God’s Faithfulness to the Unfaithful

God is Eternally Faithful to Lead His People

Today’s passage will be in Exodus 13:17–14:14. The main idea of the Passage today is God’s Faithfulness to the Unfaithful. When I was asked to come preach this week I had been told that the church has been working your way through the book of Exodus and was asked if I would be willing to continue in the series. Now to be honest, when Pastor Roy asked me to preach today’s passage, there were several thoughts that went through my head, most of them some variation of “I don’t want to” Not because I don’t like the Old Testament or anything like that but rather because I have only preached in the Old Testament once before and it made me a little nervous to handle a larger passage like this. With all that being said, I hope you the Lord uses this passage today edify us and I hope that if today’s sermon is a total flop that you might have some grace for me.

Let’s start in the begging, again that is Exodus 13:17–14:14 “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 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. 5 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?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 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. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. 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. 11 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? 12 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 than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “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. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Let’s Pray.

Again, if you were here last week I believe you went over God working in powerful ways to demonstrate to both the Egyptians and Israel that there is only one God, and He is mighty to save and how God is working to set-Israel apart from the rest of the World. The verse right before ours ends with, “for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” Here was Israel, held in slavery, being oppressed every day of their lives, and then God steps in, showing His mighty power and taking Israel back to Himself. So begins our passage, the Israelites are freed from slavery they held a feast of unleavened bread in remembrance of what the Lord has done for them, and now God continues to lead them to where He has promised them. So in Exodus 13:17 it says, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” It was quite amazing to me when I read this. We all now how the stories of the Israelites and how terribly quick they are to turn away from the God who saved them, but in a very human way, I think I can understand why they might react in the way they did, because in reflection of my own life I have been no different, and I am willing to bet that if you were to reflect on your life you would find the same thing. No, I think what shocked me was to come to the realization that it wasn’t circumstance that bore unbelief or a lack of trust in God, but rather it was the circumstances that brought it out. Look at the verse again. “God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was near. For God said, ‘Lest these people change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt.’” You would think, having just witnessed the awesome and mighty power of God, that they would be brave and confident, but again and again we are shown that that is not the case. So God, knowing their unbelieving hearts led them away to a different path. There is so much to say here but we have so much to cover and I don’t want to stay here to long, but quickly I will say that this verse highlights the relationship between God and all of humanity. While we are so quick to turn away in our distrust and unbelief, God is steadfast. He holds onto us though we often stray, the Good shepherd will always bring us back to him. Consider the parable Jesus gives about the lost sheep in Matthew 18:12–14 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

Though we are so quick to stray and chase our own desires, He is patient and He searches us out. God will not let us wander forever, those who have been called and saved by Him, have a great assurance because we have a great shepherd.

So The Israelites go as they are led by God and away from the the area that would cause them to lead away. You might wonder, well if God led them away from one hardship because He knew their hearts, why didn’t He do that all the way to the Promised Land? Well one thing that seemed to stick out was that they COULD go back to Egypt. That is, while later on the Israelites will complain about how they wish they could go back to Egypt verse 17 implies that they not only could but would go back. They were close enough that they would pack their things and go straight back to captivity. For those who God loves He works to bring sanctification, to make us more like Him. Though none of us like hard times, I don’t think there were any times where I relied so completely and fully on God than times of hardships and suffering. Though many times I was unsure how the Lord would get me through, He always did and it’s important to know that He always will get us out and as we continue our passage we see that God will continue to provide a way for His people. God as Mosses tell the Israelites settle down and camp facing the Red Sea, because He is going to display once again His might power against the the Pharaoh who will pursue them. I want to add that though it might make sense to put as much distance between them and Egypt, God not only knows but cares for His people. The same way that God gave the Israelites rest, He also gives us rest in the person of Christ Jesus. The same way that the Israelites got to rest from the labor of carrying their belongings and walking who knows how far, God also gave us rest from dead works. No longer do we have to strive to be good enough, no longer do we have to labor in vain to be righteous, but instead we can rest in Christ and His completed works.

So we continue in the passage with Pharoah preparing himself for battle, readying all the men, horses and chariots. The Egyptians set out and while we don’t know how long the Israelites were camped out for, the passage seems to imply speed and urgency, possibly even that same night. The Israelites see them Egyptians approaching fast and the first thing we read that they do is cry out to the Lord, only to immediately turn and accuse Mosses in verses 11-12 Exodus 14:11–12 “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 in Egypt: ‘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.” Just like that, the people go from crying out to the Lord to instantly accusing Mosses, and thus God, of just seeking to kill them. I wonder how many of us have hearts like that. Maybe we don’t say those things, but how many of us are confessing through our actions that we indeed don’t trust God to make a way for us. How many of us say, “I would be happy if I only had more money” or “I would be happy if I got the promotion” or fill in the blank. How often do we look and chase after anything and everything as our Savior rather the One and True Savior. How many of us have callous to the Gospel out of the functional belief that God doesn’t care about us? How often do we complain about the hardships of life. Isn’t that exactly what Israel is doing? God we thought everything would go perfectly but it hasn’t we can see clearly that you don’t care about us. It may not be as clear as it is in the passage, but we must self-reflect in our own lives and see where it is in our own hearts want to look elsewhere for a savior and we must be careful to watch for the unbelief and lack of trust that can often manifest itself in ways of complaining or discontentment. Mosses amongst all these accusations, responds in verses 13-14 saying Exodus 14:13–14 “And Moses said to the people, “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.” Mosses words cut straight to the heart of unbelief. He reminds the Israelites that the Lord has been faithful and He will continue to be forever. I love the last verse maybe most of all. “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” The Israelites haven’t done anything but complain and whine the whole time. How easy would it be for God to wash Hands of them all together? They want to do things their way? Fine. Let them. But that isn’t what we read. Instead, Mosses tells them that the Lord will fight for them. In verse 18 of chapter 13 we read that the Egyptians were dressed for battle, so whether they suspected that the Egyptians would come after them or that they were battle other people, there was an idea that they were ready. You might think with Israel’s great numbers that they could put up a good fight and take the day, but thats not the truth, they may have been all dressed up but as soon as they saw the Egyptians they were instantly ready to go back to Egypt. They could no more beat the Egyptians than the Red Sea could part by itself. No, God was going to show the Israelites once again that it was only by His hand would they prosper or fall. So here at the end of our passage we are left with a beautiful image. Here is a group of smelly, dirty, tired, weak, and unfaithful people, who are unable to do what they must and when their enemies come upon them they are ready to give up. But God says, “I will do it. You are weak, but I am strong, you are unable, but I am able, you are unfaithful but I am faithful.” Isn’t that a beautiful picture of the Gospel? we are the Israelites and Christ came down to do what we could not. He won the battle we could never win. In this passage we see three things.

God always leads and Guides His people

God gives us rest in Christ from works and troubles

Though we are unfaithful and unable, God is both faithful to His people and He is able to save them

What I hope you walk away with today is better understanding of the richness of God’s goodness and faithfulness to an unfaithful people. Before we close out I want all of us to ask ourselves a couple of questions to reflect on.

How does my heart respond when life doesn’t go the way I want? Do I trust in God or do I seek to find my own ways to get what I want?

In times of trouble, do I rest in God’s promises, that He will never leave me or forsake me?

And lastly, do I rejoice and worship the God who is faithful to an Unfaithful people?

Let’s Pray