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Now be kind, don't tell any jokes about me, okay? No, sir. I was kind of concerned there when the introduction began, because I know those white sepulchers, what Jesus called the people that he was talking to about those, and I was wondering if I was going to be introduced as a scribe, a Pharisee, or a hypocrite. I started doing the math and figured out that probably all three of them would have been fine. No, I'm just kidding. Go ahead and be turning in your Bibles, please. The Book of Exodus will be in the 14th chapter of the Book of Exodus. While you're turning, it's a great honor and privilege to again be an ambassador of Baptist College to preach. As Dr. Comfort has said, it's a wonderful thing that Dr. Beal has carried on the ministry. There's a change in leadership, but not a change in direction. And now 25 years after its founding, the school has its moorings still set, and the pillars are still in the ground, and it's a wonderful place to be. There is no better undergraduate Bible college degree in the United States of America, and I say that not just as an alumnus, not just as a person who's loyal to the school to a great extent, but also as someone who's traveled across the country and preached in 11 different Bible colleges, there is no better place to come and train to preach the Word of God than Ambassador Baptist College. Here in Exodus chapter 14 tonight, we'll begin reading here in just a moment. The children of Israel have now left the land of Egypt. God has delivered them from their Egyptian bondage. They've been in Egypt now for 430 years and now they're moving and following a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night. Visible manifestations of the leadership of Almighty God on the nation of Israel. They can watch. as the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire move. They can watch as Moses follows the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, and they can know with certainty that they're going exactly the direction that God wants them to go. Now, at first, when they're leaving the land of Egypt, it's easy to follow God. It's easy to follow the Lord when He's leading you out of bondage. It's easy to follow the Lord when He's leading you into a land that flows with milk and honey. It's easy to follow the Lord when He's taking you out of tribulation and putting you into blessing. But things begin to change as you get to chapter 14. God tells the children of Israel, He tells Moses, that they're going to turn and head southward. They're going to go along the banks of the Red Sea. They're going to go in a place that is in a straight position. It's an undefensible position, if you will, militarily. And they're going to go into a place that it might make you scratch your head as to try to figure out why God is leading them there. And God does not give Moses the reason that He's leading them there. He just says, I'm going to receive honor from Pharaoh, and that's all God says. He doesn't feel the need to explain, and amazingly, Moses doesn't feel the need to ask. The amazing thing is that we so many times think that God owes us an explanation for everything that He's going to do. Not only does He not owe us an explanation, we don't deserve the right to question a holy and omnipotent God. The children of Israel now have placed themselves in a scary place. And at this point in time, we're going to look at chapter 14, and everybody involved in chapter 14 agrees on three specific things. They agree, number one, that there is an army led by Pharaoh and his chariots that's chasing after the children of Israel. They agree that the children of Israel are in a place where they can't go forward and they can't go back. And everyone, before this story is finished, will agree that God parts the waters of the Red Sea, and a dry path is evident from one side to the other. But I want you to notice that although everybody agrees on those same three basic principles, They all have completely different interpretations, completely different perspectives of those three significant facts that we'll see in this passage of Scripture. And I want to ask you the question, what's your perspective tonight? As you look at the way the Lord is leading your life, as you look at the places the Lord has placed you, Whether you're a freshman in college and you came here all fired up just a few months ago, and everything looked wonderful as the Lord led you out of the bondage of home into the promised land of Ambassador Baptist College, or whether you're a graduating senior ready to go off and serve the Lord in your first ministry, and it's going to be the greatest ministry in the history of the world, and you're going to turn the world upside down for God someplace around the world, or you're going to start raising supporters, start holding meetings, Whether you've been in the ministry for a few years and you've realized that there is no primrose path, you realize that it's not all peaches and cream, you realize that there are some trials and tribulations, and you look back on the days of Bible college and you say, boy, I wish I could go back there and do that again. Wherever you are tonight, I want you to ask yourself this question. What is my perspective of my in my specific situation? Look at Exodus chapter 14. We'll begin reading in verse one. And the Bible says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Megdal and the sea, and over against Baal-zaphon, before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he shall follow after them, and I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts, 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 six hundred 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 between Piahiroth before Belzevan. 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 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 you have whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more. The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. Let's have word of prayer before we begin tonight. I want you to just look at this passage of scripture and ask yourself, what's my perspective? of the situation that God has placed me in. Let's have word of prayer to learn how to follow. Thank you for this evening. We thank you for our time together in your in your house tonight. Father, we thank you for this school. Thank you for what it stood for over the last 25 years. Thank you, Father, for what it's going to stand for 25 years from now. Should you, Terry, you're coming. Thank you for giving Dr. Comfort the vision. And thank you for his willingness to follow you in planting and starting this school. Thank you, Father, especially from a personal perspective for the education that I received here, Lord. Thank you for the training, not just in the classroom, but in watching the lives of godly professors who didn't just teach, but loved us at the same time. Bob, I pray tonight that you'll help us as we preach. I pray tonight that you'll move in our hearts this evening, accomplish something that only you can accomplish. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. I want you to notice the first viewpoint we'll look at tonight is Pharaoh's viewpoint. Pharaoh has already seen God defeat him. He's already seen God crush him. He's already seen God defeat every one of the gods of the Egyptians. Pharaoh has already watched all of this. He has already given up. He's let the children of Israel go. He said, that's fine, you're free. They have looted the nation of Egypt. They have taken gold and silver and precious stones. And they've taken raiment and all those kinds of things. And they've placed it upon their sons and their daughters. And they've moved into the wilderness. And now Pharaoh's heart begins to harden again. And Pharaoh decides that he's not going to be mocked in the world. Pharaoh decides that the people of Egypt aren't going to be able to question him. And he decides to go after the children of Israel. Now, at this point in time, he's not looking to go and take them back and make them slaves. He thinks these people ought to be destroyed. These people ought to be killed. The children of Israel understand why he's pursuing them. They said, there are no graves in Egypt you brought us forth to die in the wilderness. And so Pharaoh and all of his armies are coming up behind the children of Israel that have encamped themselves in a place where they can't go to the left, and they can't go to the right, and they can't go forward. I want you to notice a few things about what Pharaoh thinks when he sees this situation. Number one, he thinks they're an unarmed people. He thinks they're an unarmed people. Now follow this. They probably are. When they looted the nation of Egypt, they did not take their weaponry with them. They didn't take swords and spears. They've been slaves for several hundred years. They've not been able to train or amass an army. They've now left the nation of Egypt with nothing to defend themselves as they move into the wilderness. And Pharaoh looks at them and looks at them like the world looks at us today. He looks at them and says, there's nothing that they can do to hurt me. There's nothing they can do to cause me a problem. I'm going to go after and destroy these unarmed people. I'm going to go after these people and wipe them off the face of the earth. And Pharaoh looks at us, looks at the children of Israel like the world looks at us. They look at us, Christian, and please understand, with all of the nice things they might say every now and then, and all the politically correct statements they might make, they will always hate us, they will never love us, they will always question us, they'll always roll their eyes when we walk away, they'll always mock us behind our backs. There's never going to be any love from the world to the true people of Almighty God. And Pharaoh has no love for the children of Israel. He wants to finish them off. And he sees this unarmed people. Now understand this, to the world it does look like we're unarmed, doesn't it? I mean, the only offensive weapon we have is a book, isn't it? I mean, our sword There isn't even a sword. It's a book. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharp and a two-edged sword, piercing and dividing and sundering of the joints of marrow and the turn of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Our one offensive weapon, our sword, isn't even a sword. It's a book. Our hammer isn't even a hammer. It's a book. Our flamethrower isn't even a flamethrower according to Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 29. And I shall make this people wood, and thou shalt devour them. We don't have a sword. We don't have a hammer. We don't have a flamethrower. We don't have any offensive weapon except a few pages printed on a book. And to the world, this doesn't look like much of a weapon. To the world, this looks like something they can explain away. To the world, this looks like something they can mock and ridicule. But long after their mocking and ridicule is over, this book is still going to stay in. Understand, our only weapon is a book, and not only that, our armor is invisible. Nobody can see the breastplate of righteousness. Nobody can see your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Nobody can see this invisible helmet of salvation. No one can see this shield of faith. No one can see your loins girt about with truth. Nobody can see our armor. And to the world, it looks like we're completely unarmed. To the world, it looks like we cheap-turning people are going to be an easy people to defeat. Just like Pharaoh looks at the children of Israel, he's not worried about them at all, he's not concerned about them at all, just like the world's not concerned about us at all today. They're an unarmed people. Not only they're unarmed people, but he also sees something else. He also sees an unseen protector. The children of Israel worship a God that does not look like a bird. It does not look like a fish. He doesn't have any graven images. There's nothing that they can bow down to. There's no image of this God. As a matter of fact, this God, our God, commands that you not make any graven image. And so Pharaoh says, well, all those things, all those plagues and everything, they must have just been a coincidence. It couldn't have been anything real. Now that they've left Egypt, now that all those miracles are over, there are unarmed people and their protector isn't even there to be seen. He's not visible to be feared. He's not standing there over them waving a sword so that Pharaoh can see. And Pharaoh says, well, they don't have any arms and they don't have any protector. And Pharaoh goes after the children of Israel. And that's what the world says, isn't it? Everything that God has done, they try to explain away. Everything that God has accomplished, they want to mock and ridicule. They will even question the actual existence of Jesus himself. Studying for this message, I read several different viewpoints on the parting of the Red Sea or the crossing of the Red Sea. And you know, it is literally comical to see the lengths that liberals will go to try to explain away the parting of the Red Sea. It's funny that they'll show an underground section that has a little rise like this, and that's where the children of Israel walked across on dry land. My question would be to any liberal that would say that, then why hasn't it happened again in the last 3,200 years? If it was just an accident, why has that not reoccurred? The fact is, they will bend over backwards to explain away the miracles that God Almighty has done. They'll try to explain away that God created the heavens and the earth. They'll roll their eyes at us and make it sound like we're the ignorant ones, because although they don't agree on anything in the scientific community about evolution, they agree on one simple thing. They just agree, they believe that God didn't do it. The fact is, Pharaoh looks in front of him and sees an unarmed people. Pharaoh looks in front of him and sees an unseen protector. And Pharaoh looks in front of him and sees after God parts the water, he sees an unfettered path. He sees the children of Israel as the Lord continues to move the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire into the into the into the swell of the Red Sea. He sees that. These people are walking across on dry land with a wall of water on the right and a wall of water on the left, and Pharaoh says the same thing the world says. If the Christians can do it, then I can do it. If God's people can cross there, then I can cross there. And Pharaoh tries to go across just like the children of Israel went across. By the way, if you're sitting here tonight and you've never trusted Christ as your personal Savior, you can follow in the steps of every single Christian. You can live the best moral life on the planet, and it's not going to put you one step closer to the gates of glory. The children of Israel stepped in following God. The Egyptians stepped in denying God. Understand this, they were never going to make it to the other side of the Red Sea. They were going to be judged by the same holy God that had defeated them once already. Notice, please, we see Pharaoh's perspective. He sees an unarmed people. He sees an unseen protector. He sees an unfettered path. But then the same three things. He saw the army. He saw the children of Israel and he saw the Red Sea. And that's his interpretation of those events. Then we see the children of Israel. Now, the children of Israel, if we're going to compare them to modern day Christians, they're not going to be your most solid modern day Christians, are they? If we're going to compare them, they're going to be, at best, carnal Christians at this point in their lives. If we're going to compare them to Christians, they're going to be like 95% of the Christians on the face of the earth. And I want you to see how the children of Israel interpret this. They look behind them. Now understand, the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire, depending on the time of day, is visible. They can see God is with them. They don't have any question about this. They've already seen God send flies and send frogs. They've seen more manifold miracles than any people in human history up to this point right now. They've seen God turn the sun black and turn the water to blood. They've seen God kill the firstborn of every house of the Egyptians. There should be no reason they would ever question a holy God. But these people that have witnessed all these great miracles, they look behind them and they see Pharaoh, and all of a sudden, they become fearful. All of a sudden, they become afraid. All of a sudden, they begin to quake in their boots because Pharaoh and his chariots are following after them. Pharaoh couldn't protect his own son. How's he going to defeat a holy God? I want you to notice the first thing that the children of Israel saw was that they were fearful when they saw these three things. They were fearful. They were afraid. They were outnumbered. By the way, Christian, let me tell you this. I'm going to give you some bad news right now. We are outnumbered. I don't know if you've looked around. I don't know if you've read a newspaper. I don't know if you've seen a news broadcast. I don't know if you've seen anything at all over the last two years. We are outnumbered, and it's getting worse every single day. And here's the bad news. We're always going to be outnumbered. No, we don't always have to be outnumbered. Boy, we could have a great revival, we could see lost people saved, we could find ourselves in the majority before you know it. Listen, we can have great revivals, we can have lost people saved, but we are not ever going to be in the majority because Jesus said it himself in Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 and 14 when he says, wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in there at. but narrow is the gate and straight is the way that leads to life everlasting, and few that be that findeth it." God says there are always going to be many that are going down the wrong path, and there's only going to be a few going down the right path, and the way I interpret that is many is more than few. We are always going to be outnumbered. But the fact of the matter is, as the children of Israel see the Egyptians coming up behind them, they should have said, you know what? The Egyptians got chariots, and the Egyptians got spears, and the Egyptians got swords, but the Egyptians don't have our God. The Egyptians don't have the God of heaven going before them. The Egyptians don't have the One that spoke the worlds into existence, fighting their battles. The Egyptians don't have the Blessed and only Potentate winning the victory for them. The Egyptians do not have the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords waving His saber. Understand this carefully, please. The children of Israel should have looked at the Egyptians coming up behind them and said, Wow! We've got them right where we want them now. But instead, they get afraid, just like you and I do. And Christian, we look around at this world and we seemingly are blind to the fact that our God is not just a God, He is the God of gods. We should look around and say, nothing that the world brings can hurt me. Nothing that the world sends my way can defeat me. Like 2 Chronicles chapter 32 and verse 8 says, But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. Or John 16 and verse 33, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Or 1 John chapter 4 and verse 4, Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. The fact is, Christian, we cannot lose. Children of Israel look back. They see the Egyptian army coming, and they become fearful. And after they become fearful, they become fatalistic. Notice what they say, please. Look at verses 10 through 12 quickly. 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 Pharaoh, Because there are no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? The children of Israel immediately look at the enemy and decide that they are going to be defeated. It's one thing to be afraid of the enemy. It's another thing to already decide that you've lost before the battle begins. So many times Christians have decided to wave a white flag rather than fight the battle. We use phrases like this. Well, we've got to choose our battles. We've got to pick our fights. Understand this carefully. If it's in this book, it's worth fighting over right here and right now. It's about time we stopped waving a white flag. It's about time we started quitting before the fight started. It's about time we fought the good fight of faith as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 12. It's about time we rolled up our sleeves and let God go before us and marched into battle with our armor on and defeated the enemy instead of waving the white flag because they outnumber us. They do outnumber us, but they don't outman us. The fact is they were fatalistic. They decided that they were just going to go ahead and surrender. We're just going to die. We don't have any hope. It's amazing. You would think that they would think for just a moment that the God who sent the frogs and the flies could defeat the Egyptians. You would think that immediately they would have fallen on their knees and say, Lord, please get us out of this mess. Lord, please defeat the Egyptians for us. But they have no vision of the future. They have no vision of the victory. All they're focused on is the enemy. I say this in another message, but we've got to understand something. We've got a fundamental miscalculation about Satan. We are under the impression that Satan wants to take a Christian and turn him around. We're under the impression that Satan wants to take an 18-year-old young man in this congregation tonight, and you surrender to preach when you were 12 years of age, and you've been preparing to come to Ambassadors since you were 13 years of age, when you heard Dr. Comfort preach a revival at your church, and you have been focused, your faces turned like a flint, you're ready to serve God, you're here for four years so you can get out, and serve the Lord in some ministry somewhere, and you are single-minded in your focus towards the Lord Jesus Christ. We are under the impression that Satan's goal is to take that young man with that kind of focus and turn him all the way around and put him on a bar stool somewhere. Now watch me. If he can do that, he will. But the misunderstanding is this. Satan isn't necessarily interested in turning you around, young person and old person alike. He's just interested in turning you. Follow me. He doesn't care what you're focused on as long as it's not Jesus Christ. He doesn't care what takes your time as long as it's not serving the Lord. He doesn't care whether it's the basketball team at your local high school. He doesn't care if it's a girlfriend. He doesn't care whether it's some book that you're reading. He doesn't care whether it's some theological argument that you want to get in. All he wants to do is turn your focus, get your attention off the Lord, put your attention on the enemy, and he's got you defeated before the battle even starts. Children of Israel. They look back, they become fearful. Then they become fatalistic. They say, well, the Egyptians are after us. There's no way we can win. We're going to die right here in the wilderness. But then they become flawed. I want you to notice what happens next. Look what they say in verse 11. I'm sorry, verse 12. Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? We are talking about the royal priesthood of Israel, talking about serving the worldly Egyptians. We are talking about God's people saying, rather than fight this battle, rather than go up against the enemy, I'd rather go back and be a slave to the world. I'd rather be a slave to the flesh and the devil. Rather than fight the battle, I'd rather just give up and go home and be a captive. I'm here to tell you something. I'd rather get buried on a battlefield than head back to Egypt and be placed under the bondage of the Egyptians. But isn't this what the church is doing today? Isn't the church a slave to Egypt today? In so many different places? Doesn't the world tell us so many things in our congregations? Haven't we let the world creep in to so many different areas of our worship? Doesn't the world tell us what music to listen to? Doesn't the world now tell us what fashions to wear? Doesn't the world now dictate what programs we should have? Isn't worldliness creeping in? Aren't the Egyptians taking over more and more of our New Testament churches every single day of the week? The world teaches three quick things, so I want you to get this. Three quick things. First off, they teach this, that fame is more important than faithfulness. Look at how the worldliness has crept in. We have a First Corinthians kind of mentality in the church. I am of Paul. I am of Apollos. I am of Cephas. We've got all this business going on with all these camps and all those kinds of things. And listen to me, Christian, if you would identify your brand of Christianity by using the name of a human being, you're in the wrong kind of Christianity. If you would identify who you follow with any name other than Jesus Christ, you needed an old-fashioned altar and stop your hero worship. Every single time you turn around, some famous preachers being honored and uplifted, and we're told, look at the church that he has built. Listen to me carefully. If he has built it, it's not a church. Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church. I don't know what he's building, if he's building it, but it's not the church of Jesus Christ. but we are constantly being fed these famous stories of these famous people as if they can do no wrong. Understand this. It's almost as if we are teaching our young people and teaching Christians around the world and teaching independent Baptists all over our country that the famous preacher at the big church is more important to Almighty God than the guy that pastors 30 people someplace in Kentucky and weeps and prays and begs God to empower him to give the messages that those people need It's almost as if we think the big guy is more important to God than the little guy. It's almost as if we think that the young man who is taking language studies, trying to prepare himself to go to the mission field, and is pouring his life into that, so he can give his life on the mission field somewhere. It's almost as if we think he's less important to God than the guy that's achieved some notoriety on the mission field. It's almost as if we think that the young Bible college student who's looking forward to going out in evangelism, or the young evangelist who's getting started and has three or four meetings, but is just as tickled as he can be with those three or four meetings, but down deep in his heart he wants there to be 52 meetings. It's almost as if we think he's less important to God than the guy that has a full schedule. It's almost as if we think that the guy who brings us through Bible college with straight A's is more important to God than the guy who has to study late nights and early mornings just to pass with C's. I'm here to tell you this. The Egyptian mentality has crept into the New Testament church. It's tearing us apart everywhere we look because fame is not more important than faithfulness. Not only does it teach us that fame is more important than faithfulness, it teaches us this, that relevance is more important than righteousness. That's the big watchword, in case you haven't read about it. Relevance, the relevance of the New Testament church today. It's almost as if they're thinking if we all our youth pastors wear skinny jeans, that will be more relevant. By the way, if you're dressing like the teenagers, aren't you showing them that you're just as big a follower as they are? Our relevance does not come from whether we wear the modern day fashions. Our relevance does not come from whether we look cool when we walk into the church building or whether you preach in jeans or tattoos. That's not where our relevance comes from. Our relevance comes from the fact that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as we heard this morning, this treasure is placed in these earthen vessels. We've got something that the world can't give them. Listen, we'll never be as good at dressing in the world's fashions as the world is. will always be a cheap counterfeit, as long as we're trying to dress like the world. But when we stand up and say, I'd rather be righteous than be relevant. I'd rather be faithful than be famous. We stand up and say, I don't want Egypt in my church. I don't want Egypt in my ministry. I'm not being taken in by all of that. I'm not being flawed. I don't want to serve the Egyptians. Then we're relevant. Then we'll have something that we can stand for. By the way, teenagers don't need you to understand them. Teenagers don't need you to dress like them and talk like them. I can tell you this for certain. You know what teenagers really need? They just need you to love them. You might not understand one single thing that they're saying. You might not know how to text. You might not know any of those things. You might think Facebook is a photo album at home somewhere. You might think that you might not know what Twitter is. And those teenagers might roll their eyes a little bit when you walk away. But if they know you love them, it'll make a difference. The Egyptian mentality replaces faithfulness with fame. It replaces righteousness with relevance, and it replaces Christlikeness with cutting edge. Christlikeness replaced with cutting edge. I'm here to tell you something. If your music has to be cleaned up, then maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you can't do the music the way the writer wanted it done in the first place, if you have to polish it up before you can present it on Sunday morning, it probably shouldn't be in your church. Let's not let the Egyptians tell us how to do this. Let's not let the Egyptians tell us that it's got to be cutting edge, it's got to be brand new, it's got to be what makes people tap their foot. Listen to what I'm telling you. Let's tell Egypt to stay out of our churches. Let's decide we'd rather die on the battlefield than go back and serve the Egyptians. Let's decide we'd rather give our lives in a battle against an enemy that outnumbers us than to go back and serve the world and do what they want us to do. Because fame is not more important than faithfulness. And relevance is not more important than righteousness. And cutting edge is not more important than Christlikeness. I'm here to tell you, the music that you heard Dr. Beale sing tonight, that song's I think about a hundred years old. It's the revival song of the great Welsh revival. Listen to the words that he's saying, I don't know if you've got them all. Heaven's peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love. I'm here to tell you the stuff that's being written today can't hold a candle to that kind of theology. Notice we see Pharaoh's perspective. He sees an unarmed people. He sees an unseen protector and he sees an unfettered pathway. The children of Israel look at the exact same thing and they become fearful and they become fatalistic. And they become flawed. But I want you to notice thirdly, please look at the patriarchs perspective. Moses sees it completely differently than everybody else. And I make no, no, no, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Moses is my favorite Old Testament Bible character. I love to read and preach about Moses, but I want you to notice, Moses saw the same thing, but this faithful man of God saw it completely differently. I want you to notice his submissiveness first. This is the leader of the children of Israel. So many times when we're placed in a position of leadership, that leadership goes to our head just a little bit. So many times, pastors and some of you in the room would acknowledge that there have been times that this has happened. I know it happens with evangelists and missionaries and everybody. Every now and then, you begin to make the decisions from here instead of making the decisions from here. The decisions come from you adding it up and figuring out which way is the most popular way instead of you being on your knees asking God to direct you. So the children of Israel, as Moses is leading the children of Israel, God says, OK, I know all you've got is maybe one day more. If you keep going east, you're going to pass the peninsula there. You'll not have to go around the Red Sea. God's already directed them around the Philistine Empire so they wouldn't have to see a war. And if you just go one more day's journey, you won't have to pass the Red Sea. But God says, I want you to turn. And Moses just turned. And God said, I want you to camp by the seaside, and Moses just camped by the seaside. Then a few verses later, God says, now hold your rod out and Moses just holds his rod out. I want you to notice his submissiveness. I say it often. Moses isn't this great man because he's a great leader. Moses is this great man because he's a great follower. When Moses died, God didn't say Moses, my great leader is dead. Moses, the part of the Red Sea is dead. Moses, the one who brought the law down from the mountain, is dead. That's not what God said. God said, Moses, my servant is dead. Moses was such a great leader that 3,000 years later, he was such a great follower that 3,000 years later, he looks like a great leader. Moses' submissiveness. God says, turn, Moses, turn. Notice, secondly, please, Moses' statement. The children of Israel are crying. They are whining, excuse me for putting it that way. They are acting like little children right here, stomping their feet and say, you brought us out here to die in the wilderness. And Moses, now, please understand, in Hollywood's depiction of this, Moses turns towards the sea and says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. That's not what's happening here. Moses doesn't know that God's going to part the Red Sea at this moment in time. Only thing Moses knows is God's going to defeat the Egyptians at this moment in time. I don't think Moses is looking toward the Red Sea when he says this. I think he's looking back at the Egyptian army when he says this. And he says this, fear not. Why would you be afraid in the first place? I want you to notice the first thing Moses says is stand up. Stand up, watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men and be strong. First Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 13. Moses says quit, quit being afraid, quit shaking in your boots, quit trembling, quit your knees knocking together. Stand up. Listen, don't be afraid of those people behind us. God's still on our side. He says, stand up, fear not. Then he says, stand still. Now, this isn't talking. If you've ever taught little children and they start fidgeting, you always say, stand still. This is more talking about stand quietly. Moses is basically saying, quit being afraid and stop crying. He says, stand still. He says, stand up. And then he says, stand amazed. Stand still, stand up and look here. See the salvation of the Lord. He says, these Egyptians that are coming up behind you, you're never going to see them again. Hold your peace. Let God fight your battle. You stand right here. You watch God do something amazing. You watch God part the Red Sea. You watch God defeat the Egyptians. It's all going to unfold right before your very eyes. Just stand up, stand still and stand amazed. And let's see God do something amazing. How many times in our lives, in our ministries have we gotten ahead of God? We should have just been standing there and watching. Notice, please, Moses's statement, Moses's submissiveness. Notice, lastly, please, Moses's song. Turn over to the end of the chapter, please. Exodus chapter 14. Look at verse twenty nine. Look at verse twenty nine. Bible says, But the children of Israel walked upon the dry land in the midst of the sea. The waters were a wall of 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 seashore. Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord." You would think they would already have believed Him, wouldn't you? People fear the Lord and believe the Lord and his servant Moses. In chapter 15 in verse one, then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord and spake saying, I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider hath he thrown into the sea. Now watch carefully, please. All of a sudden, when God has delivered, when God has done something that only God can do, the perspective has changed. The children of Israel are no longer afraid. The children are no longer, by the way, they're no longer rephrase that they're no longer afraid of the Egyptians, but they realize what kind of God they're serving. All of a sudden, as as Moses and the entire nation standing there looking down, seeing the bodies of the Egyptians coming up on the seashore. It's at that moment that Moses and the children of Israel begin to sing. I want you to notice their song is triumphant, but their song is together. This is the first time they've been on the same page in all of chapter 14, when you finally get to chapter 15. Chapter 14, the children of Israel are doubting. By the time you get to chapter 15, they're secure. It's amazing the different perspectives in this passage of Scripture, isn't it? It's amazing as we look at the children of Israel and Moses. It's all in your perspective, a huge Egyptian army, the nation of Israel and the body of water. Pharaoh saw a bunch of victims. Moses saw victory. Pharaoh saw a god like all his gods. Moses saw a god like no other. When Israel saw Pharaoh, they saw a determined foe. When Moses saw Pharaoh, he saw a defeated foe. When Israel saw the Red Sea, they saw drowning. When Moses saw the Red Sea, he saw delivery. It's all in your perspective, Christian. What I'm trying to tell you is this. The same God that parted that Red Sea, He knew the outcome of this passage of Scripture before it ever even started. He drew the Egyptians into this place. He decoyed them into following them right to the banks of the Red Sea. God knew exactly how this was going to unfold before it ever happened. So what I'm saying is this, Christian, when finals come and you don't think you can make it, understand this, the God of heaven is still on the throne. Pastor, when your deacons don't like the way you're pastoring your church, and don't mind saying so in a public setting, you understand this, God is still on the throne. Young evangelist, when you can't get meetings, you understand this, God is still on the throne. Missionary, when you've spent 14 years on deputation, and you're up to 22%, you understand this, God is still on the throne. Let's keep the Egyptians out of our churches, let's keep them out of our ministries, but understand this, at all times, We'll never face an enemy that he can't defeat. We'll never be in a battle that he doesn't already have a plan. There'll never be a time as long as we fight on his side when we walk away defeated by the world, the flesh and the devil. What I'm telling you is simply this. It all depends on your perspective. It all depends on how you look at what God's going to do. Because God's going to win the victory whether you're singing as he does it or singing when he's finished. It's time we got our perspective right. Let's stop worrying about what everybody else in the world is doing. Let's stop worrying about all the enemies we have to face. Let's stop looking about how outnumbered we are. And let's take a few moments and notice the pillar of cloud in the sky and the pillar of fire and the God of God sitting on the throne. And Christian, whatever you're going to face, God not only already knows it, He already has the plan for you to defeat it. How are you going to look at it? What's your perspective going to be? Let's bow your heads and close your eyes quick, please. Every head bowed and every eye closed. Let me ask you this first. Now I realize I'm in a Bible college setting in a Bible conference, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask. How many would say this evening, Brother Harper, I know I'm saved. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. I know as well as I know my own name, that if I were to die today, I would go to heaven. I can say that because I've trusted Christ as my savior. Would you slip your hand up and hold it high in the air for just a moment? I know for sure. If I died today, I would go to heaven. Thank you. May put your hands down. I wonder, would there be one tonight or two or three? You'd say, Brother Harper, I couldn't say that. I don't know for sure. I'm just following in the path of the Red Sea. I just act like the Christians, and I think that's going to be good enough for me. But when I really search my heart, I'm not sure if I died today, I'd go to heaven. If that's you tonight, would you slip your hand up right now? Just slip your hand up and put it right back down quickly. Just up and back down. All right, Christian, let me ask you this. It would be easy to say how many would promise to have the right perspective. I would hope lots of hands would go up, but instead let's ask it this way. How many say brother Harper, I have to admit it. I've had the wrong perspective. Would you slip your hand up please all over the auditorium, hold them high in the air, hold them high in the air. Thank you so much. You may put them down. I'll ask one more question. Then we'll have an invitation. How many say brother Harper? I didn't realize it, but I've been letting Egypt creep in. I've been letting Egypt creep in. Would you slip your hand up all over the auditorium quickly? Thank you. I see your hands, hands all over the auditorium. Praise the Lord. In just a moment, we're going to have an invitation. We'll have a word of prayer. Then we'll stand. After we stand, the instruments will play through one verse before we have any singing. When you hear that first note of the piano, that first chord of the keyboard, Don't wait. Don't look around. Don't wait and gauge the crowd as to how many people stepped out. You just step out on the first note. If you step out on the first note, you won't give Satan two notes to talk you out of it. Just do business with God. He did not convict your heart so you could sit in that pew and then walk out the same way you walked in. The Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. Lord, we thank you for your word. Father, we pray that you'll bless the invitation tonight. Have your will and way in every heart. Help us to be obedient to what you've laid on our hearts.
It's All In Your Perspective
Series Bible Conference 2014
Sermon ID | 8172152172547 |
Duration | 43:01 |
Date | |
Category | Chapel Service |
Bible Text | Exodus 14 |
Language | English |
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