Exodus chapter 13. You and I have been looking at some pictures
of salvation through the Old Testament. And last week, if
you remember the last time we met, we left Israel. They were coming out of Egypt. The blood was upon the doorpost
of the doors. The wrath of God had been turned
away. The first barn had been secured.
The morning light had come. Then spoiled the Egyptians, taking
their silver and their gold. Pharaoh told them to hasten and
get out. And they were now beginning their
journey to the promised land. And this is where I want to pick
up this afternoon with you. In Exodus chapter 13 and verse
17 and verse And I want to look at the time
that Israel left Egypt. They've left Ramsey. And they
go through the Red Sea. And that's what I want to look
at tonight with you. And I want to look at it from
this perspective. I want to look at it from the
perspective that here you have the children of God. They've
been justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their
sins have been washed away. And now they're on their journey
to the promised land. And I want to look at the river
of death just for a moment when we finish. The Red Sea is the
river of death where they went down in and they saw all their
enemies dead upon the seashore. And they sang the song of deliverance
on the other side. That's the way we want to look
at this this afternoon. So let's get started, and hopefully
I won't keep you quite so long tonight. In verse 17 and verse
18, let's look at some things here we find in this chapter,
in chapter 14. Exodus chapter 13 and verse 17. They're coming out now, and here's
what happens. 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 preadventure,
lest perhaps 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." Now the
first thing we see here in verse 17, that God's way is not the
way of the natural man. He led them by the way not of
the Philistines. If you look on your map sometime,
when you come out of Ramsey and you go straight up, you go through
Gaza and you'll come into the southern part of the land of
promise. Some say if you walk quick enough,
that you can walk this route in three days. Others said this
company that was probably two million people or so could have
made it probably in ten days. Isn't it amazing then that since
that route was so near and so quick that God didn't lead them
up in that direction? That's the direction I'd have
went. That's the direction you'd have went. That's the direction
that makes sense, isn't it? But it only makes sense to the
natural man. God had another way in mind. He led them through the way of
the wilderness. It's amazing that the journey
that they could have made from three to ten days, it took this
nation forty years to get there. But that's God's way, isn't it?
That's God's way. You know it would be nice if
the Lord would save somebody, Take them, as it were, on a cloud
and let them go through this world full of peace and comfort
and never suffer any trials and tribulation. That would probably
be nice, but that's not my experience. Is that your experience? And
it's just not God's way. We must, through much tribulation,
enter into the kingdom of heaven. That's God's way. And here's
the confidence that we can have as believers as we take our journey. If God is leading the way, it
may be a longer way, and it may be a rougher way. But when it's
His way, you'll eventually get there. You'll eventually reach
the land of promise. His grace is sufficient for you. And His way is the way in which
He reveals mercy. His way is the way that He reveals
His strength and His wisdom. And let me say this. We may find
our way shut in, just like these people did that we'll see in
a minute. Mountains on both sides, the Red Sea in front of us, and
Pharaoh's armies behind us. But if it's the way that the
Lord has led us, then He'll deliver us in time. And that's one of
the reasons He brings us His way. It is trying. It is more difficult. But He
brings us that way because it's that way where He's pleased to
reveal mercy. It's that way where He's pleased
to reveal His strength and His wisdom in getting us to the land
of promise. And let me say this also. The
way that the natural man chooses, it may be shorter. And it may
be easier. But I tell you this, it's a dangerous
way. The way that we would choose,
brothers and sisters, by nature, is a dangerous way. There's a
way that seems right unto man. And don't it often seem right
to us as we live our Christian life? We think it's better to
go this way or it's better to go that way. And why? Because
it's easier. But the ends are odd. It's the
way of death. It's a dangerous way. Did you
notice the last part of verse 17? Here's why He didn't lead
them in that way that was near. For God said, last preadventure,
the people repent when they see war, and look at this, return
to Egypt. See how dangerous that way is?
It may have took them a long time to get there God's way.
But when you go His way, you always get there. And those who
choose the easy way, they don't get there. They go back. His way is not only the best
way, it's the only way. I tell you, I would prefer good
health over sickness. I would prefer riches over poverty.
I would prefer ease over struggle. I would prefer the calm waters.
I never want any long, dark valleys. I don't like those steep mountains.
But that way may prove my ruin. It's often trials that keeps
us humble, is it not? It's often our fears that keeps
us trusting in the Lord. It's often when we get down and
the Lord keeps us down is the only time then that we look up. He knows how to keep us, brothers
and sisters. And when we lean upon the arm
of flesh or we walk by sight and not by faith is when we could
be living a dangerous, dangerous life. It may be sickness that
keeps you from pride. poverty that keeps you humble,
fear that keeps you trusting, your weakness that keeps you
dependent upon His power, your heaviness that keeps you trusting
in His mercy. But someday, someday, He'll show
you that His way was the way for you. I love that old hymn
writer that said, someday the way He chose for me, the path
He chose for me, will all be understood. In heaven's clear
light I'll see all things worked out for good." It's wonderful
then to know that He's leading the way, isn't it? Listen to
Isaiah 42, 16. I will bring the blind by a way
that they knew not. I will lead them in paths they
have not known. I will make darkness light before
them. I will make crooked things straight.
These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them, saith the
Lord. And look here what a blessing
in verse 21 of chapter 13. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way, and by
night in a pillar of fire to give them light, and to go by
day and by night. If the Lord is leading you, He's
going before you. When He puts His sheep forth,
He said, I go before you. He knows what's there. The way
is safe for you because He goes before you. And it's honorable
to Him. It will be honorable to Him.
Now let's look in chapter 14. Look in chapter 14. And look here in the first four
verses. It's very interesting. This tells us another reason
while the Lord led the children of Israel in the way that He
did. He didn't want them out of Egypt
too hastily. He had a reason for keeping them
there and taking this journey as they did. And let's read it.
Chapter 14, look in verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and
encamp before that may or may not be the way
you pronounce that, but you're not going to remember it anyway,
are you? But look at this now. It seemed rough enough and bad
enough to the natural man anyway, that he was taking them the long
route, but now he turns them out of that way. And he's going
to take them in between these two mountains and shut them in. That's the way he's going to
lead. He's going to purposely bring them there for a good reason. Several reasons. One is this.
They turned and encamped before Phi-He-Harath between Megdal
and the sea over against Bel-Zaphon. Before it shall ye encamp by
the sea. Now, they tell us, they don't
know exactly where this place is. They speculate it. There's
a large gorge. It's a large gorge between two
mountains a long way apart. It's a broad way. We get in our
minds like this little path went down between these two rocks
as wide as this building. But you don't get two million
people down through a little gorge. So it was a huge place. They've got one place there located,
I forget how many miles it was, but wouldn't you think two million
people jammed in this place. Huge mountains on each side.
the sea before them and Pharaoh behind them. They were hemmed
in. Why did the Lord do this? Why
did the Lord bring them this way? Well, look in verse 3. For
Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled
in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in, and I will harden
Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them, And I will
be honored upon Pharaoh and upon his host, that the Egyptians
may know that I am the Lord." And they did so. Why did the Lord lead them this
way? He did it as an occasion to bring judgment upon Pharaoh
and Egypt. He used his people. He put his
people in potential danger as far as they were concerned. that
Pharaoh might pursue after them, and God would use this occasion
to bring judgment upon Pharaoh and his army. Pharaoh was a wicked
man anyway. He was a God-hater. He was an
idolater. He was a killer in his heart
of the little innocent babies. Judgment was coming anyway. But
when he turned his heart on the Lord's people, that hastened
his judgment. You know, opening profane sins
is bad enough. And that will eventually bring
the judgment of God upon people except repentance for them. But
when a man's heart turns to persecute the Lord's church, when a man
begins to hate and persecute the redeemed of the Lord, he
better look out because judgment is advancing fast. And that's
why the Lord brought Israel and hemmed them in to use this occasion
to bring judgment upon Pharaoh. You remember those men that plotted
against Daniel? They were wicked men anyway.
But when they plotted against Daniel to put him in the den
of lions, that is when the judgment of God came. And they were thrown
into the den of lions themselves. Remember the three Hebrew children?
Those soldiers that snatched them up so rudely and roughly
and cast them into the fiery furnace? They were slain themselves.
Remember Haman, how he plotted to kill the Jews and made the
gallows and said, tomorrow we're going to hang Mordecai on them? Well, you better be careful when
you turn on God's Mordecais. Because the very day that Haman
had set aside to hang Mordecai, God hung that man on those scalps.
The same Gallus himself. What happens when a man's heart
turns against the Lord's people? That's a good indication that
the Lord is going to take that occasion to bring judgment upon
that man. Hold chapter 14 and look with
me over in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians 1, look at this.
Look here in verse 3. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3. We are bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, for it is right, it is meet, it is fit,
because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity
of every one of you all towards each other boundeth. so that
we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your
patience and faith in all your persecutions and your tribulations
that you endear, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment
of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God
for which you also suffer, seeing it is a righteous thing with
God to recompense tribulation to whom? To them that trouble
you. I tell you, a man in this world
better be careful how he treats the broken-hearted children of
God. They better be careful about
mocking them. They better be careful about mocking his church,
his ways, because that's a good indication that God's ready to
bring judgment upon those who do such thing. And I tell you,
He'll put His people, He'll put His people in the way of those
wicked men to draw out their criticism, to draw out their
persecution for the very purpose of using that to bring judgment
upon them. So men better be careful, haven't
they? I tell you, if you're going to
get mad at somebody, if you're going to fight with somebody,
you better get away from God's people. If you want to do somebody wrong,
you better get away from the Lord's people and leave them
alone. Gamaliel gave those Pharisees
some good advice, didn't he? You better leave these men alone. If this is of God, you're going
to be fighting against God. If it's not of God, it's not
going anywhere anyway. But leave these people alone.
Boy, that's a good admonition. Leave them alone. You may bring
the judgment of God upon yourself. Look back over again in chapter
14 and verse 5 of Exodus. Look in verse 5. I tell you, Pharaoh went to quite
a bit of expense in getting these Jews back. A lot of trouble and
a lot of labor. And he was so greedy, he was
so lustful to have these people back He risked his life and the
life of all of his soldiers and all of his war equipment and
went down in the sea after them. Why would he have done that?
What's all this about anyway? What is Satan's work in this
world? Why is he doing nothing but one
thing? Why is he going after this world
to deceive the world? Why is he harassing God's people? What's the world about? What's
the world trying to do? What's sin about? What's the
issue here? Well, this verse right here is
going to tell us what this issue is. Why Satan is after us. Why sin is after us. Why the
world is after us. Here is why they want you. Here's
why the devil wants everybody he can. The same reason Pharaoh
and Egypt wanted these Jews back. Look in 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?" From serving us. That is what this battle is about,
isn't it? Satan loathes that He's lost you as His servant. Sin wants you to serve it. The flesh wants you to serve
it. Old Bob Dylan wrote that song years ago. You're going
to serve somebody? It may be the devil or it may
be the Lord, but you're going to serve somebody. And that's
the true thing. Aren't you thankful, brothers
and sisters, that Jesus Christ came into this world to redeem
us from our bondage to sin and to Satan and to flesh and from
this world. He's come to set the captive
free. He's broken these iron chains. We're not the servants of sin
any longer. We don't have to be Satan's bond
slave any longer. But that's what it's about. Who
are you going to serve? And the devil is going to do
everything he can to bring us back into bondage. He'll do it.
in our minds by lust. He'll do it in our minds by false
doctrine. He'll get us to leave the gospel
and go to the law. He'll do us by self-righteousness,
by legality, any way He can to bring us back into bondage. But
that's what it's about. That's what it's about. And He made ready His chariots.
Look at this. 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. I mean, everything in this
world, things that are seen and things that cannot be seen, everything
is working to this end. Who will we serve? And everything is wanting to
bring the saint to bondage. And it is only Christ that gives
us freedom. You shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. The Gospel frees us, doesn't
it? It frees us. Look in verse 10, now in verse
11. These Egyptians, in verse 9, they pursued after them, took
their horses and the chariots, the Pharaoh and the horsemen,
the armies, and they overtook them in Kempthar. beside these
places, hemmed in. And verse 10, 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 unto the Lord, and they said
unto Moses, Because there was no graves in Egypt, have you
taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is this not the word
that we did tell thee when we were 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."
Now this is our example. We're looking now at the Christian's
life who has been justified by the blood of Christ. God is leading
him. Satan is trying to bring him
back into bondage. The flesh and sin is trying to
bring him back into bondage. And here, in their frustration
about it all, they say, wouldn't there be graves
in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the wilderness?
Now, is this us? Is this us? Before we're too
hard on these dear people, let's see how this can be us. They
had three things here about these people. One was this, their willful
ignorance. And it had to be a willful ignorance.
Because we're told here in chapter 12, look back in chapter 12,
they said, You brought us out here to die in the wilderness?
To die in the wilderness? Was that where they were going
to die at? In the wilderness? They were
ignorant of the promise. But they were willingly ignorant.
Look in chapter 12. Look in verse 25. And it shall come to pass, when
ye come to the land which the Lord will give you. This is what Moses was telling
them. According as he hath promised
that ye shall keep this service. When you come to the land that
God has promised you, No, they said, we're going to
die in the wilderness. Oh, is that right? You think you're
going to make it? You think you're going to die
before you get there? Huh? Do you ever have that thought
you may not make it? That you're going to be overcome? Look what
he says here in chapter 13 and verse 5. Look in chapter 13 and
verse 5. thee when the Lord shall bring
thee into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Hivites, the Jebusites, which He swore unto your fathers to
give thee a land that floweth with milk and honey." He swore
to give this land to you, and you say we are going to die out
here in the wilderness? Look what he said in verse 11. And
it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the
Canaanites, as he swore unto thee and to thy fathers, and
shall give it thee." Do you ever doubt the Lord is going to bring
you to heaven, brothers and sisters? Do you ever doubt that? In the
times of your darkness, in the times of your trials, do you
ever get frustrated about that and think you ain't going to
make it? That's what they said. What is
that? That's willful ignorance. Let's
get in the Scripture and get these precious promises down
in our hearts and not be ignorant. The only way we're going to learn
these promises is go to the Bible and read them. I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me, he shall never die. And he looked at Martha and said,
Martha, do you believe this? Is this according to your understanding?
Brothers and sisters, are you established in this? Are you
willingly ignorant of this? This is something we learn, isn't
it? But they hadn't learned this. This went over their head. And
trouble come and the first thing they said, we're going to die
and you're going to bury us out here as well. contrary to the
promise of God. That's the first thing they had.
They were afflicted also with unbelief. I mean, awful, awful,
awful unbelief. And I'd have never even considered
these were God's children with such blatant unbelief, except
I see it in myself. Listen to these verses. You mark
them down. I've got them wrote down, so I'll quote them to you.
Psalms 78, verse 22. Because they believed not in
God and trusted not in His salvation. That's amazing, ain't it? That's
almost offensive, ain't it? But that was said about these
people. Listen to Psalm 78, 32. For all this they stand still
and believe not for His wondrous works. And listen to Psalms 106.24,
Yea, they despised the pleasant man, they believed not his word. Doesn't even sound like saved
folks, does it? I tell you, we don't act like
saved folks a lot, do we? You never know it by looking
at me, but in my heart, sometimes I don't even act like a saved
person. I'm so unbelieving. Listen to
what the Lord Jesus said to His disciples. Where is your faith? How is it that you have no faith? Oh, fools and slow of heart to
believe all that God has said by the prophet. Fools, slow of
heart to believe. But isn't that the way we are
sometimes? In our Christian walk, in our Christian journey, boy,
I tell you sometimes, sometimes when we're afraid and we get
hemmed in, and hemmed up with no way out. I tell you, sometimes
when we see such blatant unbelief, we begin to murmur, we begin
to complain, don't we? We begin to doubt and to fear
just like these people did. The third thing that they were
afflicted with is this. You find it in verse 12 again.
Look in verse 12. Chapter 14, verse 12. 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."
Isn't this awful? You know one thing these poor
people lacked? A holy resolve. A holy resolve. It had been better
for us to go back down to Egypt and to serve The Egyptians! How awful! You would think the
way the Lord delivered them with such a glorious deliverance from
this place of bondage, they would have resolved they'd rather die
than to go back down there to that place. Like old Patrick
Henry, give me liberty or give me death. I know what it is to
serve the devil. I know what it is to serve sin.
I know what it is to be a servant to lust and to be in bondage. I'll die before I'll go back
to that. God help us and give all of us
this holy resolve to say before God and obtain grace never to
do it, let me die, let me die before I'll go back being a servant
again. There's one that I want to serve
and that's God in Jesus Christ the Lord. If I can't serve Him,
let me die. That should be our resolve, brothers
and sisters. But you'll probably find yourself
confronted with this on the way. This is the life, seemingly,
of a believer. He has to reach the point where
he resolves this. I'm not looking back. I'm not
going back. I'm a servant of God. By His
grace and by His mercy, I'm going to continue. Now look in verse
13, chapter 14, and let's go to verse 13. You get this picture
now. You get this picture here in
verse 13. Boy, they looked behind them
and they saw Pharaoh coming. On the mountains, mountain on
each side, the sea before them. You get that picture in your
imagination. There they are. There they are. And here's the
instructions in verse 13 and verse 14 that the Lord gave to
them through Moses. Let's read it. And Moses said
unto the people, Fear ye not. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord, which He will show you today. For the Egyptians
whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Wherefore criest thou unto me, speaking to the children of Israel,
that they go forward." Now here is an amazing word. Here's an
amazing word. Here's their first instruction.
Stand still. Stand still. Their first instruction
was to do nothing. Somebody say, do nothing? You
mean to tell me they were to do nothing? That's exactly what
they were to do. Stand still. Stand still. But let me ask this question.
Somebody wants to know if all they were to do is stand still,
let me ask this question. What could they have done? Could they have tore down those
mountains? Could they have dried up the Red Sea? Could they have
turned and defeated Pharaoh? They couldn't do anything. What
good instruction? Stand still. And brothers and
sisters, wouldn't we think of doing something? And this is
the first lesson that you and I always have to remember as
the Lord's children on our way to the celestial city. This is
the first lesson that we have to learn. First and foremost
and always, we have to stand still. Before we do anything,
we have to stand still. And we can't do anything else.
You know we're so limited in the physical realm? The Lord
Jesus said in the physical realm, you fellas can't even do what's
the least. He said you can't add one cubic
to your stature. And He said you can't turn one
hair white or one hair black. And if we can't do these things
that are least in the physical realm, you better bet we can't
do anything in the spiritual realm. The Lord Jesus said, without
Me, you can do nothing. You can't study the Word and
get anything out of it. You can't see one mystery. You
can't believe one promise. You can't repent of one sin.
You can't follow the Lord one step. You can't believe. You can't do anything except
God first works in us to will and to do of His salvation. There's a verse, and I don't
know where it is. You can look it up. But it says, He hath wrought
all our works in us. That's where it begins. We stand
still because we can't do anything else. And that's what the Lord
will have us to know. First and foremost, stand still. Stand still. Stand still. Every aspect of the Christian
life. That's where we begin. That's what we always do, first
and foremost. Look in verse 13 again. Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show
you today. Now, what does this little phrase
tell us? First of all, that salvation is something that has to be revealed. Stand still and see. Stand still
and see. Salvation is not what we do. Salvation is something that God
reveals. It's something we see. They were
going to see something today that they had never seen before
in all their life. They were going to see this big
sea part and they were going to cross Isn't that the gospel? Isn't
that what salvation is, brothers and sisters? Is it not a revelation?
It's not what we do. It's what the Lord gives us eyes
to see. He opens our hearts like He did
Lydia. He opens our hearts like He did
His disciples to know the Lord, to understand His Word. Salvation
is a revelation of God. Stand still and see. Here's something else we learned
from this. Salvation is of the Lord. It wasn't stand still and
see what you can do. It was stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He thought it up. If you want
to say it that way, didn't he? You say, have you ever thought
of anything? He thought it up. He planned it. He executed it. He applies it and He'll finish
it. Salvation is of the Lord. And when He says you're to stand
still, that lets us know it's not of us. And it's usually revealed
to us when we come to see that our wisdom, our power, and our
ability is absolutely ineffectual. As long as we think that we can
affect something, we wrestle, we struggle, we get into trouble,
we think we can work our way out of it, and our whole problem
is we don't want to stand still and have deliverance revealed
to us. That's the way we are, isn't
it? How many times in your life have you had to stand still and
wait on the Lord to deliver you? If you're a young Christian and
you've only experienced that the one time in salvation, well,
it's going to happen to you some more. During your walk with the
Lord, there's going to be times when He says, stand still and
see. And after you've tried to climb
the mountains, after you've been out in the Mediterranean Sea,
the Red Sea, trying to swim it, after you've tried to turn and
whip some soldiers, and you find out you can't affect anything,
then you'll come and you'll bow and you'll say, Lord, I ain't
moving another finger until I see the salvation of the Lord. And
that's where He wants us, isn't it? That's where He wants us.
Seeing the salvation of the Lord. Now, you want to see something
strange? You want to see how the Holy Spirit talks? You want
to see how the Holy Spirit can bring things and just turn things
upside down? And you say, what in the world?
Look what He says in verse 14. In verse 50. Well, let's go to verse 14. Look
at verse 14 first. For the Lord will fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace. That's another reason to stand
still. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your
peace. One commentator said, this literally
reads, you shall be still and quiet and easy in your minds,
and forbearers saying are doing anything. Well, you know what, brothers
and sisters, if this is so, the Lord will fight for me. I tell you, that's a good cause
to be at peace, ain't it? You know, the blood of Christ
gives us peace in our conscience. Knowing that God rules and He
fights our battles, that gives us peace in our hearts. There's a lot of Christians that
have peace in their conscience, but you know they don't have
much rest in their hearts. And it's because they've not
learned this. These are things we learn on
our way. The Lord shall fight for you. And you shall be still and restful
and peaceful in your hearts. The battle is the Lord's, isn't
it? I got out one morning. I don't
know if my little nephew, Christian, oldest boy, I don't know if he
saw some anxiety on my face. I don't know what was going on,
but we got out of the van coming into church and he looked at
me and he said, Poppy, the battle's not yours, it's the Lord's. I said, Thank you, son. Thank
you. I forgot that. Gives you heart
rest, doesn't it? Boy, the next time you get in
trouble, next time you're in the heat of the battle, next
time you're afraid, just remember this. The battle's not yours.
The Lord will fight for you. He will fight for you. Now, here's
that mystery. Look at it in verse 15. And the
Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore are you crying unto me, speaking
to the children of Israel, that they go forward? Go forward. He first tells them
to stand still. And now He says, Go forward.
But how? Had anything changed? How were
they to go forward? I tell you, brothers and sisters,
only faith can answer that question. Only faith can answer that question. It's only faith that can stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord in such danger. It's
only faith that can believe that God is on its side and will fight
its battles. And it's only grace, only faith
that can receive the grace to obey the command to go forward
under such circumstances. The Lord said to that man, with
a withered hand, stretch forth your hand. And only faith can
stretch forth that hand. Peter said, such as I have, give
I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk.
And it's only faith that can get up and obey that command. because it is only faith that
receives the grace and strength from the Lord to do it. Only
those who went forward and went down unto the Red Sea by faith
came out on the other side. Listen to Hebrews 11. By faith
they passed through the Red Sea as by dry ground, which the Egyptians,
trying to do, were drowned. When the unregenerate try to
do what faith only can do, they're not only confused and defeated,
but they're destroyed. It's only faith that can go forth. Only faith. And he said in verse
19 and 20, and we'll finish up here in these few verses. Look
in verse 19, And the angel of the Lord 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. It was a cloud and
darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these, so that
the one came not near the other all the night." Now, it's a wonderful
thing here that the Lord is between His church and His enemies. Got right between them, didn't
He? What does that tell us? There
is no enemy going to touch you except it come through the Lord.
No enemy is going to get to you except it come through the Lord.
Do you remember what the prophet said about our sins? He has cast
them all behind his back. If our sins are cast behind his
back, who is between us and our sins? He is. He is between us
and the devil. He's between us and all our enemies,
brothers and sisters. Nothing can hurt you until it
first comes through Him. And you know something? If it
comes through Him, He so regulates it, He so controls it, that it's
not going to hurt you bad anyway. The devil said, you've got a
hedge about Job. You know who that hedge was?
The Lord. I can't get to Him because you're standing between
me and Him. The Lord said, I'll step aside, but I'm going to
regulate everything you do to Him. I'm going to tell you what
you can do and what you can't do. Brothers and sisters, troubles
come. Trials come. Sickness comes.
Heartache comes. It does come, but it comes by
His appointment. He steps aside, and He'll know
when to step back in. He regulates these things. And
He said here, and I love verse 20, He said that this cloud, this
light, it was a light to Israel and it was darkness to Egypt. Isn't that the gospel? It's one
thing to us. It's a completely another thing
to this world. It turns out that which is light
to you is darkness to this world. That which is wisdom to you is
confusion and foolishness to this world. We preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Greeks, foolishness. Unto the Jews, He's a stumbling
block. But to you that are called, Christ
is the power of God and Christ is the wisdom of God. And he
said here in that last portion that these didn't come near one
another. They didn't come close to one another. It may seem sometime
that the real church in the world has got in partnership, but they
haven't. They haven't. The church hates
the gospel the world preaches. The world hates the gospel the
church believes and preaches. And you can't join these two
together. They have different gods. They have different saviors.
They have different gospels. And they'll never have communion
together again. They're as different as darkness
and night. You hate the world, and the world
hates you. Paul said, I'm crucified to the
world, they count me a criminal, and they put me on a cross. And
the world's crucified to me. I hate them. I hate them. I hate the God they believe.
I hate them for how they treat our Lord. We're enemies, aren't
we? We're enemies. We can't come
near one another. And when we go among the world,
it's to bring them out of it. You know how we show that we
love people? Taking the Gospel to them. That's the best love
you can have for somebody is taking the Gospel to them, isn't
it? Let's look at verse 22, and I'll
read these to you. 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 the left. It's not just to the
children here, but it's to the adults too. You believe this
just like it's written. This is not an allegory. This
is not a type. This is not some shadow. This
really happened. This was a miracle. It was miraculous. The depths of the sea divided. It wasn't a shallow place where
they waded across. They went through the depth And
the walls on each side of water. You don't have water walled up. That's not the nature of water,
is it? But this was a wall on the right hand and on the left.
They could see big whales back in there. They saw big sharks
back in there. Just like looking through a glass.
It was probably no telling how many hundreds of feet tall on
either side. Walled up. And the Egyptians
pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even
all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And
it came to pass in the morning, watch, the Lord looked upon the
host of the Egyptians through the pill 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 fighteth
for them." Well, we know that, don't we? He just told us that.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out your hand over the
sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon
his chariots, upon his horsemen. 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 host of Pharaoh that came into the
sea after them. There remained not so much as
one of them. But the children of Israel walked
upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were
walled unto them on the right hand and on the left. And the
Lord saved Israel that day out of the hands of the Egyptians,
and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore." And
if you look at this as a beautiful picture of our leaving this life
through the waters of death, And what a beautiful picture
it is. Because there is where we'll leave all our enemies.
And as far as you and I are concerned, they're dead. Miranda asked me
the other day, she called me, and she said, do you think we'll
see the death of this old man? Your wife's always disturbed
about this old man. This old man bothers her, and
she's wanting him to die. And she said, you think we'll
see the death of this old man? Yeah. But I'll tell you where
we'll see it. and dead. We'll see Him laying
dead. Our sins, every one that's left
in us, they'll be killed right there. They'll go no further
than that. All the lust, all the unbelief, all the pride,
and as far as we're concerned, Satan and all his hellish whole
corps will all be laid dead to us up on the seacoast. Not a one of them. got through
that sea. And brothers and sisters, there
won't be an enemy that will get through death with you. When
you go up that celestial city, you'll be free as you never were
free before. And you'll sing just like they
sang here. I will sing unto the Lord, for
He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and His rider, and
His sword and His spear and His bow and His chariots and everything
else. He has drowned. He has thrown
into the sea. And all your enemies will be
gone. They'll be gone.