All right, children, I've got a question for you. There's something inside of this. Anyone know what it is? Water. Very good. Okay. Now, here's a technical science question. This is about as deep as my science knowledge goes, as we all discovered at the youth group quiz night the other night. All the youth get it. Is water A liquid, a gas, or a solid? Oh, a liquid, very good, okay. Now, since it's a liquid, does it move? Okay. I'm gonna need your help, Zach. Okay, come stand up here. Okay, put both your hands out. Okay, a little bit back from the table so I don't annihilate the communion table. So your job is to catch the water, okay? You ready? Are you sure? Okay, here we go. No, you're not allowed to spill any. None. Okay, ready? Oh, Zach! What was the problem? It fell from my hand. Why? It's not very good for catching, eh? So, why didn't you just tell it to stop? Did you think about that? I mean, you could have just said, no, stand still, right? So did you do that? You can sit back down, by the way. I'm sure this will get cleaned up later. Don't mind me making a mess. Yesterday, you guys got assaulted. Last Sunday, you got assaulted with CDs. This time, we get assaulted with water. So you can't just stop water in your hands, can you? When I pour it, you can't be like, no, don't pour. Stay right there. Can you build with water? No, okay. We're going to be looking in a Bible passage today about water that stands straight up. Sounds a bit strange, eh? Because water can't stand up. Because water always does what? It always drops. When it rains, what direction does the water go? That's right, it goes down, it doesn't go up, does it? It doesn't go above the clouds, it always comes down. But we're going to be talking about water that goes up, about these two big walls of water, and then some people that walk in between them safely. Now, does anyone know who those people were? The Israelites, that's right. The Israelites safely walked through two big walls of water. Now, does anyone know why? That's right, but why did the water stand up, do you think? Were they just like really creative? Yeah, that's right, because God told them and they believed, and God did it. Because God can do anything, even though I can't make the water stand up straight, God can, and he did. That's the power of God. And we're gonna be thinking about how it is that Israel could walk through this big, long sea with water on all the different sides of them trusting him. So let's pray and we'll ask God to help us trust him as well. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you. Thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for your love. Thank you that you are the God who can do anything, that you can stand water up on its edge. And Lord, we pray that you would help us to trust you like Israel did when they walked through the sea, and that you would bless us with more of yourself. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. For those that are visitors here, we've been working our way through Hebrews 11, that lovely chapter, which details these different people who have shown us what faith looks like. And we find ourselves, as you would have picked up from the children's talk, I'm sure, talking about the crossing of the Red Sea, which you'll find in Exodus, Exodus chapter 14. Gonna read the whole chapter. Exodus 14, so that we can see the backdrop to our text for today. So that was Exodus chapter 14. And this is God's holy and inerrant word for you today. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pihairoth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal Zephon. you shall encamp facing it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land, the wilderness has shut them in, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people. And they said, what is this we have done? That we have let Israel go from serving us. So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them, and camped at the sea. By Pihiroth, in front of Baal Zephon, When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent. The Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they shall go in after them. And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. Then the angel of God, who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness, and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea. All Pharaoh's horses his chariots and his horsemen. And in the morning, sorry, 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 water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen 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 hand. 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. And if you turn with me through to Hebrews chapter 11 We will read Hebrews 11 verse 29. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. May God bless the reading of his word to us. And as we come to consider it, let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we can receive it from you. And Lord, how we want to hear you speak. how we long to have our hearts built up, how we long to behold Christ's glory and the preaching of his word. And yet, Lord, we acknowledge before you that without your Holy Spirit, we cannot benefit from your word, that without your spirit, this word will do nothing to our hearts, not because the word is not sufficient, but because our hearts are so stony and hard. Lord, we are clogged with much of this world from another week. And so we pray, would you illuminate the word of God to our hearts now, that we might behold Christ's glory and find great joy and delight in Him. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I don't know about you, but I love stories of perseverance in really hard situations. Do you like stories of perseverance? I was reading one this week of a man named Jose Salvador Alvarenga. and he was a fisherman. 17th of November, 2012, he went out fishing, and he was going deep sea fishing. His regular buddy wasn't available, so he found a random guy to join him instead, and out they went deep sea fishing, when a very large storm, five-day storm broke upon them, and in the midst of the storm, they lost everything. They lost all of their fish, they lost their engines, they lost everything, and they were left drifting. Being lost at sea, They had no options really but to catch raw fish and eat them. Having a lack of water at times, he would drink turtle blood for liquid. Doesn't sound particularly pleasant, I know. Eventually, his fishing buddy Ezekiel died after four months. And after the effects, Jose was asked how he processed all of this. He said about 12 days after the death of his friend, he thought about committing suicide multiple times. 438 days later, he's got the record now for the longest time lost at sea. 438 days later, he washed up on the Marshall Islands. Having traveled, they estimate some 10,000 kilometers. while drifting. And he washed up on a shore, he swam to the edge, he found a house, stumbled in, and he was rescued and brought back home to his family. Apparently his daughter was very excited to see her father again, as you might imagine, after 438 days. What was really striking about all of this was they interviewed him and they asked him what it was that enabled him to keep on keeping on, to not give up, to not quit. And he said it was his Christian faith, his Christian faith that stopped him committing suicide, that kept him with hope. He said Ezekiel gave up hope after about month three. Stopped eating, got sick, and died. Perseverance. It's admirable, isn't it? Don't you want perseverance? Don't you want strength? Don't you want faith to be able to persevere? We all need perseverance, brothers and sisters. The Hebrews needed perseverance. They were tempted to give up, weren't they? It's what we've been looking at now. The Hebrews were tempted to throw it all away because times were too hard. And so the author was writing to them. Actually, we think it was probably a sermon. And so he was preaching to them, seeking to inspire persevering faith, that they wouldn't give up, but they would keep on faithfully walking with the Lord. And so as we've journeyed through this chapter, we've viewed a lot of different people that have done this. And this one is a little bit unique, because in most of them, we've just had positive examples of faith, right? But here, the author gives us a contrast, a contrast between the Israelites and the Egyptians. And he shows us that Israel persevered, they walked by faith, and they lived. But the Egyptians walked by sight and they died. And he sets up this contrast for us to inspire and to encourage in us a persevering faith that would not give up. And so we're going to look at those two things. We're going to look at Israel and the way they had faith and their journey. And then we're going to look at the Egyptians' journey and what happened to them. And then, Lord willing, we'll see if there are some lessons that we can draw together from that. And so the first thing we see is the author tells us in verse 29 that the people, now he actually just says, by faith they crossed, but of course, The previous section highlights that it's Israel we're thinking about here. By faith, Israel crossed the Red Sea as on dry land. That word for dry land means zero moisture, like traveling on a road. You know, you don't want any moisture on your road, right? Otherwise it rots. You wonder where potholes come from. Welcome to moisture. You don't want moisture. And there's no moisture on this journey for them as they travel across. Matthew Henry says of Israel, the grace of faith will help us through all the dangers we meet with on our way to heaven. That's what's going on here. Faith will enable Israel to meet with all of their dangers on the way to their promised land. And they faced some dangers, didn't they? I mean, everything had been going pretty great since the plague started. They had been skipping out on the plagues while Egypt had been suffering under them. Things would be going pretty well. They had plundered Egypt, if you remember. In fact, we're told later on that some people even joined Israel in leaving Egypt. A great host of foreigners were like, this sounds pretty good, I'll follow them. And so there's this great host. We're talking one to 1.2 million people exiting Egypt. Out they go. And they've pillaged, they've taken silver, they've taken gold, they've taken jewelry. But unless we forget, this is not just a bunch of soldiers walking out who are trained for the march, right? There's 70-year-old women. And there's tiny little babies in people's arms. And there's little toddlers. I mean, parents, you know what this is like, right? When you go for a walk with a three-year-old. You're like, I can do it. And you're like, great. Like 10 minutes into the walk, they're like, oh, I'm literally gonna die. And you have to pick up the child and carry them. So you imagine walking in a desert wilderness with 1.2 million people of all kinds. There's gonna be lame people. There's gonna be sick people. I mean, just take 1.2 million people out of Auckland, just a cross-section. Take Manukau, and let's leave together. Imagine the different types of people you'd have to pick up. So just the challenge of actually leaving would have been hard. But now, picture them drawing near to the sea and realizing their problem. Hmm, Moses has led us to a dead end. There's a rocky mountain on one side, a rocky mountain on another side, and a sea. Well, this is helpful, Moses. Thanks very much. This is a lovely promised land. Lots of beautiful scenery here. Thank you so much. It's just lovely. And then they hear the sound, don't they? They hear the sound of marching. troops. They probably heard them before they saw them. They would have heard them, they would have seen the dust rising, and that eventually they would have seen eyes, you know, the eyes upon the shimmering of sunlight upon swords and javelin and spear. They would have heard the stamping of horses and the wheels of chariots as the armies of Egypt, the most sophisticated army upon the face of the planet, rolling straight for a bunch of slaves. They've got nothing. They don't have weaponry. They've never used weaponry. What are they going to do? They're surrounded by death on one side and dead end on the other side. And you hear it in their plea, don't you? Moses, did we not have enough graves in Egypt? I mean, they were burying us in Egypt. Why would you bring us out here? No one's even going to bury us by the time Egypt's through with us. Didn't we tell you? Didn't we tell you? Just leave us alone. At least we've got graves here. Despair, right? Utter despair. And you can sympathize with them, can't you? We love to position ourselves with Moses, don't we? Don't we? We love to stand with Moses and be like, come on, Israel, get your act together. But the reality is we're with Israel, right? I can totally sympathize with the terror of Israel in the moment. Threats on every side, and yet they received a word from the Lord, didn't they? The Lord says, why are you crying? Moses, lift up your arms. Remember what I told you? What had he told them? We read it, remember? I will conquer them. You will never see these people again. I am going to gain victory over them. I am going to establish my glory. You are going to walk through on dry ground and I will gain the victory. They had received this word. That's why God says to them, why are you crying out to me? I already told you what's going to happen. And so they walk up to the sea. Having received this promise, what does Moses do? I mean, it's kind of nuts, right? Hey, Moses, so this is the strategy. I'm going to lead you to the sea. It's going to be a dead end. And then you just kind of raise your staff above the water. And then you're going to walk through the sea. I mean, there's just no logic in that, right? Well, that's just straight up insane. Makes no sense whatsoever. But what does Moses do? He believes the word of God. By faith he acts. By faith he acts, not by sight. He doesn't look at the sea and say this isn't possible. Starves don't split seas. By faith he looks at the ocean and he raises his staff. I don't know how long he raised his staff for. but eventually a strong eastern wind flows through, right? And it begins to open up this channel, begins to open up this valley between them. But now position yourself with the people. I said, we love to position ourself with Moses, position yourself with the people. I mean, let's just imagine for a second, you're a young mom. and you've got a seven-year-old child, and your seven-year-old son comes to you and he says, we're not walking through that, are we? I mean, this water, I can't swim, sounds like a terrible idea. I've been a slave in a slave land. I've never been taught to swim. I am not walking through that thing. What are you doing as mom? God said, we're gonna walk through it. And the kid's like, that's nuts. We're not walking through there. Well, look, I know it sounds insane, but God said, so we're going to walk through there. And we know from later in the story that not everyone believe in God. A bunch of them die because they don't truly believe. So there's going to be a whole bunch of skeptics in the congregation, right? Not all of Israel is true Israel. There's gonna be a bunch of people saying, this is a death penalty. This just, it's a trap. Water's gonna seal us in. I've got too much stuff. Granny can't swim. This is a disaster. But what do the people do? We're told that by faith, they walk into the ocean. Now, I don't know what you picture the scene looks like. And so I thought, how can I help you understand what this looks like? John Owen, one of the commentators, he guesses that the distance they have to travel is around about 33 kilometres across the sea. It takes a long time to walk 33 kilometres, right? The Firth of Thames is 20 kilometers at its widest point. You guys know where the Firth of Thames is across the Coromandel? So if you've ever been there, the other side looks really far away, right? I've canoed on that, I've kayaked on there. I got blown really far away once and had to paddle back. It's a long way to go, I tell you that much. Or if Firth of Thames means nothing to you, 33 kilometers is approximately between us right here and Pocono, bird's eye view. And you've got 1.2 million people And God says to you, I've split all the water, now walk through. Who's game? I mean, it's one thing if you're a hundred meters in, right? Cause you're like, I can swim and come back. You're 15 kilometers into the ocean. What happens if it goes wrong? It's terrifying. How do you persevere to the end? How do you carry on? How do you not give up and turn around and go back again? Actually, I'll just go hand myself into the Egyptians and be a slave. That's a far safer option, right? At least that's guaranteed to life. What do you do? It's only by faith that you walk through that ocean, right? This is why he doesn't say, by faith they entered. By faith they crossed. By faith they got all the way through to the other side. I mean, it's just so hard for us to imagine. But we're told there was a wall of water on their left and right. I mean, did they see stuff in the wall of water? Is there a crocodile? Is there a shark? Who knows what's in there, right? You're seeing rocks. Probably dead fish on the ground. There's all sorts of stuff everywhere. Everything pointing to the fact that this is utterly insane. And yet by faith in the promise of God, they persevered till they got out the other side. John Owen says of this, it was in them a very high act of faith to put themselves between such walls as it were ready in their own nature to fall on them unto their destruction every moment, abiding only under an almighty restraint of God. Picture it. So you're walking through the water. Any second, that water is going to come down on me. It's only God who is holding it up. And it's only by faith that I'm going to walk through this. Believing in what? The Word of God. Because God said, I will lead you through the sea. I will gain victory over your enemies and you will cross on dry ground. That's why they could do it. They had a word from God, brothers and sisters. They did it because they looked to the promised assurance of God as trustworthy in spite of everything before their very eyes. What did they get for it? Life, right? The writer to the Hebrews tells us, by faith the people cross the Red Sea as on dry land. You remember that beautiful moment when they get to the other side? What do they do? They do exactly what you would do. They sing, don't they? Exodus 15, they break out into song. And there's that beautiful picture of Miriam and all the other women grabbing their tambourines and singing it, praising God for He has saved us. He has done gloriously. The horse and the rider have been thrown into the sea. They receive the outcome of their faith, which rests in the promise of God. And there's so many applications that come from this. But we need to consider the other side of the contrast first. You see, because that's only one half of the picture, right? Because the writer to the Hebrews tells us in verse 29 that the Egyptians, when they attempted or when they tested, tried to do the same, were drowned. There's a French theologian, I'm not gonna butcher his name, but he said the following, see how the same waters of baptism, you remember in First Corinthians that Paul refers to crossing the Red Sea as baptism? See how the same waters of baptism are for the salvation of some and for the destruction of the forces of evil. Same water, right? Same sea, same ground. Two drastically different outcomes. I mean, you can imagine the logic of Egypt. Remember, this crossing has been going all night. I mean, it takes a long time to walk 33 kilometers, right? So they've been kept back by the cloud and the pillar of fire the whole time. They're jumping at the bit. No pun intended with their horses. They're ready to go. They're wanting to go and destroy them. And all of a sudden the fire lifts up. And what do they see? Out the other side, they can see just in the distance, Israel still crossing through the sea. Maybe the last sort of five, 10 kilometers, there's the slow ones at the back end. And they're slowly making their way out the far side. And they see, and what do they see? They see dry ground. The water hasn't collapsed. They see dry ground. And so you can imagine the logic of the Egyptians, right? Well, they did it. It worked fine for them. And they look with their eyes and they say, hey, Israel did it. I can do it. And off they go. And they've got all of the perfect reasoning lying before them. But not only do they have good reasoning, they've got bloodthirsty passion, don't they? They're driven by their lust for destruction and death. There is no fear for them of the waters. There is no fear for them of the judgment of God, because all they care about is consuming the people of God, no matter the cost. And so, they charge in. And you can just imagine Pharaoh going first, can't you? This pride and arrogance, this hatred of God's people leading the charge. And in go the chariots, and in go the horse riders, and in go the marching soldiers, and everyone travels in. You know, maybe they get 15 kilometers across and you hear that beautiful word in Exodus that reminds you of the Tower of Babel. You remember the Tower of Babel where it says that God came down and looked at this tiny tower that they were building? It tells us that the Lord looked down from the cloud and the fire. He looked down upon them. What are you doing? What are you doing, Egypt? Let's deal with this problem, the Lord says. It's somewhere between 2 and 6 a.m., that's the first watch. It's very early morning. And as we read earlier, those walls which were abiding only by an almighty restraint collapse. And in the blink of an eye, the entire Egyptian army is dead. Not one of them survived, we're told. Why? Is it because they were worse people than Israel? Is it because Israel was more righteous, more godly? No. Remember those words that the Lord says of Israel, when you come into the promised land and you receive vineyards and when you receive fruit trees that you didn't work for and things you did not plant, do not say to yourselves, is it because of my righteousness that I have received this? But it is only because I have chosen you for my namesake. Egypt is not cast down because they're more godless. They are cast down because they did not have a word nor faith in a promise of God. That's why the walls didn't stay up. Because without faith and without promise and without assurance, there is no hope from the judgment of God. but we remain in our sin. And so Matthew Pooley says this, he says, in the meantime, the Egyptians with their king, pursuing Israel for their ruin, find their own. For presumptuously adventuring to pursue them through this miraculous space, guided by sense and not by faith, and thinking to pass as safe as Israel," hear this, when they had no word for it. God troubles them. by his angels in their motion. He makes them drive heavily, and having brought them into his pit in the midst of the channel, the crystal walls dissolve, and the waters returning to their fluid nature quickly overwhelmed and swallowed up all that host, so as not one of these unbelieving, presumptuous, persecuting wretches escaped. It's an ominous picture, isn't it? The book of Exodus tells us that they saw the Egyptians wash up on the shore. Can you place yourself in Israel? Place yourself in Israel again. You're sitting there on the other side and you see Pharaoh's dead body in the shallows. That could have been me, right? That should have been me. Here we run into the applications, the uses, the lessons that come from this story and from this text. You know, there's an immense lesson about our salvation in this, isn't there? There is no hope from the judgment of God outside of the revealed salvation of God. There is one place to find the salvation offered to us and it's in this word. This book, brothers and sisters, contains the hope for the world. Do you want your loved ones? Do you want your friends? Do you want this world to escape the sea of God's judgment? Take them to the book. There's nowhere else to take them because outside of the promise of God of eternal life, there is only damnation. This is why, as we saw last week, that Lazarus can't go back. And Abraham says, they've got Moses and the prophets, right? Because the scriptures declare the salvation of God for the nations. So don't be afraid. Don't be timid. Take up the word. I can't tell you how many times people say to me, how do I evangelize my friend? How do I evangelize my loved one? Take up the book and read. It's the greatest thing you can do for your loved ones. For those you care about, sit down with them and say, you know, you've got a million different objections and I probably can only answer one of them. how about we just sit down and open this book and read it? Let's get together for a coffee once a week and we'll read the gospel of Mark. You know, when we send out missionaries, when we send out ministers, when we send out church planters, when we look for elders and deacons, when we send out Christians into their workplaces, into their homes, what we send them with is the word of life. Do you remember that wonderful picture in Pilgrim's Progress? What's Pilgrim doing when he gets saved, when his eyes get opened? He's reading a book, right? And the world is telling him to put the book away, get rid of the book, it's not good for you, get rid of that book, get rid of the book. And what does he do? He sticks his fingers in his ears, he takes up his book, and he runs for his life, shouting, life, life, eternal life. Because there's no other place to look but the word of God, because the word of God gives you your savior. He presents you Jesus. Sixty-six beautiful books presenting us with a glorified Savior. Second lesson, there's a lesson here about the enemies of God's people. It can feel overwhelming sometimes, can't it, when you look around the world? When you read the stories of Nigerians being killed and Chinese Christians in the west of China being locked up and imprisoned and tortured and Christians in various countries suffering and when we see governments and institutions which labor and labor and labor to minimize the Church of Christ and to silence its witness can be overwhelming when we're surrounded by enemies of God's people Brothers and sisters, the same God who destroyed Egypt is still alive today. And with a simple glance down from a cloud can bring the enemies of God's people to nothing. Do not fret over God's enemies. their rage may continue. But remember in that wonderful hymn of Luther, how many words will fell them? Just one. Just one word will fell him. God has no competition. I know sometimes it is so tempting, it is so tempting for us to view the world like a duality. What I mean by that is that there's sort of God and there's Satan, and they're two equal enemies who are fighting one another. There is but one God, and he has no rivals. There will come a day of judgment upon the enemies of God. And in the meantime, we can patiently endure and persevere under all of their wrath, under all of their rage, under all of their anger and hatred. But there's one more. Well, there's many, but we'll do one more. And that is that there is only one means to walk through this life in all of the storms and trials and difficulties and pains. Do you remember what Matthew Henry said in the beginning? The grace of faith will help us through all the dangers we meet with on our way to heaven. You will not endure the sea, the red sea of life, by being extra holy. You will not endure the Red Sea of life by trying harder. You will only endure the tumultuous waters of the sea by faith in the revelation of God. Because when push comes to shove, when all of your hopes and stays have been removed, there is only one solid rock you can stand upon, right? Where else are you going to look? Everything else is sinking sand. John Brown. said really beautifully, faith in the revelation of salvation from guilt and depravity, death and hell will enable the Christian to perform all the duties and endure all the difficulties that are involved in obtaining complete possession of the salvation and will in due time bring him into the enjoyment of all its blessings in all their perfection. You know, two peoples both walked into the Red Sea, right? Only one came out. Because they walked by faith and not sight. And so if you forget absolutely everything else that I've said today, Remember this one simple fact. It is only by faith that you will persevere to the end. And we're not talking 438 days in the ocean. We're talking to glory. Don't look to anything else but faith, brothers and sisters. And may God grant us to persevere. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you have given us a hope and a stay with which to walk and live. We pray that you would save us from the floodwaters of this world, from the Egyptians, and that you would deliver us safe and secure to Canaan, to our promised land, to the Lord Jesus Christ. We look to him, for we know that he is our only solid rock. By faith, Lord, grant us to persevere, that you might be glorified in us, and we in you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.