Red Sea or The Reed Sea (Orthodoxy vs Liberalism)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Maybe you heard of the child in Sunday school class at one of these churches that don't believe the Bible.

You hear this story yet? The teacher was telling the young child the story of Moses and the Israelites being delivered through the sea. And the young boy said, wow, that's a miracle. And the teacher responded, no, Johnny, it's not a miracle.

The waters were not actually parted. And the teacher went on to explain more. And the child said it again. He said, wow, that's a miracle. And she said, no, Johnny, it's not a miracle. The Bible is wrong.

It wasn't the Red Sea. It's the Reed Sea. So he said it again.

He said, that's amazing.

It's a miracle.

Now the teacher is getting kind of upset. He said, no, Johnny, it is not a miracle. He said, yeah, it is. He said, how is that a miracle? He said, because God drowned the entire Egyptian army in four inches of water.

Isaiah 43, 16, thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea in a path through the mighty waters. Let's turn to that story, Exodus chapter 14. Both of those people were wrong, the teacher and the student.

God did make a way through the Red Sea.

That's what it says.

But God wants us to be a people of faith. He wants us to believe his word. How frustrating would it be for a parent? Some of you have been there. You tell your five-year-old, 10-year-old, 15-year-old.

You tell them things that are true, and they just don't believe you. That's really frustrating as a parent. Same thing with God. He tells us things, and he wants us to trust him. So if God can work that wonder in Israel, most certainly he can make a way in your life.

If he can make a path through the sea, he can make a way for you. The same God who delivered his people from bondage in Egypt and from Babylon, he can do the same thing for us and deliver us from our enemies, from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The Lord led Israel by the pillar of cloud by day and the cloudy pillar, or the pillar of fire by night. And now he leads us by his Holy Spirit, his word acting as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

But if we think that the arm of the Lord has grown short or been shortened, if you don't believe the things that happened back then, we really cannot expect anything going forward. Isaiah 43, 19, as for this statement, that's why I titled the sermon, Behold, the Lord speaking, I will do a new thing.

What's the new thing? Well, parting the Red Sea, this, my friends, was a new thing. Look at Exodus 14, verse 10, says, When Pharaoh drew near, so he, the children of Israel went out. Pharaoh let them go initially, then he changed his mind.

Now he's pursuing them with his army. And Pharaoh drew near. When he drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes. And behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

Then they said to Moses, What, because there were no graves in Egypt, you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? So is Israel expressing faith here or not?

People are not thankful, they're not expressing faith. Moses responds in verse 13, he says, Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

So they may have been fearful. They may have been lacking faith. But thankfully for them and for us, sometimes God does a mighty work anyways. You know, we're accustomed to thinking that if God's going to do great things for us, we need to really trust in Him.

And that's true generally, that's of course true. Sometimes God does amazing things in your life despite you. God makes a way at times, even when his people feel there is no way. The Hebrews at this point, they thought it was over.

There was no hope. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place, or more specifically between the sea and the Egyptian army. Look at verse 19,. And then the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them.

And the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. And so it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Did they deserve this? No, but God did it anyways. Thus, it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land. And the waters were what? The waters were divided.

So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. What is this? Well, it's a miracle. It's one of the greatest miracles in all the Bible.

What else is it? It's the Lord making a way for them. He made a way in the sea, and a path through the mighty waters. So this is what our God does. One commentator put it this way, this is the standing illustration of God's unchanging character toward his people.

In seemingly hopeless situations where we can't see any way out, you realize God brought them there. There is no way out on purpose, so they could see his deliverance. So where we can't see any way out, God's power has the opportunity to shine the greatest.

It's in those times when we come to the end of ourselves where we know we can't depend on our own abilities or anything we have or anyone we know, but instead are reminded that we are totally and completely reliant on him.

It's those times that are the most powerful of all. So these are some of the scriptural principles. God will make a way. We need to trust in God for what he will do, but we first need to trust in what he's done.

And sometimes God will work despite of us. But these are the moments where we're completely reliant on God that sometimes are the greatest moments. But what about the application? I was thinking about this.

What's the application for all this? You know, I wish, I really wish I could tell you that, hey, God is gonna make a way for you that whatever you're going through, whether it's health issues, marital problems, a bad situation at work, that God is just gonna work it all out and clear away all the obstacles and things will improve.

And then I wish I could give like a timeline of that, but I think we know that it's not really that simple. With a lot of things like that, there are no real guarantees. The Lord may do that. Much of it might depend on us sometimes.

Sometimes we can't do much to change the situation. Here's the thing I do know. Here's what I know. If we love the Lord, if we truly love God, He will work it out according to His will. And His will is better than my will.

And His will is better than your will. Sometimes before you get to the mountaintop and have that mountaintop experience, sometimes you have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. But the promise of God through it all is that He will be what?

He will be with us. Psalm 23, verse four. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. You know, there are many promises in God's word. A promise, and I'm talking about a promise, like a guarantee.

A guarantee of healing. I don't see that in scripture. A guarantee that God's going to work out your job situation or whatever it is. I don't see those guarantees in scripture, but I do see God in His character.

That He will make a way for us. What that looks like, it might be different for everyone, but God is a deliverer that we can depend on. Do you believe that?

I believe that.

All right, let's find out another way God does this. Let's turn to Jeremiah, chapter 31. Because when we think of God doing a new thing, there's several times in the Bible, it talks about the Lord. I am the Lord, I will do a new thing.

You realize God's going to do some new things in the future. So along this line of God doing a new thing, let's look at Jeremiah 31. This is a really interesting passage because it's that place in the Old Testament that talks about the New Testament.

So what is this? What's the New Testament? Think about this for a moment. How many of you have written your will? Your last will and testament, okay? When somebody writes out a will, they go to a lawyer, however you do it.

I obviously haven't done it yet, so I don't know. But I do know that when you do write your will, it's legally binding, right? It's legally binding, and sometimes it takes a while to be carried out. First of all, a person has to die.

And then even then,.

It can take a while to work everything out. Well, this is what the Lord has done. He has made a testament, okay? God has done this. It's binding. It's going to happen. And just like in your will, you leave things for your children, God, in His will, His New Testament, so to speak, He has promised some things for us, okay?

So if you look at it that way, I think it helps to understand. And 2 Corinthians 1 .20 says, for all the promises of God in Christ are what? Yes, and in Him, amen. That is, this is a guarantee. There are some things we can depend on with God, some things that He will work out for us.

It's not just the new covenant in this passage, but it's, well, let's read it. Let's look at Jeremiah 31, 21, and 22. God will do a new thing, new covenant, but also I believe this is a reference to the incarnation.

Verse 21, set up signposts, make landmarks, set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, oh, virgin of Israel. Turn back to these, your cities. How long will you gad about or go to and fro?

Oh, you backsliding daughter, notice this statement. For the Lord has created what? A new thing in the earth, a woman shall encompass a man. This is a mysterious statement. Depending on what commentary you read, people disagree on what this means.

A woman shall encompass a man. This is God doing a new and mighty thing. Because it's somewhat cryptic, we can't say for certain what it's referring to, but many commentators see in this a reference to the virgin birth and the incarnation, that God became a man.

You'll see why that's important in a moment. Matthew Henry, one of the greatest commentators of the past 500 years, he says this, they are encouraged by the promise of a new and unheard of extraordinary thing, a creation, a work of almighty power.

He says, this is a reference, a woman shall encompass a man. He said it's a reference to the human nature of Christ formed and prepared by the power of the Holy Ghost. Based on the context, how he goes on to talk about the new covenant, I'm inclined to agree with this interpretation, that the new thing that God would do is he would send Christ into the world to be born of a virgin.

So all of that to say this, it's tying the new thing here in Jeremiah to the new thing in Isaiah. What has God done? He has done a new thing in the earth by sending Christ and we, therefore, can depend on the promises of God because he has sent Christ.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.