And you can turn to Psalm 77. It's where we're going to begin this evening. The 77th Psalm. The Middle Eastern sun was setting on the outskirts of Jerusalem. So the daytime activity was drawing to a close. Most of the people were making their way through the streets to their homes. And you could see flickering lamps being lighted in various windows and the odor Something on the hearth began to waft out through the cracks in the doors. It was a very pleasant time in the homes in the city of Jerusalem, with one exception. An older man sat in his small room on the outskirts of the temple. He was troubled. It was a deep, dark situation facing him. He sat on a blanket in his room and mused and thought and meditated. And finally it was dark enough that he decided to get up and light a lamp in his own room. And he went into the next room and opened a chest that held some very precious scrolls. He took one of those scrolls and went back to his room and unrolled it and began to read. And when he was reading the words from Exodus 14 that we're going to look at later on, his heart began to be warmed. And as he thought back through how God had delivered the Israelites from the Egyptian army, he realized that there was no situation that was too difficult for God to deal with. And because of his meditation on the scriptures that night, he took another scroll that had not yet been written on. He spread it out on a table and took up a quill and a little bottle of ink and he began to write. And what he wrote is in Psalm 77. I'm not going to read the entire psalm, but there are some key verses at the beginning and toward the end that I do want to read to kind of launch our thinking this evening. You'll notice at the top of the psalm there's a notation that this psalm came from Asaph, who was the premier musician at the temple. I cried out to God with my voice, to God with my voice and he gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing and my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. And that word is picturing a storm tossed sea, which was a picture of Asaph's soul on this particular evening. I complained. and my spirit was overwhelmed." We don't know exactly what the situation was. Asaph does not tell us, and I think perhaps with good reason. At the direction of the Spirit of God, he leaves out specifics because then, as we read this psalm, we can apply it to our situation even though it may be quite troubling but yet very different from what Asaph was facing. If you'll skip down a few verses to verse 19, the conclusion of the psalm, he says, your way was in the sea, your path in the great waters, and your footsteps were not known or they were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Particularly in those last two verses, you can see the thinking that he had just read in Exodus 14 and the Red Sea incident. And therefore, he looks back at that as he comes to the conclusion that God, if he was able, and he obviously was, to help in their situation, then he's able to help in mine. And so I want to go to Exodus 14 now and begin tonight to draw some truth and some principles from this chapter. Rules for Red Sea crossings. I'm only going to deal with two of them tonight. I have ten that I eventually want to give to you. So over the The next few months when I have the opportunity on Sunday nights, I'll come back to this and we'll deal with the other eight. But just two of them tonight. Rules for Red Sea crossings. Begin with me at verse 1. I'm going to read the first four verses and that's as far as we're going to get tonight. Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdal and the sea. Opposite Baal-zaphon, you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are bewildered by the land. The wilderness has closed them in. Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he will pursue them. And I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. The first rule for Red Sea crossings is found in the first two verses, and I would suggest to you that those two verses tell us that we must realize that God means for us to be exactly where we are. Regardless of how difficult our circumstances might be and how impossible our situation appears, God in his sovereign control means us to be exactly where we are. And I think drawing that conclusion from these first two verses is very evident. How many times does he mention the sea in these verses? Twice. And there are three geographical names there that might seem meaningless unless we went to a map and triangulated those three right on the coast of the Red Sea. Two of them were closer to the shore. One of them was set back a distance. And in the middle of those three cities was where Israel found itself by God's specific direction. Verse one says, God told Moses, you lead my people. And he didn't leave it to Moses decision about where they were to go, where they were to go. They went exactly where God wanted them to. And when they got there, they looked around and here was Pharaoh's army coming over the horizon. And they were surrounded by three hostile cities on one side and the Red Sea on the other side. How much more of an impossible situation do you think that they could have been in? They couldn't have been in a more impossible situation and a more implausible one to be extricated from. And what was Pharaoh's assessment? God says there at the end of verse three, all of verse three, for Pharaoh will save the children of Israel They are bewildered by the land. They don't know which way to turn. The wilderness has closed them in. They don't have a way out. Well, Pharaoh was wrong in his assessment. The wilderness hadn't closed them in. God had. God had put them there at his specific direction and for purposes that we will eventually see. So Israel essentially was in a cul-de-sac. Reba Robinson had her own cul-de-sac. She would sit night after night in her room in Starkville, Mississippi. She didn't know where her son was. Well, she knew generally where he was, but she didn't know specifically where he was. The missions that he had to undertake as a Marine commando were so secretive that he couldn't tell his own mother where he was and what he was doing. And of course, that would cause his mother a great deal of concern. And she would worry night after night, where is my son? What kind of endeavor is he engaged in tonight that's a threat to his life? There were evenings when she was particularly prompted to pray. for her son and his safety. She didn't know what kind of a cul-de-sac he was in. One night when she specifically prayed, she was able to learn later on that it was a night when he had to swim several miles from a submarine onto an enemy beach in order to insert himself into a particular military endeavor that night. Another night when she prayed particularly and felt the impression to hold him up before the Lord, she learned that it was on that night that he parachuted out of a helicopter behind enemy lines with another yet very dangerous mission. And the third incident that she was able to relate to his activities, although it was very general, was the night when a terrorist of the enemy stuck a gun in his face and pulled the trigger and it jammed. And he was able to take care of business that night. So she found herself in a cul-de-sac. When he finally came home, Dylan, her son, had a great deal of trouble dealing with normal life. Because of the high intensity of his activity, day after day and night after night, to return to life at a normal pace was very, very difficult for him. And the transition, in fact, was almost impossible for him. He became a typical guy looking for a job. He was no longer a hero. In fact, his exploits were never going to be held out for people to admire because of the nature of them. Because of the difficulty in transitioning back He began to find solace for his lonely nights in the neighborhood bars. And eventually he drifted far from the Lord, much to his mother's consternation. And yet her prayer life now intensified for her son. And she prayed on. I think probably all of us could reflect back. And either we have been, we are, Or most certainly, if we are God's child, we're going to be in our own cul-de-sac. We're going to find ourselves in a situation that only God can extract us from. In fact, it's an interesting word that I've used to describe these situations, cul-de-sac. It's a French phrase that means, ain't no way out. Actually, it is a French phrase, and it means the bottom of the sack. When you have no place lower to go in your own evaluation of your situation and your circumstances, you're in a cul-de-sac. And yet God says, I put you there just as I put the Israelites there, and I have a way out. And if you will trust me, I will show you that way out. But Reba and Most of us, I think, if we are candid, begin the initial process when we evaluate that situation of the pain and the pressure, and we have the tendency to worry. Now, don't look at me that way. I know you do, because I do. In violation of the commands of God, don't worry, trust me, I still do it. And how could you not worry? How could Reba not worry when her commando son was in such dangerous situations? How can you not worry when the outflow exceeds the income and you simply don't see any way to balance the budget? How can you not worry when you hear the C word, cancer, in you or someone that's very dear and very close to you? How can you not worry when a child has strayed? And in spite of all your efforts and prayers to draw him or her back, they haven't come back. How can you not worry when the sea faces you, the desert surrounds you, and Pharaoh's armies are right on the horizon? How can you not worry? Do you think the Israelites worried? Oh, they did more than worry. We'll see in a message down the road, later on in Exodus 14, that they not only worried, they rebelled. Because they saw this situation that they were in as impossible. Well, Reba, in the midst of her anxiety, accepted the fact that God had her right where he wanted her, and right where she was supposed to be. And so she intensified her prayer life for her son. It was just a few months until a friend of his invited him to go to a revival meeting. It wasn't her. It was a friend that God was using as an instrument. And Dylan agreed to go, begrudgingly. But in honor of the request of his friend, he said he'd go with the full intention. And he'd been in church meetings before, so he knew. But there was going to be a point at the end of the message when the pastor would pray, and then he could bolt. You know, just get out of there. Well, the message particularly grabbed his heart that night. And it was at the end of that service that muscular Dylan was a broken hero now. Broken before God. He came back to the Lord in tears. And her prayers were honored. She didn't see any way out of it, humanly speaking, but God had a way out for her. There are other cul-de-sacs that the scripture gives to us that I think are an encouragement. I know they are. Most of them are in the Old Testament, and I'm not going to take the time to turn to them tonight, but you are familiar with most of them. Hagar found herself in a cul-de-sac. A cul-de-sac created by the anger of Sarah and the spineless reaction of Abraham. And now she was faced with a task of caring for her son Ishmael in an impossible circumstance. She was a single woman in a culture that was male-dominated. She was in the desert. She had no resources. There was no recourse for her. Joseph, faced a cul-de-sac of unrepentant and unrestrained jealousy caused by his brothers. And his cul-de-sac was literal. I mean, he was at the bottom of a pit with no physical way out. What was he going to do? Moses experienced two cul-de-sacs during his time in Egypt. One of them was the result of the attractiveness of the Egyptian royalty in the palace, because that's where he was. And the lure and the pull of that was a situation that could have very easily drawn Moses away. But Hebrews records for us the fact that Moses rejected that. But then on the other side of the coin, there was the cul-de-sac of the association that he had with God's people, whom the Egyptians hated. detested. And then moving on to the New Testament, there was a cul-de-sac that Jesus' disciples faced at his direction. Get into the boat and go to the other side of the sea and I'll meet you over there. And in the middle of that Sea of Galilee the storm came up. They were there and Not of their own choice, but by Jesus' direction. And now they were in an impossible situation. They couldn't control the waves. They couldn't control the boat. They couldn't do anything but depend upon the Lord. And so, for each one of those cul-de-sacs, rebus, and those that I've discussed there in the scriptures, God had a purpose for them. And he has one for you as well. At least one. Maybe more. Perhaps you've heard this before. It's from an unknown author. A little poem that describes at least one of the purposes that God can have in our cul-de-sacs. When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man, when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part, when he yearns with all his heart to create so great and bold a man, that all the world shall be amazed, watch his methods, watch his ways, how he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects, how he hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay which only God understands. while his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands, how he bends but never breaks when his good he undertakes, how he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose fuses him, by every act induces him to try his splendor out, God knows what he's about." And he knew what he was about when he told Moses, you take Israel, in between Baal Ziphon and Migdal and Phiphahiroth and you put them there up against the sea. God knew what he was about. Israel didn't know but God did and that's the key to understanding our own cul-de-sacs. If we can be and we can be assured that God knows what he's doing. What lessons can we learn from Israel's cul-de-sac. The unmistakable implication from verses 1 and 2 of Exodus 14 is that God had Israel exactly where he wanted them. And if they had been any place else, God would not have done what he did for Israel right where he wanted them. And God took full responsibility for placing them there. Those two verses are very clear. God said, it's my direction. Moses, you do this because I told you to do this. You take Israel there because I have said that. God is big enough that he can take full responsibility for the very difficult and to us impossible situations that he places us in. Well, there were three things at least that we could draw conclusions from as far as Israel's situation. One, God occasionally will do the same thing with us because he wants to test our faith. An untested faith is not nearly as valuable to God as one that has gone through the fire. And in this case, the water. God tests our faith. God will also teach us the wisdom of trusting him. When our own wisdom is insufficient and our own decision making seems so inadequate, When we look to the Lord for the solution and the resolution to a way out of the cul-de-sac, we trust God's wisdom and He will display it for us. And then thirdly, it helps us learn His ways. God told Moses that He would occasionally explain to Moses His ways. To Israel, he explained his acts. To Moses, occasionally he would explain his ways. Israel, as a nation, and of course this was after the incident that we're talking about here, he didn't explain his ways. Our entire perspective will change about any particular situation when we realize that we are God's child And we are there by His specific direction. We are there because He has led us there. We are there because He has controlled circumstances and situations to place us right where He wants us to be. Sometimes for reasons only known to God. But that's where the matter of trust comes in. South African pastor Andrew Murray of a couple of generations ago was a prolific author of many books on prayer, particularly. And one day he faced what he thought was an impossible situation. And he began to apply the principles that he had written about in the books that he had already authored. And he sat in his study and he thought, he meditated, and he read scripture. And he began to write four principles that were directly applicable to his situation, but certainly transfer back to what Israel was facing and what you and I face occasionally. Number one, he assured himself that God knows where I am and I am there by his appointment. Secondly, I am in his keeping. And he will give me the grace to behave like his child should behave. Thirdly, he will make this trial a blessing and use it to train me. And then finally, God knows how long this will last and when it will end. Sometimes we don't. But when we're assured that God does, then we can be assured. that everything is going to be alright. So rule number one, I must realize that God has me exactly where he wants me. Let's go back to Exodus 14 for the second one and I'll reread verses 3 and 4. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are bewildered by the land The wilderness has closed them in. Now watch particularly verse four, because I'm going to ask you a question. Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue them. And I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. Now if you had to draw rule number two from verse four, what would you say? Rules for crossing the Red Sea. What would be your conclusion from verse 4? First of all, does the verse say anything about deliverance? No, not yet. In God's timing, that would have been premature to start talking about that. But what does the verse say about God in relationship to the very difficult situation that Israel found themselves in? I will draw glory to myself. So rule number two, we must be more concerned about God's glory than our own relief. We must be more concerned about God's glory than our own relief. C.H. Macintosh, a Scottish preacher from the mid-1800s, wrote this. If we could only look upon a difficult crisis as an occasion of bringing out, on our behalf, the sufficiency of divine grace, it would enable us to preserve the balance of our souls and to glorify God, even in the deepest waters. So for him, one of the keys for difficult situations and the eventual resolution to them, but certainly while he was in the midst of them was the glory of God. How else would God display his glory and his all sufficiency if he didn't take us through those situations that we can't get ourselves out of? I think in this particular, with this particular rule, And this certainly will be borne out later on in the chapter. One of the things that we have the tendency to do is that when we face a difficult situation, an impossible set of circumstances, we are so prone to ask the wrong questions. We ask questions like, how soon is this going to end? Am I doing everything I can to bring it to an end. How did I get in this mess to begin with? And how can I get myself out of it? Well, those are the questions that Israel ask. Later on in the chapter, we'll see this. But the question that God's people ought to ask, first of all, is how is God going to draw glory to himself through this situation? But we get so emotionally bound up in the circumstances that we don't think that way. And I'll be candid with you. I don't think that way. This particular principle has helped me move in that direction. The first question we ought to ask, and it will change our perspective. How can God draw glory to himself through this situation? Because ultimately, it isn't about me. Now, God may be doing something for me in the situation and he will do something in me as a result of the situation. But primarily, it isn't about me because it wasn't about Israel. God was, yes, doing something in the nation in addition to what he'd already done by bringing them out of Egypt in the first place. But verse four is very clear, God wanted primarily to draw glory to himself by displaying his power in getting them out of this to what to them was an impossible situation. Go with me to Psalm 136. There are multiple places in Scripture, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, where this particular incident is referred to. This Red Sea incident. And again and again and again, God, through his writers of scripture, will draw attention to this particular incident for various purposes. But here is one of them in Psalm 136. Just the first verse to give the setting and then we'll skip down in the chapter. Verse one. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. How often is God good? Always. Remember that because of what we're going to read later on in the chapter. Verse 10, To him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, for his mercy endures forever, and brought out Israel from among them, for his mercy endures forever. with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his mercy endures forever. To him who divided the sea in two, for his mercy endures forever. And made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his mercy endures forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his mercy endures forever. God had Israel right where He wanted them because there He could display His glory when He extracted them from that situation. Could God have taken Israel from Egypt directly into the land of Canaan, the land that He promised to Abraham? He could have. Twelve days of journey instead of forty years. God could have done that. But if he had, and yes I know Israel's own rebellious heart enters into the whole mix here, but if God had done that and taken them directly from Egypt into Canaan, we would have missed this story. And we would have not seen God display his power and his glory to Israel and then ultimately to us. if we didn't have the availability of Exodus chapter 14. So that night, and this is of course after what we're reading here, that night God displayed his glory by using this outstretched arm that we just read about here in Psalm 136 and with outstretched arms he held back that mighty sea And His glory sparkled in the waves as they began to pile up and pile up as Israel made its way across between those two huge walls of water. God's glory was in full display as well as His power. This rule, be more concerned about God's glory than your own relief, was even practiced by Jesus. I want to quickly draw your attention to three instances in the Gospel of John. A couple of them I want to read. John 9 for the first one, and the other one I'll just refer to. John 9, first little section of this chapter. But as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. The disciples asked the wrong question. They didn't look at that man who was blind and ask themselves, or even audibly, how can God be glorified in this situation? Jesus said that was the question they should have asked. Because by God's design and at God's instigation, this man was born exactly the way God wanted him. So that Jesus could display God's glory by healing him. So Jesus understood this principle, this rule, to be more concerned about God's glory than our own relief. The second instance is in John 11, and although it's right there, I'll just quickly refer to it. That was the incident when Mary and Martha sent messengers to Jesus and said, come quickly, Lazarus, our brother, is very, very ill. And the chapter specifically says that Jesus, by design, delayed his arrival. And when he did eventually get there, Lazarus had already died. And what was the response of Mary and Martha? Lord, if you had been here, our brother wouldn't have died. Well, Jesus saw things differently. No, and he was gentle in his explanation to them. This sickness isn't unto death, but so that God might be glorified. The delay was seemingly tragic to Mary and Martha, but in God's mind, who knows all things, there was a design, there was a purpose. And then the final one is in John 12, just a couple of chapters over, and I do have a couple of verses that I want to read at the conclusion of this particular incident. It was Passover week. And Jesus had made his way to Jerusalem along with thousands and thousands of other faithful Jews to celebrate Passover. And at the beginning of that week, there was somewhat of a spontaneous acclamation of Jesus as the King of Israel. And the palm branches were spread out on the road as he traveled along on a donkey. That week that started in that way, ended in a very different way. Because on Friday of that week, Jesus was hanging on a cross. And verses 27 and 28 of chapter 12 bring for us the conclusion that speaks back to rule number two. Our primary focus should be God's glory rather than our own relief. And did Jesus practice that himself? Verse 27. Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. Was Jesus seeking relief? He did say, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But he knew that it wasn't possible because it was God's plan. Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Jesus understood this rule, that God's glory is far more important than our relief in any particular situation. Psalm 106, I'll go back there, where God once again reminds His people and us about this rule for all future generations who are going to find themselves in seemingly impossible circumstances that they can't extract themselves from. Psalm 106, verse 1. Praise the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Who can utter or explain the mighty acts of the Lord, or who can declare all his praise? Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who does righteousness at all times. Remember me, O Lord, with the favor you have toward your people. O visit me with your salvation, that I may see the benefit of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance. We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders. They did not remember the multitude of your mercies, but rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for his name's sake. Why did God save the Israelites out of the hand of Pharaoh? Was it to relieve their own misery and consternation over the impossible circumstance? No. He saved them for his name's sake. And that will be the ultimate reason that God pulls us out of those situations. It is for his glory and not for our relief. So God took an impossible situation for Israel, turned it around, and used it for His honor. Were they relieved? Were they liberated? Yes. But that wasn't God's primary purpose. Did He accomplish both of those purposes? He did. Because now Thirty five hundred years later, we're still talking about what God did for Israel at the Red Sea and we're giving glory to him for doing something that only he could have done. So the parted waters show God's glory. When his enemies are defeated. When his name is lifted up. When his exploits are remembered and when his praises are sounded. So two rules for Red Sea crossings, and there will be more to come. Number one, we must realize that God has me exactly where he wants me. And number two, my primary focus in my difficult situation should be God's glory and not my own relief. I was particularly struck by the songs that we sang together tonight. Pastor Brian had no idea what I was speaking on when he chose these songs. But that very first one that we started out with, What though the way be lonely, and the dark shadows fall? My Father planned it all. He planned it for Israel. He plans it for you. And He plans it for me. And then we sang about the Lord being good. in all situations. And then we read in two Psalms that directly related their accounts to the Red Sea. The Lord is good. And then we finished our congregational singing by singing about the God of the impossible. And then the words of Jen's solo dealt with God's guidance and the refrain repeated, Your will cannot lead me. for your grace cannot keep me. His grace kept Israel. His grace glorified himself.