Moving forward with God

Go Forward

Exodus 14:15 KJV 1900

And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

“Go forward “This was the order which Moses was told by God to give to the children of Israel, and it was very needful that they should obey it.

Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was pursuing and was not far behind them.

They began to wish they had never left Egypt at all.

But although they had lost confidence in God, Moses had not.

He was sure that deliverance would come though he did not see how.

He prayed to God, and the text gives God’s answer.

But where could they go forward to?

Before them, the mountains were high and threatening; and if they sought to climb them, they would become entangled, and separated from one another, and so become an easy prey for their pursuing foe.

If they sought to go to the left hand, they must go into the Red Sea; for the ridge of mountains ran right into it, stretching into the water, and blocking up their path, so that they could not go along the shore.

And if they went straight into the sea, it seemed as if they must be drowned.

It stretched across for miles.

Men could not wade in safety through it, much less could it be crossed by all these families of Israel.

Humanly speaking, the way of the sea was the way of death.

It was in these circumstances that God told them to go forward, right into the bed of the Red Sea.

They believed God, and they obeyed Him; and what was the result?

A strong wind was sent to drive the waters back, and the people went through as if it had been dry land; but when the Egyptians, who were following them, were in the middle of the sea, the wind ceased, the waters flowed on as they had done before, and when the morning dawned, Moses and the children of Israel were standing safe upon the further shore, and “Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen were overthrown and covered by the waters.

There remained not so much as one of them.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day, and Israel saw that great work, and the people believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”

Good men back then wrote all these things for our learning; and this is a kind of parable from which we are asked to learn the truth we should believe concerning God, and the duty God requires of us.

Those who live only according to their natural and corrupted feelings, without the grace of God, are more truly slaves than these poor Israelites were, for Satan is a harder taskmaster than Pharaoh.

But a greater than Moses has come to deliver us from Satan’s power;

Jesus is our great King, guiding us from the enemy’s country to the heavenly Canaan.

We should believe in Christ, love and also obey Him.

These children of Israel believed in Moses, and they showed their faith by leaving their homes in Egypt, by going forth towards the wilderness, and by entering the channel of the Red Sea, though its waters seemed ready to devour them.

Let us believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour of sinners; and let us show our faith by our obedience to His heavenly will.

Let us leave the land of sin, and follow Him through good and bad times.

God loves His children so much.

This week I got a brand new tool. It’s a brand new tape measure.

So I’ve been having a great time measuring things.

For instance, how wide do you think this chair is?

How tall is the pulpit? Well let’s see.

Let me measure one of you to see how tall you are.

You know, there are tools for measuring just about anything.

With a tape measure like this you can measure how long or how wide something is.

With a scale we could measure how heavy something or someone isa.

We’ve got thermometers to see how cold or hot something is.

We’ve got speedometers in cars to measure how fast we’re going.

So with the right tool you can measure just about anything.

But there is one thing you cannot measure: You cannot measure God’s Love for us.

It’s just WAY TOO BIG for us to measure!

In the verse we just read we see that God told His people to move forward because He loved them so much He wasn’t going to let any harm come to them.

In Jeremiah 31:3 “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

God says,” I have loved you with an everlasting Love.”

That means His love goes on forever.

And you just can’t measure something that goes on forever.

The bible says in;

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

And you can’t measure Jesus’ love for us, either.

He gave His life for us.

That’s something you can’t measure.

And Jesus didn’t die on the cross because we were good people;

Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

While we were still sinners, Jesus still went to the cross and gave His life for you and me.

Well, we can’t measure God’s love for us.

We can’t measure Jesus’ love for us.

But you know what we can do?

We can certainly thank Him for it, can’t we?

How about we all bow our heads and close our eyes and do that now;

Heavenly Father, we thank you that your love for us is so big that we just cannot measure it.

Please help us to remember to pass some of that love on to others.

We Thank you for loving us so much and we Thank you in Jesus name. Amen