J.C. Ryle said that that hymn
Pam just sang is the greatest hymn in the English language. I wouldn't argue against that.
That's such a glorious hymn. Passing Through the Red Sea. Now these same people that pass
through the Red Sea, and they're mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter
10. These same people, we read of them, but with many of them,
God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. These people literally pass through
the Red Sea as on dry ground. And were even symbolically baptized
during that event. And we know that there were 600,000
adult men in this group. And I would say there were that
many adult women, not counting the children, most estimates
are over 2 million people, but over a million adults Only two
of them that were over 20 made it into the promised land. The
rest, their bodies bleached in the wilderness sand, dying. in the wilderness. The only two
that made it into the land that were over 20 were Caleb and Joshua. Joshua the Savior, that's what
his name means. Caleb, the fateful dog. That is a reminder to us that
straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life. and few there be that find it. I'm sure all of us have asked
the question, why is it that no more people seem to believe
the gospel of God's grace? There are very few. Are we being
too narrow? We're not as narrow as the Lord
was. If you just read the scripture, How many people came in? Over
20. Two. Over a million died in the
wilderness in Noah's day. How many people did God save
on the earth? Eight. Eight. That is sobering to say the least. And the parting of the Red Sea
is one of the most famous miracles in the Bible. Would you turn
to Exodus chapter 14? I think perhaps that it was famous in our generation because
of the film by Cecil B. DeMille, is that the way you
say his name? The Ten Commandments. I can remember as a boy at 13th
Street when they would have that movie on with Charlton Heston,
Brother Mahan would cancel the services and say, you all need
to watch that movie. And I can remember it being so,
it was the first time really impressive. special effects were
used. And he used gelatin somehow to
make it look real to me when it happened. And I was just astounded
by it. You know, the psalmist actually
says he congealed the sea. He made the sea into gelatin
is what that means. And that's what maybe that's
where Cecil B. DeMille got the idea. But you
saw the walls of water and you saw the children of Israel. marching
through the Red Sea as on dry ground. Now, this was a physical
miracle that defied the laws of physics when the Red Sea was
parted. And I love to think of this.
I love to think of the east wind pounding on the sea that night,
and all of a sudden, it split into a wall of water on each
side, and I've wondered, what could you see in it? But there
they march as on dry ground, and I feel quite sure there was
no mud either, dry ground, as they marched through this parting
of the Red Sea. Now I preached on this when we
were going through Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 11, and it's
not been much more than a year ago, but I read Exodus 14, and
it was such a blessing to me. I wanted to preach on this again. Passing through the sea. Now first, turn to Exodus chapter
12. Verse 29. This was after the smiting of
the firstborn. And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord
smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn
of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive
that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night,
he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there
was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there
was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron
by night and said, rise up, get you forth from among my people,
both you and the children of Israel, and you go, serve the
Lord as you said. Also take your flocks and your
herds as you said, and be gone and bless me also. And the Egyptians
were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the
land in haste for they said, we be all dead men. And the people
took their The dough before it was leavened, their netting troughs
before bound up, and their clothes upon their shoulders. And the
children of Israel did according to the word of Moses. And they
borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold
and raiment. And the Lord gave the people
favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent of them such
things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians."
Now, here's a miracle. While you're all leaving, take
my silver, take my gold, take my rubies, take my diamonds,
take my rib, take it all, just get out. They wanted them out. We'd be as dead men. They saw
what the Lord had done to their land. Verse 37, and the children
of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukkoth, about 600,000 on
foot that were men, besides children. That's where I got that number,
600,000. That many men were marching out along with the women and
the children. And a mixed multitude went up
also with them. We're going to hear about this
mixed multitude again in a few weeks. They were not true Israelites,
a mixed multitude. and flocks and herds, even very
much cattle, and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they
brought forth out of Egypt, for it was unleavened, because they
were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had
they prepared themselves any vittles, any food. Turn to chapter 13, verse 17. 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 peradventure the people repent when they see war, and
they return to Egypt. But God led the people about
the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children
of Israel went up, harnessed out of the land of Egypt, and
my marginal reading says in rows of five. Brothers of five, marching
through the sea. And Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him. Do you remember when Joseph said,
400 years, you're all going to be delivered. And when you leave,
take my bones with you. I want my bones placed back in
the promised land. And Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel,
saying, God will surely visit you. Oh, I want that visitation,
don't you? God will surely visit you, and
you shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took
their journey from Sukkoth and encamped at Etham in the edge
of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them
by day, in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way. And by
night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day
and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of the fire by night, from before
the people." They had this for 40 years. We considered that
last week. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn, and
encamp before Pi-ha-hi-roth. between Migdal and the sea, over
against Baal-ziphon. Before it shall you encamp by
the sea." Now, he says, turn aside, camp by the sea. You're gonna have mountains on
either side, the sea behind you. There will be no way of retreat. The Lord put them in this position
where they couldn't escape. They couldn't run to the right
or to the left, The sea was behind them. The Lord put them there. 4, verse 3, 4, Pharaoh will say of the children
of Israel, they're entangled in the wilderness. The wilderness
has shut them in. Why is Pharaoh going to say that?
Because I said he would. He knows every word he's going to say.
He put the words in his mouth. He is completely sovereign over
the free. I love saying this. He's completely
sovereign, absolutely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of men. Pharaoh was a wicked man and
he was doing what he wanted to do. But look what it says in
verse four. God says, and I will harden Pharaoh's
heart, that he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon
Pharaoh and upon all his hosts. that the Egyptians may know that
I am the Lord. And they did so. 10 times during the 10 plagues,
God said, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. As a matter of fact, turn
to Exodus 4, even before the plagues. Look at this, Exodus
4, verse 21. And the Lord said unto Moses,
when thou goest to return unto Egypt, see that thou do all those
wonders before Pharaoh, which I put in thine hand, but I will
harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. Now, 10
times, 10 plagues, Pharaoh is made to see the majesty
and awesome power of the Lord. Now he began saying, who is the
Lord that I should obey him? He found out who the Lord was
that he should obey him. And he relented. He saw he couldn't
fight against Jehovah. And then the Lord would harden
his heart. And he'd change his mind and
say, I'm not going to let this happen. I'm going to go get the
children of Israel. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart
10 times. And look at the way God says
in verse four, I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall
follow after them and I'll be honored upon Pharaoh. I will
be glorified upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the Egyptians
may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. Pharaoh's heart would harden
so he would resist what God said. And the Lord tells us. I'm getting
honor on him. I love that passage of scripture,
Romans chapter nine, where it says, for the scripture saith,
for the scripture saith, even for this same purpose, speaking
to Pharaoh, this most powerful man in the world at that time.
As we consider power, there really are no powerful men. All power
is borrowed power. And any power any man has, it's
just the position the Lord's put him in for his own purposes.
But he says to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I
raised thee up that I might show my power in thee and that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Now, what does
God have to do to harden a heart? Leave it alone. Nothing else
needs to be done. All he's got to do is leave me
or you to ourselves and we'll become as hardened as Satan himself. That's a sobering thought and
it's a true thought. That's all God's got to do is
leave a man alone. That's the desperate wickedness
of man. That all he's got to do is leave
us alone. Now Paul anticipated man's objection
to this where Even for this same purpose, if I raise thee up,
that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardens. Paul anticipates the objection
every one of us made. How can he then hold me responsible
if he hardened my heart? How can he hold me responsible
if he's the one who hardened my heart? That doesn't seem right,
that doesn't seem fair. And I love Paul's answer to this
objection. Nay, but, O man, who are you
to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay? This is who he is. And Pharaoh,
this wicked man, found that out. God said I will be glorified,
I will be honored on Pharaoh. Now I love this. If I seek to glorify myself,
what is it? Evil. If he seeks to glorify
himself, what is it? Glorious. Because of who he is. Now everybody's gonna glorify
him. I'm either gonna glorify his justice, I'm going to glorify
his grace but glorify him I will and you will. I've raised this
man Pharaoh up that I might be honored in him and the Egyptians
will know that I am the Lord and they did so. And it was told
the king of Egypt, verse 5 chapter 14, it was told the king of Egypt
that the people fled And the heart of Pharaoh and his servants
was turned against the people. Who turned it? The king's hand, heart, is in
the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. Pharaoh is just going to do God's
will, just like, and I'm scary saying this, but just like Satan
himself, he can't do anything except God wills him to do it.
He is in God's hand, God's sovereign, and he says this about Pharaoh,
His heart was turned and they said, why have you done this?
So we should let Israel go from serving us. And you think he
would have learned his lesson by now, but his heart is hardened
once again. Pharaoh, this is madness. You
can't possibly defeat Jehovah, the omnipotent God. And yet here
he goes. His heart is hardened again.
And he made ready his chariot and took the people with him.
And he took 600 chosen chariots. Why 600? What's the number of man? Six. Certain failure, certain defeat,
even with his 600 chariots. Certain failure, certain defeat. That's the number of man. And
all the chariots of Egypt and captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. All he had to do was leave him
alone. And all he's got to do is leave me alone and you alone. Same thing will happen. Don't
flatter yourself. You and I would be just as evil,
just as hardened as Pharaoh. But the Lord hardened his heart.
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 overtook them in camping by the sea beside Pyhahiroth
before Baal-ziphon. And when Pharaoh drew near, drew
nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold,
the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. Question. Did they have a reason to be
so afraid? Now, I realize that they were in a humanly speaking
an impossible situation. They had no way of retreat. But
if God be for us, who can be against us? They had seen the
Lord act on their behalf in these miraculous ways. They had no
reason to be afraid, but they were afraid. Does that remind
you of anybody you know? There they are. In fear, 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? That's
the natural man's response to the gospel. 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.
Look at their unbelief, their complaining, their wicked attitude. They said we would have been
better off in Egypt. We told you to leave us alone.
Now look what you've got us into. After all they'd seen, they'd
seen the parting of the Red Sea. After all they'd seen in the
Lord's deliverance, here they are charging Moses with a crime
of, are you out here for genocide to kill us all? How unbelieving. The children
of Israel picture me and you. constantly unbelieving in spite
of such glorious manifestations of the gospel. And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not. You see, if I fear God, There's
nothing else to fear. Fear ye not. Don't try to do anything to protect
yourself. Don't draw your sword. Don't
get out your spears. Don't get out your shields. Stand
still. Now in this thing of salvation, It's a non-participatory thing. There's nothing for you to do,
but stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. I love what Simeon
said when he said, with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, now
let us how thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Stand still. Don't do anything.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now I want you to
think to what extent and to what degree Christ is salvation. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. That says everything, doesn't it?
What's election without Christ? You think He just chose you apart
from His Son? No, you were viewed in Christ.
That's why He chose you. Simply because you were viewed
in Christ. Union with Christ. That's why he, you know, you
read that scripture in 1 John 4, 17. As he is, so are we in
this world. That's because of union with
Christ, how he is. That's how we are. Redemption. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Acceptance. He has made
us accepted in the beloved. Justification. being made to
stand before God is absolutely without sin, having never sinned,
having never committed a sin. That's what justification is.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
Preservation were preserved in Christ Jesus. Heaven will be
beholding His glory. He is all in salvation. I can't
stress that enough. He's all in salvation. Stand
still! Don't move a muscle. Look at what he has done. 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 again no more forever. Now, I like to think of them
scared to death when they see Pharaoh coming, and they thought
their enemies had been defeated. Well, they had been, but they
thought, have they been raised up again? Maybe you've even felt
that way about some sin that you thought was defeated, and
here it comes at you again, just like they did. Those enemies
we thought were defeated, they were defeated. And the Lord says,
you shall see them no more. Now look what he says in verse
14. The Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. The battles of the Lord's. You
see, his honor is engaged in your salvation. If he'd lose
you, he'd lose his glory as the all-sufficient Savior. He'd lose
a lot, but he'd lose more. He'd lose his glory. He says,
the Lord's gonna fight for you. Isn't that glorious that the
Lord fights my battles? And he says, you shall hold your
peace. Next time you wanna defend yourself
over some accusation, remember this, the Lord shall fight for
you. and all you're gonna do is hold
your peace. Keep your mouth shut. That's what he's saying. The
Lord fights for you. If I need defended, the Lord
will defend me. Verse 15, and the Lord said unto
Moses, wherefore cryest thou unto me, speak unto the children
of Israel that they go forward. Now here is faith. He said, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. And now he says, you
take that step into the Red Sea. That's faith. You take that first
step. And they were looking at the walls of water. They were
already separated. Do we go? Yes, we go. That is
faith. Go forward. You march through
the sea that I have separated. Verse 15. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Wherefore cryest thou unto me, speaking of the children of Israel,
that they go forward through this sea that I have parted?
Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea,
and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground
through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden
the heart of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. Now when
Israel went through, it was called faith. Egypt tries to go through its
presumption. He says, I will harden him, and
I will get me honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts, upon
all his chariots, upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know
that I am the Lord when I've gotten me honor upon Pharaoh,
upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 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 their face and stood behind them." What separated
the Egyptians and the children of Israel? The pillar of cloud,
the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the difference. And look what it says about this
pillar of cloud. And it came between the camp
of the Egyptians, verse 20, And the camp of Israel was a cloud
of darkness to them. All the Egyptians saw at that
time was utter, gross darkness, darkness that might be felt.
Just like that time when the Lord plagued the land with darkness.
I mean, they couldn't see their hand in front of their face.
There was no light. And the gospel is darkness to
an unbeliever. He has no understanding. He has
no light. He can't see. If you can see,
it's because the Lord gave you light. But this same cloud that
was darkness to the Egyptians was a pillar of light to the
children of Israel. It gave light by night to thee,
so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong
wind. All that night made the sea dry land, and the waters
were divided. And the children of Israel went
into the midst of the sea upon dry ground, and the waters were
a wall unto them on the right hand and on the left." And you
can bet while they were marching through that, I don't know how
deep it was, maybe 100 feet, 60 feet, I don't know what it
was, but they were looking up and they knew the only thing
that was keeping that water from crashing down upon them was the
power of God. the purpose of God, the will
of God. They knew that. They were going through by faith. Now, they had a lot of unbelief
along with it. You saw the way they were talking
to Moses. Why'd you bring us out here to
kill us? But when they went through, they did so by faith, knowing
the waters were kept up by the power of God. And the Egyptians,
verse 23, and the Egyptians pursued and went in after them in the
midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses and his chariots and his
horsemen." Now, what they were doing was an act of presumption.
Israel knew that the only reason the water was standing up was
because God willed it to stand up. It was a miracle. But all
Pharaoh and his army saw was, there's the path, there's the
corridor between the waters, let's go in and get him. That's all he
could do. And it was an act of presumption,
not an act of faith, not an act of trust of God holding the water
back, but it was an act of presumption. And it came to pass, verse 24,
that in the morning watch, The Lord looked unto the host of
the Egyptians. How far they were in, I don't
know, maybe halfway through. But the Lord looked unto the
host of the Egyptians through the pillar of 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 fighted
for them against the Egyptians." All of a sudden they're thinking
right again. What have we done? We're doing this again. The Lord
is fighting for them. And you think of their chariot
wheels falling off the chariots and trying to drag it through
the sand. They knew they are in trouble. 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 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 the horsemen
and all the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after
them, there remain not so much as one of them. Let me tell you something about
your sin. There remains not so much as
one of them. They've been covered. They've
been put away. And there remains not so much
as one of them. That is called justification. That's what the Lord did for
his people. But, verse 29, but, The children of Israel walked
upon dry land. Like I said, I guarantee you
there wasn't any mud. It's dry, dry, dry, desert dry. 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 that
day. Salvation in a day. The day of God. The day of the
Lord. That's talking about the day
of the cross. Salvation in a day. Thus the Lord saved Israel that
day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians
dead upon the seashore. Dead, powerless to do them any
harm. What must have that been to look at those dead bodies
on the shore that morning? And they knew that they had no
power to do anything to them. And Israel saw that, verse 31,
and Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. Now notice the language. What
is salvation? It's what the Lord did. It's
not what you do. You had no cooperation in this. There wasn't any contribution
you made. It's what the Lord did. Don't
you love the language of the scripture? It's what the Lord
did. And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord. and his servant Moses." Now,
I love this summary. The people feared the Lord and
believed the Lord. Do you know they're the same
thing? You fear the Lord, you'll believe
the gospel. The fear of the Lord looks to
Christ only. That's what it does. It believes
the gospel. where there is unbelief, where
there's not believing the gospel, there's no fear of God. If I
truly fear God with this awe and reverence and respect, where
I believe who He is, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna
be afraid to look anywhere but Christ. I look to Him alone. They feared the Lord, they believed
the Lord, and His servant Moses. Now they had been complaining
against Moses, and as a matter of fact, if you go on reading
through Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Moses was not a very popular man. I mean, we look at him as
this great figure, and indeed he was, but the children of Israel
were constantly criticizing him and questioning him and talking
about, why have you brought us out here? Why have you done that?
But at this time anyway, now they're going to start questioning
him again. Throughout the 40 years, they're going to be questioning
him. But right now, as they see the Egyptians dead on the seashore,
and they see that the Lord directed Moses to do this, they believe
the word of Moses. It wasn't because they believed
in Moses so much, but they believed the Lord who Moses believed. What a glorious Old Testament
type of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for your
salvation. We ask that you would enable
us by your grace to stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord and to go forward in trusting your son only as everything in
our salvation. Bless this message for your glory
and for our eternal good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.