[0:00] A portion of God's Word in the book of Exodus tonight. The book of Exodus at chapter 14. Exodus chapter 14. We'll read the chapter here from the beginning.
[0:19] And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hi-hearoth, between Migdal and the sea.
[0:30] Over against Baal-siphon, before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land. The wilderness hath shut them in.
[0:43] And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.
[0:55] And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled. And the heart of Pharaoh and all his servants was turned against the people. And they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
[1:10] And he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
[1:24] And he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them in camping by the sea, beside Pahai Eiroth, before Baal Siphon.
[1:44] And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes. And behold, the Egyptians marched after them. And they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.
[1:58] And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
[2:08] Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.
[2:23] And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
[2:37] The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold you to peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
[2:50] But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them.
[3:03] And I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his hosts, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
[3:18] And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them. And the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel.
[3:32] And it was a cloud and darkness to them. But it gave light by night to these, so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night.
[3:49] And made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were awal upon unto them on their right hand and on their left.
[4:01] And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. And it came to pass that in the morning watch the Lord looked into the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us free from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
[4:31] And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared.
[4:47] And the Egyptians fled against it. And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots. And the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, there remained not so much as one of them.
[5:03] But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were all unto them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians.
[5:16] And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses.
[5:30] Amen. May the Lord bless that portion of his word to us. We'll sing again in the psalm that we had in Psalm 106. At verse 7.
[5:43] Psalm 106 at verse 7. The wonders great which thou, O Lord, didst work in Egypt land. Our fathers, though they saw yet them, they did not understand.
[5:56] And they thy mercies multitude kept not in memory, but that the sea, even the Red Sea, provoked him grievously. Nevertheless he saved them, even for his own namesake, that so he might to be well known his mighty power make.
[6:12] When he, the Red Sea, did rebuke, then dried up it was, through depths as through the wilderness, he safely made them pass. These four verses to the Lord's praise.
[6:24] Psalm 106 from verse 7. The wonder place which thou, O Lord, Is found in Egypt's land.
[6:47] The wonder place which thou, O Lord, How bad are so they saw yet then, They did not understand.
[7:04] I'mcos, O Lord, I'm athletes, my built-in faith. I'm athlete, as a worsh stadium, Humble if I watched a brill politically, Over the way I had, That of a man, empleary But out the sea in the Red Sea, He stood up with a crushed Yale pass.
[7:34] Provo, grün, grün, grün. In the light of the light, He saved me the land, In our Son in sin.
[8:01] That's only mine, To be well known, Is my department.
[8:21] When each other rest, He will be pure, Then I will be God in all.
[8:39] With hands of the earth, He will come and earn, And He saved me the land, And He will be pure, And He will be pure.
[9:02] Before we turn back to the chapter that we read, We'll have a short word of prayer, And ask God, O eternal God, We pray Thee this evening, That Thou would come in with us.
[9:14] We need the power of the Holy Spirit, And we meditate upon Thy word, That we would get light from Thee this evening, To see the wonders of a wonder-working God, And that we would take Him for ourselves, As being our God, And our leader, As He was to His people of old.
[9:36] And He is the same covenant-keeping God tonight to us. He is without change, Though art Thee an unchangeable God, And we bless Thee for that, As Thou didst lead the people out of Egypt, That were able to lead us in this wilderness, And to bring us at last to the haven of rest, Which is the land that was promised to Thy people.
[10:04] I go, He said of old, And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself, But where I am, There ye may be also.
[10:15] O blessed one, We pray that each one of us Would know that for ourselves, And that one day, We will see Him as He is, And what a wonder that will be to us, That when we get over the Jordan at last, He will be waiting for us.
[10:33] We bless Thee for such a high priest that we have, And we bless Thee that in the midst of uncertainty, The turmoil of war, He is the same still. Wash us in the precious blood anew, And we ask it for Jesus' sake.
[10:47] Amen. We turn again to the chapter that we read in chapter 14 of the book of Exodus. And we were just going to for a wee while, Look at the exiting of the children of Israel from Egypt.
[11:06] If we were to take a text out of it, Verse 14, Verse 14 is a wonderful verse there, The Lord shall fight for you, And you shall hold your peace.
[11:18] The children of Israel coming out of Egypt, as you know, Is a wonderful, A wonderful picture of God delivering His people. Delivering His people from bondage, From slavery, From the slavery of sin, From the slavery of a tyrant.
[11:37] And we talk about tyrants today, And that tyrant is the devil. And bringing us into a place of freedom, A place of liberty. That is what He is doing, In the chapter that we have here.
[11:51] It gives a picture to us that, As we travel, As we too travel through this wilderness, This wilderness world, Satan is going to continuously pursue us.
[12:05] He is going to be at our heels. And we know it, Don't we? We know it even before we came out here tonight. We know that He tried to prevent us. The hailstones would be on the windows.
[12:20] The wind would come and we would say to ourselves, Maybe it's too dark a night. It's a cold night outside. We'll stay in. He'll try everything He will.
[12:31] And we're often entangled, Like the children of Israel, In their wilderness journey. We're often entangled. We heard it in the prayer here tonight. But yet, God leads us.
[12:44] Oh, that we would know that. It's difficult to know, isn't it? When we enter into, We stray away. We go into byways and by meadows, As Christian did on his way to the celestial city.
[13:00] We find ourselves that, We don't think that, Because we take a detour here, A detour there. Sin takes a hold of us. We're found in sin, And we're taken away for a while.
[13:11] We feel to ourselves, We're not really. Are we really following after our Savior? We often feel that. We may be, we see. But yet, But yet, The wonderful thing about it is, God, with His omnipotent arm, Leads us.
[13:30] This is what He was doing to the Israelites. I was struck this afternoon, When I was reading through this, I was struck with Psalm 37. It's a wonderful verse in Psalm 27, Verse 20, 37, Verse 24.
[13:44] And this is what He says. This is about, Lord leading His people. Though He fall, Yet shall He not be cast down utterly, Because the Lord, With His own hand, Upholds Him mightily.
[14:02] You know, that was a source of comfort to myself this afternoon. And friends, I'm giving it to you as a source of comfort to you as well. Although you fall, And you will fall. You will fail.
[14:14] If we're not ourselves, we will be falling all the time. But yet, He will not cast us down utterly, Because the Lord, With His own hand, Upholds Him mightily.
[14:28] In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, You know, It's a wonderful book to go back to often. But you find, Christian, He's on his journey to the celestial city.
[14:40] And yet, Towards his, In his journey, He meets the giant, Apollyon. Remember that story where he meets him, And Apollyon asks him there on the way, Where, he says, Have you come from, And where are you going?
[14:57] And of course, Christian answers him quite easily. I've come, he says, From the city of destruction, And which is the place of all evil, And I'm going to the celestial city. And Apollyon is holding him straight, This giant, This horrible giant in the way, He says, He says to Christian, I see, He says that, You are one of my subjects.
[15:23] For all, he says, That country is mine. And I am the prince of it. How is it, He says, That you have run away, From your monarch? And Christian turns, Turns, Turns to him, And wonderful, he says, I was born indeed in your, In your dominion.
[15:42] But your service was hard, And your wages were such, As a man, He says, Could not live on. For the wages of sin is death. And then we have Napoleon's response.
[15:54] This is what I want. There is no prince, He says, Who will lightly lose his subjects, Nor will I lose you.
[16:06] Oh friends, That is our real. Apollyon is not, The devil is not at all silent. Even today.
[16:18] The devil is determined, To get you, And to me. If we are showing any interest in Christ, In the gospel, Of going to the celestial city.
[16:32] He will make every effort he can, To get you back, Because he wants you, Back into his dominion. And he will try everything he can.
[16:44] This is the case, With the children of Israel here. We have read it. Here we have them here. I would like to look at, Three things in connection to, The children of Israel.
[16:57] First of all, I will begin with a P. The pursuit. Then we look at the plea. And then we look at, The promise.
[17:09] The promise. First of all, The pursuit. Notice that, When the children of Israel, When they went out of, Out of Egypt.
[17:22] If you look at the map, Of the children of Israel. Or you look at the map of Egypt, I should say. And if the children of Israel, Were going into Canaan. They would actually go, East.
[17:35] That is, They would be going, East. I would have to turn around. They would be going that way. Heading that way. But God, In verse one. He tells them, That was an easy way.
[17:49] To go straight, Eastward. He turns to them, In verse two. And he says to them, Speak to the children of Israel. He says to Moses. Verse two.
[18:00] That they turn. And encamp from, From Pahiroth. Between Migdal and the sea. So he's telling them. To, Instead of going, Eastwards.
[18:11] He's telling them, To turn, That way. Going to go down south. Not the way. Which was a strange way, In one sense, Wasn't it? Because the easy way, Would be, Because you remember, The time of Jacob.
[18:26] Remember when Jacob, When Joseph, Actually went into Egypt. Remember when Jacob, Sent his sons. They were in Canaan. And it was quite easy, For them to travel down.
[18:37] You'd found that. He sent his sons down, To Egypt to get bread. So that they could go, Go across the way. But God said to them, Don't go that way. Go down south. And the children of Israel, Turned.
[18:50] And they went down south. And they went that way. And look at another, They went out there, With, It says, It says, It says, In verse 8, Towards the end of, They went out of Israel.
[19:05] They went out, With an high hand. Now that doesn't mean, That they went out, Haughty. That they were thinking, Highly of themselves.
[19:16] It means, That they went out, With courage. With boldness. But there's more in this, Than we can make it as well. One of the commentators said, Actually, They went out, Singing.
[19:32] Singing. They went out, In high spirits. They went out, Because they had been released, Out of the kingdom, Of slavery. And they were going, With the promise, That they were going into a land, That was going to be flowing, With milk and honey.
[19:47] And they were going through, Through that, Because their God, Had told them to go. And that's where they were going. They were going. You can picture them. You can picture them, That day, Waving. Dancing, We could say.
[20:00] Singing, As they went. Looking forward to freedom. Totally unaware, As they were making their way down south. Of what was happening in Egypt.
[20:12] Of what Pharaoh was planning in Egypt. Look at him in verse 5. And it was told the king of Egypt, That the people fled. And the part of Pharaoh, And his servants, Was turned against the people.
[20:25] The Egyptians were full of regret, At what they had done. They, Why? Because by this time, Apparently, About three days, Have gone.
[20:37] And the people of Egypt, Are turning to Pharaoh, And to one another. And they're saying, We've got to do the work. We've got to sweep the floor. We've got to make the food. We've got to look after the cattle.
[20:49] We've got to make our own bricks. Why did we let them go? We want them back. Pharaoh realized, Because the Lord had hardened his heart, They were missing, That they were missing their slaves.
[21:02] They were faced with doing the work, Which the Israelites, Were made to do. So what does he do? He assembles a large army. Look at the army. Now, There were 600 chosen chariots.
[21:17] Horsemen. Soldiers. Some commentators have it, That they could number in their tens of thousands. Some people say, Some commentators say, They reckon there was 100,000 soldiers following.
[21:34] Remember, The children of Israel, By this time, If you look back, I think there's a couple of chapters back, And the number of the children of Israel were, I think there was 600,000 men.
[21:45] Am I right in that? 600,000 men. Men. That would mean, That there would be at least, One and a half million. Two million.
[21:57] Left from Egypt that day. Amazing, isn't it? When it was the family of Jacob, That had gone to Egypt, Four or five hundred years earlier. So this was, This was them.
[22:09] So here we have them. And here we have them. They're leaving Egypt. And behind all this, Behind this wonderful, They're so feeling so high, And so relieved.
[22:20] They're going away. And we have them. But yet, Behind it all, We have the Egyptians pursuing after them. They want them back. Just like Apollyon.
[22:31] In the pilgrim's progress. Same today, friend. If you, dear friend, Have come out of the bondage of Egypt, As they call it.
[22:44] If you've come to follow Christ, Satan will be at his utmost best, To take you back. You find that, Maybe you've just begun.
[22:55] Maybe you've been years down the road. Maybe you've been decades down the road, As some of us are. And you're finding, Satan is at your heel, More than he ever was. And here they are here.
[23:07] The battle, friends. The battle, Is still going on. And here we have, Just like the children of Israel. Just like yourself here tonight. You've got a devil, That doesn't tire.
[23:22] Satan doesn't tire. That's one thing he doesn't do. He's going to continually, He continually try, To get you back, To where he wants you.
[23:34] And here he is. And the children of Israel, Are here. And here we have them. And look at, As we go down, To, down to, To, Verse 10.
[23:45] We see them here. And Pharaoh drawing nigh, To the children of Israel. The children of Israel, Lifted up their eyes. And behold, The Egyptians marched after them. And they were sore afraid.
[23:57] And the children of Israel, Cried out to the Lord. Look at the progression. I want you to look at it. Because if we look at the progression, That's in here.
[24:08] Or maybe I should say, Regression. Look what they did. Look at verse 10. What does it say there? They lifted their eyes. They beheld. They saw.
[24:19] That's the first thing they did. They looked at the enemy. Look. And look at the result, Of them looking at the enemy.
[24:32] Look what they did. When they looked at the enemy, They looked at the signs of the enemy. And there is, They were sore afraid. They were sore afraid.
[24:44] And friends, That's what the enemy wants, For you and for me. The devil wants you to look, Not, At your saviour.
[24:57] Not, At the Lord. He doesn't want you to look, At the pillar of cloud, Which was leading them. You go back to verse, Chapter, Chapter 13.
[25:09] Verse 21. The Lord went before them, By doing a pillar of cloud, To lead them. And that night, At night, There would be a pillar of fire. They were to look, At the pillar of cloud.
[25:20] That's where they were to look. Look what they did. They looked, Instead of the pillar of cloud, They took their eyes, Off the pillar of cloud, And they looked at the Egyptian arm.
[25:33] And that is what this, That's what, That's what the devil wants you to do, And I to do tonight. He wants you to look, Away from the saviour. Set your eyes upon the saviour.
[25:44] And you're safe, Dear friend. Take your eye off the saviour. And look at two things. Look at two things, He'll get you to look at. He'll get you to look at the world.
[25:57] And he'll distract you. Many times, And if you're like me, You've got a newspaper in front of you. And you want, You'll read the newspaper. I'll read the newspaper. Well, I'll read a chapter of God's word, Before I read the newspaper.
[26:10] Hmm. Move to that. But something else he'll do. He'll make you look, At your shelf. And that's, A huge enemy. How do I say it's a huge enemy?
[26:23] Friends, If I look at myself, What do I look at? Filth of sin. I was, Last summer, No, It was last September.
[26:35] I was going through, Through, Inverness. And, You know, You know some of us. I'm sure many of the husbands here, When you're going through Inverness, You look at a coffee shop, Or, Or whatever.
[26:48] Whereas your wife will go, And she'll find, A shop called, Quiz, Or, Is it Quiz? Or Sarah. I can't, These shops, And, Well, That was happened to me, It happens to me quite, Quite often.
[27:02] I like to go to Waterstones, The bookshop, And, Finger through books. But anyway, I went to a bookshop, And, My eye caught this book. It was, And it was this, The answer is within.
[27:17] You know what this, Nonsense that we've got today, Of self help. You know, You look in, And you see the good, In you. You know, You're getting that nowadays.
[27:29] And this is what the young children, Are being taught. This is what the adults, Is it any wonder, That we've got mental problems? Is it? Look, This book says, It was a self help book.
[27:42] That if you look in, And get the good, That is within you. You'll progress, In the world. You'll develop that good, And become better, And you'll become a better person.
[27:54] I was looking, I couldn't be, I said to myself, If I look in, If you look in, If you look in, What do you see? Do you see good in yourself? I see nothing but, A depth of sin, A filth that's there.
[28:09] And I can't see it, I can't see any good. My good is not in me, It's in my savior. That's where we should be looking. That's where the, That's where the help is to be found.
[28:22] It's in Christ friends, Isn't it? Any of us have looked to Christ, The glimpses we get of Christ, That's where the benefit is to be for our souls. Not in me, Not in myself.
[28:35] Yes, Look at myself, So that then I go to Christ, And say to him, What an abyss of sin, And go to the mercy seat with it. Cast it all at his feet, That's where we're to go.
[28:47] Cast my filth at his feet. My goodness is nothing, The bible tells my goodness, What is it? Filthy rags, isn't it? That's what he tells us to do. That's what he wants us to do.
[28:58] But that's what the devil wants us to do. Look at your failings. Look at your fallings. Why, Why are you going out to the prayer meeting tonight? What? Look at, Look at your life.
[29:10] Look at what, Look at, Think about your, What you were doing today. Look at last night, What you were doing. Why are you going near, Why are you going near, Why are you going near, Why go to a prayer meeting?
[29:21] Oh dear friends, This is, This is exactly what he was, What he was doing to them there. He had gathered this army of Egypt, Of Pharaoh, And he had taken them down, To the, To the, To the bottom of the Red Sea.
[29:35] And there they were, And they were looking, And they were, So afraid. Don't be so afraid. And oh friends, There was something else in it there.
[29:46] It's wonderful in, In, In, Look at verse 10, At the end of verse 10. You know, I was, When I started dwelling upon this, For a while, We talk about the children of Israel, And they were a disobedient people.
[30:09] They were a, But look what they did there. And we cannot take this away, And that's what the Lord, By Moses, Is telling us, The children of Israel, Cried out unto the Lord.
[30:21] Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Yes, we have the next verse, And they're complaining. They're moaning. They're groaning. They're, How quickly, They're murmuring.
[30:36] But yet, Their one way of escape. They looked, Behind them, The Egyptians were coming. To the left hand side, And to the right hand side, Those mountains.
[30:48] Those are big, Big mountains on one side of the world. And right in front of them, There was a big sea. I was looking at the Red Sea, And, I'm not, We're not going to finish any, Near any of this tonight, For instance.
[31:01] I was looking at the Red Sea, I look at the map of the Red Sea, And as you go down towards the south, Before you come to the coast of Aden, At the very bottom of it, You could, There's a width in that sea.
[31:12] It's wide. You can't, You can't, You can't, You think of it. You wouldn't cross, You couldn't cross that sea, In an hour. Two million people crossing that sea.
[31:24] Think of it. Maybe we can develop that theme. Think of it. The width, The width. I was looking at the sea. How are we ever going to cross this?
[31:35] And looking back, They were so afraid, And they cried unto the Lord. Friends, Have we come to that in our own experience? Where we're, Hemmed in, And we cannot look to one side, Look to another side, Look behind us.
[31:52] No help. And you cry to the Lord. Oh friends, There's times, And we do that, Don't we? And that's a good sign. Because he's, He's our helper.
[32:03] There's no help but him. And yet, They then started to murmur. Oh, you know when I was reading it, Asis, There was murmuring it. Their plea, Their cry, Their plea, As I said here, Was an imperfect plea.
[32:20] It wasn't a plea, Look at verse 12. It's not, It's the word that we did tell thee in Egypt. Look at the complaint, Let us alone that we might serve the Egyptians. For if it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, Than that we should die in the wilderness.
[32:32] They're complaining already. Amazing. Amazing. Oh friends, It's amazing. But if we look at ourselves, Are we not the same? I'm the same. Cry to the Lord sometimes, And then I cry, Why am I like this?
[32:48] Why am I in such a state as this? What is happening to us here? How easy it is for us to complain to the Lord, About our circumstances. About what we have here.
[33:00] Lord, I come to the church tonight, And yet I've got nothing. I've got nothing. How often do you go away? You say, I've got nothing. I've got nothing. You moan, Grumble maybe.
[33:12] Oh friends, It's so easy, So easy for us, To moan and to criticize. Isn't it? One of the easiest things I find. Easiest things in a church to find. Isn't it?
[33:23] If we're honest. But yet, But yet, Ah, this God is not like our God, Not like ourselves. This Lord is a God of mercy.
[33:34] A God of infinite and eternal and unchanging mercy. Look at the promise. Through Moses. Look at the promise in verse 13.
[33:45] Moses said to the people. There was three things in the promise. Probably more. Three things. First of all, There was peace.
[33:58] They were at dis-peace. They were, They weren't at peace at all. Oh, they were afraid. And they were sore afraid. That's what the Bible says. It's not that they were afraid. It's that they were sore afraid.
[34:10] Sore afraid. He tells them. Two words. Three words. Three words in it. Two words. Fear ye not. That's the peace.
[34:23] Fear not. The Lord knew that they needed peace. That's the first thing He's going to do. He's going to quieten them down.
[34:36] How often He's like that to you and me, friends. Quieten you down. Fear not. Ah, friends. What a wonderful passage that is. Fear not.
[34:48] I was thinking of that when I was hearing Donald pray. Fear not, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure. Imagine.
[35:01] Imagine. It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's not that He's giving. It's His good pleasure, friends. He delights in giving you the kingdom.
[35:13] That is His delight. And He's telling you, fear not, little flock. He knows you're down. He knows you're down here tonight. He knows what you're feeling tonight, dear friend.
[35:25] And He's telling you, it's your Father's good pleasure. Good pleasure. That's what Christ said. If you go to Luke's Gospel at chapter 12. Fear not, little flock.
[35:37] Maybe you're fearing today. Maybe it's you're fearing today that, have you got anything? Have you got anything? And there was this in it.
[35:50] There was patience. And I mean by patience, what does He now say? Stand still. Imagine. They're marching.
[36:01] They were told to march on down. They're down at the bottom, somewhere in the Red Sea. People tell you that's a way down here, a way down there. We don't really know. It was somewhere in the Red Sea.
[36:13] And it was in a, let's be quite honest, it was in a wide part of the Red Sea. A wide part in the Red Sea. That's what the Bible tells you, how long they took to get across the Red Sea.
[36:28] How many of them were crossing the Red Sea. And how many of the Egyptians were caught in the Red Sea. And you'll tell that it's a very wide area. Some critics will tell you they only had to jump over.
[36:40] Or some people will say to you that there was no depth in it at all. So He's telling them to be patient.
[36:51] Stand still. Be still. Be still. You see this stillness that the Lord is not, He doesn't tell them to sit down. He tells them, it's not a passive.
[37:04] Apparently this word is not a passive. There's an action in it. It's a doing. What we used to call a doing word. We used to call that a verb in our old English books that we used to have.
[37:20] It's passive. It's standing still with patience. What is it standing still with? It's standing still with expectation. Fear not.
[37:35] Stand still. And there was this in it there thoroughly. There was a pledge. So there was peace in it.
[37:47] There was patience. And there was a pledge. The pledge is the promise. What do we mean? Here we have here. See the salvation of the Lord.
[37:59] That's what they were going to look at. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them no more forever. They were in great fear.
[38:11] They were in difficulty. Yet the Lord pledges. He pledges by his promise. That none of these Egyptians will overcome them. They were to.
[38:22] And the emphasize is there. Look at the words. There. The word of God is amazing when you take just little words out of it.
[38:33] Look at it. Ye shall see them again no more. No. No, no, no. No, it's not finished. Look at it.
[38:45] Forever. Forever. Watch it. That is so full of meaning. And so full of words. Why? Just what he goes on.
[38:59] Moses tells them this. That the Lord was going to fight for them. The Lord is on their side. Friends, let's take that as we finish tonight.
[39:12] Let's take that here. That's the crux of the whole matter with the children of Israel. Of Israel. And if you're a follower. And when you're a follower of Christ.
[39:23] It's the whole crux of your walk, profession. And where you are tonight. Isn't it? The Lord is on your side. I will not be afraid. The psalmist could say in another place.
[39:37] That's the crux. Why? Because he says in another place. And this is a wonderful. This is a wonderful. And I say chapter 54.
[39:49] Chapter 54. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn.
[40:01] This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. No weapon that is formed against thee.
[40:13] Why? Because in Deuteronomy, Moses could later say. Wonderful way. Happy art thou, O Israel. Who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord?
[40:27] The shield of thy help. And who is the sword of thy excellency? And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee. And thou shalt tread upon their high places.
[40:39] When did Moses say that? Forty years later. He said that. You'll find it in Deuteronomy 33. Just before they're going across the Jordan.
[40:51] Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee. Friends, that's you tonight. If you're in Christ and your desire is towards him, then...
[41:03] Some of you may be thinking to yourself, I'm not really... I haven't really got what I should have. I really am not.
[41:15] I'm not following the Lord's... Speaking to somebody there recently, and I was speaking to them about coming to the prayer meeting. Come to the prayer meeting. Come to the prayer meeting. Come to the Lord's house.
[41:28] Because your desire is there. The old folks I remember when... I went back nearly 40 years ago. I remember being at a communion over in Ness.
[41:40] And one of the old brothers used to say, used to have this one all. It's in the desire. It's in the desire. It's in the desire. Friends, if you have a desire to be found in the Lord's house on a Thursday evening.
[41:55] And you have a desire to be in the Lord's house on a Sabbath morning and a Sabbath evening. And your desire, your hidden desire is in the Bible, in Christ.
[42:07] You're one of his. One of his. That's what... And I believe it. Where does the desire come from? It doesn't come from your own heart.
[42:18] It doesn't come from yourself. It comes from the desire that's been put into you by the Holy Spirit. That's why you're here, friend. And that's why it's why you should be at the Lord's table that is coming soon.
[42:33] That's it. It's in the desire. And here we have here. Happy at thou, O Israel. Who is like unto thee? A people saved by the Lord.
[42:44] It was actually before he went up to Pisgah. I think. I think he's just on the bottom of Mount... Remember when he was going up to Pisgah, he was told by the Lord to go up.
[42:56] And the Lord was going to take him away. I think that's the passage that's in there. Happy at thou, O Israel. Oh, friend. What a privileged people. Saved by the Lord. And what does he say?
[43:11] What does he say? Here we have it. The Lord is... That's Moses through the spirit of the Lord. And then he says to...
[43:22] Verse 15. The Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore cryest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
[43:36] And that's what he's saying to you and to me this evening through his spirit. The Savior of sinners is coming to you tonight. And he's saying to you, Don't look behind.
[43:49] Oh, you'll find nothing but disappointment there. Don't look to this left or to the right. Look unto me, he says. Look unto me and be ye saved.
[44:02] All ye ends of the earth. For I am God. And there is none else. And that's what he's telling us to do today. Is to look to him. I'll finish off with a hymn I heard last Sabbath morning.
[44:18] I was down in the throne in Glasgow. I think it was the last hymn I heard. I traced it back. John Newton.
[44:29] It's Rejoice Believer in the Lord. And this is what he says. John Newton was the author of Amazing Grace, isn't it? Yes. He says there, Rejoice Believer in the Lord, who makes your cause his own.
[44:44] The hope that's built upon his word shall never be overthrown. Though many foes beset your road, and feeble is your arm, your life is hid with Christ and God beyond the reach of harm.
[45:00] Weak as you are, you shall not faint. Or fainting shall not die. For Jesus' strength of every saint will aid you from on high.
[45:15] As surely as he overcame and triumphed once for you, so surely you that love his name shall in him triumph too. Friend, that's what he's saying to you, go forward.
[45:29] Because he's prepared a place for you. Oh, think of it, what they were going to. When they were going to cross the Jordan, they were going to a land that was filled with milk and honey.
[45:42] And that's where you're going. Jordan is coming closer. It's coming closer. And you're going across that Jordan, and you're going to be with Christ, which is far better than he's saying to you tonight.
[45:57] Go forward. May each one of us be found going forward with him. And may he bless these meditations to us. We'll have a short word of prayer. Lord, our God, we come again to thee, acknowledging no need of thee, because without thee indeed we can do nothing.
[46:14] Indeed we can do nothing. And we see that with the helplessness of the children of Israel, when they cried unto thee. Oh, blessed one, we'd ask this evening that our cry would go out this evening to thyself, and that we would fear not, but stand still and see the salvation of the Lord that he has performed for us.
[46:37] For he gave his only son for us. And thou hast prepared that for us so that we can come a freeness to us. The veil of the temple was strengthened to, top to bottom.
[46:52] We have no access. Access to a holy God through Christ. Oh, blessed one, that we would then go forward in the strength that thou art with us. Bless us all together and all connected with us. We commit to thee.
[47:05] Forgive our many sins and shortcomings. For Jesus' sake. Amen. We'll sing in conclusion in Psalm 115. Psalm 115. Verse 12.
[47:26] Two verses. The Lord of us hath mindful been. Look at it. The Lord of us hath mindful been.
[47:38] Do you ever think that the Lord is mindful of you? Oh, there it is, friends. And he will bless us still. He will the house of Israel bless. Bless Aaron's house he will. Both small and great that fear the Lord.
[47:52] He will them surely bless. The Lord will you, you and your seed, I more and more increase. We'll sing these two verses in conclusion. The Lord of us hath mindful be.
[48:15] And he will bless us still. He will. The Lord shall be blessed.
[48:26] The Lord shall be blessed. The Lord shall be blessed. Bless him also see them.
[48:38] O Lord, and great come here, Lord.
[48:50] We will stand truly blessed. The Lord will lead you on your seat.
[49:08] I am more and more in here. Just a short word of prayer.
[49:19] Lord, O God, we ask that you would dismiss us with thy blessing. That we would be mindful of the fact that thou art leading thy people.
[49:31] And that we would rest and rest alone in thee. Now and for what is left of our lives. Remember all our families, we pray thee. We commit them all to thy care and keeping young and old.
[49:45] That thou thyself as the covenant keeping God would be their God. Both now and forevermore. We ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen.