, at best, while we live in this world, Darwin, our
faith is full of unbelief. That's just fact. That's just
fact. We cry out to God and half believe
Him. Like that one who brought his
demon-possessed child to the Master. If you believe, all things
are possible to him that believeth. With trembling and fear, he said,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Do you believe, God? I do. I
do. But my soul, how little I believe
Him. If I believed Him as I should,
there wouldn't be any crying out to Moses. If I believed Him
as I would, I wouldn't grumble and complain to you. If I believed
Him as I should and as I would, I wouldn't grumble and murmur
and complain in my own heart. But that's just not the way it
is. Our faith, as we cry out to God,
is full of unbelief. It is never perfect while we
walk in this world. They cried out to 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? We told you this was
going to be. Is not this the word that we
did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve
the Egyptians? For it had been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.
Moses, it would be better, it would be better to die having
never had hope than to come out here with hope and perish and
lose the hope. And that's true. And that's true. Better to die having never experienced
hope than to have a little hope only dashed to pieces and die
anyway. But bless God, that won't happen
with any of His. Often, as we fear, it shall.
It shall not. If God is glorified, He will
glorify Himself taking us out of the picture, delivering us
from Satan's rage and Satan's fury. in such a way as to manifest
forth His great glory. Though we are entangled in this
world, entangled with so much, entangled with worldly care, things that just don't matter,
just don't matter. Well, not me. Oh, you too will
get entangled with The slightest things. Our minds we occupied
with the grace of God and the glory of God and redemption by
Christ and His infinite everlasting love for us and then we'll see
something on the news and suddenly our minds just consumed with
every other thought full of unbelief. We're in this political age. If things keep up we're going
to be in politics. Have folks running for office
24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the rest of our lives. And we
get excited and stirred up and in turmoil. Oh, what is this?
What is that? Forget it. Forget it. I'm not talking to
you as much as I am me. Forget it. Just forget it. Leave it alone. Don't let the
care of this world, my soul, Don't let the care of this world
consume you. We get entangled with our fleshly
lust. We experience a little ridicule,
a little opposition, a little persecution. We see some things
going on around us. We just get entangled with it,
become fearful, terrified. A shepherd went in the store yesterday
with our granddaughter and daughter to pick up something. Got filth
written on his t-shirt. We'd get all bent out of shape.
Now probably I'd have really gotten bent out of shape if I'd
been there. But I wasn't there. God kept me from that. But fact
is our God still rules this world. And He's still saving His people.
And there's no reason for us to be overly concerned about
what anybody in this world does. No reason. We get entangled with
religious curiosity I have acquaintances all over the country. The internet
has become a great tool for preaching the gospel. But I have acquaintances
all over the country who spend so much time arguing theology,
trying to prove something on the internet, they don't have
time to go to church and worship God. Entangled with nothing. Entangled then with heavy trials. And oh, how quickly we are entangled
with the trials of our faith. The fact is, those who wade around
in little streams and shallow pools never learn much about
God and learn less about His works. But they that go down
into the sea in ships and do business in great waters, these
see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. As the mighty waves of the sea
beat against your little boat until it almost seems to be destroyed
and you're tossed into the depths, you never see the wonders of
God. So give thanks to God for every
trial by which He shows forth to you and in you His matchless
grace and glory. How come you're still here? For 40 years, God has kept me by His grace. In spite of me. In spite of me. In spite of the lust. In spite
of the corruptions. In spite of the evil that's in
me. And if he keeps you, it will be by his grace in spite of you. In spite of you. Though we're
often entangled, it is in the mouth of the furnace that our
great God sits as the purifier and the refiner of his silver.
And he will not heat the furnace too hot, nor will he allow it
to grow too cold to do its work. And we have reason then to give
thanks to him. The children of Israel were told
in verse 10, were sore afraid. When I read those words, that
seems almost comical, doesn't it? Larry, these are the folks
who had seen the river Nile turned into blood and turned back into
water. They had seen God bring lice
all over Egypt and none in Goshen. They had seen all those ten great
wonders God performed in Egypt by which He showed forth His
distinguishing grace. He's separating Israel from every
plague and protecting them. They had come out of Egypt with
God's mighty hand and stretched out arm having spoiled the Egyptians
who willingly gave them, plucked off their earrings and their
necklaces and their jewels and their gold and silver, and said,
here, take it. Take it with you and get out
of the land. And now, here they are, terrified, sore afraid. They had seen God work in the
mighty night when He came through Egypt and by the blood of the
Paschal Lamb delivered His own. But before we judge them too
harshly, let us remember how often we're filled with the same
fear and the same unbelief they expressed. We panic just like
they did. Thank God, hell, I hate to acknowledge
that. But we panic just like they did,
in unbelief, when there's no calls for alarm. Turn over to
1 Peter. Our God will not leave us. He
will not forsake us. Look what it says in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1.3. which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope,
or a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you. Well, that's good, but will
we get there? Oh yes, who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need
be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations. And listen to me, my brother.
Hear me, my sister. Hear God speak, O my soul. If
you're in great heaviness, there is a needs before it, and your
heavenly Father has brought it to pass, that the trial of your
faith Not your faith. That's not what it says. Faith
is precious. But here it says, the trial of
your faith is more precious than gold that perisheth. Though it
be tried with fire, it might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. In other words, heaven will be far more glorious
than it otherwise could be because God has brought you through such
heaviness in this wilderness. This appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye
see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, every day receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your soul. Alright, now back at our text.
Look at verses 13, 14, and 15. Here is God's instruction for every dilemma you face. Moses said to the people, Fear
ye not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians
whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more
forever. The Lord shall fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said to Moses, Wherefore
criest thou unto me? Speak to the children of Israel,
that they go forward. Fear not. How often God speaks those words
to us. I started looking at this earlier
this morning, pulled out a book I'd forgotten I have on the fear
nots that God gives His people in His Word. Oh, how often God
says fear not, fear not, fear not, fear not. Because you who
are His have no reason to fear. It matters not that you're trapped
in utter despair at the end of a dark, dead-end road with no
thought of where you can turn or what you shall do. The Lord
God is your God. Fear not, for I am the Lord your
God. I have redeemed you. I have called
you by your name. I will uphold you with the right
hand of my righteousness. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Fear not. But stand still. Stand still. What does that mean? Stand still. Quit praying? No. Cease to worship God? No. Don't go hear the Word of
God? No. No. What does it mean? God
doesn't arm Israel in any way from their experiences, from
their feelings, from anything within them and say, now here
is your strength. But rather he calls on his people
in their utter desperation while they stand before him murmuring
and complaining and terrified. He says, stand still, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. Stand still and you shall
see the salvation of the Lord. But this is an imperative command.
The Lord God is saying, stand still and behold the salvation
of the Lord. What is it to stand still then?
To stand still is to trust Christ, to behold His salvation. How
is it that you began this pilgrimage? Look unto me. Oh, ye ends of
the earth, be ye safe, for I am God. Beside me there is none
else. That's how you continue in the
way, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Stand still and behold God's salvation. You see, salvation
is not just Regeneration. It is not just faith. It is not
just redemption. It is not just election. It is
not just perseverance and preservation. It is not just resurrection glory.
It's all of it. Stand still and trust God's salvation. Lord, mine eyes have seen thy
salvation. Now let us, thou thy servant,
depart in peace. And as we take the Christ of
God in our hands and hold him in our hearts as Simeon of old
did, we can speak just like that as Simeon of old did. Stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is the Lord's. It's his doing and his alone.
Stand still and see salvation purposed by God in eternity.
accomplished in His eternal decree. Stand still and see salvation
purchased for us by the blood of God's dear Son at Calvary.
Stand still and see the salvation God has performed and is performing
in you. Stand still and see the salvation
God has promised. When we see Him, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Stand still and see
God's salvation. And the Egyptians which you see
today, those enemies you're ready to engage, Psalm 37, those that
you see today, you will see them again, no more, again, forever. Stand still and see God's salvation
as He destroys every foe before you. Then he says something else. Not only does he say, see God's
salvation, he says, Go forward. Look at verse 15. God said to
Moses, quit talking to me and tell these people what I'm telling
you. Go forward. That's the only path we have. They rode behind us. Mountains
surrounding us. The Red Sea is before us, but
you've got to go across that Red Sea in order to enter into
the land of Canaan. There's no other way to get there. Go forward. Go forward. Go forward, you fugitives pursued
by divine justice. Go forward. Go forward as those
who are under the command and order of Jesus Christ, the captain
of our salvation, chosen of God, putting us on the way to Canaan.
Go forward as God's covenant people, covenant people with
a promise before you. Go forward as a people with God's
commission given to you. He said, go, possess them. And we shall. God's elect all
of them. Every sinner chosen of God and
redeemed by Christ's precious blood, called by His grace. Every
sinner God has brought out of Egypt, He will bring to glory. And when He does, Darwin, we
will enter in triumphantly. Every one of them. Every one
of them possessing the land. by right and by might, not our
own but our Redeemer's possessing it. We will go forward through
this sea and through this wilderness and through this entanglement
and that entanglement. And we will at last go forward
with our Redeemer across the swelling Jordan River into the
land of God's promise and rest forever. And the Egyptians you
see today that trouble you so much, you will see them again
no more forever. So says God our Savior. Amen.