Take your Bibles this morning and open them with me if you would please to the book of Exodus chapter 14. Exodus chapter 14. In a moment I'll have you stand in reverence to God's word. When I begin to read the text, I'll just read one verse of scripture. But what I want to do before I read today is to fill you in with some background information that relates to this message today. This being the first day of the new year and being on the Lord's day reminded me when I began to study and pray about what God would have me to bring that God told Moses to speak to the children of Israel in chapter 12 of Exodus in verse number two, and told them that this would be the beginning of the month for them, or the beginning of the months. January is the beginning of the months for us, according to our calendar. And God said it would be the first month of the year, it would be a new year, in other words, was what the Lord was talking about, because the children of Israel had lived in the land of Egypt for over 430 years. They had gone down a very small number of people, I believe about 70 if I'm correct, that went down into the land of Egypt. They went down there during a time when God placed Joseph there as governor over the land. He wasn't governor when he first went. In originality, Joseph was sold by his brothers as a slave, and he was carried off down into Egypt. And he was bought by Potiphar, who was one of the main soldiers in Pharaoh's armies. And Joseph worked for him as a slave. Potiphar learned quickly that the hand of the Lord was upon Joseph, and he put him in charge of most of his house. And everything that it seemed like Joseph touched was blessed. and Potiphar increased. Potiphar's wife also set her heart upon Joseph. But Joseph was an honorable, godly man, and would not allow himself to sin against God through his own desires or his own flesh. And so he fled one day from her presence when she grabbed hold of him, and he left his cloak in her hands, which was a mistake, because she falsely accused him of having come in unto her to shame her. And she cried out, and the other Egyptian soldiers around came in. And when Potiphar returned, he was so angry at Joseph, he placed him in prison. And he was there for two years. While he was there, God did some work in his life. Joseph couldn't understand why he had dreamed some of the dreams he dreamed when he was a young boy. He had dreamed that he and his brothers were shocking corn, and when they put their corn up in the shocks in the fields, all of his brother's corn bowed unto him. And when he told it to his brethren, they were jealous of him. And then he dreamed that the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance unto him. And when he told that to his family, again his brethren were jealous. And that was the reason why they sold him, to see whether his dreams could come true or not. Now here he is in prison wondering, what was those dreams about? And when will God, if these be of God, when will He bring those things to pass? And then God caused a dream to come upon the Pharaoh of the land about seven years. He didn't realize, he had two separate dreams. He saw seven years when there was plenty in the land, and then he saw seven years when there was a terrible drought that consumed the plenty. And he didn't understand it. And there was a baker, a butler that he is, that had been in prison with Joseph, whom Joseph had asked to remember him. when he stood back in the presence of the king. But he forgot. And somehow I can't help but believe that God erased that from his mind, because had he remembered Joseph and raised him up, he'd have just went back into the house of Potiphar. Everything is about timing and God's plan. And for Joseph, it was necessary for him to stay put, even though it was in prison, until God was ready to raise him up. But the butler remembered that there was a man that could interpret dreams, and so Joseph was brought forth. and stood in the presence of the king, and he listened carefully to the dream that he had. And Joseph interpreted, there will be seven years of tremendous harvest throughout all the land. And you need to appoint a man that is discreet, who will gather up and prepare against the second dream you had, which is a dream of a drought that will follow that will be so terrible that even the plenty will not be remembered in all the land. And Pharaoh, though he was not a man of God or someone who believed in God, because he thought he was a God himself, said, Can we find one so discreet as Joseph, a man in whom is the Spirit of God? And Joseph was then placed in the position of being a governor. And it was during this time that his father and his children came down to, his brothers that is, came down to the land of Egypt to purchase corn because the famine had reached all the way to Canaan. And in time, Joseph brought them to Egypt and they were 70 persons when they came. Now they've stayed there for over 430 years. You do realize, I hope, that in that many years, the way of a nation, or if I can say it, the caricature of a nation would naturally come on them. They would take on their ways, their way of life, and their philosophy, and a lot of the things about their gods they would take on. And the children of Israel was there, except that the Pharaoh got so tough on the children of Israel, their bondage became so hard. that at night when they'd lay down, they'd cry and they'd talk to God. I'm satisfied that all those years they wondered, God, do you even see us? Have you ever been there? Have you ever been in a place in your life where you were dealing with something so tough that you wondered if God saw what was happening to you? Have you ever been there where you felt like that you were being destroyed? That's how they felt. We've been here all this time. God, we've pleaded and we've wept and we've cried. And there seems to be no answer. But God has an answer in preparation. A man named Moses. And he had been in Egypt himself, trained in Egypt. He was born in slavery. His mother had to place him in a little basket and put him in the brink of the river hoping that somebody would find Moses and save his life because Pharaoh was so against the children of Israel and their women was bearing children. They were increasing, growing in numbers. And they were told to put their babies to death. And so Moses' mother put him in a basket and put him at the brink of the river. And Pharaoh's daughter came to the river to bathe, and she found Moses, and she took him to raise him as her own child. Remarkably, his sister was standing by and ran to Pharaoh's daughter and asked if she wanted one of the Hebrew women to nurse. And she said, hire someone, I'll pay them wages. And his sister went and got his mother. And his mother got to nurse her own child. And so, when Moses was winged as a child, he was trained in all the wisdom and in all the knowledge of the Egyptians. He was to be heir to the throne. He was to succeed the Pharaoh that was then in power. But when he came to his full age, there was something about the people that he watched and listened to and saw them that touched his heart. And he had compassion for them. And he didn't realize that he was going to be at that moment the man that God would raise up. And so he killed an Egyptian and tried to separate two brethren, but Moses had to flee because he was a murderer. And he knew that Pharaoh would put him to death. And for 40 years he was over in the land of Midian until one day he came to a burning bush. And when he got to the burning bush, a voice said to him, take your shoes off, the ground where you stand is holy ground. Moses was fascinated that the bush was on fire, but it wasn't consumed. And he drew near to see this phenomenon. And that's when God spoke to him. And Moses didn't really want to go back to the land of Egypt, but God was calling him to go back. And he goes back, and what happens is that he's going to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, where they've been for over 430 years. But before He brings him out, He'll have to deal with this man Pharaoh. And in all the process of this, as Moses was going to Pharaoh and coming to the children of Israel, Pharaoh got so hard in his heart that he increased the taskmaster's strength over the Hebrews until the Hebrew people were suffering. Have you ever had somebody that you thought was your friend that was trying to intervene and trying to help and they made matters worse? That's what it looked like. They thought matters are getting worse because of what Moses is doing. And they just wish he would hush and wish he wouldn't say anymore. Because every time he goes into Pharaoh, their work gets tougher. He took away their straw, made them go out and search for straw. And they could not slack in the number of brick they produced every day. And so they'd lay down at night and they'd weep. God, when will you help us? And they didn't even realize that help was already present. It was just a matter of when God was gonna bring them out. And so what would become important to them when the time was come for them to come out was a lamb, a lamb. And you and I need to realize today, and we've heard this story so many times that when we read it we pass over it because we think we know it and we think, well that was for then. But the lamb which was true, an animal sacrifice that would be made, was symbolic of a greater lamb who was going to come. And everything God was doing to the children of Israel and allowing in their lives was to help them to understand that in life you'll never be able to have victory except for a lamb. And you and I need to realize that if we're going to have victory ahead of us, it'll be because of who the lamb is. That's so important. And so, chapter 12, Moses comes to them and says, it's the beginning of the new month, and on the 14th day of this month, you're to lay up a lamb, a one-year-old lamb, without blemish, a male lamb, and you do that on the 10th, and on the 14th, you slay him in the evening. And you take some hyssop, and you dip it in the blood, and you put the blood over the door lintel and down the two side posts, because this is gonna be the Lord's Passover. This night, now God has already visited Pharaoh with ten plagues. And each time Pharaoh would humble and he would cry for Moses, please entreat the Lord to take this away. And Moses knew what Pharaoh was doing. And he would entreat and God would remove the plagues. But God was getting Pharaoh ready for the worst judgment that he's ever faced. This night in Passover, God said, I'm coming down to the Lamb because I've heard the cry of my people. Listen to me, church. I don't know what you're crying to God about, but He hears you. And He is touched with the feelings of your infirmities. And it's not unnatural for you to feel like that He is not hearing you or that He's forsaken you. That's common feelings. But I promise you, God is fixing to do something in your life, just as He did these people's lives. And God said to Moses, tell them to put the blood over the lintel and the doorpost, because when I see the blood, I'll pass over them, and I will not allow the destroyer to come in. But in every home in the land of Egypt, beast and mankind, I will execute judgment against them. There'll be death of the firstborn in every home, and the firstborn of beasts, and I'll bring judgment against the gods of the land of Egypt. And so that event happened. And when it did, there was death in every house, including Pharaoh. How many of you understand today that sometimes before God really gets people's attention, death comes? We don't want that, we would never ask for that, and we would not at all welcome that. In fact, we should humble ourselves and say, God, please keep us from ever allowing death to be a reason that wakes us up. Sometimes it could be the death of somebody so close that we love, or a child, or someone that we never expected that would be taken out. But Pharaoh loved his son, and when his son was dead, he rose and told Moses to take his people and to go. Now I want you to stand in reverence to God's word and find Exodus chapter 14 and verse number 15. But before I read the verse, listen to me, look up here for just a minute. There's a reason why Moses had to say what he had to say. Remember I said they would rather he be still and not say anything to Pharaoh? And they murmured and they complained and they griped so much that God knew what their tendency was, was to stand still or to go back to Egypt. And so when you come to chapter 14, verse number 15, the Bible says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore, Criest thou unto me. Speak unto the children of Israel, here's the message, that they go forward. I'm going to speak on those two words, go forward. Father, I bow before you today and I praise you and I thank you for the privilege to be in the house of God on this first day of this new year. As we begin this walk continually into this year, help us, Lord, to understand the importance of going forward. It's not enough that we have started, nor is it enough that we have been in continuance of it, but we must never cease to go forward. Because if we're to have victory and we're to attain the good grace of God upon our lives, we must not ever allow ourselves, God, to turn back as the children of Israel wanted so much to do. Help us, Lord, today to evaluate this message in light of our own lives. I need your help today and I need your strength today. And I pray, God, that you'll hide me in the shadow of the cross I pray, Lord, that you'll put the words upon my tongue that I need to speak. I pray the Holy Spirit will anoint these words. I pray that the holy God of heaven will begin this day, this very first day of 2023, to be magnified in Oak Lane Free Will Baptist Church and begin to do greater things than we've ever seen in the past or in the present and continue to see it in the future. God, we give you the praise and we give you the glory. In Jesus' name, I pray, and God's people said, amen. You may be seated. To go forward, the word go means that you have to be in a moving or proceeding position. from moving from one place unto another. Now they've been stationary in this country for 430 years and life hasn't got better, but life has got worse. And yet God has stepped in now and intervened because He's heard their prayer. And He's trying to help them. He's going to help them, not trying. He is going to help them. But God knows their heart and God knows their attitude just as He knows my heart and He knows your attitude. It's easy for us to get discouraged and to feel like that God's not hearing me and God doesn't seem to be doing anything, so what's the use? And I'll just stop. But there's no place to stop. Forward is to advance onward toward a destination. For the children of Israel was to get out of the land of Egypt and to get into the land of Canaan that God said He would lead them to a place of milk and honey. That is a far better place than where they've been in the land of Egypt. For you and I, we're headed toward heaven. That's our destination. We're living our daily lives, walking through the course of this life. Most days happy in life and blessed because of God's goodness. But life, just because you're a Christian, doesn't mean you won't have sorrows, and it doesn't mean you won't have tests and trials. It means those things will come in life because it's part of life. It's how you respond to those things that God is concerned about. And He knows that sometimes we won't go forward. And God sees that in churches. I think all across the world today, I wonder if God is not concerned of the not going forward progress of the church. If a church is standing still, it gets stagnant. It becomes a routine rather than an outpouring of the Holy Ghost in the service. The Holy Ghost is God Himself in spirit form. And He's not someone we should be afraid of. He's someone we ought to get acquainted with. And we ought to want to be filled with the Holy Ghost because He's the power of God. to help us be everything God wants us to be. You see, the danger of stagnation is eventually we stop and become motionless. And the danger here is that we'll reach a point of all of a sudden we're going backward, we're digressing rather than progressing. And I'm preaching this today to ask you to look into your life. Which is it for you? Are you going forward in your faith walk with God? Are you growing in the grace of God and in the knowledge of God? Are you doing what the Apostle Paul asked? Press for the mark and the prize, the high calling of God that's in Christ Jesus. Are you determined that nothing shall come between you and God? The Bible says we are more than conquerors through Christ that loved us. And even when I'm not looking like I'm triumphant or feeling like I'm triumphant, the Bible also says that we are always triumphant in Christ. Now I'm gonna be honest with you, I've been in some places in my life and my experience that I've actually said to God, well, you're gonna have to help me understand how I'm triumphing here because I feel like that I'm lower than a blade of grass. And if I saw a snake's belly come across me, it'd look like a star. That's how low I am, God. You ever been that low in life? Well, if you're not honest with yourself, then that's a problem that you're going to have to deal with. But you see, God knew that these people, if they move backward, will go from a better place than they are to a worse state. And in the scripture to go on or to go or to turn back is to rebel. If you digress, you rebel on God, you apostatize. That word means you start abandoning all that you've known about God or all that you've experienced about Him. And suddenly you'll relapse into sin. I picked up the cell phone this weekend and I preached in North Carolina. And there was a young man in the church who was so musically talented. This kid could really sing. He was probably 21 or 22 years old. He played an acoustical guitar. And he played during the choir while the choir and the congregation was singing. And I happened to be sitting close enough that I could hear this young fellow. And I never heard a young man on an acoustical guitar so talented that people actually in the congregation stopped singing at times to look at him and listen to him because of his talent. That's a gift that comes from God. You do understand, don't you, church? When he sang, it was even more wonderful. But I picked up my phone, and I saw on my phone that he had left the church, and now he's entertaining in the bars. And he's welcoming everybody to come and enjoy his music. And down in the deep of my heart, I felt an ache and a hurt. for that young man, and I stopped and I prayed, oh God, what's happened to him? Why did he stop where he was at? What was it? And then God reminded me, you asked about him to his pastor last summer, and his pastor said because he couldn't have the show, he would not go any further with him. And so what did he do? He looked for a venue where he could have the show. And you know, friends, he may have all the crowd of this world shouting at him and clapping and applauding for him, but in heaven, the God who loved him and cared for him and died for him is brokenhearted because he was too much about himself instead of being about the Lamb. And you need to realize today that if it's about you, it won't be about the Lamb. And so Moses is telling them to go forward because his reason is he's also experienced that they have times of rebellion and times of apostatizing and where they relapse into sin. And if Moses hadn't done this many times, due to their hardships, Israel would have gone back to Egypt. And when I thought about that, it seems like God just spoke into my heart and said, you need to remind my people, never turn back, never relapse, but no matter what you face in 2023, go forward. be determined you're gonna go forward. See, Moses was familiar with the courts of Pharaoh. He was raised there and he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians according to Acts chapter 7 verse 22. I'm amazed when I read that verse because it said he was mighty in deeds and mighty in words and yet when God called him out there to the bush, he said, God, I stutter. And you want me to go? I think he got nervous or something happened to him. And about that time Aaron come along, God said, Aaron can be your voice, but you're going to be a God unto Aaron. And when you read it, Aaron said very little. Moses did all the talking when they got down there. God makes the mouth. You see, when you try to excuse yourself because of your incapabilities or your handicaps, that's no match for God. He told Moses, did I not make the mouth? Can I not fix that? But to secure you, I'll send Aaron with you. And by the way, the reason Moses could speak and did speak as much as he did is because God did a miracle on Moses. He healed that stuttering, stammering lip that he had. And he was a great leader for the children of Israel. Through his teachers in the land of Egypt, they poured in all the knowledge of Egypt. And when Moses came to his manhood, listen to what he rejected. He rejected the wisdom of the Egyptians. He rejected the wealth of the Egyptians. And he rejected the ways of the Egyptians. because down in his heart there was a yearning and there was a longing for those people that he watched in bondage and he watched them suffer and he listened to them cry and he could hear their moans and groans and I believe that his mother had prayed for him and no doubt instilled in him some things. and perhaps along the way Moses would meet up with Mary and meet up with his mom and they would talk about what God had done for them all their lives and how God had taken care of them. And I just happen to believe that Moses probably prayed to God for those people. When it came to a time and a place in his life that he had the wisdom, he could have had the wealth, and he could have lived the lavish ways of the Egyptians, he said, no thank you. I'm going to go forward with God. I want you to turn to the Hebrews writings, if you would, chapter 11. I want you to read this for yourself. Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 25, because it seems when you read it, you think, how would anybody make this kind of decision? You see, everything in life is a choice. and when you're down in the dumps and you're hurting and when you're having a pity party for yourself, and all of a sudden you don't even feel like listening to a sermon, you don't feel like listening to a song, and you don't really feel like being in church, That doesn't change who God is, doesn't change what God is, and doesn't change what God wants for your life. And neither does it excuse me or does it excuse you to say, God, I'm not listening to that. God, I'm not singing. God, I'm just not going. He'll let me make that choice, but I'm the one who's relapsing. I'm going back. I'm backing up on God. I'm apostatizing. I'm abandoning the very one that I need to help me. I want you to look at verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, verse 25. Choosing, notice the word choosing there? See, look up here for just a minute. Everything in life is a choice. When God brought Adam down to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he had not sinned. And God told him, of all the trees you can freely eat, but of this tree thou shalt not eat. In the day you eat thereof, you'll die. And so God placed before him life and death. And Adam took his wife Eve down there and told him what God had said. But the devil, the liar, the murderer, the enemy of your soul, the one who does not want you to go forward but wants you to digress and he wants to get you in a place where you can't even feel God or feel like God even cares about you. He lied to her. And he persuaded her and she took and she ate. And she gave to her husband who knew what he was doing and he ate. She was deceived but he wasn't. And the whole universe was plunged into sin. Not something to surprise God. God knew that's what Adam would do. But God already had in place a lamb. A lamb. And he would teach the children of Israel all the way through the Old Testament about the lamb. He started it there in the garden with Adam and Eve when they realized they were naked and they were ashamed. And Genesis 3.22 says that God slay animals. He didn't say it was a lamb, but I think it's reasonable to assume it was a lamb since lambs were what was used in most sacrifices for redemption and atonement. And he shed that innocent blood of the innocent lamb, the innocent suffering for the guilty. This lamb died so the coats of skin could cover the nakedness of Adam and of Eve. And that's the reason why that all through the Bible, God said that the blood is an atonement for your soul. The life of the flesh is the blood. And when a lamb was offered, God, I believe, would smell the savor of that lamb, and he would see the shedding of that blood, and he would look over at his son, who then existed in the form of the Word, and know that there's a day coming when my son will be the lamb of God that'll take away the sin of the world. how he loved that lamb. You know, when I read this, I thought, God, they've heard that so much, and God said, it don't make any difference. They've heard a lot of the songs Ryan sings over and over, too. And they've heard other things in life over and over. But there's nothing as important as that lamb to the nation of Israel, and there's nothing as important to Jesus Christ as to the world today. And did you look at verse 25? It says, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. Who chooses to suffer affliction? Moses had obviously evaluated what it was going to cost him to follow the Lord, to follow the children of Israel. If he goes with them, he knows what his experience is going to be. It's going to be nothing but affliction, because he could see the afflictions upon those people. And I will tell you that being a Christian doesn't exempt you from afflictions and from trials and from struggles. The difference is you've got a helper in all of them. And through it all, God is training you and teaching you. Actually, He's perfecting you and helping to get you to a place where you can make heaven your eternal home. Not only did He choose to suffer with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, but look at verse 26. He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. See, you'll make a choice about your life here on this earth. You'll either choose to follow with Jesus and go through whatever being a Christian's gonna bring you, or the devil will try his best to offer you the riches of this world and the pleasures of sin, and he'll even provide you religious trainers to tell you you can do it, it's okay, God understands it. And my friend, you need to remember something, God does not compromise with sin. God never has, God never will compromise with sin. And when you sin against God, except you repent, Jesus Christ, the Lamb said, you will perish. I will perish. The only thing that keeps me from perishing is the blood of the lamb, just like it was in the night when God saw the blood on the lintel and on the doorpost. He did not allow the destroyer to come in. And sometimes in my life, the blood of Jesus that was shed on Calvary has been applied to my soul. But I'm in affliction, and I'm going through trials, and I'm going through struggles, and I wonder, God, are you still there? And God has assured me that you'll never be destroyed. because he'll not allow that. He's covered you in the blood. And so Moses decided, I don't want the treasures of Egypt, I don't care if I have learned, I'm gonna follow the people of God, and I'm gonna walk with the people of God. You see, Moses knew something that Pharaoh didn't. Pharaoh had said in Exodus chapter five, verse number two, I don't know God. When Moses came in and said, Thus saith the Lord, let my people go, Pharaoh laughed and said, I don't know your God. Moses knew that he said that, and the difference between Pharaoh and Moses is the fact that Moses does know God. And the difference between you and the world, if you're saved today, you know God, you know Jesus Christ, and because you know Him, the world is no match for you. Pharaoh was no match for Moses. He thought he was because he thought he was a god himself. But in ten different experiences that Pharaoh would go through, he would find out there is a greater power than I have. And listen friend, if you will walk with God and talk with God and listen to God, you will learn that there is a far greater power than any power in this world who can help you. in all of your struggles and all your trials. So by the time Moses was finished with Pharaoh, visiting him with plague after plague, and leaving a dead child in every Egyptian home, including Pharaoh's home, he was terrified, both of Moses and of God. You know, you could go to someone's house and say, I'm here as an ambassador for the Lord, and you need to wake up, and you need to separate from your sins. You know what they'd probably say? Who do you think you are? What right do you think you have coming in here? What if he said before he left, God's gonna swarm your house with flies, bug you so bad you can't even sleep. And all of a sudden when he left, your house was filled with flies, and you looked over to your neighbor and there wasn't no flies, but the flies were in your ears, the flies were in your nose, the flies were in your bed, they're everywhere. What would you do at that moment? And if He comes back and you would say, ask whoever it is you talked to to remove this, and He did, and flies were gone, you'd probably do the same thing Pharaoh did, harden your heart. Because we see this played out in people's lives. They only want God in a crisis. They only need God in a crisis, and when the crisis is over, then they turn back to their own ways. What if the person said, when I leave, the frogs are coming, And they leave, and all of a sudden you get in bed, and your bed's full of frogs. You go to get in your refrigerator, your refrigerator's full of frogs. You get in your flour bin, and your flour bin's full of frogs. You go to put a bite of something in your mouth, and a frog jumps in your mouth. And you look over at your neighbor and there ain't no frogs over there. And what if all of a sudden lice came all over you? And your neighbor don't have it. These are some of the things that happened in Pharaoh while the children of Israel never suffered these things at all. And when Pharaoh saw these things, it humbled him for a moment. And you listen to me this morning. There are things that will humble you temporarily, but not necessarily permanently. But I'll tell you what will permanently change your life. Death in your family. Death with one of your children and with one of your loved ones. For here's what Moses knew, Pharaoh had his army of thousands and somebody could come to him and say, Moses, he's got thousands of soldiers and he's got lots of chariots and we have departed the land of Egypt. What are we gonna do if he comes? What do you have? What do you got? He said, I've got a lamb. You've got a what? I've got a Passover lamb. That's all you've got is a lamb? The world looks at us and says, everybody else is doing it a different way. Everybody else, even in some churches, are doing it a different way. What do you have? I have a lamb. I have a lamb slain. He was slain before the foundation of the world. I have a lamb whose blood can cleanse me from all my sins. I have a lamb whose blood has been applied to my life. And when the destroyer comes around, he cannot penetrate me, he cannot enter me, he cannot conquer me, because I'm more than a conqueror through Jesus. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This lamb that was shed, that died in Egypt, shed his blood, he was roasted with fire, so the people of God could feast upon him. Jesus went out on Calvary and shed His blood. And all, since His resurrection, all who believe in Him have feasted upon Him from their first moment of belief to the present. Meaning that in Him I find my complete satisfaction. In Him I find my nourishment. In Him I find my strength. I'm talking spiritually. I'm not speaking physically here. I'm talking about my satisfaction spiritually. My strength spiritually. My determination to keep going on. You've got to go forward. God wants you to go forward. He does not want you to go back. And God knew the children of Israel would get scared when they got out, because they're already scared. They're marching toward the Red Sea. Moses could have took them by the way of the Philistine land, but they were in war. And God knew that if the children of Israel saw the war, they'd be determined to go back into Egypt. So He led them through the wilderness. They came down to the Red Sea. All of a sudden, someone in Pharaoh's army said, They're down there entangled in the wilderness, and they're down there by the Red Sea. And all of a sudden, Pharaoh changed his mind. He decided, I'm going to take my chariots, my armies, I'm going down there, and I'm going to destroy those people. And here he comes. And some of the children of Israel are looking back. See, here's what'll get you in trouble. When you're going forward but you're looking back, you're not gonna go in the direction God wants you to. You say, but there's objects out there because out in front of them was that big body of water. How are they to go forward through that? I don't know how God's gonna take us forward in every situation of life. But this much I know, He cannot lie. He will not lie. And if He tells you to go forward, mind Him. Trust Him. And they look back and here comes the armies. But God had told Moses, I'm gonna get glory on Egypt. And before I'm through with Pharaoh today, they're gonna know, all the Egyptians are gonna know that I am God. There's people all over this world that don't know that he is God. But before God is through, they will know it. And the children of Israel got uneasy and they got anxious. And if you look at chapter 14, verse 13, God spoke to Moses and said, tell the people to stand still. You see, if God has said to go forward but in front of you, is something that you're not sure what you're to do with it. I mean, I'll be truly honest with you today. If I'm standing at the ocean with a half a million or more people, and God says, go forward, go forward, and I would probably say to God, and I don't know if Moses said this, I would say to God, but God, you do see there's water there, and you do know that the further we go out in that, if you don't do something, we're gonna be in trouble. Bible doesn't say Moses challenged God, but I probably would ask him. Not as a challenge, I just want to know. If you'll be honest, you can say amen here, I like to know. Don't you? I don't like uncertainty. I like surety. But faith sometimes has to act when there is no surety. And he said, stand still, because here's what God knew. Those people were getting so scared, some are going to turn to the left and run, some are going to turn to the right and run, and some are going to run right back to Pharaoh and say, I surrender, I surrender, just save me and do with me whatever you want. God knew what they were going to do. And so he said, tell them to stand still and see the salvation of God. When you're faced and you're forward going with something that you don't know how to go further in, stop for just a minute and say, Show me how you're going to save me here. And God said, Moses, hold your rod in your hand out over that sea. And Moses stretched that rod out, and I'm sure some of the people said, what's he doing? It looks like he's holding a rod out over the sea. All of a sudden, an east wind begins to blow. And it gets harder and harder, and then they see a phenomenon. All of a sudden, God parts the waves of that sea, and he makes a wall of water start rising here and over here, and it's just like it's constantly unfolding, and that wind starts drying the ground. And Moses said, go forward. Go forward. You see, Jesus said, I am the way. And we're talking about a land that rescued them out of Egyptian bondage. And that was a picture of the Lamb that came to the cross of Calvary and shed His life's blood for the remission of my sins and your sins. And Jesus Christ is the way out of our sins. He is the way to heaven. He's not a crutch. Oh, those people that use that terminology don't even realize, no matter how intelligent they are or how educated they are, what a foolish statement for anybody to make. Because when they die without Him, they'll realize that He was the way, the truth, and the life. And so we feast on Jesus all the days of our life. And one of these days, we'll come to a place called the river of death. When we get there, God will say, go forward, take that next step. And you know, when you're ready to take that next step, you're not sure what you're gonna experience. But I believe, and I've watched several die, been by their bedside, and I'll tell you what I can honestly tell you that I've seen about those who are saved. When they make that initial surrender to step forward, it's just like peace settles all over them, and they just go away so easily. Because I believe he's parted the river of death, and standing on the other side is the lamb. that they can go to and forever be with. So listen to me as I bring the message to a close. When Moses said to them, go forward, and they wondered how, and then they began to see it happen, what God opened for them was a way through the Red Sea that led them on a grand highway, first of all, of separation. When God saved you and I, he separated us from this world of sin. The water of that Red Sea would come between the Hebrew people going through and the old way of life, Pharaoh's way. When you get saved, the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that is applied to your life, comes between you and your old way of life. And those things are former and they're old and passed away. because in front of you to go forward is a new living way which God has consecrated for you through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you read Paul's letter to the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, he said unto them, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all of our fathers were under the cloud. God was leading them with a cloud, a pillar of cloud. He brought them down to that Red Sea. God will never bring you someplace and tell you to go forward that there's not a pathway for you to go forward. And that's the thing that is remarkable about this story. It was God who was leading them there. When they came out of Egypt, that cloud descended as a pillar cloud by day, and at night that cloud was on fire, and it shed forth a light so the children of Israel could see in the dark where to go. And they followed that cloud, and that cloud brought them to the Red Sea. Now God says, go forward, the Egyptians are coming. Go forward. God would never bring you ever in this life to a place that He wants you to go forward and you look at something and say, how? But what God already knows, there's a pathway there. And He'll open it to you. And He'll make it happen for you. And so God has separated you. Wherefore God says in 2 Corinthians 6, 17, Come out from among them, be ye separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. I'm sorry for the people in the world who think they can be saved and live in sin, practice sin, and exercise themselves in sin. Do you know how many people last night probably spent their celebration time in a beer joint, in a nightclub, in a dance hall, that are sitting in church today? I hope not anyone in this congregation, but who knows? God knows. Did he not say, don't you deceive yourself? God is not mocked. Would you believe tonight, today, after listening to me preach, and if you knew me, and those of you that I've been your pastor for a while, if you had learned last night, that me and Miss Brenda, we had ourselves a time. We went to a hootenanny joint, and we cut a rug. and we drank wine coolers, and we both got buzzed. Would you want to listen to me this morning? I'll tell you I wouldn't listen to me. Neither will I go and sit and listen to a preacher of any faith tell me, when I've read this book from cover to cover and studied it, that I can drink and do as I please. and be saved and do those things. It's a lie, friend, and if you buy into that, you'll be deceived in your heart and you'll wind up in destruction. This grand highway that brought you to salvation separated you from the world. Here's the second thing it did. I want you to turn to chapter 15. It gave them a song. In chapter 15 verse number 1, Israel sang this song. For he had triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song and he is become my salvation, He is my God, and I will prepare Him in habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt Him. I want you to think about this. In verse number 2 of chapter 15, He says five things. The number five in the Bible is always representative of grace. By grace, God gave them a lamb that would save them out of Egypt. By grace, God sent them the lamb through a pillory cloud by day and fire by night. And incidentally, when they went out in the sea and the Egyptians started getting closer, God removed that cloud and came between them and stood between them. And God looked through the cloud and saw their chariots as they were drawing closer. And God caused the wheels to fall off and made it hard for them to drive their chariots. God was taking care of his children, and they got so slowed down that the Israelites got on the other side, and now God said, hold your rod out, Moses, and I'll close the door on your enemy, and you'll never see him again. Hallelujah! One of these days, God is gonna bring us through the way unto the Lamb of God, and he's gonna close the door on our enemy, and our enemy will never bother us ever again. No wonder they sang. Have you ever, I think I saw it, Ryan, I was praying, but I heard a thump and I wasn't sure if Ryan was happy or if he'd fainted. But I heard a, up here, and I looked up and I could tell he was getting happy. And I looked out and saw some of you getting happy when we sing. And there's some things in life, after you've been through a real struggle, that makes you wanna sing. And that's where they were at. They seen them dead Egyptians floating everywhere. They knew the enemy was defeated, destroyed, and we're going home to our promised land. And never again will we be defeated nor be destroyed. Listen to what else they went on and said. They sang, Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, has dashed in pieces the enemy. Then in verse 11 they said, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among gods? Who is like thee, glorious in wholeness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? And this song service got so built up in such a joyful fever of rejoicing that over in verse 21, Mariam answered them, sing ye to the Lord. He hath triumphed gloriously over the horse and his rider, and he has thrown them into sea, and they came out with timbrels and dances. Now the next song service, if you wanna get happy, you use your hands to be a timbrel, okay? It's not inappropriate to have them, but I'm gonna tell you, I don't care much for them. Too much jingle there. But I do love to see people happily rejoicing in the Lord. Because if you've met the Lamb and you've experienced the Lamb's blood on your life and know your sins are forgiven, you have something to sing about. And so God not only saved them and separated them and put a song in their heart, God saved you, separated you, put a song in your heart. But God's doing one more thing in your life and I want you to listen to this. God is sanctifying you. Two more things actually. God first of all has secured you. You shouldn't sit around and you shouldn't live your life worrying am I going to make it? Is God going to keep me? Is God going to save me? You read chapter 16 of the book of Exodus on they came to a place in life. where they needed water to drink, their cattle, their families couldn't drink because the waters of Mar was bitter. And what did God do? How do I know that this lamb back in chapter 12 is a symbol of the Lamb of God that was coming? Because in chapter 16 when they got there to Mar, and couldn't drink the waters, Moses prayed to God and God showed him a tree. And God told him, go cut down that tree and cast it into the waters and the waters will be made sweet. Who was it that bare our sins in his body on a tree but the Lamb of God himself? And who is it that can take the bitterness out of your life except that He be in your life as the tree was in the water? And God saved them and secured them once and again. They got a little further out in the wilderness and they cried because they were hungry. They needed something to eat. And God brought a wind that brought quail and laid it right at their feet. And God even sent them manna from heaven. Now, how many of you are hearing me this morning? The security of God. is that He will sustain you, strengthen you, and provide the things that are necessary for life. Doesn't the Bible say, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you? That's security that no one in this world can give you but Jesus. But He also secures you and sanctifies you. Sanctification according to the book of John chapter 17 and verse 17 is the Word of God. Sanctification means God is setting you apart, separating you from things. When God saved you, the very things that would have destroyed you and condemned you, that would have sent you to hell, God separated you from that immediately. But there are other things in our lives, our characters, temperaments, habits, attitudes, ways of life. Sometimes God has to deal with our hearts on those. And he needs to deal with the hearts on those. Me and Brenda one time went to the National Convention, saw the cutest little puppet show. We've never forgot that little puppet show. They had set up this stage that looked like a car and this man and woman's on their way to church. And all of their talking holiness. And oh, they're praising Jesus, and all of a sudden, in the sound effects, it sounded like a car passed them and cut them off, and this little puppet, he threw a fit, shaking his fist and calling him an idiot, and he's having road rage. Now, you'd have to see this to appreciate it, but it was hilarious. And his little wife, the other little puppet, said to him, spreading that love. You're spreading that love. He said, we sure are, ain't we? Hallelujah. And in a little while, something was said on the radio that she didn't like and she turned into a rage and had a fit. And she's just shaking her fist and calling him stupid and idiotic and everything in the world. Over here the driver says, you're spreading that love, you're spreading that love. She said, hallelujah, we sure are, ain't we? Are you getting the picture? People act and behave in unseemly ways and in rages and in attitudes sometimes that is unbecoming of us as Christians. And every now and then, Brenda, when I get out of sorts, she'll say, spread that love. And occasionally, I wish she did it more where I could do this. She gets out of sorts. And I get to say, spread that love. But you know what that serves to remind me of? God's doing a sanctifying work in my life, and there are things I don't need to keep carrying on and excusing myself with. I need to get it on an altar, and I need to get it under the blood of Jesus, and I need to get deliverance from it. And that's what God wants. Why did I tell you this? Because you cannot go forward, in closing, listen, you cannot go forward, first of all, if God hasn't saved you. If you have not come to know the Lamb, and allowed His blood to be applied, you cannot go forward. Secondly, you cannot go forward if you don't let the sanctifying work of God or the separating work of God take effect in your life. If you look at things and try to excuse things that God wants you to separate from and you try to hold on to them and you cling to them, you will not go forward. You'll stop, you'll stand still, you'll go back, you'll relapse. You will not go forward if you don't have a salvation experience, if you don't have a separation work going on in your life, and if God hasn't put a song in your heart. Now, I don't sing every day. I don't have a song every day, but I'll tell you what I have noticed in my Christian experience over the years, that when I'm in the valley and I'm facing a trial or something's fixing to come, I'll have a song for days on my heart. I'll be singing it, I'll be humming it, I may be over here at the church by myself, or I may be doing something all alone, and that's just going over and over in my mind. And I thank God for the songs that He gives us. I've even woke up in the night singing to the Lord. I like that, don't you? I like to sing to the Lord in the night. But I can't go forward unless I'm willing to let God sanctify me, and the only way He can truly sanctify me is for me to make a choice to come here. and take time, and it does take time, folks, to sit down and read this book. So my challenge to you for 2023 is will you make a time every day, every day, not just some days, but every day to take your Bible and sit down and say, God, I need to hear you now. I come to this work because I want to hear you. On the first day of this year, my pastor encouraged me to go forward. I really believe you have saved me. I've asked you to forgive me of my sins, and I really believe you've come into my heart, and you're my savior. There are maybe some things that I didn't realize that I need to separate from, and I want you to just show me anything that I should separate from. Help me to do that. Give me the strength to do that. And God, could I sing for you in my heart? Would you put one of your songs in my heart? And God, I wanna thank you for the security that you give me. What kind of security? The security that the enemy's not going to have the victory over you because he has already defeated the enemy, not only through his death, but by his resurrection. If you believe that Jesus died for you and rose again, you are triumphant in him. But you can't feel that, and you won't show that, and you won't experience that unless there is a sanctifying work going on in your heart. Because we're just humans. And that's why it gets so easy for us to say, like Peter, I believe I'll just go fishing. Or we could say, you know what, I need some time off. I just believe I'll just go somewhere and do something different. I think everybody needs to go fishing once in a while. I think everybody needs to do something extra once in a while. But you know what I do encourage you to do? If you go somewhere off, you ought to go to church on the Lord's Day no matter what. You say, well, I'll just tune you in, Brother Mike. No, no, no, that's not what I want you to do. I want you to go to church somewhere else so that when you come back here, you'll say, thank you, God. You know what I had someone say to me the other day, and I've been thinking about it, and I've been thinking about choosing some of you once in a while to send you to another church, just for one service, to let you see what's going on in church society. I know, I've been out there and evangelized. I want to tell you something. Part of the reason I left the field of evangelism and come back to pastoring is I'd rather be with people that really want to worship God than go in and go through a series of services and walk out of there as cold as a tater when you went in there and still cold as a tater when you leave. Thank God for a place where the Lamb of God is the leader. As Brother Ryan gets ready for an invitation song this morning, it's a simple message. You could have said, Brother Mike, why don't you just tell us to go forward and just say amen and we'll go. Because you wouldn't go forward. I needed to bring you back and remind you of what you already knew. You already knew the children of Israel was in bondage. You already knew they'd been there 400 years. You already knew they suffered deep affliction. Many of them died and was buried in a foreign land. Some of the children who became God's greatest leaders was born in that adversity, that time of adversity. They wanted to deliver. God sent them to deliver. He was on the scene, but they were against that deliver. They were angry at Him because it seemed like that He was hurting more than He was helping. But before God can help, sometimes He's got to bring people through some things. God had to bring Pharaoh to a place where He knew He would listen and let Israel go. But God also knew that Pharaoh would pursue them where God would lead them. They were going to have to totally, totally trust Him, because how else do you get across that big body of water if God don't open it? And how do you propose to get from here to heaven if God don't open the way for you? You don't know the way. I don't know the way. I do know the way is Jesus. That's the way, the truth, and the life. But as far as if you come at me and said, now I want you to take me by the hand and get me to heaven, I can't do that. But I'll tell you what I could do, take you by the hand and say, well, let's me and you go to the altar and let's get a hold of Jesus, because he can get us there. Do you believe that today, church? And see, in 2023, if we'll do this, if we'll go after this lamb and follow this lamb, my what God will do for us in this year will be great. Let's stand and pray. Father, I just ask you, Father, to forgive me for the weakness of my body, the struggle that I've had in the flesh this morning, not spiritually, but I'm just talking about the physical weakness that I'm feeling in my body. I pray that I gave the best effort I could in this message. I thank you, God, for this day, January 1st, 2023. I could look back across the past years and I could point out victories and I could point out trials and heartaches and sorrows. But from the past, Lord, we learn from the past experiences and how we've seen you work in those experiences gives us even a greater assurance of going forward of a blessed hope. I praise you, God, for giving us salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. I praise you, God, that everything that you've ever required of me to separate from, I've never missed it, and there's probably more that you'll separate me from going forward, and I thank you for that guidance, and I pray that you'll help me see it. I don't want anything in my life ever, God, that would keep me out of fellowship with you. I don't want to be in a place in my life that when I say, My Heavenly Father, I can't feel you or I can't know that you're there. I appreciate your presence always. I appreciate the strength always. I've learned that even when I don't see or feel the experience that I'm anticipating, immediately you bring a scripture to my mind that assures me that you've never left, you've never forsaken me. But I'm not one that wants to be in a position to say, I don't think I have to separate from that. I want to lay it aside, God, if it's anything that would separate me from You. I truly love to sing songs to You in the night. I love to sing when I'm awake. I like to sing of the mercies of the Lord and of the everlasting, eternal love of God. And Father, I truly, truly worship You and praise You for the security that I have. I'm not so foolish to think that I couldn't turn my back on you and apostatize or abandon my faith and expect that you would owe me anything. You don't lose any power. I lose faith if I do that. But I'm not trusting in me to save me. I'm trusting in you who died for me and rose from the dead to save me and keep me. That's what Peter wrote. I'm kept by the power of God through faith. And I love your word. It is in your Word, God, that we have been set apart, sanctified, cleansed, and have been made whole. Brought us to places where we could learn of you and experience you in ways that we never would have had we not spent time in your Word. God, I just ask you today, search every heart in the building. And if there's anybody here that has never started on this grand highway of salvation, let them know that today is the day of salvation today. They can follow the Lamb of God. If there's those that have followed Him but have gotten discouraged and they have relapsed, let them know, God, that Jesus said, if a man had a hundred sheep and one went astray, he'd seek the one and bring it back. You're seeking them to bring them back to the fold. And let every child of God here today know that the theme for this year is keep going forward, go forward, go forward, never back up, never turn aside, go forward. And when we're against something that we don't know how to get through, wait on God, because you'd never bring us there if you're not gonna bring us through it. God, his brother Ryan will lead us in song here in just a moment. Whatever people have need of in their hearts, help them to bring it to Jesus today. I pray this in the lovely and holy and blessed name of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.