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[0:00] Good morning. What a beautiful morning, what beautiful weather, and what a beautiful day, just to know that we have an opportunity to meet together and to come around God's Word and that will speak to us. Today, we are going to look at a sight for sore eyes as we continue traveling with Israel through their journey to the promised land. They've come across the way of the wilderness across the Sinai Peninsula. A sight for sore eyes, that idea of finally realizing or seeing something that you've longed to see, whether that is a place, a person, or whatever. You know, the picture I have, if you're wandering through the desert and there's the oasis, man, that is a sight for sore eyes.

[0:42] So we've left Egypt and come with Israel across the way of the wilderness, across the Sinai Peninsula, and then God told them to kind of take that turn. What may look like a wrong turn if you were just heading across the peninsula? You wanted to get to Mount Sinai there over on the east side of the Bay of Aquaba, of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aquaba, I'm sorry. And then God says, we'll take a turn.

[1:05] Turn this direction. And we know that that led Israel down through this, what's called a wadi, but down through these caverns, these channels that were cut by the water, by the runoff, and they end up at this plain, essentially, this massive plain, the Nuwabi Beach, as it's called, the only spot along the entire coastline here where you could fit a few million people. And there they end up at the mouth of this gully, the mouth of this wadi. And they're sitting there. And what may, at that moment for them, looked like a sight for sore eyes. Like, we've been wandering through this desert, you know, for days.

[1:47] We've come down through this channel, and left and right, and all over the place, and cut back, and there's no way where to camp. And it must have been a sight for sore eyes to see that, to see the water open up in front of them. 1 Corinthians 2.9 says, But as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. We can see something and think, well, this is it. This, God, this is exactly what you had planned. We're gonna have a little vacation here by the sea, and then we're just gonna continue on our journey. But it has not yet entered into our eyes we haven't seen, we haven't heard, and we haven't understood in our hearts. There's no way we can comprehend what God has put in front of us, what God is planning, what he has already prepared for those who love him.

[2:36] It's never anything that's going to be harmful, destructive, or negative in our lives, in our relationship with the Lord. Now, in the moment, it may look harmful, destructive, and negative in the way it plays out. Having the entire army of Egypt at your back, well, that seems very negative. There's great potential for harm and destruction. But we know Jeremiah 29 11 says that I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope, or an expected end, an end that God expects and will come. We saw that victory, it's never a matter of power, but of presence. And as God tasks his people with the impossible, we've got up to verse 23, I believe. Israel is in the face of the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptians behind them.

[3:25] God has tasked them with the impossible, but by asking them to do the possible. He said, hey, walk forward. Do your part. Moses, stretch out your hand, verse 21, over the sea and cause the sea to go back.

[3:37] God's deliverance is completely disproportionate to Moses's obedience. Moses obeys, and then the miraculous happens. God's presence there did three things. It performed a miracle, it prepared a way, and it protected them from the enemy. God's presence moved from in front of Israel and moved around behind to protect them from the enemy. God's presence there said to Moses, hey, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to prepare a way for you, and I'm going to do it by this miraculous event.

[4:07] Psalm 139, verse 5, David writes, thou hast beset me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. And this is the picture we get here of God's presence with Israel. He was in front of them, and he goes behind to protect from the enemy, but he's with them. He's speaking to Israel.

[4:25] I mean, God did everything here for Israel except bodily carry them. He says, listen, all you need to do is just walk. I'm protecting you from the enemy. I've opened a way before you. Just walk.

[4:40] Psalm 66, 6 says, he turned the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on foot. There did we rejoice in them, in him. They still had to walk. As amazing as all of that was, they still had to walk forward. But make no bones about it. This was a miraculous event. This wasn't just like, what a coincidence. The sea opened up. Let's just walk through. What is a miracle? A miracle is divine intervention altering the natural course of events for the accomplishing of the purposes and plans of God. It's divine intervention altering what would have just been a natural course of events, but for what reason? Did God just want to do a miracle and say, isn't that exciting? I bet you didn't expect that.

[5:23] Hey, you know, Jesus turned the water into wine. Well, this will blow their minds. No, it's to accomplish the purpose and plans of God. When God steps in to alter the natural miraculously, which to us is, this is a miracle. It's to alter the purpose. It's for accomplishing the purposes and plans of God.

[5:41] And it's God that does it, right? This is not Moses. I liked this one, right? Moses's first try. Hang on, guys. I went the wrong direction, right? But Moses had nothing to do with it. There was no trying on Moses's part. Moses's part was just stand there, bro, with your hand up. There was no way he could fail if he just did what God said to do. He couldn't get it wrong. Oh, I hit the wrong button.

[6:05] Hang on, guys. It didn't work. I prayed the wrong prayer. I knew it. It doesn't work that way. The Lord caused the sea to roll back. The Lord caused a wind to blow. The Lord caused the sea to be dry, the bed of the sea to be dry. And the Lord divided the water. He did it all. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea, verse 22 in chapter 14, upon the dry ground. And the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And as we said, those 10 plagues that God had brought upon Egypt, remember, there's Israel in the land of Goshen. And there's flies in Egypt, but not in Goshen. It's dark in Egypt, but not in Goshen. There's hail coming down, but God's people are protected. God had prepared them to walk forward into the midst of an impossibility.

[6:52] They have seen what God could do. They were ready for this. God didn't just say, hey, I'm going to take you out of Egypt and plunk them down by the Red Sea and say, now walk across. He'd prepared them for this. Israel experienced the miraculous, but they did so by the most natural of means.

[7:10] Here's this miracle that God opens a way forward, divides the sea. And he says, follow, obey, believe, and walk. And you'll walk right through a miracle. And I hope you've experienced that. I hope you've experienced where you realize you're in the middle of a miracle. You realize you're in the middle of God doing something that you didn't have your hand in, that this shouldn't have happened this way.

[7:32] The natural course of events, whether he's providing through his provision financially, or whether it's a sickness or whatever it is, or man, that car should have hit me. It like literally just went right through my, how'd that happen? And that you realize I'm in the middle of God stepping in and doing something that's outside the natural. And how did you experience that?

[7:51] Did you start to glow or vibrate or, you know? No, it's the most natural thing. You just continue to follow, to obey, believe, but you have to walk. Imagine if God opens the way and the enemy's behind being protected. And he says, go forward. And they said, nope, not going to do it. What would have happened? Will they still be there? God wasn't gonna be like tough and kick them down into the Red Sea. They had to walk forward. God tasks us with the impossible by asking us to do the possible.

[8:20] So if they crossed here from the Nuebe beach across to the Saudi Arabian side, if they went across, I mean, you know, it sounds good to teach it. It sounds good to read it. It looked real good in Sunday school and a little like flannel graph and things when they put it up there and they show the Red Sea, you pull the Red Sea off and you put that one up where it's divided. I mean, yeah, okay.

[8:38] But is it possible? Is this miracle possible? Is there evidence of it? So if you look at a topographic map of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aquabot, it's turned on the side so you can see it. North would be that way. But you can see I have an arrow pointing to the Nuebe beach. So the red is the shallowest and then it increases in depth as you go through yellow and green and teal and blue.

[9:05] And so you can see there's some pretty deep areas. There's a very deep area to the south and to the north. But right there at the Nuebe beach, it kind of gets shallower. There's like this rise right there.

[9:17] If we look at a side cut of that elevation, you're talking about an 800 foot drop across 10 miles to the center of the Red Sea right here. The slope, the rise over run, the percent of that is about five to 10 percent. Eight percent slope is code for handicap ramps or on ramps for cars.

[9:42] So you're talking possibly less to not much more than going down this long gradual slope and up the other side, 10 miles. There's a very old poor man's LIDAR view of what it might look like.

[9:55] It just looks like a flat line, but you don't see much of a dip. But there is. You're talking going down 800 foot drop from down to the side, but across 10 miles. You say, well, God, could God do this?

[10:05] God had prepared it. You see, when we look at the world around us, we don't look at God's word in light of the world around us. I don't know. Could that happen? I mean, God's word says that, but I don't really know. Can that actually happen in my life? No, we let God's word inform our view of the world around us.

[10:22] God's world shapes reality. God's word has shaped creation, and it's still doing it. The things he's prepared for you and I, he has shaped creation and reality to match the things he's prepared for us.

[10:34] We hit them sometimes. We're like, oh, this is a miracle. God's like, no, this is right on schedule on my planner. This is exactly what's supposed to happen. I've created this situation specifically and so yes, yes, as they sit there on that beach, the only one that can hold a million some people, God has created this pathway forward for them. Verse 23, and the Egyptians then, well, they pursued, and they went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. The word pursued there means to persecute, means to harass, to follow closely, as in to come from behind. They're persecuting them. They're harassing them. Egypt went in because God drew them in. Psalm 37, verse 14 says, the wicked have drawn out the sword. They've bent the bow to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation, like they are poised to attack. The sword's out, the bow's drawn, releasing the arrow, we'll get the kill, striking with the sword. But then there, verse 15, their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. God will use the pursuit of the enemy, as the enemy pursues God's people, God will use that to prove his people, to prove their faith, and to prove his power.

[11:58] In Psalm 143, we read, for the enemy has persecuted my soul. He has smitten my life down to the ground.

[12:08] He's made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsts after thee, as a thirsty land. As Moses, I thought of like stretching forth his hand.

[12:21] The enemy's persecuting. The enemy's hot on us. The enemy's pressing in. But what do we do? We stretch forth our hands unto the Lord. In verse 8, cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning.

[12:32] For in you do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk. Open that path before me, God. For I lift up my soul unto you. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. I flee unto you to hide me.

[12:45] As the enemy is pursuing, is persecuting, is being drawn in to come against God's people. Well, what's our cry? God, I lift up my hand to you. Protect me. Make a way forward. What is our part?

[13:00] Our part is to simply walk forward in the path that God either has or will open for us. Just walk forward in what is open for us. What does he call you to do? And just lift it up. Just lift up your hand to me. Faith always moves forward. Remember when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he comes down. All the rest of the apostles are down there. He's got, you know, he's got the Peter, James, and John. He's got the special class with him. Couldn't trust them to be alone.

[13:28] Boys, you come with me. The rest are down there and the people are with him. And he comes down and they come to him. They say, hey, there's this dad with a demon-possessed son. We tried to cast him out. We couldn't. I mean, before you would send us out to cast out demons when you sent us out to preach the gospel. And it worked. It didn't work this time. Why not? And Jesus says, because of your unbelief, for truly I say unto you, if you have faith as the grain of a mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove. Nothing shall be impossible for you. What's he saying? Well, I need to just, you know, again, do the miraculous for the sake of the miraculous. Be gone mountain. No, but as you progress forward, and there's a mountain in front of you, or there's a sea in front of you, there's an impossibility.

[14:11] He says, man, it only takes a little bit of faith, a little bit of faith to keep going. And sometimes, sometimes there's truths you just don't want to bring out. Sometimes God allows the pursuit of the enemy to keep us moving forward in faith. Sometimes we wouldn't move forward if it wasn't the fact that God allows the enemy to pursue us. Israel's on the Red Sea. They're sitting on that beach. And God says, go forward. And they say, yeah, right. They say, well, Moses, lift up your rod.

[14:40] And the sea parts. And he says, now go forward. They look behind him, and they look forward. You know what, Lord? I think we're going to go back up the way we came and just go around the north end of the Bay of Aquaba. I'm not going forward. But God opened a way. Well, how do I know it's going to stay open? What if I get halfway through and something goes wrong? What if I think a bad thought in the middle of the sea, you know, if I lose my faith in the middle of this journey, maybe it's all going to come crashing down on me. So God brings the enemy. He says, go forward.

[15:07] Okay, we'll go forward. Sometimes God allows the pursuit of the enemy to keep us moving forward in faith. Why? Because the defeat and destruction of the enemy would only be realized as God's people continue to walk forward. If they didn't walk forward, that enemy would never have been defeated.

[15:25] God will use that. James chapter 4, verses 7 and 8 says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. So there you see, as the enemy comes in, what does it do? Oh, it's causing me to draw near to God. I draw near to God and say, God, would you deliver me from this situation? Deliverance is a process. It's a process of progress and pursuit. We progress in the Lord as the enemy pursues. We pursue the Lord, the enemy progresses behind us. Deliverance is a process of progress and pursuit.

[16:03] Jesus, in Luke chapter 9, verse 51, tells us that it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He knew what that meant. He knew where the enemy was pressing in, but he knew that as I continue to walk forward, this will be the defeat of the enemy. No matter how fearful or how unfamiliar or how unbelievable our circumstances, we must always continue to move forward along the path that God opens for us. No matter how unfamiliar, how fearful, or unbelievable, the door that God opens in front of us, we must continue forward on the path God creates for us. And it came to pass that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud and troubled the host of the Egyptians.

[16:53] Egypt is in big trouble. When God decides to trouble you, you're in big trouble. God sees everything in its proper time and its proper perspective. The only way for us to view the enemy is also from that same perspective, in the light of God's presence. You know, where it says that God looked, the wording literally is to like lean out, look over, and look down. So it's kind of like Israel's like, you know, it's the enemy. The Lord's like, where? Oh, fuck. It's just, it's nothing to him.

[17:24] But you also realize the wording here indicates that where is God's presence? Now, how many of you have seen the Ten Commandments with Charles and Heston? Okay, right. So in that, when the pillar of fire and the cloud moves behind Israel, supposedly, they just make it like lightning, shooting at the horse's feet of chariots, and they kind of hold back.

[17:41] And then all of a sudden, the lightning stops, and they charge forward into the Red Sea after Israel. But the indication here is God's presence is still between Israel and their enemy. So as Israel moves down into the Red Sea, they are in the light of God's presence. Behind them, Egypt's in darkness.

[17:59] God's presence then is that last person, as that last straggler, which wasn't the last person to get here. No. But as that last person goes in, God's presence continues with them to go down into the Red Sea.

[18:11] And at some point, either in the morning or whenever here, the darkness is dispelled, and Pharaoh and his army looks and says, oh my word, because it's darkness to them. The sea's divided, and there's Israel in the midst of the sea. And they go charging after them. God now turns, and behind, right, here's the pillar of fire, and here's the cloud, and God looks through that and sees Egypt. Psalm 89, beginning in verse 13, says, you have a mighty arm. Strong is your hand, and high is your right hand. Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne. Mercy and truth shall go before your face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. On Israel's side, as the Hebrews progress, they're in the light of God's presence. On the other side, the Egyptians are in the darkness. At some point, they're able to see, and they move forward. And here now is the moment of the enemy's greatest attack. God has held them off. Israel has come from Egypt. Through all of those plagues, Egypt's never attacked them. And now at this moment, the moment that Israel had a chance to be free, here comes the enemy's greatest attack. But it's also his greatest defeat, isn't it?

[19:22] In Acts chapter 2, Peter is preaching his sermon after Pentecost. He begins to speak of Jesus, and he says, this Jesus, being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by wicked hands of crucified and slain. At that moment of the enemy's greatest attack, he says, I got him. I'm going to bring him down into death.

[19:48] whom God has raised up. Jesus, he's raised up. Having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. At the moment of the enemy's greatest attack, it's also the moment of his greatest defeat. Why does God allow the enemy to pursue? So that you can see God get victory over the enemy. So that you can see in that moment of God's, of the enemy's greatest attack, my God's bigger than that. And Isaiah 59, 19, it says, So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun.

[20:19] When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. As the enemy comes in like a flood, all of Pharaoh's horsemen and chariot, hundreds of them, hundreds of chariots coming down that slope after Israel. And the idea of God raising up a standard, it's a military term. You're raising up a standard to fight against them. And in verse 25, what does he do? Remember he told Israel, he told the Hebrews, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He didn't say, all right, guys, turn around, men at the back, let the women and children go first and be prepared to face the enemy. He didn't do that. He didn't send a bunch of lightning bolts down. And this is what I mean, that picture of God looked, he kind of leans out and looks and goes, oh, I can take care of that. He just sends an angel and says, hey, just pull their wheels off.

[21:07] And he took off their chariot wheels that they drave them heavily. Yeah, I bet. So the Egyptians said, let us flee from the face of Israel. God stopped the enemy in their tracks.

[21:19] He stopped them cold. God stopped the enemy's pursuit, their power and their progress. Enemy was pursuing his people. And in a moment, God stopped that. Stop their power. What was the power of Egypt? It was these chariots, these chariots. No one was going to stand against these chariots. And God just took away their power, their source of power. And he stopped their progress.

[21:40] The enemy would go no further. He turned them back. We all know this verse. Romans 8 31. What shall we then say to these things? What do we say to these things? If you're the Hebrews, if you're in the back and you turn and you look and you just all see all of a sudden all the chariot wheels go whomp. What can we say to this? As the wall of water on one side and the wall on the other. God's presence by fire and by cloud. Moses going in front, up that slope, seeing the front half of the millions of people leaving. What can we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? The battle is the Lord's and the victory is ours. 1 Corinthians 15 57. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. For the Egyptians' understanding came too late.

[22:31] At this moment, they realized, uh-oh, let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Understanding came too late. They were also in the same place as Israel. They were in the place of deliverance. They were in God's presence. But what was the difference? Man, the difference was who they followed and on which side of that presence they were on. That's going to make all the difference for you and I and for this world. Well, who did you follow? Who did you choose to follow? Where are you in relation to God's presence? And the Lord said unto Moses, all right, Moses, you did this once. You did a good job. I'm sure you can do it again. Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. Moses had been told before, stretch out your hand. Just stand there, Moses. Just stay there. In Ephesians 6 13, we're told to take unto you the whole armor of God, though you may be able to battle the enemy. Yes. No. You may be able to withstand the evil day. God's armor is to equip us for standing. And having done all, he repeats it again. Stand. But I want to go fight. No, you don't. Just stand. Moses had a part to play, right? We have a part to play. We have a part to play in victory, to receive it. Well, we also have a part to play in the defeat of the enemy. And it's not to battle them. That's God's part.

[24:00] What was Moses' part? Moses, I want you to stretch out your hand. Moses, you need to stand. Right here, Moses. Stand still. Stand there over the Red Sea and raise up your hand. Moses, you need to obey me.

[24:13] Moses couldn't do this if he's in, well, I'm going to go lay down in my tent, Lord. I don't want to do this right now. You need to obey. Well, can we do something different? We just did the same thing on the other side of the Red Sea. It always seems to be the same thing with you, Lord.

[24:27] You need to stay there. How long? Well, we said it before, until God accomplishes his purpose. He needed to stay there. And he needed to watch. He needed to see the salvation of the Lord. God's ability to work in our lives and to work in this world, it's not dependent upon man.

[24:45] But his ability, though, to work through man is dependent upon us. God's ability to work is not dependent upon man. But if he's going to work through us, his ability to work through me, that is dependent upon me. Remember in Esther, when the Syrians are wanting to, or Haman goes to the king of Syria and says, hey, let's put all the Jews to death. And they make this law. And Mordecai, Esther's cousin, who's raised her, Esther's been chosen as queen over this nation. Nobody knows she's a Jew. And he says, hey, you need to go in and you need to plead for your people. And then he says this, he says, for if you all together hold your peace at this time, then shall deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. Then he says, but destruction will come upon your family. Who knows if you've been brought to the kingdom for such a time as this. Matthew 13 58 tells us that Jesus, when he went to his hometown of Nazareth, he didn't do many mighty works there. Why? Well, because he wasn't very powerful. He was having an off day. No, because there was no needs. Everybody in his hometown was good because he grew up in hell. Because of their unbelief, Jesus was present.

[26:03] Jesus's power was present. The word of God was there. And what held him up? Their unbelief. Moses, I need you in this moment. I need you to stand, to obey, to stay there and just watch what I'm going to do. But I need you to do that, Moses. Because if you don't, I can't deliver these people.

[26:23] God has put you and me and people's lives to stand there, to obey him, to stay there. There's people I work with that sometimes I don't want to stand there and stay there.

[26:35] Oh. And then to watch what he's going to do on behalf of that person. You know, there's been times where I'm like, Lord, why am I here? These people don't listen to me. Not you guys. I mean, in where I work. He's like, because if you're not here, who's going to pray for them? It's like, oh, wow. Oh, who's going to pray for these men? Who's going to pray for these people? Just stand there and watch what I'm going to do. So Moses did. And he stretches forth his hand over the sea.

[27:04] And the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared. So remember, it said that God blew the wind all that night, rolling back the sea. And so now the morning has come. Israel has made it through, through the night, going down and coming up into the morning. And the Egyptians fled against it.

[27:24] You know, Israel crossed from the west side to the east side, didn't they? Egypt's down in, looking up. And as the sun rises in the east, what are they looking into? And they're looking into the sun. The sun, the brightness of the sun shining down in them. Moses is lifting up his staff. The sun shining into the water as those walls of water begin to crash in on them. And the Egyptians fled against it. And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And Moses said, look what I did, guys. Don't mess with me or I'm going to get you in my staff, right? No, that's what my mom said when she spanked me. No, she didn't spank me every day. I actually talked to her and she's like, I did not do that every day. Like, well, I just felt like it. I just deserved it.

[28:13] In Hebrews 2.14, we read that Jesus, through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. At the place of the deliverance of God's people, at the place of deliverance, the enemy was defeated. Those two things you wouldn't think would go together like that. That Jesus would hang upon a cross, that the enemy would get the victory, you would think.

[28:35] The enemy's strongest attack. And he said, well, yes, through death, that he might destroy the power of death, that is the devil. Israel went into the water with enemies, but they came up free, didn't they?

[28:51] The only path forward was for God's people to go down and to come up again. Romans 6.4, therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ, baptism is not the actual event of being buried with Jesus into death. It is not actually, well, if I'm not baptized, I can't be born again. It is like, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. It is just simply an act of obedience. It's the same with communion. You know, there's nothing spiritual about those little, you know, clear cups and the wafer and the juice. But there is something spiritual about obeying the Lord, about of responding to his word and say, all right, you know what, Lord? I'm okay. You just want me to stand here on my staff?

[29:39] All right. You want me to do this in remembrance of you? I will. There is something spiritual about obeying God and going down into baptism and coming up in newness of life, recognizing this is who I am now.

[29:49] If you've not been baptized or would like to be baptized, it's getting into warmer weather, we could set up, you know, a baptism. I was just looking. It's a really great spot out there for it.

[30:02] But God's people, the only path forward for them was to go down and to come up. Who went down into the sea? He had God's people. He had God's enemies. And like we said, he had God himself who went down with his people. He didn't just hop to the other side. He didn't say, well, Israel, you go through there. I'll meet you on the other side. And who came up again? God's people and God's presence. God overthrew his enemy in the night and victory came in the morning and the enemy was no more. It was just the presence of God and his people. The word there to overthrow, I love it.

[30:35] It means to shake off, like kind of like shake something off. And I think of when Paul was bitten by the viper. Remember when he's on the island of Miletus after the shipwreck and he's there and he's like throwing wood on the fire and a viper grabs him, it says, and all the natives looked at him like whether he would swell up and die. And when he didn't, they, well, at first they said, well, he must be a criminal because, you know, karma got him, but then he didn't die. Well, he must be a God. It's one or the other, right? But it says he just shook it off into the fire. It makes me think in Genesis chapter three, when God is coming after the fall and he's pronouncing the curse upon, of the effect of sin upon the enemy, upon the serpent, upon man and upon woman. And he says, I'll put enmity between you and the woman speaking to the serpent and between your seed and her seed.

[31:19] It will bruise your head. The seed will, singular, bruise the serpent's head, will crush his head, literally, and you will bruise his heel. So the viper bites the heel, it's like, ow, and he just goes, pop, and just crushes it. And Jesus did that on the cross. He took the venom, he took the bite, the viper, the venom went into him, but then he, boom, crushed that serpent.

[31:41] Psalm 30, verse three says, oh Lord, that was brought up my soul from the grave. That was kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, oh you saints of his, give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, for his anger endures but a moment, and his favor is life.

[31:58] Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning, as Israel in that morning would turn and see their enemy gone. And the waters, verse 28, returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as one of them. And dare I say, there also was not one of the Israelites who was caught in that flood.

[32:24] Wasn't like, hey guys, have you seen Bob? Oh shoot, I shouldn't have lifted up my hand too soon. No, we lost him. Well, hope he's a good swimmer. No, both deliverance and defeat are all-encompassing.

[32:37] Right? God is not going to lose any that he's delivered. And he's also not going to let any of his enemy escape. Romans 23, we know, says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

[32:50] Man, sin is all-encompassing. That defeat is all-encompassing, but so is the victory. Being justified freely for all, for any who would receive it by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 11, 32 tells us that God has concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. All go down so that all might come up. But the children of Israel, in contrast to Pharaoh and his horsemen who were swept away, 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 hand. Psalm 25, 15 says, my eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. As Israel just continued to walk forward, one step after another. Man, sometimes we wish God would just pick us up and carry us to the other side of this. How come I have to go down into this? Why can't I just jump to the other side? Can't we go around it? Can we do anything? Can we go upstream and build some boats?

[33:48] I don't really want to go down into this. Can we run? Can we run? I mean, well, we could, but the scripture says God gently leads those that are with young. And here you have flocks and herds and young and old. And Noah just going to walk through this one step at a time. We made it halfway.

[34:08] We're starting to go back up. I hope this works. I hope this lasts. And we keep our eyes on the Lord. We continue to look to him because who does he put in front of us? And his presence is with us. And who's in front? The deliverer. The one that God has called to be the deliverer. Jesus goes before us. Moses, that picture. Israel did a very possible thing in a very impossible place. They did a very natural thing in a very miraculous moment. In a very impossible place, they did the most natural thing.

[34:41] They believed God. They obeyed God. And then they just walked forward. In this miraculous moment, they just continued to believe, obey, and walk. God will do miraculous things in our lives. We don't have to work ourselves up for it. We don't have to, you know, have some specific prayer or, you know, it's like the third Tuesday and the date is the 14th. And I opened it, Genesis 14, 14. And this verse said, oh, this must be a miraculous moment. God will do those things. But it will come as we just continue to believe, obey, and to walk forward. Because when we do that, we're walking forward into victory. We're walking forward into that thing that God has prepared for us. The eye has not seen or ear heard, neither did enter into our heart. A victory that we would never have expected God has put in front of us. The defeat of an enemy in an area of my life I never would have thought possible.

[35:32] He was pressing so hard. And in the moment when I thought it was all over, God opened a way forward. And he said, will you believe me? Will you obey me? And will you keep walking? What was the difference between defeat and deliverance? Both people groups went through into the path God opened. Both went down. But the difference was who they chose to follow and their relationship to God's presence. One was in the light of God's presence. One was on the dark side. One chose to follow Moses into that path. And one chose to follow Pharaoh. Verse 30, Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. A sight for sore eyes. Never would they have thought they would see this moment. It was enough, God. It was enough you took me out of Egypt. It was enough you saved me. That you are leading me to a promised land. But then to see my enemies defeated in my life, one after another, after another. God, that's just amazing that you would do that. It's enough we're going to the promised land. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place.

[36:41] You can hear the incredulity in his voice. I called upon the Lord in my distress. And he answered me and put me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me?

[36:53] The Lord took my part with them to help me. Therefore, shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. As Israel sees their enemy upon the shore. A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand. But it will not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation. How hard is that? Put your trust in the Lord. Deliverance is never a matter of power, but of presence. And here we see that the evidence of defeat and victory, it couldn't be denied. You could not deny that Israel had just walked forward in victory and their enemies been defeated. There they are on the shore as the waves lap, as the sea is closed behind them. There's no way back.

[37:48] They've gone forward. God has defeated their enemy and he's closed the door. There is no way back for you and I. I'm sorry to tell you that if you're one of those, you think, well, maybe if I really did something bad. Well, no, there's no way back. God's closed that door. The enemy is defeated at the cross. There's no way back. Once you've entered into his deliverance, once you've been born again, you can't be unborn again.

[38:10] Once you have eternal life, you can't lose it. Or by definition, it's not eternal. It's temporary. There is no going back. The evidence of defeat and victory could not be denied. Is there evidence? You know, we looked at that pathway going through, which appears to be this kind of like place where this, the, the, um, the, not the shore, the bed of the sea is more gradual and a little shallower. Is there evidence? Do we see evidence? We know we walk by faith and not by sight, but is there any way to know? Well, it's interesting that there's this pillar they found on the, it was in the water. So I can kind of see it's a little eroded. It's Solomon's pillar.

[38:52] Solomon at one point set up two pillars, one on each side of this crossing to mark the location, they believe, where Israel crossed across the Red Sea. This is on the west side. On the other side, on the Saudi side, the Saudi Arabian side, they stole that pillar because on that pillar, which had not eroded in the water, it was still standing there and it had names on it like Moses, Miriam, Yahweh, they took that. And we will see as we go through and we get into the wilderness and at Mount Sinai, the evidence that is still there today, that Israel and that God left behind.

[39:29] Now, if we look at the beach, here is the beach. Here's where they would have come down through this wadi. You think, oh, that's not so bad. But he starts to zoom in. You realize this is a road.

[39:47] And as you're traveling along and how windy it is and your kids are complaining, they're hot, they're hungry. Can we take a break? Not mine, your kids. And you finally come out here. And when you zoom in and you realize how big this place is, when you say, well, here's a little, here's a resort.

[40:09] And then you see the scope and the scale and the size of this beach that they're on. Well, they actually took that pillar and they set it up. I just lost it.

[40:29] There we go. And you can go on Google Maps today and you can see the shadow of it right there in the middle. It's there. If you want to go over there and see it, say, well, there it is. Solomon set up that pillar that right here was the location. And they've set it in concrete. And it's there today.

[40:49] Now, the one on the Saudi side, they stole that one. There's also, and I can't zoom in and show you this, but people have dove on the Red Sea. Well, is there any evidence? Well, it's a sandy bottom.

[40:59] And so you kind of have to excavate it to see what has filled in and covered. But there are some interesting coral structures there on the bottom of this ocean bed or the seabed. They kind of look suspicious, you know, that people have found things there. Now, if you, depending, I mean, if you go on Google and you'll find all kinds of people that say, no, this isn't true. This isn't true. It's a misunderstanding. That's not, that's not actually there. And it's not the Red Sea. It was a mispronunciation. They shouldn't have. It's the Reed Sea. Israel just walked through a little knee deep place of the Nile. That's all. The plagues, the plagues didn't really happen. It's just, there was a drought and it's the way they embellished the idea that the drought was there. And these are all just moral stories. No, these things happened. They're there. Israel saw on their sea, they saw on the shore, the Egyptians lying dead. For you and I, there is evidence today.

[41:54] Matthew 28, the women come to the tomb where Jesus was physically laid. And the angel answered and said unto the woman, fear not, for I know you seek Jesus, which is crucified. Oh, but he's not here.

[42:06] He is risen. As he said, come and see, come and see the place where the Lord lay. You say, well, you walk by faith, not by sight. He's not here. Go away. No, no, no. Come and see. You see, we do not need to see to believe. As Jesus says to Thomas in John 20, 29, Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you've seen me, you've believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have not, and yet have believed.

[42:33] We do not need to see to believe, but I guarantee you, we will see if we believe. First Corinthians 13, 12, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. If you believe, I guarantee you, you will see Jesus face to face.

[42:48] Their obedience led to credibility, credibility for God, his word, for Moses, the man of God who was following. It led to evidence. There it is, the evidence of God's deliverance.

[43:03] And it led to their deliverance. As Moses said, fear you not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. We have evidence. But you know what? No matter how much evidence you have, no matter how much evidence you pile up, nobody will be convinced because of evidence. Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. You can stack up all the evidence you want and they'll explain it away.

[43:30] But if you believe, man, then you will see it. You will see the evidence. You will see the evidence as the sun rises and the world magically becomes light every morning. We take it for granted. You will see, God, when you believe. We also have a part to play in the defeat of the enemy. We don't battle him, but we need to stand. We need to obey and we need to stay there. We need to stay in that place until we see God deliver, until God makes a way forward, until he's the one who brings defeat to the enemy.

[44:04] As God's people, we choose to believe, we choose to obey, and we choose to walk. And all around us, miracles happen. All around us. The enemy is defeated. A path is made forward as we continue to believe, obey, and walk. And as we go through Israel's journey, every time they get into trouble, they either didn't believe, they either didn't obey, and they didn't walk. It's one of those three things, every single time. And the way that they get back on course is they choose to believe, they choose to obey, and they choose to walk. Psalm 27, 13 says, I had fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. We will see the goodness of God. We will physically see it. And we will physically see Jesus face to face. But we will be asked to walk forward in faith.

[44:55] We will be asked to walk into something that we can't see. And as we do that, then we'll see. You're sitting here because of that. You're sitting here because God said, hey, I want you to believe me, obey me, and walk. Okay. As we just keep doing that, God keeps doing what he wants to do. It's a miracle. It's miraculous. And we just keep doing the most natural thing. Father, thank you that, oh, Lord, our faith, Lord, is not in the wisdom of man, Lord. It is not in our own effort and ability. But, Lord, it is in the power of God. It's in the word of God. And then you took that word and you made it flashed and he dwelt among us. It's not a fairy tale. It's not something that we have to hang our heads over.

[45:41] We don't have to fear. We have evidence. We can stand in faith and victory because the enemy is defeated. And the world will mock us and say, that's not true. And they think we came from monkeys.

[45:55] They're nuts. What do they know? They don't believe the evidence in front of their face that there's a creator. And there will be a day where you will remove this church. You will remove your people, that the promised hope that we have in resurrection will take place. And Jesus will come for his bride and we will be caught up with you. And the unbelieving world, they will come to know you. They will see the evidence as you bring judgment on this world. They will know it's you and they will curse you to your face. And so hide us from the wrath of the lamb and from him that sits in the face of him that sits on the throne. They will know who it is. It is not evidence that we need. There's enough evidence.

[46:33] Lord, it is faith. The faith to just believe. The faith of a mustard seed. God, I thank you that you have given us all the evidence we need in your word. Lord, I thank you for your presence that goes with us, before us, behind us. I thank you for the enemy who's defeated, Lord. And yet somehow you still have a plan for him. You still have a plan, Lord, to use the pursuit of the enemy, Lord, not to defeat me, but to prove that you are more powerful, Lord. To prove that there is a victory that I am living in. Every time the enemy attacks, he's defeated and I walk forward in victory. And every time I see the evidence that Jesus, you are our victory. Thank you, Lord, for going down with us and bringing us with you into death, that we might rise again, leaving sin and death and the enemy behind, and we can walk forward in victory, living daily in the presence of God. We love you and trust you. In Jesus' name, amen.

[47:29] Amen. You know, we need to have the right perspective, that we need to have the right perspective of the enemy in our lives. And that's not always, you know, God sees them really small, and we need to realize that to him, they're nothing. But sometimes it's realizing that, man, God loves them. I'm convinced there's going to be some Egyptians in heaven who cried out to God as that water crashed on them, that they realized, and God will mercifully have rescued them. For us, eye is not seen nor ear heard, neither is entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love them.

[48:06] But those things are not foolish. They're factual. There is a tomb today that you can go and visit if you want. In Israel, that is empty. Your faith is not foolish. It's factual.

[48:19] The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. The Lord be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you a factual peace. Amen. God bless you.