The Divine Initiative

WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:14.189 You know, right here in the very beginning of redeptive history, we see 2 00:00:14.269 --> 00:00:18.309 clearly that the theology of the exodus, in a nutshell, is this. 3 00:00:19.309 --> 00:00:26.420 Look there at verse thirty. The Lord Saves his people. It's his divine 4 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:35.729 initiatives and he often uses improbable means to accomplish that salvation. That's our main 5 00:00:35.969 --> 00:00:40.890 point here this morning. From this text. The Lord Saves his people. 6 00:00:41.850 --> 00:00:46.450 That's a familiar text to most of us. I'm sure it has to do 7 00:00:46.770 --> 00:00:52.880 with the Israel lights crossing the Red Sea. After four hundred and thirty years 8 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:58.479 as slaves to the Egyptians, the Israelites exodus out of Egypt. It began 9 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:04.549 with great expectation. There's great joy involved, excitement. The people were now 10 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:10.950 on their way to the Promised Land and God was leading him. It's interesting 11 00:01:11.030 --> 00:01:15.829 he was leading them not by the shortest way of the Mediterranean Sea, along 12 00:01:15.829 --> 00:01:19.780 the coast road toward Canaan. That was a rude which would have led them 13 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:27.099 into direct conflict with mighty armies and enemies. Instead, God took them a 14 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:33.010 different way. It was a longer way into the desert, but that way 15 00:01:33.170 --> 00:01:37.769 had its own challenges because, if you'll know it, in the first fourteen 16 00:01:37.930 --> 00:01:42.090 verses of Chapter Fourteen, we find that the Lord, he actually moves them 17 00:01:42.170 --> 00:01:49.920 in the southeastward direction and he plants them precisely in a situation where, from 18 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:57.400 a military perspective, they're utterly himmed in. You know, if you've had 19 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:02.030 been one of Moses lieutenants, you might have questioned his, I think, 20 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:07.510 leadership abilities at this point and said, you know, excuse me, sir, 21 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:13.389 in case you haven't noticed, we're sitting ducks here. There's a body 22 00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:17.780 of water to our back. The watch tires of Egypt are in front of 23 00:02:17.819 --> 00:02:23.659 us. You know, if the Egyptian army follows US and overtakes us, 24 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:29.500 as they most assuredly will, we have absolutely no place to go. And 25 00:02:30.090 --> 00:02:37.370 suddenly, in that dangerous setting, all of the joy and all of the 26 00:02:37.530 --> 00:02:46.360 expectancy starts to unravel. And what are these people do? Well, they 27 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:53.479 resort to form, much like we do when things go south. They once 28 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:58.590 again they began to grumble, to cry out to the Lord and they begin 29 00:02:58.750 --> 00:03:05.870 to come plane against Moses. Now that tight squeeze, I think that the 30 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:13.539 Israelites find themselves in here. It reminds me of a similar situation at the 31 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:17.139 British and the French armies found themselves in at the beginning of World War Two. 32 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:24.340 On the twenty seven of May, one thousand nine hundred and forty over 33 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:30.490 four hundred thousand troops of the British Expeditionary Force and the French army. They 34 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:37.770 were trapped with their backs to the English Channel, surrounded on three sides by 35 00:03:37.930 --> 00:03:45.319 German Panzer divisions lots of other infantry ground troops. Winston Churchill, the King's 36 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:51.680 first minister, speaking to the House of Commons, he called the situation a 37 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:58.750 colossal military disaster, saying that the whole root and corps and brain of the 38 00:03:58.830 --> 00:04:04.750 British army had been stranded at Dunkirk the day before. On the twenty sixth 39 00:04:04.830 --> 00:04:10.819 of May, a national day of prayer was declared for the deliverance of the 40 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:15.180 British and French French troops. Throughout the United Kingdom. King George the six 41 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:23.019 attended a special service at Westminster Abbey, and churches across the United Kingdom cried 42 00:04:23.100 --> 00:04:29.769 out the God on behalf of these trap soldiers. Then, on the twenty 43 00:04:29.810 --> 00:04:38.839 seventh of May, Churchill ordered Operation Dynamo into effect. Several warships made the 44 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:46.079 crossing of the Channel Multiple Times under enemy fire, rescuing troops from Dunkirk harbor 45 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:51.759 to safety in England. Nevertheless, many thousands of troops, they were still 46 00:04:51.870 --> 00:04:58.750 stranded on the longest beach in Europe, on the beaches of Dunkirk, and 47 00:04:58.870 --> 00:05:02.470 they were unable to be reached by these deep draft warships of the British Navy, 48 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:08.939 and so a search was made all around the United Kingdom. You know 49 00:05:09.100 --> 00:05:15.220 the story. Seven hundred civilian vessels with shallow draft were enlisted, small fishing 50 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:23.730 boats, lifeboats, river boats, pleasure boats, paddle steamers, private sail 51 00:05:23.769 --> 00:05:31.329 of boats and yachts. Seven hundred of them with civilian crews, made the 52 00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:40.519 crossing back and forth under strafing fire from the Lufwa overhead. These little ships 53 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:47.560 of Dunkirk, as they came to be called, maze, helped to rescue 54 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:51.709 in the end, three hundred and thirty one thousand two hundred and twenty six 55 00:05:53.470 --> 00:05:59.189 allied soldiers from the German advance which, for reasons that are unknown even to 56 00:05:59.310 --> 00:06:05.060 this day, Hitler in expected, inexplicably halted just short of Dune Kirk, 57 00:06:05.379 --> 00:06:13.980 even in the face of almost no allied resistance, and Churchill, speaking to 58 00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:18.209 parliament on the last day of the evacuation, June the fourth, gave his 59 00:06:18.410 --> 00:06:24.730 now famous we will fight on the beaches speech, in the course of which 60 00:06:24.769 --> 00:06:31.529 he declared the Dun Kirk operation a miracle of deliverance, a miracle of deliverance. 61 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:40.240 And it's too, a situation, not all unlike this one, that 62 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:43.360 we turn our attention this morning. I mean, look at the action in 63 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:48.829 the second half of exodus fourteen. So just look there with me. Here 64 00:06:48.910 --> 00:06:53.870 we have the Israelites, he israelites to were trapped and their backs to the 65 00:06:53.949 --> 00:07:00.910 seat, with the equivalent of Panzer divisions, these elite chariot troops of Fayroh 66 00:07:00.029 --> 00:07:05.019 bearing down on them. And I would say, from the vantage point of 67 00:07:05.139 --> 00:07:13.939 these fleeing Israelites, this whole situation, it must have seemed like a terrible, 68 00:07:14.139 --> 00:07:19.850 terrible tactical blunder on God's part for putting him there. Remember, it 69 00:07:20.009 --> 00:07:24.610 was God. If you go back in Chapter Fourteen and verses one and two, 70 00:07:25.769 --> 00:07:29.170 God had told him to turn around and head back to camp between mid 71 00:07:29.290 --> 00:07:34.360 doll in the sea. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people 72 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:39.839 of Israel to turn back and in camp in front of pie ha ha Heer 73 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:44.550 Roth between mid doll in the sea, in front of Bows Fun you shall 74 00:07:44.589 --> 00:07:47.269 encamp facing it by the sea in now. Other words, it was God 75 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:54.149 who did this. He was the one who put his people in this situation. 76 00:07:55.310 --> 00:08:01.620 To them it was a class of colossal military disaster, to use Churchill's 77 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:07.500 phrase. But, as God made clear to Moses here, however strange it 78 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:13.930 may have seemed at the time, however terrifying, to watch the Egyptians take 79 00:08:13.970 --> 00:08:22.129 up their positions before the terrified Israelites, even in this impossible situation, God's 80 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:28.079 strategy was being worked out. This was God's strategy, this was God's operation, 81 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:35.279 Operation Dynamo. And so exodus fourteen, verse fifteen, to the end 82 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:39.840 of the chapter, I think teaches us about the nature of God's salvation, 83 00:08:41.269 --> 00:08:46.389 the way in which the Lord fights for his people, the way he delivers 84 00:08:46.470 --> 00:08:52.750 and saves and and rescues them and triumphs on their behalf. He gives them 85 00:08:52.870 --> 00:09:01.980 victory, and this exodus of God's people from Egypt, it becomes the singular 86 00:09:01.139 --> 00:09:09.179 type, the model, the paradigm in the rest of Scripture for salvation, 87 00:09:09.730 --> 00:09:16.250 for God's saving works. So that's a supreme deliverance that God provides. The 88 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:20.970 deliverers from our sin by the cross of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ 89 00:09:22.289 --> 00:09:28.759 is itself littlely called Jesus Exodus by Dr Luke over in the Luke nine. 90 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:33.240 Moses and Elijah, if you recall, were with Jesus on the mountain and 91 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.309 they were talking about Jesus departure, his exodus back to heaven, which he 92 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:43.750 was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. So when we look at this passage today, 93 00:09:43.789 --> 00:09:50.870 when we study this passage, we're not simply considering a remarkable historical account 94 00:09:50.870 --> 00:09:58.620 of escape from danger against all odds, much like the account of the deliverance 95 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:05.100 of these armies at Dunkirk. No word being confronted in this passage with the 96 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:09.970 wonders of the Gospel of God's saving grace itself. Dear ones, here's the 97 00:10:11.090 --> 00:10:18.250 good news that God loves the fight for his people, to save them even 98 00:10:18.289 --> 00:10:24.039 in an improbable circumstances. I think that's what we have here. God loves 99 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:30.720 to fight for Covenant, old PC and to save you in improbable circumstances, 100 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:35.830 and he's going to continue to fight for you in two thousand and two. 101 00:10:37.070 --> 00:10:41.590 You can count on it. And so I want to highlight four things about 102 00:10:41.590 --> 00:10:46.549 God's salvation from this passage and the first learning we see there in verses fifteen 103 00:10:46.710 --> 00:10:52.620 through eighteen. I've entitled it the Glory God pursues. Verses Fifteen through eighteen. 104 00:10:52.779 --> 00:11:01.179 Looked there now. Moses had been speaking to the terrified people on behalf 105 00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:07.090 of God. He's already told them in verses thirteen and fourteen that the Lord 106 00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:13.730 was going to save them. Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation 107 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:18.799 of the Lord, which he will work for you today, for the Egyptians 108 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.360 whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for 109 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:30.200 you, and you only have to be silent. But then look at Verse 110 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:37.950 Fifteen. Not only has Moses been speaking to the people on God's behalf, 111 00:11:37.710 --> 00:11:43.070 it seems he's also been prayed to God on the people's behalf. And of 112 00:11:43.190 --> 00:11:50.539 course that was his job. Remember, Moses was the mediator, he was 113 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:56.100 the go between, God's appointed savior of his people. He innercedes on their 114 00:11:56.179 --> 00:12:00.460 behalf, alf he gives him press expression to their cries for deliverance. That's 115 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:05.169 what he's supposed to do, or so it seems. But I this is 116 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:13.250 interesting. Apparently God has had enough of Moses prayers. He's and he says, 117 00:12:13.610 --> 00:12:18.919 why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go 118 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:26.679 forward. Now. If I would have been Moses, I would have been 119 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:31.789 sorely tempted to say, at this point, okay, God, is there 120 00:12:31.870 --> 00:12:37.029 something here I'm missing? I think it's evident why we're crying out. You 121 00:12:37.110 --> 00:12:41.110 know, if you haven't noticed, for pretty much boxed in here, surrounded 122 00:12:41.190 --> 00:12:45.379 by the greatest army in the world and the one side and on the sea 123 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:52.299 on the other, things aren't looking too good. But apparently God has had 124 00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:56.820 enough of Moses prayer and he says enough already, Moses, stop praying. 125 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:01.210 I've told you what I'm going to do. I'm going to fight for you. 126 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:05.529 I've given you that promise. So what are you waiting for? Getting 127 00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:13.279 mood? Saddle up now. That's maybe not what we expected God to say, 128 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:22.279 but I think what's happening here, dare I say it, God clearly 129 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:28.269 isn't pleased with prayer when prayer becomes an excuse for inact tivity. And isn't 130 00:13:28.269 --> 00:13:39.269 that what's happening here? Here's Moses. The people had the promises, God 131 00:13:39.429 --> 00:13:43.700 had told them what to do, versus thirteen and fourteen. Nevertheless, Moses 132 00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:50.340 delays, he drags his feet, giving voice instead to the fearful cries of 133 00:13:50.460 --> 00:14:00.090 the poop people. Now I have found that sometimes it's easy to let ourselves 134 00:14:00.129 --> 00:14:03.730 off the hook from doing our daily duty as Christians, so long as we 135 00:14:03.850 --> 00:14:07.730 tell ourselves we're still praying about it. Now, I want to be careful 136 00:14:07.809 --> 00:14:16.600 here. Prayer is good, praying about it, you know. In fact, 137 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:22.039 prayers is vital. We need to pray, but I don't think God 138 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:28.830 is pleased with prayers when they're used as an excuse for disobedience in activity, 139 00:14:28.909 --> 00:14:33.950 particularly when he's already told us what he's going to do. You know, 140 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:37.580 God says here there's to be no waiting here. I've told you I'm going 141 00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:41.539 to fight for you. Moses, tell the people to pack up and move 142 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:48.139 out, go forward. You know, I can't help but think what see 143 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:56.370 us. Lewis Warns Christians about in his book the screw tape letters. Lewis 144 00:14:56.490 --> 00:15:01.769 warns us to be aware that one of the main s strategies of the devil 145 00:15:03.409 --> 00:15:07.840 is to have us live in the future and not simply do our duty in 146 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:16.279 the present moment. So God says enough, already, be silent, Moses, 147 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:20.750 get the people on their feet, your people. Your Business Right now 148 00:15:20.830 --> 00:15:30.190 is faith and your duty is to go forward. And of course that command 149 00:15:30.309 --> 00:15:37.940 is itself somewhat problematic. Moses is OK Lord which weighs forward? Is it 150 00:15:37.019 --> 00:15:41.940 toward the Egyptians, or is it forward into the sea? The problem is 151 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:48.700 there's nowhere to go. God's command requires them to do the impossible here, 152 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:52.289 which, by the way, I think is always the case with the Commands 153 00:15:52.330 --> 00:15:58.529 of the Gospel. Think about that. The Gospel says to US repent, 154 00:16:00.529 --> 00:16:07.919 believe. We can't do that. These commands are just as impossible as God's 155 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:14.480 commands given here to Moses. They're spoken to deaf ears, spoken to hearts 156 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:19.629 of stone. Those whom God calls to faith and repentance are dead in trespasses 157 00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:25.190 and sins. The command of God requires the very thing that we have no 158 00:16:25.509 --> 00:16:33.700 power to perform. Now that's interesting. Why would God do that? Why 159 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:40.899 tell the Israelites to shut up, to pack up and move out, when 160 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:47.059 there's nowhere to go? Why called dead, lifeless centers to turn from sin 161 00:16:47.490 --> 00:16:53.450 when it's sin that enslaves them in the first place? Why require faith when 162 00:16:53.570 --> 00:17:00.929 faith is unattainable? Well, let's read on and next couple of verses tell 163 00:17:00.929 --> 00:17:04.240 us why God does that. Look at verses sixteen through eighteen. Lift up 164 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:10.960 your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea and divided, that the 165 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:15.359 people of Israel may go through the sea on dry land, dry ground, 166 00:17:15.910 --> 00:17:19.069 and I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in 167 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:25.309 after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, 168 00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:30.299 his chariots and his horsemen, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the 169 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:36.779 Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. 170 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:42.819 What's God's agenda and calling Israel to impossible action? I think these verses tell 171 00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:48.569 us it's to get glory for himself. What he makes a way out for 172 00:17:48.730 --> 00:17:53.410 them and triumphs over their enemies. That's why he does it, to get 173 00:17:53.450 --> 00:18:00.400 glory me. Now I think we can think of many other biblical examples of 174 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:06.119 that. I think of familiar one that perhaps comes to mind is you might 175 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:11.119 be thinking of a Zekiel preaching to the dry bones over in Ezekiel thirty seven. 176 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:15.990 You know the story. You learned it in Vacation Bible School. Israel 177 00:18:17.069 --> 00:18:22.430 is in exile in Babylon God commands Ezekiel to preach to this pile of dry 178 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:30.339 bones in this valley. It's a ridiculous command, seem crazy, but as 179 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:37.619 Ezekiel obeys, he preaches and low and behold, the bones get connected, 180 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:44.769 they get flesh on the bones and breath, they rise up and they live. 181 00:18:45.769 --> 00:18:49.210 And at the very end of the chapter, God says to Ezekiel that 182 00:18:49.289 --> 00:18:56.000 these bones, they're a metaphor for the whole house of Israel, whose bones 183 00:18:56.039 --> 00:19:00.839 are all dried up and their hope is lost in Babylon. And God says 184 00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:07.519 to Ezekiel, and Chapter Thirty Seven, verses twelve through fourteen, therefore prophesy 185 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:11.390 and say to them, say to Israel, thus says the Lord God. 186 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:18.710 Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, oh 187 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:22.470 my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel, and 188 00:19:22.710 --> 00:19:29.099 you shall know that I am the Lord, and I will put my spirit 189 00:19:29.180 --> 00:19:33.579 within you and you shall live and I will place you in your own land. 190 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:40.170 Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken and 191 00:19:40.410 --> 00:19:45.009 I will do it, declares the Lord. See, that's precisely the same 192 00:19:45.089 --> 00:19:52.289 thing God says here to Fayh and his charioteers and his horsemen into Israel later 193 00:19:52.450 --> 00:19:57.039 on. You know, God has Saint Augustine famously put it, commands what 194 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:03.839 he wills and gives what he commands. He commands what he wills. It 195 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:11.470 may be impossible for us to comply, but God gives grace, he gives 196 00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:18.789 what he commands. The Gospel requires what we cannot provide. It calls for 197 00:20:18.990 --> 00:20:25.460 faith and for for repentance, but gives what God requires. And God does 198 00:20:25.579 --> 00:20:30.819 that so that all the glory for our salvation, from first to last, 199 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:37.450 may rest on him. Maybe to him and dear ones, I would say 200 00:20:37.490 --> 00:20:44.289 that's always God's agenda. He's always pursuing his glory. God saves Israel from 201 00:20:44.329 --> 00:20:49.799 Bondage and Babylon. He says Israel here for his own glory. He judges 202 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:56.519 Egypt, here for his own glory. He saves you and me for his 203 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.680 own glory. He does everything he does for his own glory, for from 204 00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:07.230 him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory 205 00:21:07.309 --> 00:21:15.470 forever. Amen. You know we have small groups that Rencon Mountain and our 206 00:21:15.789 --> 00:21:21.180 life group at at our church. Some time ago we did his study of 207 00:21:21.220 --> 00:21:26.940 Jonathan Edwards. He's a great pastor during the early seventeen hundreds of America. 208 00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:32.740 God mightily used this man and his sermons during the great revival of the seventeen 209 00:21:32.819 --> 00:21:37.130 hundreds in America, it was called the great awakening. When he was the 210 00:21:37.210 --> 00:21:41.890 pastor of the First Congregational Church of Northampton, it was the it was the 211 00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:47.279 second largest congregation in the colonies and during his time as pastor there he was 212 00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:52.000 invited in one thousand seven hundred and twenty nine to give the commencement address at 213 00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:59.079 Harvard great honor and Edwards preached a sermon, a famous sermon at Harvard and 214 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:03.349 the second only at the probably his most famous. Centers in the hand of 215 00:22:03.390 --> 00:22:07.549 an angry God, and this is the title that sermon. God glorified in 216 00:22:07.829 --> 00:22:15.029 Man's dependence. The sermon stressed that, I think this same point here, 217 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:22.660 salvation is, from start to finish, the work of God, and it 218 00:22:22.819 --> 00:22:25.859 is that so God do will receive all the glory. So you and I 219 00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:33.690 cannot boast God. Our text is reminding us as radically God centered, and 220 00:22:33.849 --> 00:22:41.289 that's a good thing, because the radical God's centeredness of God is really the 221 00:22:41.410 --> 00:22:45.200 only way for us to avoid the radical self centeredness to which our hearts and 222 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:53.720 naturally incline. What is the chief end of man? The sorder catechism says 223 00:22:55.400 --> 00:23:00.589 to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God saves us so that we might 224 00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:07.869 make much of him, not make much of us. He saved Israel so 225 00:23:07.029 --> 00:23:12.019 that they might make much of him, not make much of themselves. So 226 00:23:12.059 --> 00:23:15.819 I think that's the first thing here in this wonderful text, the glory God 227 00:23:17.019 --> 00:23:19.980 pursues. Then there's a second thing that we see it, I think, 228 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:25.900 in just two verses, versus Nineteen and twenty, the division that God creates. 229 00:23:26.970 --> 00:23:33.089 The Angel of the Lord Joh Weigh himself, appearing here in this pillar 230 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:36.730 of cloud and fire, now moves from leading the way ahead of the people 231 00:23:36.809 --> 00:23:41.369 of Israel to take up a position behind them. He's between them and the 232 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:47.759 Egyptians. Now Look at Verses Nineteen and twenty. Complicated language in some regard. 233 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.920 There's some translation difficulties here, but I think here is the main idea. 234 00:23:53.920 --> 00:24:02.309 There's a division between the people of God and the Egyptians and it's designed 235 00:24:02.430 --> 00:24:07.630 to preserve and protect the Israelites from the Egyptians. In now, other words, 236 00:24:07.710 --> 00:24:11.460 no Egyptians could get near the Israelites and I think on the other hand, 237 00:24:11.579 --> 00:24:18.900 no Israelites could accidentally stray into the Egyptian encampment, and this provided the 238 00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:26.690 Israelites with all the time they needed together the things to pack up to escape 239 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:33.009 into the sea. The cloud of God's presence keeps the Egyptians on one side 240 00:24:33.049 --> 00:24:37.809 and dreadful darkness, while on the other side the pillar of fire gives the 241 00:24:37.970 --> 00:24:44.720 Israelites the security of light, supernatural floodlights, so to speak, to brighten 242 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:48.119 the darkness. And I think here's the application of that. You know, 243 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:56.670 the New Testament repeatedly uses that imagery of light and darkness. I don't maybe 244 00:24:56.789 --> 00:25:03.109 even drawing from this very moment in Israel's history as a way to describe the 245 00:25:03.230 --> 00:25:11.579 responsibilities and the implications of belonging to the people whom God saves. Those whom 246 00:25:11.619 --> 00:25:15.740 he saves, he makes the dwells securely in the light of his presence. 247 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:22.250 First John One, versus five through seven. This is the message we have 248 00:25:22.410 --> 00:25:26.289 heard from him, and proclaim to you that God is light and in him 249 00:25:26.410 --> 00:25:30.690 is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while 250 00:25:30.690 --> 00:25:36.240 we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 251 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:40.160 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light. 252 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.039 We have fellowship with one another. In the blood of Jesus, his son, 253 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:51.029 cleanses us from all sin. Dear ones, to belong to the Covenant 254 00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:57.470 Community, the Church, covenant O pc, through faith in Jesus, the 255 00:25:57.589 --> 00:26:03.950 people whom God saves, means to live in the light of the protective presence 256 00:26:03.109 --> 00:26:10.900 of God. There's no way to live in darkness and belong to the Israel 257 00:26:10.940 --> 00:26:15.140 of God either. Were Egyptians, so to speak, still in darkness, 258 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:21.250 ultimately facing his wrath and displeasure. Are were members of the community that God 259 00:26:21.450 --> 00:26:27.650 saves by grace, and we live in that light. So God makes the 260 00:26:27.730 --> 00:26:32.809 separation between the Church and the world. Now I think the points clear. 261 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.039 You can't live in both camps. You know, we slip up, we 262 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:42.960 sin, we slip up at times, but you can't belong to God's people 263 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:48.509 and live like an Egyptian. You can't serve two masters. It says. 264 00:26:48.269 --> 00:26:55.509 The division that God creates what other's the third thing to notice, I think, 265 00:26:55.910 --> 00:26:59.750 moving along here, versus twenty one through twenty nine, and that is 266 00:26:59.990 --> 00:27:07.339 the mediator God honors. Back in Verse Sixteen, God had told Moses to 267 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:12.980 lift up his lift up his staff to stretch out his hand and divide the 268 00:27:14.059 --> 00:27:18.210 sea so that Israel might escape. And now, in verses Twenty One, 269 00:27:18.250 --> 00:27:25.609 and following Moses, obeys that instruction. The Sea piles up versus twenty one 270 00:27:25.690 --> 00:27:30.119 and twenty two, creating this wall of water on either side with a clear 271 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:33.160 path through his middle, in order for the Israelites to make their at their 272 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:41.920 escape. And here's Fayoh. He gives chase, his heart hardens, filled 273 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:45.829 with malice, he won't let the Israelites Go. He gives chase, it 274 00:27:45.950 --> 00:27:51.509 says, just as morning breaks, and it's just then that the lord throws 275 00:27:51.630 --> 00:27:56.789 them into confusion. Verses Twenty three through twenty five, the wheels of the 276 00:27:56.829 --> 00:28:02.099 chariots, it says. They're mired down in the mud and sand. Now 277 00:28:02.140 --> 00:28:06.460 I want to just pause here, maybe go down a rabbit trail and and 278 00:28:06.660 --> 00:28:15.529 just make an old soldiers observation. You know, these divided waters of the 279 00:28:15.609 --> 00:28:22.250 sea should have given Fay roll and his army commander's pause. They should have 280 00:28:22.329 --> 00:28:26.960 known better and to do what they did. You know, being familiar with 281 00:28:27.160 --> 00:28:33.000 exodus, you know that it wasn't as if this was the first time Yahwai 282 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:37.920 had acted dramatically on Israel's behalf against the Egyptians. You think of the ten 283 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:48.029 plagues. These were experienced battle hardness soldiers. These were Fayre's Panzer divisions, 284 00:28:48.869 --> 00:28:56.180 and I guarantee you that there were many Egyptian charioteers, noncommission officers. They 285 00:28:56.259 --> 00:29:02.859 were muttering under their breath as they entered the sea bed. The old man 286 00:29:03.099 --> 00:29:07.900 is losing it. This is all wrong. I've a very bad feeling about 287 00:29:07.980 --> 00:29:17.769 this. This cannot end well. But Pharaoh's army obeyed him. They gave 288 00:29:17.809 --> 00:29:22.329 chase into the sea, looking, I'm sure, with concern at these two 289 00:29:22.369 --> 00:29:26.000 walls of water that were piling up on each side of them, with their 290 00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:30.480 chariots sinking down deeper into the mud and sand. Verse Twenty Five and the 291 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:36.839 Egyptians said, let us flee from before. Israel, for the Lord, 292 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:40.029 fights for them against the Egyptians. Another words, come on, boss, 293 00:29:40.069 --> 00:29:42.470 that's get out of here while we still can. But they didn't get out. 294 00:29:44.509 --> 00:29:51.269 They stayed. Once more, Moses is commanded to lift up his staff 295 00:29:51.910 --> 00:29:56.180 over the waters. Verses Twenty Six through twenty eight, Pharaoh and his vaunted 296 00:29:56.339 --> 00:30:03.740 army are destroyed. No one, it says, there remained. Moses was 297 00:30:03.859 --> 00:30:11.289 the obedient mediator by his actions, but it was the Lord's doing. You 298 00:30:11.369 --> 00:30:15.410 See, the Lord had bound together the salvation he would bring about to the 299 00:30:15.609 --> 00:30:22.440 obedience of his servant Moses, so that as Moses obeyed, the people were 300 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:29.039 saved. It's extraordinary, but it is of course a picture, a very 301 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:33.839 good picture, of how God the Lis to save centers everywhere by means of 302 00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:38.269 the greater than Moses, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, 303 00:30:38.390 --> 00:30:44.150 Moses is often compared and contrasted in the Bible to Christ. I think 304 00:30:44.230 --> 00:30:47.950 First Hebrews, three verses one through six, that comes to mind. I 305 00:30:47.990 --> 00:30:52.900 think that's one good example. There Christ is counted worthy of more glory than 306 00:30:52.940 --> 00:30:56.980 Moses, says. There he's the mediator of a Better Covenant Than Moses. 307 00:30:57.460 --> 00:31:04.890 Christ's salvation is perfect and complete. Jesus didn't lift up a staff. Instead, 308 00:31:04.930 --> 00:31:11.329 he was himself lifted up, nailed to a cross, there to win, 309 00:31:11.450 --> 00:31:15.809 deliver it salvation for us. There at the Cross, God's victory over 310 00:31:15.970 --> 00:31:23.119 death and judgment was secured. are of people were ransom from every tribe and 311 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:32.839 language and nation. Their God acted and believing that we're saved, and so 312 00:31:34.390 --> 00:31:40.589 just as this passage focuses our eyes on the obedience of Moses? I think 313 00:31:40.670 --> 00:31:45.150 so. Also, the Gospel to which this passage points us, directs our 314 00:31:45.230 --> 00:31:51.500 gaze to the obedience of Jesus Christ, the mediator, whom God honors as 315 00:31:51.579 --> 00:31:56.980 he acts and gives us faith we are saved so quickly. Now let's look 316 00:31:56.980 --> 00:32:00.490 at this fourth thing in this text and versus, the last two verses, 317 00:32:00.609 --> 00:32:07.730 versus thirty and thirty, one, the Salvation God provides. Look there, 318 00:32:07.809 --> 00:32:10.210 those are important verses. You know, a couple of things stand out here 319 00:32:10.329 --> 00:32:15.529 for me. Maybe you see something else. First, did you catch the 320 00:32:15.609 --> 00:32:22.279 emphasis there in's Verse Thirty on the Divine Initiative? Thus the Lord saved Israel 321 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:28.839 that day I mentioned earlier. This is the theology of the exodus in a 322 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:35.710 nutshell. Here are the cliff notes on the book of Exodus. The Lord 323 00:32:35.950 --> 00:32:42.869 saved Israel, and he saves her completely, totally, to the uttermost. 324 00:32:43.430 --> 00:32:47.539 Now just look around the scene. There her enemies lay dead behind her, 325 00:32:50.779 --> 00:32:55.140 the promised land lay before her. Egypt, the powerful nation that had sought 326 00:32:55.140 --> 00:33:00.009 to drown the baby boys of Israel, had seen her vaunted army drowned instead. 327 00:33:02.009 --> 00:33:09.849 Now the situation was impossible. Much like Dunker, Israel had no hope 328 00:33:09.930 --> 00:33:17.079 of securing for herself and escape from the attack of these powerful Egyptian Panzer troops. 329 00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:24.640 Israel was doomed. Yet God ordered his own Operation Dynamo. He made 330 00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:35.789 a way, he saved Israel. It was unlikely, improbable, unlooked for. 331 00:33:36.069 --> 00:33:44.019 Even God saved Israel through the flood to safety. How unlikely is but 332 00:33:44.259 --> 00:33:49.140 you think about it, isn't that how we might also describe the cross? 333 00:33:51.180 --> 00:33:58.650 Unlikely, improbable, unlooked for, that God would use a cross, a 334 00:33:58.730 --> 00:34:07.609 Roman torture machine, and they're impale. His son, utterly rejected by everyone, 335 00:34:07.730 --> 00:34:15.679 this wretched, broken, unknown, denied, hated, mocked figure, 336 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:22.559 the savior of the world, that he would use the wounds of Christ to 337 00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:27.429 be the deliverer of everyone who came to him seeking mercy. Come on, 338 00:34:29.150 --> 00:34:37.349 not very likely. It's extraordinary, but that is precisely what happened. It's 339 00:34:37.389 --> 00:34:47.420 the divine initiative God using improbable means to accomplish mighty salvation. God has made 340 00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:57.849 away. He's made away by the wounds of his son, the how improbable 341 00:34:58.010 --> 00:35:02.650 is that? Well, the divine initiative makes it absolutely certain. So that's 342 00:35:02.690 --> 00:35:06.449 one thing. And then, secondly, in these concluding verses, I want 343 00:35:06.449 --> 00:35:12.280 you to notice the response here of the people. You know as exodus fourteen 344 00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:17.960 announces God's commitment to his own glory, his commitment to separating out for himself 345 00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:22.789 a people to sink from the world, his commitment to doing so by means 346 00:35:22.829 --> 00:35:27.789 of a mediator. Notice how the people respond there, in Verse Thirty One, 347 00:35:28.550 --> 00:35:31.670 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. So 348 00:35:31.829 --> 00:35:36.619 the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in the Servant 349 00:35:36.699 --> 00:35:42.099 Moses. And what that says to me, I think what instance say to 350 00:35:42.139 --> 00:35:45.900 you this second morning of the New Year is that seeing the salvation of the 351 00:35:45.980 --> 00:35:53.170 Lord should provoke a response. You can't be the same, surely, when 352 00:35:53.210 --> 00:35:59.769 you see this, when you see the this crucified man of Calvary, how 353 00:35:59.809 --> 00:36:05.119 can you be in change? It calls for a response. And what should 354 00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:08.159 that response be? As we you look ahead to I'm sure you know the 355 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:14.719 many uncertainties as you're going to surely continue to face this year, two thousand 356 00:36:14.760 --> 00:36:19.150 and twenty two and years to come. Well, respond like the Israelites. 357 00:36:20.309 --> 00:36:24.670 Fear in the Lord, believe in the Lord and in his servant, the 358 00:36:24.829 --> 00:36:30.389 Greater Than Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who can rescue 359 00:36:30.389 --> 00:36:35.860 you, the only one who can be your deliverer, the only one who 360 00:36:35.860 --> 00:36:40.300 can save you. It's to tremble before him, recognizing his majesty, his 361 00:36:40.460 --> 00:36:45.739 sovereignty, recognizing that if he does not ask act to rescue you, you 362 00:36:46.170 --> 00:36:54.929 will not be rescued. It's the tremble and reverend all, cast yourself completely, 363 00:36:54.969 --> 00:36:58.650 all your hopes, all your confidence, all your trust, all your 364 00:36:58.730 --> 00:37:02.880 faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the response, I think, to 365 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:07.800 which Jesus is calling all of us today as we sort of look into this 366 00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:17.510 murky future. So time to stop to January, two thousand and twenty two. 367 00:37:17.869 --> 00:37:22.909 What are marching orders as we move into the future? Two Thousand and 368 00:37:22.070 --> 00:37:31.260 twenty two, the glory God pursues. God is radically God's center and recognizing 369 00:37:31.420 --> 00:37:38.579 that, recognizing that can free us from the endlessly repeating loop of narcissism and 370 00:37:38.739 --> 00:37:45.809 self obsession to which our hearts instinctively incline. Get Out of the Savior Business, 371 00:37:45.570 --> 00:37:51.170 turn to Christ, the only one who can finish the deal. The 372 00:37:51.369 --> 00:37:58.679 division God creates. We are God's beloved people, to belong to the people 373 00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:01.519 of God is to live in the light, not to walk in darkness. 374 00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:06.719 You can't serve two masters. So in two thousand and twenty two walk in 375 00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:14.190 the light the mediator God honors. God has appointed Jesus Christ, his own 376 00:38:14.309 --> 00:38:19.510 son, by whose obedience and blood he has made a way, he's made 377 00:38:19.550 --> 00:38:24.869 a safe path for our deliverance. Lean into that this coming year. Walk 378 00:38:25.030 --> 00:38:30.300 that path. You'll be eternally safe if you do. And finally, the 379 00:38:30.380 --> 00:38:36.940 salvation that God provides. Salvation is God's gift of sheer grace to us. 380 00:38:37.659 --> 00:38:43.289 receive it, move out in holy fear and joyful faith, and I would 381 00:38:43.289 --> 00:38:46.809 pray that he would make a soul in every heart. This morning let's pray