Would you please take your Bibles now and let's turn to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 14, and we will stand as we read the word of the Lord in honor of God's word. Exodus 14, beginning in verse 15, and we'll read down to the end of the chapter. This is God's holy, inspired, and inerrant word. 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 host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gained 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 watch, the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily 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 waters 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 of all 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 used against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant, Moses. Grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Please be seated. In 1917, a dispute broke out between mining companies and the mine workers in Bisbee, Arizona. The workers approached the companies with a list of demands and topping that list were things like safer working conditions and better pay. Well, you can imagine how the companies might have responded to that, they refused, and so it was put before the miners whether or not they should strike. So the miners were faced with a choice between harsh working conditions and underpay, or on the other hand, they could choose to strike and deal with unemployment and poverty. Some would say that it was through this situation that the phrase was coined, between a rock and a hard place. And that is where we left Israel last time. They are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They are still in the land of Egypt. They went south down a little ways, and now they look at where they're encamped. They have the sea to their left. They have the wilderness in front of them and to their right. And now coming up behind them is the king of Egypt with his terrible and terrifying army. He was coming to render vengeance. He was coming up fast and the sight of the show of force would have made even the bravest among them tremble. He was coming with chariots, soldiers, and swords. And at the sight of him, the people panicked. And it's not hard to understand why they would panic. If you think about it, Moses doesn't seem to have prepared them for this moment. Remember, Moses said, look, we are going to celebrate the Passover. And this time you're going to celebrate it in haste. Remember, you're going to have sandals on your feet, belt around your waist, staff in hand, because as soon as the Passover is done, you are going to be free. You are going home. You are going home to the land of Abraham, home to the land of Isaac and Jacob. You will be set free. But instead of going Northeast, they went South. And Moses said nothing about Pharaoh coming and hunting them down in the wilderness. It appeared to the Israelites that Moses has made a terrible mistake and now Pharaoh is going to make them pay. So we are looking at this final deliverance of Israel, and I want us to see it from three vantage points. There are three things to consider. Number one, what did God do? Number two, what must Israel do? And number three, what did the Egyptians do? And then we'll look at how God brings it to a conclusion. So first, what did God do? And to get that picture, we need to start in verse 15. 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. Now, what is God doing when he tells Moses to lift up his staff? He is demonstrating the power of his strength. He is demonstrating the power of his strength and he is giving Israel something to put their confidence in. This staff of Moses was at one time a walking stick that he used to trail around in the wilderness following sheep. But in Exodus 4.20, things change. It is called the staff of God. With this staff, the staffs of Pharaoh's magicians are swallowed. With this staff, he struck the waters of the Nile and it became blood. With this staff, stretched out for all to see, frogs were summoned. With this staff, he struck the dirt and gnats descended upon man and beast. With this staff, stretched toward heaven, thunder and hail responded in fury and fire ran down to the earth. With the staff stretched out over Egypt, the locust came and devoured what was left of the nation's produce. And do you remember how the destroying locust arrived? What brought them there? A strong east wind." And what will happen when Moses lifts his staff one more time? A strong east wind will come and split the sea in two. The staff was a symbol of God's power. It gave Israel a vivid picture of his might as Moses stands in front of the sea and lifts his hand and lifts that staff. God is showing his people that he is in control of all things and all elements. And by way of application, it would say something to Israel and to us. If the sea must obey God, shouldn't Israel? And shouldn't we? That's something we'll come back to. Well, there's a second thing that the Lord tells Moses that he's going to do. Pick it back up at the end of verse 16. God tells Moses that he's going to part the sea so 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've gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. Now, this is a strange thing if you stop and think about it long enough. He doesn't say, I am going to part the sea and I will leave it muddy enough so that the chariots won't be able to race on through. And that is how I'm going to deliver you and work salvation for you today. That's not exactly it. He says, no, I'm going to make the floor of the sea so dry that people, animals, and yes, even chariots will go in. He says, I am going to split the sea and raise up these walls of water on each side. And we would think that could be a good deterrent for Pharaoh. But that also is not what the Lord is going to do. We could imagine a plan like that after seeing the plagues of darkness and disease, after seeing the lightning and the hail, after seeing animals and humans being cut off, even the one who is heir to the throne of Pharaoh. We could imagine God raising up these giant walls of water on either side and Pharaoh coming up and saying, yeah, no. I'll just go ahead and wait. I will count my losses. I will quit while I'm ahead, even though it looks like I'm behind. We can imagine that that would deter just about anyone but not Pharaoh. Why would Pharaoh go between these two walls of massive, uh, massive walls of water? Why would he go through them given all that he's been through? And the answer is actually in verse 17. It's because God is going to do something. God said, I am going to harden his heart and then notice the purpose clause. So that there's your purpose clause. Why am I hardening his heart? So that they shall go in after them. Now, since this is the last place in the book of Exodus where God says he is going to harden the heart of Pharaoh and his servants, I want to make just a couple of pastoral comments. Though it is hard to understand how Pharaoh can be responsible if God is the one who is actively hardening Pharaoh's heart, remember this, and we've said this before, we have to begin at the basics. Pharaoh's heart was not soft to begin with. Pharaoh did not have a soft, pliable heart to work with. It was hard. If you look back to verse five, you don't have anything by way of external compulsion being spoken of in the text. And in verse five, what is he doing there? He is deciding, I'm gonna go back after Israel. And there could have been one of two things, maybe three. I'm going to recapture them. I'm going to kill them, or maybe a little bit of both. And this is without the external compulsion. This is not a man and a nation trying to do the right thing. God is not saying, I know you don't want to do this, but I am going to make you do it. I'm going to force you. That's not it at all. What is God doing here is he hardens Pharaoh's heart. He's emboldening Pharaoh to do what Pharaoh wants to do. That is the issue of the hardening of the heart. The desire is already there. Pharaoh just needs an opportunity. And when the opportunity comes, he takes it and races into the sea after them. Pharaoh's heart, make no mistake about it, is a heart of darkness. Second thing I would say to you is anytime we're wrestling with a difficult text like this, set it within the context of God's perfections. Set it in the context of God's perfections and be reminded, even as you read and don't understand and think, well, how could this be? How could Pharaoh be responsible in his people if God is so sovereign that he's hardening him? Set it in God's perfections that God always does what is right. He is always holy. He is always just. He is never too severe. He is never too light. He never miscalculates. He never overreacts. He is perfect in all of his ways. And even though it doesn't seem perfectly clear to you, one day it will be. Third thing I would say is that we need to consider the relationship of Moses to God. Let me read Numbers 12, verses 6 through 8 for you. And he said, this is God speaking now about his relationship to Moses. Hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak with him in a dream, not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him, I speak mouth to mouth clearly and not in riddles. And he beholds the form of the Lord." End of quote. Moses has this special relationship with the Lord, and we believe that Moses is the author of the Pentateuch, at least the great majority of it. And it is interesting to me that Moses, who has this close relationship to the Lord, does not quibble over God's dealings with Pharaoh. He does not raise the question. He does not call the Lord into question. Just the opposite, as we're going to see in the very next chapter, what is he doing? He's writing a song of salvation for Israel, praising the Lord for his might and power. Fourth thing we'll say, and finally, we need to remember that God is not only Savior, he is also judge. And we need to appeal to this, that God is a just judge. Doesn't the God who gives life have the right to take that life? After all, there would be no life if it were not for His power and might making life exist. Doesn't He have the right to speed up the execution of the guilty wicked? Doesn't the God who created time and controls time and numbers your days Doesn't that one have the right to bring those days to an end as he determines and how he sees fit? The answer is yes, he is God. So it's really significant that we begin in the right place, that we frame it in God's perfections, and that we're mindful that no one enters this world innocent or pure or soft towards God. It does matter where we begin. If we begin in another place, you begin with the possibility of God being unfair and therefore possibly getting it wrong, and then you have problems. A better way is to just say, you know, I don't understand it all. I don't know how this could be. And so I am going to leave my discomfort in his capable hands and leave it to him to work out. I am simply going to believe what this says and to walk in faith. One day it'll be sight, but for now it is faith. And that is what God calls Israel to do. It's what he calls us to do. So. That said, we know that God first initiates, he hardens Pharaoh's heart. Second thing we see, he not only prepares his enemies for judgment, but he also protects his people for salvation. Pharaoh gets closer and notice that the Lord stops him from running the Israelites down, doesn't he? Look at verse 19. 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. Now, who is this angel of God? We first encountered him back at the very beginning when Moses was in the wilderness. The angel of the Lord spoke to him and promised that he was going to deliver Israel. And now here in chapter 14, we see the angel of the Lord making good on his promise. Earlier in the story, in Exodus 3, he is in a bush that is burning. Here in chapter 14, he's in a cloud and a pillar of fire that is burning. In the Hebrew, the word angel, malach, can and is often translated messenger. Who is the messenger of the Lord? Well, we saw it in our reading. Who is it that is looking down from the cloud? It's the Lord himself. You look back at chapter 13, just in case we miss it, chapter 13 and verse 21, who is in the cloud? We know it's the angel of the Lord, but who is he? Chapter 13, verse 21, 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. It is a messenger in the cloud, angelic in appearance, and he is called the Lord. And with the revelation of the New Testament, we won't turn there, but you could reference 1 Corinthians 10, we find that it is Jesus. We have every reason to believe that this is a pre-incarnation, a visible sight of the Lord Jesus to come. The one who is sent by his father to deliver Israel in the Old Testament is the same who is sent by his father in the New Testament to deliver his people. It is Christ the Lord. It is Jesus who is not only our savior, it is Jesus who is our great protector and defender. As Pharaoh comes within striking distance, God doesn't tell Israel, you know what, take up your swords and fight. He says, no, start packing up your camp. And he sends his son to stand in between their great enemy and them. And isn't that what Jesus does for us? We would belong to Satan. Our sins would earn us death and hell, but Jesus came and shed his blood for us and rescued us and protects us from returning to our spiritual bondage of slavery and death and judgment that would last forever. He saves and he keeps us in the freedom. that he has won for us by his death, resurrection, and exaltation. He is still looking down even as he is among us. He is king over all. One last thing. God does something interesting in this section. He keeps Pharaoh, how do we say it, in the dark. Right? Israel has light so they can be packing up. Pharaoh and his company, they're moving around in the dark. We see that in verse 20. And this is undoubtedly a rebuke to Pharaoh. Because who do the Egyptians and Pharaoh himself believe that he is? They believe he is the incarnation of the Egyptian god Ray. And what was the Egyptian god Ray but that sun in the sky. It is a humiliation of the Egyptians, one of their most powerful gods, the sun god. There is no light for Pharaoh or from Pharaoh, but there's more. We can see here that Pharaoh is a man who is not teachable. He is not interested in learning. Do you remember what happened last time after God brought darkness down upon Egypt? He killed the firstborn. It's as if God is sending Pharaoh a message, a divine message. Here comes the darkness again. What happened last time after darkness? Death. Pharaoh, you don't want to follow my people. Not that way. Not with a sword. He sends Pharaoh this message of darkness. Pharaoh refuses to read it. So that's what God does. Now, a little more quickly, what does Israel do? We know that they have to break camp and they need to start walking. So let's pick it up in verse 21. 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. Now, think about this. There would be no use in Israel saying, you know, we've had enough. Isn't there another way? Those walls of water look scary. What if they come down on us? Moses, can't you see we are stressed out? We have had quite enough of these adventures. Isn't there another way of escape? What would have happened if Israel would have done that? We don't know, but presumably it wouldn't have gone well if God said this is the way. He spoke clearly through his appointed leader and Israel said, no, let's find a different route. Let's do it a different way. Hebrews 11, 29 says that it is by faith that the people cross the Red Sea on dry land. It took faith to walk between those two giant walls of water. They had to walk, not run. They had to walk, not linger. They had to go forward. They had to believe and obey. And friends, this is the characteristic of the Christian life. This is what we are called to do. It is not only to call upon the Lord and be saved, it is also to follow him in discipleship. And this is something that Israel is going to struggle with, and eventually they are going to fail. They are going to get to the edge of the promised land, they're going to see it filled with enemies, and they are going to turn their backs on God and say, enough, we're not doing this. And irony of ironies, the thing, the very thing they spoke to Moses, did you bring us out in the wilderness? so their bodies could die and be buried here, that is exactly what is going to happen to them. When they refuse to submit to the will of the Lord, God says, I will give you what you have said. You can read Hebrews three and four to see the analysis of Israel's heart. Oddly enough, it was hard, just like Pharaoh. So they can't live in the past and say, well, I believed you then, But now, shouldn't that past carry me into the present? It is a constant movement with God, right? This is why in our reformed tradition, this is just one reason why we've opted not for the language of eternal security, though that is true, but in the Synod of Dort, they said it is the perseverance of the saints. Because we are eternally secure in God's grace has been given, we will persevere by that grace. Now, maybe that's not you this morning, maybe you trusted God in the past, but today you're thinking, you know, I just I'm really doubting him and I'm not walking with him. The Lord would say to you this morning, you need to put your doubts to rest at the foot of Christ's cross. You need to see the faithful plan of God being executed on your behalf. And then you take up that cross and you follow King Jesus. And that is where you will find your satisfaction. That is where you will find joy and peace. You see, to flip it around, Israel could have said, what satisfaction? Give us satisfaction, give us meaning, give us joy, give us peace. And then we will believe and obey. If that's you, that's like Israel. And God is saying, no, you've got it entirely backwards. It is believe and obey. And that is the way to joy and a meaningful existence. Couldn't you do that? Israel was being called to do that. They had to believe and obey. And we see in this moment in time, they did. They walked through those walls of water. Well, what did the Egyptians do? Verse 23, 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. The God of Israel just destroyed our land, killed our firstborn, and now they see these two enormous walls of water and they say, man, it looks doable. If the Israelites can do it, we are the Egyptians, we certainly can't chicken out now. I mean, we don't know what they were saying. Douglas Stewart, he said something like this, honestly, this would be an Egyptian coming home talking to the people who were left in the land. Honest, they just walked right into the sea on this wide road of dry ground and we didn't want to follow because we were on chariots and they were on foot. Probably not. They would have looked the fool, but you know, to not follow Israel would have been very wise. They went in after them. However it went, things go from bad to worse for the Egyptians. They got in far enough. And our text says that the Lord threw them in to a panic. We have a commentary on that in Psalm 77. The psalmist writes these words, when the water saw you, O God, when the water saw you, they were afraid. Indeed, the deep trembled. The clouds poured out water. The skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind. Your lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Well, yeah, that could scare someone. Seeing all that going on and probably rain pouring down on top of them and lightning and these two walls of water beginning to move. Yeah, that could unnerve somebody. They began to experience mechanical failures as the wheels of the chariots begin to get clogged and they're not functioning properly. And suddenly the Egyptians realized there is more going on here than meets the eye. And they turn to one another and they say, it's the Lord. The Lord is fighting for Israel and make no mistake about it, that admission is key. As critical to everything that Exodus has so far told us about the deliverance of Israel, God has said, verse four, the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. Verse 18, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. This whole thing goes back to Pharaoh's disdain and sarcasm when Moses says, let him go. And he said, who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go? And now they know. Except they don't know the Lord is savior. They know him as judge. They know him as enemy. And that is a fearful, terrifying prospect for any mere mortal. For Israel, it was God the Savior. But you see, there are only these two categories. When you stand before him, and even as you are sitting before the Lord now, as he is enthroned in his temple, he is either Lord, our Savior or Lord, our enemy and judge. 1 Corinthians 10, Paul calls Israel's journey through the sea a baptism into Moses. Isn't that interesting? Israel doesn't get wet, but it's called a baptism. They're baptized into Moses. That's the New Testament reflection on what we've read here. What does that mean? Paul Barnett comments this way. He says, believers are baptized by water into Jesus the Christ. The Israelites were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the Red Sea. By being baptized, the peoples of each covenant were joined in turn to their deliverers, Moses and Christ. And so I have to ask you this morning, have you been joined to Christ? Have you placed your faith in him? Is he your deliverer? Is he the one who leads you? Have you put your faith in this God whom we have been baptized in his name, his triune name, that all three members of the Godhead were at work in your salvation, the Father planning your salvation, the Son carrying out, the Spirit of God applying it to you. Is that your God? This is what baptism represents. When we look back to our baptisms, we are looking back to the promises of this faithful God who led his people through the sea uninjured. So let me conclude with the words of the Belgic Confession. This is Article 34. Baptism also witnesses to us that God being our gracious Father will be our God forever. Therefore, Christ has commanded that all those who belong to him be baptized with pure water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this way, God signifies to us that just as water washes away the dirt of the body when it is poured on us and is also seen on the bodies of those who are baptized when it is sprinkled on them, so too the blood of Christ does the same thing internally. in the soul by the Holy Spirit. It washes and cleanses it from its sins and transforms us from being the children of wrath into the children of God. This does not happen by the physical water, but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God. who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, who is the devil, and to enter the spiritual land of Canaan. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that there would not be one here that would not desire to follow the Lord to the promised land and that they would pass through those waters of baptism and would lay hold of the one for whom we exist, King Jesus. Lord, help us to be faithful in the remaining weeks ahead. And as we embark into the new year, remind us, O Lord, that we are going into a year that you have already ordained and prepared for us. filled with all of its seemingly dead ends and twists and turns, you have been the faithful God, and you will continue your faithfulness as you lead your flock. So lead us, we pray. In Christ's name we ask. Amen.