Exodus: Going With God #10 Going In God’s Care Text: Exodus 14

Exodus: Going With God #10 Going In God’s Care Text: Exodus 14

In New York recently scientists dug a trench do to 1000 feet. The New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 1000 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Yankees, in the weeks that followed, Oklahoma scientists from Oklahoma State University dug to a depth of 2000 feet and shortly after headlines in the OKC newspapers read: "OSU archaeologists have found traces of 2000 year copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a thousand years earlier than the Yankees."

 One week later, Texas newspapers reported the following: "After digging as deep as 5000 feet in West Texas, Texas Aggie scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have therefore concluded that 5000 years ago Texas inhabitants were already using cellphones."

You know who really should be bragging about their past? The people of God, the fellowship of the Saints, the church of the Lord, the plain and simple saved and redeemed Christians! We have a direct link to the past, from creation through Exodus, the Kingdom of David, the captivity, the return and most importantly, to through Mount Calvary and our Lord who died for us there. The same God that created made Eden, opened the Red Sea and rolled away the stone from the tomb is also the God who will call our bodies from the grave one day. Our God, Jehovah, Yahweh, the Great I Am, who has love, power and protection beyond description. His powerful care, His providential protection of us is so vast it stretches throughout our lifetime and into eternity.

So let’s turn to one story our past and one of the greatest events recorded in the Bible, Exodus chapter14 and the Parting of the Red Sea.

This is such a powerful story, they really should make a movie about, don’t you think? Who is in the world could play Moses though? 

Protection of God Promised - Exodus 14:10-14

10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. 11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

God’s Promise of Protection To His People

The Hebrews call out in fear, doubt and even in scornful contempt. Vss 11 …they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness!

The people are afraid an in their fear they blame Moses the man who freed them. But notice the contrast of Moses. Vss 13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Moses calls out in faith of God’s promise and power. And then tells the frightened tribes, “The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. That last phrase is interesting, in a more modern vernacular, Moses is saying, “Stand still, shut up and see God save!”

God’s Promises, Are We believing?

I think we could all use a little more plain language like that today. We need a banner written in 2-foot-high letters and stretching 10 feet wide, hanging in our homes so that we read it every morning when we get up. “Stand still, shut up and see God’s salvation.

We are so often caught up in our own strengths, our own plans and our own power and even when we succeed we are actually still failing because we are not seeing God working in our lives.

We need to stand still and listen to the promises of God and then trust in that which only He can do and then watch as He acts on our behalf, but instead, we make our own plans use our own methods and when those fail, we wonder why God let us down.

Listen to some of the promises of God for us, His people today.

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Do you hear it? “Stand still, shut up and see God save.”

Jehovah is still God

 I watched a movie once called, “The Inn of the Seventh Happiness” it was the story of  Gladys Aylward. She was a missionary to China when Japan invaded during WW2. She stayed behind when the missionaries with families fled to care for the orphans, and the many more that came running from the Japanese army. She would not leave the children and now families behind. Finally when the Japanese army was only a village away, they also fled. With only one assistant, she led more than a hundred orphans over the mountains she nor anyone with her had every traveled toward what was left of Free China.

   In their book The Hidden Price of Greatness, Ray Besson and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker tell what happened:  "During Gladys's harrowing journey out of war-torn Yangcheng ... she grappled with despair as never before. After passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety. A 13-year-old girl in the group reminded her of their much-loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.

 "But I am not Moses,' Gladys cried in desperation. 'Of course you aren't,' the girl said, 'but Jehovah is still God!" 

Whatever obstacle is before us and whatever fear is behind us, Jehovah is still God. The God of the Hebrews past is our God of heaven future. The Hebrews face the Red Sea and behind them comes the army of Pharoah and now in vss. 15-20 God speaks.

Protection of God’s Presence - Exodus 14:15-20

15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: 16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. …

19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

God’s Presence Protects Israel

Listen closely to what God said, “Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” Again, lets update that language, God is saying, “It’s time to quit praying and start moving!”

First Moses tells the people, “Shut up, stand still, and see what God will do”. Now God, Himself bluntly says, “Quit praying and get moving!”

Now, I can understand that kind of instruction. You don’t need to study Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic or Latin to understand what God is saying. “Get moving, now!”

While the millions of Israelites and all their flocks begin to move, God’s presence hinders the Egyptians and helps the Israelites. This presence, the Bible says, was a cloud of protection behind them in front it was a light and guidance as the tribes prepared to move forward.

God’s Presence Is Promised, Are We Partaking?

Did you ever think there are times when God tells us, “Hey, it time to quit praying?”

Why would He do that? Perhaps because sometimes we are using prayer as an excuse for inaction. We are crying out to God, but we are not willing yet to go with God. To go where God is telling us to go or do what He is tell us to do. So we remain inert and we “pray.”

The Hebrews then and very often us now, need a kick in the pants, a jump start and God gave it to them in the command, “Quit praying and get going!”

If there is one thing that characterizes Christians today it is the willingness to replace action with inaction, deeds with indecision and faith with fatalism. I hear it and see it all the time.

I just don’t know what to do. I’m just going to keep “praying” about it.

Well, God hasn’t revealed His will to me yet so I’ll just keep waiting till He does.

You know everything works together for good, so I’m just going let it all work out.

I’ve seen church members putrefy in the pew and I’ve seen missionaries flounder on the field. I’ve seen pastors petrify in their pulpits and I’ve seen churches stagnate on the street where they stand, because they just won’t do anything! They keep their prayer lists and they should, but they don’t move, they don’t go, they don’t attend services, they don’t participate in the great commission. They pray but they won’t put their feet to their own prayers. There is a reason Paul says, Put on the shoes of the preparation of the Gospel of peace.” It means the work of the Lord requires action.  

When we don’t do, when we won’t move, when we won’t act, when we don’t attend, then there is no sense of personal responsibility, no outworking of loyalty, no concept of a work ethic. If we don’t all get involved then the work of the Gospel, the call of the church won’t get done and in the end you as an individual or we as a church, just wither and die.

Quit praying and start moving! Yes, God tells you to.

And when you move understand this, believe this, trust in this, that you are moving in the power and protection of God’s presence.

Jesus said, John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless (alone): I will come to you.

Psalm 23 is a Psalm that celebrates and takes comfort in the presence of God

I have preached it at more funerals than any other Bible text but the place it meant the most to me was in a hospital bed when my wife LeeOra read it to me as I wondered whether the ulcer in my throat would stop bleeding so I wouldn’t die. I needed to know that God was there to comfort me. I needed to feel His arms of protection around me as real as I felt my LeeOra’s hand holding mine.

Read it aloud with me this morning, with the confidence and calm assurance that it was written to you the people of God for this time and age.

Psalms 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

We better stop keeping God at arms distance from our lives and hearts and begin to do just what the old song says, “Now let us have a little talk with Jesus, let us tell him all about our troubles, He will hear us when we cry, and he will answer by and by.”

If you desire the power of God’s presence, then you better walk and talk with Him. His presence is power and protection, but if we are to experience it then you must spend time with him, dwell with Him in the moments of our daily lives and then go with Him where and when He tells us to go.

 Use It or Lose It

Joke: Quaker and the Cow. “Thou knowest that I cannot strike thee, but what thou dost not know is that I will sell thee to my brother-in-law. He is a Baptist and will beat the rebellion out of thee.”

I’m not a farmer but I spent time with my Grandfather who kept a milk cow. Did you know you have to milk them every day whether you want milk or not? If you don’t they will go dry and there will be no more milk.

The same is true for the power of the presence of God. You better partake of it every day or that presence and power will run dry in your life and in our church.

Back in Exodus 14 the time for words is past and the time for moving forward has come. Go to vss 21-29

 Protection of God’s Power - Exodus 14:21-29

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. 26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. 29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

God Opens a Path By Moses

Isn’t this an amazing story? Cecille B. DeMille and Charlton Heston just about got it right!

Moses stretches forth his hand and the Red Sea opens a channel through it. The wind blows through that channel and dries the sea floor so the children of Israel can pass on dry land.

When the Egyptians begin to pursue the Hebrews through that same passage, God knocks the wheels off their chariots and leaves them stranded in the midst of the sea, between those two great walls of water.

Then God told Moses “Stretch forth thine hand again” and the waters of the Red Sea collapsed and the Hebrew’s pursuers, that which they feared was destroyed.

Now just in case you needed a little scientific reasoning for your faith, I have a clipping that explains just how God did this.

  Sophisticated computer calculations indicate that the biblical parting of the Red Sea, said to have allowed Moses and the Israelites to escape from bondage in Egypt, could have occurred precisely as the Bible describes it.

   Because of the peculiar geography of the northern end of the Red Sea, researchers report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, issued today, that a moderate wind blowing constantly for about 10 hours could have caused the sea to recede about a mile and the water level to drop 10 feet.  That would have left the land dry in the area where many biblical scholars believe the crossing occurred.

   An abrupt change in the wind would have then allowed the waters to come crashing back into the area in a few moments, a phenomenon that the Bible says inundated the Israelites' Egyptian pursuers.- The Columbus Dispatch, March 15, 1992, p. 12A

Now isn’t that nice. Some smart, well meaning meteorological scientist played with his nice, new shiny computer and came up with a nice, natural and uncomplicated way to explain away one of the greatest miracles in the Bible. Aren’t you glad?

Let me tell you what you already know, The supernatural God of nature doesn’t need nature help to save His people and the Hebrews needed more than a coincidental wind to save them from sure death on the spears of the Egyptians. They needed a God of power and protection to open a path through the impassable Red Sea.

God promised His protection and His people trusted in that promise, and God saved them with a supernatural miracle, a miracle the supersedes nature, not a convenient miracle of coincidence.

God opened the path through the Red Sea by Moses and saved His people and it was spectacular in its power.

God Opens a Path By Jesus. Will We Take It?

Let me also say that God has opened another path, this one through Jesus Christ and you better believe in a supernatural God who uses supernatural means to save because we also are facing our own Sea of Death.

We are caught between the coming judgment of our sins and the end of our life just as the Hebrews were trapped between Pharaoh and the Red Sea.

The Bible says, Hebrews 9:27  …it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

In Romans 3:23 It says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

In Romans 6:23 it says, “The wages of sin is death…”

We stand everyday of our lives at the edge of the sea of death and one day the coming judgment will overtake us and we will be judged for our sin and the Bible says that judgment is eternal death.

Just like the children of Israel we must stop and look for the salvation of God, for the path that He has opened.

Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God:

Ephesians 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

We must stand still in our own power and then we will see the path God has opened. That path is Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. He is the path through death itself.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Romans 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Jesus is the path that God has opened for us to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. He is the only way through the sea.

And just like God told the people who feared for their life then, now is the time to for us to go. There is no salvation standing on the shore until death the enemy comes. There is no salvation waiting until the walls of water crash down upon your head. There is only salvation when you step out in faith upon the path, the way that is Jesus our Savior.

You find salvation when you come to Jesus Christ. You find eternal protection when you come to Jesus Christ. You want to experience a miracle today? Then come to Jesus and fully trusting him as Lord and Savior find a miracle.

 A miracle of the emotions, a miracle of the mind, a miracle of the heart but much more than that it is a miracle of the soul. A miracle that takes a soul stained with sin and washes it white as snow. A miracle that takes you from fighting against God to God fighting for you. A miracle that walks you through the sea of death to the promised land of heaven.

The story doesn’t end here of course, look at Chp. 15 1-2, 11

Conclusion: Praise of Protection Exodus 15:1-2,11

1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying,
I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Are you singing the song of salvation this morning?

How long since you have had something to praise God about? How long since you stood still and saw the salvation of God? How long since you moved in the direction God wanted you to go? I want to hear the songs of salvation sung in my life and in my church for I believe it is as much our promise as it was the promise of Moses and the Hebrews on the shore of the Red Sea