What if through all those difficulties, all those obstacles, all the seemingly unanswered prayers, these long seasons of waiting? If you understood what God was doing here with Israel, that he's also doing in your life, maybe that would change your attitude toward God during difficult seasons like these. Welcome back to the Summit Life podcast with Pastor JD Greer. Before we get started today, I wanted to share a quick way that you can stay connected to God throughout your week. Staying spiritually grounded in a busy world can be a challenge.
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Now to today. You know, the parting of the Red Sea wasn't just an epic moment in Israel's history. It became one of the clearest pictures of salvation in the Old Testament. Today, Pastor JD shows us how God gave the Israelites this moment to look back on when their faith began to waver. And in the same way, when we're tempted to doubt God's goodness in our own lives, we're reminded to look back to His faithfulness as well, shown to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So let's join Pastor JD right now. Exodus 14, if you have your Bibles this weekend, and I hope that you do, Exodus 14. You have probably heard the name Harriet Tubman before. She was the incredibly valiant woman, a former slave herself, who led an entire movement of slaves to freedom via what they call the Underground Railroad. One surprising fact that I learned about her that I did not know was that she always carried a small pistol on her person at all times.
But it was not for the reasons that you might suspect. You might think she did that to ward off pursuers or former slave owners or anybody trying to block their escape. No, the pistol was for slaves who lost their nerve and wanted to turn back. Her biographer recounts how during one escape, while they were just a few miles from the plantation that they tried to escape from, this one big male slave began to weep loudly. He was confused, scared.
At least back on the plantation, he'd been guaranteed a bed and a meal, and he didn't have to worry about being hunted down and shot.
Well, this man's fear totally innervated the group and put the entire mission at risk. And so Harriet Tubman, who was a very small woman, very short, gently took out her gun, pressed it into the slave's back and told him either to stop crying or die. Parents, she used the old classic, either stop crying or I'm going to give you something to cry about lying.
Well, he stopped crying and they started moving again and eventually they all made it to freedom. Years later, this freed slave was immensely grateful for Harriet's leadership in that moment, including putting a gun to his back. Exodus 14, 10 tells us that as Israel fled from Egypt, They got news that Pharaoh had changed his mind. In fact, the verse says, you see it, they feared greatly. And many wanted to turn around and go back, just like this.
slave of Harriet Tubman's. What we're going to consider today is the issue of faltering faith. And how we are supposed to overcome it. What I mean by that is that you had the faith to ask God to deliver you from Egypt. You had the faith to get saved.
But the faith to actually live out the Christian life.
Well, that's proving to be much more challenging. Showing the faith to come to Jesus for salvation, y'all, is relatively easy. But the faith that's required to trust God. For example, during a season when you see no discernible evidence of his activity. Or the faith that is required to really sacrifice something significant for his mission.
To walk away from all you have and just follow him. The faith to. Red that is required to resist a temptation that just seems so appealing. and so satisfying and so necessary to life right now.
Well, that's a much harder task. And during a time of difficulty like that, you actually start to have the thought, like the Israelites did. That life just felt so much easier when you weren't all tangled up with God. And you're like, you know, I used to just do whatever I felt good and whatever seemed bright in the moment, and things just seemed to work out. Life just felt so much simpler then when I wasn't trying to also please God.
By the way, I'm not saying that's an accurate perception, it's quite insane, actually. I'm just saying it's sometimes how you feel. Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt like this? Let me set the context really quick for you.
Exodus 13 tells us. That on the night of the Passover, as Israel fled Egypt, God met them in the form of a gigantic pillar of cloud that led them by day that turned into a pillar of fire that led them by night, which is kind of awesome. God's presence had a day mode and a night mode, like the little screen on your car dashboard. God thought of everything. This was first-class service.
Well, the cloud that led them led them straight to the Red Sea, which is a gigantic body of water. And y'all, when I say gigantic, I mean it. The Red Sea is bigger than any body of water within the continental borders of the United States. It's about the size, they say, of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior combined. It is massive.
And they didn't have any boats. And that's when suddenly they get a report from the back of the camp. Pharaoh's army is coming after them. He has changed his mind and he wants them back. Chapter 14, verse 11.
And the people said to Moses, Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the wilderness? In other words, was this like a trick that you and Pharaoh cooked up to get us all out here because the graveyards in Egypt were full? What have you done in bringing us out of Egypt, which has to reckon as one of the dumbest sentiments ever expressed in Scripture? Moses is like, really? You think That after all you've seen, The plagues, the Passover, the striking down of Pharaoh's firstborn, you think that God was just bringing you out here in the wilderness to let you die?
I've told you before, every parent I know has had this experience at some level. When my kids were young, I did the obligatory thing and I took them to Disney World and one afternoon we got like 45 minutes behind schedule for eating lunch and my son Aden, who was seven at the time, was like, Dad, are you just gonna let us starve? And I'm like, kid, do you have any idea how much this trip cost me? You think I'm standing in a two-hour line to ride Dumbo because this is what your mom and I want to do with $5,000 a summer? I mean, just being here should be proof of my commitment to you.
If I cared enough to pay to haul your sorry rear end all the way down here and stand in this line for two hours when it's 118 degrees out here and it feels like we're standing on the surface of the sun, I feel like you should trust me to provide lunch. Right? Can I get an amen, parents? Amen?
So on the one hand, on the one hand, I can understand Israel's fears. You can too, probably. I mean, the mightiest army in the world is closing in on you to kill you, and the clouds led you to the shore in an impassable ocean. But on the other hand, What they're saying is completely irrational. It just wouldn't make sense for God to lead them all this way just to kill them.
Well, as if their first statement is not dumb enough. They managed somehow to take it down another level. Verse 12, is this not what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. Moses, didn't we tell you back in Egypt how happy and satisfied we all were in slavery?
And Moses is like, I don't remember you saying that. What I remember is you crying out to God to deliver you. Oh, by the way, when Pharaoh decided to throw all of your infant baby boys into the river, I definitely don't remember you saying how much you enjoyed it in Egypt. Yo, here's what's going on. Israel does not actually understand yet.
What is required? to be free. Because freedom, you see, is as much about the state of their hearts as it is the location of their bodies. God's rescue operation was about more than simply removing their bodies from the land of Egypt. His rescue operation was also about getting the spirit of Egypt out of their hearts.
The promised land that God wanted to take them to was not just a place of prosperity flowing with milk and honey. It was a place of trust in God flowing with obedience and faith.
So God is taking them on a journey. Where he is going to teach them to trust in and to rest in him because that's true freedom. And by the way, do not miss, do not miss. that God sovereignly set this whole situation up. God did not get to the Red Sea and say, whoops, what is that doing there?
The maps on my GPS must not have updated since they added the Red Sea there. No, the first four verses of chapter 14, if you look at it, make it clear that God intentionally led them this way. In fact, here's the irony. This was not the shortest route to the promised land, not by a long shot. God led them out of their way to this spot by the Red Sea.
And then, verse 4, it says explicitly that God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that Pharaoh would come after them. Everything that is happening here is intentional on God's part because get your mind around this. Freedom is about the condition of their hearts more than it is the location of their bodies.
So here's my question. What if God is doing something similar in your life right now? What if through all those difficulties, all those obstacles, all the seemingly unanswered prayers, these long seasons of waiting? You're like, God, why aren't you providing me with that? Why haven't you delivered me from this?
Why have you closed your eyes and your ears to this request? What if God says back to you? It's because I'm teaching you to trust me. I want you to learn to stand there with the Red Sea to your front and Pharaoh's army to your back and say, ain't no big thing, because I know God is with me. And if that's true, I got nothing to worry about.
If you understood what God was doing here with Israel, that he's also doing in your life, maybe that would change your attitude toward God during difficult seasons like these. Y'all listen to me. The most accurate test of your faith is not how you respond when miracles happen. It's how you respond when they don't. Verse 13, so 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'll never see them again. The Lord will fight for you. You have only to be silent.
By the way, real quick, this is a Coffee cup verse. This is one of the ones I always put on coffee cups. It's one of those verses that often gets misquoted and misapplied. I've heard people use it to justify all kinds of inactivity. I don't have to do anything, God does everything.
But be very careful there, okay? Because you see multiple times throughout the Exodus story that God uses the activity of the Israelites as the means of his provision. They're often going to go out to fight. In battle, and God uses their labor and their fighting to bring them victory. In fact, a lot of the Bible is God telling us to get busy.
So, this is not some kind of blanket instruction that you don't ever have to do anything and God does everything. Just let go and let God. It means that in this one situation. God would take care of salvation all by himself. And that's going to provide an important bedrock for their faith.
I will come back to that. But first let's just finish the story. Verse 15, the Lord said to Moses, Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground and I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. Then the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.
So it was between the host of Egypt and all the hosts of Israel. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And when the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea. And in the morning watch, the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily.
They were stuck in the mud. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen. Not a single one of them. Remained. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians.
And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians.
So the people feared the Lord. And they believed in the Lord and they believed in his servant Moses. I told you on week one of this series that Exodus establishes for us the melody line of salvation. What I mean by that is that it lays down for us patterns and sketches out an outline that Jesus, one day, our Savior, is going to step into and fulfill perfectly. You see, the Apostle Paul makes clear in the New Testament that this Red Sea deliverance was a picture of our salvation.
And so he says in 1 Corinthians 10:1, look at this. I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers. all were baptized into Moses in the cloud. and in the sea. The Israelites' journey through the Red Sea, Paul said, is like our baptism.
Think about it. They literally walked along the very bottom of the Red Sea underneath, so to speak, gigantic walls of water on either side. And when the Egyptians, who wanted to recapture them, tried to follow them, God brought those waters down on their heads and buried them at the bottom of that ocean so that Israel emerged on the other side of the sea completely out of range of the Egyptians.
Well, in the same way, when Jesus died on the cross and he was buried, he carried our sin down into the grave with him. And three days later, when he emerged, our sin stayed in the grave just like those Egyptians stayed at the bottom of the Red Sea. That is why the writer of Exodus points out that not one of the Egyptian soldiers made it out. Because not a one of your sins is ever going to come back for you. One interesting note here that you need to keep in mind: ancient peoples, including both the Egyptians and the Israelites.
They associated the depths of the oceans with the underworld. They literally called it the Abyss. It's where Ursula lives or whatever. To them, the bottom of the ocean was hell.
So in taking Israel Along the bottom of the seabed, it was as if God had split the gates of hell wide open and led his people right through them.
Well, see, on the cross, Jesus went down into the abyss, it says. He suffered hell in our place, and he split hell wide open so that he could put away the slavery and the condemnation of sin forever, and we could emerge with new life, and not one sin remained. This is all pictured. in our baptism in water. Therefore, Paul says in Romans 6:4, you see, we were buried with Christ by baptism into death.
In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too now. Like the Israelites. Might walk in newness of life. In baptism, you get put under the water. Showing that you were buried in the grave with Jesus.
Just like they were buried in the Red Sea, or the Egyptians were buried in the Red Sea, and then you get brought up out of the water, showing that you were raised with Jesus. The implication being that all your sin and all your shame and all your condemnation stayed at the bottom of that grave, just like the Egyptian soldier stayed at the bottom of the Red Sea. Not one condemning, threatening Egyptian soldier remains alive for us, because there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
You took my place and laid inside my tomb of sin. You were buried there, you were buried there three days, but then you walked right out again. And now death has no sting and life has no end, for I have been transformed, set free by the blood of the Lamb. What a beautiful picture, right? By the way.
By the way, if I could just say right here. This is another reason. Why we don't sprinkle when we baptize. We immerse you. You see, in the biblical imagery of salvation, there's always a going under.
Going down into the Red Sea, going down into the grave of Jesus before coming out alive and new. It's an important part of the picture, it's not just an insignificant tradition. I mean, not to take a cheap shot. I really don't mean to take a cheap shot, but God did not send an angel to scoop up water and throw it at the Egyptian army. He covered the Egyptian army over with water.
Man, I don't know about y'all, but I don't want my sin dusted with dirt. I want it buried and put away.
So that's why we do baptism by immersion, because like Paul explains, it's an important part of the biblical imagery of salvation. But let me return to my central question in this message. If Exodus establishes for us the melody line of salvation, What notes are we hearing played in this story? I'm going to give you four notes you hear played in a story that are very important for understanding our own salvation. Number one.
What you see is that God delivers his people all at once. Through one miraculous act. This salvation, this moment of salvation happened in an instant. One moment they were standing on this side of the Red Sea completely vulnerable to the armies of Pharaoh. They didn't start a campaign against the armies and slowly whittle Pharaoh's army down.
No. One moment they're there, the next moment they're on the other side of the Red Sea with every Egyptian soldier destroyed and an impassable ocean of protection between them and anybody who wanted to hurt them. On one side of the Red Sea had been certain death. On the other side awaited, untouchable. Life.
You see in Christianity, listen. Unlike every other religion in the world. Salvation happens in an instant. You see, other religions, and other religions you start to process by where you move closer to God. or to enlightenment or whatever they call it.
But in Christianity, salvation is a one-time thing that God does to you. I'm not saying you don't grow in your relationship with God and get closer to Him over a lifetime. Of course, you do. I'm just saying that salvation itself. Becoming a son or daughter of God, that happens all at once.
And that's because in Christianity, salvation is not about what you do for God. that God rewards you for. It's about what God has done for you. that you stand and receive. I've often told you there are two distinct ways to spell salvation.
D.O. And D-O-N-E. Every other religion in the world spells salvation this way right here. It's what you do that earns you heaven.
Now, different religions will switch out different things for the to-do list. Different things you got to believe, different practices you got to maintain, but the basis of your salvation in those religions is always DO. It's what you do that earns heaven. Christianity, by contrast, is spelled D-O-N-E because it's about what God has done.
Now all you can do is receive as a gift. Here's how Jesus says it in John 5, 24, and I want you to notice. how Jesus is drawing from Exodus imagery here. I tell you the truth, Jesus said, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and has passed over. from death into life.
When you believe on Jesus, In that instant, you pass through. From death to to life. People say, well, when you say you believe on Jesus, you mean like you believe that he was a real person? What do you have to believe about it? No, believe in the New Testament is the Greek word pestuo.
It's the word pestuo. And what it literally means is to lean your whole weight upon something. The Old King James Version that I grew up with always translated it as believe on. And it always irritates me that Microsoft Word puts a little squiggly line underneath believe on telling me this is incorrect English. But I actually think believe on better translate what the Bible means with this word pastuo.
You see, you pursue or you believe on Jesus. When you lean your weight on what he did. Which is why I often compare it to sitting down in a chair. In fact, everybody can see right now, this weekend, other campuses, you're all sitting down in chairs. Which means there came a point this morning.
where you believed the chair would hold you up.
Now, granted, it was likely a subconscious thought because you were running late, you came in, it was halfway through the second song. Right? And I doubt you consciously thought.
Well, based on the size of that support structure and the width of that seat and a few quick physics calculations, oh, yep, I believe that will hold me up. And I do hereby commit myself to it. Thank the old chair. You didn't do that. You probably just glanced at it real fast.
But you did in fact believe that chair would hold you up. Other people around you may not have been so sure, but you felt confident. But get this that conviction strong as it was did not become biblical belief. It didn't become pastuo. Until you transferred your weight onto the chair.
That's what it means to believe on Jesus, not to believe certain truths about him or to understand theological ideas. It means to transfer your weight to him. How much do you have to believe? Enough to transfer your weight. That's the point.
It's a new year with new challenges and opportunities on the way. But how will this year truly look different from the last? Carrying God's Word daily in your heart just might be the answer. After all, the Bible encourages us to live in obedience, fight temptation, renew our minds, and conform more to the person of Christ. It also gives us the strength to share these same truths with those we love and be a light in a dark and confusing world.
Our world is filled with lies. Every day we are bombarded by false promises about what will make us happy, false hopes about what will bring us security. We need a weapon to fight back, and the best one available is God's Word. After all, the best way to confront a lie is to know the truth. The Word of God is light.
It is life. It is salvation. It was by a word that Jesus gave sight to the blind. By a word that he healed the sick, by a word that he overcame temptation. It was by a word that Jesus was raised from the dead.
By a word, God will destroy the works of the enemy and eventually make all things new. The word and the word alone prepares us to stand up to every challenge we face with courage and certainty. The word is our life. If you want to carry God's promises in your heart in a new way this year, our new Summit Life Memory Verse Cards make it easy to memorize scripture. You can keep these cards or share them with others.
They're small enough to put on the fridge, stick in your wallet, or give away in a greeting card. Place on a bulletin board or a mirror for daily encouragement. They're an inspiring reminder that God is always with you. He is always enough, both now and in the days to come. Request your pack of cards when you give to support the Ministry of Summit Life.
Give us a call at 866-335-5220. Or go to jdgreer.com and request this resource today. You see, Jesus claimed to be Lord. And Jesus claimed to have done everything necessary to save you. To believe on him means you surrender to him as your Lord.
And you trust in his finished work as your salvation, and all that happens all in one moment.
Now listen, you may not know the exact moment that it happened. Just like you may not remember the exact moment you sat down in the chair, but there was a moment you sat down, right? You didn't come in here sitting. Which means there was a moment when you were standing. And then the next moment you were sitting.
There's no middle ground. There's no halfway. Your weight is either on your legs or it is on the chair. That's the only two possibilities. In the same way, there was a moment where you pass from death to life.
You say, well, But see, JD, it felt for me like a process. I didn't have one of those clear, awesome, singular salvation moments, you know, where I was a drug dealer, and one day I blew out a puff of pot smoke and it came out in the form of a cross, and I knew. That was a sign that I should go to church, and you gave the invitation. I came forward, and I was met with a sweet old lady who cast seven demons out of me, and I got called into the ministry right on the spot. You see, that wasn't my story.
Instead, I grew and I learned over time. Maybe you grew up in a Christian home. And you're like, I'm not even sure when it officially happened when I accepted Jesus. I understand. I know it felt like a process.
But that process was simply you coming to understand that God had done it all. But at some point, you may not have known when. At some point you transferred your trust to Christ. And the proof is that you're seated in him right now. Of course, that raises the question, are you seated in him right now?
Are you trusting in his finished work as your salvation? If I said to you, When you die. How do you know you'll go to heaven? Do you know you'll go to heaven? When I ask somebody if they're a Christian, The number one thing I hear back from people is they say, well, I'm trying.
That's always a sign to me that they don't get it. Becoming a believer means you're trusting in what God has done to save you and resting in that, sitting down in it. There's no trying about it. You're either trusting in what he's done to save you or you're not. You either surrendered to him as Lord or you're not.
People say, well, I'm not really sure my faith is strong enough to be saved. Listen, the strength of your faith actually has very little to do with it. You can have a lot of doubts and still sit down, right? If you think I'm only 70% sure this chair will hold me up, but then you sit down, you're still seated. It's never about the strength of your faith.
It's always about the strength of the object of your faith. The weakest faith in Jesus still saves because it's not the strength of your faith that saves you, it's the strength of your Savior. Y'all listen, I'm sure. I am sure. That as they were passing through the Red Sea that day, I'm sure there were different levels of faith among those Israelites.
Verse 22 tells us that the water stood up on the sides like the walls of a canyon. And I'm sure some of them who are strong in their faith just walked through without a doubt, just in wonder, going, wow, look at our God. This is awesome. But I'm sure there was a bunch of other people who were like, you know? And they saw some little kid notice a fish swimming in the water, and the kid reached out to touch the fish, and the doubter was like, stop it!
Do not touch those walls. They might break. But see, regardless of the strength of their faith, 100% of those who pass through. both those with strong faith and those with weak faith. 100% of them made it safely through to the other side.
So the first thing we learn. Is that God saves his people all at once through one miraculous act? The second thing is related closely to it. And that is that God saves his people all by himself. Like we saw in Exodus 14:14, the salvation was something God did alone, all they could do.
was watch and believe. That is a crucially important part of our salvation melody. Ultimate salvation is something God accomplishes all Alone, when it came time to die for sin, Jesus went to the cross. Alone, all his disciples had either rejected or abandoned him. He took our sins and our sorrows and he made them his very own.
He bore my burden to Calvary and He suffered and died. Alone. All I could do was stand amazed. And watch. and belief.
You know, I've described salvation before, like suddenly waking up in an ambulance. You can hear the siren. But you have no idea how you got there. Then you look down, you notice all these tubes and machines hooked up to you, and then you see this. Commanding face of an EMT who is looking down very kindly at your face.
And he says to you, hey, you were in a terrible accident. In fact, you died. For a moment. But we got there just in time and we revived you. You're going to be okay.
We got you. That EMT is not asking you for your help. In fact, if you try to get up and help him or her, you're just going to make things worse. He does all the saving. All you can do is receive it.
Conversion is God waking you up to tell you that he's saving you. And truly, even the waking up part is something God does himself. Ephesians 2.8 says it this way, it is by grace that we have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Question: What does that refer to?
That refers to The faith itself. For a grace you've been saved through faith, and that, the faith, that itself is a gift of God, it's not of works. See, sometimes we present salvation like it's this joint project between us and God. In fact, I've even heard this illustration. Like, you and I are thrashing and drowning in an ocean, and Jesus comes along in a lifeboat.
He's like, hey friend, I can help. I can save you.
So we swim over to Jesus' boat, and we're like, Jesus, save me. And Jesus pulls us up into his boat. Y'all, the better picture of salvation is that you were face down in the water. Breathless. When Jesus came to us pulled you back up in the boat and brought you back to life.
Our salvation is something God does all by himself. All you can do is believe and receive it and consent to it. Again, John 5:24, I tell you the truth: whoever hears my word and believes, pestuo on him who sent me. Has eternal life and is passed over from death into life. You just believe that what Jesus said he did, he did.
And you sit down in it. or you cross over into it. Number three, third note. This defining act becomes our defining moment. The Red Sea was supposed to function, you see, like a line in the sand, like a defining moment that they would come back to again and again in their hearts.
to remind themselves how present God was with them. and how actively he was working on their behalf. You see God's presence. would not always be as tangible as the pillar of cloud and fire. That right now.
God dwells with us through the person of the Holy Spirit. A presence we cannot usually see or feel. I mean, I wish we could, right? I mean, how awesome would that be? God, are you with me right now?
You look up and see this little glowing cloud above your head. A little traveling night light whenever you have to get up and go to the bathroom at night. Or you're trying to decide who to marry, and the little cloud goes and hovers over whomever God wants you to marry. That'd be amazing. But that is not how it works now, is it?
By the way, single guys, great pickup line for Christian girls. I think the cloud is hovering over you, okay? Or maybe that state's evidence, Exhibit 1, and her request for a straining order. I don't know.
Okay, so be careful with that one. But the point is God's presence with his people. Would not always be as tangible as the pillar of cloud, and his miraculous working on their behalf wouldn't always be as demonstrative or as clear as his intervention of the Red Sea. It's like I mentioned to you: sometimes God works through our efforts and activity. It's invisible, it's almost like God is hidden.
And because of that, you can start to forget that God is with you, or you might even start to doubt that He's present with you. And so, what God does is He gives them one event He wanted them to come back to again and again, a defining moment that reminded them of God's presence and His faithful activity in their lives, and it totally worked because chapter 14, verse 31 says, At the Red Sea, Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, and they began to fear the Lord, and they started to believe not just in the Lord, but also in Moses' leadership. By the way, it wasn't just for that generation that it worked. Throughout the book of Psalms, that are written like 500 or so years after the Exodus. The psalmists continually bring up the Red Sea as the proof of God's commitment to Israel.
In fact, the Red Sea deliverance is the most frequent image of salvation referenced in the Old Testament. Here's the point for you and me. What the Red Sea was for them. The cross and resurrection is for us.
So Paul, for example, tells the Romans.
Well see, he who did not spare his own son But gave him up for us all, how would he not also with him graciously give us all things? Paul's like, it's just simple logic. Look at the cross. If God was that committed to you then when he was dying for your sin, don't you think he'll take care of you now that you're his child? He's kind of doing the same thing with us that Moses did with the Israelites.
Really? Like, why would he not take care of you here if he did that for you there? Hey, are you worried about some provision in your life right now? Your future, some situation, some obstacle, some need? Maybe you need guidance.
If God provided the biggest thing, giving Jesus as your salvation, don't you think you can rest assured that he'll provide all the lesser stuff too? He did not go to the cross to rescue you, just to bring you into the wilderness to die. Jesus said to a group of anxious Israelites who were worried about their own futures. Is they consider the ravens? It'll save.
And look how abundantly God takes care of them. And to those who are worried that they They're not going to have enough stuff to actually enjoy life. They're not rich enough, they're not pretty enough, they're not smart enough. He's like, just consider the wildflowers. They spend.
Zero unclose. And God dresses them more extravagantly beautifully than the stars on the red carpet of the Oscars. And much less cringy, by the way. And then Jesus says, You're so much more value to your Heavenly Father than birds and wildflowers. God didn't give his son to redeem birds and wildflowers, but he gave his son to redeem you.
So, the simple logic: if he didn't spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, would he not also with him graciously give him all things? It's like the Puritan John Owen always said, the greatest insult you could ever give to God. After the cross. is to doubt his love for you or his commitment to care for you. Where Paul goes on, he says, How about this, Paul says?
Do you hear internal voices from your past condemning you? Maybe there's a voice inside of you that's reminding you of all your mistakes, all the shame from your past life, some struggle that you can't shake right now. And that voice just keeps telling you, you can't escape this. There's no way you're a child of God. Who are you kidding?
Real Christians, they don't struggle with that right there. Paul says, but who Who can bring a charge against God's elect? Because it's God who justifies. Who is the one to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died.
He's the one who could condemn it. He's the one who died for it.
Well, that he was raised. And he's right now at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Paul says, between you and your sin now is an impassable ocean called the cross of Jesus. And not one accusing, condemning Egyptian can make it across that ocean. And so those voices you hear taunting you are your old masters in Egypt, but they can't get to you.
You ought to think of it like that. glass at the zoo between me and those scary spiders. I do not mind snakes. I promise you I do. They don't scare me really at all.
But spiders are part of the curse of hell. Right there are no spiders in the Garden of Eden, and I'm quite sure there will not be a single one in heaven. As long as that glass is there, the zoo, I don't have to be afraid. I'm actually pretty relaxed. I'll lean up real close to the glass, see if I can see the little markings on the spider.
But y'all, if that glass were suddenly gone. I would squeal and run away like a middle school girl. I promise you that, okay? But with that thick glass there, I know that spider can't touch me. Martin Luther felt like the devil constantly brought up his sins to him.
And he tormented his conscience with them, whispering stuff to him like, Hey, Martin, there's no way you're a Christian. God can't love and accept you. You'll never be good enough, Martin. You're too inconsistent. You're too unbelieving.
You're too weak. You're too sinful. And eventually, Luther said, rather than try to argue with Satan, Or try to prove that he wasn't as bad as Satan suggested he was, Luther began to agree with Satan. And Luther would say, yes, Satan. All those things you say about me are true.
And by the way, Here's a few more of my faults you forgot about. That you can add to your list of things to accuse me of before God, but you have forgotten, Satan, that Jesus has already seen these and died for them to put them away. Who is there to condemn Christ Jesus has died for me?
So, you know what? You can present all those sins to me and a thousand more. And by the way, he would tell Satan, while you're up there before God accusing me, maybe you should consider your own soul, because last time I checked, things don't turn out well for you. It's like one of Charles Spurgeon's favorite hymns said: Long may the accuser roar of sins that I have done. I know them all and thousands more.
Jehovah knoweth none. Live your life in the new reality of where God has you. Which leads me to number four, the fourth and final note. It is time for you. to leave Egypt behind.
For many of you, God has saved you. But you still live like slaves. Your lives lack the peace and the joy and the freedom of being the sons and daughters of God. It's like you've trusted God to do the first part of your salvation, taking you out of Egypt. But see, now comes the more important part, getting Egypt out of you.
I started this message with the story of a captive wanting to go back to captivity because he was scared.
So let me end this message with another one. This one fictional though. But it's from one of my all-time favorite movies, Shaw Shank Redemption. In fact, before I tell you the story, let me set it up with a little side story. Two years ago, I was standing in the TSA line at the San Diego airport.
And I looked up and the guy in front of me was Tim Robbins. The co-star Shaw Shank Redemption. And it plays Andy Dufran. But nobody recognized him. He had a beard and a hat and sunglasses on and we weren't even in the pre-check line.
We were just in the regular old commoner's, you know, hoi polloy line. And I kept looking over at him to make sure it was him. But y'all, I have watched that movie enough that I knew it was him. Literally, as we were taking our belts and our shoes off. putting our carry-ons up on the little belt.
I locked eyes with him. And I said, amen. I know. Yeah. And he looked at me for a few seconds, just like the eyes of me, and then he smiled, and I said.
But I won't tell anybody. And he said, he smiled, he said, thanks. I said, but you got to know that Shawshank Redemption changed my life. And that's saying something because I'm a pastor and I'm in the business of life change. And you should check out Jesus sometime, by the way.
He smiled and he said thank you and that was the end of our encounter. Yo, I was really, really hoping. I mean, praying that he would get pulled by TSA for having something still in his pockets so I could say something as I walked by, like, oh, so you could break out of a maximum security prison, but you still can't get through a security line without being flagged, you know? But he didn't get pulled, and so I lost my opportunity. But that would have been awesome, okay?
But. You say, what's that story got to do with a scene that I want to tell you about in Shaw Shank Redemption? Nothing really, honestly, that how could I not share that story, right? I mean. The point.
And when there's a scene in Shawshank. Redemption were Red, who's played by Morgan Freeman. is explaining to Andy Drew Frayne, that's Tim Robbins' character, how prisoners often get used to prison conditions. And eventually freedom becomes scarier to them than captivity. And Red says to Andy, he says, you know, these walls are funny.
First you hate him. Then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes. He gets so you depend on him. And he wouldn't have it.
He thinks, I've got to get out of here, and he hatches this ingenious escape plan.
Well, after Andy escapes, Red eventually himself gets paroled. But after he's out of prison, he really struggles with the outside world. He even contemplates giving up, either taking his life or doing something to get himself sent back to prison. The kind of the, you know, the crisis point of the movie, he recalls something Andy had told him in the prison yard before. before he escaped.
Andy said to Red, he said, I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Either you get busy living. Or get busy dying. You need to get busy living or get busy dying, friend. It's like I've told you.
The most miserable people of people in the world. are half-committed Christians. You're just enough into Jesus. that you're miserable in the world. But you're just enough into the world that you're miserable in Jesus.
You need to choose where you want to be. Do you want to be in Egypt or do you want to be in the promised land? And whatever you choose, go all the way. It's like the old Chinese proverb says: he who tries to walk down both sides of the road will split his pants.
Okay? Pick a lane and just go with it. And y'all listen, I know, I know. That path is not easy. The faith that's required to actually go into the promised land is hard.
But I am telling you slavery in Egypt is so much harder. And if you decide you're going to go with Jesus, just go all the way. Let him transform that fearful, idolatrous heart of a slave into the trusting, joy filled heart of a son.
Some of you are there, you're a Christian, you come to church, but you have no joy in the Christian life. It's hard. I'm telling you, but every bit of it is worth it. True joy is given only to those who trust him all the way and go with him all the way. It's time for you to leave Egypt behind because God has put an impenetrable ocean between you and your previous captivity, and all of Pharaoh's condemning soldiers are dead on the seashore.
So friend, it's like my TSA security line buddy Tim Robbins says. You need to get busy living. Or get busy dying. Thank you for joining us today. And as we wrap up, remember two simple ways to stay connected to God.
Start each morning in His Word with our free daily devotional and consider digging deeper with this month's scripture memory cards. Keeping God's truth close to your heart all year long. You can learn more about both of these opportunities at jdgreer.com. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.
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