Bible as we continue to think this evening about Moses and the salvation of God that we see here.
But let's begin with a warning that I've heard in a couple of different contexts this week,
perhaps you've reflected on it, the danger of consuming the news. So since the 1990s,
we've been living with a 24-hour news cycle. And psychologists have been sort of tracking and
studying the impact that consuming the news can have on us as people. Two major findings,
which I think are significant. One can tend to hijack our attention. So whether we find ourselves
doom scrolling, whether we find ourselves instinctively checking our device every few
minutes to see what might have changed, we can easily find ourselves distracted from the people
and events that are happening right where we are, right in the room. So it can hijack our attention.
And secondly, they recognize it can heighten our anxiety. Too much time looking at bad news
increases, the stress hormone that's released in our bodies. And we can find ourselves being utterly
overwhelmed by bad news coming from every corner of our planet, so much of which, almost all of which,
we cannot control. And so you find these warnings, you know, to avoid consuming the news, or we might
find the news actually begin to consume us. Well, bearing that in mind, I want to think about Exodus 13 and 14
to say from a Christian point of view, one way to respond to that is to make sure that we are hearing
God's good news. That what grabs our attention is the gospel, God's salvation through Jesus.
That we would allow that truth to bring peace and security into our hearts and lives in a world that
can seem so often to be full of chaos. We sang Psalm 106 and we began reading from Psalm 77,
remember Psalms, telling us to look back, to reflect, to remember for the sake of a life of faith and
obedience. In the book of Deuteronomy, so Moses wrote the book of Exodus, he also wrote the book of
Deuteronomy, 16 times the people of God are told to remember. Remember that you were slaves and God
redeemed you, that's the dominant one. Remember the Lord your God, He is the one who will give you the
ability to prosper in the promised land. Remember the Lord's victory on your behalf, so don't live in fear
of your enemies. As the people of God, we always need to remember who our God is and what He has done
on our behalf, because the dangers are real and they're always there to our faith. We see them in the
story of the Israelites, where our faith can become weakened, where we can be conformed to the world,
where our hearts and our minds can turn towards idols. So we're going to use Exodus 13 and 14 to hear
news reports, to hear true facts, to strengthen our faith, to remind ourselves of these basic
truths that we find here, that God is the God who guides His people, that God is sovereign and He
gains glory for Himself, and that God saves His people by grace. So let's begin by thinking about
the truth that God leads His people. This is there at the end of chapter 13 from verse 17 to 22.
Let me just briefly summarize. So last time we were here, we were in Exodus 5 and 6, and we heard
the promise of God that by His mighty hand, by His power, and in response to His covenant loyalty,
He's going to keep His promises, rescue will surely come. Chapters 7 to 12 are then full of God's mighty
acts. We have this great conflict going on between God and Pharaoh and the false gods of Egypt,
sometimes described as a God conflict. We have these plague events, these judgments where God shows
His superiority. We also have God's grace on display in the Passover event, so the judgment that falls on
Egypt, the people of Israel are spared so long as they obey God's Word, so long as the Passover lamb
is killed and the blood is sprinkled. So that now Pharaoh eventually turns and the nation of Israel
comes out. They enjoy their freedom. So that's where we find ourselves today. Moses is reporting for us
on some of the early movements of the nation as they experience this newfound freedom.
So in these early days, what does Moses pass on to us? He tells us that God leads His people. He makes
clear that they are a pilgrim people. Verses 17 and 18, we have that sense that they've been taken out,
but they're still on this journey, and it's a journey that God is directing. So it says He didn't lead
them into Philistine land because that would most likely tend to war. So He took them on this
longer route. God knows their faith is weak. They'd be prone to be discouraged. And so as an act of
kindness, and as a means by which He'll show His glory, He takes them on a different route. They come out on
this journey following God, ready for battle. And this pilgrim people remind us that we too, as the
people of God, we're a pilgrim people, aren't we? We are journeying the life of faith as a journey,
and we're called to walk by faith. And we are invited to walk by faith, understanding and growing
in our appreciation that God looks after us. We are safe in our Father's hands. John chapter 10,
Jesus reminds us that no one can snatch His people from His Father's hands. So we're a pilgrim people,
just like them. And this pilgrim people, they were invited to remember God's promise. Takes us to that
really, perhaps, surprising, strange incident of Joseph and his bones. Verse 19, Moses took the
bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. Takes us back to the end
of Genesis. So as Joseph was dying in Egypt, he believed God's promise that in the fullness of God's
time, His people would be released from Egypt and taken to the promised land. And so Joseph's dying
wish is that his bones would travel to the promised land, expressing faith in God's promise.
So now, 400 and something years later, the rescue has come. And so the people of this generation,
as they carry Joseph's bones out of the promised land, they have this visible reminder, God has kept
that promise. It took a long time, but it was exactly the amount of time that God had for them.
Now, as we journey in the life of faith, we too are invited to remember God's promise. We don't look
to the bones of Joseph. He was a prince of Egypt, but he chose to identify with his people even as he
died. We look to Jesus, the one who left the glory of heaven, the one who chose to identify with us,
came to save us. We know as we look to Jesus that he keeps his promise, dying to rescue us,
establishing the new covenant in his broken body and his shed blood. So as we journey through life,
we remember God's promise. And as a pilgrim people, they also enjoyed God's presence.
Verse 20 to 22.
After leaving Succoth, they camped at Etham. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud,
by night in a pillar of fire, so they could travel by day or by night. The pillar was always there,
always visible. The 24-hour news cycle in the Israelite camp, our God goes before us. He is with us.
In fact, the only time he doesn't go before them is when he goes behind them to shield them from their
enemies. So God, as it were, literally draws near to them to direct their steps, reminding them and
reminding us that freedom, because they're now enjoying freedom, freedom is to be free to enjoy
life with God. And this remains the great reality for the church today. God is with us. He's with us
by his Spirit. He's with us now as we worship. Jesus promised he wouldn't leave us as orphans. He
would come to us. And Jesus is still leading us by his Word and through his Spirit. And so it's so
important for us as Christians and as the church that we keep God's Word in front of us. But we have
in the story of Moses and Israel and the Exodus good news that we need to hear and we need to keep
hearing. That we're not left to our own devices as the people of God, but rather he leads his church.
Jesus leads his church, coming to be present with us, coming to be strong when we are weak and when we
are fearful. So that's the first thing we see, first thing we hear of this good news. The second thing is
that God gains glory. That's there at the beginning of chapter 14. Now, I think this is a really interesting
chapter. But picture for a moment. So we know from watching the TV news that there are war reporters
who go into hostile territory, bringing reports back right there as the action is happening. Well, picture
this evening an Egyptian war reporter. So he has followed Pharaoh and his armies to the sea. He has
watched what's just happened. And now he returns back to the center of power in Egypt. He returns to the palace,
bringing the news they dreaded and feared. Pharaoh and his army, they're defeated. They're gone.
Posing the question, what has happened? How has the most powerful empire on the planet
been defeated at chasing former slaves? How has this happened? And the headline that we have
is in verse 4. Here's how it happens. 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 when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. God's design, part of God's design in
these events is that the Egyptians would come to know, I am the Lord, discovering the hard way.
God alone is glorious. God is the true king. God is in control. And the Egyptians, they've had a front row seat
as this action has been playing out. How have they seen the glory of God on display? Well, they've discovered
that he is the glorious king over creation. Think about verse 16 for a moment. Think about the way this is
presented. Raise your hand. Raise your hand. Raise your hand. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea
to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
What does that make you think of? If you know the beginning of the Bible, it will probably make you think of
Genesis chapter 1 and day 3 when God the Creator divided the sea so that dry land could be formed.
The sovereign Creator King is doing another great work here, bringing, as it were, new creation
so that His people can be set free. God is bringing life to His people in this event, showing Himself glorious
over creation. Of course, He's been showing that all through the plague events. So, whether it's turning the Red Sea
to blood or whether it's sending gnats or flies, showing that He is in charge, showing that the false gods of Egypt
are powerless to resist. So, He's the glorious king over creation. They are also seeing that He is the glorious
king over Pharaoh. Pharaoh who set Himself up as a son of the gods.
In verse 3 and 4, God deliberately, we're told, sets the Israelites on a path so that Pharaoh will think
the Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, and I'll harden Pharaoh's heart and He will pursue them.
The only real confusion, and we see this all through these chapters of the book of Exodus, is Pharaoh's
confusion in thinking, in thinking He can resist God and His will and go unpunished.
Exodus chapters, all the way from 4 to 15, has this repeated theme of Pharaoh's hard heart.
And so, sometimes the emphasis falls on God hardening Pharaoh's heart. At other times, Pharaoh hardens his heart.
What happens is, no matter God's words, let my people go, no matter God's actions, putting His glory on display,
Pharaoh resists, and he stubbornly says, no. And God is sovereign, and He hardens the heart of this evil king.
He's going to bring His judgment into the present. That Pharaoh's stubbornness and the delay in setting the people go free is actually going to allow more of God's glory to be seen,
more of God's power to be shown, more differentiation between Egypt and Israel, because Israel doesn't experience the judgments of God.
So, even Pharaoh's own officials at one point will say, Pharaoh, this is the finger of God at work.
And then you get that lovely verse in chapter 12, verse 38, as the Exodus event takes place,
says the Israelites journeyed. There were about 600,000 men on foot beside women and children.
Many other people went up with them.
So, some of the Egyptians who are living there, seeing what God is doing, saying, I'm not following Pharaoh. He's clearly not in charge.
So, they become part of the people of God, and they join God's people.
God is gaining glory over Pharaoh.
He is the glorious king over judgment and salvation.
The message to Pharaoh has been clear from the beginning.
Let my people go so that they might worship me.
The message to Moses was clear.
Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt are going to be judged.
Pharaoh has been wicked.
He is the one who gave the order, the national order,
to throw babies into the Nile.
He is the king who has deliberately been enslaving God's people against God's will.
And so, God says he will gain glory.
And he gains glory through judgment and salvation.
It's an important theme through the Bible.
The only way for God's people here to have peace
is if their enemies stop pursuing them.
And that happens because God acts.
How does God act here?
Through this great miracle, he divides the Red Sea.
The people go through safely.
But the water comes down.
The waters of judgment cover the Egyptians.
Again, going back to the book of Genesis.
The waters of judgment that covered the earth in Noah's day.
Here are the waters of judgment coming over Pharaoh and his army.
And the Egyptians themselves are in no doubt.
In verse 25,
God 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.
God is going before them.
God goes behind them to protect them.
And God fights for them to give deliverance from their enemies.
Israel are kept.
Israel are saved.
No longer forced to serve a cruel tyrant king,
working them to death.
Now they have freedom to serve the good and gracious Lord and King.
God gains glory.
Of course, there are some difficulties that folks might have,
that we might have with these scenes.
Let's just think about them for a couple of minutes together.
Does judgment,
because judgment features throughout the Bible,
does God's judgment make God unworthy of worship?
So some people have the idea that God is love and can only ever be love,
and so any judgment would make them that would be unworthy of God.
Is it unworthy of God to harden Pharaoh's heart in an act of judgment?
I think perhaps on one hand,
it's really important to recognize our particular point of view.
You know, as we read the Bible,
we read in a particular culture,
we read in a culture and context where we have freedom,
where we have peace,
where we are not an oppressed or persecuted people.
But it's really interesting,
if you hear reports,
you talk to believers from persecuted places.
If we had the opportunity to speak to a Christian believer from North Korea,
or from Eritrea,
where they are suffering horror and imprisonment and labor camps,
and the threat of death constantly because of their faith,
you would hear time and time and time again,
the justice of God presents real hope for us.
That in the end,
evil will be done away with.
That God's salvation will come.
A God who didn't care about child killing,
remember Pharaoh advocated national child killing,
a God who didn't care about cruel slavery,
a God who didn't deal with sin in the end,
that would be a God who would be unworthy of our worship.
He wouldn't be just.
He wouldn't be righteous.
But that's not the God of the Bible.
We may wrestle with His timing.
Sometimes it's difficult because we read of God's judgment,
judgment brought into the present,
and that can be really striking to us,
and it's intended to stand as a warning
that we need to be ready to meet the reality of judgment day.
Sometimes we can struggle because we feel that there is so much injustice in the world,
and we long for God to act now,
to fix things now.
But as the people of God,
we can rest in the promise that in the end,
the judge of all the earth will do right.
God's judgment doesn't make Him unworthy of worship.
But perhaps there's another objection that someone might have.
Does seeking His own glory make God unworthy of worship?
You know, for us, if we see someone who's all about their own glory,
self-promoting, vain,
it can seem like the height of arrogance.
It can be really off-putting.
Especially as we understand ourselves as people,
we are not ultimately glorious.
But we need to recognize that God exists in a whole different category to us.
He is the highest good.
He is absolute perfection.
So for God to seek anything less than His own glory
would be for Him to suggest that there is someone or something that's better than Him.
And that's impossible.
Rather, what God does is He puts His glory on display in salvation,
that we might see His glory.
And especially for us in the New Testament age,
we see the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus,
His perfect character.
We see the glory of God's victory over sin and evil at the cross of Jesus.
And we are invited, as the people of God,
to find our highest joy in our glorious God.
The Bible teaches us that we shouldn't settle for anything less.
We shouldn't be too easily satisfied.
Rather, we are to pursue our joy,
understanding that true joy comes when we know and enjoy the God who is glorious.
It is good news that God gains glory.
And it is good news, thirdly, that God saves His people.
Let's, for a moment, act like investigative reporters as we consider these events.
You know, investigative reporters, they're not just interested in,
here's the events that have happened,
but they're also wanting to probe deeper and to say,
well, why?
Why did these events happen?
What's the significance of them?
And when we do that,
we discover the good news that God saves.
He's pleased to save by grace.
The first fact that we can discover,
who is saved?
What kind of people are saved?
Verse 10,
we find the Israelites looking up.
They've got the Red Sea behind them.
They've got the Egyptians coming towards them,
and they're terrified.
Was it because there were no graves in Egypt
that you brought us to the desert to die?
They're caught between a rock and a hard place.
All they can see, the only two options that they can see,
well, either there's slavery in Egypt,
or there's death.
And so they say to Moses,
why did you take us out?
At least if we're slaves, we're still alive, we're not dead.
One of the things that we see repeating in the story of Israel,
and when we're honest, we see it in our own lives,
is how slow they are to believe and to trust,
how weak their faith is,
how weak our faith is so often.
And so God will send a message to them.
So in Deuteronomy 9,
God will say,
remember, I didn't save you because you were righteous.
I didn't save you because you were on a different moral,
spiritual plane to everybody else.
And we see that, don't we?
We see that in this text.
But the wonderful thing for us is that the more that Moses is led to highlight
the spiritual messes and failures of the Israelites,
the more we see the sovereign grace and mercy of our God on display.
And as his patience and his kindness and his faithfulness to his promises,
as they are spotlighted,
gives us hope.
Because we're just like Israel,
prone to wonder, prone to despair,
but we rest in the salvation that God provides.
Because that's the second fact.
The people who are saved were helpless and hopeless,
except for God.
Who saves them?
Verse 13 and 14 of chapter 14.
Moses answered the people in their distress,
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.
Israel, here's your job.
Effectively, do nothing.
Stand firm.
Stand still.
Let God work.
It's the Lord who will deliver.
It's the Lord who fights.
The call to faith
is a call to faith in the God who saves.
This call to faith that we have
is to place our trust entirely
in our God and Savior.
So that just like the Israelites,
we don't need to be overwhelmed
by circumstances or fears
when our faith is built on the solid rock
of God and His promises,
of Jesus and His salvation.
Third fact,
how are they saved?
There's a summary
in verse 29 and 30.
Well, having been told in verse 28,
the water flowed back
and covered the chariots and horsemen.
Not one of them survived.
But the Israelites went through the sea
on dry ground
with a wall of water on the right
and on their left.
That day the Lord saved Israel
from the hands of the Egyptians.
This wonderful picture
of God creating these huge walls of water
and God's people passing safely
through those waters,
those waters that brought death
and judgment on God's enemies
so that they can look back
and they can recognize
they've been set free from slavery.
They've been set free from Egypt.
They can actually see their enemies
dead on the other side of the shore.
Now they're set free to enjoy
a new life of freedom with God,
with a new identity,
no longer slaves.
Now they're redeemed people of God.
They pass through the waters.
I think when the New Testament writers
speak of baptism,
at least sometimes they have this in mind.
Baptism can be a reminder to us
of the Exodus event
that God in His grace and kindness
saves His people,
taking us from sin and death,
bringing us forgiveness,
giving us freedom,
giving us new life
and a new identity
identity as a child of God.
And then we can turn
to the eyewitness response.
How did it make you feel?
What did you do next?
As we hear from those
who experience God's salvation,
there is so much that we can learn.
Verse 31,
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.
So they can testify.
We know, we can see.
God has rescued us from our enemies.
God has brought life
in the place of death.
He has revealed His mighty hand
and saved us.
And we can do the same
as the people of God.
And our response like theirs
ought to be to fear God
with that sense of being awestruck
at how amazing He is.
That we would rejoice
and tremble
at the goodness and glory
of God and His saving grace.
And notice too,
they trusted.
They trusted both God
and Moses,
Moses, the servant of God.
For their journey of faith,
God would lead them,
Moses, His servant,
would lead them
and they were invited to follow.
Just like us.
Invited to trust our God
and Jesus,
the servant
who suffered
to save us.
The one set over
us
to lead us.
So as the people of God,
we need to hear
this good news.
We need to be consumed
by this good news
of salvation.
Because we understand
our own hearts
and our own lives
that we can have
our attention
distracted.
We can find ourselves
anxious and we need
to come back
again and again
to this good news
of solid joy.
In this world
of the 24-hour news cycle,
we need to make sure
that this good news
is what we hear first
and most often.
That this would take
our attention
and steady
our hearts.
Because we know
in Jesus,
God still
saves
by grace.
He is the one
who takes the initiative.
He is the one
who responds
to our spiritual distress.
In Jesus,
God does act
mightily
to save us.
Everything is completed.
Salvation is a gift
to receive by faith.
And in Jesus,
we have one
greater than Moses.
The righteous servant
we are called
to follow.
The one who in love
actually went under
the waves
of God's judgment
for us.
So that we
might have
new life.
Just as he
after death
enjoyed resurrection life.
And God
calls us
to a life
of faith
and a life
of worship.
To fear him,
to trust in him,
to walk
in his ways,
to stand still
in amazed
wonder
at God's kindness
and to move
forward
with trust.
This is
our God,
the great
I am.
Let's pray
to him together
tonight.
Father God,
we thank you
that throughout
the Bible
you remind us
of your great
and gracious
salvation.
You remind us
that you are a God
faithful to your
promises.
You remind us
that you are a God
who is with your
people,
that you lead
your people,
and that you are
active for our
good and for
our salvation.
And so we pray
that as we are
surrounded
by so much
bad news,
so much can
throw us off
balance and make
us anxious
and distract us,
Lord, we pray
that you would
keep pulling us
back to the
good news of
Jesus,
our Lord and
Savior,
that our hope,
our life,
our joy,
would be built
on him,
we pray.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
We're going to
close with a hymn
that reminds us
of the truth
that our God
will go before us.
So again,
let's stand
together
to sing.
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