Come Through The Waters

[00:00:00] Let's pray. [00:00:03] Lord God, we do ask that you would speak and that you would receive the glory that comes from your speech as it is effective in the world and in our hearts. [00:00:16] Lord, we ask that you would bless us as we come to your word now, and that you would conform us to the image of Christ, that by the grace of your power, by faith in your promises, we would follow after you even in the most difficult of circumstances. [00:00:36] Make us able now and ready for whatever comes in the future according to your word. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:00:47] Let's hear God's word now from Hebrews chapter 11 11 29. [00:01:00] Referencing the passage and the events that we already heard in Exodus, the author of this letter now writes this by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. [00:01:23] May God bless his word to us. Please be seated. [00:01:47] One of the great temptations, perhaps the great temptation that we face in this life, is the temptation to turn aside from the promises that God has made, as clear as they are, to turn aside from them and to trust something else. [00:02:05] We always have to trust something, right? [00:02:08] We always have to trust something. We are not infinite in ourselves. [00:02:14] We are not fully capable of doing everything that we set our will to do. [00:02:20] And on top of these limits that we all have, there is in us flesh a fleshly nature, a sinful nature. So even if I could do everything that I wanted to do, that would not turn out well for me, because sometimes the things that I want to do are not good things. [00:02:40] And that's the same is true for all of us. [00:02:44] Because of our limits. We have to trust things that are outside of ourselves. [00:02:52] We have to trust for the things that we want, the things that we need. [00:02:58] And the Lord calls us to trust in him. [00:03:02] He calls us to put our faith in him. And throughout this chapter, one of the things that he's doing is he's giving us reasons, he's piling up reasons for us to exercise our faith, reasons to believe, reasons to trust, and warnings of what happens when we don't. And here in our passage, we have, we come to another place that the author points our attention to, another moment in history that ought to be implanted in our minds and frame the ways in which we walk, when we encounter difficult situations, when we encounter moments where God calls us to act, commands us to act in this or that way. And we look around us and we see the consequences that are possible, the things that make us afraid, we are to have passages like this one and this one in our minds. [00:04:04] A way to think about and to think about what we are to do. [00:04:09] A call to act and to trust in the Lord. [00:04:14] What do we have in our passage? [00:04:17] One of the things we have here are these two sides of a coin. [00:04:23] One side, or rather maybe two paths, would maybe be a better way to speak about it. A way of faith and a way of unbelief, of doubt and self assurance. Instead of faith in God. Of faith and self. [00:04:39] We also have here in our passage. Not only two ways, but two worlds or two peoples. The people of God and the enemies of the people of God. [00:04:52] These two ways and these two groups are constantly referenced throughout the scripture. From the beginning to the end. And not to frame how we think as we think about this passage and the implications of it. Let's start by just reminding ourselves, by remembering the events that are referenced here. [00:05:18] And it's pretty straightforward. It's pretty clear. And we read about it in Exodus. But let's spend a few moments just meditating on it. Remembering what we perhaps already know, what we've heard. Letting it sink in a little bit. [00:05:37] One of the things that we remember is, of course, this moment in history, what had happened. God's people were enslaved in Egypt. And God promised that he would bring them out. He promised that to Abraham long before, hundreds of years before this moment in time. And God was being faithful to that. And he brought them out of Egypt earlier. I said, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. But there's a lot of detail to that, isn't there? If we remember the ten plagues that God poured out on Egypt, the constant warnings that he gave to Pharaoh, the great devastation that came upon this country. Because Pharaoh said no to the God of the universe, he, in some ways, is a perfect opposite to the king of Nineveh mentioned in Jonah. Right? A disaster coming down upon the Ninevites. Jonah goes and preaches this Gospel. The king and the people and the animals. There's this repenting all over. And with a hope that perhaps God will relent from this judgment, relent from the impending doom that they were facing. And immediately they receive reprieve. [00:06:58] Things are solved and improved. [00:07:02] Pharaoh's exactly the opposite. Instead of seeing the work of God, the judgment of God in his life and in the life of his people, he doubles down over and over and over again, going all in on this terrible hand called self reliance, called idolatry, called chariots and horsemen and riches and power. [00:07:29] This becomes not only this moment in history, but a reminder. It should be a reminder to every one individual and every and particularly individuals with power and authority, with wealth and strength, not to cross God, but he does, right? He does and he does over and over again, even to the point of the death of his own son, finally saying to the people of Egypt, get out of here. [00:08:05] And they leave, right? They flee. They leave Egypt. And then in this crazy way, he decides to go after them yet again. [00:08:14] He goes after them. And pursuing them, they come to the Red Sea, a terrifying situation, right? Enemies behind you, a wall of water in front of you. And then what happens? [00:08:29] God, who had called the people out, then acts, and he solves this problem for them. He calls Moses his servant to stretch out his arm and through obedience to this command. And Moses acts, and God acts in faithfulness to his promises. And he parts the waters of the sea. [00:08:54] He creates across this sea two walls of water. Can you imagine that? A wall of water on your right hand and on your left. Remember, this is not one person, right? This is many, many, many people traveling through. This is going to take some time. [00:09:18] By some estimates, this is 6 miles, perhaps more, of moving across. [00:09:25] Moving across what ends up being dry land. [00:09:32] If you've ever had the opportunity to be near a waterfall, perhaps even a small one, perhaps just a little bit of water running down a few rocks in Sabino Canyon or something like that, you can remember the power of that sound, right? The force of the water moving. [00:09:53] Now imagine the sea pushed back by the wind of God, the breath of God, perhaps the spirit of God, creating these walls of water, walls of water on the right hand and on the left. Can you imagine passing through what was once this great body of water? And now it's on either side of you. [00:10:24] And meanwhile, this is not just an interesting stroll through this amazing thing, not in nature, but a supernatural act. Water not acting like it normally acts, but instead water acting in this extremely unusual and unpredictable way, knowing all the time you know exactly what happens with water, how water moves, how water goes to the low, right? And you're at the low. [00:10:58] In the midst of all this, you have enemies who have enslaved you, pursued you, and will not stop at your heels. [00:11:10] This is the situation Israel was in. [00:11:15] And Israel moved forward. [00:11:18] They moved forward through. [00:11:23] Under the leadership of God's servant, they moved forward through these waters. And Hebrews or not Hebrews, first corinthians ten describes them as being baptized in this moment, a striking way of speaking in which they move through these waters, waters of salvation to them. But as we will see in a moment. Waters of judgment to Israel. [00:11:53] It's an important reminder that the word of God, both preached and signified in the sacraments, is, as we could say, a double edged sword. [00:12:04] Getting ahead of myself a little bit, I'm thinking about the Lord's supper, which we'll celebrate to the saints. Those who are discerning the body, those who would examine themselves, profess their faith, are putting their hope in Christ. It is a joy, it's a celebration. It's nourishment for our souls. But what does Paul say in one corinthians about those who eat and drink in an unworthy manner? They eat and drink judgment on themselves. This same sign, which is to some a blessing and to others, is literally killing them. [00:12:44] We can speak of baptism in a similar way and the word of God when it's preached in a similar way. When the word of the Lord is spoken to those who believe it is life, and to those who refuse it, it is death. [00:13:03] It's not. When God speaks, we are reminded in the scriptures that it does not return to him void. It's not as though it's savingly effective in one case and then just sort of a nothing in the other case. [00:13:17] No, it either works to kill or to bring to life. [00:13:23] And that's what's happening here. As the people move, those who put their faith in the Lord, who are trusting in him, the people of Israel, they move through and they are saved by this awesome miracle of the Lord. [00:13:40] But what of the others? [00:13:43] What of the Egyptians? [00:13:45] They did not pursue because of faith in the Lord. They were not following the Lord, were they? [00:13:53] No. [00:13:55] They were following their own desires. [00:13:58] Pharaoh was clinging on, grasping for to hold on to his own power. [00:14:07] There's a kind of blindness that's in him as he ferociously attacks the people of God. [00:14:16] He does not following the Lord. He is trying to devour the Lord's people, the Lord's sheep. [00:14:26] That's why he enters into the waters or into this dry land. And he puts his hope not in the Lord to save him, but just hoping that things will work out for him in his chariots and his horsemen, in the mighty host that he brought with. And what do we see right there before the waters consume them all, the chariots, the very source of his strength. The source of power and strength in Egypt. It's all getting gummed up and clogged up. The wheels are falling off, we might say, perhaps literally as well as metaphorically. [00:15:06] Things are falling apart from him and ultimately lead to his demise. [00:15:14] And that's it. [00:15:16] That's what the passage says. It's very, very clear, isn't it? For those who follow the Lord, there is salvation through his mighty arm. For those who refuse to follow him, but instead seek their own will and the destruction of his people, there is a certain death. [00:15:37] There are implications of this, though, aren't there? Things that we ought to consider very carefully. First, let's consider Pharaoh on his side. [00:15:48] What do we notice? [00:15:50] One thing we notice is this blindness of sin. What I sometimes call this insanity of sin, doing things that are against reason, that are foolish to such a high degree. It's almost unbelievable what he's doing. But we've all been in these situations when we just say, I want what I want. [00:16:18] It doesn't matter what the Lord says, no matter how many warnings there have been, Pharaoh, how many warnings do you need? How many signs does he need that God is more powerful than he is, that God will come against him. God will not have his people destroyed by him. [00:16:42] And yet he continues to underestimate God. He continues to think that somehow he is going to win in this battle. [00:16:57] He continues to forget or be blind to or something, the work of the Lord in the past. [00:17:08] It's almost as if his memory gets erased somehow and he acts against his own, as we say today, his own self interest. He acts against reason. He acts against all of these things. [00:17:21] What could explain that except for the corruption of our hearts? [00:17:28] This is what sin does. [00:17:32] Sin destroys our mental powers, our spiritual powers. It makes us act in ways that don't make sense. [00:17:44] Another way the scriptures describe it, in addition to, you know, blindness is hardness. [00:17:50] It. Our hearts get calcified in a way. [00:17:55] In a way that they become impervious to. [00:18:02] Impervious to the. To good things. It's as if we set up walls or we seal ourselves in dark rooms where light can't get in. This is what we do in our sin. We like to think of our sins sometimes as this sort of, you know, unfortunate thing that we have to deal with and we kind of manage. It's way more evil than that. It's way sin in our hearts, and to be perhaps more precise, our fleshly nature is cunning and deceitful and wicked. [00:18:36] Satan doesn't care about reason. [00:18:40] Satan doesn't care whether or not what you are doing makes sense or it accords with what he told you before. He's a liar. He's a deceiver, he's a manipulator. And our flesh and the things of this world just ra, ra all of that, cheer it on, the overestimating of our ability, the underestimating of God. All of these things reason things that make sense. It doesn't matter. [00:19:09] It's just rebellion. [00:19:12] Why? [00:19:13] Because rebellion, that's all really there is to it. [00:19:20] And this ought to be a warning to us not to manage our sin or play around with our sin or think lightly of our sin and our fleshly nature. [00:19:35] But what do the scriptures call us to do? [00:19:38] Put it to death. [00:19:41] Put it to death, abhor it, hate it, flee from it, run from it, kill it, mortify it. Do what you have to do. [00:19:51] Gotta chop off your hand, pluck out your eye. Jesus says, get it done. [00:19:58] Sin is not to be messed with, to be toyed with, to be played with, we sometimes say in our hearts. And as we pursue these things, well, I'm only gonna go this far and maybe one step more. That's not that much farther than last time, right? It's just one step. And besides, I haven't really gotten word in two or three years. [00:20:24] Satan doesn't care how long it's going to take. [00:20:28] He's not sitting by and saying, oh, this is really dragging on. [00:20:32] As long as it's working, it's working. [00:20:38] He loves excuses, he loves rationalizations. [00:20:44] He loves things where we say, well, this time is going to be different. [00:20:50] Whenever we are not taking our sins seriously, whenever we are not putting it to death, there is a kind of calcification that happens, a hardness of heart that happens. And in its extreme examples, God tells us in scripture that this is part of judgment. [00:21:10] When he gives people up over to exactly what they want. [00:21:16] It's another piece of what's going on here. This is not, these things that are happening in our hearts are not independent from the Lord. It's not just the playing out of the spiritual laws of nature. God is active in it. Scriptures tell us that he was also hardening Pharaoh's heart. [00:21:36] That the Lord, when we decide that we are going to go after the things that we want, no matter what, he, according to his justice, will at times give people up to their desires and allow them to have exactly what they want. [00:21:56] But what we want in sin, beloved, whether we admit it or not, is something that leads to death. [00:22:05] It led to the death of Pharaoh and his armies, and it will lead to our deaths as well if we do not proceed and walk by faith. [00:22:20] This other path, though, this path of faith, which looks at our sin and sees the deadliness of it, sees the corruption of it, sees the dangers of it and says, I want to flee that just as much as the, and more so than the Israelites wanted to flee from Egypt, to get away, to get unenslaved, to get free, to have peace and satisfaction and peace in the Lord. [00:22:55] What we are told in this passage, what this passage reveals to us, is some things of great hope, which I want to end with to encourage you. [00:23:05] Two things which John Owen points out in his commentary, which I think are in many ways so true and perhaps obvious, but good to remember, number one, nothing is so difficult that God might require faith of us. [00:23:26] There are things in our lives that are very challenging, but in every moment, God requires us to exercise faith in them, to not. [00:23:38] There's no thing that we come across where we say, okay, now on this one, I'm on my own. [00:23:44] No. We are called, even in the hardest of circumstances, to rest in him. [00:23:52] He's not just here for us. In the easy times when things are nice and going along pretty well, the Lord is our God at all times, in all places and in all ways. [00:24:05] Some of us struggle in this. [00:24:08] We're willing to pray and trust the Lord for this or that thing, but when things get really intense, we somehow forget about him. [00:24:18] Others of us do the opposite. We ignore him all the time, and then things get really intense. Oh, Lord, please help me. Right. Both of these require correction in our hearts. We ought to trust the Lord at all times and in all ways. [00:24:34] The second thing, and I'll quote him directly here, John Owen. He says, faith will find a way through a sea of difficulties under the call of God. [00:24:44] Faith will find a way through a sea of difficulties under the call of God. [00:24:50] The Lord says that there is no temptation that has come upon you in which he has not provided a way of escape. [00:24:57] Do you believe that? [00:25:00] Do you believe it? Or do you think that, well, nine out of ten times he provides an escape. But then there are some like that are really, really hard. [00:25:10] Well, if God can rescue his people out of a situation like this one, he can rescue us out of our trials and out of our temptations. [00:25:20] There is no situation in which God, who leads us and calls us, cannot rescue us from. [00:25:28] And this is true. When we think about this example, and I think its point is strengthened even in our hearts, even to a greater degree. When we remember how Jesus acted and how Jesus in his baptism, we are led to an even greater freedom. [00:25:49] What does Paul say? [00:25:52] What does Paul say about our baptisms? What were we baptized into? [00:25:57] Into the death of Christ. [00:26:02] And as we were baptized into the death of Christ, so we are baptized into his resurrection. [00:26:10] We have not just come 6 miles, or whatever that distance is. We've come from death to life. [00:26:22] How great is that distance? [00:26:26] How would you even begin to measure something like that? [00:26:30] And yet the Lord has brought us through that. [00:26:34] When we think about the enemies that pursue us, sin, death, the devil, this great murderer, this great dragon, this evil one, when you think about the various particulars of our lives and the various things which have blinded us and enslaved us and held us in bondage, a sea of difficulties, we might say, a sea of corruption, a sea of evil, a sea of wickedness in our own hearts. And the Lord breaks through it all, a light shining in the darkness, a light that is not overcome, a light that exposes our sin and shows us the way. [00:27:22] Faith finds a way through a sea of difficulties under the call of God. Because of the word of God in Jesus Christ name any difficulty you can think of, and the Lord can bring you through it, including death itself. [00:27:41] And for this reason, because of the resurrection of Christ, because of the death of Christ, Paul rightly says that the sting has been taken out of death. [00:27:52] Where, o grave, is your victory? [00:27:57] What could possibly be done to the Lord and his anointed ones, which the Lord cannot save them from? [00:28:06] Oftentimes when the enemies of the Lord are pursuing his people the most, when they are raging the most, when it seems like they are about to win, is exactly when everything falls apart and they lose. [00:28:24] It's a reminder to us that at the moments when things are the most intense in our circumstances or even in our hearts, in the quiet times and in the times when we're alone and things are really, really intense, and it's that moment that we must not give up on the Lord. And remember this story. [00:28:46] Remember the work of Christ on the cross, who died under the intensity to put it lightly of the pursuers, under his pursuers, under his persecutors, it's at that moment, in the moment of his death that we find our salvation, that God took this thing which was intended for evil and turned it and used it as a moment of salvation for us. [00:29:18] So, beloved, do not trust in the wickedness of your hearts. [00:29:25] Do not trust the doubts that creep in. Do not trust the evil ones and ones that would pursue you, but trust in the Lord. [00:29:38] He has already brought you through a death unto life. He will bring you through whatever circumstances you might face in this world, and he will bring you ultimately in to the consummated kingdom of his glory, something way better than canaan way better than the garden of Eden, the new heavens and the new earth, where you will live forever and ever in perfect safety without any fear of enemies. [00:30:08] Let's pray. [00:30:11] Our Lord God, we ask that you would strengthen our faith. [00:30:15] That you would ask that you would work in us this gift, that we might rely on you. That we might not be afraid of the difficulties that we face and turn back to old habits and old ways and old enemies that used to hold us in bondage. [00:30:36] Lord, we ask that instead of underestimating you and overestimating ourselves, we would simply stand in awe of your power and of your promises. [00:30:51] Help us not to forget your works, but to remember them, to rehearse them, to tell them to one another so that we might be encouraged on the way these things have been recorded for our benefit. So that we might have testimony after testimony of your faithfulness. [00:31:13] So that we, like the Canaanites who eventually faced Israel as they came into that land would say, oh, we know of the works of God, the mighty works of God. And instead of persecuting your people, teach us to bless them and to so be blessed by being among them. [00:31:38] Lord, help us not to be wolves hungry for the blood of your sheep. [00:31:44] But, Lord, help us to be the sheep that are trusting in you. Our shepherd. [00:31:52] We ask for your help and your power in these things for we are unable to do them on our own. [00:32:01] We pray for a miracle in our own hearts and in our own lives and the miracle of your sustaining power from today and unto forever. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.