The Long Road Out of Egypt part 2

I long for nothing else and that you would be glorified. If you haven't been at NOLA, then I guess that might be the first time you've heard that song. Those of you who've been here for a while, you know, we sang that many years ago. And we try to stay into a habit of singing songs that preach. As I was singing that song, I thought, that basically sums up the message. Can we sing those truths with full assurance of sincerity? When you have a trial in your life, you honestly say, "Lord, I long for nothing else than for you to be glorified." And if you remember the words of that song, "Are you good only when I'm carefree?

Are you God only when I'm well?" "No, Lord, you are true when I'm heart. You are true and good when I am dry, when I'm needy. In the desert places, you are still God and you are still good." I think that sets us up well. If you would open up in your scripture to Exodus, Chapter 14. It's been my pleasure to fill the pulpit, serve you the word of God since Brother Chris is taking some spiritual rest. He needs that. We need that. We need a Sabbath day of rest. And we also need periods of vacation, and periods of prayer, seasons of fasting, so that we would be the men and women of God.

Please be in prayer for Brother Chris, as he will be spending some extended periods this week in prayer. Please pray that he would be strengthened and energized. Always give us what we need. As I've been preaching last week, the sermon title was the long road out of Egypt, and I'd like to basically just give you some introduction before we have those points, before we look at scripture. Last week, we examined Exodus, Chapter 13, Verse 17. And we saw that the Lord directed his people to take a curious journey. The reason why I call that a curious journey is that the Lord was taking them from Egypt, taking them to the promised land of Canaan.

That was only a hundred miles. They easily could have made that in a reasonable amount of time. And they spent 40 years, and the Lord took them in unique, interesting directions. The move to Canaan land would mean that they would have to drive out the Philistines, and our text told us that the Lord knew they were too weak spiritually to face enemies. In Verse 17, Chapter 13, we explained that if they were to face war, they would turn back to Egypt. So we examined that God made a decision to place them in a position where they were completely dependent. As I said last week, He protected them from the Philistines by giving them Pharaoh.

And that is comical when you consider that Pharaoh was the largest, most imposing military force that the world had seen up until that point. And we will look at that more. And that gave us the question last week. Can we know why God does what He does? Can we know why God chooses what He chooses? And the answer is found in Jeremiah 9.24. If you would like to write that verse down and go back and read this. In Jeremiah 9.24 it says, "Let him boast, boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love and justice and righteousness in the earth.

For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." So hopefully you heard in that verse, the answer to that question is yes. Scripture tells us not only can we know why God makes decisions, God's ways can be known, but they can be trusted. And God delights in a delivered people. God takes great delight in people that know His ways and know why He does what He does. We saw last week, He displayed great providence and great power and great love. And as we say, we found that God works for His glory and we as His people need to come to long for His glory above our own comfort. He works for His church and He works for our good.

That leads us to the text. Let's go ahead and read this. Exodus 14, verses 1-14, a fairly lengthy passage this morning. Let's read this. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of High Heharioth between Middol and the sea, in front of Beel Zefarn. You shall encamp facing it by the sea.' For Pharaoh will say, 'Of the people of Israel, they are wondering in the land. The wilderness has shut them in, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. And I will be glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.' And they did so." And that was a difficult obedience, as we will see in verse 5. "When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people. And they said, 'What is this we have done? That we have let Israel go from serving us, so he made ready his chariot, took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots in Egypt, with officers over all of them.

And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people in Israel were going out the finally. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, and all his horsemen, his army, and overtook them and camped at the sea, by a pie, Hehariah, in front of Baal and Zephan. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, 'Is it because there are no graves in Egypt, that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?

What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, believe us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.' And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.' Let me pray. Lord, so much truth in this text.

Father, I believe it is the text, with all my heart, that you have for us this morning, because I see that we, as a people of God, and as Christians, have such a hard time trusting you for our complete deliverance. We are just like the Egyptians, we are just like the Israelites. When we see the Egyptians, or we see our enemies, when we see life, when we see trial and difficulty, we panic. We start to doubt your greatness, we start to doubt your goodness. So we ask you to change us, and give us full repentance of this as a church, and as individual Christians.

For those who are unconverted, we pray for their complete exodus out of the bondage of sin, by the grace of God on the cross. In your name we pray. Amen. I'd like to direct your attention to the sermon title, if you come up on the screen, but the message title last week was 'The Long Road Out of Egypt.' Today, if you take a note, the title will be 'The Long Road Out of Egypt Part 2.' A sermon of deliverance. A sermon of deliverance. It is as if the Lord knows this people's great weakness, and He is leading them to a point where He will preach a sermon to them.

And we will see at the end of this text, in verse 14, and in verse 13, the Lord preaches a sermon through Moses, and all of these verses, 1 through 12, are leading up to this great sermon. The first point, four main truths that we have for you today. First, we'll see that God preaches to Moses. Secondly, Roman numeral number two, we'll see that God prepares Moses. Roman numeral three, as you're taking notes, God prepares Israel. And then finally, God prepares Pharaoh number four. And our last message, God preaches to Israel. So five truths, let's go ahead and begin.

The first point that I want to see this morning, I'd like you to see that God preaches to Moses. You want to see in your text Exodus chapter 14, let's read verse 1 again. The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pyreoth by MGTul in the sea." He tells Moses, He will have to lead these people to turn right back around. Now this is another curious move. Here they just left captivity. After 400 years, they left the most powerful commanding officer. And they are stepping out defiantly. And the Lord says, "Turn around." First truth under Roman numeral number one is, God speaks hard words to Moses.

Can you imagine leading these people? And God tells you, you will have to lead them right back. This was a hard message for Moses to hear. Verses 1 through 4 give us a great picture of Moses' prayer life. If you go back and read the book of Exodus, we have all these accounts of God coming to Moses and speaking to him. He speaks to him when he's at the burning bush. He speaks to him every time he is about to speak to Pharaoh. God speaks to Moses. And here he is telling Moses that he's got to turn around and make a 360 degree turn toward their enemy. I don't know about you, but I don't like feeling overwhelmed.

I usually try to avoid things that I know are difficult. I heard a man one time talk about the Moses principle, that if we govern our gaze, if we make a point to do that which we fear the most, first we'll be far more effective. And I think there's some truth to that. If there is one thing that you hate to do the most, you might want to do that first. And here what Moses does is Moses takes the people and faces their greatest fear. Now we know that God is setting this people up to expose their weakness. Do you like people to figure out what your weaknesses are? Just to be honest, I don't always like to let people know.

In my prideful self, in the keep that I've come to know, the keep that's been delivered and I still have to put on the altar, there's weaknesses that I have that I just don't like people to know. We try to have a poker face, we try to be kind of self-protective, and God is trying to expose this weakness that people have. See, here's the thing about God. He knows your weakness better than you do, and he is working circumstances so that your weaknesses will become evident. To who? To him? He knows what your weaknesses are.

He is working through your circumstances, so your weaknesses will be evident to you, to produce humility, to produce a sense of need. And God speaking a hard word to Moses, do you know that God speaks hard words through all men of God? We have this picture of Moses locked up in prayer, and God tells him this really hard message he probably didn't want to hear. You mean God, I've got to tell all these people to turn right back around, and I've got to hear them be terrified. And Moses even says this later on in Exodus, he says, "God, these people are driving me crazy." That's the "he's still on" paraphrase.

But if you look at, if you are a man of God, God is going to speak hard words to you. If you walk with the Lord long enough, you are going to have to wrestle with truth that you don't like. And you know what else? You are going to have to preach messages that you don't like. See, God is preaching a sermon to Moses, because he is going to have to preach the sermon to someone else. Do you know God is going to lead you to say difficult truth to people? I'm talking specifically to men. You know, sometimes we don't like conflict. But you know, conflict could be the very thing that God has. It depends on what side of truth that conflict is on.

Do you know it's difficult to look at a very religious man in the face and tell him that his religion is going to damn him to hell? Do you know it is a very difficult thing to tell someone that they are a law center and they are a sinner because they have rebelled against God? And because they have rebelled against God, they are on their way to hell. You know, that's a hard truth to tell people. I've seen Brother Chris make those statements. I've made those statements. I have been with Brother Chris as we have been pleading with people to repent. And I've seen them with a stiff neck go the other way.

And that is not a fun process, but it is a necessary process. Do you ever think about a doctor who goes to school to deliver babies into the world? You can imagine at that moment of childbirth, that doctor, people are screaming at him. Right? You've got, it's a very loud kind of chaotic environment. You're screaming at him. Would you want a doctor in that state to say, "This is too much pressure. I can't have people yelling at me." No, he loves life. No matter what happens, he is committed to that process. He has to be. And men of God, we have got to be committed to the process of seeing truth, even if it is hard to say.

The Gospel is a hard message and a hard truth. So the first, Roman number one, God prepares Moses. He preaches to Moses, excuse me. The second truth is God prepares Moses. Let's look at verse three. "For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, 'They are wandering in the land, the wilderness has shut them in, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will be glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.' Then the Lord says to Moses, 'Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of I-Heharioth, between Migil and the sea, in front of Be'el Zefon.

You shall encamp facing it by the sea.'" And God is preparing Moses. Isn't it a great blessing that God prepares his men? Do you know this is God's final message to Moses before this act of deliverance? Everything that God has taken Moses through up to this point is leading him right here. When God had Moses, right at the burning bush, he was preparing Moses. When God spoke to Moses to go to Pharaoh, he was leading to this point. And this is the last, you could say it's a final examination, the final exam review. He is saying, 'Moses, I am going to get glory over Pharaoh.' Do you know what's interesting?

He does not tell Moses how he will get glory over Pharaoh. If you continue to read this, Moses had no idea that God was going to part the Red Sea. Now God had told him that he was going to get victory and work glory, and he believed that, and he preached the right message. But God still had something up his sleeve, even for Moses. Do you know that the best preachers are the best listeners? The best preachers are those who get prepared week in, week out. I'd like to challenge you to do something, please. From now until next Sunday, please pray for Brother Chris. Perhaps you pray for him on Wednesday night.

Perhaps you pray for him whenever he comes to mind. But this is the week where the Holy Spirit will get Brother Chris in his preparation and get him alone, and he will be speaking to Brother Chris, and he may be preaching very hard messages to Brother Chris. There's a lot of self-sacrifice, and there's a lot of self-crucifixion that has to happen to deliver God's message. Me and Brother Chris were talking about preaching and sermons even last night, and he said something that was so profound. He said, "You know, some preachers can probably read some commentaries and spend an hour a week, and maybe they can have a decent sermon.

Maybe they can have a decent sermonette," is the word he used. He said, "But preaching a little message and a good message is a whole lot different than preaching God's message." See, God's messages are hard, and they involve a great deal of self-sacrifice and spiritual work. I believe it is John Piper who called it "heart work," work that involves the heart. And this is why I challenge you as a congregation to pray for Brother Chris early in the week. Make it a part of your daily spiritual time, because important work is happening behind the scenes late at night and early in the morning.

So God had to prepare Moses, God had to preach to Moses, and God had to change Moses. I can think of a situation that was oftentimes perplexing to me. Moses was at the burning bush, and God was dealing with him. He told him he was going to choose Moses, this man with poor speech, this man who had been in exile, a fugitive of justice in Egypt. He'd been in the wilderness for 40 years alone. He's 80 years old, and God chooses to use him and sins him. There's one sentence that really is perplexing. It says Moses was on his way to deliver the Hebrews, and says God was going to kill him. See, he had not circumcised his son.

It was actually his wife who grabbed a flint knife and was obedient in the Lord's Spirit. But you see, that is typical, that even though the Lord is preparing Moses, Moses was not leading his family. He had not followed the Lord's command to circumcise his son. Men, are you leading your families? We're talking to men a lot today. Are you leading your families? Are you leading them spiritually? It's great that you're a provider. Praise the Lord. But are you, blood Moses, are you neglecting some very important commands that God has given? You're not greater than Moses. You are not greater than Moses.

If Moses, God's chosen man, on the way to deliver God's people, gets in trouble because he is not, dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's in his family, do you think you and I are not prone to that as well? And if we are not leading our family, we will not receive the messages he has for us. We will not be faithful to preach those messages to our family. We need repentance. And we will not be faithful to preach those messages when it's God's appointed time for us. Moses could never have led people across the Red Sea if God had killed him.

See, God in his love and mercy provided his wife as a helpmate, but that is a picture of Christ for us. She called him, "Moses, my bridegroom of blood." And Jesus is the Son of God who is our Lamb, and he is the blood that covers our sin, and he is the blood, fathers, who can make you the man you need to be. I praise the Lord even now, who will convict you if you've been slothful or lazy or negligent to pick up scriptures with your family or to talk with them as you're going along. I mentioned this last week. Our Wednesday night services, our Wednesday night Bible classes, have been a tremendous opportunity for me to talk to my kids.

We are taking our children through the Bible in three years, and we've done this very intentionally. Fathers, all it takes is for you to ask your kids what they learned. And then what that will do is that will give you an opportunity. You can open up that passage and read about it with them. You can say, "You know, this is what God has taught me from scripture." And if we are neglecting this, perhaps we will not be faithful when it matters the most. So we see that God preaches to Moses, and God prepares Moses. Third, Roman numeral number three, God prepares Israel. I'll read this in Exodus chapter 14, verse 5.

"And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will give glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And the Egyptians shall know, 'I am the Lord.'" So we see God preparing Israel. You know, this was a tough sermon that Moses was going to have to preach. As God said, you've got to turn your people around 360 degrees. You've got to face the biggest, baddest army that has ever been. The scripture tells us the Israelites were going to have hearts that would melt. God knew this. He was exposing their weakness. Do you know that God is going to lead his people to take risks?

I've preached this before, Brother Chris has said this, that godly leaders always lead their people to take risks. Because godly leaders, not that me and Brother Chris are perfect, but we're trying to be. We're trying to lead us as a church to do things that only God can do when we do covet your prayers. But do you know that God can never deliver a free man? Now think about that. You can never be released out of captivity or out of jail unless you first were locked up. And so God allowed 400 years of captivity just so that he might prove and show he is a deliverer. And as we take risks, we will see that God is working for our deliverance.

We see that God preaches to Moses, he prepares Moses, he prepares Israel, and Roman numeral number four, God prepares Pharaoh. God prepares Pharaoh. Let's read verse five. "When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people. And they said, 'What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?' So he made ready his chariot, and took his army with him. He took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them in camps at the sea by Py, Perihoth, and in front of Beel, Zephan. The sheer magnitude of this sight had to be remarkable. Now we look at the Israelites and we say, how could after the plague they could doubt? I think we lose sight of what a tremendous army this was. There was nothing like it on the face of the planet.

And if you just take a look at the army, Pharaoh assembled six hundred of the finest charioteers. These were men who were trained, that's all they did. They were specialized to drive, to ride these chariots. It would be the equivalent of our tank. And these were six hundred of the finest chariots and the finest charioteers. Because the scripture makes a distinction between this, right? So it says that there were six hundred chariots of the finest. But in verse nine, scripture tells us, in addition to these chariots, the finest chariots, there were also every single chariot that Pharaoh had.

Now these were sort of, these were what officers rode. So every officer on every chariot and the six hundred most elite. So you think of the special forces out in front, plus every single soldier. In addition to every single chariot, we see Pharaoh had warriors on horseback. In addition to warriors on horseback, Pharaoh had foot soldiers. This was basically the cream of the crop and his whole army. The only people that would have been left would maybe have been the scro. The scrops. Those people in training, those people who were just not really up to shape. The finest of the finest were out.

And I think we have difficulty conceptualizing how the Israelites could have perceived this site. Now when I read this, I think of 2003, the American assault, coalition assault on Baghdad. I can remember watching this on television. I distinctly remember special forces out in front as they were running across that desert. I can remember behind them there were tanks. And above them there were Apache helicopters. I'm sure I will say something incorrect. And Lieutenant Colonel Chris Cooksey will correct me. Please do. But I can remember the sheer magnitude of that.

I saw that on television and I thought, "That is an awesome site." This was preceded by tremendous shock and awe, bombing campaign. And the next day we see just this huge advancement. And if that's what it feels like when you see that on television, what would that have been like if you were a small, fledgling group of people encamped completely stuck against the Red Sea on one side, the desert on the other, and here comes Pharaoh. But what we know is that God was not only preparing Israel, but God was preparing Pharaoh. In fact, God had Pharaoh right where he wanted him. And here's the application for you.

Right now there is something in your life that you cannot handle. I know. Brother Chris and I have prayed with you. We've prayed for you. And some of you have issues that you haven't told anyone about, and we don't know them. But I do know everybody has something in your life you cannot handle. And to you, emotionally, spiritually, it is just as if you are all alone in the desert with the sea behind you, and the biggest army in the face of the world is coming right at you. The Bible says that there are three great things against you. Right? Look at the Hebrews had the Red Sea behind them.

They had the desert to their left, and they had Pharaoh coming at you. You have the world. You have the flesh. And you have the devil. Those are the three things that are attacking you. The world, the flesh, and the devil. And you know what? They are just as impossible for you as Pharaoh's army and chariots were towards the Hebrews. But here's the good news. You have a deliverer. If you've been born again, if you've been called out of Egypt, now if you've never received Jesus Christ, if you've never repented of your sin, you're still in Egypt. In fact, you're on Pharaoh's team. And the odds do not look good for you.

And I would urge you to repent, confess your sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. His salvation and his sacrifice is sufficient. But God gets Moses where he wants him. He gets Moses prepared. He gets the Israelites prepared. He gets Pharaoh prepared. And now here we have Roman numeral number five. God finally preaches to Israel. And this is what we're leading up to. This is what God has been preparing them for for 400 years. Because he wants to show his people that he is mighty to save and he is mighty to deliver. The first truth I want you to see under God preaches to Israel, that God gets Egypt where he wants them.

Verse 10, we'll see Pharaoh drew near. Let's read verse 10 if we can. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them. We know that God was in control of that. The second truth under Roman numeral five, God reveals Israel's weakness. If we can in your text, let's read verse 11. They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?

For it would have been better for us to serve Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." You know, we can't hear from God, and we can't hear his message until we see how great our weakness is. See, here's the thing. God knew Israel's great weakness, but Israel did not know Israel's great weakness. Today, sitting where you are, God knows your greatest weakness. Do you know he knew your greatest weakness before the foundations of the earth?

We seem to be so surprised when life catches us off guard, and we are overwhelmed, and these things start bubbling out of our hearts, these bad attitudes, and this irritability, and this frustration, and this difficult working with people. God knew all about that when he saved you. This is the process through which God is trying to take Egypt out of you. Is that fun? No, it is not fun. Is it humiliating? Yes, it is humiliating. God never wants to humiliate you, but he does want to humble you. He takes such great care to get these Egyptian attitudes and these Egyptian ways out of you.

Do you realize, Christian, the Lord took 400 years of bondage? He took overthrowing the greatest military force just to get his people to a point where they would see their weakness. And then like that, he takes Pharaoh through the Red Sea. The enemy is completely wiped away. The third thing under this main truth, fifth main truth, is that Moses delivers God's message, and this is such a great message. I'd like us to hear it. Moses said to the people in verse 13, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

The Lord will fight for you if you have only to be silent." Now, in conclusion, I want to give you the body of this message. This message had four commands and four promises. You might want to write this down. Very simple commands. I think they apply to you, whatever situation you might be in. Verse 13, the first command, "Fear not." When you are facing the Pharaoh in your life, the first thing you cannot do is fear, because fear assumes that you've got to fight Pharaoh. If you've been delivered, you're not fighting Pharaoh. God's fighting Pharaoh.

Like we said last week, the same God of your salvation is the God of your sanctification, and he will fight these battles. Dear Christian, Brother Chris and I love you. What attitude have you not put on the altar? What habit do you think you've just been making excuses for this habit? Well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. But there is some habit that nags you. The Bible says it's not just a bad habit that you can deal with next January at a New Year's resolution. It's sin. Most likely there is some sinful root to it that needs to be repented of. Don't make excuses, and don't be afraid. Don't think that you cannot have victory.

You will have victory. Because as a born-again Christian, sin says, the Bible says sin will not have dominion over you. So the first command, fear not. The second command, stand firm. Verse 13, Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm. As you're walking in Christian life, keep standing. Don't give up. God may not deliver this right away. Do you know they had to spend an entire night waiting for God to complete the Red Sea party? When they look up, here's Pharaoh. They panic. And then God has the pillar of fire that moves. Moves around them and walls up in between them. And God is sending a strong wind to park the seas.

And every time, you know what they're doing? Waiting and freaking out. That's all they're doing. And God will bring disaster, crisis, chaos, drama. He will bring it about, and you'll just have to sit there. This is not God trying to torment you. This is God trying to get you to the point where you can hear this message. You cannot do it by yourself. God has to do this. So the first command, fear not. The second, stand firm. The third is watch. The third command of this sermon, God is delivering, is watch. In verse 13, let's see this. And Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord.

What that means is just watch. Watch as God works your situation out. Watch as He changes you in your situation. Now this watching is not you being spiritually lazy. You still need to pray. You need to read the Bible. You need to do what God tells you to do. Only God can park the Red Sea. But only the Israelites could obey this sermon. There's personal responsibility. You have got to fear not, stand firm, and you have to watch. And see the salvation of the Lord. And then verse 14, the fourth command here, be silent. You may have a translation that says, be still. I grew up reading the NIV. This verse has always stuck out to me.

And I remember from the NIV, the Lord will fight for you. You need only be still. I read the ESV now. I preach out of the ESV. And that says, the Lord will fight for you. You have only to be silent. I think they're both good. I get this image of a kid who's throwing a temper tantrum on the floor. Parents, you love those, right? You've seen those. Not your children, but other children. You've seen temper tantrums. On the floor, taking their feet. Imagine walking up to the end saying, dear child, the Lord will deliver you. You need only be still. But that's the message they need to hear. They may not be ready to hear it yet.

But that's the message they need to hear. We'll take care of you. God will sort this out. You need only be still. You need only be silent. So those are the four commandments of this message that God preaches. And there's four promises. Four commands, four promises. Number one, the promise of salvation. Look at verse 13. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. This is a promise. They were not going to die. God was going to save them out of the hand of Pharaoh. God made a promise. And neither God and his promise to you is true or he is a liar. And God is not a liar.

If you've heard a promise of God, you have to hold on to that, no matter what happens. There's a promise of salvation. There's a promise of deliverance. If you look, it says here, if you go forward, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. That's deliverance. The second promise is the promise of deliverance. See, the Lord will work for you. You cannot complete your sanctification. God has to do this. Third, the promise of victory. The promise of victory. Three in verse 13. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, for he will work for you today.

For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall never see again. And it was true. The only place they saw them after this was washing up on the seashore on the other side of the Red Sea. They could see the chariots floating. They could see the defeated bodies. What he's saying is that they will never be a problem. When God brings you out and gives you victory over sin in your life, you won't have to deal with it. Now, perhaps the fear comes up. But when God deals with you and works a victory in your life, it is a complete victory. I could preach another sermon on that, clarify.

I'm sure there'll be some questions, because Christians do struggle. But what we're talking about is when the enemy has people in bondage or when these habits linger. And the fourth promise, the promise of sufficiency. The Lord will fight for you, you have only to be silent or still. So God was going to do all the work in driving out Pharaoh, and they needed only to be still. So in conclusion, let's just look at what's happened. This was God's people. Pharaoh was God's enemy. The Red Sea was God's body of water. He spoke it into existence. This was God's showcase of power. This was God's glory. This was God's work. This was God's fight.

There's only one command, God's command. At the end was to be silent. I think we need to go to our fair closets and be silent and be still and bring these issues before God and wait on Him and trust Him and say, "God looks as though Pharaoh will kill me right now." This issue in my life, whether it be a temper or the way something that's happening at work, something that's happening in my marriage or something that's happening with my kids, this is about to do me in. And God, I do not have the ability to deal with this, but I know you saved me. In order for this to work, you have to have a biblical conversion.

You do not have a biblical conversion. This will not apply. You're still in bondage. As I said before, you need repentance. You need Jesus to save you. But for Christians, we need to be silent and we need to bring these issues before God and we need to trust Him. And we need to see that He will be our deliverer. Perhaps some trials are not fully resolved until heaven. That's okay. If it takes a lifetime for God to eat glory out of my life, I guess that's what's going to have to happen. Christians who've lived their whole life in horrible circumstances, but God gets great glory out of them.

I'm going to ask if Corbin could put the words to the song that we sing, "As Long As You Are Corrified." And I want to conclude with this. I want to conclude with the second verse. "Are you good only when I prosper? And true only when I'm filled? Are you king only when I'm carefree? Are you God only when I'm well?" Next slide. "No, you are good when I'm poor and needy. You are true when I'm parched and dry. You still reign in the deepest valley and you still God in the darkest night.

And when I'm staring at Pharaoh, and Pharaoh is about to kill me, it seems, and I don't see your greatness, I will trust your goodness, because I know you're faithful and you gave me a promise." Words bow. Father, this is not up.