Exodus 13:17-14:31 - To God be the Glory

Morning. Today's reading can be found on page 70. It's Exodus 13 starting at verse 17. It's at the bottom of the page of the church bibles. When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not leave them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.

For God said, if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led the people around by the desert road towards the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, God will surely come to our aid and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.

After leaving Sokkoth, they camped at Epham on the edge of the desert. By day, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so that they could travel by day or night.

Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites to turn back and camp near Pi-Haroth between Migzol and the sea.

They are to camp by the sea directly opposite Balzaphon. Pharaoh will think, the Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.

And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.

So the Israelites did this. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services.

So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took 600 of the best chariots along with all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites who are marching out boldly. The Egyptians, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops, pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-Haroth opposite Balzaphon.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?

What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.

Moses answered the people, Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still. Then the Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so the Israelites can go to the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them.

And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.

Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.

Throughout the night, the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other. So neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.

And all that night, the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

The Egyptians pursued them and all various horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night, the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.

He jammed the wheels of their chariots, so they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, Let's get away from the Israelites. The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak, the sea went back to its place.

The Egyptians were fleeing towards it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen. The entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea, not one of them, survived.

But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on the left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. This is the word of the Lord.

Thank you so much for that reading. We are going to come to God as we look through this passage, this famous passage of God's salvation.

Let's come to God now in prayer. The Bible says, James says, You have not because you ask not. We don't want that to be true of us this morning.

God could do incredible things and does do incredible things through his word. And we don't want to have not because we ask not. So let's ask together now. Let's ask that God would do incredible things through his word.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would open our eyes, that we might see wondrous things from your word.

We ask, Lord, that you would give us of your spirit so that we might see you and rejoice in you and delight in you. We ask that you would do something beyond what our expectations are, beyond what we could imagine.

Lord, that you would speak to us, that your word would meet us where we are and that it would change us. We ask, Lord, that your word this morning would help us on our way to heaven.

We ask that your word would turn someone, some people here today who isn't living for you, who isn't trusting in your son, Jesus Christ, that your word today would be the means of their salvation.

We ask, Lord, that you would glorify yourself. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Our world, you don't need me to say this to you.

Our world loves a hero story, right? We love hero stories. We love stories of someone who comes to save and to rescue. It's one reason why politics is always really interesting, why people are always engaged in politicians.

It's because we're always looking for the next politician who's going to come and save and rescue and get us out of our mess. It's why we like films that are about people who come and save and rescue in one way or the other.

Whether you're talking about like superheroes or war films or whatever kind of films. We love stories about saving, people who come and save. And I think it's because we all know that our world needs saving.

Our world is in a mess and we need saving. And yet the tragedy is that though we know the problem, that we need saving, we end up looking for salvation in all the wrong places where the one place we need salvation, the one person we need to look to is Yahweh.

Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the one we need to come to for salvation. And we see that in this passage that was read. This passage is the splitting of the Red Sea. If you've been at church for any amount of time, you know this story.

You know this. You probably remember looking at it in Sunday school for those of you who grew up in church. And yet it's really important to remember as we start to look at this, what the purpose of this is.

What's the purpose of the Red Sea? Why are we told this? We are told this because this passage, as the whole book of Exodus, and in fact the whole Bible, it exists to show us who God is.

It exists to reveal who Yahweh is. Look at me first here at verse 4 of chapter 14. And then we'll look at verse 18 of chapter 14. So verse 4. This is God speaking.

It says, By the way, whenever we see Lord in capital letters, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that's a substitution for God's personal name, Yahweh.

So why is this happening? So that the Egyptians would know who God is. Look at me at verse 18, similar thing, or chapter 14. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

And so God does this so that we would know what he is like. And that's a beautiful thing because you and I were all made to know God.

We were made to know God. And the thing that God wants to reveal to us here in this passage is that he is the God who saves. And so what we're going to do is we're going to see three different ways that God reveals himself, that Yahweh reveals himself as saviour.

And my hope is that as we look at that in this passage, that God would open your eyes, that you would see what God is like, and that you would rejoice in him. And so the first way that Yahweh reveals himself as saviour is that he shows that he saves, and the way in which he saves is that he saves by himself.

God saves, Yahweh saves, and he saves by himself. In other words, he saves alone. Look with me at verse 13 of chapter 14. It says this, Moses answered the people, Do not be afraid.

Stand firm, and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still.

All right, here's some questions for us. Who split the Red Sea? Not a trick question. Who split the Red Sea? God, God split the Red Sea.

Did Israel help in the splitting of the Red Sea? No, no, no, no. Not at all, right? Yahweh, he split the Red Sea. He split the Red Sea. Israel, what's Israel's job?

According to verse 14, Israel's job, what they need to do, they need to do something, right? Verse 14, but it says you need only to be what? Still. God splits the Red Sea.

Israel's job is just be still. Right? Just be still. Watch Yahweh do this, because Yahweh's going to save, and he's going to do it by himself.

In other words, when God saves, this great act of salvation, remember, this is the act of salvation that Yahweh would always be known. For the rest of the Bible, God is going to be known as the God who rescued Israel from Egypt by splitting the Red Sea.

This is God's revelation of himself as Savior, and he saves by himself. In other words, Yahweh doesn't hold back one part of the sea and ask the Israelites to hold back the other part of the sea.

Okay, here's another question for you. How many Egyptians did the Israelites kill here? How many Egyptians? None. None. Yet, by the end of this passage, the Bible says, the entire army of the Egyptians are dead.

It's a complete, utter defeat. And yet, Israel's role in this is nothing. It's to be still. Yahweh is Savior, but here's the key thing I want you to see. He is soul Savior.

He is Savior by himself. And this is really important for us to know because salvation belongs to Yahweh alone, and therefore, the glory for the salvation belongs to Yahweh alone.

Alone. It's summarized in verse 30 of chapter 14. Verse 30 of chapter 14 says this. That day, the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

The Lord did it. Now, the reason why, West Kilburn, this is really important for us to know, is that what's happening here is pointing us ultimately to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The great salvation that the Bible is pointing us forward to is not our salvation from Egyptians or from some foreign army is salvation from Satan and sin and death.

We have a need to be saved from our sin. We have a need to be saved from Satan. We have a need to be saved from death. And just as what happens here, our role is to be still.

God does this salvation by himself. It's Yahweh's work. When it comes to the great salvation that you and I need, the great salvation that many of us here have received, Yahweh did it, and he did it by himself.

You don't contribute anything to that. He doesn't do most of the work and you do a bit of the work. Your job is just to look to Yahweh for him to do it by himself. In other words, if you're here today and you're saved, you're here this morning and you're heading towards heaven, here's one thing you ought to know.

God did that and he did it by himself. You weren't a co-worker with God. You didn't collaborate with God. You watched and God did it. You weren't looking for God and God sent Jesus.

You weren't looking for God and Jesus left heaven and came to earth. He did that. He came and he lived the perfect life. Not you. He did. He then went on the cross and he died for your sins.

Not you. He did. Then God raised him from the dead on the third day. Not you. Not me. We didn't contribute anything to that. God did that. And then God brought him up to sit on his right hand.

God did that all. And in doing that all, God worked your salvation. In other words, when God saved us, he did not leave any part for you to do. He defeated sin and death and Satan by himself.

And then, having done all of that, one day he opened your eyes so that you could see that. He did it. He did it. He did it. And guess what that means? You ought to praise him.

All the praise for your salvation belongs to him because he did it and he did it by himself. And for those of us here who are not trusting in Jesus, here's the point.

Here's what this point ought to tell you. Don't try and save yourself. Some of you are here this morning maybe because you're trying to make your way to God. You want to, let me sort out my relationship with God.

You think, let me do this Christian thing. Let me sort it out. Here's the point. You're just like these Israelites. You cannot save yourself. You're here today.

You don't have a relationship with God. You cannot make a relationship with God happen. You can't work your way to God. You're not going to fix your relationship with God by stop doing some of the bad things you do and maybe start coming to church.

That's not the gospel. That's not what Christians believe. That's not what Christians teach. No, what we teach is the same God who did it all for Israel thousands of years ago. It's the same God who has done it all for sinners and he's done it through Jesus Christ.

And all you need to do this morning if you want a relationship with God is just look to him. You just look to him. You look to him because he has done it all.

You know, this is the danger of all those false teachings and Roman Catholicism which tell you that in some way you have a role to play in your salvation. That in some way yes, Jesus has done this but you have to do this.

But the truth of it is that God has done it all. And the reason why that's important is that when we believe that we have some part to play we rob Yahweh of his glory. We steal the credit from him.

When in reality Yahweh does it all and he tells us be still. You know, only a God like Yahweh could tell people be still. The world out here is telling you you can change your life if only you start doing this and you start doing this and it heaps burdens upon you and it tells you salvation belongs in your hands and you need to do this and you need to do that but the God of the universe tells you be still.

You don't have to work your way to God. You don't have to do anything. God has done everything in his son Jesus Christ and therefore just receive him. Look to him. Ask him to save you.

Your job is to be saved. His job is to do the saving. Even this morning that's why even this morning you can be saved is because Yahweh does the work of salvation and he does that by himself.

That's the first thing I want us to see is that Yahweh reveals himself as soul saviour. But the second thing I want you to see is that Yahweh saves and he saves the way in which he saves is that he saves by making a way where there is no way.

Yahweh saves by making a way where there is no way. That's how Yahweh saves. And what that means the first part of that is to understand this is that Yahweh has a habit of bringing his people into situations where there is no way through.

Yahweh has a way or he has a way of bringing his people to impossible situations. So Israel ends up in a situation where they are trapped between the sea dead end and the most powerful army in the world.

They're trapped. I'm not sure if you thought about that. There are very few feelings as terrifying as the feeling of being trapped. Okay, imagine you know God forbid I'm not praying this for anyone but imagine you're walking down the streets of London let's make it scarier not North London South London and it's late at night walking around just late at night doing your own thing and all of a sudden there's a whole gang of men that you see come around the corner and they start chasing you and they make it clear and as they're chasing you it's clear because of what they're saying that they're not trying to steal from you they're actually trying to kill you they're trying to take your life.

You're there in London and there's a bunch of guys they're running after you they've got weapons and they're running after you what do you do? You run right? You run so you're running you're running down the streets of London it's late it's deserted you're running you run down this street you run down that street but they're chasing you they're chasing you they're chasing you and you're panicked and you're running and you're running and you're running and you run down you take a turn and you run down and as you're running to your home what you realise is you run down and what you see is there's a wall and you look and you look and you look and what you realise It's the wall It's just a complete wall You run down a dead end It's a complete dead end So you see the dead end And you turn back and you look And as you turn back and you look You see this gang of people Come into that dead end And they're coming And they're approaching you And the gap between you and them Is getting smaller and smaller You're trapped up against the wall And there's a group of guys That are trying to kill you Who are approaching to you How do you feel in that moment?

You're being squeezed You're up against the wall But there's this army There's this group There's this gang of people Who are trying to kill you Well that feeling That oppressive feeling Of being trapped That panic That's what's happening to Israel They're trapped They're up against the Red Sea There's no way through there And the Egyptian army is coming And the gap between them and Egypt Is getting closer and closer and closer And they're trapped This is horrible This is like The stuff of nightmares Except Hear the crazy thing about it They're trapped But it's Yahweh That's put them in this situation It's Yahweh That's put them in this situation Look at me at verse 18 Of chapter 13 It says So God God led the people Around by the desert road Towards Towards The Red Sea The Israelites End up in a dead end

They're running They're running They're running They're fleeing From this great enemy And they're in a dead end And they're trapped But guess what It's God Who was their navigator They've ended up In this situation Where they're trapped But they're not trapped By mistake It's Yahweh That's brought them there You know In chapter 14 The Israelites Complain against Moses They think It must be Moses Who has done this Moses must have Made a mistake How are we in this situation That we're in But the Bible tells us It's not Moses That's made a mistake It's God that's put them In this situation Where they're trapped Between the Red Sea And the Egyptian army And why am I stressing that I'm stressing that Because Some of us here This morning No doubt Are in impossible situations You're in an impossible situation Maybe at work Or You're in an impossible situation With your family And it feels like There's no way out And this feeling Of being trapped And I don't know what to do And it doesn't seem Like there's any way out And

That feeling That terror You're experiencing That right now And the danger is That you think You're in this situation Because Of a mistake you made You took the wrong turn Or you think Ultimately You're in this situation Because you were unfaithful Or you think Ultimately You're in this situation Because of the sin Of someone else But here's the thing You are in the situation You're in That impossible situation If you're here You're a Christian The reason why you're here The most fundamental reason Why you're in that situation Is because God who is sovereign Has put you in that situation He's the one Who's led you Into this place Where there's no escape He's the one That's put you In this difficult situation It's Yahweh That puts Israel Into a situation Where they're between A sea And the greatest army In the world And yet Church Here's the thing Even as Yahweh In his sovereignty Brings us Into impossible situations He does it In such a way That he's still Mindful of our frame

And he's mindful Of how we are He does it Because of his Great compassion Even though he brings His people Into impossible situations He doesn't do so Carelessly Look at me At the very first verse We read Verse 17 Of chapter 13 It says When Pharaoh Let the people go God did not lead them On the road Through the Philistine country Though that was shorter For God said If they face war They might change Their minds And return to Egypt So God led the people Around by the desert road Towards the Red Sea I think this is incredible I think this is amazing Some of you here You're here this morning You're in a difficult situation You feel like You're in an impossible situation And you know enough You've been following God enough To know that God is sovereign You know that God Is the one who's brought you To this situation You get that God is sovereign But in your heart You feel like God has been careless About you You feel like

God has not been Mindful of you You feel like If God really knew me He would never have put me In this kind of situation He would never have brought me To this impossible situation But this passage tells us That Yahweh knows What would break you He knows what would cause you To give up He knows you And so he has brought you To this specific impossible situation Not another impossible situation This is incredible Look If you did a survey of Israel As they're trapped Between the Red Sea And the Egyptians are coming And you ask them Do you think God has been mindful of you In bringing you To this situation I'm going to say That they would say No Absolutely not Surely God wasn't Thinking about us When he brought us To this kind of situation But the Bible tells us God in his grace He tells us That God was mindful Of the Egyptians The reason why He didn't take them To the road Towards the Philistines Is that he knows That if they saw The Philistines

That would cause them To give up So he didn't bring them To that impossible situation He brought them To another impossible situation In other words The one who is sovereign Over your life The one who is guiding your life He's not just sovereign He's careful And he's compassionate Here's the mystery Of this passage Yahweh's care for us He's compassion for us It doesn't keep him From bringing us To impossible situations And yet His bringing us To impossible situations Does not mean That he doesn't care for us In other words As impossible And as difficult As your situation Might seem today Know this Yahweh has been Intentional about it He's not been Careless about it He knows you He knows you This is amazing You know You know the God Who split the sea in half We're going to see that In a second You know he could have Destroyed the Philistine army Right Maybe more easily Than he And yet The reason why He did this way Because he was Mindful of them Yes

It's an impossible Situation Yes It feels like You ought to despair Yes It feels like God doesn't care About you But no That's not true Yahweh's not Careless about you Yahweh's never been Careless about you He's mindful of you And so he's mindful Of you Even as he brings you To an impossible Situation And yet None of that Still answers The fundamental question Why Why does Yahweh Bring Israel To a situation Where they're trapped To a situation Where they're going To feel such Despair Well to demonstrate That Yahweh Is the God Who makes a way Where there is no way West Kilburn There was no way There was no way The Egyptians Were on one side And the sea Was on the other side There was no way out No way out But then Yahweh does One of the most Incredible things In all the scripture Yahweh makes A highway In the middle Of the sea There's no way out There's no way out There's no way How they're going To make it through But Yahweh Has a way Of making a way

Where there is no way So he splits the sea He splits a sea In half So that the Israelites Walk through On dry ground That's incredible I don't care How long you've Known this story I don't know How many It doesn't really Matter to me How many times You've heard this before This is incredible God made Them walk through On dry ground In the middle Of the sea There was no way And then all of a sudden There was a way Because God made a way Right God did this So that he could show That he's the God Of the impossible And it's such a blessing When God does it This way Because when God does this When he brings us To impossible situations And then makes a way When there seems To be no way The amazing thing About it is that When God does this The very impossibility Of the situation Becomes God's people's testimony The very impossibility Of the situation Becomes the joy The very despair Of the situation

Becomes the glory Of the situation In other words Why is the Red Sea Such an amazing story Why is it such An incredible joy Why is it The kind of Key event In the history of Israel It's because It was so impossible It's because There was no way out Such that The very despair Of the Red Sea Becomes the joy Of the Red Sea The very despair What will we do Becomes the point That's the moment That Israel Will look back on And sing about And rejoice in Is the fact that God made the way Where there is no way And church That's not just true About God here That's true Throughout the scriptures That's why when Yahweh comes in flesh Jesus Christ The Bible says There was a friend Of Jesus His name is Lazarus The Bible tells us That Lazarus was sick And he was very sick And they come And tell Jesus Lazarus Your friend is sick And so what do you Imagine that Jesus Will do You would imagine Of course

That as soon as Jesus hears this He's going to rush And he's going to Go to Lazarus To go and heal him Before he dies But incredibly That's not what happens That's not what Jesus does The Bible says That Jesus hears That Lazarus is sick And Jesus stays Where he is Jesus doesn't go In fact Jesus delays so much That by the time That Jesus gets there Lazarus is not only dead He's been dead For four days Now you might think Like Israel would have thought That maybe This happened Because Jesus Didn't really care About Lazarus But John 11 says They tell Jesus Lazarus is sick And John 11 says Jesus loved Lazarus Therefore He stayed where he was In other words This Jesus delayed But not because He didn't love Lazarus It's actually because He loved Lazarus Jesus ensured That he didn't Get them in time To save Lazarus Jesus ensured He waited

So that Lazarus Would not only be dead But he would be dead For four days And when his sisters See Lazarus When they see Jesus When Jesus shows up On the scene His sisters tell Jesus Lord if you had been here My brother would not Have died They think Jesus had done His best to get there And he just got held up But that's not true church Jesus could have got there Jesus waited Until the situation Was impossible Was beyond impossible Impossible Why did Jesus do that Jesus did that So that the very impossibility Of the situation Might become the joy Jesus did that To show that He's the God Who makes a way That there is no way And so when Jesus shows up And Lazarus is dead And has been dead For four days And yet the Bible says Jesus called out Lazarus And Lazarus Who was dead Somehow heard the word Of Jesus Christ And Lazarus Who had been dead For four days He came out And all of a sudden The very impossibility Of the situation Was the joy

Of the situation In other words Jesus loved Lazarus So much so That Jesus wanted To give Lazarus A better testimony You know Lots of people Had the testimony That Jesus healed them Lots of people Had that testimony Jesus wanted to give Lazarus A better testimony Not that Lazarus Was sick No Lazarus went around Telling people I was dead And I had been dead Four days And then I heard The voice of Jesus And somehow I came up From the grave And the very impossibility Of the situation The very despair That Jesus isn't here And my brother is dead And it's now been four days That very impossibility That became Lazarus' Favourite part Of the testimony I wasn't planning To share this initially But I'll share this Because you know You guys feel like Your family My My mum A few years ago She was diagnosed With pancreatic cancer And if you're familiar With that You will know

It's one of the Deadliest cancers You can get And it came out of the blue And we were praying And we were praying And there was a time There was a clinical nurse They were meant to have Referred her For chemo And long story short They hadn't done their job And so I called them up To be like What's going on You haven't referred her And the response Of the clinical nurse Was Well you know what She's not likely To make it anyways And I remember I remember where I was When I had that phone call And throughout that whole journey That was the low point That was the lowest point And it was so bad Obviously I couldn't even Tell my mum I didn't even tell my mum About this And by calling my brother I was like Can you imagine The nurse that's meant To be caring for her Is telling me She's not even likely To make it anyways And yet church In God's kindness We prayed And in God's kindness

In his mercy God healed her She's cancer free She's been cancer free And here's the point of it There's a lot of parts In that story There's a lot of things As I think of it And I thank God for it There's loads of parts Of that testimony That I think about But if you want to tell If you ask me What's your favourite part Of that testimony Let me tell you My favourite part Is the moment When that guy said She's not likely To make it That moment That was the moment Of the greatest despair Is now the moment Of my greatest joy Because that moment Was the moment Where it seemed So impossible And yet that's the moment That I rejoice in Because God did The impossible God has a way Of bringing these people To impossible situations Such that When he does it The very impossibility Of it Becomes their joy And how are we To respond to a God Who does this kind of thing We're to trust him Look at me At the last verse Of Apathe Verse 31 Of chapter 14 It says

When the Israelites Saw the mighty hand Of the Lord Displayed against The Egyptians The people Fared the Lord And put their trust In him And in Moses His servant Verse Kilburn You ought to trust God I don't know you guys Well enough to know What particular situation You're going through But here's the thing You ought to trust God Because even before God split the Red Sea God was with Israel He was with them Even before he split them Even now In the midst of Whatever difficulty You may experience God is with you And the God Who is with you He's able to make a way Where there seems To be no way Even now You ought to trust him Even stuck in the impossible You ought to trust him And I don't presume To know what God will do I'm not saying If you pray Then God will do this Or if you pray Then God will do I don't know But here's the thing I do know The God who can split A sea in half That's a God Worth trusting That's a God You ought to pray With confidence You ought to never Give up praying And asking that God Would help you In the midst of your situation You ought not to give up Into despair

You ought to never Stop praying If this God Is a God Who does this kind of thing There is no reason To doubt a God Who makes a highway In the middle of a sea Believe in Yahweh And believe in his servant And his servant Not ultimately Moses Jesus Christ Yahweh saves And he saves in such a way That he makes a way Where there is no way Lastly Here's the last thing I want us to see Yahweh saves And he saves By doing a work Of new creation This is the last thing I want us to see But I'm not saying It's going to be easier I want us to put Our thinking caps on We're going to have We're going to go All over the place But stick with me Let's think In order to understand What's happening here In the Red Sea You have to understand That in the ancient world The sea is a picture Of chaos It was unknown It was unruly It was a picture Of death And a picture Of chaos And you see that In the very first page Of our Bibles Genesis chapter 1 You see that

That the sea Is a picture The waters Are a picture Of chaos You see that So Genesis 1 Verse 1 It says I'll read it for us In the beginning God created the heavens And the earth Now the earth Was formless And empty Darkness was over The surface Of the deep And the spirit Of God Was hovering Over the waters So God makes creation But creation Is in chaos Right The bible says It's formless And empty It's without form It's void It's unordered And there's two signs Of the chaos And the unorderedness Of it Two signs One is darkness The second is Water There's just water All over the place And there's darkness All over the place And so when Yahweh's going to Make this world He brings order Firstly by Saying let there be light To do with the problem Of darkness But then By dividing the waters He's going to create water Create order By splitting waters Dividing waters And so He brings light And then the next thing

He does The very next thing He does Is he sorts out the water So Genesis 1 Still verse 6 God said Let there be a vault Between the waters To separate water From water So God made the vault And separated the water Separated the water Under the vault From the water above it And it was so God called the vault sky And there was evening And there was morning The second day Verse 9 And God said Let the water Under the sky Be gathered to one place And let dry ground appear And it was so God called the dry ground land And the water The gathered water As he called seas And God saw That it was good So day 1 God deals with the problem Of darkness Day 2 and 3 God deals with the problem Of the waters Just being all over the place By dividing waters So the first thing That God does Is he divides the waters Above From the waters below So there's waters above And there's waters below And the middle bit Is the sky But God's not done Dividing waters God is trying to create order So the waters below God then divides Those waters

So that there's dry ground So when God wants to Do a work of creation God does it By splitting waters He exerts his sovereignty Over chaos By dividing the waters And that's how he brings about The work of creation Okay that's also back story That's one reason by the way If you know the story Human beings They're created Into this wonderful world Of order They sin They reject God We choose chaos And so what happens The consequence of that sin Is what?

The flood And what happens in the flood The waters that God Had divided Become undivided Those waters Become one big blob again Because human beings Were choosing disorder Were choosing chaos So the waters Become undivided And yet When God wants to then Deal with the problem Of the flood What does God do?

Noah's kind of Like a new Adam He does a work of new creation God splits the waters again Now Why am I saying all of that? All of that's really important Background information For what God is doing In the Red Sea I think we're meant to understand this In the backdrop of that The sea is a picture of chaos And death And yet God In saving his people He does a work of new creation Chapter 14 Verse 21 Moses stretched out his hand Over the sea And all that night The Lord drove the sea back With a strong east wind And turned it into dry land The waters were divided And the Israelites Went through sea On dry ground With a wall of water On their right And a wall of water On their left Yahweh in saving his people He does it in a way That's meant to remind you Of creation To show you that He's doing a work Of new creation When the chaos Threatens his people Yahweh does a work Of new creation If you're here today And you're trusting in Jesus Christ You've already experienced this

You were dead in sin The waters of death Had you under And yet God did a work Of new creation On that Sunday That first Sunday When God raised his son From the dead By dividing the grave A glorious work Of new creation That's why the Bible says If anyone is in Christ They are a new creation Yahweh saves by doing A work of new creation That's the glory Of the gospel And because of that Work of new creation We are heading forward To the fulfillment Of it all In the final new creation A new heavens And a new earth And it's going to be Unlike all the hints Of the new creation That we see Here in our Bible Because in that Final new heavens And the final new earth The new creation Is going to entirely Swallow up the old creation And it's going to happen In such a way That we will never Have to fear Things going bad again Stick with me here Church We are a new creation But we're still living In the midst Of an old creation

We're a new creation But this world Is still marked By chaos and death But praise God We are heading Towards a new creation And in that day When Jesus brings The new creation There will be No more threat What I mean to say Is that in creation In Genesis The seas were All over the place God split the sea He divided the sea He created order But the problem is The sea was still there So there was always A threat that the seas Though divided Would become undivided again And chaos would come again And death would come again And in fact That's what happens Genesis 6 Human beings sin The waters become Undivided There's chaos And so what does God do?

God does a work Of new creation With Noah God splits the waters again And that's wonderful It's good news But what's the problem? The sea is still there The waters are still there So there's still the threat That the sea Could be a threat To God's people And that's what you see Here in Exodus God has to split the sea again To save his people And then Again That's wonderful But the sea is still there And that's why eventually God's people Israel They'll sin And God will send them Off into exile And God makes this promise That he's going to do A new exodus And he's going to make A highway in the sea That's what the book Of Isaiah says And that's a wonderful thing God does that He rescues Israel From Babylon But what's the problem?

The sea is still there So there's always a threat That the sea Could come back again But all of that's Pointing us forward To the final new creation And it's pointing us forward To Revelation Chapter 21 Verse 1 And I'll read it for us All of this is really Backed down for us To just understand this Revelation chapter 21 Verse 1 Might be one of the Oddest things That the Bible says About the new heavens And the new earth Verse 1 I saw a new heaven And a new earth For the first heaven And the first earth Had passed away And there was no longer Any sea As long as the sea existed No matter how great God's act of salvation was There was always the fear That things could go bad again But the Bible says That when he brings about The final work of new creation There will be no more sea And the reason why That ought to cause Your heart to rejoice Is it means that On that day We won't ever look Over our shoulder On that day We won't ever wonder Whether things could Go wrong again Because on that day

Things will be good And they will be good Forever And all of that Is summarized In chapter 13 Of 14 Chapter 14 Verse 13 This will be the last Verse we look at Chapter 14 Verse 13 It says this Moses answered the people Do not be afraid Stand firm And you will see The deliverance The Lord will bring you today The Egyptians You see today You will never See again Church The Israelites Had been in slavery In Egypt For 400 years 400 years They had been in slavery Their parents Their great parents And so on and so forth 400 years But there came this day Of salvation And what Moses Tells the people of Israel Is These Egyptians Who had been Their slave masters They had lived Every day Under the oppression Of the Egyptians But Moses says You see these Egyptians Get a good look at them Because this is the last time You'll see them You'll never see them again Church We are heading towards A new heavens And a new earth

And on that In that new heavens And a new earth God has told us There will be no more sea And what that means Is that all the things That plague us here On this earth We will see them no more On the day When Jesus comes Comes through the skies And brings about The new heavens And the new earth What I'm trying to say Is that on that day You will see sin We'll see sin And we'll look at sin For the last time We will never see it again On that day We will see disease And we'll look at disease For the last time Because you will never See it again On that day When Jesus brings in The new heavens And the new earth We'll look upon Mental health issues And however difficult And painful that might be For some of us You better get a good look On it on that day Because that day Will be the last day You will see it On that day You look at sorrow And tears And pain And sorrow And all those things And you better look At those things well Because that will be The last day you look on it Because from that day forward We will enter into A new heavens And a new earth And there will be No more pain And there will be

No more sorrow And there will be No more tears And there won't be disease And there won't be pain Because God is making All things new And there will be No more sea And so we will rejoice With our God We will praise our God Never looking over our shoulders Enjoying an eternity With the God Who rescued us By his great might Let's pray Heavenly Father We thank you For your great salvation You are the God Who saves You save That we might Glory in you That we might Behold you Thank you Thank you That you are God Who split the sea Thank you That you are The God Who has promised That there will be No sea Thank you That you are The God Who tells us To be silent To be still And that you Have done it all Lord What can we Render to a God Who has done it all For us We were lost In sin We were far From you

And you Though we were Not looking for you You came Looking for us And you did not Do part of it You did it all What shall we render For the God Who did it all What shall we render To you Who saved us By your own might By your own power By your own strength What shall we render To you To a God Who impossible Is nothing to you What shall we render To a God Who has promised us That the day is coming Where we will never Have to look over Our shoulders again Lord How can we praise you Sufficiently We can't And yet Lord Help us Help us Fill our hearts With praise That we might praise you With all that is within us For your great salvation We ask this in Jesus name Amen Amen