the first line of that song,
Waiting for my body that will never sin. Isn't that thrilling? That is our heritage, a body
that will never sin. I've entitled this message Believing
or Attempting. believing or attempting. We read that by faith they passed
through the Red Sea as on dry land, which the Egyptians attempting
to do. That's what a saying means. They
attempted to cross through the Red Sea, just like the Israelites
did. And in their attempt, they were
drowned. I love to think of the children
of Israel, some two million of them, backed up with the Red
Sea behind them. And they had no means of retreat.
And the armies of Egypt with Pharaoh and his chariots are
marching toward them. And the Lord puts a pillar, he's
the pillar, between Them and the Egyptians. And then all night
long, an East wind presses upon Betsy. How long did it take? I don't know, but the red sea
actually parted. Can you imagine what that must've
been like to experience that and to see that the red sea partying
and our text tells us that the Israelites passed through as
on dry land. It wasn't even muddy. It was
dry. And there they march. I don't
know how long the march was, but they saw the sea as a wall
on the right hand and on their left. I've always wondered what
could they see in the water? Did they see the fish? Were the
fish looking? I don't know. But there they go through the
dry land passing through the Red Sea. And they did so the
scripture says by faith. Now Pharaoh and his armies were
prevented from going. You can remember that cloudy
pillar prevented them from following while they went in through the
Red Sea and then the pillar left. If you read in the passage of
scripture, that pillar was light to the children of Israel and
it was darkness to the Egyptians. They could not see. The pillar leaves and they attempt
to go through the Red Sea. There was no faith. They attempted
to make this journey. And the scripture says, the Lord
brought the sea down upon them and drowned them all. Now you believe you don't attempt
to believe. You don't try to believe you
don't make a decision to believe I'm going to believe God. Oh, faith is not something you attempt
to do. Faith is something you do. You
believe. You don't try to believe. Have
you ever tried to believe? It didn't work. The only time
you believe is when God gives you the faith to believe. You
know what you do then? You believe. That's when you
believe. And when you attempt, you're
going to have failure just like these people did. Now let's go
back to the Old Testament account of this glorious event. Would
you turn with me to Exodus chapter 13? Now they have seen the 10 plagues
and the devastation it's brought on Egypt. Egypt was in shambles. They begged them to leave, seeing
what all the Lord had done to them. And they leave and they
take the first Passover. What a time that must have been.
And then we read beginning in verse 17 of chapter 13, and it
came to pass, This is after they were already gone and had taken
the Passover, observed the Passover, 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 through
the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children
of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. That means
they were marching in rows. And Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him. You remember 430 years before
this, when Joseph said, the Lord's gonna surely visit you? Oh, what
a blessed promise. The Lord's surely gonna visit
you. Is there a better promise than that? And he said, when
you go, take my bones back with you. And so they're leaving Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel,
saying, God will surely visit you and you should 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 by the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them
light to go by the 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. Now they'd been marching for several days. And then in
chapter one or chapter 14, verse one, And the Lord spake unto
Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel that they
turn and encamp before Pihath-Hiroth between Migdal and the sea over
against Baal-Zephon before it shall you encamp by the sea. God told them to camp in a place
where there was no place for retreat strategically. This was a terrible place. They
didn't have anywhere to go. If Pharaoh came upon them, they
were stuck. There was no retreat. And now look what God says, verse
three. For Pharaoh will say of the children
of Israel, God said Pharaoh's gonna say this because God determined
it. This was his purpose. This was his decree. This is
why this would take place. For Pharaoh will say of the children
of Israel, they're entangled in the land. The wilderness has
shut them in. Now, hadn't Pharaoh learned his
lesson? Egypt has been devastated. It's
been destroyed. And now he sees them gone and
he says, they're entangled in the land. We're going to be able
to get them. How did this happen? Verse four,
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. They came after the children
of Israel, after all they'd experienced in the 10 plagues. How foolish. Sin makes people idiots, doesn't
it? Because this was idiotic for him to do this. There was
no way they could defeat the God of Israel, but yet God has
hardened Pharaoh's heart. And here he comes. Verse five,
and it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled. And the
heart of Pharaoh and of his servants were turned against the people.
And they said, why have we done this? That we've let Israel go
from serving us. Well, we know why they did it
because God destroyed the land with the 10 plagues, but evidently
he's forgotten. Why have we done this? And he
made ready his chariot and took his people with him. And he took
600 chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt and captains
over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. How many times does the scripture
say that? The Lord hardened his heart and he pursued after the
children of Israel and the children of Israel went out with an high
hand. The hand of God brought them
out, but the Egyptians pursued after them. all the horses and
chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen in his army, overtook them in
camping by the sea beside Pahaiharoth before Beelzebub. And when Pharaoh drew near, the
children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold, the Egyptians
marched after them. And they were sore afraid, 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 we
may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." What about the faith we read
about in Hebrews 11, 29? the children of Israel, went,
passed through the Red Sea as on dry ground. Doesn't sound
like much faith here, does it? After all that the Lord had done
for them, they still did not believe. Now I want you to think about
this. They had seen the 10 plagues, they had watched The Egyptians
give them all their gold and silver, they marched out, God
being with them, if God be for us, who can be against us? And
yet, when the Egyptians come and they see they have no retreat,
they cry out for fear and they murmur at Moses, why have you
brought us into this place? Now we've already seen, particular
in Hebrews chapter 11, That there's the Old Testament account and
there's the New Testament account. That's brought out so clearly
in this passage of scripture. I think one of the most striking
examples in Hebrews chapter 11 is Sarah. If you read the Old
Testament account when the Lord told Abraham, you're going to
have a child through Sarah, she laughed. And it was the laugh
of unbelief. She said, can I be at this age,
do something like this? She laughed. And the Lord said
to Abraham, why'd Sarah laugh? She lied to the Lord. She said,
I didn't laugh. She lied to the Lord at this time. And if you
look at the account given in Genesis, you don't see any faith
in her. Yet, if you read the New Testament
account, by faith, Sarah, received strength to conceive seed. One is the story of the old man,
the other is the story of the new man. They're both true, but
here they are. We read in the New Testament,
by faith they pass through the Red Sea as upon dry ground. But here they're scared to death.
Another example, I would think, that this is not just unique
to the writer, to the Hebrews. What about Peter talking about
Lot? Do you know before the New Testament came around, every
Jewish writer pretty much made Lot to be an unbeliever? And
I can understand that. You read Lot's history. It doesn't
seem very good, does it? But what does the new Testament
say about this man lot? Just lot, justified lot, that
righteous man. That's what the Holy spirit calls
him. Whose righteous soul was vexed. Now you read the old Testament
account. I don't read of anything good
about him, except for the fact that he didn't look back. That's
good, that's what faith is. He didn't look back. The Lord
said, don't look back, he didn't. But everything he did was wrong.
But yet the New Testament account gives this glowing term of lot. So we look at these people and
oh, their response is wrong. And they're upset with Moses. Verse 13. Now here is the gospel. And Moses said unto the people,
they were so upset, they were so afraid. He said, fear ye not. What is the most often repeated
command in the scripture? Fear ye not. 300, over 300 times. Fear ye not. Now, they in their mind had a
great reason to be afraid, but the Lord says, fear ye not. Those things that you're afraid
of, don't be afraid of. Fear ye not. Stand still. Don't move. Don't move a muscle.
Don't try to scheme. Don't try to figure out how you're
going to get out of this. Don't try to figure out what you can
do to deliver yourself from this predicament. Stand still. Don't move a muscle. Oh, would
to God that you and I would do that right now. Stand still. Quit doing. Quit doing. Quit moving. 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. Stand still. Now, the only way
you can see is when you stand still. If you're moving, you
can't see. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. I love Jonah's words
in Jonah chapter two, verse nine, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation. What is salvation? It's being
saved from your sins. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Salvation. Salvation
from sin. That time when I'm in my body
that never sins and I'm perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
That's salvation. Salvation from sin. Salvation
is. It is finished. What? Salvation. It is Salvation
is, it's accomplished. It is finished, completed. Stand still and see that salvation
is of the Lord. It's His work alone. And I'm called upon to stand
still and see. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, they were scared to death. Quit being afraid. Stand still, quit moving, quit
doing, quit thinking about what you need to do. Quit trying to
put yourself in a position where maybe it'll be a little bit better
or more advantageous. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Now, when Simeon was holding
the Lord, when he was brought in on the eighth day to be circumcised,
He said, Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace. I'm
ready to die for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Now, the salvation of the Lord is
Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Christ, the Lord. Now,
when he stood as a surety for you, taking full responsibility
for your salvation before time began. Was there any doubt about
your salvation? When he became incarnate, when
he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin's womb,
because he had agreed to do this, to be your savior, to be the
savior of his people. Thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. When he entered
that womb of that virgin, was there any doubt as to your salvation? He's representing you. When he kept God's law perfectly
as your representative, don't ever forget that what he did,
he did as a representative. He didn't act on his own. He
said, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When
he worked out a perfect righteousness for you, was there any doubt
with regard to your salvation? When he went to the cross, bearing
your sins, the actual sins you committed. He bore them in his
own body on the tree and put them away. Was there any doubt
with regard to your salvation? When he died, and the scripture
says, he didn't even begin to decay. He saw no corruption.
You know why? Because he completely satisfied
God with what he did. Was there any doubt with regard
to your salvation when he died, saw no corruption, when he was
raised from the dead? He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification when he was raised from the dead.
Was there any question, Mark, with regard to your salvation?
You see, he is salvation when he ascended back to the Father.
Was there any doubt? As he intercedes for you right
now, Is there any doubt with regard to your salvation? Stand
still, quit doing, stand still and see, behold the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you today. Salvation in a
day. For the Egyptians whom you've
seen today, you shall see them again no more Forever. Those enemies that you
fear, you're gonna see them no more forever. You see this salvation's
eternal. You're just gonna see those dead
bodies washed up on the shore. They can't hurt you. This salvation
is eternal. Verse 14, for the Lord shall
fight for you. Ain't that the gospel? The Lord
shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Now, if the Lord's doing the
fighting, what is there to say? There's nothing you can add to
what He is doing. And this is a blessed passage
of Scripture. When you feel like somebody's
fighting against you, when you feel like somebody's maligning
you, when you feel like somebody's misrepresenting you, The Lord's
gonna fight for you. Just keep your mouth shut. Hold
your peace. The Lord will take care of you.
What a blessed promise to every child of God. Be still. The Lord will fight for you and
you shall hold your peace. Verse 15, and the Lord said unto
Moses, wherefore cryest thou unto me? Speak unto the children
of Israel that they go forward. Now he says, stand still. And
now he says, go forward. Those two things seem to be the
opposite, don't they? Stand still, now you're telling
me to go forward. Well, he's talking about when that water
parted, there was that dry land. And what were they to do? Take
the step in. Go forward. This is faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the act of committing
the salvation of your soul to him. Now, I know this, when they
were walking through that looking at the wall of water on either
side, one thing they knew, it was only God that was keeping
the water up. It was only, they didn't have
anything to do with this. They were sure of that when they
were walking through the Red Sea, they knew that it was nothing
less than the miraculous power of God doing it all. They were
sure of that. Go forward, start marching. This
is where we willingly and intelligently entrust the salvation of our
soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lynn and I like to watch cooking
shows. She likes to watch them more than me, but I enjoy watching
them. But during those cooking shows,
right at the end, they're given so many minutes or so, a half
an hour or so, to get the food cooked. And right at the end,
if you watch them, they put their hands up. Finish. Nothing more
to do. Time's up. I've already done it. My hands
are up. We put our hands up before we get started, because the Lord
already did it. He accomplished our salvation. Our hands are up, He already
did it. The work's already done. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed,
entrusted to Him against that day. When they took that step
in, it was knowing only the power of God kept that water up. They
believed in the salvation that is of the Lord. The Lord said unto Moses, verse
15, wherefore cryest thou unto me, speak unto the children of
Israel, that they go forward. Believe on Christ right now.
I'm saying this to myself. I'm saying this to you. Go forward.
Trust the Lord Jesus Christ right now. Cast your soul upon him. Trust him to save you. Go forward.
Don't wait for something. Don't wait for an experience.
Don't wait for something to happen. Don't wait for a feeling. Don't
wait till you get better. forward, take the step in that
sense. That's what he said, go through
that land that he has made dry through the Red Sea. Verse 16,
but lift thou up thy rod, 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 behold I'll harden the hearts
of the Egyptians and they shall follow them and I will get me
honor upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts up on his chariots
and 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. Paul said in Romans chapter nine,
quoting what the Lord said, even for this same purpose have I
raised thee up, speaking of Pharaoh, that I might show my power in
thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. This is God. This is who he is. And whatever he does is right,
glorious, best, and true. When he raised up Pharaoh to
show his power, this is God working. And whatever, don't sit in judgment. Well, how could God harden his
heart? Why could he? Whatever God does is right. Whatever the
Lord does is right. 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 their face and
stood behind them. And it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And it was a cloud
and darkness to the Egyptians, to them. But it gave light by
night to these, the Israelites, so that one came not near the
other all night." This is while God had the east wind separate
the waters. You know, the gospel is darkness
to an unbeliever. It's just darkness. Paul spoke of the God of this
world blinding the minds of them that believe not, lest the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake,
for God. who commanded the light to shine
out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, what does that mean? Do
you have this light and knowledge? Do you see that Jesus Christ
is the glory of God and that in your salvation, he gets all
the glory and you love it that way. You wouldn't want it to
be any other way. the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Verse 22, 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 the right hand and on
their left. I had no idea how high it was. I had no idea how
far the march was. But it was glorious. This actually
happened. And the Egyptians pursued. This is after the cloud let them
go. And the Egyptians pursued and
went in after them in the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's
horses, his chariots, his horsemen. Now I try to think about this.
They knew that the Lord was working in behalf of the Israelites,
but they thought, maybe this will work for us. They attempted
this. This was Pharaoh's fatal mistake. He attempted this. If I was Pharaoh,
I believe I would have been scared to go in there. Think about this. I mean, all he'd experienced,
I would have been a little, but if the Lord hardened my heart
the way he did Pharaoh, Pharaoh was gonna do anything. So he
went in after them. And the Egyptians, verse 23,
pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even
all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came
to pass that in the morning watch, 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." Now, that is eerie. Did they see the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ through this pillar? I don't know. But he
was looking upon them, and he troubled them, and took off their
chariot wheels that they drove them heavily. Now, here they
are with the chariots trying to catch up with the children
of Israel. All of a sudden, the wheels fall
off. And their chariots were dragging along the ground. And
they thought, uh-oh, we shouldn't have come this way. They knew
at that time, look what they said. Verse 25, and he took off
their chariot wheels so 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 the Egyptian. Now they had been
experiencing this a lot. Now they experience it again.
The Lord's fighting for them. And the Lord said unto Moses,
stretch out thine hand over the sea that the waters may come
again upon the Egyptians, upon the chariots and upon the horsemen.
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea
returned to its strength when the morning appeared. I'm sure
this was happening while the Egyptians were, they gave up
on their chariots and they were running, trying to get out. And
all of a sudden the Lord brings that water crashing down upon
them. And Moses stretched forth his
hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its 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 remained not so much as one of them." Child of God. That's true concerning your sins.
There remains not so much as one of them. That is what the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. The complete putting
away of your sins, everything that you're afraid of, not one
thing remains. It's gone. Verse 29, 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 out of the hand of the Egyptians. And
Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore." Now, I want
you to think about this. They saw them washed up. They
saw Pharaoh. They saw all of his hoes dead
on the seashore. What can a dead man do to hurt
you? All your enemies, all your sins,
dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw the great work, which the Lord
did upon the Egyptians. Now, when we believe the gospel,
we see the great work the Lord did. Salvation of the Lord. He did it all. We believe that
and we're glad it's that way. We wouldn't want it to be any
other way. He did it all. If that's not the case, I don't
have any hope, but thank God he did it all. When he said it
is finished, it was finished. And the next response is the
people feared the Lord. You know, I love that scripture,
there's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. You
see, what is the response of a believing sinner to the gospel? the fear of the Lord, which is
the beginning of wisdom. And don't ever forget what the
fear of the Lord is, is you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ.
That's what the fear of the Lord is. You're afraid to look anywhere
but Christ. You look only to him. They feared
the Lord and believed the Lord. They believed the gospel. They
believed what he said. Faith is believing what God says. Everything I believe is what
he said. I don't believe anything any
man says. I believe what God says. They
believe the Lord. We believe the gospel account. And look what it says next. And
his servant Moses. Now they had been speaking in
much unbelief with regard to Moses. Why did you do this? But
when they hear the gospel, They believe the Lord and they believe
the one who the Lord brought the word to Moses. They saw,
they feared, and they believe. They believe the word of the
Lord and they believe the man whom brought the word. Now, somebody's
thinking, do you mean I need to believe what you say? If I'm
saying what he says you do, he that heareth you, the Lord said,
heareth me. May the Lord cause us to make
this march through the dry land every day of our lives, trusting
the Lord to bring us through. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
salvation. We ask that you would give us
grace to stand still and see your salvation. And we ask that
you would give us grace to go forward and trust thy son walking
through the midst as on dry land, knowing that you preserve us.
Lord, we thank you for the great work which you've done. Bless
this message for Christ's sake. In his name, we pray. Amen.