I invite you to take your Bible and turn this morning to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 13. As we start a new year, it's always good to go back to basics, back to fundamental principles. And as we start a new year, it just seemed good to me to Stop and consider again the beautiful sovereignty of God and what that means, and to see ourselves, like the Israelites, often forgetting all that God has promised and done, and the Lord reminding us again this morning. Exodus chapter 13, we're going to begin at verse 17, and then we're going to read through the end of chapter 14. Israel has just come out of the land of Egypt, and the Lord has led them out with all the, remember the plagues, and the angel of death passed over and struck down the firstborn of everyone in the land of Egypt who did not have the blood on their doorpost, and so a great event of judgment for the Egyptians and deliverance for the Israelites, and that's where we pick up the story. When Pharaoh let the people go, verse 17 of chapter 13, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, unless the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness, toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt, equipped for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here. And they moved on from Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-Ha-Hiroth, between Migdal and the sea, and in front of Baal-Zaphon. You shall encamp facing it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, They are wandering in the land. The wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord." And they did so. Then the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people and they said, what is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them, encamped at the sea by Pi-Har-Yorth in front of Baal-Zaphon. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the people, Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You have only to be silent. The Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? 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 his hosts, his chariots and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. Then the angel of God, who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness, and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. 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 the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being 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, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. And in the morning watched 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. And the Egyptians said, let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, all of the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 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 had used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. Let's ask the Lord's blessing. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, that it is true that these things happened and that they happened for us, that we might know the ways of God. I pray, Father, that you would give us ears to hear this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. I don't need to tell you that we live in an agitated, anxious world where there are increasing cases of anxiety and depression. And people might say, well, there's reasons for anxiety. If you look at the world stage, you see a lot of unrest. You see nations preparing for war. If you look at our own country, culturally it seems that the American social experiment is breaking down. There's an increasing hostility towards faith as people are becoming more and more convinced that to believe in a God and to believe that God has something to say specifically about sexual morality is a hate crime and a culture that insists on the freedom to live with no regard whatsoever for a creator. That is not going to end well. If you look for reasons for optimism among our cultural leaders and political leaders, it's very slim pickings. There's a lot of perversion and lying and vitriol, but precious little humility, very little honesty or wisdom. Wouldn't wisdom be good to see from leaders? Those who make the news and those who report the news seem to be caught in a death spiral of banality. And that's just the world being the world. We shouldn't be surprised, but sadly we do know that the consequences of a decaying society will be felt by the church as well. And then we face our own challenges, health issues and relationship issues. regrets from the past, pain today, fears for the future. If I asked you to just share what are the things that make you anxious and the things that make you afraid. Everyone would have something to say. This coming year, 2018, there are going to be things that we would rather not deal with. There's going to be health issues. There's going to be diagnoses that we didn't want to hear, trips to the emergency room that we had hoped not to take. There will be funerals. Some will be of aged saints and will delight in the Lord, and some might very well be younger folks, and it'll break our heart. There will be trials this coming year that you do not know about, but we will experience them every year we do. Samuel Rutherford, an old Puritan, says, none hath a velvet cross. Everyone suffers in some way. And so you could argue in light of that, you look around, you could say that fear and anxiety and depression are well justified. And worldly speaking, you would be correct. People who aren't anxious just aren't paying attention in some sense. And yet, you see, being a Christian, if it means anything, I would think that one of the benefits that we could claim as Christians in this world is that we don't have to be afraid. There are many benefits to Christianity that we will not experience until the new heaven and the new earth. And Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble. In the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no more crying and no more pain." But that's then. And consequently then, in Scripture, we never hear God say to His children in His Word, don't cry. That command will not be found in the Bible. God knows that there will be tears. Jesus wept. But there is the command, do not fear. Don't be afraid. The Lord might appoint pain, but He never appoints fear. He never appoints anxiety in the sense of a distrust of what God is doing. Fear not, I am with thee. O be not dismayed, I am thy God and will still give thee aid. How do you get there and how do you experience that? Well, I think that's the lesson of Exodus that we have in front of us this morning. The question that this text presents to us is, will we believe the hand of God in the face of what looks like disaster, what looks like nothing but trouble? When we lift our eyes like the Israelites did and we look up, what will we see? Egyptians or a sovereign God? And God, of course, wants us to see His sovereign goodness and power. As I've said, Israel is on the move. They're in transition. They are on pilgrimage. They're out of bondage, and now they're on their way to a new land. But let's notice God's ways. First of all, His path. His path. Because in verse 17, we read this interesting thing. When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. And so to the casual observer, Israel's exodus out of Egypt begins with a catastrophic blunder. They went the wrong way. Now, there's not a lot of roads in the world of this day. Everyone in the region knows that if you want to go from Egypt to Canaan, you have to take the way of the land of the Philistines. That's the trade route. That's where you go. That's the road. It would take about two weeks to walk that road, to get into the land of Canaan. Two weeks by foot. The text acknowledges it. The Lord didn't take them that way, although that was near. It was near. It was the right way. Instead, God doesn't take them north along that path. He takes them south into the wilderness, precisely the wrong direction, and directly into a cul-de-sac, because they got the wilderness on one hand and the Red Sea on the other hand. They're trapped. And that's exactly what Pharaoh sees. Verse three, they're wandering in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. And so, it just looks to everyone that Israel's very first step into freedom is a fatal misstep. They've blown it before they even gotten out of the gate. But judge not the Lord by human sense. God knows what he's about. So there's a very good reason, and the Lord tells us the reason. He did not bring them by the way of the land of the Philistines, and that's because they were not ready for the Philistines. They're not ready for war. They think they are. They come out with weaponry. They've never had weaponry in their entire life. And so they come out, the text says, defiantly. Israel is all that. You can just see the young men with their spear and their arrows and their armor. They're ready for anything in their mind. And God knows they're not ready for the least thing. They're not ready for war, lest they change their mind, God says, when they see war and return to Egypt. You see, it's one thing to get these people out of Egypt. It's another thing altogether to get Egypt out of the people. And that's gonna take 40 years to get Egypt out of the people. They don't really know their God yet. They have no... really what it means to live by faith. And so they're going to have to learn those things, and it's going to take time. But it's essential that they learn these things. If we know anything about being in relationship with God, we know how essential faith is. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. The righteous shall live by faith. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. God, this is how He leads His people. This is how He relates with His people. And so sure, if they'd gone north, they'd have been there in two weeks and the Philistines would have shown up and the Israelites would have panicked and made a beeline back to Egypt. And you find God's suspicions tragically confirmed a year later when they send spies into the land to check it out. Remember, the spies go and 10 come back, panicked. We can't take on these people. We look like grasshoppers to them. They're more powerful than we are. Only two of them remember that they are the people who have a sovereign God. And then even in Numbers chapter 14, you can read the story, the spies are saying, let's just go back to Egypt. And they're looking for a new leader to take them back into bondage. So the Lord knows what he's about. Brother and sister, can we just marvel at the wisdom of God? If you just think about your own life, the kindness of God in protecting you from the thing that you really wanted because God knew that if he gave it to you, it would destroy you. I remember John Piper once at a conference, just in wonderful honesty, just talked about his thankfulness that he was, in high school, just a geek with pimples. And it was an introvert, just socially awkward, and he said it was an absolute barrier for me to fulfill any of the lusts of my flesh. He couldn't have had a girlfriend if his life depended on it. And so he just saw the jocks, the cool kids, and they got the cute girls, and bragging about their sexual sin, and he says that whole world was just cut off for me. And I thank God for my pimples, and for being a geek, because the Lord protected me in that. How many of us couldn't testify of ways that God has protected us, maybe from a promotion that we simply would not have been able to handle, or in some way, God knowing us better than we know ourselves, knowing our fickle hearts, knowing our weakness, God lovingly Barring us from one thing because he's got a big goal in mind, which is to get us to the land of promise And so he often brings us into the wilderness Some of you this morning maybe feel like you've taken a wrong turn in your life or that God has led you the wrong direction you had a you had a destination in mind and As you look to where you had hoped to be at this stage of your life and where you actually are at this stage of life There's a lot of disappointment Maybe there was a career goal or a financial goal or a relationship goal. And you can honestly say it was not an idol for you. It wasn't something that you lusted for and yet your identity was attached to. It was just a normal, common expectation and hope. But it didn't happen. And it's not happening. In fact, the road that you'd hoped to be on going north, you find yourself exactly heading the other direction going south. The road into the wilderness, the cul-de-sac, and maybe that's what the road ahead of you looks like today. And we wrestle with that, don't we? What did we do wrong? What sign did we miss? We must have missed a sign in the road that says, go this way, and we just missed the sign and we went that way. Why is God doing this? Well, do we have the ability to believe that God really is the one leading you? And yes, you maybe missed commands that God gave to you, but the Lord is still leading you, and the direction He's taking you very well might be simply to protect you from battles you're not ready to fight. Protecting you from the fickleness and weakness over your own heart Are we willing to believe that the God who brought us out of bondage to sin and death? Might know the best way to get us into the land of promise and is faithfully leading us on that road It's not the easy road But could we believe that it might be for the best road? And the best road not only to get us to our divinely appointed end, but the best road to bring God glory. And that's God unashamedly in this text points to his glory as his ultimate purpose. So he says to Moses, I want you to turn back and go camp by the sea because I am going to get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. That is the ultimate thing that's going on here. Israel, you see, needs to see a bigger picture. This is not just a rescue operation, God kindly bringing a slave people out of oppression and giving them their own land. Any other nation could have done that with sufficient military power. This is not just a rescue operation. They have been caught up in a cosmic redemption story. What's going on is the Lord is waging war against His enemies. God is sovereignly ruling over His world and He's intent on magnifying His glory as the Lord of heaven and earth and the mighty Savior of His own. And so what's happening is God is setting a trap for Pharaoh. He's at war with Pharaoh. He's been at war with Pharaoh for some time. And he tells Israel then to go and camp by the Red Sea, precisely, you see, because it makes no sense. It's a militarily indefensible position. They are truly trapped. There's no escape route. The question is, who's trapping whom? Who's the primary actor in this scene? Well, it's evident that God is the primary actor. It's not Pharaoh. It's the God of Israel, and so God tells Moses, this is what is going to happen. You're going to encamp by the sea. Pharaoh's going to say, I've got them trapped. I will harden his heart. He will pursue you. I will get glory, and the Egyptians shall know. That's how it's going to work. God is the actor all the way through. He is the one ordaining all these events to accomplish His purpose. This is the purpose that He had shown way back in Genesis 3.15 where there's going to be a battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. God is not a casual bystander in the events of world history. He is in all of human history, working to accomplish His purpose, which is to judge His enemies and rescue His people and all to the praise of His glory. That's exactly what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 through 13, in him we have attained an inheritance, a promised land, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. So that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. It's a critical lesson for us to just remember that God is doing what He's doing for His glory. And now oftentimes, let's just confess, I don't know how many of these things work out for His glory. I don't know. When sickness comes and death comes and tragedy and disappointment and failure and sin, I don't know. The secret things belong to God. The revealed things belong to us and to our children. And God has not chosen to reveal to us why He does all that He does or how the specific details of the events and circumstances of our life are going to, in the end, redound to His glory. He doesn't give us that information. But He gives us everything we need to believe that it's true and to trust that it's good, but we have to get our mind around that. That's what he's doing. You see, we are American Christians, and American Christianity is saturated with this assumption that if there's a God, and if we believe in that God, and if we try to do the right things, that God will take it on himself to give us a comfortable American life. And there is pastors all over the country today who will assure you that if you do it the right way, God will bless your marriage, God will bless your family, God will bless your children, God will bless your finances, God will bless your health. Sometimes even to the point of saying if you sow your seed of faith in the terms of a check to the pastor or to the church, then you can be even more confident. Now, even if people aren't preaching blatant health, wealth heresy, the assumption is just predominant, you see, that God exists to comfort you and to make this hard life somewhat easier. Well, it's just not true. It's never been true. In this world, you will have trouble, not incidentally, on purpose. What does Paul say? I hear you're having these troubles. Remember, you've been destined for this. Well, that's encouraging. You've been destined for this. You've been called for this. It's just not true, but what we know is true is that God is doing what he's doing because He's glorifying His name. I fear for when real hardship comes to this land, how many American Christians are gonna lose their faith because their faith has just been shattered. Because their assumption was that God existed to make life easier for them, or better for them, or comfort them, or protect them somehow, and they're finding that That doesn't seem to be happening. And people are going to feel betrayed by God. Not because God has failed, but because their assumption was completely wrong. We just have to get it in our head that God's purpose is to glorify His name. Even if you don't like that truth, just admit that's what it is. That's throughout scripture. He's doing what He's doing for the praise of His glory. He does not exist to make our life easier or more comfortable. He exists to make His name glorious. Period. Full stop. Now, how is that encouraging? Well, I think it's wonderfully encouraging in the one sense because it reorients our perspective. It reminds us that if life is hard and painful, it does not mean that God is failing or that we are doing something wrong. That's encouraging. It doesn't mean God is failing or that we are doing something wrong. We can say, Lord, I have no idea why this trial is here, but I know it's part of something bigger than my comfort. I've just found recently, if I'm struggling with anxiety, or fear, the Lord's Prayer is wonderful tonic. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and then everything else, you see, is to that end. Give us our daily bread, so that your name is glorified, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, so that your name is glorified, All the power and the glory belong to you. So you have a sense then, you see, when there's things in your life you flat out do not understand. At least you understand what the play's about. You understand the storyline. You understand that there's something fundamentally deep calling to deep glorious. And you can count on it. That the tragedy was not an accident. and not a tear is lost. There's something incredibly significant and profound about the suffering of God's people because somehow it redounds to His glory. And we take, you see, great comfort also because we know that God has attached His glory then to His people. His glory isn't just this abstract something out there that God's doing. It's specifically attached to His people. And to fickle, weak, unbelieving people. And so that's what we see. So, verse 9. Pharaoh is on the move. He's gathered 600 chosen chariots, and then all the rest of his chariots. He's got all of his officers. He is showing up in full force, the greatest military assembly in the world of that day. Egypt is a powerhouse. And they're coming after Israel. Verse 10, when Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. I think they very well might have felt betrayed. The pillar of cloud and fire was leading them every step of the way, and they just followed that pillar. They went where God told them to go, and they ended up here at this camp, and now suddenly they're trapped. They're exactly where God told them to be, and now they're trapped, and Pharaoh's coming with all of his chariots, and they don't have a chance. And they bitterly accuse Moses of gross negligence. Is it because there's no graves in Egypt, Moses? Is that why you brought us out here to die in the wilderness? You couldn't find room to bury us there? What have you done? What have you done? Who brought Israel? It wasn't Moses, it was God. But isn't this what we said to you when we were in Egypt? Remember what we said, Moses, leave us alone? so that we might serve the Egyptians. Don't you remember that? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Isn't it amazing how your brain just turns off when you're in fear? This is just complete hooey. It's nonsense. They were very happy to be let out of Egypt just 24 hours before. See, this is just a painful lesson of the fickleness of God's people. Their deliverance out of Egypt has not radically transformed them. They've absolutely forgotten everything that God has done. How did they get out of Egypt in the first place? Remember the plagues? These incredible acts of God that brought devastation to Egypt as God, one after another, set up an Egyptian deity and then destroyed it? The deity of the anile, destroyed. The deity of the dung beetle, destroyed. The deity of light and darkness and all the rest. God sets him up and knocks him down. And he spares Israel through that. So when the thunder and the hail come, Israel is spared. When the cattle are slaughtered, Israel is spared. When the angel of death comes over the land, Israel is spared. God's showing both His sovereign power over creation. He's the God of locusts. He says to the locusts, I want you to get together and go there, and they do, and Israel is spared. And now suddenly that God ceases to exist. He just doesn't exist. Everything that God has accomplished has been forgotten. When they see the Egyptians, it's all they see. Psalm 106 verse 7 says this, our fathers when they were in Egypt did not consider your wondrous works, they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea at the Red Sea. It's rebellion. It's a refusal to believe. And God calls it rebellion. How often don't we rebel by the shore of our trial, by forgetting God's wondrous works, forgetting the abundance of His steadfast love, forgetting all that He's accomplished for us in Jesus Christ, and charging God with wrong. And we can do that in a time of trial. We can do that just as we set up our sin and our failure as this immovable obstacle. That sort of is a It's a sport in Dutch Reformed religion that elevates sin and guilt and shame. We're just worms. And the idea that downcast eyes and lack of joy and peace and confidence in God, that somehow if we're just really timid and really question whether or not we could actually be forgiven, somehow God is pleased with that. We can all do it. Vati Bachman had a great sermon on this text, and he just, He says, you know, I hear people say, I know that God is gracious, but no one has ever sinned as much as I have. No one has ever blown it as badly as me. The blood of Jesus might cover every other sin of every other person throughout the history of the known world, but not mine. Surely Jesus didn't have this sin and this weakness and this failure in mind when he died on the cross. This one did not enter his mind. I can't have confidence and joy in salvation, not with a weakness like this, not with a past like mine. That's rebellion. If that's where we stay, now should we grieve and weep over our sin and confess it and hate it? But if we're intent on just staying there, that's not faith. God calls it unbelief. And he calls us to look and see the salvation of the Lord, and that's how the text ends. So Moses says to the people, fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. Avadi interprets this, and this is his translation. Fear not, stand firm, watch God, and please, please shut up. Because they're panicking, we're gonna die, we're gonna die. Fear not, stand firm, watch God and shut up. Be silent. Notice, again, the necessity of the Word of God. The Israelites are completely confused, completely confounded, they don't know what's going on, they can't make sense of the events until God explains through His prophet, God speaks by His Word and tells them what's going on and what's going to happen. It's a great lesson, again, for us, you see. As long as we rely on our own understanding in the time of trial, we'll do nothing but complain, panic, and charge God with wrongdoing. If you're relying on your own understanding, that's where you're going to go. I've heard people say, and I'm sure I've said this myself, in a time of trial, I'm just trying to figure out what God is trying to tell me. I'm trying to figure out what God is trying to say. Do you realize there's no command in scripture where God says, now I want you to try and figure out what I'm doing? That command is not in the Bible. If you find it, let me know. Okay, I've put you in this baffling position. I just want you to try to figure out what I'm trying to do. It's not how it works. You see, here's what God is trying to tell you. It's right in his word. What he's trying to say is, fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of God, and be silent. That's what he's trying to say. Fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord, and be silent until you're ready to sing. And that happens in Exodus chapter 15. You see, because now when God has the people calmed down, now he does this work more than they ever could have imagined. No one imagined that God was going to do what he did. As he opens the sea and Pharaoh and all of his mighty army goes rushing after Israel and God buries them in the water of his judgment. Friends, that's the gospel. This is what God has done in Christ Jesus. The devil was on the move the night Christ was betrayed. And all this wicked world and the sinfulness of God's people and the Roman government, it's all allied together against the Son. And the devil is surely confident of his victory because it seems as though the Son has made a fatal mistake. He laid aside the panoply of his glory and power He took on the weakness of man, allowed himself to be incarnate in human flesh, and then nailed as a cursed one to a Roman cross to die. The devil and his demons must have thrilled at this tactical blunder. And so with full vigor, they pressed their attack. Every event, as we've just studied in the book of Luke, driven by a demonic intention, and yet we know the story. all of it according to God's ordination, to God's predestined determination. But when Jesus breathed his last and gave up the ghost, the victory of the dark side seemed absolutely assured, but it was a trap. The tactical blunder was actually the triumphant blow because we know from Colossians 2.15 that Jesus, in his death, broke the chains of the law and shivered the forces of hell. Having disarmed, Paul writes, the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. It was a trap. As Jesus lay dead in the tomb, the devil must have been certain that he had won, but then that glorified heart began to pound out the first heartbeat of a new age. And glorified blood began to move through glorified veins and nourished resurrected muscles and the red sea of the water of eternal life cascaded over the forces of evil and buried death itself forever. And he came out a conqueror. And that's the redemption story that God wants us to remember. Notice that in this story, God says He's going to do these things in verses 4 and 18, so the Egyptians will know that God is God. So the Egyptians will know that God is God. But notice at the end of the text, it's Israel that discovers that God is God. 1431, Israel saw God. The great power the Lord used against the Egyptians. And so the people feared the Lord. They had been fearing the Egyptians. Now they fear God. Not with panic, but with awe. And they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. That's God's intent, you see. So that Israel knows that God is God. And friends, the church should know that God is God. The church should have its eyes on the great power that the Lord has used against the devil and all of our enemies so that the people of God fear the Lord and the people of God believe in the Lord and the people of God believe in his servant Jesus, the greater Moses. So that nothing, you see, can shake that confidence and that seeing the redemption of God reinterpret our lives in a completely new way. Because you see, while the cross will not tell you exactly what God is doing in your life, it will tell us what we most need to know. It will answer the questions, does he care? Is he committed? Is he able to rescue? Friends, let's just remember that God didn't deliver you by putting to death someone else's firstborn, he delivered you by sacrificing his own. His Son, His Son to rescue you. And so the logic in the New Testament, if He's done that, and if Christ has accomplished the victory that we're told He's accomplished, if the devil and his foes have been defeated, then whatever reasons God has for running this world as He does, Can we believe that he knows what he's about? Can we believe that he's good and that he's glorious? And could we be excited that somehow our puny little lives, all men are like grass, but that your little life and my little life somehow fits in this great drama of redemption and brings glory to God? Who are we that we should be allowed such a privilege? And so we're on a pilgrimage now. We're on our way home. But friends, there's going to be trial and there's going to be pain. I promise you in 2018 there will be suffering and there will be tears. There will be heartache. There at times will be despair. And that's for you and that's for me. But it's not the last word. It's not the ultimate truth. And every time we face those times, we remember, well, we're on a pilgrimage. Jesus said it would be hard, but he promised we'd never be alone, and he promised that we're on our way home, and nothing can separate us from his love, and he told us that we have no reason to fear. He told us we don't have to be afraid. Because sure, the Egyptians are coming, the Egyptians of trial and weakness and sin, there they are, but it's a defeated foe. And when we lift our eyes, we see the sovereign goodness and love of our God for us in Jesus Christ. So we fear the Lord and we believe the Lord and we believe his servant. And one day that faith will be sight. May God grant it be soon. Amen. Oh God in heaven, encourage us with these words. We are in pilgrimage. And Lord, this morning, maybe some of us feel like we've run out of strength. We can't go on. Some of us, Lord, maybe feel like we're completely lost. But Lord, if we're honest with ourselves, all of us can acknowledge that we have not been as faithful in believing as we should be. We've not considered the cost of our redemption. We've not considered the faithfulness of our God. We've not seen the big picture. We've not comforted our souls with the truth of what you've done and retrained our thoughts and hearts so that the hallowing of your name and the coming of your kingdom would be our chief endeavor and desire. Oh God, please form us with these words. We are not here in this place by accident. We're not in 2018 simply by fate. We're not here because the calendar just turned another page. We're here by the sovereign hand of God. And every event of this day and tomorrow and this week and the year and all of our life, every event, oh God, you have ordained for your glory. And Lord, there will be grief and there will be pain and there will be crying. There will never be abandonment. There will never be desolation. There will never be shame. Because you are God and you've given us your son. And one day, one day, everything will be made new. May we trust you. And have joy and confidence and peace in believing all that you are, all that you're about. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.