LORD > fear

Exodus 14-15:21

Good morning CHURCH!!!

Bibles out…

What are you afraid of?

Big tough men in here “I aint afraid of nothing!”

Let a snake come slithering in here…

Let me be vulnerable: Im afraid of heights

We are all afraid of something…

TODAY…the Lord is going to show us how HE IS GREAT THAN ANYTHING WE FEAR

QUICK RECAP:

God’s people are enslaved in the mighty nation of Egypt (powerful nation)

Moses called by God to go back to Egypt…bring God’s people out of bondage

Goes to Pharoah (the king)…Let my people GO!…Pharoah says No

So then the Lord sent these 10 plagues…

Turned the nile river to blood…

Sent gnats, frogs, flies, and boils to pester the Egyptians

Locusts and hail to destroy their crops…

Disease to kill their livestock…

placed darkness over them…

Finally, the Lord sends the death of the first born of all who don’t belong to Him…

And finally Pharoah let the people of Isreal leave…

The people of Israel have seen the power of the LORD!

10 plagues he he placed on Egypt…they were sheltered from all of them

They have seen the greatest king on the earth be brought to his knees by the Almighty God…

They have witnessed Him rescue them from bondage…

And last week as you closed out chapter 13…

We see the people of Israel exiting Egypt…and the word of God says this …

Exodus 13:21–22 “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.”

The Lord is with them…dwelling amongst them…leading them…

Look with me as we pick up today in Chapter 14 verse 1 says…

READ 14:1-9

So the Lord is leading His people…

He takes them to a few different locations…

But tells them to encamp finally at Baal-zephon…

Baal-zephon according to what the bible tells us…is not a great place to camp…

Its sandwiched between the wilderness and the RED SEA…

God tells the people…camp here…Im going to harden Pharaohs heart…he is going to come after you…and you will be trapped with no where to go…

Pharaoh’s army on one side and the Red Sea to the other…

WHY WOULD GOD DO THAT??

Why would He go through all of this to rescue His people…

Just to lead them to a place where they are shut in…

But the Lord tells Moses to tell the people exactly why he has done this…

Exodus 14:4 “… I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord…”

He tells the people of Israel “today you are going to have a front row seat to see me get the glory over the most powerful kingdom of the world” Keep reading with me church…

Lets see how the people react…

READ V 10-12

God’s people have seen Him do incredible, miraculous, powerful things…

Signs and wonders…

And remember, The Lord is before them in a pillar of cloud and fire…

But at the first sign of trouble…

WE SEE…

THE REALITY OF FEAR (14:10-12)

They see Pharoah drawing near…

AND THEY ARE AFRAID…

FEAR IS A HUMAN REALITY…

We see fear in the bible often…Davids Psalms are often written out of fear…and how the Lord has delivered him from what he was afraid of…

Psalm 34:4 “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

A minute ago I asked you…”what do you fear?”

And the moment I asked that question…the things you fear hit your mind…

Even the strongest, toughest of you in here…

We all have fears…

Now Im not talking about those surface level fears…Spiders, snakes, ect…

Im talking about those deep seated fears…

Fear of failure…death…fear of man…fear of the world…

Poverty, loneliness, loss, sickness…

As we move through chapter 14…The Israelites are fearing death and destruction…

They look up and see this massive army…

And a shiver runs down their spine….

Church…when we look upon things that come us against us…that are greater than we are…

That are MORE POWERFUL than we are…

OUR RESPONSE IS ALWAYS FEAR…

But the word of God today shows us that though our response is fear…

HIS IS GLORY…

Lets look at…

THE LORDS RESPONSE (14:13-31)

READ 14:13-31

We see 6 responses in this section of text…

The first thing the Lord does as the Israelites look upon this mighty army and are afraid…

The LORD reassures (13-18)

FEAR NOT! the word says…

WHY DO YOU CRY TO ME?

I WILL GET THE GLORY OVER PHARAOH

The Egyptians will know “I AM THE LORD”

The Lord is reminding the people of who He is!!!

Don’t be afraid…I AM THE LORD…

Earlier in Exodus the Lord made His I AM statement… (I was, am, and always will be)

I AM WITH YOU!!!

I WILL HAVE THE GLORY!!!

When we are afraid…we should be reassured by seeing who our God is!!!

Next we see that…

The LORD stands between (19)

READ V19

The LORD moves from the front to the rear…

Stands between Pharaohs army and His people…

He steps between the ravenous wolf and the sheep…

Not only does He stand between but he also…

The LORD lights the way (20)

READ V20

The Lord has been lighting up dark situations from the beginning…

Genesis 1:4 “And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.”

How can darkness to the Egyptians be a light to the Israelites???

John 1:5 KJV the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Egypt cant advance…they are shrouded in darkness…

But simultaneously God is lighting the way for His people for what comes next…

Next we see…

The LORD delivers (21-22)

READ 21-22

Through Moses…the Lord parts the RED SEA…

First look at God’s Mighty hand at work...

But also fix your eyes on the deliverance thats happening!!!

The Israelites were trapped between the greatest most powerful army in the world and a massive powerful body of water…

AND GOD CONQUERS BOTH

First the Red Sea

Parts it…walking between to walls of water…

Walk on dry ground!!!

They walk across the ocean floor and don’t even get their feet wet!!!!

Delivered to the other side…

Next the Lord will conquer Egypt…

The LORD destroys the enemy (26-30)

READ V 26-30

NOT ONE OF THEM REMAINED

ALL GLORY TO THE LORD!!!

THE LORD DESTROYS THE ENEMY...

The enemy that enslaved and killed His people…

That murdered His children…

They lay dead on the shore of the Red Sea…

Justice is the LORDS!!!

And NOW…

The LORD is glorified (14:31-15:21)

READ VERSE 31— They SAW the great work, they FEARED the LORD, they BELIEVED!!!

This chapter both starts and ends in FEAR…

They saw the mighty army of the world…

Death on their doorstep..

And they feared…

BUT NOW!!!

They have seen the mighty, powerful, Just hand of the Lord…

The Israelites realize…they have been fearing the wrong King…

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…”

People ask…”why does the bible say we should fear the LORD…

BECAUSE HE IS GREATER THAN ALL!!!

HE IS MIGHTIER THAN ANYTHING ELSE THERE IS TO FEAR!!!

Any of those fears that ran through your mind…GOD IS GREATER!!!

That is what God’s word is showing us today…

BIG IDEA: The only fear a Christ follower should have is fear of the LORD.

The only fear the bible calls you to have is fear of the Lord Himself…

Because…

HE IS GREATER THAT THE WORLD…

HE IS GREATER THAN GOVERNMENTS!!!

HE IS GREATER THAN POVERTY!!!

HE IS GREATER THAN PERSECUTION!!!

HE IS GREATER THAN ARMIES!!!

HE IS GREATER THAN HURT!!!

HE IS GREATER THAN CANCER!!!

HE IS GREATER THAN FEAR!!!

HE IS GREATER THAN SIN AND DEATH!!!

He is the LORD of ALL!!!

When your in a situation where your up against something that is greater than you…

Something you cant control…

Something you cant overcome…

DO NOT FEAR!!!

DO AS GODS WORD COMMANDED IN VERSE 13…

Exodus 14:13 “…Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.”..

Church REMEMBER…

WE HAD AN ENEMY THAT WAS BIGGER THAN WE WERE…

THAT ENEMY WE WERE IN BONDAGE TO WAS SIN…WHICH BRINGS DEATH….

BUT JUST LIKE THE TEXT WE JUST READ…

WHEN JESUS SAW OUR SIN STRUGGLE AND HEARD OUR CRY…

HE CAME DOWN TO DELIVER US!!!!

Jesus, throughout the bible reassures us that He will have victory over sin and death…

Jesus stands between us and sin and death…

HE TOOK ON SIN AND DEATH FOR US!!!

Jesus lights the way

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

Jesus delivers us from sin and death…

Jesus destroyed sin and death…

The bible says in…

1 Corinthians 15:55–58 ““O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

We saw today hoe the LORD delivered the Israelites from the destruction of their enemy Egypt…

HOW DO THEY RESPOND??

THEY WORSHIP!!!

READ 15:1-18

They responded in WORSHIP

TODAY WE WILL DO THE SAME!!!

STAND with me church and just as the Israelites did the day that the LORD delivered them from the bondage of Pharoah…

Let us praise and worship the Lord Jesus Christ who delivered us from the bondage of sin and death into His righteousness and eternal life!!!

PRAY!!!!