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As we come once again to look in God’s word I remind my heart and yours that there is a principle of Bible Study that is absolutely indispensable and that is total reliance on God’s Holy Spirit. Only God can reveal God, and He has promised if we would come as little babes He would reveal Himself.
I want to share a verse before we go to prayer. It’s sort of a personal verse. It’s Psalm 66:16, “Come and hear all who fear God, and I will tell you what He has done for my soul.” The reason I’ve chosen that verse today is because this lesson that we’re going to share is very much a personal testimony, and I’m so thankful for the reality here. I pray God will help me express the reality. I want you to hear what the Lord has done for my soul.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the indwelling Holy Spirit who always turns our eyes to the Lord Jesus. We just pray as we gather in Your name that once again we might behold Him in a fresh way. We ask for revelation. Open our eyes and heart that we might receive everything that You want us to receive. We thank You in advance that You are going to over answer this request, because we do offer it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen
Welcome to our continuing meditation, I was going to say on the book of Exodus, but I correct myself; it’s our meditation on the Lord from the book of Exodus. We’re meditating on the salvation of Israel out of Egypt, and the salvation of Israel out of Egypt is a picture of your salvation out of sin. I need deliverance from Egypt and you need it as well, and we have it through the precious blood of our Lord Jesus.
God’s ancient people were delivered twice as we have said; first they were delivered from God and not Egypt. They had to be delivered from the holiness of God. He has to judge sin. Exodus 12:13, “The blood will be a sign to you on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I’ll pass over you.” That’s salvation from God; the stern necessity of His character to judge sin. 1 Corinthians 5:7 makes that clear, “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.”
God’s people were not only delivered from Egypt and all that it pictures, the bondage, the slavery, affliction, oppression and so on, and I have to be delivered from God, but them I have to be delivered from me. That’s the picture of Egypt, and He did it by the mighty power of God. Exodus 9:16, “The plagues are a picture of God’s power. Indeed, for this reason I’ve allowed you to remain in order to show you My power, in order to proclaim My name through the earth.” Exodus 13:14, “It will be when your son asks you in time to come saying, ‘What is this?’ you shall say to him with a powerful hand, ‘The Lord brought us out of Egypt, the house of slavery.’” We’re saved by power and by blood, and this is the power of the Lord to deliver.
The Red Sea also shows His power. Exodus 14:31, “When Israel saw the great power which the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord, and in His servant Moses.” Once again in the song, Exodus 15:6, “Your right hand, oh Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, oh Lord, shatters the enemy.” Nothing but the power of almighty God can set me free from me. Nothing but the power of almighty God can set you free from you. That’s the Egypt we need to be delivered from. By God’s grace He saved us from Himself, and then He saves us from ourselves.
When we left off we were discussing God’s great power in delivering His people from Egypt pictured by the parting of the Red Sea; the great life principles that we’re pulling out illustrated by these facts. Those redeemed by power and blood from God and from Egypt were told by a mighty miracle to go forward. The only possibility of that was a miracle; they can’t go forward. It’s the first time the expression “go forward” is in the Bible. Every time you go forward, you better believe it’s got to be by a mighty miracle of the Lord.They had to go forward by faith, illustrated by walking on ground that God had dried up. That’s faith. It’s a finished work. We walk on the ground He has dried up. I suggested that entire scene pictured in Exodus displays how God deals with our past, our present, and this morning, Lord willing, we’ll look at how He deals with our future.
God dealt with our past. Egypt represented their past and sometimes the past comes after you in order to bring you back into bondage and to live under condemnation. Here’s how God dealt with it. Exodus 14:10, this is Pharaoh, the past, “As Pharaoh drew near. The sons of Israel looked, and behold the Egyptians were marching after them. They became frightened, so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.” They were afraid and filled with doubts and fear. Exodus 14:19, “The Angel of God who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.” How does God deal with the past? He puts Himself between you and your past, so that when you turn around you don’t see your past anymore. You only see Jesus. That’s how He deals with the past.
Also He deals with the present. Last time we were looking at them walking on ground that God had dried up, but two walls, unstable walls of water… Exodus 14:22, “The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” I reminded you last time that those walls are a picture of the pressures, held up only by wind, and they had to pass through. God said that when you walk by faith in the present I will lead you through all of the pressures. Exodus 14:21, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.”
I have many commentaries and you would be amazed how much has been written on the east wind that blew back that water. Critics try to picture a wind blowing in that direction strong enough to hold up the walls of water, and they say that would have been blowing right into the face of the 2 ½ million who were trying to cross. One illustration is, if that’s the case, you’re not getting to heaven with your hat on. Through traumatic tribulation we’re going to enter the kingdom. But they argue against the word of God and try to say, “There wasn’t an east wind,” and then they give some other direction. My heart is this, I don’t care what point of the compass the wind came from—north, south, east or west— it was God’s wind. That’s the point, poetically described in the song. Exodus 15:8, “At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up.” Exactly so! What’s the point of that? It’s that it wasn’t Pharaoh, and it wasn’t Satan, and it wasn’t other people, and it wasn’t circumstances. Who put the pressures in your life? The answer it’s the Lord. Those pressures you pass through were arranged by the Lord. As we saw, He assumed the responsibility when He dumps blessings on you. If He wants any, He’ll tell you. We already looked at that. And He also assumed the responsibility about the will of God. If He wants you to know His will, He’ll show you. That’s the cloud. And now He assumes the responsibility of offering all the pressures that you will have to pass through between now and the other side.
I want to emphasize once again before we leave this and go to our new material the great truth that God not only piled up the pressure, but here’s the other side of that; God holds it back from coming down and overwhelming you. God is the One who is holding it up. We say that all that pressure looks so unstable. That’s to these eyes but not to the eyes of the Lord. I’m protected by the mighty power of God. 1 Peter 1:4, “To obtain an inheritance imperishable, undefiled which will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” God piled up those pressures, don’t kick at it, you are going to pass through, and He’s the One keeping those pressures from crashing down on your head. Psalm 121:5, “The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade on your right hand.”
The path to God’s redemptive purpose, in other words, we’re being saved from, we’re going to be saved unto the land flowing with milk and honey, a picture of our Lord Jesus, is walking by faith on ground God has dried up through the pressures He has piled up and which He wonderfully and great in His grace holds back from absolutely destroying us. Acts 14:22, “Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith saying, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.’” So, don’t be afraid of those pressures. How did he deal with my past? He put Himself between me and my past. How does He deal with the present? He holds up all the pressures as I pass through on ground that He has dried up.
Just as He has made provision for the past and the present, this story illustrates His provision for the future, and we’d like to look at that. They are leaving Egypt by a mighty miracle of God, and they’re crossing on dry ground. What is in front of them? They are moving toward a goal. It’s true, and we saw because God was behind them, they were walking in the light. They didn’t take a leap in the dark. That’s not faith, a leap in the dark. Faith is walking in the light. That’s different. They were walking in the light but Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.” There is light. He’s given you a light for your feet, and for the path, but that light didn’t shine all the way to Mt. Sinai. That was just for their feet. That didn’t shine all the way to the shores of the Jordan River. They didn’t see that. That didn’t go all the way to the land of Canaan. They didn’t know what was in front of them, what would be waiting for them. When they looked back it was a scary past and God took care of it. When they looked up it was a scary present and God took care of them. And now they are looking in the future and they don’t know what lies ahead, and it’s scary for them. It’s an unknown future. They didn’t see in advance what that future would hold. They didn’t know that very soon at Mr. Sinai they were going to build a golden calf and turn back to idolatry. They didn’t see that at that time. They didn’t see Miriam’s leprosy, not at that time. They didn’t see Korah’s rebellion. They did not see a turning back at Kadish-Baarnea. They didn’t see the curse of Balaam. They didn’t see the conflict with the sons of Midian. They didn’t see that in advance. That’s all in front of them. They also didn’t know how gracious God was and how wonderfully He would provide. They didn’t see the manna at that time or the quail or the water on the rock at that time. They didn’t know that God was going to preserve their clothing, and that their feet wouldn’t swell. Nehemiah 9:21, “Indeed, forty years you provided for them in the wilderness. They were not in want. Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.” What a miracle they would experience, but they didn’t see it up front. Deuteronomy 2:7, “The Lord your God has blessed you in all you’ve done. He’s known your wonderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have not lacked a thing.” They didn’t know it. They found out, but they didn’t know the fullness of His love and His patience, not at the beginning.
What was on the other side? I wonder what was going through their minds? Wild animals are a possibility, or dangerous snakes, scorpions, tribes that were going to come. And don’t forget at this time they were unarmed and were vulnerable. What if there was quick sand over there? They have all the herds and flocks and 2 ½ million people. They had to walk by faith, not only on the ground God had dried up, but all the way they had to walk by faith. And as God made provision for their scary past and their scary present, now God is going to make provision for their future. I’m going to give you the illustrations of this.
Way back more than four hundred years God had already told his servant Abraham about the goal. He gave this promises, Genesis 15:13& 16, “God said to Abraham, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. Then in the fourth generation they’ll return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” God already told Abraham, “I’m going to deliver them from slavery and take them into Canaan.” When Moses was at the bush before he ever faced Pharaoh, Exodus 3:8, “I’ve come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good, spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” Before, long before, hundreds of years before, God already gave them the goal. That’s where you are going, not every step of the goal, but He gave them the goal. Brothers and sisters in Christ I’ll announce to you right now the goal. You are going to heaven. That’s the goal. That’s a precious thing. At the end of your journey is glory, eternity, union with God forever, reunion with those who have gone before. That’s the goal. I can’t tell you the hills and the valleys and the detours and the snares and the bypaths and the pot holes on the way. They didn’t know all that, but they always had the goal in mind. They were reminded so many times, even when He instituted the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He told them, “When your children come, and their children and ask questions about how you got to the goal, then you testify.”
He takes care of the past and the present and also the future. At the end your exodus, there is an entrance. I call attention to the word “exodus” and “entrance” because of Peter in the New Testament, his testimony. 2 Peter is his swan song; he’s dying, God showed him, very soon. His death was eminent. Here’s how he described it in 2 Peter 1:14, “Knowing the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me, I will also be diligent at any time after my departure, that you’ll be able to recall these things to mind.” Notice that word “after my departure”. Let me impress you with my Greek. He said, “After my exodom,” from which we get the word “exodus”. He called death an exodus. He’s leaving. It’s a departure. It’s a going out. Then he follows up in verse 11, “In this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” I’ll tell you what, I’m looking forward to the exodus and the entrance. It’s illustrated. They had an exodus and they’ll enter into the Promised Land. Uninstructed Christians are sometimes afraid to die. We know too much to be too sad too long. I’m not afraid of the exodus. It’s part of my salvation, and I’m looking forward to the entrance, abundantly supplied. This is a glorious thing and it’s all pictured here in the book of Exodus.
What we’re going to look at now is God’s picture of final deliverance; full salvation. Remember that it’s only a picture, and as wonderful as the picture is, the reality is infinitely greater. You might say, “What a mighty miracle to deliver Israel from Egypt.” Well, what a mighty miracle it took to deliver you from you, and me from me. That little miracle of opening the Red Sea is nothing compared to what God has to do. Because the Holy Spirit takes more time developing this picture, I feel at ease to take the same emphasis, and especially because the revelation I’m about to share is a revelation that absolutely transformed my life, and that’s why I want you to listen to what the Lord has done for my soul. May God help us see this. I don’t want this lesson to be cold doctrine. There’s a lot of doctrine because God takes this truth and develops it in the New Testament, but I want to present it carefully and without apology and ask for your patience to get through this.
Passing through the Red Sea was the climax of redemption. It tells the last stage, full redemption, complete redemption, and it’s the story of the Exchanged Life. Let me show that to you from the story. Clearly in the record God is delivering a physical people, Israel, from a physical enemy, Egypt. God’s people have been saved by power and blood, and they are delivered from Egypt, but that is a picture of an Egypt in here from which I need to be delivered. It’s pictured by that Egypt, and their deliverance is pictured, but there is an Egypt in here that puts us in bondage. Romans 6:6, “Knowing this, our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away, so we would no longer be slaves to sin.” Slaves; that’s Egypt. They were slaves, and that Egypt pictured this slavery to sin. Romans 6:14, “Sin shall not be master over you. You are not under law, but are under grace.” It won’t have dominion. Pharaoh had dominion. That’s just a picture. Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience you are slaves of the one of whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.” So, the Egypt out there pictures the Egypt in here.
Some have never really faced they are slave to sin. They sort of let that go by. Romans 7:18, “I know nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh, for the willing is present in me but the doing of the good is not.” Many Christians and a lot of theologians get all mixed up; “What is the flesh. It’s something in me that rises up from time to time.” No, it isn’t. This verse tells you what it is, “I know in me, that is in my flesh.” What’s the flesh? It’s me! “I know in me.” It’s not something that rises in me and gives me trouble now and then. That’s not the flesh. It’s me that needs to be dealt with and me that needs to be out of the way. I need deliverance from Ed Miller and you need deliverance from you, and it’s all pictured here. When God opens our eyes to see the awful bondages of sin and the grip that sin has on our life, and the impossibility of living a Christian life. When God opens our eyes to that we’ll cry with Paul, Romans 7:14, “Wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Before Paul saw the exchanged life and victory in Christ he said, “My life was like carrying a corpse. Everywhere I went I was carrying a corpse. Who is going to deliver me from this body of death? He just pictured the whole Christian life, and I’ll tell you, in my life for many years I carried the old corpse, and it was dreadful. This deliverance pictured by the crossing of the Red Sea is talking about the Egypt in here, pictured by the Egypt out there. That’s why we’re calling it complete deliverance.
There are a couple of parts that are illustrated here. The first part is when the Lord disabled the enemy, and that’s before final victory. They were still crossing when the Lord disabled the enemy, and it’s very graphic. Exodus 14:24, “At the morning watch the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. So, the Egyptians said, ‘Let’s flee from Israel. The Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.’” Once you see what is being pictured here, I think you’ll never stop praising the Lord. I can’t thank Him enough for what was pictured in that incomplete victory. That’s not complete victory. It’s an incomplete victory. The enemy is only disabled. He’s not dead. He’s disabled and he will arise again and come at you at another time.
But victory in Christ is more than incomplete victory and a deliverance now and then. You might say, “This picture is so dramatic. God looks down and their chariot wheels are falling off and they’re trying to turn around and they’re caught in the mud.” It’s dramatic because the reality is dramatic. Sometimes we’re caught, almost ready to be devoured.
I think I told my experience my Lillian and I had one morning. We were in Rhode Island and out on our deck and we were having an enjoyable time reading through the Psalms of Descent, and we had come to Psalm 124. Let me back up and tell you. We had a dog, a mutt, and his name was Sport. We also had a cat with many colors and we called hereAutumn because she looked sort of like the fall colors. I trained the dog to chase the cat at the command, “Sport, get that cat!” It was amazing to watch because even when Sport wasn’t around, if I said, “Sport, get that cat,” the cat would jump and take off, because the cat also learned what would happen. Anyway, we were having this lovely fellowship studying Psalm 124 and we heard a great ruckus in the yard. There were birds everywhere; on the low branches, on the bushes, and they were making all kinds of noise. Then we saw Autumn with a blackbird in its mouth, and it had gripped the bird in such a way that the bird’s wings were extended and were perpendicular to the ground. If you can picture the cat holding this bird, and all the birds are dive bombing. Sport was at my feet. I said, “Sport, get that cat.” And that dog jumped up and ran out and that cat started to run and because the bird was in that awkward position the cat flipped over and the bird escaped and flew away. We were amused. We came back and we sat down to pick up where we had left off in our study of Psalm 124 and it was Lillian’s turn to read. She began reading at verse 6, “Blessed be the Lord who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper. The snare is broken and we’ve escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.” How amazing, and that has been my experience, that the Lord has delivered me over and over, sometimes from the very jaws of the enemy. I could give you story after story of how God looked down and stopped the enemy as it was coming after me, and made their wheels fall off.
I have a good friend, also, in Rhode Island and he told me of a deliverance that he had, very similar. He said, “I fell into a temptation, and I bought a Playboy magazine. It was a time when my wife wasn’t around, and I just was in the mood to look at pictures from Playboy. I made sure no one was around and I got comfortable in my chair, and took out the magazine, and all of a sudden the door flew open, “Surprise!” It was mom! Mom came to visit. He said, “I just had time enough to ditch that magazine behind the pillow and she stayed there for two hours.” Well, I believe the Lord engineered that arrangement that the mother would come at that moment. He said at that time I was delivered. I never looked at those books. I repented and I threw that away. That was a deliverance.
But that’s partial deliverance. The Lord delivered him and the Lord delivers us now and then from the snare of the trapper, and right when we need it He rescues us. That was victory, and you praise God for victory like that. How many times the goodness of God has led me to repentance. I could tell you stories that would bring blood to the face of a harlot, that God has done in my life. How often! Many Christians only know that kind of victory. That’s all they know and that’s their whole Christian life. Every once in awhile God comes through and rescues them, and they praise God, and then they go on trying to live a good Christian life. Just think back, how many times behind closed doors… How glad you are that you were not exposed for some of the things you’ve said or done or looked at or drank or ate or did! God protected you. He didn’t have to. He gets more glory exposing you, but He holds back His glory for your sake. Some things could destroy your marriage, could destroy your testimony, could destroy your life, could destroy your church. And God came in and swooped down and the wheels fell off, only to come back another day, and another day, and another day.
Let me show you full victory; that’s partial victory. It’s wonderful, and I’m not putting it down. Praise God for that! Exodus 14:30, “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord, and in his servant, Moses.” This is not the enemy frustrated. This is not the enemy disabled, disarmed and turned back. They saw the enemy dead upon the seashore. May God help us! They had to see it and we have to see it. I fear that thousands of Christians have never seen the Egyptians dead on the seashore. They settle for partial victory instead of full and complete victory. I need to see the Egypt in here; dead on the seashore. So many Christians struggle day by day with the abiding corruption in the heart. They say, “I’m a Christian. Why do I have these thoughts? Why do I still have lusts and these passions and why am I so impatient and why do I lose my temper? And they feign trying to have victory over sin because, “I’m a Christian and I shouldn’t have to live in Romans 7. I should have access to Romans 8.” I’m suggesting it’s because they have never seen by revelation the Egyptians in here dead upon the seashore. They’ve never entered the wonder of Romans 6:10, “The death He died He died unto sin once for all. The life He lives He lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” When did Jesus deal with the Egypt in here? Romans 6:6 tells you, “Knowing this, our old self was crucified with Him, in order that the body of sin might be done away, so we’d no longer be slaves to sin. He who has died is free from sin.” When did that happen? The answer is two thousand years ago when Jesus died on the cross.
Do you believe Galatians 2:20? I know you do. “I’m crucified with Christ.” You believe that. I know you do. Do you believe Romans 6:6, “Our old self was crucified with Him.” I know you do. Jesus’ death is a matter of history. He died two thousand years ago. That’s historic and fact. Your death with Him is as much history as His death on the cross. It’s a fact. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you don’t have by revelation the wonderful news that the Egyptians have been slain, you are going to have a struggle all your Christian life. I’ll tell you what it’s going to look like. I know by experience. You are going to spend your Christian life trying to die to self. You are going to try over and over again to die to self, and then you are going to express yourself, and you are going to feel bad and you are going to try to die, so you are going to pray and you are going to fast and you are going to surrender and you are going to repent and you are going to fall again and you are going to rise and you are going to dedicate your life and then you are going to fall and then you have to rededicate your life and you are going to have to go to revival and then you have to get revived over and over again. It’s up and it’s down and it’s up and it’s down. May God help you see it’s over! The war has been finished and the Egyptians have been dealt with, and this idea of gradually dying to self is a subtle lie. It is not the truth of God.
When were you crucified with Christ. You say, “Two thousand years ago, according to the Bible, but I live now, 2021. When am I crucified now? Here is the answer; I’m crucified now when I believe I was crucified then. The moment you believe that you died with Him two thousand years ago, you enter into this complete victory. That revelation, that the Egyptians are dead, that you don’t have to live in slave huts any more, and you don’t have to struggle with that old sin nature, that’s what transformed them.
Listen again, verse 30, “The Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power that the Lord had used against the Egyptians the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and His servant, Moses.” Has God ever given you that revelation, that you’ve been dealt with and you are dead? Salvation from the enemy out there is just a picture of salvation in here. I’m been saved from Egypt. That’s salvation for the helpless sinner. I’ve been saved from me. That’s salvation for the helpless Christian. We need a gospel. Christians need to hear the good news. Full salvation is a revelation. When God opens your eyes, you aren’t going to see it automatically. You are going to settle for “He rescued me. He saved me and He delivered me and He covered me and he took my back.” But there comes this day when God opens your eyes and it’s not gradual, it’s all at once, and you say, “It’s over. It’s done.”
Some argue that it sounds like the same thing. You say, “You died two thousand years ago. I see self now and I don’t want that, so I say, ‘Lord help me. I don’t want this. I want to live for You. I want to honor You. Lord, help me live for You.” It’s not the same thing at all. One is me trying to be a better Christian and I’m needing God’s help, and I say, “Help me be a better Christian.” One is living for Jesus. The other is letting Jesus live for Himself. He doesn’t want you to live for Him. He wants to live for Himself in you and through you. This whole idea that I’m dead means that I’m out of the way, so that He can live His own life. The whole idea of gradual and needing spiritual warfare, and struggling and the whole Christian life is a struggle, and I’m never going to have joy. May God open your eyes to see the difference! The Christian life is fun. It is wonderful! It’s an exciting life. It’s not just struggling every minute trying to get through. I’m not conformed to the image of God by improving. Flesh is flesh and will always be flesh and can never be improved. God never promised to improve it. I’ll never be a better Ed Miller. Before I was saved I was a horrible Ed Miller. After I got saved I’m horrible Ed Miller. I’ll never be changed. I can’t say that. I will be changed. We’ll all not sleep, but we’ll all be changed. Be patient and wait for that change. That’s when the change comes, but not in my life. I’m not going to be changed. We need God to open our eyes.
Did you notice what follows this chapter? God opened their eyes, they saw the Egyptians dead—look at the next chapter. Chapter 15; it’s a song. They broke out in song, and Miriam broke out in a dance. That’s what follows. Once God opens your eyes to see the Egyptians dead on the seashore you can’t hold it in. All of a sudden you burst out in song and praise and dance, and you want to leap and jump and praise the Lord for such a deliverance. They finally crossed the sea, and now they are out of the grip of the enemy, they still need to see that they need to be delivered unto. They’ve been delivered from, and that’s a glorious thing. That puts a song in your heart. But they’re going to have a few experiences before they see unto what they were delivered. Romans 5:10, “If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.” He was your substitute, wasn’t He, when He died on the cross? He died for you, and now He wants to live for you. You were once saved by His death, and now you need to be saved by His life; His life, and not a life He gives you; it’s His life. May God open our eyes!
I want to return to Hebrews 11:29. It says, “By faith they passed through the Red Sea.” This reckoning yourself dead is all by faith.” The best way to get this across to your heart and mine, I want you to notice that three hands were involved in this great deliverance. First, Exodus 15:9, “The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall be gratified against them, I will draw out My sword. My hand will destroy them.'” Don’t think for a lonely moment that there is not an enemy out there whose hand wants to destroy you. He hates you guts and hates my guts and he hates the Lord Jesus. Exodus 14:6, “He made his chariots ready, took his people with him, took 600 select chariots, all the other chariots, officers over all of them,” and then in verse 9, “The Egyptians chased after them with the horses and chariots of Pharaoh.” Satan wants to destroy your testimony and destroy your life and wants to destroy your family and wants to destroy your church and wants to destroy your faith. He is out to kill and to destroy. Like Nebuchadnezzar he rises up and says, “What God is there that can deliver you from my hand?” That’s the hand of the enemy.
But there’s another hand. Exodus 15:4, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army is cast into the sea. The choicest of his officers are drown in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, oh Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, oh Lord, shatters the enemy.” There’s another hand; not only the hand of the enemy that hates you and says “I’ll destroy”. Exodus 15:11, “Who is like You among the Gods, oh Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders? You stretched out Your right hand and the earth swallowed them.” Psalm 118:16, “The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” You’ve got to see the hand of the enemy, but you better see the hand of the Lord.
There’s another hand. Exodus 14:15, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.’” Stretch out your hand. There’s the hand of the enemy, and there’s the hand of the Lord; stretch out your hand. Exodus 14:21, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night.” There’s the hand of the enemy, the hand of the Lord, and there’s the hand of faith.” It’s our hand. His hand is waiting for your hand and my hand. That doesn’t glorify faith. If you owe ten thousand dollars and someone said, “I’ll pay that for you,” and you accepted the gift, your acceptance didn’t add one penny to the payment of that gift. Receiving is not part of a work. He does all of the work.
Before we close I want to show you the full explanation in the New Testament, because that’s where you get the full picture. I’m talking about this puzzling passage in 1 Corinthians 10:1, “I do not want you to be unaware, Brethren, our fathers were all under the cloud, passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” That’s the full explanation. Doesn’t that settle it for you? It certainly didn’t do a lot for me the first time reading that. Let me take you back to Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses is speaking and he says, “The Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, and you shall listen to him.” That’s applied to Christ in Acts 3:22, “Moses said, ‘The Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me.” Jesus was pictured by Moses.
In the Old Testament, let me word it this way, Moses was Christ to them. They had to depend on Moses. He said, “Go forward.” They had no choice. He led them to the bottom of the sea, to the place of death, and that was their Christ. It says they were baptized into Moses. Don’t always think of water when you think of baptism. Israel is the only ones that stayed dry, if you are going to think of water. Egypt is the one that got baptized and the only ones that got wet. It’s not water. It means immersion. You can be immersed in a project, or immersed in anything. It’s identification with, and they were identified with Moses, and they were immersed in Moses. It almost looks like they were in a coffin. You have 2 ½ million people and they are walking through a channel and they have walls on the sides. Did it have a lid? Well, yes. Verse 1, “I do not want you unaware, brethren, our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea.” They are on the bottom of the sea with these walls like a coffin and God’s cloud was over the top. That was death and because they trusted Moses, they rose up out of that death onto the victory side, onto the shore.
Exodus 14:27-28, “So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them, not even one of them remained.” They were baptized into Moses. Fully developed; Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin.” We’re immersed in Christ. They had Moses. They were baptized in Moses and we’re baptized in Christ. They came out on the resurrection side, and now we come out on the resurrection side.
I’ll close with one more testimony. A dear sister in heaven now, not because of me. It was close. Let me tell you why. She called me up and asked if I would baptize her. Well, I think sometimes people look at the picture and miss the reality, so I said I would be willing to baptize her, if she wants the picture, as long as she understood the reality. So, we had a discussion and I told her how she was being baptized into Christ, and we went through the picture of coming out to live that life. She decided she wanted the picture. So, in Newport Rhode Island they have First Beach, Second Beach and Third Beach. First Beach is right is not a cove and you get the good breakers. We went out to First Beach. I explained to her how it was going to happen and how to hold her hand and dip her legs and all that. As she was being baptized I put her down and I gave a little message on this, that you are dead with Christ and you are baptized into Christ, and I put her down. This is a fact. All of a sudden I had this revelation that Connie is gone and nobody sees her. She gone. She’s under the water and all there is is big old ocean. She’s baptized into Christ; little old me into big old Him. And I didn’t bring her up right away. I was meditating on this beautiful picture that Connie was dead and she’s in Christ. I brought her up when suddenly I remembered. She was coughing and spitting. She’s in heaven now, but not because of me.
That’s the picture, that we are baptized into Christ Jesus, little us into the full life of Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son,” Matthew 2:15. He wants to deliver us out of Egypt. He’s made preparations in the past, made preparation for the present and holds back the pressure, and He made preparation for the future. Don’t be afraid of the future. You’re dead. He lives. It’s exciting!
A brother sent me a cartoon. Lillian likes Snoopy, and so this brother always sends us cartoons of Snoopy. He sent this one cartoon that was Snoopy and the New Year. Snoopy is in his dance and he’s just all happy and jumping around and Lucy comes and she rebukes him, “Why are you so happy? Why are you dancing? There’s an unknown future in front of you. There may be accidents. There may be turmoil and maybe an earthquake. There may be distress and war. You don’t know. Disease. You don’t know the future.” And Snoopy’s ears came down and his little shoulders, and you see him walking off. And then Lucy said, “That’s better! Be sensible. Live in fear and dread!”
Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” You don’t have to face the future with fear and dread. Christ lives in you and you are delivered.
Father, thank You so much for Your word, and not what we think it means, but all that You’ve inspired it to mean. Will You make that real in our lives? Lord, I know all of us have struggled with the idea of living a victorious life. We don’t want to sin. Thank You for Your provision, that the Egyptians have been dealt with two thousand years ago. Give us revelation and faith to believe that it’s so. Then we ask You, Lord, to live on in Your redemptive life through us, so that many might come to know You. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen