UnStuck Part 3

Announcements:

More class

Time change

YouVersion

Intro:

Israel in bondage; led out of Egypt; in a tight spot. (stuck)

Week 1: It often takes tight places to bring us to the point of desperation. Coming to the Red Sea is just as much a part of His plan as crossing it.

Week 2: When hemmed in on all sides, the only place to look is up. If you are the hero in your story, God isn’t, and that’s not okay.

We get to be part of other peoples story

Today, I want to go back and dive in to a particular moment that we didn’t really have time to cover last week

So we are going to be in chapter 14 again and I want to read this text for us and then I’ll pray and we can dive in

Exodus 14:10–15 NIV

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

Now, there is a lot to unpack here, and we will get to that. But I want to start and end in the same place today.

When we read the redemptive story of the red sea here in Exodus we must see the character of God

Specifically, the red sea should be a foreshadowing of what Jesus does for us on the cross.

Jon Bloom (Desiring God Ministries): The exodus was one of the most spectacular Old Testament foreshadowings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Just as God delivered His people from certain death through the rending of the Red Sea, He has acted to deliver us as well.

So, I want to start this morning by stating very clearly, God is a God of deliverance.

He delivers his people from slavery and the Egyptian enemy here and He delivers the world from slavery of sin and our enemy and foe today.

By the power of the cross, there is nothing that can keep you from the grace and love of Jesus

The cross has paved way for deliverance and freedom to be found in Christ

The crossing of the red sea is pointing us to the cross

But look at how the Israelites respond in this moment.

Exodus 14:10–12 NIV

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

Let us serve. Slavery is better than death.

But what if those aren’t the only options

Far too often we limit God

Our own limitations blind us of His absolute power and authority

The Israelites fear led them to believe that they weren’t actually being delivered but deceived.

That God and moses had deceived them into thinking that freedom was a possibility.

Let me tell you something, the enemy will do everything he can to try to deceive you into thinking that freedom in Christ isn’t possible

That you aren’t good enough

That God doesn’t want you

That your sin is too big

That your problems are too far reaching

That you don’t bring enough to the table

But Scripture tells us that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

It also tells us that when we run to the cross, repent of our sin, believe that Jesus is Lord that the Spirit of God comes and lives in us

So when we believe on Jesus the Spirit of God is in us and if, where He is there is freedom, that would mean that there is freedom in us and for us

And as deadly and difficult and dangerous as sin and our enemy are, they are no match against our God

So, how does Moses respond to the Israelites?

Exodus 14:13 NIV

13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

“Do not be afraid.”

2 Timothy 1:7 NIV

7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

The same Spirit who gives us freedom also rids us of fear

And Moses stands before the people of God, in the face of their enemy and certain death and says “Do not be afraid!”

He continues by saying “Stand firm.”

Fear will tempt us to flee, and sometimes the most courageous thing to do in the face of fear is to stand firm.

Moses encourages the Israelites to stand firm in the face of fear

Stand your ground, don’t run, don’t flee.

Stand firm in the Word of the Lord

Stand firm in His deliverance

Stand firm in His power

Why stand firm, so that you can see.

Flee and you will never see, stand firm and you will always learn

If you have the mentality of fleeing every time it gets difficult you will never see the deliverance of God in your life

If you have the fortitude to stand firm by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will learn about the goodness of God and His redemptive power over your life

The command to stand firm is simply the command to stay where you are so that you can watch

And what they are about to watch is the salvation of the Lord

But we must notice that it has not taken place yet

So they are being commended to stand firm and see something that has not taken place

Now, how do you see something that hasn’t taken place?

With eyes of faith

The saying goes, “seeing is believing.” But God says, “believing is seeing.”

Another paradoxical principle of the kingdom of God

We should also notice that the Israelites contribute nothing to this salvation

in a sense they are mere spectators of their own salvation

A clear picture to us of the power and grace of God

Even when people would say that grace is only a New Testament truth and not found in the OT

God’s grace is virtually found on every page

We just need to have spiritual eyes to see it

Our fallen, frail, weak flesh attempts to veil our eyes so that we don’t see grace

And the reason our flesh hates grace so much is because we can do absolutely nothing to earn it.

The next command we see Moses give is this: “Be Still

Exodus 14:14 NIV

14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

There are moments in our life where we could not try any harder and yet we are more stuck than ever

And I believe a lot of times, the reasoning is, because we have yet to be still.

Look at the next command and we will circle back to this

Exodus 14:15 NIV

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

Move Forward

Now, we read this part and go, well which one is it?

And the answer is, both!

How do we be still and yet move forward?

The importance of this paradox is the order in which they are given

Be still, so that you may move forward.

Here is how this plays out:

How often do we rush into things, without first being still long enough to hear from the Lord?

Think about this practically in this moment…The Israelites could have rushed out into the red sea but without instruction from the Lord they wouldn’t have known how.

In order for them to move forward and ultimately experience the freedom that Yahweh was taking them to, they needed instruction in how to get there

Moses needed to know to raise his staff and stretch out his hand

They needed to know the waters were going to be divided

They weren’t swimming across, they were walking across

How often do we make it more difficult on ourselves because we aren’t going to God’s Word and going to the Lord in prayer for instruction on how to move forward

How silly of us to think that we could take on the world in our own power and might.

In a culture where going going going is the receipt for success, the kingdom of God would tell us that the way to know God, and ultimately have the most kingdom impact on the world around us, is by being still.

But also notice, the command was be still so that you can move forward.

It’s not be still and stay still.

Be still so that you can learn how to move forward

And so maybe we feel so stuck because we are trying everything in our own might and power to get unstuck

But the receipt to move forward is actually to be still first

and so maybe it’s learning the art of being still that will teach us best how to move forward and get unstuck.

GOD DELIVERED ISRAEL BY THE RED SEA, JESUS DELIVERS US BY THE CROSS

The exodus was the greatest Old Testament foreshadowing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God delivers us all as helpless children, caught between the forces of evil and the sea of God’s wrath. Jesus is our deliverer, and his cross and resurrection IS our deliverance.

Just like the Israelites were helpless, so are we (helpless children)

Just like the Israelites were trapped (caught between the forces of evil and the sea of God’s wrath), so are we.

Just like the Israelites were challenged (believe, trust, fear not, and stand still), so are we.

Just as the Israelites were delivered through the Sea of death and wrath, so are we.

Just as the Israelites were told to move on into the promised land, we are journeying through this world into the promise of an eternity spent with our creator

The natural inclination is to take things into our own hands, we have to realize that our salvation is not earned or won

It was bought by the blood of Jesus on the cross

And if the exodus teaches us anything it’s that God delivers His people.

He did it way back then and He still does it today.