Stand and See | Exodus 14:1–31

Exodus tells the story of a God who isn't distant, but moves toward his people in power and mercy. God reveals himself as I am, leading Israel out of slavery and into the life-changing reality of his presence. So if you haven't yet, I'll encourage you to open a copy of God's Word and turn to Exodus chapter 14 as we continue our series through this amazing book.

Today we come to one of the most famous stories in all of Scripture, the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus chapter 14. Go ahead and turn there with me. It's so fitting for today because if I could surmise the chapter real quick, it's a story of complaining children and a patient, gracious parent.

And it could not be a better fit for today. So let's see God's Word unfold in this beautiful chapter. This passage is dramatic, powerful, and very important.

It takes about four minutes to read the narrative straight through, so let's take those four minutes and let God's Word just remind us of this beautiful story and maybe teach us some things that are new. Exodus chapter 14, verse 1. So the Israelites did this. ...and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one.

The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites who were going out defiantly. The Egyptians, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, his horsemen and his army, chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Piharath in front of Baal-Saffan. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them.

The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. 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 by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt? Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

But Moses said to the people, Don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation that he will accomplish for you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

The Lord will fight for you and you must be quiet. The Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

As for me, I'm going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army and his chariots and horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the angel of God who was going in front of the Israelite forces moved and went behind them.

The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them. It came between the Egyptian and the Israelite forces. There was cloud and darkness.

It lit up the night and neither group came near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land.

So the waters were divided and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. The Egyptians set out in pursuit. All Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen and went into the sea after them.

During the morning watch, the Lord looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. Let's get away from Israel, the Egyptians said, because the Lord is fighting for them and against Egypt.

Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the Lord threw them into the sea.

The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived. But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters like a wall to them on the right and the left.

That day the Lord saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in him and his servant Moses. So grateful for this amazing text.

The crossing of the Red Sea is a major event in the Exodus story. At first, at the end of chapter 13, it seems like the story has already reached a happy ending. They're free from Egypt, from slavery.

Israel has been delivered from Egypt. Pharaoh finally let them go. The people are free, walking away from Egypt in victory, being led by God by a pillar.

But then chapter 14, we have a plot twist. Pharaoh once again changes his mind. This plot twist is so pivotal to this narrative for the nation of Israel and so theologically important for you and I today.

You see, Exodus 14 reminds us that they, the nation of Israel, were not fully free yet. That's what we'll see today. You noticed in the first couple verses, I hope, that by the will of God, this story happens.

Pharaoh changes his mind by God's design. Egypt pursues Israel and the Israelites find themselves trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army. Chapter 14 begins and the plot thickens.

God's not done yet. They're not fully free. Here's the point.

God knows something Israel does not yet fully understand. And it's this, that the Egyptians will continue to oppress or burden Israel unless the Lord completely rescues them. The Lord knows Egypt's heart.

The Lord knows Pharaoh's heart. He knows that he'll change his mind. Verse 13 says, for the Egyptians, this is what God's plan is.

This is what God's will is. For the Egyptians, you see today, you will never see again. God has a greater salvation, a greater rescue, a greater freedom for Israel than they even understood.

And God knows that's exactly what they need. You see, Israel is free from slavery in Egypt, but they aren't yet free. They are still in need of salvation.

God's purpose in this chapter could not be clearer. It's repeated at least three times. Let me highlight it for you.

Here's the purpose of Exodus 14. Verse 4, then I, God, will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.

It's repeated in verse 17. And then in verse 18, it says, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I receive glory through Pharaoh. It's repeated again in verse 31.

When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in him. It's a powerful story. It has two very simple purposes.

One, this chapter is ultimately about is that God's glory is revealed. That's the story of Exodus 14, the crossing of the Red Sea. That God would reveal his glory.

And number two, that God's people would fully experience salvation, freedom, rescue, deliverance. God wants them to experience it to its fullest degree. Here's what I think is the key verse of the chapter.

If you want to just summarize it or point to one verse or two verses that summarize the chapter, I think it's Exodus 14, 13 through 14. It says this, don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation.

I think that's what the chapter is about, salvation, that he will accomplish for you today. The Lord will fight for you and you must be quiet. To summarize this chapter, it's a chapter about salvation.

But I think it's important for us to understand what this text refers to when it's describing salvation. Notice real quick that the book ends of this theme of salvation in chapter 14. Look at verse 13.

God tells you what he's going to do. The Lord will save. Then look at verse 30.

That day, the Lord saved Israel. That's the bookmarks. That's what's happening.

God's glory is going to be revealed and what he's going to do is save Israel. That's the point of Exodus 14. God wants his people to know and experience his salvation and God's glory will be revealed.

Let's just, for clarity's sake, let's put the presence principle or the take home truth right up front. Let me just show it to you and then we'll expound on it and help you understand it a little bit deeper. So here's the whole point of today's sermon.

Here's what I want you to take away. It's this, is that salvation, that's the point of the text, God's going to save Israel, going to reveal his glory. Salvation is not achieved by effort, but it's received by faith.

God's presence and power prevails. Why? For God's glory. This is the text.

This is the presence principle, take home truth. Now it's my job to unpack it for you. Salvation in Exodus 14 displays God's desire for his glory to be revealed and his people to be set free.

This is what God's going to do. He's going to set his people free. For just a moment, I think it's helpful to unpack the word salvation once again for us.

Pastor Todd has done this several times for us. I think it's helpful specifically in this text. Oftentimes we refer to salvation as having a three-fold purpose, or sometimes we refer to it as a three-tenths purpose.

You've heard of this. We have been saved. We are being saved.

We will be saved. This is important for us to understand as we unpack Exodus 14 and the book of Exodus as a whole. In salvation, when you believed in Jesus, you were saved.

God saved you from the penalty of sin when you believed in Jesus. You were saved once and forever. Oftentimes the word we use is forgiven.

That is true. For those of you that have faith in Jesus Christ, you have been forgiven. You have been saved.

The clearest picture of that, the whole book of Exodus, is a story of salvation. We kind of think of it as Exodus or exiting, but really it's a The clearest picture of that is told in the story of the Passover. We just went through that.

It was a couple chapters ago. The Passover points to this theological understanding, that when you believed in Jesus, you were saved or forgiven. It's a story of the Passover.

The theological term is justification. God's people are spared through the blood of another substitution. That's the day you believed in Jesus, you trusted in a substitute for the forgiveness of your sins.

But salvation has another understanding as well, a more thorough understanding, and that's you are being saved. He is also continually saving us from the power of sin. God continually works in his children's lives to free us from what enslaves us.

This is what God is doing in his children's lives right now. We call this sanctification or his sustaining work in our lives, as he makes us more like Jesus, freeing us from what enslaves us. The greatest or clearest picture of this in the book of Exodus is Exodus 14, the Red Sea.

The Red Sea tells a story of God's sustaining work in our life, or sanctification, where God not only has forgiven us, friends, but he begins freeing us from slavery itself. That's what we're gonna see today, is not justification, but sanctification. God's sanctifying, sustaining work in his people.

The third tense of salvation is that you will one day be saved. This is that God will one day save us forever from the presence of sin. You and I, still today, feel, experience the presence of sin in our lives.

One day that will no longer be the case. We will be, we will enter into God's kingdom forever. We'll see him face to face.

We call this term glorification. We'll be with him, freed from the presence of sin. That day has not yet come, friends, but one day it will.

The clearest picture of this for us in the book of Exodus, also explained, is the picture of the promised land, that God will enter them into his presence. The promised land points to glorification. One day God's people will experience complete and eternal freedom.

So you can see how the book of Exodus is a story of salvation. You have been saved, the Passover. You are being saved, the Red Sea.

You will be saved, the promised land. Friends, these are promises for us as well. We have been saved through Christ.

We are being saved through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We will one day be saved through presence with the Father. That's the story of Exodus.

The book of Exodus displays the full salvation experience for us. As one theologian put it, God's grace is not just saving grace, it's sustaining grace. That's Exodus 14.

The Red Sea crossing teaches us, unpacks for us, that sustaining grace. That God is freeing us from bondage, from things that enslave us. So what I want to share with you today, we've read the text.

I've tried to explain that it's about salvation, but it's not about necessarily justification. There's no substitute in this story, but it's God freeing us, loving us, caring us to free us from what enslaves us, what binds us. What I want to show you today, how this text beautifully teaches us about salvation.

The Red Sea crossing teaches us three beautiful truths about salvation. Number one, Exodus 14 teaches us about who saves us. And it's amazing, this picture that is painted of God in Exodus chapter 14, and what is displayed for us is that God is the sovereign Lord over all.

I hope you noticed it. I hope you picked up on it, that God is in control of everything. Did you notice that? Here's a few things that God is controlling in our text.

Controlling kings, the weather, bodies of water, human hearts, armies, horses, and chariots. You could say it this way. There is not a single thing in chapter 14 that God does not own and rule over.

There is one sovereign ruler in chapter 14, and it's not Pharaoh. It's God, and that could not be clearer as it tells us that God is ruling, reigning in control of all things. And this story reminds us that God, friends, this is good news for us, that God is not distant.

He's not detached. He's not far off. He's near.

He's involved. He's working. He's moving in your lives, in our lives.

God is personally involved in the circumstances in your life, in the things that you're experiencing, the good and the hard. He's personally involved. He's ruling and reigning and controlling these circumstances.

It also proves to us that God's purposes cannot fail. Isn't that good news, friends? Whatever you're experiencing today, it's accomplishing God's purpose, because He's that powerful. Nothing is out of His control.

There's not anything that controls Him that He's like, well, nothing I can do about that. He's powerful enough to control every circumstance you're facing today. And our text teaches us that His will is always accomplished.

His purposes to declare His glory and to save His people will always be accomplished. You can't stop that. This is good news.

And here's even greater news, because if God is truly that powerful, if He's really that sovereign to control all the things we just listed, then His people ultimately have nothing to fear. Do you believe that? You and I have nothing to fear. As terrifying as our circumstances may be, Exodus 14 says you have nothing to fear.

There's one who's in charge of all things, including the circumstances you're facing, whether it be an army coming to attack you or a sea that's impassable. None of that is out of His control, and He actually uses it for your good. This is good news.

Number two, our text teaches us and not only teaches us who saves us, but it teaches us what we are saved from. And the imagery, the words it uses are words like this. You're saved from bondage, from slavery, idolatry.

It's teaching you the false gods, the idols, the less gods, the lower god things that we are held captive to, or we worship, or we serve, and how God loves us so much that He's freeing us. He's breaking the chains, the bonds that we are held in. The Red Sea crossing reveals not only God's sovereign rule and reign over everything, friends, but also our man's inability to rule and reign over anything.

Do you notice how little control man has? That's a point of this passage as well. Notice not only Israel's lack of control and power, but also humanity's inability to even understand its circumstances. This is the comic relief in the chapter.

You didn't laugh, but hopefully you caught some of the humor that's in Exodus 14 as the Israelites tried to describe their situation. They're powerless, but they're also ignorant, and that's a part of the text as well. So Israel is between an army and a sea, and this is how they describe their time back in Egypt.

In verse 11, they said to Moses, is it because there's no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? They're like, man, at least Egypt had graves. Remember how nice those graves were? Those graves were awesome. If only we were back in those graves.

That was cool. What have you done to us? I can't believe you brought us out of Egypt, Moses. Come on, God, why'd you bring us out of here? It was so nice in Egypt.

Isn't this what we told you in Egypt? Just leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians. Do you guys remember them saying that? That's not what they said. They never told God.

This is great. Pretty cool. Egyptians are real nice to us.

They got graves. Kind of cool. They cried out for help.

They pleaded for his mercy. God, do anything to get out of here. But as they look back at their circumstances, they're like, it wasn't that bad.

It's kind of nice. They say it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Do you see their ignorance? How incapable they are of understanding their plight, their circumstances.

They don't see it as as bad as it was. Just to keep on the comic relief thread, in chapter 16, in two chapters, here's how Israel is going to articulate their time in Egypt. They're going to say this, if only we had died in Egypt when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted.

It was a party back in Egypt. I mean, we were never hungry. We just chilled by the fire the whole time.

They're crazy. As they think back to their time in Egypt, there were their slave labor treated terribly. Their firstborns were thrown in the river.

Like, their ignorance on their current circumstances were amazing. And this is the God that's saving them from something they don't even know they need saving from. This is how great God is.

This proves that Israel and you and I we often want comfort, but what we actually need is redemption. You and I are similar to the Israel in Exodus 14. We want comfort, but God's like, you don't need comfort.

You need freedom. You need saving. You need redemption.

Why? Why don't we want redemption? Because redemption isn't always easy. What God does to free us is not comfortable. Sometimes freedom is painful before it gets better.

And folks, you and I are the same. You and I don't really know what we truly need, and we don't usually want what it will take to get us there because we prefer comfort. We usually choose, you and I usually will choose comfort over holiness.

It's true of humanity. You and I will usually choose familiarity over freedom. At least I get it.

I can work in those conditions. I know what to expect on Monday morning. It's fine.

It's not a big deal. I know it's bad for me. I know it's not healthy.

I know it's destroying my marriage. I know it's destroying my family. I know it's destroying me, but it's me.

That's who I am. You and I will naturally choose slavery over surrender because we're afraid of surrender. That's Israel, friends, and that's you and I. But God, by his grace, he gives his people what they truly need, not merely what they immediately want.

You know why? Because God's a good parent. Good parents in the room, you know this. You give your kids what they need, not what they want.

God does the same for us, friends. That's the Exodus story. God is saving you and I from what is enslaving us.

My challenge to you is don't fight it. Allow God to do his work. Casey and I were on a walk last night, and I was talking out loud, preaching my sermon to her, kind of letting her know where I was thinking, and she shared something with me that I thought was really helpful.

She was telling me how she's studying the Lord's Prayer, and she was saying, you know, it's really interesting, the Lord's Prayer. This is the prayer Jesus gave to his disciples that they should pray. You know that.

And she was saying, yeah, it's kind of interesting. These dots connect. Jesus says in the Lord's Prayer, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

That's the prayer you and I are supposed to pray. You know how I typically pray? Deliver me from difficulty. That's how I pray.

That's what my prayers typically sound like. God, this is hard. Could you get me out of it? This is what he's doing in the Exodus story.

He's delivering them from evil. He's not delivering them from difficulty. Friends, you and I need to be reminded of this.

This is what he's doing in your life. He's delivering you from evil today, and he may be using difficulty to deliver you from evil. So let's pray that way.

Third thing that this text teaches us is how we are saved. What God does to free us from bondage, from slavery, from imprisonment, how are we saved? And here's the answer, guys. It's always through God's power.

God always saves us. You don't save yourself. Always.

100% of the time. And this is how it works. It's through a death, a burial, and a resurrection.

This is how God saves you. This is how he is saving you. And this is how he one day will save you.

Through a death, a burial, and resurrection. And Exodus chapter 14 is trying to make that super clear for us, but we miss the point sometimes. The Red Sea crossing is a picture of death, burial, and resurrection.

The Red Sea crossing reveals God sustaining and sanctifying work in the lives of his people. The pattern should be unmissable, unmistakable, but I think we miss it sometimes. You notice that the way of salvation for Israel is through water.

Notice that? That's important. That helps us understand our Bibles because water symbolizes judgment. This is a common theme in the Bible is that water symbolizes judgment.

And the way through involves water. This is a common theme. We'll help it make sense in just a little bit.

And then deliverance throughout the Bible always comes through death. Again, a common theme throughout the Bible. Deliverance comes through a death.

Here's the point. Israel is freed only through a resurrection on the other side. This is what Exodus chapter 14 is trying to teach us.

That freedom, getting out, Exodus, only comes through a resurrection on the other side, a new beginning. And many times, always, the only way out is through. Common theme throughout the Bible.

And Exodus 14 explains this. God could have saved Israel by another way, right? Think about, let your imagination run wild. How could God have saved Israel? He didn't have to use the Red Sea.

Another plague. Let your mind go wild. Why did God choose to use the Red Sea? Because he wanted to connect dots.

He wanted to teach us how salvation works. What salvation is all about? How we're ultimately saved. It's the scarlet red through scripture that God saves us through a death, a burial, and a resurrection.

And this is our eternal hope. You see, you were saved, forgiven through a death, a burial, and resurrection. Christ died in your place.

He was buried, and he rose again. That's your justification. You are being saved through the same way.

Through sin, being killed, buried, and you being resurrected on the other side. That one's a little bit more complicated for us to understand. We'll explain that a little bit.

One day, you will be glorified through the same way. You will die, you will be buried, and you will be resurrected. God always saves through a death, a burial, and resurrection.

That includes your sanctification. The idols he's killing in your life right now. The Red Sea, according to scripture, is a picture of your baptism.

In baptism, we go through the waters of baptism. We are put to death, we are buried, and we are raised again to new life. Your baptism is a picture of what God has done to you on the inside.

What he is doing to you spiritually. Baptism is not the end of your salvation. It's just the beginning of a new life of sanctification and surrender.

Friends, if you've never been saved, or you've never been baptized, you've yet to experience the freedom that comes through a death, a burial, and a resurrection. It's a powerful reminder to you and to others of God's work in your life. This is why it's commanded to be baptized.

Because of the beautiful picture it is, that your old nature, your sin, has been put to death. It's been buried, and you've been brought back to life. I love this too.

We can't miss this. God's the hero of Exodus 14. So then, what's Israel's role in all this? It's primarily to receive, to trust, to stand, and to watch.

Let me just highlight real quick the different roles. Here's God's role in Exodus 14. Throughout this chapter, the emphasis falls overwhelmingly on God's action.

The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. The Lord fought for Israel. God moved between Israel and Egypt through the pillar of cloud and fire.

The Lord drove back the sea with the mighty east wind. The Lord threw the Egyptians into confusion. That day, the Lord saved Israel.

The hero of Exodus 14 is God. The repeated emphasis is clear. God will do in your life what you cannot do.

That's the point. The saving you need right now, the freedom you need, the rescue from bondage, from sin, from addictions, you can't do. That's the point of Exodus 14.

God loves you enough to do for you what you've tried to do and fail a hundred times, which is defeat sin. Here's what Israel does. You ready? Let's just compare it compared to what Israel does.

Israel's involvement is surprisingly simple. They camp, they watch, they stand, they're told to be quiet, and then eventually they walk across the sea. Do you see the difference in power? One has all control.

The other is a recipient. Watch and see. That's what they're able to do and experience.

God's the hero of the story, and then they see the victory. Their salvation was not earned through effort. It was received through faith.

That's the gift to us. God fought for Israel. And this is the same for you and I, friends.

God is fighting for you. He's using your circumstances, your situation. He's using your difficulties right now because this is what he does.

It'd be crazy to think that God saved me all his work. God will save me all his work, but then the 80 years I get on my on life, that's all up to me. That's ridiculous.

It's all God from beginning to end. His saving work in your life. God fought for Israel, and the same is for you and I. Watch and see what God is doing.

Well, it's my job to bring this to a point of application, to help us not only see this beautiful truth, but to understand how it applies today. And here's the title of the sermon and the point of the sermon. Our response is stand and see.

So I want to challenge you to do three things today. I don't know your circumstances. I don't know what God's bringing you through, what you're facing today.

And honestly, I don't know what his purpose is besides his glory is revealed and you're experiencing salvation, the full breadth of the salvation. That's all I can tell you. But I can tell you how that's experienced three ways.

Number one, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. That's really easy for me to say, really hard for you to do.

But I need to say what the text says. No matter your circumstance, even if you're facing the most dire of circumstances, I want to encourage you, do not be afraid. Because if the sovereign God of all can control the Red Sea, I think he can handle your circumstances.

That's the point of Exodus 14. There are two groups of people in our text. God's people who are listening to him, watching and seeing, respecting him.

And he's displaying his power to them. And then there's God's enemies who are resisting him and attempting to take his own place. My challenge to you is be like Israel in this stance.

Trust, believe, walk, follow him, understand that even though the circumstances are terrifying, he can use them. Number two, stand firm, embrace your hardship. That's really easy for me to say.

I'm really sorry to those of you who are going through a really, really hard hardship. But my challenge to you from God's word is embrace it. Be careful not to despise your difficult circumstance.

Because sometimes the very situation you want God to remove is the situation he is using to reveal his power and deepen your faith. The very thing you hate in your life right now may be the very thing God is using to rescue you, to free you, to save you. See, obedience does not always make sense in the moment.

God's calling you to obey and you're like, there's a C. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Just obey. Trust that God is sovereign enough, powerful enough, even in your bleakest circumstances to provide a way.

That's the point of the text. Obedience does not always make sense and it's not always easy, but this is the command to his followers. God often leads his people into impossible circumstances so they can learn that he alone is their deliverer.

Friends, what's your impossible circumstance right now? Is it possible, it is, that it's that very circumstance that God is going to receive the most glory? So rather than wishing it away, say, God, teach me. Use me. Help me to see how great you are.

Third application, watch and see. Watch and see. I love the very last verse of Exodus 14 and it's the point.

It's the takeaway. It's the ultimate response for those who would experience God's mighty hand. Exodus 14, verse 31 says, the people feared the Lord and believed in him.

That's our takeaway too, friends, to trust, to know that God is all powerful. He can control all things. Our response should be to fear the Lord and believe in him.

We should appropriately fear the one who can divide the Red Sea and believe that he can and will accomplish his purpose in your life. Friends, I've asked and pray that you'd allow God's word to strengthen you in the circumstances you're facing. It's possible your circumstances aren't bleak right now.

Would you prepare? Would you allow this to deepen your trust and faith in him? So when you get dire news, you will watch and see, trust and know. For those that are in bleak circumstances, who are facing the hardest reality of your life, I promise you, you can not fear, you can embrace, and you can and will watch and see God provide.