1 00:00:06,710 --> 00:00:10,350 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:10,350 --> 00:00:14,230 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:14,230 --> 00:00:17,310 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:17,310 --> 00:00:21,550 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:21,590 --> 00:00:25,350 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message. 6 00:00:26,630 --> 00:00:30,150 We are continuing on. We're in the middle of Exodus 7 00:00:30,190 --> 00:00:31,430 and it's about to get really good. 8 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:35,880 If you've, if you've read ahead, well, not that it wasn't good 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,000 already, but like that now we're now we're getting to like we're 10 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,320 getting to some fighting and some wars and some, some danger. 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:51,760 So it's exciting. We are in Exodus Chapter 14 this 12 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,360 morning. Before we get there last week we 13 00:00:55,360 --> 00:01:00,760 focused on Pastor Chris taught on the the final plague the the 14 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,599 Passover happening and and the killing of the first born those 15 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:07,680 that were not covered by the blood of the lamb those 16 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,280 households that were not protected the first borns of the 17 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,400 Egyptians. Pharaoh was so distraught at the 18 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,440 loss of his son that he finally relented and said, okay, Yup, 19 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,000 Moses, take your pesty people with you, get them out of my 20 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,120 Kingdom. Go, we don't need you. 21 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:26,840 We'll, we'll set your people free. 22 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:29,480 They're wandering in the wilderness. 23 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,960 The Israelites leave and there's there's this really kind of kind 24 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:35,640 of extra thing that we're going to have to talk about. 25 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:37,640 Pastor Chris and I are going to have to talk about on the 26 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,920 podcast tomorrow about these pillars of cloud and fire that 27 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,320 are that are guiding the Israelites through the 28 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:49,600 wilderness, a pillar of smoke by day and A and a pillar of fire 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,520 by night. We're, we're going to get into 30 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,000 that a little bit later, even at the end of the message here, 31 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,600 because Paul in the New Testament even references back 32 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,920 to this story as kind of the foundations of God's people. 33 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:02,920 But we're not going to focus on that today. 34 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,400 I just, I just want to put it in there as a marker that they are, 35 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,560 they're wandering. They're, they're kind of not 36 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,800 aimlessly, but they're out there. 37 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,840 We're, we're talking a few 100,000 people here wandering 38 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:16,440 out in the middle of nowhere trying to figure out where 39 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,280 they're going. Lots of logistics. 40 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:25,480 All the things Pharaoh, the the remorse, the pain of the death 41 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:27,960 of his son did not last very long. 42 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,520 He realized what they lost, what they gave up. 43 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,000 This was a huge part of their economy, even this this free 44 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,200 slave labor that they were having from these Hebrews, this 45 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,800 nation of Israel. He changes his mind once again 46 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,200 and we're going to see this phrase in this text in Exodus 14 47 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:50,280 of of God hardened his heart. That's that's going to sound 48 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,040 because it does say the Lord, it says God hardened his heart 49 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:58,000 against God. We should take that as a as a 50 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:03,680 warning, all these plagues, God showed himself and his power to 51 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,920 the people of Egypt, to the king of Egypt. 52 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,200 And Pharaoh kept saying, no, no, no, no, I don't see it. 53 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,920 I don't want to see it. I don't want to be reasoned into 54 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,320 it. And God gave him what he wanted. 55 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,000 He had pitted his heart against God. 56 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,840 And God said, OK, I'm going to work all things together for 57 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,240 good, for the good of those who love me. 58 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:35,120 And you don't love me. You have decided, Pharaoh, to 59 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:39,000 harden your own heart, to turn yourself against me. 60 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,440 That's how it's going to be. And you're not going to like how 61 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:49,520 that turns out for you, Pharaoh. That's where we are. 62 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,680 Pharaoh's changed his mind, gets together a group of Chariots and 63 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,280 soldiers and they're chasing the Israelites down. 64 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,920 We're going to pick up in Exodus chapter 14, there are Bibles 65 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:04,960 under the seats in front of you, some red hardback ones. 66 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,840 Again, like Christian said before, if you need a Bible or 67 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,480 know someone who needs a Bible, we have. 68 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,480 We have large print ones, kids ones, regular ones out there. 69 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,960 Please take a Bible with you today on the bottom shelf out 70 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:23,400 there on the way out. For now, we are in Exodus 14. 71 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,760 We're going to pick up at verse 5. 72 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,000 Can you guys switch the screen for me? 73 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:41,160 That would be great. When the king of Egypt was told 74 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:45,520 that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants 75 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,520 was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we 76 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,840 have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 77 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:55,840 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took 78 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:59,360 600 chosen Chariots and all the other Chariots of Egypt, with 79 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:03,520 officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart 80 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:07,680 of Pharaoh king of Egypt. When Pharaoh drew near, the 81 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,080 people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians 82 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,840 were marching after them, and they feared greatly, And the 83 00:05:13,840 --> 00:05:15,400 people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 84 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:19,880 They said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in 85 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,840 Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? 86 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,160 What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 87 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,160 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? 88 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,480 Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have 89 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:37,120 been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the 90 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,680 wilderness. And Moses said to the people, 91 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,680 Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he 92 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:49,000 will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today you 93 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,040 shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and 94 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,440 you have only to be silent. The Lord said to Moses, why do 95 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,560 you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go 96 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,120 forward, Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the 97 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:05,600 sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through 98 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,280 the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of 99 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:11,320 the Egyptians so that they go in after them. 100 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:15,120 And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, his 101 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,520 Chariots and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know 102 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,840 that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his 103 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:26,280 Chariots, and his horsemen. Then Moses stretched out his 104 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:29,200 hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong E 105 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,680 wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were 106 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,440 divided. The people of Israel went into 107 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,320 the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall 108 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,520 to them on their right hand and on their left. 109 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:43,720 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of 110 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,440 the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his Chariots, and his horsemen. 111 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,280 And in the morning watch the Lord. 112 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:51,760 And the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the 113 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:56,040 Egyptian forces and through the Egyptian forces into a panic, 114 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,360 clogging their chariot wheels, so that they drove heavily. 115 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,560 And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from before Israel, for the 116 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,640 Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. 117 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,400 Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the 118 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:11,680 sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon 119 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:13,200 their Chariots, and upon their horsemen. 120 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,080 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea 121 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:18,880 returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. 122 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,880 And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians 123 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,320 into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered 124 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,160 the Chariots and the horsemen. Of all the hosts of Pharaoh that 125 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,000 had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 126 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,000 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, 127 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,720 the waters being a wall to them on the right hand and on their 128 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,440 left. And thus the Lord saved Israel 129 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:44,320 that day from the hand of the Egyptians. 130 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:48,160 And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 131 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,600 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the 132 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,360 Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord, 133 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,680 and they believed in the Lord and His servant Moses. 134 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:12,720 This is the word of God. There's a great theme of fear, 135 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:21,680 not only in this passage, but I would argue gripping our society 136 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:33,000 and our world even today. Fear is something that populates 137 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:36,960 our minds. Is, is is crippling to some, 138 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:44,320 mostly because we all fear something. 139 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,200 There might be some of you in here like I'm a man, I don't, I 140 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:49,960 don't fear anything. I ain't afraid of nothing. 141 00:08:54,320 --> 00:09:00,800 On some level. Even the most capable, if if you 142 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:07,280 think about it correctly, even the most capable among us, my 143 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:11,280 mind goes, goes to Elon Musk. This guy, this guy's got his 144 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:13,680 sights set in the universe, man. There's, there's like nothing 145 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:20,560 that he feels like is out of his reach, but definitely eternal 146 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:24,400 life. He can't make, buy, create, 147 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:28,360 invent his way to eternal life. And at some point, if he doesn't 148 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:33,040 already, he's going to come face to face with that fear that he 149 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,440 doesn't have an answer for eternal life and he can't do it 150 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,240 in and of himself. So even the most capable, 151 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:43,200 confident, brave, courageous of us, we all fear something. 152 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:50,040 Some of us fear a lot of things. By the end of this message, I 153 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,200 hope to convince you that there's only one thing that we 154 00:09:53,200 --> 00:10:01,200 should rightly fear, and that is the Lord God Almighty Yahweh who 155 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:14,920 fights for us. Something we should fear, the 156 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:20,240 hardening of our hearts. We see this phrase in this 157 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:23,760 story. We see it throughout the Bible. 158 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:25,520 Really. God giving them up. 159 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:28,840 Even in the New Testament, God gave them up to the desires of 160 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:30,400 their flesh. Those that were rebelling, 161 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:33,440 rebelling against him, participating in sexual 162 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,760 immorality. God gave them up to the lusts of 163 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:44,120 their flesh. If we repeatedly choose the 164 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:52,280 things that are opposed to God over him, well, that's where our 165 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,800 hearts are. And God wants our hearts. 166 00:10:57,520 --> 00:10:59,320 I heard something from a psychologist this week. 167 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:03,880 I'm not, I'm not sure where he got it from, but he said the 168 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,840 phrase wherever you go in crisis, that's where your Christ 169 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:15,480 is. When you panic, when you fear, 170 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,200 what do you run to? Do you run to social media to 171 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,360 see other people's misfortunes or just to compare your life to 172 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:25,840 theirs and feel better about yourself? 173 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:33,960 Do you run to a bottle? Do you run to pornography or or 174 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:43,400 inappropriate relationships? What you run to in crisis is 175 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:48,760 where your Christ is and if we are constantly a people of fear, 176 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:55,800 we are constantly in crisis. If we're not running to God, 177 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:02,560 what are we running to? If we continually run to it 178 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:07,160 instead of God, it's like a callus that built builds up on 179 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,640 your hands. We've, we've, we've built a 180 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:16,280 barrier between our lives and God hardening our own hearts and 181 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,440 God giving us up to those desires, to those things that we 182 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:25,640 run to in crisis instead of him. This is the dilemma for the 183 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,960 people of Israel and this is the dilemma for us today. 184 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,040 They were in slavery. They were in captivity for 185 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,440 hundreds of years, for generations. 186 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:40,880 That doesn't sound like a good time. 187 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:49,720 And yet, when faced with the fear, when faced with a sea 188 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:54,880 before them and an army behind them, where did they run in 189 00:12:54,880 --> 00:13:00,000 crisis? They ran to fear. 190 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:03,600 It would be better to serve the Egyptians. 191 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:11,240 It would be better to go back to these oppressive lives in 192 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:17,400 captivity as slaves than to die here in the wilderness. 193 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:20,120 I'm not going to read through the whole thing again right now, 194 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,920 but a fun exercise for you, for you later. 195 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,880 Anytime in this passage in chapter 14 that you see the word 196 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:38,800 Egypt or Egyptians, replace it with fear, replace it with sin. 197 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:48,840 Behold, there's sin marching after them, and they feared 198 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,720 greatly. Is this not what we said to you, 199 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:57,520 Moses, in our sin? Leave us alone that we may serve 200 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,640 our sin. It would have been better for us 201 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:05,800 to serve our sin than to die here in the wilderness. 202 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:18,280 The the, the Israelites had a dilemma before them that faces 203 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:23,400 many of you here today. Too many of you, that revival 204 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,560 that I was talking about before, many of you. 205 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:31,640 This, this Jesus thing that winds starting to get strong 206 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,080 again, that fire starting to burn, maybe brightly for the 207 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,600 first time, may maybe in a new way. 208 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,720 Maybe you've got a new fresh, fired up understanding of what 209 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,440 it means to follow Christ. This was the freedom the 210 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,800 Israelites were entering into. There were new lies ahead of 211 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:50,640 them. There was exciting our gods 212 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:53,520 bring us to the promised land, life ahead of them. 213 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,600 And the first obstacle they encounter, that old life that 214 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,080 they left behind, is chasing them down and running after 215 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:07,240 them, and they're ready to go back to it. 216 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:16,080 They're ready to walk into the open arms of this life of fear 217 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:22,920 and sin and death only because they're not sure. 218 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,520 They're not convinced that God can do it. 219 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:34,480 That's faith, right? There's some unknown in there. 220 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,360 And when the Israelites were faced with that, they thought it 221 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,560 was safer to run back to what they knew. 222 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:49,480 They were sure that that life was oppression and captivity and 223 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:56,720 slavery and sin, but they knew what it was, and that was safer 224 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,120 than the unknown of what God had in store for them. 225 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,400 Their faith was lacking. And for us, I think it's the 226 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,680 same. How does this work for us today? 227 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,560 Each and every one of these 10 commandments. 228 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,240 Now don't hear what I'm not saying. 229 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,120 Jesus came as the fulfillment of the law and really re 230 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:23,000 established the law into into two things, love God and love 231 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,120 people, right. We we have that re established 232 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:28,440 relationship. Jesus is the fulfillment of the 233 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:32,520 law, not to not to enforce it and hold it over our heads, but 234 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,040 to be a sacrifice once and and for all to fulfill it. 235 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,120 These 10 commandments still a pretty good blueprint on how to 236 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,160 live your life. It's still God's word. 237 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,320 It's still his commandments in his direction. 238 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:50,200 Each and every one of these sins is rooted in fear. 239 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,240 When we break each and every one of these commandments, it's 240 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:56,960 rooted in fear. Thou shalt have no other gods 241 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:00,920 before me. God, I don't, I don't feel you 242 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:02,240 right now. And I'm, I'm afraid that you're 243 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,720 not here. So I'm going to drown. 244 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:07,720 I'm going to drown myself on Instagram. 245 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,560 I'm going to drown myself in this hobby. 246 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,880 I'm going to put this thing before you because I'm afraid 247 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:19,680 that you're not enough for me. So I'm going to put this thing 248 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:21,640 before you because I'm, I'm afraid that you're not good 249 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:27,440 enough. God, remember the Sabbath. 250 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,320 Keep it, keep it holy God. I'm afraid that I can't get all 251 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,840 these things done, so I'm not taking a day off. 252 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,400 I'm afraid that there's always going to be more work to do and 253 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,200 that even though you say the Sabbath is holy and good and 254 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:46,200 best for me, I think keeping my nose to the grindstone is what's 255 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:51,680 best for me. I'm afraid I'm not going to get 256 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:56,800 it done honoring my father and mother. 257 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,160 I'm afraid they don't know what's best for me. 258 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,880 I think I know better. They haven't lived my life. 259 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:17,280 I'm afraid of following what they have laid out for me, not 260 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:23,000 to commit adultery. I'm afraid that I'll never, I'll 261 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,280 never find love the way you describe it. 262 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:29,440 God, I'm afraid that maybe even the love in my life isn't the 263 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:35,000 way you designed it. I'm afraid that I'm not going to 264 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,040 be fulfilled enough in your love, God. 265 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:39,560 So I'm going to find it other places. 266 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:41,880 I'm going to find it in pornography. 267 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,280 I'm going to find it in inappropriate relationships 268 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:49,640 because I'm afraid that I'm not going to get the love that you 269 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:54,280 have for me stealing. I'm afraid that I can't live 270 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:59,680 without this thing. I'm afraid that my life's not 271 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,040 good enough. My life's going to be better if 272 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:09,320 I have this thing. All of our sin is rooted in fear 273 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:14,120 of the unknown and a lack of trust that God says He's enough 274 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,480 in each and every facet of our lives. 275 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:22,520 Moses. His response fueled, encouraged 276 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:24,240 by God. Fear not. 277 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:28,120 Don't run back to fear. Stand firm. 278 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:31,280 See the salvation of the Lord. He's already. 279 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:32,920 He's already brought you out of Egypt. 280 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:34,520 What are you talking about? You want to go back to this 281 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:36,000 life? You're free right now. 282 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:44,360 The Lord will fight for you. You only have to be silent. 283 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,840 He hardens the hearts. He makes the Egyptians stubborn. 284 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:52,440 It's irrational that they would change them. 285 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,280 They also came with like, way less people than it would take 286 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,360 to actually maybe they were just going to kill them. 287 00:19:57,360 --> 00:19:59,520 That we're not. We're not fully sure if they 288 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:02,040 were just going to wipe them out or trying to bring them into 289 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:03,840 captivity. They did not bring enough of an 290 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:09,080 army to to bring this population of Israelites back to Egypt. 291 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:15,760 It was already irrational. And then God makes a way. 292 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:21,800 Moses stretches, stretches out his hand over the sea. 293 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:27,120 The Lord drove the sea back. Now this is this is where it 294 00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:30,920 gets real crazy, right? Like, OK, God, yeah, we wanted 295 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:37,920 you to make a way. But this I also don't know if I 296 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:39,640 want that. I don't, I don't know if I want 297 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:46,200 to walk through that either. But that's the way that he made. 298 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:53,120 And he said go forward. So your options are are to delve 299 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:57,800 headlong into this way that God has made lead on Good Shepherd 300 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:02,640 and he says, I'm even going with you. 301 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:04,760 I'm I'm not sending you on your own. 302 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:06,040 I'll I'll be there right with you. 303 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:12,760 You can either walk ahead into this kind of crazy unknown, or 304 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:21,340 you can go back to a life of sin, because that life of sin is 305 00:21:21,340 --> 00:21:26,120 chasing each and every one of us down, just like the Egyptians 306 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:31,360 taste down the people of God. There's a lot of you in here. 307 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:36,160 I've heard stories, those of you battling depression right now, 308 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:44,040 battling sin habits, battling physical health, mental health, 309 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:51,360 fractured relationships, all of that orchestrated by the Evil 1 310 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:59,280 to make you run back to the safety of sin, to discourage you 311 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,440 from walking in the light of our Lord. 312 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:06,520 I'm not saying it's easy, and I'm not saying you can just 313 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:12,880 shrug any of that stuff off. But see the devil's snares as he 314 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,880 throws them at you, understand that they're meant to discourage 315 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,360 you. They're meant to tear you away 316 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:23,520 from God because God's already hardened his heart. 317 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:25,640 There's no coming back for Satan. 318 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:31,280 He is Pharaoh. His life is forfeit. 319 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,520 It's given up. He's hardened his heart against 320 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:38,320 God, and he's chasing after you to take down as many of the 321 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:50,400 people of God as he can. God intervened. 322 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,080 God delivered. We don't know exactly the chaos, 323 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:58,480 but God's even messing with how their chariot wheels are 324 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,880 rolling. Of course, there's the the the 325 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,880 craziness of The Tempest of the sea and the Egyptians even 326 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:14,640 realize let us flee for the Lord fights for them all they had to 327 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:15,960 do. Moses even told them they could 328 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,360 be silent. They could be silent and walk. 329 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,480 Walk in the way that God has made for you. 330 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,160 Walk in the life that God has brought you into, out of that 331 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:39,790 life of sin and fear, and the Lord fights for you in ways that 332 00:23:39,790 --> 00:23:44,950 we can't design or imagine, ways that we don't even know that we 333 00:23:44,950 --> 00:23:53,130 needed. Thus the Lord saved Israel that 334 00:23:53,130 --> 00:23:57,010 day from the hand of the Egyptians, from the hand of sin, 335 00:24:00,210 --> 00:24:06,400 from the hand of fear, and Israel saw wait for it here. 336 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:11,800 Israel saw sin dead on the seashore. 337 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,960 Israel saw fear dead on the seashore. 338 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:24,960 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against sin, used 339 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:30,320 against fear. Look at their response. 340 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:39,880 So the people feared the Lord and this is a holy, reverent 341 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:45,280 God's in sovereign control of all the things sort of fear. 342 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:52,160 It's the kind of fear that I that I want my kids to have for 343 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,160 me. I was joking with with my wife 344 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,520 this past week because I had I had to step in and they they 345 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,000 weren't getting together for bedtime and brushing their 346 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,080 teeth. And my wife said, can you ask 347 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,040 him to do it? I just jokingly, I just jokingly 348 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,840 say, you're here, man, Pastor Skid, welcome to your life. 349 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:10,840 Sermon illustrations all the time. 350 00:25:17,510 --> 00:25:21,630 Jokingly, of course, acquiesce. Heard her request and jokingly 351 00:25:21,630 --> 00:25:23,990 said, yeah, you got. They're just not afraid of you. 352 00:25:28,750 --> 00:25:33,030 I hope it's not in a bad way, but in this, in this reverent 353 00:25:33,030 --> 00:25:38,880 way, When Dad says it, he means business. 354 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:44,360 When Dad says it, he's in control. 355 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:49,240 When God says it, he's fighting for you and he's going to do 356 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,320 what he said. He's going to follow through. 357 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,200 It's the security of that holy fear. 358 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,640 That's the only thing. Our God is the only thing that 359 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:04,480 we should rightly fear because he crushed sin. 360 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:09,200 He crushed real fear and he crushed death. 361 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,840 Look at their response. So they feared the Lord, and 362 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,880 where and what does that fear lead to? 363 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,920 Belief. A holy, reverent awe of the 364 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:27,440 Lord, Putting him rightly first, rightly in control. 365 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,480 Not fearing and sinning and rebelling and putting things 366 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:40,320 before Him leads to belief, and not only in him, but leads to 367 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:46,480 belief in the one he sent. We're looking for Jesus in every 368 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,400 passage, right? The the every part of the Bible 369 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,640 is really about him. Yeah, we're, we're talking about 370 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:57,520 Moses literally in this story. But the fear of the Lord leads, 371 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,680 leads to belief in Him and in the one he sent. 372 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:07,720 His Son fuels our belief in Jesus. 373 00:27:15,380 --> 00:27:25,380 In Second Timothy, God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power 374 00:27:25,500 --> 00:27:33,460 and love and self-control. Those are three fairly 375 00:27:33,740 --> 00:27:38,760 independent ideas. Seemingly a more a more readable 376 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,720 translation simply puts it as freedom. 377 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,120 God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of freedom. 378 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,800 Because we know God's power, we know God's love and because he's 379 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:59,200 in control, we then have self-control to follow after him 380 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:03,160 to not run back to that life of sin and fear. 381 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:07,920 This is the last thing I'm going to leave you with and I'm going 382 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:09,400 to invite the, the band to come back up. 383 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:18,560 We'll we have one more song. Paul in his first letter to the 384 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:25,480 Corinthian church in chapter 10, he writes to them. 385 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,080 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were 386 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,520 all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. 387 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,880 Remember that the pillar of cloud by day, obviously we just 388 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:36,080 talked about the parting of the Red Sea. 389 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:42,440 It passed through the Red Sea and all were baptized into Moses 390 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:47,800 in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food 391 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,920 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the 392 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:57,680 spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 393 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:04,880 Even Paul was drawing lines from Moses to Christ. 394 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:11,040 Moses as the deliverer of God's people from Egypt, Jesus as the 395 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:16,760 deliverer of the world of all that would come to him and 396 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:27,520 choose him over fear. Not only that, how do we enter 397 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:33,360 into that how how do we become covered in the people of God? 398 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,080 Look, look at the words that that Paul used here. 399 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:43,000 All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea. 400 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,720 We talk about the next the next steps, what we can do next here 401 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,640 what what we we want to answer the the questions each and every 402 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,280 week. We want to be really clear about 403 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,080 who this is all about. It's about Jesus. 404 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,400 If you come here, I I hope that's abundantly clear that 405 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,040 this is all about Jesus, what it's about. 406 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,920 He wants your heart. He wants you in a life following 407 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,000 after him for the good of yourself, for the good of your 408 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,960 family, for your friends, for the good of your eternal 409 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,200 standing before God. We want you to find community 410 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,000 and encouragement here amongst believers. 411 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,080 The third question is, is what is there for you to do next? 412 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:35,960 Well, how, how do we do that? Step one is, is being baptized 413 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,800 in the same way that Paul's drawing lines to how the 414 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,560 Israelites were brought into God's favor. 415 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:51,480 I think we think about baptism sometimes too much in the way we 416 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,160 we stop it. God cleansing us and cleaning 417 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,520 us. Yes, that's true. 418 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,840 That's it, that happens. That's the expression of him 419 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,800 washing away our sins. But also we get an amazing 420 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:11,720 picture in this passage of the power of baptism that has laid 421 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,520 our sin and our fear to waste on the shore. 422 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:22,880 In baptism we not only get the covering of God, the cleansing 423 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:29,720 of our sins, but He destroyed sin and death and fear in that 424 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:34,320 baptism, the same way that He delivered the Israelites from 425 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:38,400 the Egyptians in laying the Egyptian army to waste in the 426 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:45,520 waters. That's why you should be 427 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:50,560 baptized. It's God declaring you clean and 428 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:56,680 you experiencing the power of him destroying sin and fear in 429 00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,640 that life that was chasing you down no more. 430 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,760 You are no longer slaves to sin and fear and death. 431 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:11,120 You are my people. You are my child, is what he 432 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:18,600 says to us in baptism. He did it for hundreds of 433 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,160 thousands of his people in one breath. 434 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:29,800 Of course he can do it for you. It's going to be chilly this 435 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,520 fall. We're going to have, we're going 436 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:37,800 to have a baptism event on the Wapsey, on the river in October. 437 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:39,440 It's going to be chilly. It's going to be good. 438 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,360 If you don't want to wait for that, we can baptize you this 439 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,440 morning. We just need water in the Word. 440 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,720 That's all we need. If you, if you can't wait and 441 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:50,440 want to enter into that today, we can do it right up here after 442 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:54,800 the service. If you want to experience waters 443 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,160 washing over you in the river, just wait a couple weeks. 444 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:02,440 We're going to make it happen. We're going to celebrate, one 445 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:07,880 way or the other, God's tremendous victory over sin and 446 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,520 fear and the washing of your sins. 447 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,280 He is our deliverer. He is our rock. 448 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:30,480 We are no longer slaves to fear and sin and death. 449 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,960 You are a child of God. Let's pray. 450 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,040 Thanks for listening to ERC Sundays. 451 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,560 To support the work God is doing an Emmaus Rd. church, visit 452 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:48,560 emmausrdonline.org/giving.