I want you to turn with me, if
you will, to Hebrews chapter 11. Nothing, nothing in all the world
is more often confused and yet more diametrically opposite than
faith and presumption. Faith, faith in Christ. for the blessed gift of God.
No gift on this earth can be compared to this gift. If God
Almighty has opened the windows of heaven and stretched out the
long arm of his omnipotent grace, opened your dead heart and dropped
in your soul this gift of faith, you are blessed of God. This
is the one thing I seek for you. This is the one thing I seek
for those two darling grandchildren. This is all I've ever sought
for my daughter, faith. Good health is a great blessing. Having a comfortable home, great
blessing. Having a delightful family, great,
great blessing. We must never take them for granted.
But nothing compares to this, this great gift of faith. All
faith, it believes God. And believing God with whom nothing
is impossible, faith does the impossible. Now, sometimes we
sing about faith and I think we often mistake in our minds
and in our thinking that somehow there is something great about
our faith. The only thing great about it
is God gave it to us and the object of it. We who believe
recognize constantly the weakness and insufficiency of our faith.
But the strength of faith is not in us. The strength of faith
is not in our ability at all, not in our ability to believe
God, not in our ability to walk confidently, not at all. The
strength of faith is in the one who is the object of faith. Because
we believe God as he is revealed in Jesus Christ, his darling
son, because we believe God as he is revealed in the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we by faith are enabled by our God
to do things impossible, things that other men couldn't possibly
do, endure difficulties that destroy other folks, overcome
obstacles that other folks are buried under, because we believe
God. And at last, we will leave this
world, if we're His, if we believe God, and enter into glory, and
we will take possession of heaven's eternal glory by faith in Christ,
because God's given us faith. Presumption, on the other hand.
Presumption doesn't struggle much. That faith which men, for
the most part, have, that which they call faith, not true saving
faith, but what men call faith, is nothing but religious presumption.
And there's no struggle to it, there's no conflict, there's
no warfare. Presumption assays to do. Presumption tries to do,
presumption pretends to do what faith certainly does, and presumption
winds up destroying those who live by presumption. The title
of my message tonight is Faith Delivers, Presumption Destroys. You have it clearly demonstrated
here in Hebrews 11, 29. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea as by dry land. They passed through the river
and there was no water touching them. They passed through the
raging Red Sea. Try to imagine this now. These Israelites gathered on
the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army pressing hard,
breathing down their necks, ready to slaughter them. And Moses
stretches out his rod and touches the sea, and as he does, it parched. And a huge valley is made between
two great mountains of water. Can you imagine the roar? Can
you imagine what they faced? But that path going through that
Red Sea was as dry as parched earth. It was dry. And they walked through the Red
Sea. They walked through the Red Sea to the other side of
the shore. And the Egyptians, a saying to
do, were drowned. The Egyptians saw the waters
split open. They saw the dry land. They saw
the path. They saw Israel go through to
the other side. And they said, if they can do
it, we can do it. But they didn't believe God.
They didn't believe God and they walked into the sea and were
drowned. Faith delivers. Presumption destroys. As I've told you many times,
I am fully convinced that every event recorded in Old Testament
history is not recorded simply by God causing men to observe
what had happened and then they wrote it down they drew some
moral and spiritual inferences from the events. But rather the
events took place because God designed those events and brought
them to pass to teach us something of his grace and his redemption
in Jesus Christ. And this event was just like
that. The Lord God brought Israel into
Egypt and he brought them across the Red Sea and he drowned Pharaoh
and his armies in the Red Sea to teach us something about faith
in him. Now, there's not a greater example
in all the book of God of that contrast between faith and presumption
that I've been talking to you about thus far than what we have
here. We have before us here the ultimate
end and result of the long controversy the Egyptians and the Israelites
had. It's clearly a type and picture
of what will be the last end and result of the conflict that
exists between Christ, church, and this world. We've seen it
throughout history. Cain, in hatred, slew his brother
Abel. hated Isaac. Esau despised Jacob. And thus it has been throughout
the history of God's church. The seed of the woman has ever
been the object of scorn, hatred, and persecution by the seed of
the serpent. Well, how's it going to end?
Just like this did. The Lord Jesus will suddenly
appear, and when he does, he will accomplish the complete,
utter salvation of his people. He will bring us at last through
our last sea of trouble and plant us in his glorious kingdom. And when he does, all who have
pursued us, all who have persecuted, All who have despised him and
fought against him, he will destroy with the same suddenness he did
Pharaoh and his armies. Indeed, he tells us in Romans
chapter 9 that this is the reason Pharaoh was raised up, so that
God might get glory in him, so that all the world might know
this is what God does with his enemies. And this, look under. Look yonder to the other side
of the sea, while Pharaoh and his armies are gurgling in the
water of God's wrath. Israel is safe on the other side,
and so it shall ever be. Faith in Christ enabled Moses
and Joshua, Caleb and Aaron, Miriam, and the believing Israelites
to obtain what they never could have otherwise obtained. Faith
gave them strength to obey God's command. Faith gave them strength
to step into the sea. Faith gave them strength to walk
across the sea. Faith gave them strength to defeat
Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea. And so it is with all
his own. You may ask, well, Brother Don,
that's a wonderful thing, a wonderful story to read about, but what
does all this have to do with us? I'm glad you asked. True
saving faith in Christ is the only thing which enables us to
pass through and overcome the trials and troubles that utterly
destroy other people. As it was faith in Christ that
enabled those men of old, ultimately, to enter into and take possession
of Canaan, it's faith in Christ that will graciously and powerfully,
by the power of God's Spirit, direct us through this world,
overcome our enemies, and bring us at last into glory. Now, our
text takes us back to Exodus chapters 14 and 15. We'll look
at those. If you want to just kind of put
your hand there, we'll be turning back to that But I want you to
see the things that are here taught. First, we see the danger
the Israelites were in. It was very, very grave. In Exodus
chapter 14, verse 10, because there were no graves in Egypt,
these Israelites remembered. You remember, Pharaoh had consented
to let Israel go. And then he hardened his heart
again. After all the plagues Moses had performed by the hand
of God, after he had demonstrated the power of God again and again,
Pharaoh hardened his heart, the Lord hardened his heart, Pharaoh
hardened his heart, the Lord hardened his heart. Finally,
Pharaoh, he tried his best to make bargains with Moses. He
said, you stay here and I'll leave your children here and
your cattle here and you go out and worship God and then come back. And Moses
said, we're going out and not a hoof's going to be left behind.
All God's people are going out of this place. There's every
one of them are. And they're going out with your
consent. And Pharaoh finally consented.
He said, all right, get out of this land. And they would, as
it were, shove them out of the land. And then Pharaoh got word
that Israel was trapped. We've got them. All we got to
do is go get them. And Pharaoh hardened his heart. and repented
of his consent that they should go out of the land. And he gathered
his armies and pursued them out to the Red Sea. And when he was
within sight of the children of Israel, they began to do what
they were so good at doing. And we ought not fuss with them
too much. We're good at it too. They began to murmur against
God. They murmured against Moses because he is the closest thing
to God they could get to. But they were murmuring against
God. Read what it says. Because there were no graves
in Egypt, hast thou brought 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? Leave us alone. We like it pretty
good here with these bricks and whips. For it had been better
for us to serve the Egyptians. than that we should die in this
wilderness. These folks had seen God. They had eaten the Passover,
that Passover that was designed and typified the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Passover, who sacrificed for us. They had eaten the lamb,
his flesh. And they had had the blood sprinkled
over the doorpost and lintel. They had seen the angel of God
pass by them while the angel of God destroyed the firstborn
of all in the land of Egypt. They had walked out of Egypt
with a high hand. God had prospered them. He gave
them favor with the Egyptians so that they went and borrowed
of the Egyptians all the goods they needed for their journey.
And the Egyptians said, all right, you can have them. They'd seen
God work. They now didn't believe God. They didn't believe he'd fulfill
his promise. They didn't trust his faithfulness. All they could
see, all they could see was Pharaoh and that huge army, the mountains
surrounding them, and the Red Sea in front of them, and death. That's all. They saw nothing
but weakness within. They had no swords. They had
no weapons. They were just, they were, they
were herdsmen. They looked to their own strength,
and they looked to their own ability, and they looked to their
own might, rather than looking to God Almighty, and they trembled. And so the Lord chastened them. He brought them here to try their
faith. Thank God for every trial that
causes faith to grow. Now hear me, and hear me well. If I believe God, every heartache, every trial,
every adversity, everything that God brings upon me and does to
me, horrible way to express it, but I want you to hear me, everything
God brings upon me and does for me, He does it for me. God doesn't fight against His
own. He fights for us. God doesn't do things to us.
He does things for us. You understand what I'm saying?
Whatever it is, when it gets done, it'll cause me to believe
Him better. It'll cause me ultimately to
trust Him more fully. The Lord God sent this chastening
rod to the children of Israel because they murmured against
Him. I realize that not all of these
Jews were believers. We are told plainly that the
vast majority of them perished in the wilderness in unbelief.
How can it be said that they crossed over the Red Sea by faith?
Obviously, the reason is this. Moses and Joshua Caleb and Miriam,
Aaron, and an elect remnant of these men and women, believed
God. And because they believed God,
the rest profited by their faith. It often happens that the unbelieving
are temporarily temporarily blessed with the believing. You remember
in Acts chapter 27, when the Lord God told Paul, he said,
I'm going to save you. You're not going to drown in
this thing. I've got things for you to do. Not only that, but
I've given you the life of all them that are in the ship with
you. Now these folks crossed over the Red Sea, but there were
some folks who believed God. The text doesn't say the Israelites
believed God because the Israelites as a whole did not. But there
was an elect remnant among them who did, and the rest profited
by their belief. God brought Israel into this
helpless, hopeless condition because he would constrain them
to trust him. And Bobby, God's going to constrain
us to trust Him. He's going to fix it so we do.
What could they do? They couldn't fight. They didn't
have anything to fight with. They couldn't run. They didn't have
anywhere to go. If the Lord had not shown Himself strong on their
behalf, they would certainly have perished. God brought them
to this place where they had to trust Him. Oh, blessed place
to be brought to. Whatever it takes for God to
bring you to the place where you have to just throw up your
hands and cast yourself down and cry, God Almighty, do for
me what I can't possibly do for myself. That's a blessed place
to be brought to. The Lord promised to be for them,
and now he was teaching them to rest confidently in his covenant
promise. He said, I'm for you. He promised
him, I'll bless you. He promised him, I'll give you
a redeemer. He promised him, I'll give you
life everlasting. And now he teaches them to trust
him. Has our God not promised us, my brothers, my sisters,
when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee and
through the rivers, They shall not overflow thee. He's chosen us in the furnace
of affliction, and he's going to speak to it that we have plenty
of it. And if we're his, we're going
into the waters of woe, but not to stay there to pass through.
We're going into the fiery furnace of trial, but not to be consumed,
to be refined. And he said, I'll be with you.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will
not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hail, should
endeavor to shake. I'll never, no never, no never
forsake. What a promise. No matter how
deep the waters, no matter how dark the storm, no matter how
strong the oppressor, God who cannot lie, hath said, I'll be
with you. He said, the waters will not
overflow you. He said, the flame will not kindle upon you. God
who cannot lie has declared he will deliver. They were in great
danger, but where there's great danger, the Lord God has set
a background for great deliverance. Look in chapter 14 of Exodus
again, verse 13. Those folks murmured and griped
and complained, but Moses Sometimes he didn't act like it, but he
was a pretty sharp fella. Sometimes he acted like Moses
before God got hold of him, like we do. But most of the time,
he was a pretty sharp fella. And Moses didn't even respond
to their murmuring. He didn't cry. He didn't whine. He didn't have much time to.
What did he do? He just directed them to look
to God. Oh, now there's wisdom. Look
at verse 13. Moses said to the people, fear not, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you
today. For the Egyptians whom you see
today, you shall see them again no more forever. The children of Israel fled across
the Red Sea from the armies of Pharaoh because God had brought
them to the place that they must look to him. There was no human
strength which they could lean to. They were terrified by their
oppressors. And Moses simply says to them,
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Oh, what great grace. Sometimes folks think this is
not good counsel. We always are pressed to do something.
And we press others to do something. Folks call me. I've had several
letters over the weekend. Folks want me to tell them what
to do. What to do. Most of the time, David, best
thing on earth I can do is what I try my best to do. You just
stand still and watch. You stand still and look. I have
had circumstances where folks want me to do things as a pastor.
And I've had circumstances where I've done things. And you know
what I find without exception? Every time in my life I ever
tried to take hold of something and do something, I messed it
up. I can't think of an exception,
not one. Every time I've waited, waited
for God to work for me, waited for God to work for His own,
waited for God to work in His own, I watch, oh, how God works. Oh, how God works. What do I
do, Pastor? Stand still and look and see
the salvation of the Lord. That's all. That's it. The newborn believer comes out
of Egypt, and he thinks to himself, well, I've got this thing whipped
now. I've got no more troubles now.
Everything's going to be all right now. And then he meets
up with some terrifying enemies. His former sins harass him and
disturb him. And the former sins aren't near
as troublesome as the present ones. I had a letter today from a fella,
sharp fella, sharp fella, stockbroker. I've never met him. I've heard
from him several times, sharp fella. He said, how on this earth
can I be a believer? with my sins constantly, constantly
troubling me. How often we struggle with the
same, our sin, our unbelief. But didn't the Lord promise he'd
take away our sin? He didn't just promise it, buddy,
he's done it. He's done it. He's taken it away. He's taken it away insofar as
the record of God is concerned, and he will take it away from
us in experience when he gets done with us. For now, he's left
us struggling with this warfare, with this constant struggle with
flesh and spirit. We have constant fighting with
our fainting hearts as well. A faint, disbelieving heart. Unbelief is the worst enemy we
face in this world. I don't have a greater struggle
in this world than I have right here. Believe in God. When the anchor of faith is cast
out and holds the rock that's higher than I, then everything's
peaceful and calm. But what we normally do, we do
the most stupid things. I mean, we do them contrary to
what we know. We're in our little boat, and
the storm comes, and the wind blows, the sails are torn off,
and the rudder's broken, and everything's taut here and there. And we hold the anchor. Hold
it! You're going to soon turn the
boat over. What do you do? Throw it out. Your only hope
is to throw it out. The only hope you've got. The
peace of our souls is the anchor of our souls holding fast to
Christ the Lord. Look out of yourself, my brother. Look out of yourself, my sister,
to Christ the Lord. The strength of their faith was
just this. God gave Moses a revelation.
You see, faith is not just a It's not just a wish. It's not just
a desire. Boy, I sure do wish the Lord
would come and get us out of this mess. That's not it. That's
not it. Faith is based upon divine revelation. Moses had a word from God. God
told Moses, I'm going to bring them out. I'm going to bring
them out by your hand. I'm going to bring them out across
the Red Sea by your rod. It's going to happen. And Moses
turned and told Israel what God had told him. And now, acting
upon God's revelation, Moses takes his rod and steps into
the sand. That's faith. That's faith. Faith is not standing back here
and saying, well, I believe God's going to park the sand. I believe
God's going to do something. That's not faith. Faith is walking
in the light of what God said he'd do. Faith is walking in
obedience to God because you believe in him. The Lord God
said to Moses, walk across the sea. Take Israel and go across
the sea. You've got to go to the other
side. And he steps into the sea. Look at verse 13, Exodus 14.
Moses said to the people, fear ye not, stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord, which he will, not I hope he will,
he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom you have
seen today, those terrifying, monstrous, hideous things that
torture your soul, 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, cryest thou unto me, speak unto
the children that they go forward." What instructions? Moses says,
fear not. Fear not. I often try my best
to say those words to folks, and I apologize beforehand so
often. I think maybe you don't hear
what I'm saying. Fear not. Fear not. The most reasonable
thing on this earth is that you shouldn't fear. If you're his,
I say to my heart, fear not. It's foolish to fear. If I'm
his, fear not. Cease from all your feverish
activities. Cease from pacing the floor and
biting your nails and worrying yourself to death. Stand still. Turn from yourself. Turn from
your strength. Turn from your goodness. Get
down on your knees and cry out to God. See the salvation of
God. Look to Christ. Look to Him. So, preacher, are you talking
about our trials? Are you talking about the experience
of grace? Are you talking about both? We are saved by God's grace,
in the experience of grace and regeneration, and the Lord God
graciously delivers us, saves us from our troubles day after
day. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1.10, he said,
I am saved, I have been saved, and I shall be saved. The Lord
God continually saves His own. And go forward. Oh, if you believe
God, go forward. What do you mean? Follow Him. Obey Him. Now preacher, hear
what you say. Obey God. Obey God. When God's made Himself known,
when God's shown you His will, when God's shown you what you
must do, just do it. But what if? Just do it. Just
do it. But my wife, just do it. But
my daughter, just do it. But my children, just do it.
But other folks, just obey God. The Red Sea was the last thing
the eye of the flesh would turn to as a way of escape. Can you imagine? Just imagine Moses reasoning
with these folks. His favor, and his armies, his mountains,
and the Red Sea. Get in the sea. But maybe, we can reason with
them, maybe, maybe we can drive a bomb in the favor, maybe. Get
in the sea. Your only hope is to get in the
sea. But now, Moses, you don't seem to understand. Nobody's
ever done this before. Nobody's ever walked across that
sea before. You don't seem to understand
Moses. Pharaoh is breathing down our necks. He's going to kill
us if we don't do something. And I can almost hear Moses say,
that's what got you to mess you in is what you did. Quit doing
it. Go across the sea. And you know the last thing on
this earth any man or woman will ever do for peace in his soul. acceptance with God. The last
thing on this earth any of us will ever do in the midst of
any trial is believe God. The last thing, do I speak the
truth or do I not? The last thing we'll do. You
can't persuade me to believe God. I can't persuade myself
to. Can't persuade anybody to. But I'm telling you the only
way to prevail in the origin of grace, in our experience of
it, and in the daily trial in our experience of them, the only
way to prevail is to believe him. Just flat trust Christ. I tried. I'll digress a little. I tried desperately as a young
man when God began to deal with my soul in such a way that I
can look back and think. At least that's when he started
doing something with me, I don't know. I tried my best to reform
my life. I tried my best to quit acting
the way I'd always acted. I made promises. I'd go to bed
at night scared to death I was going to wake up in hell. I mean,
just terrified, terrified of God's wrath. And I kept trying
to do something. I kept trying to prepare myself
to be acceptable with God. Then I promised him. I don't know him any nights.
I went to bed promising God, if you'll keep me out of hell
tonight, I'll serve you tomorrow. And I wake up the next day with
blasphemy on my heart and blasphemy in my limbs until God finally,
in his grace and mercy, broke both my arms and both my legs
and my stubborn proud will and made me to understand I have
no option but his sword. That's it. Israel, you've got
two options. Face Pharaoh and die or get in
that sea. One of the two. That's it. You've
got two options. Face God in judgment I'll get
in the Red Sea of his son's precious blood and pass through the wrath
of God safe and secure. That's all. And they pass through. And you, my brother, my sister,
whatever your storm is, whatever your trial, whatever your heartache,
Whatever the sea is that God's put before you, you'll pass through
it. He'll bring you through it, and
He'll cause you to walk through it. He will, by His grace, take
you in His hand and bring you through the sea, and He will
cause you, by His grace, to walk confidently through the sea believing
Him. And then Israel witnessed a great
destruction. Look at verse 24 of Exodus 14.
Look at verse 17 first. The Lord says in verse 17, I
behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and they shall
follow after them. And I will get me honor upon
Pharaoh and upon all his host and upon his chariots and upon
his horsemen. Someone asked me just today,
I forgot who it was, how can it be that God has predestined
everything, even such a thing like this, and man's still responsible
for what he does? Well, you can try your best to
figure out a way to get God's book whittled down to the size
of your brain, but it ain't going to work. Yes, God Almighty predestined
Pharaoh's overthrow. Yes, God raised him up for this
purpose. Yes, God hardened his heart. And yet at the same time, the
reason Pharaoh and his armies drowned in that Red Sea is because
they hardened their hearts against God. Look at verse 24. It came
to pass that in the morning, watch, The Lord looked unto the
host of the Egyptians through the pillar of the fire and of
the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off
their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily, so that the
Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord
fighteth for them against us." They had seen God's hand. They'd
seen God's judgment. They'd seen tokens of God's wrath.
They'd seen God protect his people for 400 years. They'd seen God
provide for them for 400 years. They'd seen God do wonders in
Egypt over and over and over again. But they would not believe
in God! And God Almighty brings them
to this place, and they're still hardening their hearts, pursuing
after Israel, and they would never have drowned in the sea
of God's wrath if they hadn't gone into that sea after Israel. The Egyptians resolved to pursue
them, but their resolve had nothing
to do with faith. It was just rash presumption,
but similar presumption, multitudes. rush into eternity, trusting themselves, their wisdom,
their strength, their ability, and they'll find God fighting
against them. This too was a matter of just
restitution. You believe, you can mark this
down, I hope you believe it. God in justice always gives men
and women exactly what they deserve. Grace has brought us into the
blessed righteousness of Christ and given us the righteousness
of Christ, so that by the grace of God we are made in Christ
worthy of heaven's glory. But those who stand at last before
God in judgment, without the righteousness of Christ, without
his blood, without a substitute, shall receive from God for everlasting
exactly what they have earned by their deeds. Did you ever
think about this? Pharaoh and his armies in that
sea, those dead carcasses, were but God's way of saying to the
world, that's what happens when you drown my babies. They had drowned the Israelites'
children by Pharaoh's decree, and now God Now then, look at
Exodus 15. Let me show you what the end
of this thing was. If you want to read a similar
passage, read Revelation 19. When judgment's over, and the
great horror is cast out, and God's elect are robed in the
splendorous array of perfection and heavenly glory, they'll sing, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
That's what Moses sang right here, Exodus 15. Then sang Moses and the children
of Israel this psalm unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will
sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Standing over here, on this side,
I suspect Moses might have had a little trembling going on. He'll forgive me if I misjudge
him, but I suspect he did. Bid me I would have. I've been
there many times. Looking at that sea, and looking
at Pharaoh, looking at those mountains, and looking at my
helplessness, I couldn't save for anything in this world. God,
I can't possibly get through this. I can't take anymore. I can't
go on. But God in his grace thus far
has kept on going me on. He has kept me in the way. And
I have never crossed through the raging sea yet that I didn't
sing on the other side and thank God for the trouble. Read on
verse two. Now, Israel and Moses say, the
Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. He's
my God. I will prepare him and habitation. My father's God, I'll exalt him.
Verse three, the Lord is a man of war, captain of our salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's his name. Pharaoh's
chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea. His chosen
captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have
covered them. They sink into the bottom as
a stone. Thy hand, O Lord. has become
glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy." Let us now walk by faith, believing
God's promises, marching onward to Zion, marching onward to Zion,
believing God, believing God. And soon We will find ourselves
in heaven's glory land, and we'll look back, and we will say, Thou hast triumphed
gloriously, O Lord. Amen. Let's sing that hymn. We're marching to Zion, if I
can find it. Come we that love the Lord. Anybody know what number
that is? Come ye that love the Lord, I
guess it is. Number 23, is that it? 514, okay. That's it. Thank you, Bob.