Crossing the Red Sea
Scene: Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites
and cornering them at the Red Sea.
Exodus 14:12 “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.13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to
you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see
them again no more for ever. 14 The Lord shall fight for you, and
ye shall hold your peace.”
Are there any similarities between
Egypt and the world today?
- Worldly people governing
- Hebrews becoming like the Egyptians
- Unfair laws
- Lack of freedom
- Classes of people
- False Gods
- Faith in magic
- Hedonism
Situation: the Israelites wanted back
in their comfort zone. They wanted to be out of danger. They were
afraid! They would rather be slaves to Egypt than free under God.
Crisis: Should they just give up or
trust God? (What can they do to trust God?) Are we to trust God the
same way today?
What's the Red Sea have to do with our
salvation? Trust. Would you have walked through those walls of water
if you were there, no knowing about the future?
Trust: Firm reliance on the integrity,
ability, or character of a person or thing, in this case God.
“We have nothing to fear, but fear
itself!” (FDR)
“Fear ye not, stand still,
and see the salvation of the Lord”
Is there a relationship between fear
and trust?
When the Bible says “stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord” what New Testament concept do we
think of? (Grace)
Was there a need to trust in Moses too?
Luke 24:26 “Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27 And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself.
From Luke 24:26 then why is the story
of Moses in the Bible? (It's all about Jesus). We need to ask
ourselves, What's this got to do with Jesus!
John 5:46 For had
ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
What does Moses have to do with Jesus?
Acts 7:37 This
is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
What's the parting of the Red Sea got
to do with Jesus?
1 Corinthians 10:1
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how
that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the
sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat (One
Baptism);”
The Old World of sin walked into the
sea. Walking out of the sea was a New Beginning. The old world of sin
(Egypt) was washed clean and a New People had a new start. By faith
they walked into the sea and by grace they were saved by God. They
were New People!
This is much like the tempest in the
New Testament:
Matthew 8:24 And,
behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that
the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his
disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord,
save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why
are ye fearful, O ye
of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the
winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men
marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds
and the sea obey him!
What manner of man is Jesus?
Who feared? Who had a lack of trust?
Who did they look to for salvation? How did Jesus save them? (That's
the same God who saved the Egyptians when he divided the waters of
the Red Sea!)
Hebrews 11:29 By
faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the
Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Trust and faith, is there a
relationship?
Faith: Confident belief in the truth,
value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing, in this case
God.
Trust: Firm reliance on the integrity,
ability, or character of a person or thing, in this case God.
Faith is a confident belief in
God while trust is a firm reliance on God.
We must “believe” in God. (Even the
demons do!), but ours must be a confident belief coupled
with trust!
Three aspects of trust:
integrity: God is good, perfect and
without sin being righteous. He's the only one to have total
integrity.
Mark 10:18 And
Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good
but one, that is, God. (Rhetorical: God is good, hence Jesus
being called good, implies that he is God, not that he's not God).
Psalm 18:30 (ESV)
This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Psalm 35:24a Judge
me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness...(upright,
just, straight, innocent, true, sincere)
1 Corinthians 4:4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not
hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
So part of trust is that God is that he
is righteous. Associated with “righteousness” is judgment.
When we stand before God we will be
judged by his right and true scale. (All arguments or “well buts”
will be in vain!
What scale will we be judged by? How
much we trust we have in God (amount of faith we have)?
God will judge each of us rightly
according to our faith. So here we have again the connection between
faith and trust!
Key verse: Exodus
3:11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto
Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of
Egypt? 12a And he said, Certainly I will be with thee;
Do you trust in the Lord?
How do you trust in him: believe what
he says, believe he will do what he says, believe he will be fair,
believe he will judge with grace, believe that you are sinner because
God says that you are, believe that Jesus died for you, believe that
you can't be good enough that you need him, believe that Jesus lives,
believe that you too will have eternal life (there is life on the
other side of that sea we call death).
Have there been times when things seem
really bad and by trusting in the Lord you got through?
No comments:
Post a Comment