1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,880 Hey, so when I was in fifth grade, I went to school at a in 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:10,240 Margate, which is a little suburb or subdivision in South 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,160 Florida. And the Lord moved us from 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:17,720 Florida to Texas, God's country. And I wish I could say that with 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,120 an honest face, but let's say I've been to South Florida. 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,880 But I remember our fifth grade trip, we went to a place called 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:30,440 Busch Gardens. Abby Busch Gardens is like the T 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,560 move version of Six Flags. Six Flags is way better. 9 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,920 But our fifth grade trip, we all went to Busch Gardens as a 10 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,440 class. And my friend Ralph, his dad was 11 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,080 the chaperone for our group. And it was all boys. 12 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,520 And Ralph and his dad are from New York. 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,800 So the swag's a little bit different and so is the 14 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,840 confrontation. And Ralph's dad would take us 15 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,600 and as we're going through Busch Gardens, he tells all of us he's 16 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:05,360 like we're going to ride Kumba. Kumba is the brand new roller 17 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:07,640 coaster. It has 6 loops. 18 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,320 I've never been on a roller coaster before, so I am 19 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,200 terrified. And I'm wondering in my mind, 20 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,040 can I tell this guy no? But the thing with Ralph's dad 21 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,080 is that he was so aggressive about it and he's like, we're 22 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,640 all riding Kumba. That's the first thing we're 23 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,360 going to do when we get there. So we're all riding. 24 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:29,520 We're all so you was like, all right, we're going. 25 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,680 And I am freaking out as we get closer and closer to Kumba 26 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,600 because I'm looking at the, you know, you see the the big drop 27 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,400 and you see the loops everywhere. 28 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:41,360 I've never been on a roller coaster. 29 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,200 So as we get closer, we're waiting in line. 30 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,360 He is hyping this thing up. He's like, yeah, we're man. 31 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:49,320 We're going on Kumba. We're going to do this together. 32 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,480 And I'm like, can I just leave? And I'm trying to think of an 33 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,880 escape plan because I don't want to go on this thing. 34 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,240 Then we finally get to the line where everybody sits down and 35 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,880 they strap you in. And one of the guys in the 36 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,600 group, and I remember his name was Jared because he was the one 37 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,840 talking the most trash. He ends up raising his hand and 38 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,360 he gets out and I'm like, oh, maybe I could do that. 39 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,400 And then Ralph's dad let's everybody know how much of A 40 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,520 punk Jared is. And he's like, Jared, you're, 41 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,120 you're dividing the group. We're all supposed to do this as 42 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:24,840 men. And he goes on and on. 43 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:26,160 And I was like, no, I'm not getting out. 44 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,840 So the ride starts. And the whole entire ride, as 45 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,520 we're going up, I am clinching this thing. 46 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,040 Like everything in my body is clinched. 47 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,720 I have my eyes closed like this. And the ride begins and the 48 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,640 whole entire ride, I have my eyes closed. 49 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,440 And then when the ride finally stops, I open my eyes and I'm 50 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,560 like, I'm not dead. And then we all get out and 51 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:52,000 every. And then Ralph's dad is like, 52 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,200 yeah, and he's high fiving all the guys. 53 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,000 And then I'm like, yeah, that was great. 54 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,480 And I'm so glad we did this. You know, like, just trying to 55 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,280 like, lie about terrified me. And I think sometimes when we 56 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,760 talk about the Christian life, when we talk about following 57 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,640 Jesus, there's times where we go to things and God's calling us 58 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:14,640 to things where we're like, I don't know if I want to do this. 59 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:18,400 Like this is terrifying. And then we get there and we 60 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,760 just clinch onto him as tight as possible and the next thing you 61 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:27,280 know it, you've completed it and you're like, oh, I didn't die. 62 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,840 I'm OK. It's actually not that bad. 63 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,800 This is actually pretty good. Let's do it again. 64 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,440 I mean, like that's kind of, I didn't say that, but that's kind 65 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,400 of how sometimes we feel. And I think sometimes following 66 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,240 God could be scary. Like, let's just be honest 67 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,200 because we are surrendering our plans, our lives, our dreams to 68 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:50,640 him. And we're like God. 69 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,240 I don't know if if what you're calling me to do, if this is how 70 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:55,480 it's going to work. OK. 71 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,120 Now what we're doing is we're we're wrapping up these next 72 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,880 couple of weeks, the whole series of Exodus. 73 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,280 Now, if you remember from last week, the Israelites get freed. 74 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,160 They are going, God leads them to the Red Sea. 75 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:14,440 They're kind of stuck between a rock and A and an ocean. 76 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,600 They turn around. They almost look like sitting 77 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,959 ducks to the Egyptians. Pharaoh changes his mind. 78 00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:23,720 He's like, hold on, why don't we let them go? 79 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:25,560 Which Pharaoh's just being Pharaoh. 80 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:30,800 And then Pharaoh decides to get 600 of his Chariots strapping 81 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,680 and let's go get our guys. Let's go get our people back. 82 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,640 So now the Israelites are there. They're thinking that they're 83 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:39,040 free. They see Pharaoh and all his 84 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,000 peeps coming down marching toward them. 85 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:43,080 And they're like, like Moses? What? 86 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,960 Like, what's going on? Like we, you brought us out here 87 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,600 to die. And then they start rehearsing 88 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:49,560 the speech. Like what? 89 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:51,800 We didn't want to come out here. Moses made us come out here 90 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:56,200 Pharaoh and all of this is going down and and and as I'm reading 91 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,360 the story, I'm like, I can't imagine what it's like for the 92 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:05,000 Israelites to leave bondage. See all the things of God times 93 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,720 following God could get a little bit crazy like we don't under 94 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:14,280 God LED them to this place. And I was like 5 little 95 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:17,920 observations I want to give us as we, as we get close to the 96 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,600 end of this journey. And what I want us to know is 97 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,000 point number one, I'll put on the screen. 98 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,520 We're just going to start right off the bat. 99 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:26,680 Don't miss the place because of the path. 100 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,000 Don't miss the place that that God is trying to lead us just 101 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,280 because the path is not the path that we thought it was going to 102 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:37,000 look like the Israelites got freed from Egypt. 103 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:40,680 And instead of going in a specific direction to get to the 104 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,480 promised land, which is Canaan, which God didn't want to take 105 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,960 them that way because of the Philistines, God takes them in a 106 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,560 way different path, almost like he's dangling a carrot in front 107 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:54,320 of Pharaoh saying, come get your people. 108 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:59,440 So the Israelites end up in this place where they're like, God, 109 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:04,040 you let us here to kill us. Like, how's this going to work? 110 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:09,440 But remember also we talked about God's Providence and God's 111 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:14,040 sovereign decrees and God's omnipresence and who he is. 112 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:19,640 God has picked this path for the Israelites to make sure that His 113 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:26,080 perfect will is executed and His perfect will is not freeing the 114 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,720 Israelites. His perfect will is pointing 115 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:34,040 everything to the Savior who's Jesus and the Red Sea in this 116 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:37,080 departing of the Red Sea. And the way the Israelites get 117 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:42,680 freed through the Red Sea is, is a big beautiful picture of what 118 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:48,240 the gospel looks like. So God uses a different type of 119 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:53,120 path for the people of Israel in order to get them to the place 120 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,240 that he has purposefully picked for them. 121 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,800 And I think sometimes for some of us is like we're following 122 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,960 God and we want to, we want to do what he's asked to, but the 123 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,200 path is not the path that we would have chosen. 124 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:10,200 And God is going to take you to a path that's going to not test 125 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,080 your faith, but strengthen your faith. 126 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:15,680 And He's going to use that path to mold you. 127 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,920 And He's going to use that path to build the bigger story and 128 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:25,640 the bigger picture of His will. So we want to align our lives 129 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,360 with His will. We have to follow where He takes 130 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,520 us. And what ends up happening is 131 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:36,040 many believers bail out because the path is not what they 132 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,000 expect. So they miss out on the place. 133 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,840 I would even say they miss out on the purpose and the person of 134 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,120 Jesus just because it's not what I thought. 135 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,200 So God is moving the Israelites and this is where I want to pick 136 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:51,640 up. Look at verse 19 and Exodus 137 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:53,720 chapter 14. And this is what the word of the 138 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:58,360 Lord says. Then the Angel of God, who had 139 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:03,000 been travelling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went 140 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,400 behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved 141 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:12,360 from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies 142 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,400 of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night, the cloud 143 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:21,480 brought darkness to one side and light to the other side. 144 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,120 So neither went near the other all night long. 145 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,600 Man, those are some powerful verses right there. 146 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:32,679 And what we see here, what I, what I thought was interesting 147 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:37,880 in verse 19, it says that the Angel of the Lord went from 148 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:44,280 behind to back, but then it says that the pillar, the cloud move 149 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:49,720 from the front to the back, but it says that it stood behind 150 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:51,520 them. How in the world does a cloud 151 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,000 stand in language that's called personification. 152 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,240 It's like saying, man, the sun watched us all day. 153 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:02,520 How in the world but but but the author uses the word stood that 154 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:07,320 which is a military term, like he stood in defense of that 155 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:11,120 means it stood watching to make sure that you're going to be OK. 156 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,200 And what we see here is that this is what we call a 157 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,720 Christophany. Many scholars believe that this 158 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,960 is Christ. And what I want us to understand 159 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:27,840 too is that Jesus, God, doesn't only guide us, but God also 160 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:31,280 defends us. So that means that if God is 161 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:36,440 guiding you to a place, if God is taking you somewhere, he's 162 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,680 also going to be defending you as you go to that place. 163 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,440 If God is our defender, if God is going to guide us, why do we 164 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,120 worry? We need to point #2 what do we 165 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,360 see about our God? The Lord guides, but also He 166 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,320 defends His people. And think about this, if that's 167 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,560 true, if God is our defender, if God is the defender of his 168 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:01,560 people. Now understand what I just said. 169 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,920 His people, those who belong to him, all of us are made in the 170 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:10,880 image of God. But only those who put their 171 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,640 faith in Christ belong to him. He's talking about those who put 172 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:19,720 their faith in Him. So if God is our defender and 173 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,440 we're going through some difficult times, imagine 174 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:24,880 everything that He's been blocking you from. 175 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,360 What if He lifted his hand and just let everything come at you, 176 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,040 man? The Lord is our shield, our 177 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,680 rock. The Lord is in our defense. 178 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:40,520 And what God does here is so cool because He creates A 179 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:44,120 boundary between Israel and His people. 180 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,920 So the Egyptian army, who is bum rushing the Israelites, he's 181 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,640 putting protection on them. Imagine if the Egyptians all if 182 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:56,520 they would have just said, Oh, the Lord is in here, we're going 183 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:58,960 to bow and we're going to go ahead and and just repent. 184 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,480 It would have been a different story for them, but they didn't. 185 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:04,640 And then how else do we see that? 186 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,960 This is a picture of Christ, John 1. 187 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,920 If you want to look it up in your Bibles we're going to read 188 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,760 John 1 verses one through 5 if not open on the screen. 189 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:21,040 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 190 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:24,360 the Word was God. He was with God in the 191 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:26,760 beginning. Through Him all things were 192 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:30,320 made. Without Him nothing was made 193 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:34,240 that has been made. In Him was life and that life 194 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,640 was the what lights of all mankind. 195 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,880 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not 196 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,160 overcome it. Listen, when Jesus shows up, the 197 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,440 darkness has to run. Jesus is the light of the world 198 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,120 and there is nothing that the that the darkness can overcome. 199 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,080 So what we see here is a beautiful picture of the people 200 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:01,080 of God, how God is shining His light on them, and the Egyptians 201 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:04,280 are kept in the dark of everything that God is doing. 202 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,440 I like to see, I like how Paul puts it, the gospel is 203 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,160 foolishness to everyone who's perishing. 204 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:14,720 So what God is doing is like when Jesus shows up, I'm light 205 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,560 to my people. Darkness has to flee, Darkness 206 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:22,720 stays where darkness belongs. But when Jesus shows up, the 207 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,080 darkness has to go. So he came in between the camp 208 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,120 of the Egyptians and the Israelites. 209 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:34,160 They didn't know it, but God's presence was separating both 210 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:38,240 sides of the great picture of the glory of God and the work of 211 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:42,240 God, which can be light, and then also our sinful nature, 212 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,960 which is dark. There is a separation because 213 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,560 God is holy and righteous. Jesus is the light of the world, 214 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,320 and sin is the darkness. Man, it's a beautiful picture of 215 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,200 what we're seeing here. Now let's keep tracking. 216 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,600 Look at verse 21. So what happens? 217 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,000 A lot of us have seen the movies, but there's a few 218 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,880 details. I think that the movies missed 219 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:10,200 verse 21, that Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and 220 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:15,480 all that night the Lord drove back to sea with a strong E wind 221 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:21,320 and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided and the 222 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:26,840 Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of 223 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,640 water on their right and on their left. 224 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,960 So I know when we see the story, it's Moses holds out his his 225 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,480 staff and the water's like and then Charlton Heston walks right 226 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,400 through it. But understand what this is 227 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,120 saying. He said when Moses held his hand 228 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:47,960 up because God told him and it says that a strong E wind, the 229 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:55,080 wind came in blue and the waters opened up a translation, a 230 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,000 better translation is, is the breath of God the rock, what we 231 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,320 see in Genesis 1, how it filled the earth. 232 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,440 So this wind comes and it's and then the word divided in verse 233 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:11,920 21 means like it cut it in half. It's like taking a sword and 234 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,520 slicing something. So that means like when when 235 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:20,680 Moses put his hand up, it was almost immediately the water 236 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,240 just went. And then there's a detail here 237 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,280 that many of us must pay attention to. 238 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:31,960 I would say all of us should. It says that they walked on what 239 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,400 dry ground? Now, I don't know how all I 240 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:37,880 like. I've taken science before 241 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,840 anything with water. There might be some after 242 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,480 effects even after it rains and it's a beautiful day outside. 243 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:51,080 There's still some a little bit of water here and there, but not 244 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:55,760 in the sea. What we know about the Red Sea 245 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,760 is in Hebrew, it's called Yamshoff, which means the read 246 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,680 sea. And when you study the text and 247 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:05,600 when you look at the geography of it, the Reed Sea, they were 248 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:10,360 saying that it was probably about 10 to 15 feet deep of the 249 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:12,240 water. But then we also see in Psalms 250 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:18,160 chapter 77, David the psalmist gives an even crazier 251 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,480 description of what happened. I'll read it for us. 252 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:26,160 Psalm 77, verse 16. The water saw you, God, the 253 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:31,600 water saw you, and they rise. The very depths were convulsed, 254 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:37,000 The clouds poured down water. The heavens sat resounded with 255 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,960 Thunder. Your arrows flashback and forth. 256 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,200 Your Thunder was heard, and the whirlwind we are lightning lit 257 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,480 up the world. Your path LED through the sea, 258 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:52,040 your way through the mighty waters, through your footprint. 259 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:54,880 Though their footprints were not seen. 260 00:15:55,080 --> 00:16:00,600 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. 261 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,680 What is the the author saying in Psalms? 262 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,120 He's giving a description of what that day looked like. 263 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:09,520 So it wasn't just a, a wind boom. 264 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:11,440 And it opened up. He's saying like there was 265 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,560 Thunder, there was lightning, there might have been some rain. 266 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,880 And I'm reading this. And then at the end of Psalms, 267 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,480 it even says, hey, but they walked on dry land. 268 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:26,320 How there's there's water on each side and yet they're dry 269 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,840 land. Which leads me to point #3 dry 270 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,080 land means no mud. Why is that so important? 271 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,600 Because the thing with mud is that mud leads prints. 272 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,480 When Elena and Livie play outside, you know, we're 90s 273 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:40,440 parents. So we let our kids roll around 274 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:43,320 in dirt, play in the rain, play in the snow. 275 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,520 But when they come inside, you see these perfect little tracks 276 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:49,720 all the way to the bathroom of Muddy Feet. 277 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,200 You see what happens is that mud leaves tracks. 278 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,080 And what tracks point to is that tracks point to your past, 279 00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,320 tracks point to what you just came out of. 280 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:04,440 And why is this so important? Because the Red Sea is a symbol 281 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,359 of the Gospel. And if the Israelites are going 282 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:12,040 to make it across the Red Sea, they're not going to be able to 283 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,079 look back and see where they came from because God has taken 284 00:17:15,079 --> 00:17:17,880 them to a new place. He's taken them to the promised 285 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:19,640 land. Guys, it's the same thing with 286 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,400 us. When Jesus heals us, when Jesus 287 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,119 forgives our sins, there is no track of our sin. 288 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,960 Do you understand that the Bible says that God throws us as far 289 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:34,160 as the east is from the West to the depths of the ocean. 290 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,000 So when my sin is forgiven, I don't go to God and be like, 291 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000 well, God, you remember what I did three years ago. 292 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:41,760 God's been like, what are you talking about? 293 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,440 The blood of Christ covered you. I, I don't know what, what sin 294 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,160 you're talking about. So if God does not remind us of 295 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,960 our sin, then why do we do that? Guys, we have been forgiven and 296 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:57,760 cleared. We need to stop looking back at 297 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:58,960 our Prince. Wait a second. 298 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,840 But if it's a representation of the gospel, there are no prints. 299 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,760 So where does that come from? So we're looking back, thinking 300 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:11,280 about the past, but there's no evidence because the blood of 301 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,800 Christ has cleaned us. That means that we are to look 302 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,920 forward to Him. We always to go to Him. 303 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:23,200 Mud means no dry ground. Mud leaves tracks behind. 304 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:28,280 Also, mud stain, even after you wash your clothes, there's still 305 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:33,120 stains that stay on it. But also, dry ground means 306 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:36,280 supernatural work from God. There was absolutely nothing 307 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,280 that the Israelites could do to save themselves from bondage. 308 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,360 Only God can do that. And it's the same thing with our 309 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,240 sin. Listen, there's nothing you and 310 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,880 I can do in order for us to become right with God and in 311 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:51,520 order for us to be forgiven of our sin. 312 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:56,240 Jesus does all that. So our role is we put our faith 313 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,160 in Christ, we trust him and we and we ask for the forgiveness 314 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,640 of our sins. And because Jesus died on the 315 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,360 cross and rose again on the third day, he is mighty to save. 316 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,320 I am cleansed. No more tracks, no more looking 317 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,680 back, no more pointing to my past. 318 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:15,760 Everything now is pointing toward him. 319 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:20,680 So if some of us need to let it go, cut it. 320 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,240 And we're going to see how God cuts it because it's actually 321 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:26,240 pretty interesting. Look at verse 23. 322 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,440 So all the Egyptians are moving, right? 323 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,920 Like the cloud, like Jesus standing there and all his 324 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:34,360 glory. He's shining his light. 325 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:38,480 I mean, a lot of scholars say it probably took like 10 hours for 326 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,040 all of the Israelites to cross the sea. 327 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:46,200 In verse 23, the Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's 328 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:50,680 horses and Chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 329 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,520 That's not a good idea. But they were like, let's go get 330 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,640 him. During the last watch of the 331 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:02,200 night, the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at 332 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:06,040 the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 333 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:10,440 The cloud represents the presence of God, and God is 334 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,040 there and he's watching everything go down. 335 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,520 Because God is our defender, not just our guide and the way God 336 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:23,040 works because we think. Defense needs to look a certain 337 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:29,120 way is that God allowed the Egyptians to come all the way 338 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:31,440 into the ocean. So the Israelites are freaking 339 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,240 out right now. How does He confuse them? 340 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,760 Look at verse 25. He jammed their wheels. 341 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,480 He jammed the wheels of their Chariots so that they had 342 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:46,160 difficulty driving. You see the Egyptians, they use 343 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,400 their Chariots as weapons. I mean, these were like tanks. 344 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,720 If you look at any type of warfare in that time, man, 345 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:57,640 Chariots were used as the the main weapon of warfare, 346 00:20:58,120 --> 00:20:59,760 especially they were built from metal. 347 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:04,160 But you see, what God did was God disarm their weapon because 348 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,560 no weapon formed against you will proper. 349 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,640 Even when you see people come at you, you continue to trust the 350 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,000 Lord. It might look like man, they're 351 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,080 getting kind of close. Things are getting a little 352 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:19,640 hard, but what God does is he throws it into confusion and now 353 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:24,200 there's jammed, they're stuck, they can't move, they're having 354 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:28,560 difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said let's get 355 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,280 away from the Israelites. The Lord is fighting for them 356 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,800 against Egypt. When something normal becomes 357 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,440 very difficult, something as normal as riding a chariot 358 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,720 becomes extremely difficult and God's not in something, or when 359 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,440 God is fighting something, something that should be normal 360 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,520 becomes extremely difficult. It doesn't make sense. 361 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:56,640 Because God's Providence and His sovereign decrees, we got to 362 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,960 learn to trust His promises. Now all this is happening. 363 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,520 The morning watch is between 2:00 and 6:00 AM. 364 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,520 So that means that the Israelites, all the Israelites 365 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:15,960 cross the Red Sea by about 6:00 AM sunrise on the third day. 366 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,960 When you look at the calendar of this, it all lines up of when 367 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:27,440 they were able to make it. And in verse 26 and the Lord 368 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:31,240 said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea so that the 369 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:36,400 waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their Chariots and 370 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:41,360 horsemen. God told Moses to do something 371 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,920 with his hand connected to the motion of of the sea. 372 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,960 We know it's not the power of Moses. 373 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:56,240 We know that it was God working through Moses to close the sea 374 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,920 on the Egyptians. Moses stretched out his hand 375 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:03,800 over the sea, and at Daybreak the sea went back to its place. 376 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,880 The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept 377 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,680 them into the sea. The water flowed back and 378 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:16,000 covered the Chariots and horsemen, the entire army of 379 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:21,240 Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea, and no 380 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,280 one, not one of them, survived. Which leads me to point #4 381 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:30,920 listen, when when we allow the Lord to work, the oppressor is 382 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:34,200 no more. No more oppressor. 383 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:40,280 That means that the oppressor no longer has power over the 384 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,400 Egyptians. Why did God have to do this? 385 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,880 A lot of like man, Why did God have to take out the whole army? 386 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,960 Why did God have to do all this? Because the truth is, oppressed 387 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,600 people are slow to believe that they're free while their 388 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,360 oppressors are still alive. You can look all through 389 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:01,440 history. If I know that the person who 390 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,760 oppressed me is still alive, that means that in my mind 391 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,400 there's still a little bit of a chance that they're going to 392 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,720 come and bring me back to that time and place. 393 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:16,640 But God wanted Israel to know that their oppressors are dead. 394 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:18,880 That means that they are completely free. 395 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,560 He doesn't just drown them in the ocean or in the water. 396 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,480 He doesn't just close the sea on them. 397 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,280 The Bible then says that when the Israelites saw the hand of 398 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,680 the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the 399 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,160 Lord and they put their trust in him and and in Moses his 400 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,360 servant. That means they saw the 401 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:41,920 Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 402 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:48,040 Israelites looked out and all the the Egyptians that were 403 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:52,520 chasing them are now in the water and now their bodies are 404 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:56,280 washing up. It's funny that in the beginning 405 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,600 of this whole story, Pharaoh started by throwing babies in 406 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:06,280 denial, and God uses the same judgment to destroy his army, 407 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,480 and the evidence of all that now is washing up on shore in front 408 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:15,640 of Pharaoh. Guys, the oppressor is now gone. 409 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,800 So even when the enemy comes to remind you of your sin, you no 410 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:24,080 longer have to be a slave to that sin because God has wiped 411 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,280 it. He's even showing you like man, 412 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:31,760 look, that thing has no power or hold over you ever again because 413 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:33,960 of the blood of Christ. So you can just say in Jesus 414 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,360 name, stop and it stops. So you don't have to walk around 415 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:41,080 in life thinking like, I'm always going to be a slave to 416 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:42,680 this sin. There's no way. 417 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:44,560 Listen, God wants you to be healed. 418 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,400 He wants you to be well. We talked about this at our 419 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:52,280 men's retreat, but it's up to us to trust Him and listen. 420 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:57,680 Moses with everything that God did, is showing the people 421 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:02,320 evidence that there is no more pressors in their life. 422 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:08,360 And in verse 31, and when the Israelites saw the mighty hand 423 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,320 of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared 424 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:17,360 the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. 425 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,160 The last thing I'll say is this true freedom. 426 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,880 If the Israelites would have been freed and the Egyptians not 427 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,360 dealt with, Pharaoh was never going to leave them alone. 428 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,920 Pharaoh was always going to come back to the Israelites. 429 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,360 They were never going to experience true freedom knowing 430 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,480 that the thing that oppressed them was still out there. 431 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,880 So what God had to do was God had to take him in a different 432 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,440 path because He had a greater purpose. 433 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:52,520 And that purpose was to do a supernatural work to eliminate 434 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:57,680 the very thing that oppressed the Israelites, to drive them to 435 00:26:57,680 --> 00:26:59,800 the promised land. And in order for them to 436 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:05,760 experience true freedom, they had to see that the oppressor 437 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,440 was dealt with. How do we know that we 438 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:13,280 experience true freedom? It says in verse 31, how do I 439 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:15,680 know that I've been truly forgiven? 440 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:21,960 I fear the Lord. I trust him, and then I also 441 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:27,280 trust in his servant Moses. But you see, the Bible says that 442 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,120 the Messiah Jesus is the greater Moses. 443 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:35,960 So I don't just trust the Lord, I trust the Son of God who is 444 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:40,200 Christ. When you become free, you walk 445 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:44,000 in a way that you fear the Lord, like he's powerful, he's holy 446 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,040 and he's righteous and I'm not. So I'm going to fear the Lord. 447 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,560 I'm not sure forgiveness. I'm going to, I'm going to keep 448 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,480 his commands. I'm going to follow him. 449 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:56,240 My, I'm not going to be perfect, nobody here is, but I'm going to 450 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,240 fear it and I'm going to trust him because I know that he has 451 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,000 what's best for me. And then I'm going to follow 452 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:06,000 Christ came down and set me free. 453 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:10,400 Guys, the Red Sea is a picture of the gospel. 454 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,720 You had to go through dry ground, no tracks. 455 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:18,160 Same way that I've been forgiven of my sin. 456 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:21,920 The oppressor is no more. The sin that has held me in 457 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,360 bondage is no more. It's over, has no more power 458 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:29,840 over my life. And because I'm truly free, I'm 459 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,120 going to trust him. I'm going to do what he says, 460 00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:36,440 fear the Lord, and I'm going to look to Christ because Christ is 461 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,240 the only one who saves us. Last thing I'll say about this. 462 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,920 You know what's interesting about this text? 463 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,360 Pharaoh was left with nothing. Pharaoh stood there and watched 464 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,840 the power of the Lord take out his army. 465 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:53,280 God gave Pharaoh exactly what he wanted because Pharaoh thought 466 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,000 he was one of the little gods. Pharaoh was left with nothing. 467 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,520 Egypt is a disaster zone. His first born died, so it means 468 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,560 his legacy is gone. All his slaves that he thought 469 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,600 were his gone, all his army, everything gone. 470 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,920 And I could imagine Pharaoh in his heart and heart watching 471 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:17,000 this whole thing take place, probably feeling and the God of 472 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,000 the Israelites, he's got to be real. 473 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:26,720 Listen, when you refuse to follow the Lord, when you refuse 474 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,920 to say yes to Christ, what God does is God gives you exactly 475 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,280 what you want and it is a life without him. 476 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:39,280 We say heaven is not a place for good people and hell is not a 477 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,200 place for bad people. Heaven is a place for people who 478 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,120 want Jesus, and hell is a place for people who don't want him. 479 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,960 If I want Jesus, I want to give my life to him. 480 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,440 I'm going to trust him. I'm going to follow him. 481 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,520 If I don't want Christ, if I don't want nothing to do with 482 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,680 God, he's going to let that happen. 483 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:00,000 It's going to give you over to your sin. 484 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,920 That's Romans one. But here's what's going to 485 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:03,520 happen. You're going to get to a place 486 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:06,520 where you hit rock bottom and you're going to look up and 487 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,000 you're going to need a savior like fair. 488 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:11,920 You're going to look around and you're just going to see God 489 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,680 working all around you and you're going to have to make a 490 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,920 decision. Do I follow the one true God?