UnStuck Part 4

Intro

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CK

Ages 6-12 (Miracles of Jesus)

Learning today how they can go to Jesus with all of their needs

Ages 2-5 1 tim 3:15

That the church is God’s family

Recap:

We have been talking through the story of the Exodus

Where we see God save His people from slavery in Egypt

And they find themselves stuck

Having to trust in God, rely on God

Last week we talked through the commands given to the Israelites when they find themselves stuck between the sea and their enemy bearing down on them

We talked about how they were and we are commanded to

Fear not

Stand firm and see

Be still

Move forward

So, we’ve seen a lot of the story so far

But the one thing we haven’t seen, we’ve eluded to it but haven’t read it, is the actual parting of the Red Sea

I think if you’ve been around church or if you’ve ever even heard the story before it’s just a forgone conclusion that the red sea does part

I think for most of us it’s just familiar

But we have to put ourselves in the Israelites shoes for a second

They were anywhere but in the familiar

I think we overlook the fact that their enemy was coming after them and without God, there is nothing standing in their way to come and destroy them

There’s no where to go, no where to turn, nothing to do

Exodus 14:19–28 NIV

19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

pray

Now we read this story and for most of us if not all of us, it’s old news

We see, not just here, but throughout Scripture the things God does.

The miracles of the Bible

But I want to remind us, these were real people

With real families

With real emotions

With real lives

And if we ourselves in their shoes I’m not sure we could say we would have reacted any differently then they did

Because in this moment, there’s no way out. There’s no alternative

But what I want to talk about today is that God delights in doing new things in new ways for His people

Now, He does 2 new things in this text.

The one is probably pretty obvious, the other might not be

But look at verse 19

Exodus 14:19 NIV

19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,

The Lord’s presence moves from front to back

From leading to shielding

From guiding to guarding

It reminds us throughout this chapter that God had been guiding the Israelites with the pillar of cloud

That He was out front and leading them the entire way

But here, God moves. He does something new

And this isn’t in the text but just my imagination wondering

I wonder what it would have been like and felt like when that pillar of cloud began to move

I imagine I would have freaked out

This whole time, no matter what else has happened, at least you can see the cloud and you know God is leading and guiding you

But all of a sudden it begins to move and fear begins to set in

And maybe, just maybe, God really did lead us out here to be slaughtered

But, instead of God disappearing, He moves to protect.

Instead of abandoning them, He was protecting them, even though they couldn’t see it at first

It’s hard for us to comprehend and see the protection of the Lord in our lives

I wonder how often God does protect us from attacks of the enemy

I know that there are seasons of life where we just feel stuck, we feel overwhelmed and hopeless.

But we may not even know what it would be like if the Lord pulled back His protection over us

How often do we overlook the provision and protection of the Lord in our lives because we can’t see it and we are too consumed with what we can see?

And the crazy thing about this new thing the Lord did is

It simultaneously had differing affects

It was what produced light to the people of God

And yet darkness to their enemies

God’s workings are light to His people, but darkness to the world.

The moving behind the Israelites protected the Israelites

And it prevented the Egyptians

The Egyptians couldn’t see, they didn’t know what the Israelites were doing, they didn’t even know where they were

And it was in that moment that He did another new thing

He parted the sea

And again, the waters that were a sign of God’s deliverance of His people were a method of His wrath on His enemies

God could have delivered the Hebrews any way He chose

But He did it this way.

Why? Why take them through the sea? Why not another direction? Why not over?

Why did He trap them? Why did He allow Pharaoh to puruse?

Why this way?

Because He was demonstrating something

He was demonstrating His power and His ability and desire to save His people

And so, God parts the Red Sea

He does a new thing

It wasn’t the last time God parted waters for His people, but the next time would be different

Joshua 3:13 NIV

13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

Joshua who was at the parting of the Red Sea knew that Moses lifted His staff

But this time, they were to step out into the waters first

There’s a story even later when Elijah and Elisha go to cross the Jordan and Elijah takes his cloak and strikes the water and God parts it

So the point is, God loves to do new things in new ways for His people

Now, don’t hear what I am not saying

I am not saying that God changes

He never changes

I am not saying that truth changes

truth never changes

I am not saying that God’s Word changes

It never changes

We believe that God is the same today as He was then and will be forevermore

You can’t alter perfection because the moment you do you are declaring that it either wasn’t perfect to begin with or you moving away from perfection

God is the same. His faithfulness never changes. His goodness never changes. His promises are the same

When God speaks, He delivers on His word

Look back to verse 13

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.

Now let’s look at the end of the text today

Exodus 14:28 NIV

28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

God made a promise and He stood by it

So I am not saying that God changes

What I am saying is that God, seemingly, likes to change the methods in which He accomplishes things for His people

And as uncomfortable as that may make us, it’s true and it’s ok

So, we can expect God to work, but we shouldn’t assume He’s going to work as we expect.

The question then becomes, why does God do this?

#1 Because He can

Because He is God and when He decided to move and work in the lives of His people, it is at His discretion and His discretion alone in how to do that

#2 So that He gets glory

Remember, all throughout Ex 14 we are reminded that God is doing what He is doing, so that He may get glory

To sum all of it up, when we ask why God, the answer is for His glory

He brings plagues and delivers the Hebrews out of slavery for His glory

He leads them to a place of helplessness for His glory

He hardens Pharoahs heart for His glory

He parts the Red Sea for His glory

He wipes out the Egyptians for His glory

Let’s read the rest of the chapter to find out how this part ends

Exodus 14:29–31 NIV

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

The people fear the Lord and put their trust in Him

You know what that equals?

You guessed it, they glorified God

God gets the glory every time and He will even do new things in new ways to assure it

#3 For relational dependence and deepening

Think about this for a second with me

If God were to do everything the same way every time, it would be easy for us to predict how He work in our lives

And if it were easy to predict how God would deliver us, all we would need is the steps in the pattern

And so maybe the reason God does new things in new ways is to get us out of a checklist mentality and into a relational one

And so maybe we should stop seeing our relationship with the Lord as one that we can get into a routine and pattern and coast through

But rather see it as a relationship we should constantly be pursuing

For example, I’ve found that my wife changes

In the almost 10 years of our marriage

Her desires have changed

Her dreams have changed

Her taste on how each and every room should look, changes almost weekly I feel

How she feels loved changes in the moment

Right now, she growing another human in her body, so the changes are only heightened

There are changes going on that only drs and the Good Lord could explain

But, if when I married her, or even when I was dumb enough to think I had figured her out, I stopped pursuing her, our relationship would never last

Just for free this morning fellas, your marriage may be suffering not because you’ve done one big thing wrong but because you stopped pursuing your wife

In a similar way, if I could checklist God, I would

And I believe the Lord knows that about us

And so, in an effort to get us to constantly be pursuing Him, learning Him, depending on Him

God does new things in new ways to His people, for His people

And so maybe, God does this, yes for His glory, but also for our good.

Because He knows that our relationship with Him is what is most important in life

And if we could coast or if we could checklist that to death, it wouldn’t be much of a relationship

So, God does new things in new ways because

God is a God who creates new things

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The message of the gospel is that we are dead in our trespasses and God in His mercy comes and brings us to life

He makes us new

And we are constantly pursuing that newness of life in Jesus

Getting rid of the old and putting on the new

Becoming more like Jesus every day