By faith they passed through
the Red Sea. Not over it, not around it, not
under it, but through the Red Sea. We come to the Father through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And this was called an act of
faith. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea as they walked through with that wall of water on the
right hand and on the left. They did so by faith. They knew
it was God who kept the waters up. And I just bet that every
one of them at some time during that journey wondered whether
the waters would come crashing down. I would have thought that
looking up at that. But this was called an act of
faith. They believed God. They believed God had separated
the waters. And when the Egyptians attempted
to go behind them, they were drowned. You don't try to believe. You believe. When you try to
believe, you don't believe. You know, I tried to believe
a whole lot of times. It didn't work. And then one
time I found myself believing. God caused me to believe. I tried to believe. I heard the
gospel. I knew I needed to believe. And
I tried to believe. I did everything I could to believe.
And then I believed. And I knew that was the work
of God. I knew it didn't come from me. Now, Israel had just left Egypt. Would you turn to the book of
Exodus, chapter 12, verse 29. 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 he said, Rise up and get you forth from among
my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go and serve the
Lord, as you have 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'd be all dead men. And the
people took their dough before it was leavened, and netting
crawls being bound up in 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 them unto such
things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.
Now I want you to think. These people had been slaves. all their life. Severe slavery
and mistreated. And now they're set free. Try to picture what was going
through their mind. And not only were they set free,
they were now very wealthy. Set free and wealthy. Life is good. Life had been bad,
but now life is good. Can you imagine the electricity
of excitement that must have been with them as they left Egypt? They saw God working in behalf
of them. They saw the Lord was on their
side and they saw the mighty things he did. And they're leaving
Egyptian bondage with wealth and they're excited. Look in
the last verse of chapter 12. And it came to pass the selfsame
day that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt by their armies. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, I'm sorry, chapter 14, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they
turn, and encamp before Pi-ho-hi-roth, between Migdal and the sea, over
against Baal-ziphon, before it shall you encamp by the sea."
Now, they were called upon to change directions, and they were
placed in a place where they could not retreat in front of
the Red Sea. And God says in verse three,
for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled
in the land. The wilderness has shut them
in and I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after
them. And I'll be honored upon Pharaoh
and upon all his hosts that the Egyptians may know that I am
the Lord. And let me remind you about what
God says about Pharaoh. He says, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power, my authority in
you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Pharaoh was raised up for this
event, for God to show forth his mighty power. 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.
And they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel
go from serving us? Pharaoh, it's not like you had
any choice. Why are you all of a sudden talking
like this? And he made ready his chariot and took his people
with him, how quickly he had forgot. And 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. Well, Pharaoh hardened his own
heart, didn't he? Yes, he did. But it was because
the Lord hardened his heart. And if the Lord hardened your
heart, you'll harden your own heart. That's scary. I don't
want a hardened heart, do you? Oh, Lord, soften my heart." But
he raised up Pharaoh just to harden his heart like this. And he pursued after the children
of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with an high
hand, but the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and
chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them
in camping by the sea beside Pihairoth before Baal-ziphon. 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. And the children
of Israel cried out unto the Lord, and they said to Moses,
Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us
away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt 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. The children of Israel, at this
time, had three big problems. One, the Red Sea was in front
of them. Two, Pharaoh and his chariots
were behind them. And three, they had no faith. You know, it says, by faith they
marched through the Red Sea. And when you read this passage
of Scripture, you don't see much faith, do you? Once again, the
Old Testament tells the story of the flesh. The New Testament
tells the story of the spirit. But here at this time, they actually
say, let us alone, just leave us alone, let us be. You know, wherever and whenever you have
real faith, Always unbelief is right there with it. Now you
can just write that down. There's never a time in this
life when we are without unbelief because we always have the old
sinful nature. Now they believed. Bible tells
us they did. By faith they walked through. But they were also dealing with
this thing of unbelief. Now look at Moses reply to them
in verse 13. And Moses said unto the people
in their clamoring and in their unbelief and in their fear, he
says, fear ye not. Now, this is talking about the
fear of mistrust. And the fear of unbelief, we
all know something about that, don't we? The fear of mistrust,
where you can't trust the Lord. And the reason we can't trust
him is we make him out, our flesh makes him out to be like us.
And we become afraid of him. We mistrust him. And that mistrust
and fear is translated into fear of circumstances. It's translated
into fear of the future. It's translated into fear of
the unknown. It's translated into the fear
of man. It's the fear of unbelief and mistrust. And Moses says
to these people, fear not. Now, how are you going to tell
me not fear when I've got the Red Sea in front of me, I've
got Pharaoh and the chariots coming after me. I got no way
of retreat. I've got no way of battling these
people. How in the world am I supposed to fear not? I hear what you're
saying, but how can I not fear? Well, let's go on reading. And
Moses said unto the people, fear not. Stand still. And see the salvation of the
Lord. which he will show to you today
for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, whom you are afraid
of, you shall see them again no more forever. Fear not. Stand still. Stand still. Their strength is
to sit still, the prophet Isaiah said. Fallen human nature is
always trying to do something. Stand still. Don't do a thing. That's hard to do, isn't it? Stand still. They which have believed do enter
into rest. For he that is entered into his
rest hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. When I stand still, I cease from
my own works. I see they can't get me anywhere. Have you ever ceased from your
own works? Hard to do. Let him go. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which he will show to you today. Oh, would to God
that he would enable me and you right now to fear not to stand
still and to see the salvation of the Lord. What do I see? Who do I see?
When I see the salvation of the Lord, well, I see the same thing
Simeon saw. When he said, Lord, now let us
thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. When he saw the Lord Jesus Christ,
even as that child, he said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Now what does that mean? Well, first thing I thought of,
I love to think of the Lord Jesus Christ, this person, the Lord
Jesus Christ, standing as my surety before time began. And
he said regarding me, I'll bear full responsibility for him.
And everything that God requires of me, he looks to his son for. Behold his salvation as your
surety. But behold Him as He becomes
flesh. He never ceased to be what He
was, God, and He became what He was not, flesh, and He became
flesh forever. See Him in His incarnation becoming
flesh. See Him in the flesh keeping
God's holy law as a representative, as a surety, he never sinned. Behold, stand still and see the
salvation of God. Would to God that you and I can
turn our eyes off ourselves, turn our eyes off our experience,
turn our eyes off our thoughts, turn our eyes off our faith,
and just give us grace to actually consider him. Consider his law. He did it for
somebody, and he kept the law, considering, beholding in his
death, when he's nailed to the cross, the sins of God's elect
became his, and God's wrath came upon him, and he died, he paid
the penalty. He paid the complete penalty. The proof of it is God raised
him from the dead, seen raised from the dead. I love to think
of his empty tomb. I love to think of Peter and John running
up there and they run in there and look in. Nothing was there.
Why? Because he's raised from the
dead. And everybody that he represented, they're saved. Behold him as
he ascends back to the Father, the Lord of hosts. And when he
ascends back to the Father, all of his people do. Behold Him,
as He even now sits at the right hand of the Father, representing
His people, the Great Intercessor. Behold the Lord, behold His salvation. He is God's salvation. These Egyptians you fear, these
sins that you fear, you will see them no more. Verse 14, the Lord shall fight
for you And you shall hold your peace. The Lord will fight for
you. That's what he did on the cross.
That's what he did when he lives. The Lord will fight for you.
You know, I love that scripture several times in Psalms. David
says, plead my cause. Plead my cause. I love what Bruce
Crabtree said about that verse of scripture. He said, I had
no peace at all. I just had no peace. And I was
falling down on my bed feeling utterly despairing and I said,
plead my cause. And he said at the time between
I started falling and I hit the bed, I had peace because I saw
the Lord was pleading my cause and I needed nothing else. Behold
God's salvation. It's the Lord that fights for
you and all your objections will be silenced. Now, if you see
that the Lord does everything for you, What are you going to
do? He told you peace. There's nothing
to say. He did it all. I can't come up with any objection.
What perfect peace there is in the Lord doing it all. Salvation
is of the Lord. And just thinking about that,
that He did it all, that it has nothing to do with me, that He
did it. What peace there is there. The joy and peace of believing
that he did it all. Well, don't you have to do anything?
I believe that he did it all. I certainly believe that. And
the reason I believe that is he gave me the grace to do it.
Hold your peace and see that the Lord fights for you. Verse 15. And the Lord said unto
Moses, I love this guy. He just told him to stand still.
He said, fear not and stand still. But now look what he says. And
the Lord said unto Moses, wherefore, priest thou unto me, speak unto
the children of Israel that they go forward. He just said, stand still. Now,
what's this thing about going forward? There's a time to start crying.
And there's a time to start believing. Stand still, yes, but go forward. Praying, asking for mercy, those
are good things, but this is better. It's time to believe. I'm not telling you to ask for
mercy. I'm telling you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
not asking you to continue to seek the Lord. I'm telling you
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ right now. Go forward. Quit waiting for something to
happen. Quit waiting until you get better. Quit waiting for
some kind of experience. Quit waiting for something to
happen to you. Go forward right now. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't wait for anything. Waiting is worse. That's all
it is. Don't wait for anything. Believe on Christ right now. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. That's you, that's me. Turn with
me for a moment to the book of Esther. This is what came to
my mind when I thought of an illustration of coming forward
right now. The book of Esther. Right before Job. Now, Mordecai is telling Esther,
that she's going to have to go into the king. And Esther's afraid
to go into the king because there's a law that if you go in without
being called, the king can put you to death. You can't just
come waltzing into his presence. But Mordecai's telling her you're
going to have to come into the king's presence to represent
the Jews because there's been a decree against the Jews that
they're all going to be destroyed. And she's afraid to go. Now,
let's pick up reading verse 11. This is her reply to Mordecai. All the king's servants, Esther
4 verse 11, all the king's servants and all the people of the king's
provinces do know that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come
into the king and the inner court who is not called There's one
law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king
shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. But I've not
been called to come into the king these thirty days." And
they told to Mordecai Esther's words, and Mordecai commanded
to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape
the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether
hold thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement
and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But
thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed, and who knoweth
whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Then Esther bade them return to Mordecai this answer, Gather together all the Jews
that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither
eat nor drink three days, nor night or day. I also and my maidens
will fast likewise, so will I go unto the king, which is not according
to the law. And if I perish, I perish. Now that's the way I come to
Christ. I'm going to get there. However, If I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way and
did according to all that Esther had commanded him. Now it came
to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel. And the only way I'm going to
come into the King's presence is in royal apparel, the apparel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not coming any other way.
She understood that. She put on her royal apparel.
And she stood in the inner court of the king's house over against
the king's house. And the king sat upon his royal
throne in the royal house over against the gate of the house.
And it was so when the king saw Esther the queen standing in
the court that she obtained favor in his sight. And the king held
out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther
drew near and touched the top of the scepter. Now, you come
into God's presence like that, He's going to give you the royal
favor. Now, if I perish, I perish, I'm
coming. Now, that's how I go forward. Don't wait. Don't wait for something
to happen. Say, if I perish, I perish. This is the one thing
I do. I'm going to venture my soul completely on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm going to lay at His feet,
and I'm going to trust Him only to save me. And if I perish,
I perish. Now, the thing to do is believe
the gospel right now. Go forward. Go forward in obedience
to Him. And don't wait for something
to happen. Don't wait for an experience.
Don't wait till you get better. Don't wait till you understand
more. Believe on Christ right now. That's God's command to
you. And your right to believe comes
with God's command. But what if I'm not called? You come into His presence. Don't,
you come into his presence. But what if I'm not called? You
come into his presence anyway. You say to yourself, well, if
I perish, I perish. I'm still going to come to his
presence. Because the only hope you have is coming into his presence
and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. So you come right now
as you are. Just as I am, though tossed about
with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears, within,
without, Lamb of God, I come. You come. He says, go forward. Yes, stand still. See the salvation
of God. You go forward. Verse 16. 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 through the midst of the sea.
And behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians. This
is Exodus chapter 14, verse 17. 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've got me honor upon Pharaoh, upon
his chariots and upon his horsemen. You see, everything that God
does, he does for his own honor. I love that. You know, if I did
something for my own honor, it'd be wrong, wouldn't it? It'd be
sinful. It'd be evil. But when he does things for his
own honor, it's the only way for him to work. Because he's
God. 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 this
was their safety, this pillar, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
was a cloud in darkness to them, the Egyptians. They couldn't
see any light in it, but it gave light by night to these so that
the one came not near the other all the night. The cloud was
the difference. It was darkness to the Egyptians, but it was
light to the children of Israel. You know, when the natural man
hears the gospel, it's darkness to him. He can't see anything
in it, but it's light to God's people. 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, 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. Now try to picture in your mind this trick. They
have the waters on either side, and they know it's nothing less
than the power of God. And there they go. There they
go. Can you imagine how they must
have felt? Verse 23. And the Egyptians pursued
and went in after them into the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's
horses, his chariots, his horsemen. I guess he thought, well, if
they can do it, we can do it. Why not? I mean, they're doing it.
We'll follow right after. You see, they didn't have any
faith, though. Remember, they were trying to do this. They were
trying their efforts. And it came to pass, verse 24,
that in the morning watch, the Lord looked upon the host of
the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and troubled
the host of the Egyptians and took off their chariot wheels
that they draved them heavily so that the Egyptians said, let
us flee from the face of Israel. For the Lord fighted for them
against the Egyptians. Isn't that the gospel? The Lord
fighted for them. Salvation is of the Lord. Now,
here's my hope. that the Lord has fought my battles.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Tell them that they have received
of the Lord's hand double for all their sin. Their warfare
is accomplished. The Lord has fought my battles.
Verse 26, 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 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 us. Let me say this regarding the
sins of everybody Jesus Christ has died for. Everybody who passes
through the sea, there remains not so much as one of them. Rich said to me this morning,
I thought about it some this afternoon, he said, this is a
mystery. We're called upon to believe
that we're nothing but sin. And at the precise same time,
we're called on to believe that we have no sin. That's true. 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 the 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. Those that they feared so much,
they were dead. And Israel saw that great work
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. Now, if you ever believe, if
I ever believe, here's what we'll believe. We'll see that great
work the Lord Now what is that great work? Well, I've been talking
about it ever since you started talking. But here's another way
to look at it. That great work is this. He takes
me and makes me perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. Now that's a great work, isn't
it? 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, if I preach
the gospel, you're going to believe God, and you're going to believe
what I'm preaching. If I preach the gospel, you're
going to believe what I've got to say. You're going to Believe
the gospel and you're going to believe me, not because I said
it, but because God said it in his word. I like what John said
to my read it back in the scripture. Turn with me there. First John
chapter four. Verse six. First John chapter
four, verse six. We are of God. That's a bold statement, isn't
it? We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. He that's not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Now, I can just see people gnashing
their teeth on John when he says this. But it's true. If I tell God's
truth, You listen to what I'm saying, if you believe. That's
what he's saying. Now, fear not, stand still, see
the salvation of the Lord, and go forward. That's good counsel,
isn't it? May God give us grace to do just
that. Now, we're very privileged tonight
to get to observe the Lord's table and see People confess
Christ in believers baptism. Now, what is the Lord's table? Well, it's taking bread. And
wine. And eating it. And drinking it. The Lord said this do in remembrance
of me. Who is to take the Lord's table?
Everybody who believes Period. A period is very important. Because
many people take the Lord's table and use it kind of as a time
of examination. If you're not holy enough, if
you're not righteous enough, you better not take it that day.
You better wait till things get a little bit better and then
you can take it. That's plain stupid, isn't it?
It's just so contrary to the gospel. You take the Lord's table,
you observe the Lord's table as a sinner needing His grace.
You need His broken body as your only sin payment. You need His
shed blood. You need Him. Who is to take
the Lord's table? Everybody who believes. Now, if you need to
wait on it, if you're not ready to take the Lord's table, you're
not ready to die. Isn't that so? This is for every believer, and
we're commanded to take it. And the reason we take it is
because we need what the Lord's Table tells us. I need the gospel. I need his shed blood. I need
his broken body to make me righteous before God. I totally need this. It is a celebration. And in baptism,
who is to be baptized? Everybody who believes. Now, don't let conscience make
you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness he requireth
is to have a need of him. Now, who is to be baptized? All who believe the gospel. It's believer's baptism. And
I'm confessing in baptism that this is my salvation. When he lived, my only hope of
life before God is that his life is my life, that I was in him.
No other hope. When we go under the water, this
represents his death, his burial. I confess that my only hope is
that when he died, I died too, that my sins became his and I
died too. And I confess that when he was
raised from the dead, that's when I was saved. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And I confess to all that that
is all my salvation and it's all my desire. Baptism and the
Lord's table. We're going to observe the Lord's
table first and then we're going to have two baptisms. Let's pray
together.