The God Who Delivers (Ex. 1)

I had to read that because as I was preparing for the sermon, I was genuinely reminded that this book, it actually captures the whole story of the Bible with the simplicity of God rescues his people. Over and over again, that theme is clear. Over and over again, God provides the rescuer. And this story this morning is God's most important, most essential rescue story in the Old Testament. This is the paradigm of deliverance and salvation for God's people. We're looking at Exodus 14. I'll be reading out of the ESV, not the Children's Storybook Bible. But I do recommend it. There's there's few books and I'm not as much children's books that capture the whole story with such simplicity and clarity. As we look to our passage, Exodus 14, there's one overarching message, there's one clear message. God always works for his glory and our good. Everything God does is for his glory. and our good. We will see how those two always parallel one another, especially here in this story of rescue and deliverance. To give a little background, God has sent Israel into Egypt. Egypt enslaved them. It would be important to remember that Egypt enslaved them and started drowning their infants in the river. Egypt hated God and his people and sought to kill them and abuse them. They cried out to God and God said, I will deliver you. But I'm going to do so in a way that brings me glory. He was going to deliver them in such a way that Egypt and all the nations would know that Yahweh alone is God, that he alone is worthy of worship. And so he sent ten plagues. Over and over again, he hardened Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh would not let Israel go. And God demonstrated that he was the one creator, the one God who could do whatever he wanted. And the good news for Israel is what God wanted to do. What God wanted to do was for their good. After 10 plagues, the firstborn of Egypt, of every Egyptian, was killed and Pharaoh sends Israel out. He pushes them out of the nation. And then we're going to see in this story, he is hardened yet again. And it's as if he forgets how destroyed and how he was overpowered and he seeks after them again. Let me read our story now from the ESV of again, all of chapter 14. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Piharith, between Midgol and the sea, in front of Baal Zephon. You shall encamp facing it by the sea, for Pharaoh will say to the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land. The wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, what is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all of the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel. The people of Israel were going out defiantly. And the Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen, his army, and overtook them and camped by the sea, by Pi-Ha-Ha-Roth, in front of Baal-Siphon. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them and they feared greatly, and the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 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 this not, is it not, is not this what we had 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. And Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent. The Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. The people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them. And I will get glory over Pharaoh and his chair and his hosts, his chariots and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. Then the angel of the Lord, who was going before the hosts of Israel, moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was a cloud in the darkness, and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea. All Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, his horsemen, and in the morning watched the Lord in the pillar of fire and a cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptians into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them. against the Egyptians. Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the hosts of Pharaoh. that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. This is a powerful story of God's deliverance, the again, the chief story, the most important story of deliverance in all the Old Testament. We begin with the setting Verses 1 through 4. There's a setting for this story. And we have to go back a little bit just into Chapter 13 where we remember God did not send them the most direct route. God did not send them the way of the Philistines. God did not send them the way of the sea. God knew that if they saw the war, they would want to flee to Egypt. So God sent them south. God's going to put them through the desert boot camp to remove this grumble that they have to strengthen their faith and most importantly. To have one last battle with Pharaoh. To demonstrate once again. That he alone is that Yahweh alone is God and that Pharaoh is called to serve him. We look at verses one through four and we see that he has gone. God has sent them to the sea and then they're trapped there. God sends them into a trap because the seas on one side, on the other two sides are mountains, so they've been funneled in. And then Pharaoh comes behind them. They're trapped. There's only one way to be saved, and that is for God to come and rescue them. This is an odd setting in many ways. First of all, it's dangerous. God has sent them and directed them. But more so, we see here the secret will of God. God lets us see into his own purpose in verse four. The rest of this is your typical setting, but verse four is actually very important. It's one of these few times we see what God is doing and why. God tells us his purpose. I will harden Pharaoh's heart. He will pursue them. I will get glory over Pharaoh. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. The theme of Exodus, the theme of all scripture, but the theme of Exodus especially and precisely is that Yahweh wants his name to be known in all the earth. Yahweh wants his name to be known. Yahweh wants to spread the fame of his name. And here we see the purpose. The purpose of sending them there to the sea in this trap, in this funnel, where there is no escape unless God provides it, is to have Pharaoh pursue them and have glory over Pharaoh. It's interesting that we get the insight into a secret will because, well, God is always moving and directing us. We see God, or we know God is moving and directing us, but we don't always get the secret will. We get put in situations, we have trials, we have suffering. We can trust that God is guiding us, but we don't always know why. But I think as we look at this text, we should always see that God has a purpose for every action. And his purpose, most of all, is for his own glory. We see here that God is always directing us, and while we do not see exactly why and how he's directing us, we must trust that it is for a purpose. Israel did not understand at this point why they didn't go the direct route, but they will learn soon. The primary tension in the story begins in verse 5. Let me read this section again. And they said, what is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel. The people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued all of Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army. never took them and camped them by the sea at P. Harath in front of Baal Ziphon. Pharaoh knows they fled. Pharaoh knows they've left the land. But here he has a change of mind, and it's possible, since Moses at one point did request a three-day journey, that now he realizes they're going to be gone for longer than three days. I don't think that's the case. I think he knows they fled, they've taken all their property, they've plundered the Egyptians even. What happens is Pharaoh looks around and he sees, I've lost my slaves. And his heart is hardened. He gets his chariots ready. There's a bit of just ironic humor here. There's a sad humor here in the sense that ten times Pharaoh has been absolutely destroyed. Ten times God has said what he's going to do. He has done it. And Pharaoh knows God is greater than him. Pharaoh knows he has no defense against the great God, Yahweh, the one creator. But here, because he's hardened. He says, you know, I want to get my chariots this time. I want to gather my greatest troops and we're going to we're going to give this one last go. He forgets he's been defeated over and over again, he's his son has died, the land is ruined because of his hard heart. Here we see a short memory. We see foolishness, we see a hardened heart, and if you weren't here with us back when we discussed the God being sovereign over the heart and hardening it. One way to look at this, the simplest way to see that God removes his grace that allows us to make good decisions. Our hearts are so prone and bent towards sin that we naturally make foolish decisions, and it's God's grace alone that keeps us from being foolish. And so the hardening is God removing his grace that would allow Pharaoh to make the right decision. See, sin makes us fools. Sin makes us irrationally hear this word of caution. He is foolish because he expects a different outcome when he fights God. He's foolish because he does not recognize the power of God, the supremacy of God. He's foolish because he's he's been darkened by his own sin. So we do the same thing when we actually look and we think sin is good. We look at sin and we think that can't be that dangerous or that destructive. We see sin against God and we think it must be acceptable or even good. This is foolishness. This is a heart that is hardening towards God. Sin causes us to make self-destructive choices. And here, Pharaoh is clearly making one of those. So the primary tension is Pharaoh. The primary tension here is to make sure God gets all the glory. The primary purpose is that God will get all the glory over Pharaoh. So the tension is God is directing Pharaoh. God will get glory over Pharaoh. But now in verse 10, we get a second tension. One that I don't believe God is directing. The people see Pharaoh and they cry out. Now, Pharaoh sold the ten plagues. We should be able to say, you should have seen the ten flags and just given up, let the people go. They're God's servants. They're God's people. Don't try this. And so we can lay some blame at Pharaoh's feet for being foolish. But here's Israel. They have been the recipients of those ten flags. They've been recipients of the goodness of those ten flags. They were in Goshen. They looked and they saw a wall of swarming flies. They were protected. God. Punished Egypt, they should see the great distinction between them and Egypt. They should see that God is with them. He's for them. He has saved them and they should trust him. But when they see Pharaoh come, who's been destroyed and and has been defeated 10 times in a row, they act unfaithfully or rather they act as if God's going to be unfaithful. They fail to trust God. Look at verse. Verse 10, it says, they feared greatly and they cried out to the Lord. And at some level, we might think, OK, they're crying to the Lord like our psalmist did that Don read earlier. Now, according to how the passage reads, this isn't the kind of crying out to God that's trusting. They said to Moses and listen to these accusations and complaints, they said to Moses. Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? After all God had done for them. The accusation is, were there no graves? They're accusing them of evil. This is what Calvin calls a bitter and biting taunt. Were there no graves? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Why have you freed us from slavery? You see, the foolishness of Israel, they thought that slavery was better than the freedom. Is this not what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? They first cried out for deliverance. When Moses said, God is going to deliver, they rejoiced and they believed until Pharaoh made their burdens heavier. And then they said, leave us alone. What's amazing about that is that God didn't leave them alone. God said, no, I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm not going to leave you in slavery. I'm not going to leave you to be a people here. You are to be my people serving me. But here, after 10 plagues, after 10 demonstrations of God's authority and deliverance, they say, did we not say let us alone? See, I told you so. Aren't they just the most fantastic comfort? I told you to leave us alone, especially here. Verse 13. I'm sorry. Continue verse 12. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. They just continue to get worse. There's only two options, die in the wilderness or serve Egypt. They've forgotten God. They've forgotten that God is able to save them. God is still going to be good to them, despite all of these complaints, despite this grumbling, despite these accusations, despite this evidence of the sin in their hearts flowing out of their words to God. God is still going to be with them. God is still going to fight for them. Now, Moses responds in verse 13 with a gracious rebuke. Fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord. That threefold comfort. Fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord. Verse 14. The Lord will fight for you. Moses is making sure they hear that Moses has seen and understood the secret will of God. He knows God is going to be good. He knows God is going to be their salvation. So he's able to give them these words of comfort. Although the declaration there, you only have to be silent, you have only to be silent. I'm not sure this is the let your soul be still kind of silence. I think he's saying shut up. Children, you're not Moses, you don't get to say shut up. But in this context, he's telling them quit talking. The more you talk, the more you're making it worse for yourself, the more you're talking, the more you're revealing your sin, your hardness, your failure to trust God. Just stop talking before you actually convince God to not help you. Of course, Moses knows that's not true, but the constant bickering, the constant complaining and grumbling and accusing. Hear Moses. Stop saying these things. Fear not. Stand firm. The Lord is for you. Now, the interesting twist in our story is verses 15 through 18. The Lord rebukes Moses. It seems as if Israel, they're worthy of rebuke because they're the ones who have given these harsh accusations and complaints. Moses has given a strong, encouraging rebuke. But God says to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Now I'm not sure if it's because Moses is the mediator and so he's speaking to Moses as the one who declares the truth to Israel or maybe Moses was complaining himself. Maybe Moses was also in his heart having some doubts. He said, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians. I will get glory over Egypt. God's plan doesn't change. His purpose is steadfast. His purpose does not change. The very beginning, he gave us his purpose. After Israel complains and accuses God, his purpose is still the same. He will harden Pharaoh's heart. He will get glory over him. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. God's glory is his purpose that never changes. Look at verses 19 and 20. A new scene, a new kind of narrative explanation here. Then the angel of the Lord, who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So up to this point, that cloud and that fire, it had been a God. It had directed them and led them. Now it changes positions to protect them. God has led them where he wants them to be. Now he protects them. And the Israelites should be able to see this, just as they saw that wall of swimming flies that protected them, but that was different from them and Goshen and the Egyptians. They should want to see this and say, God is with us. He's protecting us. No one crossed the boundary all night. Finally, we get to God's resolution. As we read God's stories, we see there's tension. There's typically two problems. One problem that God has caused, God has led, is that Pharaoh is coming to kill his people. The other problem is that the people don't trust God yet. They have not yet believed and built their lives upon his promises. God's resolution solves both. God delivers Israel and he judges Egypt. We will see the resolution to both problems. He destroys Egypt. Mightily, definitively, he destroys Egypt as they are pursuing God's people. God destroys Egypt, who Israel fears. He is delivering Israel. He will prove his power and faithfulness to Israel again. Let's look at verse 21. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. So after God had given him instruction, the cloud moves. Now Moses stretches out his hand. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand, on their left. It continues to repeat the importance of the dry ground. They have a highway to safety. God has provided a sure foundation for them to go upon that will save them. It actually echoes creation. The dividing of the waters to create dry land. That is creation language. He's separated the waters so that there's land and the land then brings life upon which we live. There's an echo here to creation. Go back to verse 23. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them in the midst of the sea. All Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, his horsemen. And in the morning watched the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud look down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, let us flee from before Israel. For the Lord fights for them and against the Egyptians. So God has provided this way through the sea. And Pharaoh finally gets it. He gets it in the midst of the waters. The scales must have finally fallen off his eyes to see, oh, the Lord fights for them. I think I would have thought of that at the time the cloud and the fire moved and was standing before me. I think that's the time you start saying this is not the man we want to be messing with. But again, We can see the rational decision, but it's the hardness of heart. It's the sin that makes Pharaoh hate God, hate his people, and pursue them even in the midst of obvious and clear danger. It's really, again, the sad humor here. He goes in after them, and then he finally says, let us flee, for the Lord fights for them and against Egypt. How have you not seen that up to this point? It was not obvious to them that God was fighting for Israel. It was not yet obvious for Egypt or for Israel, sadly. Now, as I think about this miracle, there's a miracle taking place. There's a couple of questions people often ask with this miracle, and that is, you know, the fact that God uses the east wind. Does God only use natural means to bring about his supernatural purposes? That's a question only Westerners would ask. Contemporary modern Westerners. The fact that we want to separate the natural and supernatural, that God is not sovereign over all things and does whatever he wants. Obviously, God can speak just a simple word and the waters disappear. Here he uses an east wind. God doesn't have, God is not limited by the creation he created, but God is able and uses the means within that creation as well. The other issue is a lot of folks have argued that The place where the Israelites crossed over, it was actually shallow water. This, it wasn't really that much of a miracle. It was, it was shallow water. And so it really wasn't, you know, all this was added later. Well, you have more faith than I. Because if that's the case, I think it's a greater miracle for God to drown the greatest army the world knows in a creek rather than to destroy the greatest army in a sea by crushing them with water. You have to make a decision here, because the purpose isn't just Israel being delivered. The purpose is to get glory over Pharaoh. That's his primary purpose, God's glory. Israel gets to benefit from it. But the goal here is to crush Pharaoh. And again, we have to remember, Pharaoh sought to kill Israelites in the water. Very beginning of the book of Exodus is how it begins. There's a new Pharaoh. He didn't know Joseph and he sought to kill the Israelites by drowning the infant males in the water. The waters of judgment, the waters of death now are going to be used by God to judge and destroy Pharaoh himself. There's a strong. Contrast. God sent them in panic. God clogged their wills. While Israel, they walked on dry land over and over again. Instead, they walked on dry land. Verse 29, just in case you forgot, but the people of Israel walked on dry land after Israel or Egypt is thrown into the sea. The water turned over them. They did not remain, just as Moses said, you will never see them again. You will never see them again. The people of Israel, they walked on dry land, water to the left. water to the right. Finally, every Hebrew story, I should say every Hebrew story, most Hebrew stories have a concluding thought at the end of them. It's kind of a final lesson or a summary. This is a fantastic concluding lesson in verse 30. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power of the Lord used against the Egyptians. So the people feared him. They believed in the servant Moses. It's interesting the word saved here and earlier in the story. Same word for Yeshua. Jesus' name is Yahweh saves Yeshua. I think there's actually an intentionality of using this word for saved here in the story because every time The Jews, in the first few centuries at least, would read this story, they would hear Yeshua, Yahweh says. There's a parallel, there's an important parallel between God's great deliverance in the Old Testament and His final deliverance provided through Jesus Christ. The Lord saved them. Israel saw the Egyptians, they saw His great power, and they feared Him. They had a reverence. So what are we to learn from this story? Again, let's get back to the big idea. God works for His own glory. God works for the good of His own people. Always, those two are together. And we want to start with the first one because that is the most important one. God works for His own glory. He chooses to do whatever He does based upon the fact that it is for His glory. That is the most important purpose. He hardens hearts for his glory. He gives grace for his glory. Whatever God does, it's for his glory. It's important that that always be first, because we need to be careful to not think God saved us first for us. God's glory is more important than us. God doesn't save us because we're good. God saves us because he is good. We are unworthy of his good gift. But he has chosen to save us for his glory. This gives us perspective and why he saved us and what we're supposed to do now that he has saved us. We're to live for his glory. Secondly, God works for the good of his own people. So some fantastic themes jump out. He is with his people, the cloud, the pillar of fire. He is with his people. That's what makes them his people, that he has said, I will be with you. Secondly, this great theme throughout all scripture, he is for his people. Moses said he will work for you. He will fight for you. He saves you. There's nothing about his people that makes them his people, other than the fact that God says, I'm with you and I will be for you. As the people of Israel grew into a nation and multiply, they were to look back to the Red Sea Deliverance and see that this was God saving them. This was supposed to be the definitive moment. They're supposed to remember that God is with them. Just as we look back to the cross and we know that God is with us, that God is for us. There's a parallel between the Red Sea Deliverance and the death of Jesus Christ. And it comes out very clearly in Isaiah 43. I'll let you turn there. Isaiah 43. He alludes back to the rest of the deliverance and he alludes forward to the cross. I'll begin in verse 16. Thus says the Lord. who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior. They lie down. They cannot rise. They are extinguished, quenched like a wick. Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beast will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give the drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise. Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob. But you have been weary of me, O Israel. You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought me sweet cane with money or satisfied me with fat of your sacrifices. You have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities. I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins." Here Isaiah is declaring a powerful prophecy. Remember the highway through the sea? Remember the great deliverance when he crushed the greatest army the world knew? Forget that. Behold, I'm doing a new thing. Because you have not praised me, you have not worshipped me. I have called you to myself to declare my praise. There in verse 21, we see the purpose. God's purpose is for his glory. Then he lifts his own accusations against them. You have not offered me your sacrifices. You have burdened me, rather, with your sins. Verse 25, I I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake. That old deliverance is nothing compared to the new deliverance. The new deliverance is God himself coming, taking upon himself the likeness of man, a perfect human nature. And what I mean, perfect without sin. He is like us in every way, but he does not know sin so that that man, Jesus Christ, could die in our place for our transgressions. So that God, when he looks upon us, no longer remembers our sin because he looked at Christ, who is perfect and righteous and innocent, and he poured his wrath out upon him as if he were a sinner. That is the great deliverance that the entire Bible is pointing to. The Old Testament pointing forward, the New Testament pointing back. That is the great deliverance. This is the new thing God has done for us. Christ's deliverance is better than even this Red Sea deliverance because it has washed away our sin. This is the story of victory. One of the great ways we can talk about Christ is he is our victor, but if we're going to talk about Christ as a victor, we have to first talk about Christ as the lamb. We have to see that he has victory through his death, we have victory in him because he has died for us and he is risen again. He had to be crushed for our sins. He is our victory. If we believe in him. If you're not a Christian. You are in a fight you cannot win. It's worse than Pharaoh's army. It's a fight against your own sin. It's a fight against the wrath of God that is against your sin. You cannot do enough good deeds to outweigh your bad ones. I know that's what many think, that if I just do enough good deeds, I'll outweigh my bad ones. No, that's not how it works at all, even. Not only is that impossible, that's not even how it works. Once you sin once against the holy God and you refuse him worship, you're guilty. His wrath is against you as a righteous and holy God. It is only if he pours out his wrath upon someone else that you can possibly be freed. You cannot win that battle. That's why Christ has come to win it for you. He dies on our behalf. He rises again to give us victory. We need only to put our faith in Him. Stop trying to fight for yourself. Stop trying to build up enough righteousness to think you will be good enough for God. That is impossible. Believe in the one who has died for your sin. Jesus Christ. Christian, we must respond with faith and fear. Over and over again, the 10 plagues, let my people go that they may serve me. We are saved for God's sake. We are saved to serve God now. We are saved to get a new identity, just like Israel did. Israel was getting a new identity. They went from being slaves in Egypt to being God's promised people, His holy nation, His royal priesthood. Declarations that are said of us now. We are saved for His glory. We're now called to worship Him. First, we worship Him because He's holy. It doesn't matter what He's actually done for us. He's worthy of our worship. We are to worship Him because He is the one, holy, true God worthy of our worship. Secondly, we worship Him because He loves us. We worship Him because that holy God took upon Himself our sin to rescue us. For Israel, they're receiving that new identity. We receive that new identity as we are transferred from the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved son. Our last thought will continue to be in first Corinthians 10, as we read these next few chapters all the way through 18, be reading first Corinthians 10. It's Paul's commentary on these events. Let me read it to you once again. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses and the cloud and the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. Verse 11. Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not coming to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure. When we are tempted, when we are in trials, we need to remember Israel, we need to remember the kinds of things they said against God in the midst of their trials and know that they needed to be silent. Wait upon God, trust him to stand firm on his promises. The only rock we have. We need to look back and be warned. There are examples as warnings for us how not to respond. And we don't just look back to God's red sea deliverance. We look back and we know God loves us because he sent his son to die for us. If He's going to deliver us from our own sin and from His own wrath, how will He not deliver us from every other trial we face? We need only to believe Him, to trust Him, to worship Him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Your ways are greater than our ways, O God. They are above us. Your wisdom is greater than ours. You alone give us wisdom. Teach us, Lord, to walk wisely in this world. Teach us to walk according to your word. Teach us to believe that declaration that there is what more could be said than what you have already said. Thank you for these stories. Thank you for your word. Help us to see how faithful you've been throughout the years. Help us to see that you are faithful today. We thank you for your great deliverance in Jesus Christ, help us to learn to be still in the midst of our trials, knowing you are with us, you are for us and you will never forsake us. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, amen.