Who is Lord?

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WHO IS LORD?

Exodus 14

Who is Lord?

Exodus 14 is the final contest between the LORD and Pharaoh –

-The question on the table throughout Exodus has been – “Who is the true God?”

-Is Pharaoh God? He thinks so!

-He makes decisions that affect life and death…

-He holds the Israelites in captivity and harshly abuses them…

-Or is the God of the Hebrews, the LORD, the true God?

-The God who appeared to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob so long ago…

-The God of Joseph, the one responsible for saving the family from

starvation…

-Who is God?

-Who is Lord?

-Who has authority over the people?

-Who is really in control?

-And not only a matter of power but also of care and compassion –

-Who proves their love for the people?

-Who are the people better off with?

I say “final contest” but it hasn’t been much of a contest!

-It has been a total rout! And it’s going to get even worse!

Pharaoh makes one last attempt to play god over the Israelites –

-He regrets his decision to let them go and pursues after them to bring them back –

-The LORD God isn’t merely greater than Pharaoh, He owns Pharaoh!

-The LORD is absolutely sovereign over Pharaoh – as He is all things!

-14:4 – “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’.”

Read Exodus 14:5-31

Pray

1 – The Stubborn Problem of Sin – vs. 1-9

-Pharaoh and the Egyptian army are and example of the stubborn problem of sin –

-Just imagine being an Israelite…

-You have experienced the generational misery of slavery –

-You cry out to God who hears your cries and send a deliverer!

-You see the mighty power of God; are saved by the blood of the lamb!

-You leave Egypt victoriously!

-Then, on the horizon, you see a cloud of dust – What’s that?

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-vs. 6-7 – “So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him and

took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with

officers over all of them.”

-All the chariots of the Egyptian army including 600 “super chariots.”

-And the people initially respond like slaves, not a victorious and redeemed people –

-Look at their response in verses 10-12 –

-Did they really say, “Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians”?

-Not at first! – (see 5:29-31)

- You can take the people out of slavery but it’s hard to take the slavery out of the

people!

-So, Pharaoh and the Egyptians aren’t giving up without a fight!

-This is s vivid illustration of the way sin is –

-Sin is our natural master –

-We are spiritually born into the slavery of sin.

-There’s a least four chains to this slavery –

-One – The legal guilt of sin –

-We have broken God’s law and stand condemned before God and

therefore under His wrath.

-Christ breaks this chain and gives us full redemption – there is

therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ!

-Two – A guilty conscience –

-What is true objectively we feel subjectively, and that subjective feeling is

a guilty conscience –

-Three – A sin nature –

-This is inherited from our spiritual father, Adam.

-We are naturally self-seeking, self-centered, self-exalting.

-We have a natural taste for sin and not righteousness.

-This is why sin becomes habituated, controlling, and enslaving.

-Four – An idolatrous heart –

-God made us to worship but instead of worshipping God we worship

created things.

-Instead of loving God we love the wrong things.

-We set our hope and try to find satisfaction in the wrong things.

-Our naturally hearts love idols…

-And never forget, sin is deceiving!

-In their fearful, slave-like reaction, they think Pharaoh and Egypt are bigger and

better than God!

-Bigger than God (Ex. 14) – Look at that army! We’re going to die!

-Better than God (Ex. 16) – We had it so good in Egypt!

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-But we have the record – we know what is true!

-While Jesus redeems us and in redeeming us breaks all the chains of sin, Pharaoh and

his army remind us of the stubborn problem of sin!

2 – The Amazing Grace of God’s Deliverance – vs. 10-14

-God rescues His redeemed people!

-And the way the LORD rescues His redeemed people illustrates to us the

amazing grace of His deliverance.

-So, what are the people to do? How does God bring deliverance?

-vs. 13, 14 – “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.’”

-See it clearly –

-See the salvation of the LORD which He will work!

-The LORD will fight for you!

-Who’s doing the heavy lifting? Who’s the only one lifting?

-What is their part?

-Stop fearing, stand firm (still), and see the salvation of the LORD!

-You have only to be silent.

-And what does God do?

-First, His pillar of cloud and fire to protect them –

-This part isn’t often seen, but God protected them for a day and

night…(vs. 19, 20)

-Then, He divides the sea, and they cross over on dry ground –

-They cross over by grace!

-What God was requiring of them was faith –

-Standing, seeing and being silent are faith responses.

-They are crossed over by grace through faith –

-Some might have had great faith, others small faith, but they still crossed

over because of God’s grace.

-The object of faith is always more important that the amount of faith.

-Ill.

3 – The Necessary Work of a Mediator – vs. 15-31

-What’s the difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites?

-The Israelites are better than the Egyptians?

-The Israelites are morally superior to the Egyptians?

-The difference is the Israelites have Moses and the Egyptians don’t!

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-We see in the story how Moses stretches out his hands and the waters part and then

stretches them out again and the waters collapse on Pharaoh and his army.

-Moses was truly identified with the people –

-We saw this at the beginning of the Exodus story.

-Moses was clearly chosen and called by God to represent God’s Word to the

people.

-Moses is the mediator – the man in the middle.

-vs. 30, 31 – “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.”

-While Moses was clearly God’s man and the mediator between God and man in the

Exodus – we know and believe in a greater Moses!

-Hosea 11:1 – “When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I called by

son.”

-This is a clear reference to the Exodus.

-Matthew 2:14,15 – “And he rose and took the child and his mother my night and

departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill

what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”

-Hosea looks back to Exodus then connects it to Jesus –

From Exodus 14 to You

1 – Are you in need of redemption?

2 – Who are you helping in their journey to freedom?