Moses and the Red Sea (Servant Series and Faith to Overcome).
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Good morning everyone, I hope and pray you are doing well today as we gather again to worship the Lord this morning.
Let me ask you a question today...
How was your week?
Was it easy? Did you face difficulties or opposition along the way this week? So how was your week?
Now, how would you say your walk with God was this week? Was it easy, natural or did you struggle in your walk with God.
Now I ask that simply to remind you, that as We walk with God we find strength and blessings during our travels through the week. And if difficulties arise, you are walking not in your strength but His strength.
Do you follow what I am getting at....
If you are not walking with the Lord, then you really are going to struggle more in the midst of the trails or burdens of the week, simply because you are not living in His strength.
You see, a servant can only find success as he devotes His life to His Master. Then you are at peace, you are seeking His best which in turn blesses you. And that is true even in the face of difficulties.
This morning I want to take you to the first trial of faith that the Children of Israel had as they left Egypt.
Exodus 14, verses 10-16
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.” 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.”
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.
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So for just a little back ground today. The Children of Israel have been released from their captivity. It has been a long process, Pharaoh's heart was hardened and in His sin against God 10 plagues were brought against Egypt until even Pharaoh’s own son is dead.. in his grief he tells them to leave and Moses has lead the people out of Egypt.
But then Pharaoh and his advisors ask, what have we done, we have set our labor force free.. so Pharaoh and his army when after them.
And that is where we are at this moment. The armies of Pharaoh are pressing down on one side, and that have reached the Red Sea and the people feel trapped and they begin to grumble… What are we doing to do.. wasn’t there graves in Egypt for us that we could have died in.... They have seen God work Ten times against Egypt, but their faith is failing.
Friends you must have faith to overcome...
The servants of the Lord Almighty must have faith to walk with Him.
So lets begin with this first thought...
1. The Journey Home....
1. The Journey Home....
The children of Israel are on a journey home, it is a wonderful time for their people. These people have not known the joy of the land God has previously prepared for Abraham and His children.
400 years they have lived in the land of Goshen next to the homes of Pharaoh and all of Egypt. They arrived under the most favorable conditions, but after 400 years, the Bible says it the best. There arose a Pharaoh that did not know Joseph.
The truth of the matter is that didn' care about the past, they were concerned about the present and some were afraid their numbers were to many..
They being non-Egyptian citizens, even though Joseph as given an Egyptian name, an Egyptian wife and lived his life there… no more.. they were simply slaves.
The good news is God heard their cries and began to deliver them… God has sent Moses to Pharaoh to set the people free...
Now here is a great question, God is all powerful, why didn’t He just wipe all of Egypt into the sand and then poof, no more taskmaster and they are free. I think it goes back to His glory.
He is at work so that the world would see that He is God and there is no other. Egypt and all their gods were false, He is the one true God. 10 plagues later Pharoah finally relents..
exodus 12, verses 29-32
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
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From what we gather, a conservative number is that more than 2 million people began to move out, men, women, boys and girls plus their flocks and herds. They are leaving to follow the Lord into the land He has prepared for them.
When we look at what is happening here we see it is a journey. They have lived in Goshen all there days but now they are moving forward. It my friends is a parallel to the Christian life… We have lived in a dark land but the journey has begun..
We are moving forward heading to the land, the place that the Lord has prepared for us.
It is a journey with good roads and stony cobblestones at time.. It isn’t always easy but the Lord is the one who is directing our paths…
Listen He will direct us, if we will listen to Him.
Let me ask you a question, how is the road your on right now.
What do you think about the journey.
I want to encourage you to keep looking up, pressing forward a step at a time for the glory of God.
But the Bible soon tells us a challenge presents itself...
2. A Challenge Presented Itself....
2. A Challenge Presented Itself....
As the children of Israel were moving out of Egypt, they are going quickly, trying to put as much space as they can between them and Pharaoh.
As as they are leaving through the night, there is a wonderful experience for all to see and witness..
Let me take you to Exodus 13, verses 21-22
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.
As Moses led them out of the land, toward the wilderness by the Red Sea, the Bible tells us that the Lord went before them. There it is again, the Theophany, the manifestation of God.
Can you see how wonderful it is, the children of Israel are timid, afraid and uncertain but they have this assurance, the Lord their God is with them. And to see that as Moses saw the burning bush in the wilderness, I can only assume that they were blessed my friends. Visibly, the Lord’s presence went with them....
But all the joy they held in being released, in His presence with them soon turned into despair....
When despair comes our way, it is difficult at times to express and live by faith, we’ve been there and we have seen others wrestle with it as well
The children of Isreal are encamped by the Red Sea, they are going to be moving soon.. but there are uncertain as to how they are going to move. They feel blocked in, trapped when they see that Pharaoh is approaching from the other side.
The old saying, they felt like they were caught between a rock and a hard spot.
Exodus 14, verses 10 to 12...
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.”
Do you see faith here… No… not from the children of Israel.
The end of verse 10 says 2 things… they feared greatly.... and they cried out to the Lord.
Stop right there.
How many times in life have we received news that made us so fearful we didn’t know what to do? There are things that happen and it seems to knock the wind out of our sails.
It might have been a lost job, a injury, a medical diagnosis… a financial burden… The what or the why doesn’t matter, what really matters is our response to the situation and then our response to the Lord.
How do you cry out in difficult times? What is your response and what do you say to God about it?
Now I ask that because I want you to see the response of the Children of Israel.
They are upset, they are horrified, and ultimately they see death as their only option at this point. They blamed Moses..
Why didn’t you leave us alone, we would have been better off as servants, literally slaves to them instead of dead…
And their last complaint, did you bring us here because there were no graves in Egypt??
There is no faith, there is no vision and there was no hope inside of them. They felt hopeless and helpless,
Their failure was two fold I believe… One they had almost forgotten who God was in the culture they lived and they had lost their perspective of what it was to walk with God and trust Him
They looked at the circumstance instead of remembering who had just delivered them from Egypt....
You will overcome your fear when you walk and remain close to the Lord. And as you remember His faithfulness in your life thus far...
So how is your with the Lord today...
If you can tell me this is isn’t what it is supposed to be, they shouldn't have been afraid and neither should we be afraid. The you must change it, grow your faith and live it
So which do you wish to remain in.. fearful, complaining and full of doubt.. or do you wish to remain close to the Lord?
I know the answer, and so do you… we want to have faith and be faithful. As a servant of God, as His worker, we must have faith and that faith as to grow so we can overcome.
Now let me share on last thought with you my friends…
3. Faith can Take You Through....
3. Faith can Take You Through....
Faith is the most beautiful action that our lives can experience. It allows us to hold onto the hand of God in a way that we have never experienced before...
The children of Israel were there by the Red Sea, they are examining the situation at hand with their natural eyes, their natural senses… Their faith is so small, they cannot see any way out, death is all they think is approaching them.
But listen to Moses as he responds to their accusations. Look with me at verses 13-14
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.”
Listen to Moses, He hasn’t hard from the Lord yet as to how they would be delivered… Moses is certain of one thing… The Lord will take care of them.
The Lord will take care of His people… do you believe that today my friends?
Now examine what He is telling them…
Fear not, Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord.. He will fight for you.
Moses is really speaking about the attributes of God,
Fear not - God is the dispeller of fear, a comforter to those who are afraid.
Stand firm - God is the one who can be trusted. He will not allow his childen to be moved. Psalm 121:3 “He will not let your foot be moved..”
He will fight for you- God removes the dangers in front of us, He is our warrior and fights for His people. Think about what David said about the our Lord,
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
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The Lord was there, he knew their situation and He was getting ready to do more than just deliver them, he is getting ready to remind the whole world that there is one God.
Listen to the Lord as He speaks to Moses… Verse 15-18
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
The Lord is getting ready to reveal His all powerful nature… He is going to send the children of Israel through a sea on dry ground and He is going to take care of Pharaoh and his armies.
Now if you look ahead the Scriptures tell us that the Lord does two things...
A. He moves behind the children of Israel verses 19-20, so the Lord blocks and keep Pharoah from advancing and taking hold of the children of Israel.
B. The Lord has Moses lift of His staff ad stretch forth His hand and divide the waters..
So there is a gap, and the ground that has always been wet under the sea is not so dry that people can walk and pull carts on dry ground
And the children of Israel go through to the other side. My friends never forget the Lord will always see you through to the other side of every situation, even death.. amen.
He is faithful...
What are response as a servant is this… Fear Not, Stand Firm and allow the Lord to fight for us, work for us and bring us through to the other side.
Do you trust Him like that....
Now as Paul Harvey used to say, now the rest of the story:
The children of Israel are passing through, as as they are close to finishing the crossing…the Lord allows Pharaoh and his armies ot advance and as they get squarely into the middle of this divided space, the Lord gives Moses another command...
Verse 26
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.”
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There is day the Lord drowns all of the armies of Pharoah and yes Pharaoh himself there in the Red Sea…
The children of Israel are not safe and secure on the other side of the sea..
And as you look at chapter 15, the Song of Moses, they have seen the Lord’s hand of action on their behalf.
They could have resisted, and they could have perished in their fear… but instead they had faith to overcome.
This story is important for us today in that as servant, His called people, the church we are called to have faith and trust the Lord .
We cannot always see the answer to what we are asking… but trust the Lord, He always has the answer.
As a servant of the Lord we are called to have faith.
So how healthy is your faith..
Ask the Doctor of Heaven to help you check it out and evaluate your spiritual health.
If its strong… wonderful..
But what if its weak, lacking or maybe its dead. Ask the Lord for help so that your faith can be revived. If you ask, He will answer my friends
No matter our situation, the Lord will answer.
Lets pray