Exodus 14:1-16 | Pharaoh changes his mind but God is in control.

So when I became a Christian, you know, God just delivered me

in such a a powerful way. You know, I gave my life to

Jesus when I was 12, but then I had an encounter with Christ in

2004 while I was in college. That changed the like everything

about my life. And what's wild is like when I

walked away from certain things, when I walked away from my sin,

it felt like even though I walked away from my sin, sin

didn't want me to walk away from it.

And moving forward, there was this, this wrestle, this, this

tug of war that that, you know, almost makes you feel a little

bit hopeless sometimes. So it's like you make these

promises to God and you're like, Lord, I don't want to sit no

more. I don't want to do this anymore.

This is going to be the last time I bow before the puke

station. This is going to be the last

time I leave that apartment. This is going to be the last

time I listen to certain things, the last time that I close my

laptop to that website. This is going to be the final

time. And what ends up happening is we

fall back sometimes as as a believer, when we struggle with

our sin, we tend to feel like a failure.

Sometimes we ask ourselves questions like, am I really

saved? Like did did God really deliver

me from this? And listen, if you have the

feeling like I can't shake this off, you're not the only one

because this is the story of Israel.

Israel is going to be delivered. So Moses gets, you know, they,

they do the plagues. Pharaoh let's the people go.

They, they leave Egypt and in all this great stuff and

they're, they're marching out of there and now they're at a

location and we're going to look at where God strategically

places the people of Israel and Pharaoh changes his mind.

And it's interesting because the thing that oppressed them, that

God delivered them from is now on their way back to the

Israelites. In the Israelites, we're

probably thinking like, wait a second, I thought we were free

from this. How come it's coming back to get

us now? It's a massive tug of war.

It makes me even understand why Paul writes in Romans chapter 6

Romans 6 · chapter mention

that if the old self is crucified with him, then that

means that that old self is dead and we live in the new life.

But he also says in verse 7, because anyone who has died has

been set free from sin. So Paul is, is constantly

telling us the scripture is constantly telling us that

because we've made new and alive in Christ, we are no longer in

bondage to our sin and our sinful nature.

That means that you have the ability to say no, you don't

have to be enslaved to it. And I think some of us feel

like, well, Ricky, I struggle with sin so bad, like it must

not work. And I think no, like God has

given you the ability to be free from the bondage of sin.

He gives you a way to do it. Then what is it about us that

makes us keep fighting and wanting to go back to sin?

Because in in all honesty, man, the struggle is hard.

We get tired. The battle is real.

Talk to anybody who has faced addictions before and they will

tell you, I understand that you want to leave, you want to do

what's right. But something like, and I know

we talked about this like we seek comfort and pleasure and

remember a while back, like man, like the predictability of

slavery sometimes feels way better than the unpredictability

of freedom. So sometimes we don't just seek

comfort and pleasure. I think sometimes we yearn for

that misery as well, if we're honest with ourselves, almost

like we self sabotage when something is going good in our

lives. These are going well.

And then all of it. And then we, we, we somehow

messed things up. Why do we do this?

Because it is the struggle that we have with sin.

But the great news is that Jesus came down to defeat sin.

So that way you and I not only have freedom from our sin, but

we could also defeat it as well. We don't have to let it keep us

in bondage. So here we are at Exodus 14.

God is delivering the Israelites as he promised, as he he said he

would. Now the Israelites are going to

see the Egyptians come back to get them, and they are going to

lose their minds. They're going to be like, we're

all dead. They're going to freak out.

They're going to they're going to start rehearsing speeches to

Pharaoh. Like, man, we didn't want to

leave. It's that Moses took us out.

They're going to panic and Israel is going to see a

situation one way, and Moses is going to see a situation a

different way. The Egyptians are coming and I

think sometimes when things don't go as planned or as we

expect for it to go, like Lord, I'm following you, but it's not

working. What we do as in our human

nature, when we do in our sinful nature, that our automatic

assumption is God, you let this one slip by.

God, you ran out of power. They caught you by surprise.

God, like you're probably upset with me.

That's why you're not helping me right now.

And we have all of these these reasonings and these scenarios

that we play in our head. And what I want to look at today

is I think the better we understand the character of God,

who God is and what he came to do, the better it's going to be

for us as believers that when things don't go our way and when

things look like it's, it's, it's different than what we

expected. When troubles comes, it's going

to help us shift our focus and our perspective and say, Lord,

you are all sovereign. God, you're all knowing and

you're in all control, not me. And instead of us bailing out

and running away and taking our ball and running home, we're

going to stay firm in what God's called us to and say, no Lord,

you're calling me to this. I'm going to trust you.

So that's where we're going today.

So the Egyptians, I mean, the Egyptians are coming.

They changed their mind. Pharaoh changed his mind, and

the Israelites are stuck between a rock and an ocean.

So let's look at the first 4 verses and we're just going to

kind of walk through this thing. So that's where we're at.

So God freed the Egyptian, I mean the Israelites.

He led them to a specific location and this is where we

begin verse 1 and 14. Then the Lord said to Moses,

tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Phi Haroth

between Migdol and the sea they are in, to encamp by the sea

directly opposite of Baal Safan. Verse 3.

Pharaoh will think the Israelites are wandering around

the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert, and I will harden

Pharaoh's heart. You know, we talked about that

last week. And he will pursue them, and I

will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his

army. And the Egyptians will know I am

the Lord. So the Israelites did this.

It's interesting how God set them up.

And if you look at a, a map of what this would look like, God

told the Israelites to turn back in the encampment near Fiharath

and between Migdol and the sea. So what it looks like is like,

is like a, a valley that's going downward.

And then he's telling the Israelites to turn around so the

sea is behind them. And then you have two canyons on

either side, two hills. Now listen, if I'm leading a

nation, this is a terrible idea. What this does is that this is

exposing Israel. This makes Israel look like they

have no idea what they're talking about.

It looks like any nation could come and take over Israel.

Anybody could come and just run them over it.

Now it's almost like God is dangling a carrot to Pharaoh.

So he's placing Israel in a really awkward position.

He's making it look like Israel doesn't know what they're doing,

that they're just meandering through the desert.

And why are they in the desert anyway?

You see, the thing was in the previous chapters, God is taking

them this route because the other route they had to face the

Philistines. And God knew that if they went

through the land of the Philistines, they were going to

get attacked and Israel was going to turn back around and

run right back to Egypt. So what God does is He takes

them in this route and He's setting them up.

Now this doesn't make any sense, but what God is doing is that

God is setting up an ambush for Pharaoh.

But what I love about this is that I want us to look at God's

sovereignty here. This is what we call a sovereign

decree from the Lord. Look at verse 4.

God, you have to pay attention to verse 4 because I want you to

look at the language that God is using here.

God says I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them,

but I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his

army, and the Egyptians will know that I am God.

Guys, those are called definitive statements.

That means that God is telling Moses, not as a suggestion, but

it's something that's actually going to happen.

Guys. That's our God.

Our God is so powerful that he knows every sovereign detail of

everything that is going down. And he's telling Moses he's

like, listen, this is what I want you to tell.

This is going to happen. This is how it's going to

happen, and this is going to be the outcome of what's going to

happen. So if God is telling them this

one thing I want us to learn about the character of God,

let's go to point #1 listen, I think this is a great reminder.

God cannot be surprised. God can't be surprised.

There's nothing about the situation that caught God off

guard. God knows God is not well.

Well, Moses, looks like Pharaoh changed his mind.

Looks like you. You.

You're stuck. Sorry about you.

No, what God does here, God is in control of every single

detail. And what God is doing is God is

setting the stage for the final confrontation of the most

spectacular display of divine power that we will ever see.

He's setting it up. God is not taken by surprise

here. I love there's a few verses I

want us to just run through look at Job and these will be on the

screen Job 42 two. What we see in Job 42 two is

that God that there's no purposes of God will be thrown

off will be thrart Satan cannot mess up God's plans or ideas.

There's nothing about his decrees or plans that the devil

could throw off. So even this whole idea, Oh

well, like it's just the devil doesn't want to know.

There's nothing that can throw off God's plans.

Psalms 135 Six. God does whatever he pleases.

The Lord is so sovereign and so powerful that whatever he wants

to do, he's going to do. The Lord does what he pleases.

Ecclesiastes 83 It says that the king does whatever he wants.

Even Ecclesiastes is showing he's like, God does not, You

cannot. Just because you oppose God

doesn't mean that you could fight him and win.

Just because you don't agree with the Lord, just because you

throw a tantrum, doesn't mean that God is going to look at you

and change his mind. He does what he pleases for his

purposes. And I know that sounds kind of

harsh. I'm saying this because I love

you. And this is the truth of who our

God is. God does whatever He pleases.

I know somebody I once heard says, listen, your arms are too

short to box with God. You ain't going to win.

Because God does what He pleases according to His plan and His

will. But there's also another verse,

Romans 839, that says that there is absolutely nothing in this

life, nothing in this world that can separate you from the love

of God. So if God does whatever he

pleases, if God puts everything in motion, He also loves you,

and he does it out of love. So even though we don't

understand, even though we argue and we fight, like, Lord, I

don't know what you're doing here, Understand that there's

nothing that could separate you from His love.

He does it because He loves us. And listen, God didn't bring

Egypt, I mean Israel out of Egypt hoping that he could save

them. He brought them out of Egypt

knowing that He can save them. He knows what He's going to do,

and He knows what He's doing. Which leads us to point #2 and I

think this is an easy one for us to remember.

God don't make mistakes, so there's nothing that could

surprise our Lord, but also there's God doesn't mess up.

God does not make mistakes. And listen, if he saved Israel,

knowing that he, if he took Israel out of bondage, knowing

he could save them, what does that mean for us?

What does that mean for you? Listen, God did not bring you

out of your situation and your sin hoping that he could save

you. He did it knowing that he could

save you. He brought you out.

He saved you because He loves you so much.

He knows that He could save you. Our God is mighty to save man.

Acts 412, One of my favorite verses.

For there is no other name under heaven and earth, the name of

Jesus, that anybody could find salvation.

Salvation is through the name of Christ, and we have it.

God knows that He could save us. He knows He could take you out

of that situation. You have to trust it.

For all of us who have put our faith in the work of Jesus

Christ, God saves us. Now I want us to dig a little

bit deeper here because I think sometimes we, we skim over some

like deep theological things about God.

And there's two things I want to point out here about God.

I believe that if we understand it, it's going to help us as a

church and as individuals when things go awry or when things go

wrong. Now, if sin is involved, then

there's going to be consequences to your sin.

Let's just be honest. God is going to forgive you and

restore you if you ask for forgiveness.

But as you're following the Lord, there's going to be

sometimes where things are difficult.

And there's two things I want to point out here in this text.

Let's, let's talk a little. Let's talk a little systematic

theology for a second. There's two things.

Number one, God's sovereign decree, God's sovereign decree.

I'll put the definition here on the screen.

What is God's sovereign decree? So that means that if the Lord

has a sovereign decree, that means that God's eternal, wise

and holy purposes have been formed before the foundations of

the world to bring about all that happens for the glory of

His name. Everything, everything that God

brings forth is because He decrees it.

That means that His authority, He has all authority by which

everything, whatever happens and whatever passes is because God

allows it to happen. So God does this.

He's all eternal, He's all wise. He's he's all-purpose.

He has everything has been planned from the foundation of

the world. Nothing takes God by surprise.

Nothing catches God off guard. Everything happening in the

world right now, God is not like, oh, I can't believe the

situation in Iran. How did that get there?

No, He knows it, and God's purposes are being driven by it,

and people are going to come to know the Lord by it.

His purposes are true and clear because we have His sovereign

decree. So not only do we have His

sovereign decree, we also have His Providence.

His Providence? What's Providence?

God, in all His infinite love and wisdom, sustains, governs,

directs all creation and all events in the universe toward

His purposes. Everything is created by God.

I love Colossians 115. What does it say about Christ?

Everything has been created through him and to Him.

But then it says through Christ everything is sustained.

So he doesn't just create everything.

He's the glue that holds everything together.

God's Providence over all things.

So we don't only have his sovereign decree.

That's not the Lord. That's not only that we have

that that the Lord serves. So whatever God says happens, He

has the authority to make it happen.

But we also have God's Providence.

That means everything that is works out, directs.

So I want you to understand something.

When things happen, it's because the Lord allows it to happen.

We see it in the book of Job how Satan has to go to God and ask

God for permission in order to do something to Job and listen

because of his sovereign decree. That does not only impact Job,

that impacts all of us. God doesn't change His mind when

He says something, it continues to happen.

Every created thing is run by God's Providence, so that means

that they exist and sustain all because of Him.

Now, with that in mind, let's read verses 5 through 9.

So we know we talk. We're talking about who God is.

So look at verses 5 through 9. This is when the king of Egypt

was told that the people had fled.

Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them

and said, what have we done? We have let the Israelites go

and have lost their services. Oh, oh, my wallet just got hit.

And you know, when the wallet gets hit, that's when things

start to shift. And what they're looking at,

they're looking at this from an economic standpoint now.

Now, Pharaoh just experienced 10 plagues.

He even lost his first born. God broke Pharaoh, but didn't

mean that Pharaoh changed his heart.

There's a difference here. Sometimes the Lord does things

to break us. But it is to lead to a heart

change. And unless there's forgiveness

and repentance through Jesus Christ, we don't feel

repentance, we just feel remorse.

We feel bad. Many of us just feel bad we got

caught. Maybe if I didn't get caught,

I'd probably still do it. But what repentance says is I

have sinned against God and I need to change, and only Jesus

can do that. So listen, don't confuse

individual heart change with an amendment of behavior.

Anybody could change their behavior to look holy on the

outside. Jesus calls out the Pharisees.

He's like, y'all, like a bunch of whitewashed tombs.

You look pretty on the outside, but inside your rotten Pharaoh.

God did not just change Pharaoh's heart.

All of a sudden Pharaoh is showing us who he is.

Pharaoh's always been Pharaoh. God has given him over to how he

feels about the Israelites and he's allowing for, remember his

sovereign decree, his Providence, he's allowing

Pharaoh to move forward. Pharaoh's just operating and how

he's always done it. And he's like, what have we

done? We're going to lose their

services. How we we need to do something.

So look at verse 6. So Pharaoh gets a little extra

here and he says, man, he had sorry.

So he had his chariot made already and took his army with

him. He took 600 of his best Chariots

along with all of the other Chariots of Israel.

I mean of of Egypt with officers over all of them.

And then verse 8 in the Lord heart, in Pharaoh's heart, king

of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites who were marching out

boldly. Man, I love that that term here

says that they marched out boldly.

You see, when the Israelites were freed, they didn't leave

scared. They left as free men and women.

They left and they took stuff with them.

They're like, we're out here. God fought for us.

Pharaoh is beginning to remember that picture.

And now what he does is that he calls for his Chariots.

He's like, hold on, I got to get my tanks.

I got to get the best of the best military wise.

And in verse 9, it says the Egyptians, all Pharaoh's horses

and Chariots, horsemen and troops pursued the Israelites

and overtook them as they camped near the Sea of Baharoth,

opposite of Baal Saffan. It's interesting when you see

this, we know the the Israelites are not military strong people.

They were a bunch of slaves at the time and God freed them.

And Pharaoh is saying, hold on a second, we need to go after

them, but not just go after them.

I want to bring my Chariots. And when you study historical

documentation, he's talking about the best of his best

Chariots, like Chariots that were like built from metal.

These are like tanks. But you know what metal doesn't

do well? Float.

So what God is doing is God is like, I'm asking like, why is

Pharaoh being so extra right now?

We could just March out there and bring him back.

You know, something I love about being a girl, dad, is that when

we go out to eat, it's an event. Livia and Lena, they're like,

are we going to Pappasito's or wherever we're going?

They're like, Oh no, hold on, we got to get dressed and I get

roasted all the time because Dada has shorts and AT shirt and

they look way better than Dad. I'm like, we're just going to go

eat. No, no, no, they get dressed and

then they got to get the coloring books and the pencils

and the pens and they're ready to go.

It becomes an event. And then we get there and they

know exactly what to do and, and Elena knows exactly what to

order 'cause she has to have Mac and cheese because how is she

going to make a fajita without Mac and cheese inside?

And it's low key kind of good. Y'all should try it.

I'm telling you, I'll just say it's a little cheat code.

But what are they doing? What are they saying to me?

Because in my mind I'm like, you're just doing, you're doing

too much. We're just going to eat.

But in their minds, they're like, no, I'm trying to maximize

the experience because it's not just about what we're going to

eat. It's going to be so good.

But it's about being seen. It's about hanging out with Dad.

It's about having a great time. But in my mind, I'm like, you're

doing too much. But in their mind is like, no,

I'm trying to maximize the experience.

And when we look at what Pharaoh's doing, what God is

saying, and some of us like you're doing too much.

And what God's like, no, what I'm doing is I'm trying to

maximize my glory. That's what number 3 is .3 God

is going to do what he can to bring himself glory.

Not just any glory. God wants to give himself the

most glory. He wants to maximize his glory.

That's why like when you see stuff like this, why did David

just not kill a Philistine? Why did it have to be a nine

foot monster to maximize his glory?

So that way we could look at the scriptures and say nothing else

could do this except the hand of our Lord.

And that's what's happening here.

It's like bro, most like Pharaoh, you're doing too much.

Why do you need all like 600 massive tank of Chariots Like

these people don't even have weapons.

They don't know how to fight and what God's like.

I know I'm maximizing my glory right now.

I'm God's Providence. He's allowing this to take

place. He knows what is about to go

down. He's letting hit Pharaoh's heart

get hardened and then he lets them get close.

So the Egyptians are on the move and it says that they pretty

much tracked down the Israelites in verse 9.

He's pursuing them and he they found where they were camped out

on. I can't even imagine what the

Egyptians might must be thinking when they see everybody there

like sitting ducks and they finally pull up and they're

like, this is like shooting fish in a bucket, easy.

But what I think it's important, too, is to how does Israel

respond to watching the oppressor come back?

I think there's some lessons for us here, the way that Israel

responds, 'cause sometimes when something happens all of a

sudden that we don't think about or take into consideration, we

kind of lose our minds as well. We kind of leave.

We're like, Lord, forget this, I, I ain't signed up for this.

And you forget about the God who saved you.

What happens? Why, why did God save me and,

and got me all hopeful just in order to disappoint me and, and

get my hopes all down? Well, that's the wrong

perspective because there's two things that Israel is about to

forget here. Number one, Israel forgot and

this is not on the screen. Number one, Israel forgot their

deliverance. Didn't they just see God do 10

plagues and free them? They they, they were freed by

this massive oppressor. They saw it with their own eyes.

They walked. The Bible says they walked with

their their chest up, like, yeah, we're out of here.

They walked out with confidence knowing that God saved them.

But they forgot and #2 they didn't just forget that they

were delivered. They also forgot how they were

delivered and what they were delivered from.

Listen, man, you guys were in slavery.

They were beating your backs. You couldn't even worship the

way you want to. And God took you out of that to

be free and do whatever you want.

And now all of a sudden you see them coming back and your whole

idea and your whole perspective is like, we're going to die.

You forget. I think sometimes we need to

remind ourselves about God's Providence in our lives.

Remember what God saved you from.

Remember the sin that he took you out of.

Remember that terrible relationship he read?

Remember how he restored you? Remember how he provided for us

and I'm going to question when something goes wrong, guys.

That's our sinful nature. We need to remind ourselves

about God's Providence in our lives, but also we need to

remind, remind ourselves that it God saved Israel, not based on

the holiness of Israel. Israel was not operating in

under the laws of God all perfectly.

He didn't save Israel because Israel was awesome.

He saved Israel because he was the only one that could save

Israel. And it's the same for us.

Listen, God did not save us because we are holy and great

and we do great things. God saved us because He loved

us. Jesus went to the cross on our

behalf, God's Providence on our lives.

So what does that mean? When something happens in our

life because God saved us and because of His sovereign decree

and because of His Providence, that means that your problem is

not your problem. That means that your problem is

his problem. And He's the only one that's

going to be able to deal with it, not you.

You try to deal with it and it's going to fall on yourself.

It's going to collapse in your life and you're going to be more

frustrated. So you can't save yourself.

You can't help yourself. Like that's the whole point of

the gospel. The gospel's like, we can't, but

Jesus did. So we look to him.

He's the one that saves us. He's the one that's mighty to

save. Now look what Israel does here.

I, I man, what they say is crazy.

Look at verse 10. This is as Pharaoh approached,

the Israelites looked up. So they looked at Pharaoh and

they were there were the Egyptians marching after them

And what were they terrified? Uh oh.

And they cried out to God. It didn't say that they prayed

to the Lord. When you're terrified, you're

like, Lord, why are we going to die?

But they didn't seek the Lord here.

But then look what they did and what they're going to do here.

They're they're going to say to Moses.

But it's almost like they're practicing what they're going to

say when Pharaoh catches them. Almost like when you're in

trouble as a kid and you have like a speech ready to tell your

parents, oh, just me, y'all saved.

OK. All right.

So verse 11, they said to Moses, was it because there was no

graves in Egypt that you brought us out to the desert to die?

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

Crazy question. Then look at verse 12.

This is the rehearsal speech. Didn't we say to you in Egypt,

leave us alone, Let us serve the Egyptians?

It would be. It would have been better for us

to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.

How crazy is that? The question that they're asking

is that they forgot how easily freed they were, Like you freed

us. They forgot about the bondage,

they forgot about the rescue. They forgot about everything

gone and now they're practicing like no, like Pharaoh.

We didn't want to be free. They Moses took us out and we

said leave us alone. We liked serving in Egypt.

It was great. But hold on a second because

then then the beginning of Exodus, it's saying that the

Lord heard their cries. So now all of a sudden you're

changing your tone. You're changing the descriptors

in your life. You're changing everything

because you lost faith. The problem with the Israelites,

it says that the Israelites looked up and they saw the

Egyptians. They didn't look up and see the

Lord in the Lord's hand. They lost it.

They forgot everything. So then what's the solution?

How do we what? What should we do when we're in

that situation? Because let's just be real with

each other. There's going to be times in our

lives where we look up at situations and we're like, God,

where are you? We forget that he saved us, that

we that's what he encouraged by you.

You study his word, you get into Bible study like you.

You got to know his word because if not, you're going to be

overtaken by grief and doubt, and then you're going to go

right back to the same junk that God saved you from.

And God's like, no, I'm freeing you.

But the oppressor keeps coming back.

So what's the solution? And God gives this prophetic

declaration here. Moses answered the people.

So all right, so this is what we do all right, how do what's the

solution to all of our fear and anxiety and worry like we're

going to die again, like we if we're practicing our our speech

when Pharaoh gets us, What's the solution?

It's in verse. The solution is in verse 13.

Moses answered the people, do not be afraid.

Stand firm and you will see the deliverance of the Lord.

The Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you

will never see again. The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to what? Be still?

What does Moses say? Listen, fear not, watch God,

stand up and shut your mouth. That's the Ricky version.

Sometimes we talk too much and sometimes we just need to be

quiet and be still. Psalms 4610.

Be still and know that I am God. Fear not.

Watch God do His work. Stand firm in the faith and be

quiet and let the Lord fight for you, which is our fourth point

here. Listen, We serve a God who

fights for His children, He fights for you, He fights for

us. So when we are weary and we're

scared, we're anxious. We're like God.

The Egyptians are coming back. I feel pulled again.

God says hold on, hold on, stop, stop, fear not, stop being

scared because you have to understand my sovereign decree

and my Providence, I am the Lord Almighty, I am Yahweh, I am El

Shaddai. I am the God who is mighty to

save. Fear not and watch me do the

work. That means that you don't get in

the way of what God is trying to do.

And sometimes what we do is that we interject ourselves when God

says not yet. And when we are premature, when

God's trying to bless us, then the blessing is going to crush

us because we're not ready for it.

I think of myself in ministry when the Lord called me to be a

pastor. I remember in 2013, I was like,

absolutely not. You must be out your mind, God.

I remember talking to my sister about it on a on a dock by the

lake. And in two years later when I

finished seminary, I really felt that calling in that push and

then ended up entering into a church that we felt the Lord

calling us to help out. But when I look back at Ricky in

2015 and 16, if I would have to have planted that church and

tons and everybody showed up, I think that would have crushed me

because I wasn't ready. And what the Lord had to do is

that the Lord had to mold me and walk with me and put me through

certain situations and fire and all these things so that way he

can prepare me for what he's about to bring.

And listen, it's for us as well. Many of us are stuck in a place

where we're asking God, what's next.

And our response should be like, Lord, it's not about what's

next. It's I'm going to serve you

faithfully right here and right now.

And as you serve him faithfully and as you seek his will,

because the Bible says when you seek him wholeheartedly, you're

going to find him. And when you seek his will, the

Lord begins to prepare you. The Lord begins to build you.

The Lord begins to take out all those impurities.

So that way he prepares you for the next season and the next

step in serving him. And if you jump the gun, it's

not going to exalt the Lord. It's actually going to divide

his plan and it's going to crush you.

So God in all his decrees and all his Providence, we have got

to trust him. And we got to say, Lord, it's at

your pace. I'm going to follow you.

I'm going to stand firm regardless of what happens.

And then God says, you're going to see deliverance come today.

And then the Egyptians you see today, you're never going to see

again. You know why?

Because I'm fighting for you. Not you see, the problem is God

has to eliminate the Egyptians because if not, they're going to

keep coming back again and again and again and again.

God's plan is intact. God will fight for you.

And this is, look guys, this has been the story of Israel all

through the Old Testament. And in verse 15, then the Lord

said to Moses, why are you crying?

So George Lopez gets it. Why are you crying to me?

Tell the Israelites to move on. Now hold on, where are they

going to move? They're stuck.

There's walls and there's an ocean.

So where are they going to go? So God tells Moses, listen,

that's what I need you to do, number one, stop crying and tell

the Israelites to just just just move.

But then he tells them how and he says, raise your staff,

stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that

the Israelites can go through the Red Sea on dry ground.

Last thing I want to point out and then we'll end with this our

.5. Listen, the Lord's promises of

deliverance will overrule all your despair and your sense of

hopelessness. And listen, when we are going

through life and we feel despair and hopelessness when we're

trying to follow the Lord and we feel like we're just, we're just

battling with our sin. Remember His promises.

Because if God's sovereign decrees are real, that means

that every single word that he says is true.

And here's the crazy thing about his word.

You ready for this? There's no expiration date.

That means that his word is not like, well, this word is only

for like this century, but we're in 2026, so it doesn't apply to

us. That's a bunch of junk.

That's trash. Because if you say that that

means that his decrees are not sovereign, that means that what

he says, there's a little truth to that.

But no, if God, what he says, it's all true, it's 100% true.

That means that it lasts all generations and through all

eternities. And you know what God's going to

tell them in order to overrule your despair and your

hopelessness. You trust in the promises of

God. But then what we're going to see

next week is that when you are delivered, there's only one

response that is required to the Lord.

And that response is worship. Worship has a lot to do with it

and I think sometimes God tells his people to worship and we try

way too hard to be innovative. Just worship.

It don't matter what you sound like, no matter what songs it

don't matter. And on this matter, what matters

is your heart posture. So when I trust the Lord and his

promises, and I feel despair and hopelessness, and I see the

Egyptians coming to my life, I'm not going to fear.

I'm going to trust in His promises because we serve a God

who's going to fight for us. And I'm going to be still, and

I'm going to know that He is the Lord.

I'm going to keep my mouth shut and I'm going to let God do

everything. That's the God that we serve.

That's who we have in our corner.

And God makes this reality even more real because he steps out

of heaven and he comes down to earth in the flesh and the

person of Jesus. And as Jesus lives his life

sinless and perfect, he his mission is to go to the cross

and not just take our sin, but also our bondage.

And now we have the ability to be free from our sin and free

from that struggle. We no longer have to live

attached to our sin. So when it starts coming back to

us and when we start seeing it coming down the hill, we could

look to Christ, the author and the perfector of our faith and

know that he's going to take care of it for us.

Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Savior and this

whole story of the Exodus is who is Jesus is pointing to?

It's pointing to the ultimate Savior, the ultimate.

So let me tell you, let me ask you if there's something in your

life right now that you're like Ricky, I'm just hopeless.

I like, I have despaired my life.

I'm fighting a sin that I feel like I'm losing to.

I don't think this Christianity thing is real because I keep

failing. Hear, hear me, hear me.

Jesus could handle that. Seek him and ask Him.

Ask for repentance, Ask for prayer.

Seek Him. He is mighty to save, and He

wants to save you, because nothing can separate you from

the love of Christ.