Exodus 14Scripture
Everybody turn your Bible to Exodus 14 this morning. I'll turn there with you, since it's, well, it is marked, actually. And it's a large portion, where we got the whole chapter. That was fun to write an outline on, by the way. That was quite overwhelming for me. I got used to Romans, like taking four verses at a time, and so this was, wow, right? So I have probably enough notes. I have too much for today, but we'll see how much we can get through. I'm going to read this whole section. I know we've already been through it; we've read it multiple times, we've been in small group, we've discussed it, but I think it's important for us to read it aloud. So let's just jump right in here, since we don't have a ton of time. "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of'" that place, "'between Migdol and the sea, in front of'" that place; "'you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.'" Baal-zephon, or something like that. "'For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, "They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in." And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.' And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, 'What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?' So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly." I read that right. I
Introduction
Did. "The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea." You see where that is. "When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, 'Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you'" We've already told you not to do this. We warned you. We knew this would happen. "'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.' And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD.'" Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, "'which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.'" Oh, how many sermons have been preached on this verse. "The LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.' Then the angel of God who was going before..."
Notice that glory is attached to fear. It's who you fear most; that's where glory goes.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 4:13
So this is why I believe that in the Bible it's telling us to fear not. It is not just some blanket fear. He is trying to help us understand that the glory goes to what you fear most. So here we have the people fearing, and this is not in my notes, but this is just interesting: fearing the Egyptians, fearing Pharaoh. And God gets glory because the fear is eliminated when he removes that which they fear most, and then he gets glory, because glory is attached to what we fear most. It's really interesting, right? Now I don't know where I'm at, because I did that again. What is it? Thank you. Oh, goodness gracious. Thank you. "Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them." It almost sounds here like God was in front of them and then went behind them. But then listen to this: "and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, 'Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.' Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.' So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore." Where did they see them? Dead on the seashore. As if it wasn't bad enough that he drowned them in the sea, he washed them up to let them know what he had done. "Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD." Notice where glory goes now. Oh, don't miss that, man. I mean, I could just, I could have preached on that. That would have been enough. But I didn't catch it till just now. So it's interesting, it's interesting. "And they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses." Man, that's good. That's good. Yes, it is. I have a couple points, and we'll just go through them real briefly, right? I don't know how many; we'll see how many we get through. Here's the first one. I'm just going to start with this. For many years in preaching, and I don't think this is always wrong, but for many years I would try to make each point you- specific. Okay, because we want to extrapolate truths out of the gospel that are applicable for us today, and I think that's pertinent for us. We need to understand how does this apply to my life? How is this a part of the greater story, and how am I a part of that story? But sometimes we end up using the gospel as a means to give us steps to get through our week, rather than find and be mesmerized
Point 1The gospel is about him, not you
By the goodness of God.
We are not the center of the universe.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:07
Yes, he is. And the point of the gospel, and the gospel story, and listen to me, just hear my heart, because I promise it's not as mean as you might think, but just hear my heart on this and understand that this is loving: the gospel is not about you. Yes, it's about him. So it is the duty of every Bible scholar, and if you're reading the Bible you have a responsibility to divide it rightly, and the way we do that is we take ourselves off the throne and we put him in the center. So as we read the gospel, we are looking for him, right? When we go to the Old Testament and we begin to see God operate in the Old Testament, we are looking for glimpses of Christ in there. Now we recently saw, as we reflect on the story, just to kind of get us up to speed here, we have the plagues, which is the impending doom of other false idols, false gods that are set up in life, of sin, of all kinds of horrible things that are happening. And God comes against that sin, and he comes at it with his wrath to show his disapproval of it, and then he remedies and covers a multitude of sins by instructing the people to offer a lamb to appease his wrath. That lamb is Christ, right? And it is wonderful to know that we do not have to continue to offer lambs up to appease God's wrath for our continual sin, right? This is a once covering for all.
Jesus came to earth and became the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the earth, for all men, for all time, for sins past, present and future, for all who believe. He is our Passover Lamb. And then it's just fitting, then there's this exodus. There's freedom from slavery to sin, this whole idea of being enslaved to sin. We were slaves to sin; now we're freed, and we're slaves to Christ. What he did not just save us out of sin, but now puts us into a healthy bondage. Now we are in a new bondage, in relationship with him. Now we will walk like him and talk like him and live like him and emote like him, and he will make us like him, and day by day we will be shaped into his image. When people see us, we will be a light in darkness. We will be different than the world. We are prisoners of Christ. We are in chains because of what he's done, and those who are saved completely, and he's doing a work in us, amen, day by day. Isn't that a song, "Day by Day"? I don't know if it's a good song, but i'm just saying, because sometimes I quote songs and then I realize it was not an appropriate one that I quoted. But day by day he saves, and has saved, and will continue to save his children. That's good news. And then directly after, he takes them to the Red Sea. We learned that they weren't ready to face the Philistines, and they weren't ready to trust on that level. I'm thinking, well, so your move is to throw them into the Red Sea? You know, that seems like... I'd take the Philistines, please. But he takes them there. And how do we see, what do we see in the gospel message here? How do we see God? What is going on? We're saved because of the Lamb, and we're baptized. There is this going through the waters that happens. It is amazing. It is a symbol of baptism that we see in the New Testament. It's kind of beautiful, right?
And so we begin to see all this, and then we understand that there is this issue, that although they are saved, they are still broken.
They still have flesh; they still have problems. How many of you know, you receive Christ, you put your faith in him, and you still got issues? Like, you got some broken parts in you that he's still trying to work out of you. And sometimes we call those things weaknesses, that God is trying to work weaknesses out of us to get us strong. And he does that, he does that. But then at the same time, sometimes he works weaknesses out of us to make us stronger, but that strength is not our strength; the strength is his strength. Okay, so track with me here: sometimes he works weaknesses in you. Yes, that you would be dependent on his strength. That's right. Sometimes he works weaknesses out of you, but not so that you can be strong; so that you will trust in his strength. If he works weaknesses out of you and you don't trust in his strength, he'll leave the weakness in you. Track with me. Paul said, I want this thorn to be removed. But God knew it was best, because leaving the thorn was better for him than removing it. It was a weakness, but leaving the weakness made him more dependent on God's strength, not his own. So sometimes God will remove the weakness, because we will continue to trust in his strength, but sometimes he'll leave it and work it in, because it makes you dependent on his
Point 2God works weakness into us on purpose
Strength. It is interesting that God works weakness into us. Let's look at that, and it is God who does it. "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp'" in these two locations, Migdol and this other place, I don't even know how to say that, "'by the sea, in front of'" the other place that I don't know how to say; "'you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.'" He tells them to turn back and set up camp in between an impossible situation to cross and trouble nipping at their heels. He directs them there. He directs them and traps them in a weak spot. This is kind of, oh, it's annoying. I don't know if you've been walking with the Lord any amount of time; he just has a way of doing this kind of stuff. Now, I would like to preach you happy today and get you to a place where, and to say, that God will always move you to a place where he doesn't work weakness in you, and he removes you from all trouble, and there will never be an issue, and if somebody's nipping at your heels, he always opens a way. But sometimes he works you into an impossible situation, and he doesn't part the Red Sea before you get there.
Sometimes he makes you camp in a place you think there's no hope, and you stay there for a while. They set up camp there. They didn't just pop there and, boom, it parted, and then they walked. They set up camp there. You know how hard it... How many of you have been camping? I mean, I'm not talking about glamping, like we do now that I've hit 47. Is that right? 47. I'm almost to the 50 mark. I'm going to repeat 48 for a while. All right, I'm going to repeat 48 for a while. But we used to do the old hardcore camping, right? You had the tents, and you had the... I mean, how many of your parents never yelled or got impatient when you set up camp? Yeah. I mean, I love the Lord, but sometimes you just get... And you know, typically you do the hard kind of camping when you got little kids, you know what I mean? Yeah, because you're, one, because you're broke, two, because you have to be young to put up with that mess, right? But setting up camp takes a long time, and everybody's got an opinion, and you got four or five chiefs and nobody listening to nobody, but everybody's trying to give directions, and it makes everybody crazy. And setting up camp just for four people can take, oh, hours. I mean, try doing it with two million people. They set up camp in an impossible and weak, trapped in a weak position. Listen, God does not want you to be strong. He doesn't.
God wants to be our strength. That's the difference.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:39
So if you think the journey of your life is going to be this thing where you become strong, it is more that he will be your strength. That's what he works in you.
When you look back at the story of your life, it is not that he made you strong, but that he helped you understand that he is your strength.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:54
He is your very help in time of trouble. You are not your help in time of trouble; he is your help in time of trouble. Now, if we were sinless, our wants and God's wants would be in perfect harmony with each other. We would want to be strong only in the strength that God supplies. 1 Peter 4:10–11 says this: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." It's God; it came from God, it came from God. "Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies."
God supplied it. It was God who did it. "In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever." Some of us want to operate in strength, and we rob God of glory because we make it about us, and we've forgotten it is all about him. But since we are not sinless, there is often distance between the strength we desire to have and the strength God desires to give us. They were trapped in a weak place, and it was a place designed by God, and God led them there on purpose. Now, that's troubling for us today.
It may not make us happy, but it will make us holy, and that's the point of the gospel, that we would not be what we were.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:35
And sometimes a little bit of opposition and a little bit of trouble helps build us into what he wants us to be.
We spend so much time trying to preach people out of trouble that we have weak believers in Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:02
Weak. It was God that led them. God had purposefully instructed Moses to lead Israel there, because he had determined to humiliate Pharaoh and the Egyptians one last dramatic time. They were weakened to learn what true strength was, and it was this: true strength will never come from you.
True strength will always come from him, in spite of you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:47
Moses replied to the panicky people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD." I love that. That would have been a good sermon: fear not, stand firm, and see. That's a good three-pointer. "The salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today." Who works it? God. "For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Why didn't God do it differently? There's a better way, right? It certainly feels like there is a better way. When the Egyptian army showed up, God could have made Israel a nation of Samsons in a second, without long hair. I mean, if they needed long hair, he could have grown it out, and they all would have had long hair, and they would all have been strong like Samson, and they could have found a jawbone of this and a jawbone of that and a femur bone of this and a rock of that, and they could have taken out the whole army by themselves. They could have done that. They could have wiped out Egypt with a bunch of donkey bones, jaws. Why didn't God do that? That would have been cooler. Why didn't he do that? Well, remember Samson. When God gave Samson power to overcome 1,000 Philistines on his own, what was the song Samson sang? And then compare that to the song that's sung in Exodus 15. Compare it. Well, let me remind you. Here's the song that Samson sung after he defeated the army of a thousand philistines, and I think it's ironic, it's the Philistines, which God took them away from. Here's what it says, Judges 15:16: "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men." Who? "With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men."
We may not realize what it means for God to be our strength until we're weak enough that he's our only option.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 24:02
Oh, later we see God become Samson's only option, when his strength is gone. "I struck down." There is no hymn to God by Samson after any of his exploits, and he didn't survive the one that likely got him mentioned as a model of faith in Hebrews 11:32. God was Samson's strength, but Samson often forgot it, because it was not reflected in his songs. God wanted Israel to understand that he was their strength and their salvation, so that he would become their song. They would not become their own. That's why he put them in the weak, helpless place. And honestly, he's going to do it with you too. God is working weakness in you as well, so do not despair, because he has a plan, and his glory is paramount. His glory is paramount, not yours. God is working weakness in you as well, so you will trust in a different source of strength. Point number two: God
Point 3God helps us see our need for him
Helps us see our need for him. "When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly."
God mercifully brings us to impossible seas to help us see our need for him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:51
We often fail to look upwards when impending doom is pressing inward.
We lose heart when we think God's purposes serve us, but ladies and gentlemen, his purposes serve him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:05
That's wild. You know how long I thought about that before I wrote that in my notes? Because that's disturbing. I mean, even as I wrote it, I know. See, we get troubled when trouble comes, because we think God's purposes should serve us and the immediacy of our problems. Sometimes our problems are serving a greater purpose, and they're not you; they're him. They're his purposes. Why do you think it says his ways are higher than our ways? Because the purposes of God are not at the mercy of what you want, man. Though there may have been easier routes that would make more sense in our eyes, God chose this path to accomplish his good purpose in our lives: to show us more of himself, to change our hearts and ways in ways that other circumstances wouldn't have, and to reveal his glory to us and those around us.
Let's not be so focused on the route we wish we were on that we miss what God is doing on the one he's chosen for us, because you can wish your life away and you can miss him completely.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:36
This only causes us to jump into the sea and drown ourselves in the emptiness of anger and resentment and bitterness and hopelessness and numbing activities or sinful indulgences. Have you been there? "God, I've served you, and this is the way you repay me?" And we're angry, and we drown ourselves in the sea of emptiness, of anger, resentment, bitterness, of
Point 4God fights on your behalf, in your stead
Hopelessness, of numbing activities and sinful indulgences. Point number three: God fights on your behalf. Brace yourself for this one. "Is not this what we said to you in egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians." It would have been better for us. But his purposes are not dependent on you, and they're not for you. See, our problem with God comes when we don't like what it does for us. But his purposes are not at the mercy of what you feel about what it does for you. This is why he will continue to do what's right in spite of what it does for you, right? And groaning and complaining is birthed out of the failure to understand that... We think God's purposes serve us, not him.
Most of your disillusionment in the Christian life is thinking that God's purposes are there to serve you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:41
Why does that happen? Because we're the center of the universe and God is not. "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today." Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work, listen to this, for you. I thought it wasn't for us. Now it's for us? Oh, so much is lost in translation here. Literally: fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation which he will work for you. "For it would have been better for us." He'll work salvation for you, but listen, it ain't the way you thought. And that "for you," the way we interpret that, it's very...
It's not right. "For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
We need to be careful with this phrasing. Just pause with me for a second, because things get lost in interpretation here. You can interpret this one of two ways: you can interpret this as God is the center of the universe, or you can interpret it as you are the center of the universe. And the way you read this will be affected by who you have placed in the center. Are you with me today? "The LORD will fight for you." We tend to read it as God fights for us because of us. That's the way we tend to read that. This is the wrong interpretation of this. The actual Hebrew is Yahweh yillachem lakem. It literally means on your behalf, for you, or even more literally, it means in your stead, for you. That's what it means: in your stead.
The LORD will fight in your place. Because we don't say "stead" anymore, "in your stead," you know what I mean? We don't say that. He will fight on your behalf, or in place of you. We have a tendency to say things like, in the New Testament, Jesus died for me. And okay, if you interpret that like he died in your stead, or in your place, not because you're awesome, because there ain't no one that's awesome. He died in your stead. Are you with me? Jesus died for God in your place. That's what it means. Romans 5:8. "What about Romans 5:8, Shawn?" "God shows his love for us," for us, "in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." How did he die for us? In our stead. Be careful how you interpret that, because Jesus died for God in your place. That's what it means. It means in your stead. But the way we interpret it is shaped by who is at the center of the universe. Is it God, or is it you? Now, this is important. Will God fight for us? Yes, he does. He does, in our stead. That's why you need to stand still, be quiet and watch him do his work.
He didn't invite you to get in that fight.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 33:50
He didn't ask you to jump in the ring and fight the devil. Jesus did. Jesus fought the devil on earth, through hell and everywhere. Well, hell ain't there yet, but you know, he fought the devil, won, defanged him, and won. He don't need you to get in the ring.
He fought in your stead. You tagged him in. "I'll take a little bit of Jesus here." You get out of the ring, he jumps in, beats heads. Are you
Point 5God doesn't prioritize your comfort over his plans
With me today? That's the way that went down. God fights on your behalf. Number four: God doesn't prioritize your comfort over his plans. Man, I wish he did. Can I get an amen on that one? Like, I mean, can we just be honest? I wish he did. I wish he did. I mean, I really wish he did. "The LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.'" In case you didn't know, there's a big sea. See the water? We got problems. He didn't tell them to go backwards. That would have been more reasonable, even though the Egyptians were coming, nipping at their heels, because at least you have a chance. There's no scuba deer, did I say deer? There's no scuba gear. We have no snorkel. Some of us can't swim. We've lived in a desert. This is literally a sink-or-swim moment. Are you with me today? And he tells them to move forward, and then the command comes: oh yeah, by the way, put your hands up and I'll part that thing. But he tells them to move forward in the midst of an impossible situation. There are people here today, how does this relate to us? There are people here today, and I think this is just the way he works for me; maybe he doesn't work this way for you. There are people today... Listen, he will ask you to move forward in things that are impossible, and in the midst of troubling situations, you move forward. You move forward. He says go forward. Yikes. Sometimes, have you ever been so upset, so sad, so disillusioned that you just don't even want to get off the couch? Maybe it's just me. Maybe some of you are bubbly, and you're just like, woo, all the time, you know. But sometimes I was like, you just... How many of you have ever been discouraged to the point of just not wanting to, just don't want to? I'm just, I've had enough. I'm tired. There have been times in our marriage that I've looked at Brook, riding in a car, and said, "I'm just tired." "Oh, did you not get good sleep last night?" Because she's kind of the... We don't need two of me in the house, you know? I mean, we don't need two of me. We only need one of me, and we need somebody to bring me up, and then I'll bring her down, and we'll be somewhere in the middle. God has designed it that way. We'll be, you know, in this place. "Oh, did you not sleep very good?" "No, I'm just tired." "With what?" "Everything." Because life will make you weary, and that's the fact. Did you know that when you believe in Christ, you put your faith in him and you're saved and you're delivered and you're freed from slavery, it doesn't get easier, and you're going to get tired? The work has not ended.
See, we thought the work had ended. We just have a new master.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:05
The work has not ended, and you're going to get tired, and sometimes he'll work weariness into you, that he will be your strength. See, God can most effectively use you when you look at your wife in a car, or vice versa, or a friend, and say, "I'm just exhausted." God goes, "yay! Now he will trust me to do what I've been trying to do." And that's when God can use you the best. Oh, that's frustrating. That's disheartening. They were told to move forward in the face of impossibilities and with trouble nipping at their heels. And I'm going to close with this: we have a tendency to make our personal comfort our ultimate goal, but God does not have that same tendency. And by the way, it doesn't just apply to you; it applies to him, because he left the comfort of heaven, and he came down into your trouble, and he took your place, and he fought a battle you could never fight, in your stead, in your stead. We want God to order our circumstances in ways that make sense to us. God's glory is not something we value enough to be willing to go through tough times so that it can be displayed in our lives.
But sometimes God's glory is most often and best displayed in the midst of your greatest trouble.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:07
That's just the way it is. It's the way it was back then, several thousand years ago, and it's the way it still is today. We have a lot to celebrate, that God still fights our battles in our stead.
Sometimes you just got to be quiet and stand out of the way and tag him into the ring.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:34
And maybe that time is today.
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