Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm going to be speaking from
Exodus chapter 14 on the parting of the Red Sea. Now, most people
look at the Old Testament as children's stories and amazing
events, and they'll even use the term plagues of biblical
proportion. And this was all from this story
in Exodus of the Lord delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage. Now, the land of Egypt has been
devastated. God has sent 10 plagues and destroyed
the land. And we read in verse 17 of Exodus
chapter 13, and before I read, what I want you to remember is
these stories are given for this one purpose, to illustrate the
gospel of Jesus Christ. All of these stories are given
to teach us of Him and His gospel. He said, the scriptures testify
of me. Those are His words. Now, this
story we're getting to read and I'm going to attempt to preach
on is given to testify of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, beginning in verse 17 of
Exodus chapter 13, and it came to pass, When Pharaoh had let
the people go, that God led them, not through the way of the land
of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said,
lest perventure the people repent when they see war and they return
to Egypt. But God led the people about
through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children
of Israel went up and harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly
sworn the children of Israel, God will surely visit you and
you shall carry up my bones, hence with you. Joseph said this
hundreds of years before it took place. He said, this is what's
going to take place. And they took their journey from Sukkoth
and encamped in Etham in the edge of the wilderness. And the
Lord went before them by the day in a pillar of cloud to lead
them by the way. and by a pillar of fire to give
them light at night, 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." 40 years they followed during the day,
this pillar of cloud, at night, a pillar of fire. When it would
move, they would move. When it would stop, they would
stop. 40 years in the wilderness. Chapter 14, verse one. And the
LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
that they turn and encamp before Pihath-hi-roth, between Migdal
and the sea, and over against Beel-ziphon. Before it you shall
camp by the sea." Now, they have already left Egypt. Egypt is
in ruins. And the Lord tells them to encamp
in a place right in front of the Red Sea with mountains on
either side where there could be no retreat. They're in a completely
vulnerable position. And they are there because God
told them to be there in a place of no escape. Now, verse three,
for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled
in the land. The wilderness has shut them
in. Now, how does the Lord know what Pharaoh will say? Because
he is in control of everything, and he's gonna control everything
Pharaoh says, like he's in control of every event, every thought,
everything that takes place. You see, God is sovereign. That
means he is in absolute control of everything and every event. His will is always done. His will cannot be thwarted. He's God. Anything less than
that is a weak God, is a pygmy God, is a God that's the figment
of man's imagination. God is all-powerful, God is sovereign,
and He is completely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of men. He's controlling Pharaoh. Pharaoh
doesn't know it. Pharaoh's doing what he wants to do. But God
is in absolute control of all things. Proverbs 16, 33 says,
The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. Now look what the Lord says next.
He says, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after
them, and I will be honored or glorified upon Pharaoh and upon
all the host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.
And they did so. Now God says, I'll harden Pharaoh's
heart. He said to Moses, when Moses
was first to go to Pharaoh, he said, I'm gonna harden his heart.
I'm going to harden his heart. You see, Pharaoh is in the Lord's
hands. And after each plague of the
10 plagues, Pharaoh relented. He saw that he could not fight
against omnipotence and he would relent and then God would harden
his heart. Now what's God got to do to harden
a man's heart? Nothing. All he has to do is
leave him alone. If the Lord leaves me alone,
if the Lord leaves you alone, our hearts will harden just like
Pharaoh's heart. God said, I will harden his heart. And you would think after the
10 plagues and the devastation of Egypt, he wouldn't have done
this. But the Lord hardened his heart. He puts Israel in a place
of no retreat, utter vulnerability. And then he hardens Pharaoh's
heart, so Pharaoh says, I'm going to get him back, so let's go
on reading. Verse 5, And it was told the king of Egypt that the
people fled, the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned
against the people. Who turned it? The Lord did.
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of
water, he turneth it wither so ever he will. You see, the Lord
is completely sovereign over all things. It was that way then,
it's that way now. That's why there's really no
reason to worry. We see all the turmoil in this
country and all over the world. I don't enjoy turmoil. I would
like to see peace and good circumstances. There's no doubt about that.
But am I worried? Because I know that God reigns and rules and
controls everything. People are up in arms about the
presidential election. I'll tell you who's going to
win, the person God ordains to win. Now I'm saying you ought
to vote and do what you think is right, but I'll tell you who's
going to be the next president of the United States. The person
that God ordains will be the president of the United States.
He was told the king of Egypt, the people fled and the heart
of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people.
And they said, why have we done this that we've let Israel go
from serving us? You see their hearts were hardened
and they weren't thinking clearly. And he made ready his chariot
and took his people with him, and he took six hundred chosen
chariots." Now, I like six hundred. Six is the number of man. Adam
was created on the sixth day. It represents man. What is man? A failure. Failure upon failure
upon failure. Pharaoh thought he was going
to win. Oh, he was going to lose. What can a man do against the
living God? But he took 600 chosen chariots
and all the chariots of Egypt and the captains over every one
of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of
Egypt. I love that scripture that Paul
uses in Romans 9, verse 17. For the scripture saith to Pharaoh,
even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might
show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom
he will have mercy. And whom He will, He hardens. All men are in the hands of a
sovereign God, including Pharaoh." Now, He says He's going to get
honor on Pharaoh, glory on Pharaoh. Now, listen to this. This is
true of me and you. We will glorify Him. It may be
we'll glorify His justice. If He sends me to hell, it'll
glorify His justice. I'll be getting exactly what
I deserve. If He saves me, He'll be glorifying His grace. I'll
be a trophy of His grace, how He saves the chief of sinners.
We're all going to glorify Him. Either it's justice or grace,
but glorify Him we will. So Pharaoh is going to glorify
him. And he hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and
he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of
Israel went out with a high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after
them. all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and
his army. And they overtook them in camping by the sea." Now here
is Israel in this completely vulnerable place. And listen
to their response. Now remember, they have already
seen the Lord miraculously deliver them. They've seen the 10 plagues. They've seen the truthfulness
of what Paul said, if God be for us, who can be against us? They've seen all that. What they
even saw as they left Egypt, all the Egyptians gave them their
gold and silver and raiment. The Lord moved them to do that.
After the land was spoiled, they gave Israel everything they needed. As they walked out, they had
seen such miraculous provision from the Lord Yet look at their
response. Verse 10, And when Pharaoh drew
nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold,
the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. Now,
did they have any reason to be sore afraid? No. The Lord was
for them, but they were anyway. They were scared to death. And
the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord, and they said
unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou
taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, let us
alone, don't do this, we're fine, under bondage, let us alone,
that we may serve the Egyptians? For it's better for us to serve
the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Now they
had already forgotten everything God had done for them. And they
were crying, why have you brought us out to do a genocide out here
in the wilderness and wipe all of us out? We were fine when
we were in Egypt. I think it's interesting that
this same scenario happens over and over and over again through
the wanderings of the children of Israel. They'll blame Moses,
they'll blame God, they'll murmur, they'll complain, they'll be
upset. Well, here is where it begins. And Moses said unto the
people, in verse 13 of Exodus chapter 14, and Moses said unto
the people, fear ye not. You have nothing to fear. God
reigns. God is in absolute control. Fear ye not, stand still. Don't try to move, don't try
to run, don't try to do anything to get yourself out of this mess.
Stand still, don't move a muscle. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you today for the Egyptians
whom you've seen today, you shall see them no more, again, forever. Now let's think of what Moses
said to these people in their fear. And I'm sure it was some
kind of fear. Stand still. Don't try to do something to
protect yourself or save yourself. Stand still and see the salvation
of God. Now, understand this. In salvation,
those people that He saves, this is a non-precipitory thing. Hebrews 1.3 says He by Himself
purged our sins. He didn't have any help from
me. He didn't have any help from you. There's no contribution
I make. There's no contribution you make.
He says to the children of Israel, stand still. and see, behold,
see what he's done. Isn't that what faith is? Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, seeing who he is
and what he did as everything in salvation, not looking to
yourself or your works, not looking to your efforts or your acts
of obedience or your works of religion. You stand still and
see what he has done. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Now, when Simeon saw the Lord
Jesus Christ, he said, behold, let thy servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Jesus Christ is God's salvation. Every aspect of salvation is
in him. If a believer's saved, it's because
he's eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Both he that
sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one. I'm one with
him. Now how God did that, I don't
know, but I'm eternally one with him. As he is, so are we in this
world. I was chosen in Him before the
foundation of the world, according to Ephesians chapter one, four.
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. Now, God didn't choose me and
then put me in Christ. Somehow I've always been in Christ. He's everything in redemption. I'm saved because He redeemed
me and paid for my sins. He is my redemption. He is my
forgiveness. I'm forgiven for His sake. Not
because of anything I've done. Not even because I asked to be
forgiven. I'm forgiven for Christ's sake. He's everything in my justification. He is my righteousness before
God. I'm preserved because I'm preserved
in Jesus Christ. You know, in heaven, heaven is
going to be said to be beholding His glory. And heaven is being
conformed to His image, being made like to Him. He is salvation. He's the message of salvation.
Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you, said
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He's all I preach. He's all I
believe. He is salvation. Stand still. And see, nothing
you do, you look. Stand still and see the salvation
of God. The enemies you see coming at
you right now, you will see them no more. Verse 14 says, the Lord
shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. Now, if God be for us, who can
be against us. The Lord shall fight for you.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? If Jesus Christ died for you,
there's nothing that can prevent God from doing everything for
your salvation. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Paul goes on to say, it's God
that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Now, the Lord is salvation. He fights your battles. When he said it is finished,
the salvation of the elect was accomplished. The salvation of
everybody that he died for was accomplished. He fought the battle. It's not a cooperative effort
between you and him. He did it all. He says in verse 14, the Lord
shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. You're
not gonna say a thing. And on a practical level, you
don't need to try to defend yourself if you're accused of this, that,
and the other. The Lord will fight for you.
If you're one of his, the Lord will fight for you, and you will
hold your peace. Verse 15. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me, speaking of the children
of Israel, that they go forward? Now, he just said, stand still.
And now he says, go forward. Now, this is the step of faith.
This is that step of going into the midst of the Red Sea. They did so by faith. Go forward. Now, look what he says to Moses.
But lift up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and
divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground,
even through the midst of the sea. Now, there was no mud on
this ground. It was dry ground when the Lord
parted the sea. And behold, I will harden the
hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. And I
will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his hosts, and upon
his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know
that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh,
upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen." Now understand, whatever
God does, He does for His own glory. If I do something for
my glory, it's evil. If he does something for his
own glory, it's glorious because of who he is. And what he does,
he does for his own glory. Verse 19, and the angel of God,
which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind
them. And the pillar of the cloud went from before them, their
face, and stood behind them, and it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Now, when the Egyptians
got there, this pillar of fire and pillar of cloud, got between
the Egyptians and Israel. The cloud was the difference. And look what the scripture says
of this cloud. It came between the camp of the
Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud and darkness
to them. And it gave light by night to these, so that the one
came not near the other all night. Now, I love thinking about this.
This cloud The Egyptian side was utter darkness, even a darkness
that might be felt. They couldn't see a thing. Yet the Israelites, this cloud
was light. You know, the gospel is dark
to those who do not believe. It's light to those who do. And the difference between the
Egyptians and the Israel was that cloud that the Lord put
between them. Verse 21, And Moses stretched
out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go
back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea
dry land, and the waters were divided." Now, picture this in
your mind. This is, I suppose, one of the
more well-known miracles, probably because of Cecil B. DeMille's
movie, The Ten Commandments, and you had those amazing special
effects. for that time when the sea divided. But this is an actual physical
miracle that defied the laws of physics. The Lord made the
waters a wall on either side of the Israelites marching on
dry land through the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went
into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters
were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left.
And you can be sure of this, as they walked through, they
knew it was only the power of God that was keeping that water
up. They did so by faith, knowing what the Lord had done. And the
Egyptians pursued and went in after them in the midst of the
sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen.
Now, when the Egyptians went, it wasn't faith that the Lord
was holding up the walls of water. They just saw the walls of water
open and they charged. They thought we're going to get
them. And it came to pass that in the morning watch, the Lord
looked into the hosts of the Egyptians through the pillar
of fire and the cloud and troubled the host of the Egyptians and
took off their chariot wheels that they drove them heavily.
Now imagine this, there they are going against the children
of Israel and all of a sudden the wheels fall off their chariots
and they're dragging on the ground and the Lord looking at them
through that cloud. So the Egyptians said, let us
flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fighted for them
against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses,
stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come
again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their
horsemen. Now, when this story began, when
Moses came to Pharaoh, let my people go, thus saith the Lord,
let my people go, that they may serve me. Pharaoh said, who is
the Lord? that I should let the children
of Israel go. I know not the Lord, neither
will I let them go." Now, he was right, he didn't know the
Lord. I can't help but think when he was saying that, Moses
was thinking, you're fixing to find out who he is. But he said,
I won't let them go, yea will. He didn't have any choice. Look
what verse 27 says, and Moses stretched forth his hand over
the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning
appeared. And the Egyptians fled against
it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the
sea, and the waters returned and covered the chariots. And
I just wonder whether Pharaoh was thinking, I now know who
the Lord is, that I should obey him. And the horsemen and all
the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, there
remained not so much as one of them. The sea covered them. And this
typifies, with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ and His death,
it covers all the sins of every believer so that there remains
not even one of them. I stand before God as one having
never sinned. That's the heritage of everybody
that Jesus Christ died for. His blood covered all their sins
so they're not remained as much as one of them. That's why we
can have boldness on the day of judgment. There's no sin to
be condemned for. But the children of Israel walked
upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were
a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Thus
the Lord saved Israel. Salvation is up the Lord. Thus the Lord saved Israel that
day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians
dead upon the seashore. They washed up and they saw Pharaoh's
lifeless corpse. They saw the corpses of the Egyptians
unable to do anything toward their home, dead. And Israel
saw that great work, which the Lord did. upon the Egyptians. My dear friends, that's what
faith is. It's seeing the great work the
Lord did. My salvation is not what I do,
intend to do, or have done. My salvation is what the Lord
did alone. And the people feared the Lord
and believed the Lord. Now this is not a slavish fear
of mistrust or fear of loss. They had such an awe and a reverence
of who God was and His mighty power. They feared Him. This
is that fear which is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord
which is the beginning of wisdom. And whenever there's the fear
of the Lord, they believed the Lord. I'll tell you when a man
fears God, when he believes the gospel. when he is afraid to
look anywhere but Christ alone. That's when he fears God. If
he doesn't do that, he has no fear of God, no true reverence
and respect for God. The people feared the Lord and
believed the Lord, their salvation. And his servant Moses Now, they're
going to continue to murmur at Moses throughout these 40 years,
but right now, as they see the Egyptians dead on the seashores,
they believe what Moses had to say. May God enable us to do
the same thing. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at gmail.com,
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