Life at the Crisis Point Ex 14 21-31
Life at the Crisis Point
Exodus 14:21-31
Introduction:
1. The children of Israel have been crying to God for years to deliver them from Egypt. God heard their cry and sent them Moses.
2. That was the start of their trouble.
3. Israel had to make a choice between peace and bondage or conflict and freedom.
4. On the day that they decided to follow God and Moses to the land of promise, trouble started. Life got measurably harder in Egypt.
5. John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, …
6. At the moment that you called on the Lord to save your soul and give you eternal life, you became an enemy of Satan. That’s when the trouble starts.
7. Every time we commit to follow God, we stand against our enemy and he stands against us.
8. This is what Israel faces as they stare at the Red Sea. They had embarked on the plan that God had for them and their enemies didn’t like that.
9. God has a plan for you and you have to make the decision that no matter what, you will follow God’s plan. God wants a commitment from you.
10. Every Christian Must Commit to Follow God.
I. Because of The Pursuit of the Enemy.
1. Back in verses 23-25, Egypt is hard on Israel’s heals.
2. When God calls you to follow Him, what happens next will shock you, but there will be some people who will try to stop you.
3. Just as Egypt’s army tried to chase down Israel to keep them from leaving the country, there will be people who will do everything in their power to keep you from pursuing God’s ordained vision for your life and future.
4. When you make a commitment for God, lost people will try to stop you.
5. God has a vision for you. He has a specific job for you to do.
6. According to Psalm 139, God knows all about you: your strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, fears, sins, and everything else that can be known.
7. If you are saved, God has a job that only you can accomplish. You weren’t saved to get out of going to Hell, you were saved to bring glory to God and bring people into the kingdom for His glory.
8. It may be your lost friends who will mock you for witnessing to them.
9. It may be that the people you socialize with will not understand why you insist on being in church, or giving to the church, or teaching a class…
10. Unfortunately, saved people will try to stop you.
11. A sad fact in Christianity today is that many saved people will never sell out and make a commitment for Christ.
12. At the same time, they will try to keep you comfortable in your pew, doing nothing but listening to the preaching most Sunday mornings.
13. We live in a selfish society and much of that thought pattern exists in our churches today.
14. The biggest question on our minds is not, “What can I do for Christ?” but “What can I get out of the church?”
15. Look around. You know who does the ministry here. Are there more ministry opportunities than volunteers? Is there a budget surplus? Are we being called out of the pew into the battlefield for God?
16. Understand that when you finally decide to make that commitment to follow God the whole way, people will come out from the marketplace and from the pew to stand in opposition.
17. ILL: Our calling.
II. Because of The Protection of the Lord.
1. Look back at verses 28-31
2. When we commit to God, He has a way for us to go and people will pursue us on the path. He also protects us along the way.
3. After Israel passed safely through the water, Egypt raced into the midst of the sea and God closed the road on them.
4. God’s hand was still protecting Israel on the other side of the sea.
5. ILL: “They might have let Israel alone and would not; now they would flee from the face of Israel and cannot. Men will not be convinced, till it is too late, that those who meddle with God’s people meddle to their own hurt; when the Lord shall come with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment, the mighty men will in vain seek to shelter themselves under rocks and mountains from the face of Israel and Israel’s King, Rev. 6:15.”—Matthew Henry
6. When Israel finally entered the land, the people knew that they were protected by God’s hand.
7. Joshua 2:9-10 "And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed."
8. When God leads us, He has a plan to protect us on the path. He will not leave us to fight our own battles.
9. 2 Samuel 22:3 "The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence."
10. When we commit to follow God, we can rest in His protection. Those people who will stand against us will only be allowed so far before God steps in on our behalf.
III. Because of The Preparation of the Way.
1. Take a look at verses 21-22.
2. The children of Israel were at a very real crisis point. They had no place to run. Egypt was fast approaching from their rear and the Red Sea was at there front.
3. Here’s an interesting thing about crisis points: God knows where you are and how to get you through it.
4. We reach a crisis point when we find ourselves on the path that God has chosen for us. Interestingly enough, God does not cause us to avoid tough decisions; He seems to guide us right into them.
5. Through all of that, God has a path that He wants us on.
6. God opened a way through the middle of the sea and He has a path for us to travel.
7. What was this way like? It was a protected way.
8. God set His children on a path that was pretty strict. He set walls of water on both the left and the right of the path.
9. On the other side of the walls of water was certain death. Should either side collapse during the crossing, every man, woman, and child would have died. Should any attempt to cross through the wall of water, they would have endangered themselves.
10. So what about you and me? If we are on the path that God has given us, we are under His protection and should stay on that protected path.
11. Sometimes, God’s path leads us through a very dangerous or difficult place. That’s when we lean on Him.
12. Psalm 23:3-4 "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
13. God’s way is also a specific way.
14. When God opened that road in the sea that was the way to go. There were no other choices.
15. Here is the application of the way for me and you. God has given us a roadmap in His word that gives us the walls of water that we shouldn’t cross.
16. When you have a choice to make, the first question should be, “Which choices violate God’s Word?” Eliminate those.
17. Pray and seek godly counsel. If people that you love and trust in the Lord advise you against a choice, eliminate it. If the Holy Spirit keeps you from having peace about a choice, eliminate it. In the end, you find the protected and specific way to go.
18. Luke 13:24 "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."
Conclusion:
1. There comes a time of decision where you have to choose what you are going to do next.
2. Do you follow God? Or strike your own path?
3. God is asking you today to make a commitment to Him. He has a path for you to follow. If you look back at our text, God never tells the people of Israel to look behind them. He only asked them to step out and follow Him.
4. "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14, KJV)