Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. 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 reading the 31st verse of
the 14th chapter of Exodus, where we have the account of the Red
Sea parting. In verse 31, and Israel saw that
great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, And the people
feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His servant Moses. Now, that was the response. And
this is what faith is. It's seeing the great work which
the Lord did. You understand that the Lord
did it all, that you made no contribution. that you were not
a participant in this thing of salvation. He by himself purged
our sins. You did not help. You did not
contribute. And when you see that, you will
fear the Lord, the fear of reverence and all. And you will believe
the Lord. You will believe the gospel. Now, let's begin in chapter 14,
verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, speaking of the children of Israel, that they turn and
encamp. They had been going toward Canaan,
and now they're called upon to backtrack. They're going back
toward Egypt, before Pihahiroth, between Migdal and the sea, over
against Baal, Zephan. Before it shall you encamp by
the sea. you're going to go backwards
and you're going to stop right in front of the Red Sea. Four,
Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled
in the wilderness. The wilderness has shut them
in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart. This is God speaking.
Most of you've heard this before. I will hard Pharaoh's heart. 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. Does God do that? Does he harden
men's hearts? Most certainly. Romans 9, verse
18, for the scripture saith to Pharaoh, I love the way it says,
for the Scripture saith to Pharaoh. Now the Scripture hadn't yet
been written, but the Scripture is so awesome that when the Scripture
speaks, God speaks. For the Scripture saith 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. Therefore hath he mercy. on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will, he hardens. Now here is the fact, my dear
friend. Me and you are in his hands for
him to do whatsoever he's pleased to do. He's not in your hands,
you're in his hands. He can, as an act of His sovereign
grace, will my salvation, and I will be saved. And he can,
as an act of divine sovereignty, harden my heart so I am not saved. Now, I'm not saved because he
hardened my heart. I'm not saved because of my sin.
But as an act of his judicial justice, he can harden my heart
so I will never bow the knee to Christ. Me and you are in
his hand. In this thing of salvation, we
do not have any control. It's up to Him as to whether
or not we'll be saved. Now you can get mad at that if
you want, But you need to take up your problem with the Lord,
because this is His Word, and this is what He says. And Paul
anticipates the objection the natural man will have to this,
because he says, he said, Thou wilt say unto me, Why does he
yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
I mean, if He hardens my heart so that I can't do what's right,
then how can it be fair for him to hold me responsible when he
hardened my heart?" I love Paul's reply. David, oh man, who are
you to reply against God? You have no moral footing. You can't sit in judgment on
God. Whatever God does is right. And remember, fair is hell. That's
what fair is. Fair is hell. Grace is his mercy. That's where we're at. He says,
I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. Verse 5. And it was told the king of Egypt
that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants
was turned against the people. Who turned it? The Lord did.
You see, he's the first cause of all things. He's in control
of everything, and he's in control of your free and uncoerced actions. Pharaoh did what he wanted to
do. He did what he willed to do. And in doing so, he did what
God willed for him to do. Somebody says, are you saying
God is the author of evil? God's God. God's God. I make no apologies for anything
He does. God is God. Whatever He does is right, whether
me and you understand it or not. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? And if you can't see something
is right, the problem is with you. And if I can't see something
that's right, the problem's with me. God's God. He's on the throne. He's God. Me and you aren't.
And we don't have any right to call into question what He does.
He says he gives no account of his matters. None can say his
hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Give an account for yourself.
He's God. He's absolute authority. So he turned the heart of Pharaoh
to his servants and turned against the people. And they said, why
have we done this thing that we've let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot
and took his people with him." Now, you'd think Pharaoh would
have learned by now. He's seen the first nine plagues. His own son has been destroyed.
He's seen the death of the firstborn. He has seen the children of Israel
march out with a high hand through Jehovah. And you'd think he'd
be scared to death to make a move, but when a man's heart is hardened,
There's nothing stupid that he will not do, and how stupid Pharaoh
was to go after the children of Israel after all he'd seen.
And he took 600 chosen chariots, and to all the chariots of Egypt
and the captains, over every one of them, I think the 600
represents The number six is the number of man. Adam was born
on the sixth day. You read of the number of 666
in Revelation, it's the number of man. Failure upon failure
upon failure. And this that Pharaoh designs
to do is doomed for failure. Verse eight, and the Lord 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 overtook them, encamping by the sea beside Hiroth and
Beelzebub." Now, here they are, trapped. They've got the Red
Sea behind them. They've got things on either
side that prevent their fleeing. They've got Pharaoh's army in
front of them. They're in an impossible situation,
humanly speaking. Now let's look at their response.
Now remember, they'd seen what all the Lord had done for them.
But look at this response. They 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 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 that we should die in the wilderness.
Now, after all they had seen, all they have is unbelief. After all they'd seen God do
for them, they were still afraid. Now, what this lets me know,
and you listen to this statement real carefully, faith is not
the cause of salvation. If God would have been responding
to their faith, they didn't have any. They didn't have any. Faith is not the cause of salvation. Christ is the cause of salvation. The death of Christ is the cause
of salvation. The resurrection of Christ is
the cause of salvation. He is salvation. Faith does not
save, strictly speaking. Christ saves. Faith believes
that. But at this time, they had no
faith to let us know that it's really not our faith that saves
us, it's God that saves us. It's Christ that saves us. If
we're saved, he did the saving. I'm not saved because I believe.
I'm saved because God elected me. I'm saved because Christ
died for me. I'm saved because God the Holy Spirit gave me life.
I believe that. Now at this time, they are in
abject unbelief, and look at Moses' word to them, verse 13,
and Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still, don't
do anything, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show
you today, for the Egyptians Whom you've seen today, you shall
see them again no more. The Lord shall fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace. Stand still. Well, don't just
stand there, do something. No, don't do something. Stand
still. Stand still. Don't move a muscle. Don't try
to do anything. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Now in this salvation, we are
not participants, we're spectators, seeing what He does. Now understand that you don't
participate in your salvation. You see what He does, because
salvation's of the Lord, and He gets all the glory. And the
hardest thing you and I are called upon to do is nothing. Nothing. Don't try to save yourself.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, for the Lord shall
fight for you. Now, I think that Paul had this
in mind when he said in Romans 8, verse 31, If God be for us,
who can be against us? Whom he did foreknow, them he
also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Whom he called,
them he also justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. What shall we say to these things
if God be for us? Who can be against us? He said, the Lord shall fight
for you, and you shall hold your peace. You're not gonna say anything.
You're not gonna give any kind of response. I once heard a preacher
make this statement, and I thought I wish I would learn it. Never
lose an opportunity to shut up. You shall hold your peace. Verse 15, the Lord said unto
Moses, Wherefore cryest thou unto me, speak unto the children
of Israel, that they go forward. Now wait a minute, he just said
stand still, and now he's saying go forward? This has to do with
the motion of faith. Now what do I mean by that? Faith
is coming to Christ. And the time to believe the gospel
is right now. The time to come to Christ is
right now. Don't wait for something. Don't
wait till you understand more. Don't wait till you become better
because you're not. Come right now. If you can't come with faith,
come for faith. If you can't come with repentance,
come for repentance. But you come to Christ for all
things. He is salvation. Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Don't wait for anything. Go forward right now. And then the Lord says to Moses,
but lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the
sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground. the midst of the sea. And I,
behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall
follow them. And I will give me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon
all his hosts, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the
Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have got me
honor upon Pharaoh, and upon his horsemen." Now, here we have maybe the most famous
miracle in the Scripture. The Parting of the Red Sea, I
kind of think it's probably so famous in our generation because
of a movie made who knows how many years ago with Charlton
Heston and The Parting of the Red Sea and Cecil B. DeMille
had some kind of technology that had not been used in that day
that made it look really very realistic when it happened in
that movie. So most people know about the
parting of the Red Sea, but this was a literal event that took
place. The Red Sea really was parted. The children of Israel
really did go across on dry ground, and when the Egyptians went in
after them, and I thought, how could they be so crazy to go
in there? They must have known something was gonna happen, but
their hearts were so hardened, they went into that sea in presumption,
not in faith, like the Israelites, they went in presumption, thinking
that they were going to kill the Israelites. Now, just like
the Egyptians were the enemies of Israel, my sins are enemies. They're my enemies that I cannot
defeat, and I need the Lord to do something for me. Now, we
read, where they went in, The children of Israel were going
in, this mighty miracle, and they knew it was only the will
of God holding up the walls of those waters. I don't know how
deep it was at that time, but they could see water on either
side, and they were marching through on dry ground, not muddy
ground. dry ground. This miracle takes
place. And while they were going through,
some people estimate there were two million people. It took some
time. 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 to pass
the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. It was a
cloud of darkness to them, and it gave light by night to these,
so that one came not to the other all night." pillar of fire. It kept the Egyptians from being
able to attack the Israelites. And they were able to move the
entire camp that night. And what I think is so interesting
about this is that this pillar of fire was light to Israel But
it was darkness to the Egyptians. Now, the Israelites were just
as wicked as the Egyptians, just as sinful. What was the difference? God made the difference. Remember in Exodus 11, verse
7, when he said, Who is the difference? Who made
thee to differ from another? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? The Lord protected the Israelites,
and His judgment was upon the Egyptians. Was it because the
Israelites were better than the Egyptians? No, because God saves
whom He will, and He hardens whom He will. God made the difference. Verse 21, And Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by strong
east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the
waters were divided. 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."
Try to put yourself in their place. What must they have been
feeling when they knew it was only the will of God that was
keeping the water from coming back down on them? And the Egyptians,
verse 23, pursued and went in after them to the midst of the
sea, even all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Like I said, this shows how crazy they were. After all they'd experienced,
they're going to go ahead and try to do this now? And it came
to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked into the host
of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud,
and He troubled the host of the Egyptians and took off their
chariot wheels. And they drave them heavily,
so that the Egyptians said, let us flee from the face of Israel.
For the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. You bet
they were scared now when the Lord takes their chariot wheels
off, and there they are. And they know we're in trouble.
And they start trying to flee to get back to the shore before
the Lord lets the water come in. And the Lord said unto Moses,
verse 26, stretch out thine hand over the sea, and the waters
may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon
their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand. Here's the gospel.
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, for 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 host of Pharaoh that
came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as
one of them." Now, this is the gospel. My enemies, the Egyptians,
my sins, have all been covered by the blood of Christ, and there
remains not one of them. It's what the Bible calls justification. I stand before God justified,
not guilty of any sin. I think it's kind of sad when
preachers talk about justification. God treats you as if you were
justified. No, he doesn't treat a believer
as if they're justified. They're justified. Their sin
is gone. Christ has covered every sin. Look at 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. Unlike the Egyptians, who the
sea destroyed, they walked through the midst as on dry land. And I love the way that word
begins, that verse begins with a but. But the children of Israel
walked upon dry land. But God, that's every believer's
history. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved. But God, thank God for the buts
of the scripture. Verse 30, thus the Lord saved
Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptian, as Israel saw
the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. Now I say this to every believer.
You may see your sins, but see that they're dead. They've been
paid for and put to death. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin. Do you have to fear a dead man?
No, he can't do anything to you. He's dead. Your enemies, your
sins are dead. They've been put to death by
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was manifested to take away
our sins. Did he do it? Yes, he did. And
in him is no sin. And now we come to that last
verse that I read at the beginning of this message. And Israel saw
that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the
people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and Moses his servant. Thus Israel saw that great work
the Lord did upon the Egyptians. Now that day is the day they
were saved. when they saw that great work
that the Lord did. Now, if you are saved, if I am
saved, I was saved outside of my personal subjective experience. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, he saved
us and he called us, which came first, the saving or the calling.
What the scriptural order is, He saved us and He called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Now, we were saved outside of
our experience, but we were saved in our experience, too. And let
me tell you when a man is saved, when he sees the great work which
the Lord did. Now Christ himself is salvation. I love what Simeon said when
he said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He saved me when he said, it
is finished. Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
He shall save His people from their sins. When He said, it
is finished, they were all saved from their sins. And faith is
seeing that great work the Lord did. You know, we sing a song
and the chorus goes like this. Living, He loved me. Dying, He
saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified. Freely forever, one day He's
coming, O glorious day. Salvation is not what you do
for God, it's what He does for you. Salvation is not do, salvation
is it's done. It's done. When they saw the
great work the Lord did upon the Egyptians, The people feared
the Lord. Now, this is the fear of reverence. It's not the fear of unbelief
and the fear of mistrust. It's the fear of reverence. It's
the fear of God. It's that awe of God. Now, let
me tell you when you fear God. You fear God when you see you
have no control over Him, and He has all control over you. If you can control God, if you
can manipulate Him, if you can get Him to respond to you, you
don't fear God. There's no worship in that. You
only worship and fear a sovereign God, one who has all control
and you have none. And you're afraid of God when
you're afraid to look anywhere but Christ for salvation. Now
that's the fear of God. When you are afraid to look anywhere
but Christ for salvation, you're afraid of God. They feared God,
and wherever there's the fear of God, there's believing God. That is trust. I trust Him. I trust that what
He did and the great work He did is all that's needed. to make me perfect before God. That's what faith is. I know
whom I have believed And I am persuaded that he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. What'd you commit to him, Paul?
The entire salvation of my soul. All my eggs are in this basket.
He is all in salvation. Now we have this message on CD
and DVD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper praying God
will be pleased to make himself known to you. To request a copy
of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to messages
at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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