Stand By And See The Salvation Of The Lord

Introduction

This morning I want to take you to a very familiar story, probably to most in the audience, but because it’s familiar, and we’ve told it so many times to our children in the Bible classes, we must not neglect it ourselves. And I want to look at it with you today. Exodus fourteen, the Lord speaks to Moses and says, Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before extra credit if you can pronounce that, but I because I cannot.

Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them, and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.

1. Why Does This Happen?

And so Israel, having left Egypt, the ten plagues being brought upon that land, and they come miraculously out, and yet the Egyptians pursue them, and they get hemmed in at the Red Sea. And the first thing that I want to do with this story this morning is ask the question, why? Why does this happen? You would think after the ten plagues coming upon Egypt that they would be free and clear to head to the promised land, but they are not over all the obstacles and hurdles yet. What was that all about? I mean, as they’re coming out, they’re continually complaining because they’re either thirsty or hungry. This travel is not easy, it is difficult, and now they’re dealing with the Egyptians again. One of the reasons why, and I can’t exhaust all of God’s wisdom because he probably hasn’t given that to us in the scriptures.

But one of the reasons why this event happens is because of Israel’s testing. He mentions that in regard to the manna in Deuteronomy chapter 8. He tested them. He was going to see if this people would trust him or not. And that’s certainly involved in this event at the Red Sea. I think there’s something else going on here. Because as they stood and looked at this massive body of water, we’re not talking about a creek or a river, we’re talking about a sea. As they looked at this massive body of water and their need to get on the other side in the Egyptians pursuing them from behind. This looked impossible. We are in situation impossible here. And as I’ve said before, God loves it when things look impossible.

Nothing shall be impossible for him. We read about that in regard to the birth in the New Testament. John the Baptist, Jesus. Nothing shall be impossible with God. I think there’s something else going on the surface that God is being very inattentive to their problems. But it’s not God being inattentive, it’s how he’s going to use this in the future. This model of deliverance through and by water, he is not only going to use here, he’s going to use it in the story of Naaman and in other places to prepare the way for the role water would be involved in the salvation of people in the new covenant. And we’ll demonstrate that further in a moment. And that their deliverance through water would be the result of faith.

And I want you to just go quickly to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 29, because this incident is referenced. In Hebrews 11 in the great hall of faith in verse 29, it says, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land. And the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. And so the verse I want to call to your attention as they’re hemmed in at the Red Sea is Exodus 14 and verse 13. As the people are concerned and afraid about the approaching Egyptians, God says through Moses, do not fear. Stand by see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

That’s pretty permanent, isn’t it? These Egyptians that you see today, you will never again see them forever. The title of our lesson this morning, stand by and see the salvation of the Lord. Well, we know what follows next, don’t we? Yeah, you watched the movie, The Ten Commandments, right? But now we’ve had the remake. Exodus, Gods and Kings, Christian Baal, his worst performance as an actor. Portraying Moses. When I saw the trailers for this movie, Brett and I were, man, we’ve got to go see this. This is with all the computer generated graphics of our times and the way they can do movies, this is going to be sensational. The Red Sea is going to be awesome. The plagues were really good in the movie for the most part.

And so when we come to the, of course, the depiction of Moses was terrible, but the plagues are pretty good. And we come to the Red Sea, and I’ve got, this is going to be spectacular. I’ve seen the previews. As the wall of water starts on the one side.

2. Just Stick With the Biblical Story

They finally begin to cross, and they’re traipsing through nearly knee-deep water and mud. It’s like, that’s not the Bible story. And then the end of it is the Egyptians are pursuing them. They get some of that right, and then all of a sudden, I guess for dramatic effect, we’ve got to have Ramses and Moses have a fight and struggle, and they’re in the water. It’s like, where is all of that? Just stick with the biblical story here, people. Do we struggle to believe that it could occur exactly the way the Bible says it did. It could have been even more dramatic had they done it according to the story. Let’s read it. Beginning in verse 19. And the angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.

Now that’s even impressive. Don’t overlook that. There’s a buffer between themselves and the Egyptians for as long as God needs it to be there. So it came about. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night, thus the one did not come near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided. And the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

There wasn’t just one wall of water. There was a wall of water on both sides. Now, how big was the trench through which they passed through? I don’t know, but there was a lot of Israelites going across. Probably a pretty good size alley that they went through. Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit. And all of Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Not American Pharaoh, by the way. I just had to throw that in. They went in after them into the midst of the sea. And it came about at the morning watch that the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. And he caused their chariot wheels to swerve.

What’s happening to my chariot? And he made them drive with difficulty. He’s not going to let them catch the Israelites. He’s going to deliver them. So the Egyptians said, Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians. They know something extraordinary is happening here. We need to call off this pursuit. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, and their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. Then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them.

And then notice this I have it underlined in my Bible.

Just like God had said. And the sons of Israel walked on dry land. Dry land, mind you. Look, if you can take a sea and part its water, if you can create the universe. If you can take a sea and part the waters and have a wall on one side and a wall on the left, you can create the dry ground that is completely void of moisture, at least not on the surface. Or completely altogether for that matter. God can do what he wants. So they walked through on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall on them on their 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.

You talk about compelling. And when Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians.

I want you to note that. When they saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. One brief point before we get to the ramifications of this for us. One is in regard to the location of the Red Sea crossing. This has been debated by scholars and biblical students for generations. The most common thing now is to believe that the Red Sea crossing actually happened on this other side. The traditional site of Mount Sinai is in that peninsula, and they have the crossing somewhere on the left side of that. But more scholars believe now, and I’m not a scholar, but I believe it also, that it was actually on the other side because Mount Sinai is said in Galatians 4 and verse 25 to be in Arabia.

3. Baptized Into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea

And there’s absolutely no evidence that the Mount Sinai site is in that peninsula. And there actually is some evidence for Mount Sinai being what is now called Jabal el laws in Saudi Arabia. And so that’s what’s most commonly believed, the place of the Red Sea crossing. Okay, so what relevance does this have to us? This event in the Old Testament, if any at all. Paul says it has indeed relevance to us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, he references this great event in the Old Testament. And he says, I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and then this, and all were baptized into Moses. Baptized? Baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and they all ate the same spiritual food, and they all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them.

4. Salvation Is the Lord's

And that rock was Christ. Christ was supplying their sustenance and their need, just like he is supplying the needs of these Christians who are meeting in Corinth. But what’s the point about baptism? No, they were not immersed in water like we are for the remission of our sins, but it was through water and a submerging into the sea that they had their deliverance. And so it models our deliverance from sin and the oppression of sin. You see, the Egyptian army represents our deliverance from the oppression and tyranny of sin by the great power of God. And I want to make just a few observations about this story and how it relates to us as we read about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. The first observation that I would make about the story, and one important thing that is teaching them about their salvation and ours is that salvation is the Lord’s.

It is his business from beginning to end. Now let me explain what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that there’s not anything you and I have to do in our salvation. And I can demonstrate that even from the story in Exodus 14. Let’s suppose you’re standing there on the edge of the Red Sea, and Moses stretches out his hand, and the walls of water form on either side, and you stand there. Here the rest of Israel is going across by faith. They believe God is going to hold that water back, and they’re going to be able to get through to the other side. They have to walk, right? To get to the other side. They have to do something. But oh no. You believe God does absolutely everything.

Man doesn’t have to do anything in his salvation. And so you stand here on this side of the Red Sea and say, the Lord is somehow going to magically teleport me to the other side. When I’m saying the Lord is going to do it all. What I mean by that is I’m just going to stand here and let him take me across to the other side. Let me tell you about that Israelite. He’s dead. He’s trampled by the horses and chariots of Pharaoh or slain by the sword. They had to pass through. Their part was faith. Their part was trust. And they passed through the Red Sea by faith. Our salvation is no different. But when you get to the other side, you know what the response is, right?

Whew. Because of what I did. Look what I did. Look what I did in my salvation. It’s not any merit of our own by which we are saved. It is God’s business from beginning to end. They even wrote a song about that. If you look into the next chapter, in Exodus chapter 15, there is a song that commemorates the event, the song of Moses and Israel. And notice what he says in verse 2. I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. They’re not talking about themselves. Weren’t we good? Weren’t we good crossing the Red Sea? He says, the Lord is highly exalted. The horse and its rider, he is hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him. My Father’s God, and I will extol him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Verse 10 Thou didst blow them with thy wind, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. That’s pretty graphic, isn’t it? You put lead and water, what happens? Straight to the bottom. Who is like thee among the gods, O Lord? Who is like thee? Majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders. Thou didst stretch out thy right hand, and the earth swallowed them. And then in verse 18, the Lord shall reign forever and ever. When they commemorate this event, it was all about what the Lord had done. We need to understand that about our salvation.

Yes, God expects us to respond in faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, Romans chapter 10 and verse 17. But when we’ve done all that which we’ve been commanded to do, it is only what we ought to have done. Jesus says in Luke chapter 17. I said this so many times, but it is so important. In Christ, we are what we are because of Him. Everything that we accomplish, every work and act of service that we perform, we are able to do this and be alive in Christ because of Him. Because we drank from the rock which is Christ. Let us give credit where credit is due. Let us not overly champion ourselves as His fabulous bondservants. We are what we are because of Him.

5. How Should You Respond to Such a Deliverance?

He is our strength and our song. How should you respond to such a deliverance? The natural response is to do what Israel did. They commemorated this great event with a song, with worship. And allegiance. This is what should follow. Such a dramatic deliverance. Is that how you see your conversion to the Lord? Oh, it didn’t involve a miracle.

But this moment when we submitted to the Lord’s instruction and we were baptized into Christ, He delivers us. He causes us to be raised from the dead spiritually, just as Jesus was miraculously raised from the dead. This is our awesome deliverance. And if we understand what that meant and what that means, we won’t be having a discussion about how little I can do in service to the Lord. We will be having a discussion about how often we ought to assemble with the Lord’s people because we are responding in gratitude for what he has done. He is my strength. He is my son. And I want to emphasize the point again in this great story. Actually, I want to go back to one thing. I missed this.

Another movie reference. Sandra Bullock and Gravity. Did you ever see that movie? I’m reading all these movies for you if you didn’t see it. But again, spectacular computer generated effects. You know, we have this tragedy going on in outer space, the space station is being blown up by a comet or whatever. Really cool stuff. And a lot of people die, of course. That’s what movies do these days. And so Sandra Bullock, the only survivor, oh, sorry, I ruined it for you. Somehow, almost impossibly gets back to earth, and her capsule lands, and she’s in a body of water, and she gets out of that, and they finally show her getting on shore, and you know the response. I’m home. Dry land, I’m safe. Deliverance. She was so appreciative to be back on earth, to be at home.

That kind of excitement over deliverance. That’s what we ought to have about our deliverance from sin. And yet it’s even better. It’s not salvation from physical death. It is something greater than that. It is salvation from spiritual death. It’s greater than that. And we look at stories like Daniel and the lion’s dead. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who escaped the fiery furnace. Now that’s pretty cool. That’s pretty awesome. And boy, they probably thought of that many days afterwards. The rest of their lives. That celestial visitant who was with them in the fire, that they were in a fiery furnace, and they didn’t even have the smell of fire on them after it was over. What an incredible miracle and deliverance that was. But as awesome as that was, that was only a deliverance from physical death.

6. Not Even One of Them Remained

Our deliverance in Christ is greater than that, and we need to appreciate that. Okay, now to the third point. Not even one of them remained, it says in Exodus 14 and verse 28. And all I’m going to say about that is this. Our faith comes under assault and ridicule, it seems, with more frequency these days. We are belittled by our stand against homosexuality. By the fact that, as we’ll talk about tonight, that we believe that divorces for causes other than fornication are sinful. And that there is such a thing as a marriage of which God does not approve. An adulterous marriage. And we take a stand about that. And that’s just a few of the things. The world looks at us and says, those people have issues.

They are overly militant in their beliefs, and they ridicule us, and many believe just because we have faith at all that we have sacrificed our intellect. Let me tell you about all of that. The Lord’s people have been ridiculed and thought lowly of throughout all history. We’re not any different. But I want to tell you this. One day, all of those who criticize and belittle our careful study of the scripture, our careful implementation of God’s will in our lives and in our worship as his people. One day, those people who have so criticized us and maligned us and made fun of us, one day, they’re going to wish they were us. As we shall see tonight in Matthew 13, when the righteous shine forth as the sun, they’re going to wish that they had believed what we believe.

Conclusion

Because I want to tell you what’s going to happen in that day. When the righteous shine forth as the sun, none of them. No hypocrite. No atheist. No agnostic. No immoral person. No transgender person. Caitlin Jenner notwithstanding, Caitlin Jenner of all things. She’s still Bruce to me. None of that, none of them will remain. The righteous will shine forth as the sun. And I want to conclude briefly with this. There is, let’s go back to the word impossible at the very beginning. There is a lesson here, not just about our deliverance and our appreciation of God’s salvation and how incredible it is. When you think about your salvation, I want you to think about the Red Sea story. That’s how incredible it is. But I want you to think about them standing there, absolutely helpless, hopeless, without an answer, unless God does something.

And I want to talk to you for a second about when things appear hopeless in your life. Because you’ll have times like that. And I talk about this a lot because I’ve seen it a lot. And when people find themselves in these dark places, they often conclude two things. Number one, that God doesn’t care. You know, the Israelites could be saying, and they did on several occasions. God brought us out here. Moses, you brought us out here to die. God doesn’t care. God cares. They didn’t understand what he was doing. He wasn’t being inattentive. They didn’t understand God’s plan, how he was going to use these models to teach these important lessons for generations. God does care. Because our situation might seem hopeless, don’t conclude that God doesn’t care.

The second thing that they do. They conclude that a spiritual course in my life is not paying off. And so they jettison faith. Well, let me tell you about those two conclusions. They are very raw. And the second conclusion is probably the result of misconceptions and misguided expectations in regard to the way of the righteous. Remember, when the situation seems hopeless, God is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Ephesians 3 and verse 20. And you may have noticed that I’m using a word a lot more now when I talk about faith. And it’s the word trust. And I’m doing that for a reason. I think sometimes we talk about having faith in God, we don’t really grasp the concept. But this is the word that I think we get a little bit better the concept of trust.

When people give up, they stop trusting. They stop trusting that God is really there and that he cares and that he’s real. And they quit trusting that this book is really telling us the best way to live and the way to eternal glory and that I can do it. And again, God’s salvation. It’s his from beginning to end. My obligation is to trust. That’s my role. And so do you trust, not just in the beginning, as we’re baptized into Christ, but do you trust that if I keep plodding along, trusting Him, trusting His word that He is going to lead me to eternal glory? Is there someone in this audience this morning? Who’s not chosen? God’s salvation. Do you need to have trust that Jesus can cleanse you from your sins and lead you to eternal glory?

We want to sing to encourage you. You need his deliverance. Just like the Israelites needed that deliverance at the Red Sea. You need his deliverance. And if we can assist you to put him on this hour by being baptized into Christ, repenting of your sins and confessing his name before men, we want to do that. Won’t you come while we stand and sing?