Exodus chapter 14. Exodus chapter 14. And our text
this evening will be verses 30 and 31. Thus the Lord saved Israel
that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the
Egyptians dead upon the seashore. 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. This past week
I have read several articles on this subject of God's decrees. I quoted from one of the articles
this morning in the message by A.W. Pink. Let me remind us it
began like this. The decrees of God relate to
all future things without exception. Whatever is done in time was
foreordained before time began. Now most of the authors that
I read all pointed out that while we use the term decrees, plural,
that probably it would have been better to speak of the decree
of God, that all things are encompassed in his one decree. And all of the articles that
I read by various writers, they all came to these four conclusions
about God's decree or decrees, first of all, they are eternal. God's decree is eternal. Second,
it is wise. Third, it is free. And fourth,
it is unconditional. God's eternal, wise, free, unconditional
decree. It includes all things without
exception. Whatever is done, whatever comes
to pass in time was foreordained by God in eternity. One of the articles was written
or taken rather from a message by Charles Spurgeon in which
he was preaching from these two texts in Romans 8, verses 30
and 31. Let me read you those texts. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we
then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? And Charles Spurgeon used this
passage that we're looking at tonight when Israel came to the
Red Sea to illustrate this truth that if God be for us, who can
be against us? God has predestinated. The verse
before that verse, verse 30, verse 29 there in Romans tells
us, for whom he did foreknow He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. And Mr. Spurgeon said, God has predestinated
His people to be conformed to the image of His Son. Must not
the predestinating decree of God take effect? If God hath
determined it, who shall disannul it? no one can stay God's hand. And his illustration was that
the Lord had promised Abraham to give his descendants, his
seed, the land of Canaan. Now, in our passage here tonight,
the children of Israel are in what we would call a predicament. On both sides, and we're talking
about not just a few hundred people, we're talking about maybe
over a million people. And they're shut in. On one side,
there's a high mountain, rocky mountain. On the other side,
the same. There's no way they can climb up and escape. Before them is the watery grave
of the Red Sea. And behind them come the chariots
of Pharaoh. But, ah, Mr. Spurgeon said, if
God be for them, who can be against them? If God be for them, who
can be against them? And then I found this somewhat
strange that Spurgeon quoted Augustine. And I've read many
messages by Spurgeon over the years, and he very seldom ever
quoted anyone else. But he quoted Augustine on those
verses of scripture. God is for us, for he hath predestinated
us. He is for us, for he hath called
us. He is for us, for he hath justified
us. And he is for us, for he hath
virtually glorified us. Did you know that? that you're
glorified already? Has that thought ever occurred
to you? Whom he called, them he also justified. Whom he justified,
them he also glorified. You say, well, how is that possible?
Because in our head, in Christ, God's people are seated this
evening in the heavenlies. That's what the apostle Paul
tells us. But one day, Not only will we, or God's children, be
virtually glorified, but we will be actually so. One day, we will
receive that new body, that glorified body, which is like unto our
Lord's glorified body after his resurrection. We shall see him,
and we shall be like him, the apostle John tells us. Well,
notice the text again, it speaks of salvation. Thus the Lord saved
Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. The salvation
here in this text is what we would call physical salvation,
or I would call physical salvation. They were saved physically that
day. But in looking at this, we may
see some pictures or likenesses of God's eternal salvation. That is, of Him saving us, Him
saving sinners. Spiritual, eternal salvation. And I have three points to make.
First of all, the people saved. The people saved. Notice the
scripture, thus the Lord saved Israel that day. Who did God
save that day? He didn't save Pharaoh. He didn't
save the Egyptians. He saved Israel. The people saved. They're God's chosen people.
They're God's covenant people. And you know these things, but
look with me in Deuteronomy chapter 7, where this is brought out
by Moses to the nation of Israel. Deuteronomy chapter 7. The people
saved, who did he save that day? He saved God's chosen people,
the nation of Israel. Deuteronomy chapter seven, beginning
with verse six. For thou art an holy people. In other words, a people separated,
set apart. Thou art a holy people unto the
Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee. to be a special people unto himself,
above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord
did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were
more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all
people." In other words, God didn't look at the various nations
and make a choice based upon their conduct or what he saw
that they might do. No. He chose Abraham and called
Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and became his God. He said,
I am thy God and thy exceeding great reward. I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. God revealed himself unto Abraham. He didn't choose Abraham. In
fact, there's a passage in the book of Judges that tells us
that Abraham and his kinfolk, they were idol worshipers. Evidently, they worshiped the
moon. And that was typical of most of the nations of the earth. They worshiped the sun and the
moon. And we can certainly see why.
If you had no knowledge of the Bible, of the word of God, that
men would worship the sun. I mean, there's only one sun,
right? And it grabs your attention. There's only one God, and he
calls for your attention. And how much does the sun give? It gives us light. We'd be in
complete darkness without the sun. It gives us heat. There's
just so many things that the sun does. You can see how people
without an understanding of God might turn to the sun and worship
the sun and then worship the moon. Well, that was true of
Abraham's family, evidently. Abraham didn't seek the Lord. God sought him. God called him
out of Ur of the Chaldees and commanded him, called him, called
him. And that, you know, that calling,
For whom he did predestinate, them he also called." And Peter
says, make your calling and election sure. God calls his people, right,
through the preaching of the gospel. That's the reason we
continue here preaching the gospel, because God has chosen to use
the gospel in calling, saving his people. Notice that next
verse, God did not choose you, set his love upon you, nor choose
you because you were more in number than any people, for you
were the fewest of all people. But, how many times that word,
but, that interjection there, how many times when you see a
verse start with that, but, But God, who is rich in mercy, you
just see so many times how that word grabs you, calls for your
attention, calls for you to praise God Almighty. But because the
Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he
had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage
from the hand of Pharaoh. Go back to our text now in Exodus
chapter 14. So first of all, the people saved. Who did God save that day? He
saved a people that were chosen, a people who were called His
covenant people. The second thing I see about
them, they were an unworthy people. Who did he save? He saved an
unworthy people. Notice what it says about them
in verse 11 and 12 of that chapter. 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, let us
alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? They were in bondage,
and according to what they say here, they wanted to remain in
bondage. Isn't that a picture of a lost
person without Christ before God reveals himself unto that
person? He's happy. He's in bondage. He doesn't know it. All men,
apart from the saving grace of God, are in bondage to Satan. And the scripture says they're
taken captive by him at his will. That is Satan's will. People don't like to think about
that. Most people, especially Americans,
you know, we live in such a day. People think, well, Just like
those Jews, those Jewish people when the Lord Jesus Christ was
here, he said, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. Well, we never were in bondage. Well, they were in bondage when
they said that. Well, look, this is what they're
saying at this time. I'm saying they are an unworthy
people that God saves. Let us long 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. When I read that
again this past week, I thought, now, this is probably the first
time, if we read on through the book of Exodus and through the
book of Numbers, we're gonna find this over and over and over
again. This nation, unworthy, are going
to be murmurs. They're complainers. They are
full of doubt about God. Leave us alone. It'd been better
for us to die, to remain captives in Egypt. And later on, you know,
they'll be talking about the fact we remember that we had
fish to eat. We had melons and onions and
garlic. We had everything. They forgot. that they'd been working in the
brick climes of Egypt, didn't they? They were unworthy. They were unworthy. Leave us
alone. It'd be better for us to have
died in Egypt than to come out here in the wilderness. Well,
think about this. Those whom are saved spiritually,
you tonight, if you've been saved by the grace of God, you are
a chosen people. Just like Israel was a chosen
people. You're part of his covenant people. And since God's grace, God's
salvation is by grace, and it is, isn't it? Isn't that what
the scriptures say? For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. Well, if salvation is by grace,
that means that We were unworthy. You cannot mix worthiness and
grace together. When you bring in worthiness,
you just push grace out the door. Yes. Grace is not grace if it's
merited, if you earn it, if you deserve it. And you know, people
think, well, I deserve to be saved. No, no, no, no, no. The
grace of God that bringeth salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness
and worldly dust, to recognize what we are by nature. Unworthy. Grace and merit, they
just don't mix. It's like oil and water. You
can't mix it. What Paul say, if it be of works,
then it's no more grace. If it's grace, it cannot be of
works. You can't combine them. And that's
what so many people, I think, think today, that God's done
his part, now man does his part. You combine, no, salvation is
holy of the Lord. Just like Jonah, that's what
he found out. And that's what he said, wasn't
it? In the belly of that whale. Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of the Lord. And might not, when you think
about this, might not the Egyptians here, here they're coming, armies
of Egypt, Pharaoh and his chariots, here they're coming. May not
that represent God's justice that was coming for us, that
was coming for you? We have offended God's justice,
we sinned against God, and God is not going to allow sin to
go unpunished. He can't do that and be God.
All right, here's the second thing. The message delivered,
verse 13. The message to the Israelites
here really had two parts. First of all, fear not, stand
still. Think about this, if God be for
us, What have we to fear? If God be for us, what have we
to fear? Fear not. Only stand still. Now, the waves of the sea before
them were deep. The weapons that the Egyptians
had, no doubt, were mighty. There's no help in self. Stand
still. Stand still. In other words,
recognize, acknowledge, there are no salvation in self. Look
at your position, Israel, with these mountains on the sides
and the Red Sea before you and the army behind. Recognize your
position, your condition, your situation. You can't help yourself. Stand still, recognize, acknowledge
that there's no salvation in self. You know, when we think
about the chariots of the Egyptians, here comes a nation who had been
in slavery for over 400 years. Do you think that the Egyptians
allowed those people to have weapons? Of course they didn't. They came out with the dough. on their backs and what they
could carry. They spoiled the Egyptians, that's
true. But they didn't have any weapons
to fight with. What could they do against Pharaoh? But that's just part of the message,
wasn't it? Fear not. Stand still. Recognize your condition. See, here's the second, see the
salvation of the Lord. The Lord shall fight for you.
He will open up the Red Sea so that you pass through on dry
land. And yes, he will overthrow the
armies of Pharaoh, all of your enemies. You'll see them washed
up on the shore. Yeah. You know, the gospel message
to sinners is much the same. First of all, stand still. Be done forever, and I know we
need to hear this often, but be done forever with thinking
that you in any way may contribute to your salvation. The scripture
still says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly. One of the books that I recommend
if you were to give to a lost person is All of Grace. All of
Grace. And that's the text that Mr.
Spurgeon spoke from. Pointing out, because most lost
people think when they come under some conviction of sin and think
about salvation, well, I've got to clean my life up. I've got
to join the church. I've got to do something. No,
no. God justifies the ungodly. The ungodly. That's who he justifies. He doesn't justify the ungodly
who've cleaned up their lives, who've turned over a new leaf
or anything. No. He justifies the ungodly. Remember the words of the hymn. I don't think it's in our hymn
book anymore. Part of the words, part of the
hymn was, all the fitness. Remember that? All the fitness
he required is to feel your need of him. You know, some preachers talk
about sinners that God saves, and there's an adjective before
the word senator. certain kind of sinners. No,
God saves sinners. God saves the ungodly, not those
who are prepared or anything like that. God saves all the
fitness he requires is to fill your need of him. And I love
that, don't you? Because I feel my need of him.
Don't you? Or do you? I feel my need of
him every day. I feel my need of a Savior, my
need of Him. I can't save myself. Someone
said, well, you might need to make a decision. I've made a
lot of decisions in my life, and a lot of times it didn't
amount to anything. No, I need a Savior. I feel my need of Him. The Lord
Jesus, see the salvation of the Lord. That's what God tells through
Moses the nation. See, stand still, forget about
saving yourself. See the salvation of the Lord. The Lord Jesus alone has finished
it all. He alone, think about this. He alone paid the penalty of
sin. He alone satisfied God's justice
and every claim that the law had on us. He alone brought in
us everlasting righteousness. He alone cried, it is finished. He alone. You say, what did he finish?
He finished the work which his father gave him to do. And that
was to save his people. And I think about those people,
just imagine in your mind, here they are, entrapped. You see
the two sides, you see in front, you see the chariots coming behind
them. If there ever was an illustration
of that verse in Isaiah that says, look unto me, for I am
God, and there is none else. Look unto me and be ye saved. Someone might comment, well,
I don't understand. Preacher, I don't understand
how in verse 13, Moses says, stand still. And then in verse
15, God tells him to say, go forward. Stand still, go forward. Well, it's very simple, really.
Don't take a step to pay for your sins. That's futile. That's not going to happen. Stand
still. Don't take a step to pay for
your sins. Jesus, the Lord Jesus, has done
it all. But then motion demonstrates
life. Life. Stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord. Yes, go forward as a demonstration
that you have seen the salvation of the Lord. I think of it like
a verse that is found in John chapter eight and verse 31. These
are the words of the Lord, and it concerns some people there,
we are told, who believed in him. Now, they believed in him,
and he said this, if, if you continue in my words, then are
you my disciples indeed. Now continuing in his word didn't
make them disciples. But if they are disciples, they
will continue in his word. Just like when he speaks about
whom if you don't forgive, God's not going to forgive you. Well,
we know God's forgiveness is not based on our forgiving other
people. We know that. No, we're forgiven
for Christ's sake. The Bible's very clear about
that, for Christ's sake. But those who are forgiven for
Christ's sake are forgiving people. We've received mercy and we give
mercy. A person who cannot show mercy
to someone else, there's no indication that person has ever received
God's mercy. Well, here's the last thing.
The complete salvation here in verses 28 and 29, 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 their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that
day. Complete salvation. You know,
in Hebrews chapter 11, it tells us, by faith, Israel passed through
the Red Sea. And that has led some people
to believe that when they first started, it opened. And as they
continued walking, by faith, the sea continued to open and
open and open until they were on dry land. And every one of
them, not a single one, was left on the other side when God brought
the sea back together again. Every Israelite was on the side
of the wilderness. And all of their enemies were
drowned. And isn't that a wonderful truth
concerning the salvation the Lord Jesus Christ accomplishes? Everyone who believes in him,
everyone who trusts in Christ as their Lord and Savior will
be saved, will be saved. There was a pastor, I've mentioned
him before, John Jasper. He was born into slavery, I believe
it was in Maryland, I believe, or Virginia, one of those states. It was against the law at that
time to teach a man like that to read. And yet, God saved that
man, and he got to preach usually at funerals. They'd have someone,
one of the slaves would die, and They would have him to preach. He could go to other plantations
and preach. And after the Civil War, he was
freed and he became a pastor of one of the largest churches
in Richmond, Virginia. I don't know if you've ever read
his life. John Jesper was his name. But someone asked him one
time, Mr. Jasper, if you appear at the
pearly gates and you're asked, what right have you to be here?
What are you going to say? He said, well, I'll tell you
what I'm going to say. I don't have any right to be
here. John Jasper doesn't have any right to be here. I don't
come in the name of John Jasper. I come in the name of Jesus Christ,
my Lord. Well, they said, well, what if
he still won't let you in? And he said this, he said, well,
if that happens, it's not going to, but should it happen, he
has a whole lot more to lose than I do. What do you mean by
that? Well, yes, I'll lose my soul,
no doubt about it. But God will lose his honor. If he goes back on his word,
whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If
he goes back on his word, then what will that prove him to be?
Untruthful. He will lose his honor. No, every
one of the enemies of the nation of Israel, they were all there.
washed up on the seashore, defeated by God. And our enemies, your
enemy, sin, Satan, the world, death, hell, the grave. He defeated all of these enemies. And by faith, we see them washed
up, washed up on the shore. And not only that, think about
our sins. All drowned in the sea. All drowned
in the sea. Amen. I pray the Lord will bless
these words to us.