I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have a part in this Bible conference. I have cherished every moment here with you and have been encouraged, greatly encouraged by what I have seen. I don't know how even the Lord Jesus could have been treated any better in Bethany than I have been treated here, and I want to thank you for it. and I'm praying for you. You have a special place in the work of God in this world, a very special place. It is by divine appointment, it's been under his care and keeping, and I pray it'll continue. In great power and with his great blessing, may it continue. I cannot remember being in a meeting where my heart was any more stirred than the meeting this morning, listening to the testimonies of the three people I heard. I'm sure many of you would say the same thing. And honestly, it had nothing to do with their physical difficulties. It had everything to do with their spiritual resolve. When heaven and earth is passed away. Those dear people and the work they've done will go on forever, no doubt about it. I want us to pray, and I want you to pray for me. I need it. I want to be a blessing to you. I've been on this journey for quite a while as a preacher of the gospel, for 46 years. I'm certainly not at the beginning. I don't think I'm at the end. That's in the Lord's hands. But I know this, I am at the beginning of the end of my ministry. And what I say, I want to say with all the influence God has given me with all these years, and to be a blessing. So please pray for me. Let's pray together, may we? Our Fathers, we come to Thee, we thank Thee, Lord, that we may approach Thee, not on our merit, but on the merit of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and by His precious blood, we speak with Thee, and we need Thee. After all these years, Lord, I cannot be a blessing to these people or any other people without Thy divine aid. So I come to Thee for that aid. Open our understanding. Help me as I speak Thy Word. May we know Thy presence and power, and we shall give Thee glory for what is accomplished in this meeting. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. I'd like you to take the Word of God, please, and turn with me to the book of Exodus, the fourteenth chapter. And we'll begin reading in just a moment in Exodus chapter 14 with verse 1. As you're reading through your Bible and you come through the 13th chapter of Exodus coming to the 14th chapter, you see they have carried Joseph's bones out of Egypt. Moses has given a strong word concerning the firstborn and what belongs to God. And now they come to a great trial. We're going to look at this chapter together, so keep your Bible open, please. But let's begin in chapter 14, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pahahirath. between Migdal and the sea, over against Belzefron. Before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they're entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them. and I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people. And they said, why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. And he took 600 chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with a high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them in camping by the sea beside Pahahirath, before Belzefron. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore cryest thou unto me, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. If you're in the habit of marking things in your Bible, I want you to mark an expression, a place that's found twice in this reading. And then I'm going to ask you to participate and repeat it to me. So prepare for it, please. In verse 2, the Bible says, "...and encamped before Pi-ha-hiroth." Would you mark that word? Pi-ha-hiroth. And then again, the Bible says in verse 9, "...and overtook them in camping by the sea beside Pi-ha-hiroth." And mark it again. Now, all of us have to work just a bit to pronounce that, and I hope we have it nearly right. But I want you to say it with me. Pi-ha-hireth. Let's all participate, please. One, two, three. Pi-ha-hireth. Again, if you don't mind, I like hearing you say it. Pi-ha-hireth. Pi-ha-hireth. Pi-ha-hireth. This place, we are told, means a place of freedom. A door, an open place to freedom. I want to be free. How about you? I want you to hold your place here just for a moment so we know where we're going and turn with me to the gospel according to John. In John chapter 8, our Lord says in verse 31 of John 8, Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And in verse 32 of John chapter 8, And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, Ye shall be free indeed. Would you read that with me? Verse 36. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Many times we think we're free because we can repeat something that's truthful. As a matter of fact, we may quote the 32nd verse of John chapter 8 and think because we know the Bible says the truth shall make you free, we are free. But we are not free unless that truth has been applied to our lives and we've lived a life of obedience to God. Now, if you'll go back with me to our story in Exodus chapter 14. We want to visit this place, Pi-ha-hireth, because it's the place, God says, it's the place of freedom for His people. Look with me, please, in the book of Exodus, in chapter 5 and verse 2. Moses had made his way to the court of Pharaoh to tell the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, what God was going to do. And the Bible says, and Pharaoh said when he heard Moses speaking, In verse 2 of Exodus chapter 5, who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And the Bible says in chapter 6 of Exodus, beginning with verse 1, then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I've also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians kept in bondage. And I have remembered my covenant, wherefore saying to the children of Israel, I am the And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments. And I will take you to me for a people. And I will be to you a God. And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." And if you continue to make your way through the book of Exodus to our passage to the 14th chapter, you're going to have to travel through the judgments, the plagues of Egypt that God poured out upon the Egyptian people. And then as Moses led the people out, they come to Pi-ha-hireth. Notice, please, in chapter 14 of Exodus, the Bible says God instructed Moses. And I want you to write this down, please. When we come to this place, it will bring us to faith in God. Would you write it down? To faith in God. The greatest thing you're going to learn while you're a student in a college like this is not what you think you're learning from your professors. That's wonderful. Thank God for every one of them. Christ honoring as they are and instructing you in the truth. But the greatest lesson you learn in life is to trust God for yourself. To lean heavily upon Him. to believe Him, to know that it's your faith in God, that He's your Savior, that He's met your needs, and He's with you. He's real to you. The Bible says in chapter 14 in verse 1, "...and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speaking of the children of Israel, notice, please, that they turn Now he told them in the 13th chapter, notice in verse 17 and 18 of chapter 13, and it came to pass when Pharaoh had left the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, lest for adventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt, but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up, harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And God said to Moses in chapter 14 and verse 2, I want you to make a turn. You're leading them. I want you to make a turn. And the turn you make is going to take you to a place called Pi-Ha-Hareth. And when you get there, you're going to have these huge walls of mountains on either side You're going to face the Red Sea in front of you, and you're going to look behind you and find the army of the Egyptians. Not just the army of the Egyptians, the chosen army of the Egyptians. Moses, you're never going to have to look over his shoulder again, ever again, wondering if they're going to show up, because this day, I'm going to destroy them, and you will never see them again. And so he turned, and as he turned in obedience to God, he found himself in a box with the Red Sea in front of him, and mountainous walls on his left and right, and the army of the Egyptians behind him. He found himself in a place where there was absolutely no escape. None. That's where God wanted him to be. And when you and I march off on our way in life, we make our plans, and we imagine it's going to be a certain way, and then we find ourselves in helpless places. All the while believing we've obeyed God, We thought the Lord led us here. Didn't God tell us to do this? We used the best judgment we had. We believed with all of our heart. We followed the Lord. And now look what we find ourselves in the midst of. A bill can't be paid. There's trouble at home. They need me there. Everything imaginable is going on, and I can't fix it. I want you to remember, Pi-ha-hireth, because it's just started. All of your life long, God is going to bring you to one Pi-ha-hireth after another. where you don't have a way out. You can't get over it, you can't go under it, you can't go around it. You can't change it. And if you try to make it happen in the energy of your flesh, to muscle everything you possibly can together to get the job done and celebrate your victory, you may have just missed the greatest thing God wanted you to learn. And that is how He planned, as you waited on Him, to bring you out and to change your life in doing so. You see, faith has faith receiving, receiving, which means received Him. Faith is reckoning. We read it, we believe it, we say this is what God says, and we believe it, but faith also brings risking. I want to read you something, and let me ask you if you have an answer. Let me read you just a few things, and you tell me what you're going to tell the rest of the world. This is what the world is saying about the age in which we live. I wonder what you're going to say. Glenn Beck, you may know his name, a celebrated conservative political commentator, says, this is the end of America as you know it. Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer Prize winning conservative columnist, said on Fox News, it is midnight in America. Midnight in America. Thomas Sewell, I've read his columns for years, a conservative professor. Economist says that the collapse of a civilization is not just the replacement of rulers or institutions with new rulers and new institutions. It is the destruction of a whole way of life. And the painful and sometimes pathetic attempts to begin rebuilding amid the ruins. Is that where America is headed? I believe it is. Our only saving grace, says Dr. Sewell, is that we're not there yet. Perhaps you know the name of Pat Buchanan. He says the United States is strategically overextended worldwide. It is an empire, and the empire is coming down. Nearly nine out of ten Americans don't believe if they believe sometime soon we're going to have another terrorist attack. People fear that we're going to have some cataclysmic natural disaster that's going to cripple us. Many people in authority believe that we're imploding economically in this country. You go to the bookstore down the road and you'll find books entitled Why is everything falling apart? A book entitled Colossus, The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. The End of America, Letters of Warning to a Young Patriot. Nemesis, The Last Days of the American Republic. You will find Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America. The Post-American World. Dismantling America. After America, get ready for Armageddon. These are titles of books people are reading. Lots of them are being sold. Suicide of a superpower. Now let me ask you, that's what the world is saying. And they're saying it repeatedly. Seven plus billion people. Three hundred million plus in America. Think of it. That's what the world is saying in the age in which you're living. I want to ask you a question. What in God's name are you saying? What message do you have? God brought his people to a place with the Red Sea in front of them and walls of rock on either side and the Egyptian arm behind them. And God brought them through! And they had a message of faith in God because the Lord did what only the Lord could do. And I want to tell you, my friend, God wants to work in your life to bring you to a place to strengthen your faith and resolve in the Lord. When you come to Pi-ha-hireth, God allows that to bring us to a place of faith in God, leaning on the Lord, trusting in the Lord. Notice as we read on, God says in verse 4 of Exodus chapter 14, Notice, God's intent here is not just the destruction of Egypt and the Egyptian army, but that God would be glorified. That's what the Lord desires. That no flesh should glory in His presence. That we might save the Apostle, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. When I look out upon your faces, I am as hopeful, I think, as a man could be to think what God could do through you. But only if the Lord gets the glory. And He brings us to the end of ourselves so that there's no hope without Him, so that He'll get the glory. Even your beloved Chancellor must go through His pi-ha-hires. Even your dear President must go through His pi-ha-hires. God designs them for you and designs them for me. 15, 16 years ago now, I walked into the finest neurosurgeon's office that I could find, and he said, you might as well leave the ministry 16 years ago. You're finished. You'll be in such pain, you won't be able to live. You have the worst back I've ever seen in a man your age. I don't know if I saw your x-rays, I'd say you're paralyzed, but I see you're not. I don't have one hopeful thing to say to you. Let me tell you something. That wasn't the first time I'd been to Pi-ha-hireth. I'd been there as a child. when my father tried to kill my mother. You don't know Mrs. Odom. But I looked up after they loaded my mother's body into an ambulance and there was a dear lady neighbor named Mrs. Odom. Jesus had her there. I looked at my little brother and two sisters and wondered what we were going to do. God had taken care of that. on through life, I can tell you again and again and again. Why is it this way? Why did God include this story in His Word? Because He wants to bring His people to a place of putting their faith in Him. And that's where He's working in your life and in my life. Notice, please, it's not only a place where we come to faith in God, it's a place where we have a forward movement. Look with me, please. When Moses says in verse 12, "'Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." As he pens these words, he's remembering the statements of these people as God gives him these words to pen. And Moses said unto the people, fear you not, stand still. Would you mark that expression please? Stand still. And see the salvation of the Lord, His deliverance. which he will show you, to you today, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." What a verse. If you don't have a life verse, that's one to take. The Lord shall fight for you. Many times, especially in the ministry, I've wondered if I was really allowing the Lord to do what only the Lord could do. And I find that I'm not when I'm doing the talking and making the charge myself and trying to get it all done. God says here, the Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. If I'm not holding my peace, I'm not letting God fight for me. And he says, and the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. Would you mark those words? Go forward. Now isn't that amazing? God said, stand still and go forward. Now, let me ask you a question. Am I supposed to stand still? Or am I supposed to go forward? You see, the modern church growth movement is constantly trying to go forward. Who's got the biggest crowd? Who has the largest audience? Who's constructed the biggest meeting place? But it's all in vain if we haven't listened to him say, stand still. The worship must come before the work. What God wants to do in our hearts, the greatest work God does is in our hearts. The greatest work we do for Him is in our homes. But what God does in our hearts as we know Him, standing still, prepares us for what we do for Him. Listen please, I serve the Lord not in order to do something for God. but I serve the Lord because of what God has done for me." There's a lost world out there. And because of what God has done for me, he who knew no sin became sin for me. Think of that. The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became a man without ceasing to be God. He suffered the humiliation of Bethlehem, robed in flesh, lived a sinless life, went to the cross, bled and died for my sins, and the billows of God's wrath rolled on the Son of God as He tasted death for every man. He was buried and rose from the dead and came forth from the grave alive evermore. And when I came to know Him as my Savior, His love drew me to Him. And I love Him because He first loved me. And I serve Him, not to try to build a big church or to get a crowd. I don't serve Him to try to attract things like that. I serve Him because of His marvelous grace in my life, what the Lord Jesus has done for me. and I worship and adore him because of who he is and what he's done for me. Moses said to the people, here they are, the Egyptian army, their finest forces behind us, the sea in front of us, the walls of rock on either side of us. Stand still! That's hard to do. That's awfully hard to do. We want to rush into action. But God brings us to Pi-ha-hireth. He leads us, turns us, guides us, places us in His chosen box so He alone can rescue us. And when He does, You don't have to beg people to go forward. Because when we stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, as the 46th Psalm says, as we stand still and know that He is God, we'll be charged in our hearts to tell others about Him. Doesn't it amaze you that Jesus Christ said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But those of us who know Him do so little of telling others about Him. And I believe that God is on the throne. The reins of the universe have not slipped out of His hands. I believe that God is in control. I believe He's a sovereign God. But I don't want to lean on that for an excuse not to be a soul winner. And you shouldn't either. It's a crime. It's a crime not to tell what we know when what we know is the way of salvation. And may the Lord help us. May He help me. My, my. I have such trouble keeping my own house in order. It's hard for me to get on anybody else. But all of us, think what a mighty army for God is sitting here if it could be rallied with a heartfelt thunder from heaven to go after the loss of the world. But the Lord will have to bring you to a place where He does the personal work in your heart that only He can do before your life or my life can be changed to be the soul and the witness that we ought to be. Didn't our lovely Lord say, follow me, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Didn't He say that? And if we're not fishing for men, if I'm not fishing for men, then it's obvious I'm not truly following Him. Because if I follow Him, I'll have a passion to fish for men. I doubt seriously if there's a man or woman among us who could not go into the street in front of this institution and see an accident that's taken place, someone seriously injured, maybe near death, who says, can someone tell me about Jesus? I doubt if there's a man or woman in this building who could not explain the way. of salvation to that person. What's the difference between us being motivated to do it? We have to have a fresh experience with God at our chosen pi-ha-hireth. We're in desperation in a hospital room or beside someone that we loved praying for their healing and health. are searching the streets for some person we loved who's run away. And by God's grace, He brought them back. Something we got desperate about and we turned to no one but God and we found He's all we need when He's all we had. And when we went to that Pi-ha-hireth, we were ready to speak about His great love, what He can do for others. because of what he's done for us. And so the Lord said through Moses, stand still, people. Someone could have said, well, they're right behind us, Moses. If you haven't looked, we can't climb the walls beside us. How are we going to get through the sea in front of us? He said, stand still. It's time just to worship God and recognize God. I love reverence in worship. If there's no reverence, as far as I'm concerned, there's no worship. Many people want to get on some idea about what's wrong with this kind of music or that kind of music. I imagine you could already know where I stand on the subject without me saying. But let me just put it to you this way. There are many things that are going on in so-called churches that could not go on in the presence of Almighty God. And because they do not recognize the presence of Almighty God, they can go on and do anything in the flesh they want to do because there's no reverence and no holiness, no standing still in His presence. And men can just do and women can just do whatever they please. That's not the thing I find in the Bible in true worship. We go forward because we've stood still. But when we stand still and God delivers us, then there's forward movement in our lives. When I say to you collectively, we need a mighty revival in this land, I imagine all of you would raise your hands and agree with me if I asked for agreement. But I'm not going to say we need a mighty revival in this land. I'm going to say to you that Clarence Sexton, needs a mighty revival in his heart. I've learned too well to play the part. I've learned too well the little cute Christian cliches that get the job done in an audience. But I know, I know perhaps what you know about your heart, I know about my heart. that I need a revival. And I don't know what it'll take. The situation's desperate all around, but the saints aren't. Will it take a greater degree of one of these pi-ha-hi-raths to get us desperate enough to stand still, to seek God, and to go forward? It's a place of faith in God. It's a place of forward movement. I want you to write a third thing down. It's a place of fearing God. At your leisure, take the time to read how God delivered His people. Arthur Pink and others believe that God actually opened the sea as they went through it. I'll leave that to you to decide. Because he says, the Bible says they went through by faith in the Hebrews. New Testament book. I'll leave that for you to decide. But let me get down here to where the Word of God says in verses 25 and following, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. I thought Pharaoh said, who is the Lord? I thought Pharaoh said, who is this covenant God of Israel? God revealed Himself to Moses as the covenant God, Jehovah. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to us. The Word of God is still quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It'll accomplish its work. And here, when they went through and God delivered them, they were fearing the Egyptians, but now they fear the Lord. Verse 26 and following, And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength. When the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it, And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. And there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea. And the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. Chapter 15, verse 1, then sang Moses and the children of Israel. And by the way, they hadn't been singing like that for 430 years. Ever wonder why people can't sing? They hadn't been delivered from Pi-ha-hireth. But when God has come to your aid and delivered you, praise God you've got something to sing about. And they started singing. I was just in Scotland in the land of Livingston. Livingston said his motto was to fear God and work hard. The people here feared the Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom. The Word of God teaches us there's no fear of God in this land, and there isn't. But when we come to our personal pahairos and we see the Lord working, we fear God. And I want you to remember this. Would you please write it down? And you've been so attentive, and I want to thank you for it. When we truly fear God, when we truly fear God, it releases us from all lesser fears. It makes a free man out of you or a free woman. That precious girl today, Tabitha, I'll remember that for a long, long time. She said self-pity took over, but you know who freed her from it? Jesus. And whatever's holding you down, boxed you in, I want you to know you could be a free person. You wouldn't be worried sick about peer pressure, what everybody else thinks. You wouldn't be worried sick about everything else, the circumstances that surround your life. You'd be free to live your life as unto God. That's what the fear of God does. They feared the Lord. I say this with the greatest respect. I do not know of another institution in the world like this institution. The uniqueness of it raises its value. There are 7,000 colleges and universities in America. You could just be one of them. But if there's truly something unique here, if it is for the glory of God, If it is for the glory of God, then those who know its history, its story, could tell you about one pi-ha-hiroth after another. They could tell you things you wouldn't imagine, but God came through. It's not a story of a beautiful campus and magnificent buildings. It's a story of God answering prayer and God coming through. If it's truly what I believe it to be, that's what it is. And it's a place of faith in God. It must be a place of forward movement, stand still and go forward. And it must always be a place of fearing God. My father in the ministry sat across from the desk from me. We had over 4,000 students in school when he said what I'm about to tell you. He said, Clarence, we've known the blessings of God in this place, but I'm saying to you, the day could come when there's nothing here. And I said to him, I can't imagine such a thing. And he said to me in response, son, if we don't continue with faith in God, looking to God in those trials, the day will come when there's nothing here. He said, I'm fearful. And I was so foolish. He said someone gave us millions of dollars. Millions of dollars. And I'm afraid that many of our people don't believe that we have to trust God any longer. Put yourself out there. Attempt, as Cary said, the great things for God. Expect great things from God. He's really saying attempt the miracle. Expect God to bless with a miracle. You can rely on the Lord. But I'm going to tell you there will never be a day in your life or in the life of this institution or any others that are here for the Lord when we can live or exist without faith. Faith is the Christian life. Even prayer cannot substitute for faith. We must pray in faith believing. And did you know what? Faith doesn't get the work done. It provides the opportunity for God to work through those who faith Him and trust Him, to do what only our God can do. I'll meet you again. Most of it won't be here, but when we meet around the throne of Jesus Christ, I want you to remember that God did not give you those pi-ha-hires to destroy you. He's given them to you because He loves you and He wants you to trust Him in them and He will come to your deliverance. Stand still and go forward.