Please take a seat.
This evening is the second in our series.
I'm not a Christian because we had a cracking start last week.
Great time of fellowship together and looking at why all religions aren't the same.
Tonight we've got I'm not a Christian because you can't trust the Bible.
An absolutely world class speaker called Bob Aykroyd, the principal of Edinburgh Theological Seminary,
what used to be the Free Church College, is coming to speak.
So whatever it takes, whatever the cost, whatever needs to be sold or given up,
make sure you get yourself there because it will be well worth it.
And the coffee's not bad either.
Let's pray and then we'll get to work.
Father God, thank you so much for this morning.
Thank you for all the truths that we've sung.
Thank you that we've been able to seek your face in prayer.
Father, thank you that that's all possible because of Jesus.
And so, Lord, we pray now as we come to study this written word.
Father, would you show us ever more clearly your son, your living word.
Father, bless us and help us in his glorious name.
Amen.
We love escape stories.
We love stories about escape.
We love this idea of incarceration to freedom.
Although I dare say that goldfish is going to find it's not actually greener on the other side.
We love bondage to redemption.
We love prison bars exchanged for open spaces.
Escape stories really resonate with us.
We like them.
We have films like Papillon with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman trying to escape from prison.
We have stories like 12 Years a Slave, that box office hit of last year.
We have Amazing Grace, William Wilberforce and William Pitt trying to end the slave trade.
That classic, the wooden horse where the inmates take up gymnastics in order that they can tunnel out of the prison.
We have that world famous Shawshank Redemption.
We have Les Mis as Jean Valjean tries to escape the clutches of Inspector Javert.
Escape stories seem to resonate with us.
We like the idea of escaping.
We have TV series like Prison Break and Breakout Kings.
Harry Houdini captured imaginations with his escapology.
Children play games like Stuck in the Mud, where people are stuck and then they're freed.
We have fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel and Sleeping Beauty.
Even Aladdin's classic is about Princess Jasmine trying to escape the life of luxury she has in the palace,
whilst at the same time Aladdin trying to escape the clutches of poverty that he has.
The theme of escape resonates with us, but there's no more famous escape story than the aptly named The Great Escape.
If we were feeling more joyous we could perhaps sing the theme tune, but I'll save it.
But the film is based on the true story of 76 prisoners of war
who set about escaping from the Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp in Lower Silesia in modern day Poland by tunneling.
They built three tunnels.
One of them was viable.
They left.
76 got out.
But what we learn in the story is getting out is only half the story.
Getting out is only half the story.
There is a massive difference between getting out and getting to safety.
Of the 76 who escaped, 50 were shot dead.
23 were recaptured and severely punished.
Only three made it to safety.
There is a massive difference between getting out and getting to safety.
Good old Alcatraz.
For its 29 years as a state penitentiary in America in San Francisco Bay,
36 prisoners tried to escape.
Six were shot dead.
Seven drowned.
23 recaptured.
There is a massive difference between getting out and getting to safety.
And as we turn to Exodus 14, this is what hangs in the balance.
The Israelites have gotten out.
In chapter 12, verse 31, Pharaoh lets the people go.
But they're not safe.
They're not safe yet.
It's impossible to exaggerate just how key the crossing of the Red Sea is to the rest of the Bible.
There are 24 explicit references to it in the rest of the Old Testament.
Countless in the New Testament.
Most famous, Luke chapter 9, verse 31.
They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
The word for departure is the word Exodus.
So as Moses and Elijah chat to Jesus on top of the mountain,
they very much see it as a second better Exodus.
Hebrews 11, by faith, the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land.
But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
Probably most famous and awkwardly, 1 Corinthians 10.
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters,
that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
And a little bit later down it says,
Now these things happened to them as an example,
but they were written down for our instruction.
This crossing of the Red Sea isn't just a historical fact.
It's important for us.
What we're looking at this morning is about the Hebrews not just getting out,
but getting to safety.
But it's written for us.
It helps us get out of our bondage and get us to our safety, which is the Lord Jesus.
So if you've got a Bible, it will be massively helpful.
If you could turn to Exodus chapter 14.
And I want to start reading at verse 5.
Exodus chapter 14 and verse 5.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people have fled,
Pharaoh and his officials changed their mind 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 were 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-ha-hiroth,
opposite Baal-zaphon.
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 will never,
you will never see again.
The Lord will fight for you.
You need only 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 waters
so that the Israelites can go through 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 haul his army through the 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.
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 Pharaoh's 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 that 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 a wall of water on their left.
That day, the Lord saved Israel
from the hand 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.
They'd taken a kind of roundabout route
to get to Pi-Hahiroth.
You saw that last week
that they didn't take the most obvious route
so that they would perhaps evade
the Egyptians should they come after them.
But back in Egypt,
the Pharaoh is freaking out.
You can just imagine
he's woken up in the morning
and he had to get his own slippers
because there were no slaves in the house.
He had to spread his own marmalade
on his sourdough toast.
He had to retrieve the paper himself
and open his own post
and he thinks,
what have we done?
I love verse 5.
It's so English.
We have let the Israelites go
and have lost their services.
He really means that we don't have any slaves anymore.
So what does he do?
He throws the kitchen sink
in this retrieval protocol.
This idea of 600 best chariots
is the phrase for his imperial guards.
He calls the boys and says,
right, we're going after them.
His best chariots,
his very own soldiers.
And just for good measure,
he sends everybody else as well.
It's like Barack Obama
sending the Navy SEALs
and the rest of the US Army.
And they overtook them
and they blocked them in.
This is what it looks like.
The Hebrews have been moving left to right.
The Egyptians have overtaken them.
They're penned in by the sea
and if they go back,
it's towards Egypt.
They are trapped.
It's like,
it's going to be like
shooting fish in a barrel.
What we have on our hands
is a potential massacre.
The Egyptians are a fierce,
fighting superpower.
And the Israelites
perhaps have a pitchfork
between all of them.
And I want us to see three things
this morning.
Here's the first.
Salvation is freedom from bondage.
If you just flick back
to chapter 13,
verse 18,
it says,
the Israelites went out of Egypt
ready for battle.
You can imagine them.
They've got camo paint,
back slaps.
They're like,
we're going for this.
And they give a good grunt,
like,
ha!
Look at chapter 14,
verse 8.
The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
the king of Egypt,
so that he pursued the Israelites
who were marching out boldly.
You can just imagine
they're singing like one of those
army songs,
like,
do,
do.
Do you know,
as they march along,
they look up for it.
But look at chapter 14,
verse 10.
The Israelites looked up,
and there were the Egyptians
marching after them.
They were terrified
and cried out to the Lord,
utterly melted.
It was all for show
that when they saw
their old slave masters
in the distance,
terrified.
And they start to moan.
It seems like God's people
have that kind of
genetically embedded in them.
Why didn't you leave us
in Egypt,
Moses?
Were there not enough
graves for us?
We really loved
being slaves
to the Egyptians.
Why have you brought us
out here to die?
They've got terrible
recollection.
Like,
horrendous recollection.
Back in chapter 4,
this is what really happened.
Then Moses and Aaron
gathered together
all the elders
of the people of Israel.
Aaron spoke all the words
of the Lord
that were spoken to Moses
and did the signs
in the sight of the people.
And the people believed.
And when they heard
that the Lord had visited
the people of Israel
and that he had seen
their reflection,
they bowed their heads
and worshipped him.
Didn't read in that bit
much like,
actually,
we're quite happy here.
I quite like making
yasmin tea
for the Pharaoh.
Do you see,
geographically,
they're free.
But spiritually,
when their old slave masters
are in the distance,
they're back in bondage.
Let's go back.
Let's go back
to once we,
once were.
It's like this guy,
Brooke Hanlon
from Shawshank Redemption.
He's been in prison
for 50 years
and finally,
he gets a parole hearing
and is set free
from Shawshank Prison.
But though he's free
geographically,
inside,
he's still a prisoner
and he ends up
committing suicide
because he cannot cope.
Just like the Israelites.
They got out
but they didn't get
to safety.
Getting Israel
out of Egypt
is easy
compared to getting
Egypt
out of the Israelites.
You know the struggle
in your own life.
You know what it is
to be free in Jesus
and yet still
to be bound
by so many things.
What about things
like this?
On believing
in Jesus,
you're objectively
free
from trying to make
yourself acceptable
to God.
You're objectively
free.
In Jesus,
you can boldly
approach God
because of who
Jesus is
and yet subjectively,
we all still think
that it's about
our performance.
That when we mess up,
it's much more about
running from God
in fear
than running to God
for forgiveness.
just like the Israelites.
Geographically
out of bondage
but spiritually
still so enslaved.
What about this?
Sin.
Still in bondage
to sin.
All of us.
That in Jesus
we're no longer
what we once were
but are what we were
one day be.
The old has gone,
the new has come.
And yet still,
doesn't the old man
still creep up
and show his face
so often?
So we were playing
football on Friday night
and Aaron,
in all of his
youthful enthusiasm,
took a massive
swipe at the ball.
Fortunately,
the ball had long
since left
and all that was
in the way
was my leg.
And I just,
in that moment,
just snapped.
And it was the old man,
the one who got
really cross and angry
and started shouting.
And would have
sought retaliation
if I could have
walked at the point.
Isn't it true?
Free, but still.
So often in bondage
and then in idols.
Idols that so readily
creep up in our lives
and say,
serve me.
Serve us.
The idol of Korea
that you are,
how high up the ladder
you get.
Money.
That secretly
we do all think
that we're the exception
to the rule.
And that we can serve
both God and money
and our bank account
is actually what defines us.
Our relationships
and they all bow at the door
and they say,
serve me.
That though we're free
in Jesus forever,
so often we're still
in bondage.
It's like our
systematic theology.
Past,
when we believed in Jesus,
we're justified,
we're free from the penalty
of sin.
Present,
being sanctified.
sanctified.
We are being freed
from the power of sin
that it's losing
its grip on us.
And then in the future,
glorification,
we will be free
from the very presence
of sin.
The problem is
that middle one
is a story.
The other two
are kind of instantaneous,
but this one
is a story.
God is working out
his purposes
to loosen the grip
of idols
and sin
and still trying
to do it
by our works
from us,
so it's going
to take time.
John 8,
verse 36,
so if the sun
sets you free,
you will be free
indeed.
Two weeks ago,
I had three sets
of people over
for fajitas.
I can only really
make fajitas,
so if you're invited
around,
that's what we're having.
If you're a vegetarian,
bring something.
And I made three sets
of fajitas,
and I have to say,
every time I made them,
they got a little better.
And the reason
they got a little better
is because on Monday,
I made a massive
bowl of chicken,
and I poured the marinade
in,
and it sat in my fridge.
So on Monday,
the chicken was
slightly spicy.
On Tuesday,
the chicken was
a little bit more spicy,
but by Thursday,
man,
beautiful.
so much spice
and juiciness
and flavor
because the marinade
had penetrated
right into the meat.
This is the thing.
We're all
still in bondage
to many,
many things.
And how are we going
to get ourselves free?
We're going to
marinate ourselves
in the gospel.
We're going to
remind ourselves
every day
that we are free
in Jesus,
that we don't need
to worship
what we once worshipped.
We don't need
to perform
like once
we used to think
that we had to perform.
That we're going
to let his salvation,
his freedom,
work its way
into every part
of our lives.
Abraham Lincoln
signed the
Emancipation Proclamation
on the 1st of January,
1863.
However,
because the Civil War
in the South
still went on,
and the Confederates
still had control,
if you were a slave
in Texas,
you weren't actually
free until the 19th
of June,
1865.
The two and a half
years,
your status
was declared free.
But it took
two and a half years
for the news
to travel
and for you
to finally be free.
News travelled
really slowly.
But I have to say
in our lives,
news travels
even slower.
And therefore,
we need to keep
telling ourselves
this good news.
Jesus has set us free.
And he's set us free
forever.
Tell yourself
you're free in Christ
every day
because we forget
all the time.
Salvation is
freedom
from bondage.
Second point,
salvation is crossing
over by grace.
Salvation is crossing
over by grace.
Just look back
at verse 13.
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
be still.
You don't get
a better representation
of grace
than that.
Stand over there,
don't do anything,
just watch
and see that God
will win for you.
Seems like
it's all grace.
seems like
they're going
to get free
not because
of their efforts
in fighting
but because
God is going
to set them free.
And all night
the wind blows,
the waters part
and they go by
on dry ground
with a wall
on their left
and a wall
on their right.
And this division
is explicit.
Do you see
how the Israelites
have light
in verse 20
but the Egyptians
are still in darkness.
they cross over
by grace
because God
won the day.
Bondage
to freedom.
Instantaneous
death to life.
Darkness
to light.
Unadopted
to adopted.
Dominion of darkness
to the kingdom
of the sun.
Old creature
becomes new creature.
Unregenerate
becomes regenerate.
Condemned
becomes saved.
The area
of bondage
becomes new.
Freedom.
It's a change
of status.
salvation is
crossing over
by grace.
So someone
asks,
are you a Christian?
How would you
answer,
are you a Christian?
Perhaps you'll
answer,
I'm really trying.
Some days
more than others
I'm working
hard on it.
can I say
if that's your answer,
you haven't understood
this at all.
Because what we
talk about
in Christianity
is crossing
over by grace.
We believe
in Jesus
instantly,
we're justified.
It's binary,
yes or no.
It's not about
effort.
One point
they were in
the land
of bondage,
the next
moment
they're free
as they
cross over.
It's crossing
over
by grace.
There's no
middle,
there's no
almost justified,
there's no
quasi-righteous,
there's no
diet
Christian.
It's in
or out.
But I know
what some people
say,
but you need
faith,
that's what I
need to add.
You need a
good,
strong faith.
Well that's
where I think
this is so
helpful.
Because all
the Israelites
cross over,
and as they
walk through
on dry ground,
there's a wall
of water on
their right
and a wall
of water
on their left.
And I dare
say some
people swagger
across.
Isn't God
great?
He's won
the day
for us.
Woo!
But I bet
there's some
other people
who are
clinging to
their friends
going,
we're going
to die,
we're going
to die,
we're going
to die.
Do you
see,
it's not
the quality
of faith.
It's the
object of
our faith.
That God
has won
the day
so that
we don't
have to.
Do you
know I
had the
awesome
privilege
before
Christmas
of hanging
out with
Ruby,
before she
went to be
with the
Lord,
and she
had absolute
confidence of
where she's
going because
she crossed
over by
grace.
Similarly
with Ruth
as I've
seen her
and so
many of
you have
seen her,
real
confidence.
She'll be
with the
Lord because
she knows
what it
is to
cross
over by
grace.
She's not
trusting in
her performance
but trusting
that Jesus
nailed her.
Salvation is
crossing over
by grace.
It's what
it is.
Here's the
last thing.
Salvation is
possible through
only through
a mediator.
Look at
verse 11.
they were
terrified and
cried out to
the Lord.
They said to
Moses and
then they
have this
big moan.
Drop down
to verse
15.
Then the
Lord said
to Moses,
why are you
crying out
to me?
Moses hasn't
been crying
out.
In fact,
he's been
the one
who's been
getting
moaned at.
And yet,
do you see
that Moses
is so
associated
with his
people that
their sin
becomes his
sin?
But then
drop down
to verse
21,
that as
Moses stretches
out his
hand,
the Lord
sets about
parting the
sea because
Moses is
so associated
with God
that his
power works
through
Moses.
What a
brilliant
mediator,
someone associated
with the
people and
someone associated
with God,
so can be a
perfect middle
man.
And yet,
doesn't that
point so
much better
to the
Lord Jesus
who's not
associated
with us
but became
like us
in every
way?
And someone
who wasn't
just associated
with God
but was
God and
dwelt
amongst us
to be the
perfect
mediator.
God.
And he
wasn't just
condemned
for the
sins of
the people
on one
occasion like
Moses,
he was
condemned
for all
our sins,
carried out
in all
our lives
and he
took them
upon
himself.
Such a
better
mediator,
fully man
yet fully
God,
taking on
the sins
of man so
we can be
brought to
God.
And let's
not lose
the significance
of the
water.
Genesis 1-2
talks about
the spirit
of God
hovering over
the face
of the
water.
This picture
of being
uncreated
and what
does God
do?
He takes
uncreation
and makes
it creation.
So what's
he doing
in Exodus
14 to
the Egyptians?
Because they
don't have
a mediator.
Well the
water comes
back in over
the top,
it's an
act of
uncreation,
it's an
act of
decreation
as they're
disintegrated.
Do you
see it's
judgment?
God judges
the Egyptians
and gets
glory for
himself,
that for
enslaving his
people they're
called to
account.
But let's
not make the
fatal error to
think that
Israel was
good and
the Egyptians
were bad,
that's not
it.
The Israelites
would have
tried to
fight back
against the
Egyptians if
they could.
But they
couldn't,
they didn't
have the
technology.
Why is
Israel saved
and Egypt
isn't simply
because God
showed his
grace to
his people
and not to
the Egyptians.
Moses stretched
out hands over
waters of
God's wrath
and saw them
separate so his
people could
cross over and
be safe.
Jesus stretched
out his hands
on a cruel
Roman cross
and was
thrown into
the sea of
God's wrath
for us
so that we
might cross
over and be
safe forever.
Jesus was
decreated and
judged so
that we could
be recreated
and set free.
There's
beautiful bookends
to this story.
In Exodus
chapter 2
what do we
start with?
We start with
Hebrew infant
boys littering
the banks
of the Nile
as Egypt
kills
and performs
this infanticide.
The end of
chapter 14
what do we
have?
We have
Hebrew men
the soldiers
who came to
once again
enslave them
littered on
the shore
dead
as God
judges them
for their
acts against
his people.
Salvation
you see
is only
possible
through a
mediator
and that's
what we
perfectly
have in
Jesus.
Just imagine
then if Sky
News had a
roving reporter
amidst the
Israelites just
after they've
crossed over
and kind of
George Alagia
or one of
those guys
gets up and
puts the
microphone in
their face
of
let's call him
Jeremiah and
says Jeremiah
how is it
going?
This is what
he might say.
He says I
was a foreigner
in a foreign
land not my
home.
I was in
cruel bondage
and under
judgment and
sentenced to
death but I
took shelter
under the
blood of the
lamb.
I followed
my mediator
to freedom
and he
stretched his
hand so I
could cross
over by grace.
Now we're on
the way to the
promised land
but we're not
there yet.
We're following
God's lead.
He's going to
give us this
law to make us
a distinct
people and he's
going to dwell
with us in the
tabernacle to
remind us
constantly of our
need of his
grace.
forgiveness.
One day we'll
arrive home to
be with him in
the place he
has prepared
and we'll
receive fully
all that he
has promised.
It's not
radically different
is it to what
we might say
this side of
the cross.
As Christians
all that
language is
exactly what we
see in the
New Testament.
Two quick
things to finish.
number one.
God gets them
out and then
gives them the
law.
Grace first.
He's not
getting them
out because
they've
obeyed.
He's getting
them out so
they can
obey.
They're
obeying as a
response to
grace not a
requirement for
grace.
And this bit
blew my mind
this week.
Just go back
to verse 13.
Do not be
afraid.
Stand firm and
you will see
the deliverance
the Lord will
bring you
today.
Do you know
what's so
beautiful about
that phrase?
The deliverance
of the Lord
could literally
be the phrase
God saves.
Now we all
know one bit
of Hebrew and
it's that that
God saves.
Because it's
the word
Yeshua.
Which will
become
in Aramaic
the word
Jesus.
So literally
God says
to his people
through Moses
stand still
don't
do
anything.
Your salvation
will come and
it will be
through looking
at the Jesus
of the Lord.
It will be by
staring at Jesus
where you will
be saved.
And so what
do we learn
from Exodus
14?
We learn that
salvation is
freedom from
bondage and
we need to
work it into
every part of
our lives.
Salvation is
crossing over
by grace.
Trusting that
God has done
it and walking
through from
one side to
the other
instantaneous
justification.
And salvation
is only possible
through the
mediator.
There is a
great difference
between getting
free and
getting safe.
life.
But in the
Lord Jesus
he sets us
free and
will bring us
safely all the
way home
because he's
that good to
us.
Why don't we
pray?
The writer to
the Hebrews
says how
shall we
escape if
we ignore
such a
great
salvation?
And so
Lord as we've
looked at your
son through the
lens of Exodus
14, Father we're
so thankful to
him.
We're so thankful
for him.
And Father we
pray that his
news of free
grace, of
absolute
forgiveness,
might work
its way into
every part of
our lives.
Father that we
would trust him
that he's won
where we
failed, that
he succeeded
where we
flunked, and
that it is in
him and only
in him that
we are righteous
and able to
cross over.
Father may grace
be so precious
to us.
And Father may
we love him for
what he's done.
May we be those
this morning who
simply stand
still and gaze
upon him,
gazing upon him
in his perfect
life, in his
atoning death,
and in his
glorious resurrection
that keeps us
free for all
eternity.
Father bless us
and be with us.
Commit these
things to our
hearts we pray
in Jesus glorious
name.
Amen.
Thank you.
If you have any
questions about
anything that's
being said
this morning
then please
feel free to
speak to either
myself or the
John
after the service.
When I'm going to
move into
short...