Exodus Sermon 12 - Crossing the Red Sea

Welcome

Happy Easter One Hope

“He is Risen”

We are glad you can join us today from where ever you are.

Today we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus

And the Resurrection is the most important historical event in human history

The Resurrection is an irrefutable historical fact

The tomb was empty

Every other major religious figure you can visit their tomb/burial sites to this day

Not so with Christianity

How is it that the World’s Largest religion as no monument?

No enshrinement of the most important man who ever lived?

Answer: He didn’t stay dead.

The tomb was empty

Jesus rose from the dead

It is an inexplicable historical fact.

I don’t know who else you explain how over 2.4 billion people worship Jesus as Lord and Savior

A movement that began over 2000 years ago, in a small no name town of nazareth.

Jesus rose from the dead

There are many books that unpack this fact. I would commend them to you.

NT Wright’s “The Resurrection of the Son of God

Lee Strobel “Case for Easter” most accessible

The Resurrection Changes everything

It changed everything in the lives of the early believers

And it has radically changed people’s lives over the last 2000 years.

We are praying it’s going to change everything for some of you today.

But the Resurrection is always paired with the Jesus death

which we looked at on Good Friday.

We looked at the Death of Jesus on Good Friday

Answered why Good Friday is Good

B/C Jesus died for our sins.

But death is never the end when you know God.

Jesus death must always be combined with his resurrection

The two form the most significant event in all of human history.

When Jesus rose from the dead he conquered satan, sin and death

He created a new way to live

He literally made his followers new kinds of people, we new hearts, and new desires.

hearts that could love God and love others Just like Jesus had.

Let me tell you this is what the World needs more of.

Can anyone dispute that? If we had more people living as Jesus lived the world would be a better place, would it not?

This we celebrate today.

The Resurrection of Jesus

And the power of the resurrection at work today all across the world.

The Resurrection changes everything

Exodus Series

Now, if you have been following One Hope for any amount of time

you will know that we are in the book of exodus.

Theme: God writes the better story

Exodus is the greatest story ever told.

It’s how God has worked and is working in human history.

And we are praying that he is going to act today through this sermon.

We spent 10 weeks through the exdous

Then took couple weeks out of Exodus to address the Covid-19 crisis

to see what God might have to say

Last week we jumped back in as we looked at the Exodus

Whic is also made up of two parts

The Plague of the 1st Born which finally broke pharaoh to send God’s people away

covered that last week

Today the Crossing of the Red Sea, where God’s people are finally delivered.

What does the Crossing of Red Sea have to do with the resurrection of Jesus?

Absolutely everything

My goal today is to prove that to you.

God is writing the Greatest Story ever told

Two events separated by some 1500 years but connected by a single thread of Redemption.

Everything in Exodus was pointing to Jesus

Its a story that you are invited into.

We’ll be in Exodus 13 &14 today.

Pray

We thank you that you write the greater story.

Exiting Egypt

Last Week - The Exodus

Summarize

Death of 1st Born

Passover Lamb

Pharaoh broken

People sent out

This week we pick up with the Israelites on their journey.

Exodus 13:17–18 ESV

17 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.” 18 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.

Exodus 13:20–22 ESV

20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 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. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Not by the way of the Philistines — this would have meant war right away

Not ready for that, he knows they are fickle

The Lord leads them another way

The Point: God is leading them

But not leading them in they way they thought.

God’s Story, not ours

There can be no doubt of his presence with them now

Exodus 14:1–4 ESV

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “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.

Exodus 14:9 ESV

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.

What’s happening here:

God is leading his people as he would lead them

Tells them to turn back the way they came

and encamp on the shores of the red sea

Geography

Scholars don’t exactly know where these places, after all we are talking some 3500 years ago.

[MAP OF EGYPT]

You can see the way of the philistines here circled in red

Three options indicated by red starts on where the crossing may have been.God is leading them.

To pharaoh, it looks like they are lost and confused

So Pharaoh, again changes his mind and pursues the Egyptians.

with 600 chariots, his whole army

So what you get is on one side of the Israelites

An Impassable Sea

On the Other

an un-defeatable army

Israel is Trapped.

Give you a modern day Example:

Let’s say, hypothetically, the Oakland Raiders wanted to become the Las Vegas Raiders

[PIC of google map, Oakland—> Las Vegas]

I know , totally hypothetical.

So imagine the raiders leaving Oakland and traveling to Las Vegas.

The could have taken the southern route which would have been easier

but instead, hypothetically, say God led them to the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

[PIC of Sierra Nevada Mountains]

Now, the Oakland fans finally come to their sense and chase after the raiders

now all of a sudden you have the Oakland Raiders

caught between the impassable Sierra Nevada mountains

and the insatiable Oakland raider fans.

Have you seen Oakland Raider Fans?

[Pic of Raider Fans]

They are terrified, rightly so.

This is what we seen in the Israelites

Exodus 14:10–12 ESV

10 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.”

They are rightly terrified

So much that they are ready to go back to Egypt

They would rather be slaves than live free.

when God begins to deliver us from Sin, and it becomes a struggle, some of us want to go back.

“It's better to die free, than live as a slave.”

― F. Douglass

This would be like those slaves that Harriet Tubman brought out of the south

She is referred to as the “Moses of her People”

This is hard or frightening, I’d rather return to my master.

This is sometimes where we go.

We get afraid because we think somehow it’s all in our hands.

But God is about to perform his mighties act.

Listen to what Moses says:

Exodus 14:13 ESV

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.

You only need to be still, stop fighting and watch me work

This has been God’s plan all along

He will get glory of pharaoh - This is His Story

God had to bring them to a place where only he could deliver them.

Maybe that is how God is working in your life

he’s bringing you to place where only he could rescue you.

Personal Conversion

Moses the Plan

So he tells moses the Plan (Exodus 14:14-20)

Stretch out your hand he says and go forward.

The Seas will part and you will cross on dry land

But when the Egyptians Pursue I will cause the waters to come back over them.

Thus I will deliver you.

Crossing the Red Sea

Exodus 14:21–29 ESV

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Exodus 14:30 ESV

30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

God’s Promise has finally come true

He has delivered the Israelites,

by his power alone.

The Lord Saved Israel.

What did the Lord Accomplish that day?

God decisively defeated their enemies by his power alone.

he needed nothing from the Israelites.

He delivered Israel from Slavery

They were now a free people.

He established their New Identity

As God’s People

As the People whom God has delivered from slavery

The Resurrection of Jesus

Exodus 14:31 ESV

31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Israel saw the Lord’s Great Power and believed!

Hundreds of years later

God would again demonstrate his power

He would again work through one man to deliver his people.

He would again

defeat the enemy of his people,

deliver them from slavery and

give them a new identity.

But this time he would do it for good.

Everything in Exodus was pointing forward to the person and work of Jesus.

Jesus was the true passover lamb by whose blood we are saved.

Jesus was the death of the 1st born, God’s Only Begotten Son, in our place for our sins

as a substitutionary atonement

Jesus would be cast into the Sea so that we might pass through the waters of destruction.

But Jesus would demonstrate the Power of God by

rising from the dead

conquering Satan, Sin and Death once for all time.

This is what we Celebrate Today.

The Victory of Jesus through his death and resurrection

Through his Death and Resurrection

1. Satan Defeated

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, Satan was decisively defeated

1 John 3:8 “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

Colossians 2:14–15 ESV

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Though he still fighting God, he will be thrown into the lake of fire when Jesus returns in triumph.

2. Delivered from Sin

Through His death and Resurrection…Jesus delivered his people from slavery to sin.

Jesus says that if you have sinned you are slave to sin.

unable to deliver yourself.

Jesus pays the price for sin in his death but rises to break it’s power.

Romans 6:5-11 “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin...10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Jesus has delivered us from the dominion of Sin.

Does that mean we won’t struggle with sin anymore

Of course not, but it does mean we will struggle in an entirely new way

As one who has victory of sin.

Because Christ has already won.

Just like the Israelites we need to realize it’s a battle we can’t win, but see that Jesus has already won the battle for us.

3. Given a New Identity, made a new Creation.

Most profoundly

Through Jesus’s death and resurrection we have been made a NEW CREATION.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

When Jesus rose from the death he was a firstfuits of the new creation.

Those who are united to him

become an entirely new kind of person

one with a new heart and new desires and a new power.

One that can love God as Jesus did

One that can serve others as Jesus did

One that can live in an entirely new kind of way.

This is the Power of the Resurrection.

The old has passed away the new has come

The Old Self of sin, and shame, suffering, darkness, isolation, fear, worry

The New has come

In Jesus you can become a new person

Whatever you struggle, whatever your shame, whatever your sin

you too can be saved, delivered and resurrected with Christ.

This is the gospel!

You too can be made new

You too can be free from your former way of life.

You too can be a new kind of person

indwelt by the Spirit of Christ and united with the person of Christ.

it’s something the world in all its promises can never give.

It comes only from God for those who believe.

You can become a new kind of person if you would believe.

Believe!

When we believe in Jesus death and resurrection for us, we are united to HIM

And it changes everything

It changes the truth about us.

Believe this morning, where ever you are

And be baptized in the name of the father son and holy spirit.

Baptism which symbolic of crossing through the waters and being made new!

If you have believed, then lets celebrate and rest in the finished work of the Cross

and the power of the resurrection

knowing that the battle is already won.

remembering that we are new creations

We are no longer living in the land of Egypt but we are

set free to live free

and on our way to the true promised land

Eternity forever with Jesus and all his people.

If you don’t know Jesus this world is the closest to heaven you will ever get.

But if you do know Jesus this world is the closest to hell you will ever get

Would you believe today?

and be made new by the power of the Resurrection.

Become the new creation God has made you to be.

Let’s Pray