"When Quiet Fights" Exodus 14:14 Sunday Evening Worship Service

So turn in your Bibles to Exodus.

Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

And we're just going to look at one verse.

Exodus chapter 14.

Exodus 14 · chapter mention

Right at the edge of the Red Sea, before it's parted, with the Egyptians breathing down their necks on one end and an impossible sea to cross on the other.

Moses says this, Exodus 14, verse 14.

Exodus 14:14

The Lord will fight for you.

And you have only to be silent.

What do you think is the hardest thing to find in your house?

Some of you might say it's the car keys.

Some of you kids maybe say it's that one toy that I actually want to play with right now.

Some of you might say it's the remote, it just keeps going missing.

Some of you might say on a Saturday, it's dad.

We don't know where he is.

And I know where he is because I'm a dad.

He's taking a nap.

That's what he's doing.

He found a place to sleep where you can't find him and he's napping.

No, I would guess that in your homes, because this is mostly people with young kids in their homes, probably the rarest commodity.

Are you listening?

The rarest thing to find in your house is silence.

Isn't it?

Why is that?

Well, it's because we're a noisy people.

We just heard some very beautiful noises this evening.

There are good noises out there, of course.

We make noise all of the time.

We're busy and active and noisy.

And sometimes we make noises because we're unhappy.

Sometimes we make noises because we're angry.

Sometimes we make noises because we're scared.

And sometimes we make a specific noise when we're unhappy and angry and scared.

And the Bible has a word for it.

It's called complaining.

Complaining.

That's the reason, by and large, that so much of the silence that should characterize our lives isn't there.

It's because we complain way too often.

And the Israelites knew something about complaining.

This, it seems, is the first time that the Israelites complain.

And they become expert complainers by the end of their wilderness wanderings.

But this is the first time we hear of the people of Israel complaining.

They've just come out of Egypt.

They were slaves for 400 years.

And then God heard their cry.

He sent to them a savior, Moses.

God defeated the gods of Egypt with the ten plagues.

And then God rescued them out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.

And then they were going to go a particular route up the coast, and God said, no, no, no, not that way.

And he sent them another way, which seemed a little odd at the time.

It wasn't direct on the way to the promised land.

So they're kind of wandering around in the wilderness.

And then God does something else that's very surprising.

God brings Egypt back after them.

That's what the text says.

If you look at Exodus 14, verse 4, it says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them.

Exodus 14:4

And I'll get glory over Pharaoh.

Meaning, God did that to them.

I guess Egypt would have just let them go, but God intervened and he made their lives harder.

And so what do they do?

When Egypt, not content to let their slaves run free, chases after them with their 200 plus chariots and corners them at the Red Sea in the wilderness.

There's nowhere to run.

What do the people of Israel do?

Well, the text tells us that they complained.

They feared greatly.

And so, verse 11, they said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?

What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?

Is not this what we said to you in Egypt?

Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?

For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

They could have trusted God's promise.

He had said over and over and over again, I'm going to bring you into the promised land.

You're going to inherit it.

They could have simply received this word from Moses that God was going to get glory over Pharaoh and his army.

They could have been silent.

But instead, they complained.

I have to confess to you, I complain.

I don't know what you complain about.

I complain about going to the dentist.

I don't know if any of you are dentists, I'm sorry.

I know in my heart that when I go there, they are not going to drill holes in all of my teeth.

I know that.

I know that it's not going to hurt as much as I think it's going to.

I know that they're not going to steal all of my teeth and sell them on the black market.

I know all that's true.

And yet, still, every single time, you can ask my wife, every time I have a dentist appointment, I complain.

That's a little bit like the Israelites here.

They know that God is going to see them through.

He's told them time and again.

He has proved it.

They're carrying Joseph's bones all the way back.

So why is it then that they complain?

It's because they don't believe.

Because they don't trust God.

Because they don't actually think that God is going to do what he said he was going to do.

And they're going to be professional complainers.

As it turns out, every single chapter after this, for the next three or four chapters, it opens with them complaining.

They don't have water, complain.

They don't have food, complain.

They don't have more water, complain.

And then they leave from Mount Sinai later on, Numbers chapter 11, and they're in the wilderness again.

Numbers 11 · chapter mention

And what do they do when they get hungry?

They complain.

And then they're going to go into the promised land, but everyone there is really tall.

And they're scared.

And so what do they do?

They complain.

So what does Moses say to the troubled heart, whom God has put in a fearful position?

By his divine hand, he has orchestrated things so that their life is more difficult now than it was before in some way.

What does Moses say to that heart?

Well, he gives them a promise and a command.

He says, in verse 14, the Lord will fight for you.

You have only to be silent.

This is the very first time in the Bible that God is said to fight.

And yes, God is a fighter.

He's a warrior.

He defends his people in battle.

And he is a mighty warrior.

When you are in a situation where you're tempted to complain, one of the questions you have to ask is: Is God able to rescue me from this?

My God is so strong and so mighty, there's.

Oh, he can deliver you alright.

And will he?

Does he want to?

Amen.

That's the question you have to ask yourself, friends.

When you're in a harrowing moment, when you're afraid and scared, and you don't know why has God put me here right now.

Ask yourself, is he big and strong and mighty?

Is he able and is he willing?

Will he keep his promise?

And then your part is to go to God and say, okay, God, I know that you've got a plan to bring me through this all the way to glory, whatever that is, but let me go ahead and help you out.

I know that you've got it all worked out, that you've figured this out in eternity past, but let me give you some advice.

Is that what we do?

No, Moses says, you be silent.

Silent.

It's emphasizing inactivity.

You don't contribute.

Listen, God doesn't have sidekicks.

God doesn't have a player to.

He doesn't have a co-pilot.

He does not need our help.

And in fact, he asks for us to not try to help.

When he means to give his people salvation, he will give it.

He alone has the power and he can do it.

Moses says, be silent.

Our part is not to help God, but to be silent as God helps us.

It's not you trying and scraping your way up to heaven, trying to somehow claw into the eternal courts of glory by your strength.

No, it's you resting and trusting and saying, I know that my God is good and strong and he will keep his word.

So I ask you, what tempts you right now to complain?

I'm not just talking to kids here, okay?

Adults.

We complain just as much.

What tempts you to complain?

Is God big enough?

Is he strong enough?

Are you willing to be silent and wait for him?

You know, the greatest Red Sea that God would ever part wasn't the one that he then sent Moses in front of with a staff in his hand to raise it and then with a wind drive it in twos so that the Israelites would go through on dry ground.

That wasn't the greatest Red Sea that God would ever part.

You know what the greatest Red Sea that God would ever part is?

It was his own wrath.

God's anger towards us for our sin is an immovable object that we could never overcome.

And though you might try to help God get you into heaven, it's not gonna work.

You're not big and strong and mighty like he is.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, sent Christ, the second Moses, to part the waters through his cross.

He sent Jesus down to silence our complaining at the cross and to usher us with closed mouths into his presence.

Our part is not to work for salvation, we just believe.

We trust and obey, for there's no other way.

Our part is to be silent, and the Lord, Moses says, will fight for you.

And you know what happens after they get on the other side of the Red Sea?

That's when they start making noise.

They sing.

Tambourines, cymbals, the whole thing.

They probably had a ukulele, I don't know.

That's when they make noise.

When they have been redeemed, when they have been saved, then things get loud as they should.

And friends, you know, when we get to the other side, it'll be loud.

Then we'll sing.

For now, our part is just to be silent and to trust, and to know that He is God.

Let me pray for us.

Heavenly Father, what a glorious, awesome, strong, and mighty God you are.

We rely entirely on you.

There is nothing outside of your perfect will that you cannot do.

So, Father, help us to be silent.

When we're tempted to complain, when we're scared, when we're angry, remind us you're good.

You're strong, and you keep all of your promises.

May these children who have sung these glorious truths this evening, may they believe them down to their bones.

May their parents be faithful to teach them every morning, every night.

May we as a church be faithful to come alongside those parents and support and encourage and echo the gospel by which we are saved.

Father, what a marvelous truth that you will fight for us.

We have only to be silent.

We pray this with humble hearts, grateful lips, and a song fit for eternity.

We pray all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.

Thanks for joining us.

If you're in the Washington, D.C.

area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.

For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.

For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.

location, go to TMS.edu.

I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.