I am so glad you're here this weekend.

Welcome, West Coast.

Welcome, Rancho.

Welcome, San Dimas.

Okay, we said that in this series, we're going to do some serious Bible study.

So Exodus chapter 14, Exodus 14, the greatest promise, as we enter this series called promises, is the greatest promise you've been given.

that God will not go back on, one of them.

He'll not go back on any promises, but the promise, one of the promises, the primary promise you can be assured of is that you are saved, salvation.

The problem with that is, it's kind of become an archaic word.

So I remember seeing a sign by the side of the road, Interstate 40 and 75 down in Atlanta earlier this year, and it said, Jesus saves.

And underneath the little letters, From what?

And then, yeah.

And then there was another sign.

I think this was put up by the Atheist Association.

There was another sign that says, Jesus is the answer.

And then underneath it said, what's the question?

You with me?

So salvation doesn't hold the same meaning that it was held.

So there's a lot of people, when we say Jesus saves, or he's the author of salvation, they're not sure what that means.

My daughter, when she was doing her undergrad degree locally here, came home from college one weekend and I noticed she had a Bible that was kind of her textbook for the school that she attended.

And I opened it up and I went to the Exodus account.

It's a little trick of mine.

If I read the Exodus account of any Bible translation, I'll know where the Bible translation is coming from.

Sure enough, this translation, which was the Harper Collins Bible, denies the reality of the Exodus event.

It denies that the Exodus event was a literal event that it ever happened.

Now, you know what the Exodus event is, right?

It's Charlton Heston, you know, the parting of the Red Sea.

So, I've heard this argument numerous times.

They'll tell you, well, there's not enough outside cooperation that something major like that happened.

Or there's no information in extra-biblical literature or resources to corroborate that there was actually a great massive Exodus out of Egypt into Canaan or the Promised Land.

Now, what they don't tell you is that archaeology confirms that Egypt, especially the eastern Nile Delta, had many Semitic people during the late Bronze Age.

What they don't tell you is that we have tomb paintings show Semitic people entering Egypt.

Papyrus, the kind of material on which they recorded history, show how the Egyptians used forced slave labor to build their cities.

We know there's a large Semitic group.

arriving in Egypt at the right timing for the biblical narrative, primed for a mass exodus.

But the thing that they don't tell you, they conveniently leave out, is this.

The Egyptians were notorious for leaving out embarrassing historical events.

And this is a pretty embarrassing historical event for the Egyptians.

Now for you and me, there's no way you and I can understand the gospel if we don't understand the Old Testament.

And especially if we don't understand the exodus narrative.

So, if you attempt to read any New Testament passage without an understanding of its Old Testament passage inextricably tied to it, then you're going to miss the meaning of most New Testament stories.

I had a friend of mine recently ask me, I was kind of quoting scripture, he was asking me questions.

I said, well, the Bible says this.

He asked me another question, the Bible says that.

And he said, how do you know so much?

I said, well, first of all, I'm not that smart.

I understand the New Testament because I have a very good understanding of the Old Testament.

Now, I'm still learning, but if you have a good understanding of the Old Testament, it's going to help you understand the New Testament.

Verses and passages that seem unclear to you suddenly come alive, especially when you read a book like the book of Revelation.

You try to read Revelation without an exhaustive understanding of the Old Testament, you're going to go off into all kinds of eerie, fiery, weird stories.

Now, there is no...

passage that explains Christianity better in the Old Testament than the Exodus event.

Do you know how many times Exodus is mentioned in the New Testament?

Matthew says, out of Egypt I've called my son.

So Matthew's making the connection between Jesus' work and the Red Sea miracle.

Luke 9, the transfiguration account, Moses and Elijah are talking to Jesus about his departure into Jerusalem, which he's about to accomplish.

And in Luke 9.30, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.

They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

Interesting that the Greek word for departure there is the word exodus.

It's an incredible hint.

When Jesus went to Jerusalem, he was going to accomplish the ultimate getting out, the ultimate exodus.

Hebrews chapter 3 and 4, we're told that Jesus is the greater Moses.

Hebrews chapter 11 verse 29, by faith the people pass through the Red Sea as on dry land.

So Hebrews 11 is talking about the Christian faith, and it's using the Red Sea crossing as kind of a paradigm for the Christian faith.

1 Corinthians 10, the most significant passage in the New Testament, Paul makes this enigmatic statement where he says the Israelites passed through the Red Sea and then they were baptized into Moses.

And that's a statement that refers to the Israelites' solidarity with Moses.

So the Israelites are connected to Moses like Christians or Christ followers are connected to Jesus.

And Paul goes on to say that these things serve as an example for Christians.

So he sees Jesus as the greater Moses, and just as the Israelites were baptized into Moses and are uniquely identified with him, Christ's followers are baptized into Jesus and are inextricably tied together with him.

His exodus is our exodus.

Now, I want you to think about something for a moment because the exodus story, which I'm sure many of you have been through, but I'm not sure you've been through it this way.

It's a paradigm.

It's a model.

It's a pattern for our own salvation.

Now, I'm going to get into some quick and heavy stuff here.

But look, when you go to the movies, you sit there for two hours.

And you might have to go up and get to the bathroom because you've got three large Diet Cokes and you thought you could drink all of them and not have to get up.

But come on now, you can do this.

It's time for us to kind of move into this.

Don't worry about the time.

You'll get out on time.

But you've got to lean into this because it's like geometry class.

If you miss a day, you miss a year.

So here we go.

I want you to think for a moment what an Israelite would say if you were able to interview them while they were in the wilderness.

I think they would say to you, if you said, who are you?

They would say, well, I was in a foreign land under the sentence of death in bondage, but I took shelter under the blood of the lamb.

And my mediator led us out and we crossed over and now we're on our way to the promised land, but we're not there yet.

But he's given us his law to make us community.

And he's given us the tabernacle because you have to live by grace and forgiveness.

And his presence is in our midst.

And he's going to stay with us until we get home.

Now that's exactly what a Christian would say, almost word for word, right?

The Exodus teaches us.

What salvation really is, what it is that you have, how it changes you, what you are to ultimately expect because of it.

So let's talk about this.

And I encourage you, I usually don't do this, but if you can take notes, I know it's on the app, I know it's in the phone, but if you're writing, write fast.

Number one, first, salvation is about getting out of bondage.

And if you're in the scripture with me, Exodus 14.5, 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.

Isn't that an interesting way to put it?

Why don't they just go out and hire more servants?

No, they've lost their labor force, their slave labor force.

Now they're realizing they're going to have to do the work on their own.

They change their minds, they form a posse, and now they're going to go out and pursue the Israelites, riding out to either bring them back or kill them.

How do the Israelites respond?

Oh, I love the Bible.

Look at this story, verse 10.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up.

There were the Egyptians marching after them.

They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.

They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?

What have you done?

to us by bringing us out of Egypt.

Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians.

It'll been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.

Now, I got to tell you, as a leader, I understand Moses.

But if I were Moses, here's what I would have said, you didn't say that.

That's not what you said.

And I want to pull out the proof out of Exodus 4, 29.

Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses?

He also performed the signs before the people and they believed.

And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down in worship.

They were happy.

We're getting out.

Now, a few chapters later, in Exodus 16, you see the real attitude of the Israelites.

In verse 3 of chapter 16, the Israelites said to them, if only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt, there we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted.

What a big fat lie.

No, you didn't.

You were starving, but you brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.

Now, there is no more basic word in the Bible for redemption than the Greek word that means to loose, to release from bondage.

That is ultimately what salvation is about, to be freed from something, to get out of something that is binding or restricting you.

And the Israelites are a picture of this.

They were in bondage, they got out of bondage, they were let go, they were freed.

Now here's the key, and I think this is going to bring some great understanding to us.

Even though they are objectively free, they are not subjectively free.

Because in their hearts, they're still slaves.

And the reason is because there's layers to slavery.

First, we indeed are objectively free.

You and I, in Christ, have been judicially acquitted under the law.

Romans 8.1 and Romans 5.1.

Therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we are made right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8.1.

Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So we are objectively freed from God's judicial wrath and punishment towards sin.

God's wrath is his settled anger towards sin and unrighteousness.

We don't love God.

Like we should.

We don't love our neighbor as we should.

And we know that.

And before Christ, under the law, we were objectively guilty.

But after Jesus, we are freed.

We got out.

God no longer sees us as guilty.

So we are indeed objectively free.

But second, we are subjectively enslaved.

You ever read the book of Galatians?

The entire book is about Christians in Galatia who are objectively free, and yet they keep drifting back into the law, into works of righteousness.

Now, why would a person do that?

Why would a person who's been told they are judicially free from the law because of grace, why would you go back into the law?

And here's the reason.

Even though you know that the judge has declared you justified and acquitted, you would rather prove to yourself that you are justified and acquitted.

You would rather prove your personal righteousness.

We typically don't like something we cannot control.

And we can't control God's grace, but we want to.

We would rather assure ourselves by our good deeds than depend upon God for his provision.

And so we move back in and out of the slavery to the law.

And we say to ourselves, I'm going to obey the law to prove that I'm worthy of salvation.

The problem is, you know you can't do it perfectly.

So you're back enslaved before the law, which is why you're an emotional mess.

But it does prove a good point.

Deep inside all of us know.

We should be perfect.

We should love our neighbor as ourselves.

We should love God.

And I want to tell you, being a pastor and sitting by the bedside of people who have died, where the lights have faded, there are two things they usually talk about.

But it really falls under one category.

And it's never about, I wish I'd have made more money.

I wish I'd have done this.

I wish I'd have climbed a corporate ladder.

It's always this.

I have not lived the way I should have.

I even have an atheistic friend that doesn't even believe in God.

That's near the end of his life.

That is saying, you know, I've made a lot of mistakes.

Some massive regret.

I've got a lot of guilt and shame.

Now, this is not the time to argue with him.

But part of me wants to say, you don't even believe in God.

You don't even believe in objective morality.

And you're still experiencing guilt and shame.

The problem is just because some pastor like this comes along and tells you a couple of times that if you believe in Jesus, all your sins are forgiven, you are at peace with God, and there's no longer any condemnation, that does not extinguish the reality that you know in your heart you're not who you should be, right?

The default of the human heart is works righteousness.

It's the natural bent, the natural default mode of the human heart.

So that we remain in bondage to the law subjectively.

Objectively and judicially, we are free from condemnation.

Subjectively, we remain in bondage.

You say, well, how so?

How am I a slave?

Your head believes the gospel, but your heart struggles with the truth that God can really forgive you.

And you feel somewhere that you should be able to have some control over this, that if you can have a couple of good days in a row, that maybe you are worthy of salvation.

That if you say no to temptation, maybe for a whole month, man, maybe I am worthy to be in heaven with God.

Third, not only are you objectively free, second, you're subjectively enslaved, but third, you are objectively free from the enslavement to the law.

You are objectively free from the enslavement to the law.

It no longer has the power to enslave you.

Now, here's what that means.

It means it cannot, the law that is, it cannot, no matter what, because of the grace provided on the cross of Jesus Christ, it cannot judicially accuse you because Christ met the requirements of the law on your behalf.

Got it?

The law can no longer demand that you obey it as a means to secure your salvation.

Yet Paul gives this command.

He says, don't allow sin to enslave you.

Well, there's a problem.

If we are free from the enslavement, then why do we have to be told not to allow sin against the law to enslave us?

Judicially, we are free from the law's establishment, but practically it has power to enslave us again.

You know that, right?

You can still live as a slave under the law subjectively.

How can that happen?

Well, first of all, if you move back into this idea that the only way you can be justified or saved is if you keep it perfectly, you're still a slave to it.

You got the wrong master, okay?

But also, sin can enslave you by casting upon you the ramifications that come through breaking the law and violating the precepts.

I've said a lot of things you've probably forgotten.

Don't forget this one.

Sin is the suicidal action of the human will against itself.

What does that mean?

Every time you sin, you weaken your resistance.

It makes it easier for you to do it again.

Each time you sin, you are destroying your ability to say no, to resist it.

Now, the point is, when you become a Christ follower, That doesn't just quickly disappear.

Christ is your savior.

Objectively, the law of sin and death has no power over you.

Subjectively, though, the bondage you feel to sinful habits remains.

Right?

Are you following me?

You can do this.

Don't you fall asleep on me.

So I've got a friend that I've mentioned numerous times.

She grew up in a very difficult, a horrible bondage situation, prostituted out by her parents as a young girl.

She learned to survive on the streets, coping mechanism, drug abuse, in the sex trade, an awful lot of shame and guilt, but a lack of knowledge or understanding of where to go and what to do.

Later in life, she comes to one and all.

She finds Jesus.

Immediately, according to the Bible, when she gave her life to Christ, she is now justified under the law.

Objectively, God will no longer hold her responsible.

But subjectively, this learned past behavior is not easily discarded.

Life has taught her that the acceptance and significance she's looking for come through sex and men.

That value and meaning comes from a man's approval.

Which means she's going to be in the battle for the rest of her life to fight against those temptations.

Objectively, she is not condemned under the law.

Subjectively, it's a lifetime battle.

That's a more extreme case.

Let's take a less extreme case.

A woman grows up in a Christian home with extremely legalistic parents.

A mother who says, why can't you do better?

Why can't you just be holy?

God is going to come down and get you.

Later in life, she discovers that the God her parents presented to her is not the God of the Bible.

That God isn't sitting up in heaven waiting to thrash you every time you mess up.

Objectively, she's freed from the law and its power to constantly condemn her.

Subjectively, she often feels that she has not lived up to her mother or God's requirements, and therefore she feels constant subjective shame and unworthiness, which ironically weakens her resolve to defeat the sinful habits because she's convinced she's a loser.

So her upbringing has made her the antithesis of the little engine that could.

She's the little engine that cannot.

And she is convinced.

She's convinced that she's a loser.

And she cannot overcome this issue in her life.

Whatever it is, an addiction to something, whatever.

Which in turn is devouring the power of the Holy Spirit and claiming that the Spirit of God is not powerful enough for you to overcome the sin in your life.

Fourth, the bondage to our idols remains.

You know what your idol is, right?

If you've been here any length of time at all, you know by now.

It's something that you worship, that you serve, that you depend upon for your happiness.

As long as you have this amount of money in the bank, you find that you have joy.

As long as you have this kind of power, there's joy.

As long as your looks are what you think they ought to be, when I've tried to tell you they're going to fade, exhibit A, I told you they're going to go.

They're going to go, I promise you.

They're going to go.

Some of us get our joy from the idea that we think we've separated from the herd, that we are unique.

These idols do not magically disappear when you become a Christ follower, even though objectively, judicially, you are made righteous under the law.

Because you take an alcoholic, an alcoholic becomes a Christian, he doesn't become sober on day one, does he?

Most alcoholics would tell you they are forever an alcoholic.

It's a day by day, week by week, month by month.

It's a battle.

Wouldn't it be great?

I become a Christ follower, boom, no alcoholism.

Well, it's not just alcoholics, it's any addiction that you have.

Any sin that is prevalent in your life doesn't just go away.

It would be cool if it did.

But the thing in your life that is destroying you is just like Pharaoh.

Pharaoh says, serve me or die.

You can't live without me.

You have to have me.

You can't live and breathe without me.

Which means that thing controls you.

It has your ultimate allegiance.

You are a slave to it.

And you tell yourself that you can't defeat it.

But the reality is you don't want to defeat it.

Because you're afraid your joy is the best.

dependent on it.

In the Exodus story, objectively, Pharaoh is no longer their master, but subjectively, he's still got a hold on them because he's chasing them into the Red Sea.

And this happens, I'm telling you.

If there's one message I hope to get out to the pastors that I speak to over the course of my life before I die, the pastors are the worst.

We are.

Let me tell you why.

Most of us have never been in the real world to work the job.

Now, I'm different.

Michael and I are very different.

We had secular jobs before we went into ministry.

But a lot of pastors, the only job they've ever had is ministry.

And here's the problem.

We preach from platforms like this.

We tell people, don't allow Your job or your position or your success or failure determine your significance and value and joy in life.

And yet pastors will build their own kingdoms and their own churches, but it's not only lead pastors.

It's all kinds of pastors, whatever position they're in, their joy, their happiness is based on how much approval they get, on how many times people tell them how wonderful they are and let a little criticism come along or let somebody, let something bad happen, which happens every day in the real world, right?

And boom, we fall apart.

Why do we fall apart?

Notice I said we.

It's something you have to grow into.

You fall apart because your hope and significance is not in God, it's in your occupation.

It's in the approval and pleasure of people.

That is the condition of every Christian.

You know in your head that you're free.

You know there's no condemnation.

You are at peace with God.

You are perfect in Christ's righteousness.

But subjectively, you allow what people think of you.

You allow your successes and failures to build you up or destroy you.

You allow an addiction to master you.

You may be objectively free, but subjectively you're not.

God has freed you from things you allowed to enslave you because you have not yet worked the freedom into your life.

Ah, but here's where we have a picture of the theology of redemption.

Full redemption is about getting out.

It's about getting completely out of bondage.

But it has layers.

And here's the gospel.

We are freed, past tense, from the penalty of sin.

We are getting freed, present tense, from the power of sin.

We will be free, future tense, from the presence of sin.

That's the gospel.

We got out.

We are getting out.

And one day we'll say we gotten out.

We've arrived.

So salvation or redemption is about getting out of bondage or slavery.

But two, how do we get out of slavery?

How do we get out of this slavery?

And the answer is you cross over only one way, by grace.

Exodus 14, Moses answered the people, do not be afraid, stand firm.

You'll see the deliverance of the Lord or the deliverance the Lord will bring to you today.

The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

The Lord will fight for you.

I love this.

You need only be still.

On the one hand, the principle of grace could not be clearer.

The deliverance is not your deliverance.

You can't perform it.

You're not good enough, strong enough.

This is not your doing.

Stand still and watch God, your salvation.

You can't do anything.

Nothing you can do.

Stand still and watch God.

That sounds a lot like Romans 4, 5.

However, To the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

Moses says to the people, receive God's deliverance, his salvation, not by works but by faith, be still.

And that is the principle of our faith.

But we're also given a wonderful visual.

of how grace operates because the Israelites are under the threat of death.

Pharaoh wants to destroy them, wants to kill them.

Now as they stand on the shore waiting to cross, they're still reachable as Pharaoh's army pursues, right?

They're still under the sentence of death.

But as soon as they cross through the Red Sea, as soon as they cross over, Does this remind you of any New Testament passages?

As soon as they cross over, they have crossed over from death to life.

From light, or from darkness rather, to light.

This is why I say again and again, this is different from every other religion.

There is nothing else like it because every other religion is this.

I'm going to do the, it's like building a bridge.

I want to get from here to there.

I'm here and God's over there.

I'm going to put a pylon down of righteousness.

I'm going to do some good things and then I'm going to leave it there and I'm going to do the next pylon.

Maybe I speak five or six mantras.

Maybe I do some, maybe I give alms to the poor.

Maybe I travel a certain distance.

And if I don't keep putting these pylons down all my life, hopefully before the end of my life, I will have reached God.

That is every other religion in the world except for one.

Every other religion says it's about your effort to work your way across.

Christianity is unique because basically it says this.

One minute you're not regenerate and the next minute you are.

One minute you're out, next minute you're in.

One minute you're in darkness, next minute you're in light.

One minute you're outside the family, next minute you're adopted in.

For you Kiwis, one minute you're out, next minute you're in.

Only Kiwis will understand that.

It's worth it.

The Bible says in John 5, 24, Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

Isaiah 51.

Old Testament now.

Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road into the depths of the sea, so that the redeemed might cross over?

Dr.

Martin Lloyd-Jones was a great preacher and revivalist, and he says, I had a test for the people in my church, he said, to know if their Christianity was authentic or not.

I'd walk up to them and ask them one question.

I would say, are you a Christian?

He said 90% or more would say, well, I'm trying to be, I'm in the process.

And Martin Lloyd-Jones, the doctor they called him, said, a person who says that has no idea what a Christian is in the slightest.

A Christian is a position or standing or identity.

What makes you a Christian is a change in status, not a system of pylons.

I'm working hard.

I'm really trying.

What do you mean you're trying to be?

You're not in the kingdom, suddenly you are in the kingdom, by faith.

You're not in the family of God, suddenly you are.

You're not born again, then you are.

You're not justified, then you are.

There's a great movie by one, in my opinion, one of the greatest actresses ever, Cate Blanchett.

Fantastic actress.

2002, the movie was called Heaven.

Probably most of you have not seen it.

There are these drug dealers.

It's based in Italy, in Rome.

Drug dealers, she's a teacher, she loves children, but there are local drug dealers that have killed children, that have sold these supplies, and children are dying left and right.

She complains to the council, she complains to the police, nobody will listen.

So she takes matters into her own hands, she builds a bomb, and she takes the bomb up into the, I don't know, 40-story building, and she sneaks it into the trash can of the drug lord and runs away.

Unfortunately, When she runs away, the janitor comes in and empties the wastebasket.

And the janitor is in the elevator, way on the top floor, and four people enter, two of whom are children.

The bomb goes off.

The children are killed.

She learns in the movie.

that she has killed innocent children and she cannot live with herself.

She is overwhelmed and man, she is such a great actress.

I've never seen anybody.

It was convincing.

It looked like she was having a panic attack, falling apart.

She totally falls apart and she says, even though she escapes from prison, she says, that doesn't matter.

I have killed innocent people.

I cannot go on living.

At the end of the movie, she takes her own life.

The Apostle Paul loved the law.

Oh, he loved it.

He was a professional do-gooder.

And he dove into the law, and he realized how beautiful the law really was to present to us the righteous way of living within God's parameters that would give us the shalom, the life of flourishing.

But then when he became a Christ follower, he looked into the law differently and he realized even though he loved it.

It overwhelmed him of how guilty and shameful he really was.

Remember, here's a guy that persecuted Christians, that killed Christians.

He was a murderer and a thief.

And yet, he's the one that writes these words.

There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

Think about that.

Paul understood in one moment of time, he crossed over from death to life.

And you don't find him coming to Christ and saying, well, you know what?

I've been a bad boy.

I got a lot to make up for.

Think about that.

Nowhere does Paul say, I got a lot to make up for.

No, he knew that legally and objectively, he had been justified by the blood of the lamb.

And he understood what that meant.

He was amazed that he, the chief of all sinners, could be used the most.

And he ends up writing half of the New Testament.

I want you to notice what the text says in Exodus 14, 22.

And the Israelites went through the sea on dry land with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Man, this is my favorite scene in the Ten Commandments movie or in the movie, how many of you saw Of Gods and Kings?

It's a remake.

It was made a few years ago.

Cole plays the soundtrack.

If you haven't seen it of Gods and Kings, great remake, and the opening of the Red Sea is even greater than Charlton Heston.

They go through, but I often wonder as they're walking through the water, there would have been different attitudes.

I think some people would have said, man, look at this.

This is cool.

Ooh, eat my dush, you know, smocks, whatever.

But a second group, I think, would have said, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

This is the end.

This is the end.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I think you would have had a third group that maybe, this is good.

This could be good.

This could be good.

This could be bad.

This could be bad.

This could be good.

And then he had a fourth group, I'm convinced, that were walking across saying, man, he's going to kill me because I deserve it.

I deserve for these waters to come over me.

I am doomed.

I am doomed.

The point I'm making, they walked through with different measures of faith, a different quality of faith, but they were equally saved.

Listen, you are not saved by the quality of your faith, but by the object of your faith, your Redeemer.

Everything about this story tells you, if the Exodus account is a paradigm of our faith and salvation, then it means that God has already fought your greatest battle.

Everything about this text says grace, Now here's the downside.

Far too many people will take this text and they'll say something like this, if I have enough faith, if I let go and let God, God will fight my battles for me and deal with these unfortunate events I've gotten myself into.

Exodus, this text is not saying that.

The text is saying, stand still and see that God has already fought the big battle for you and has already accomplished your salvation.

You've already crossed over.

Sin and death, your greatest enemies, have already been defeated.

All your other problems are small potatoes compared to this.

Your salvation has been provided for you.

You're justified.

Now listen, but your sanctification is going to be a lifetime battle.

But the sanctification line never affects the salvation line.

Your level of sanctification never impacts your salvation because your salvation is by grace through faith.

Your sanctification, Paul said, well, not Paul.

Some people think somebody else.

Let's forget that.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 4.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

The writer says this battle is going to be a battle of overcoming the feelings that you have that do not correspond with objective truth for the rest of your life.

Now stay with me here.

Salvation is about getting out.

How do we get out?

We cross over by grace.

Oh, this is the best part of the story.

So I need you to lean in.

They walked off and you're distracted now.

Focus again.

The Egyptians followed the Israelites.

The Israelites went through the water and they were fine.

Then the Egyptians were covered over.

So why did the Israelites go through?

Why did they escape the waters?

So, if you look back in the Old Testament, this is one of those, this is a part of the story that it helps me understand by understanding ancient cultures.

In the ancient world, think about the flood of Noah.

How did God destroy the world?

Water.

So, in the ancient world, God could have judged the world any number of ways, but in the ancient world, water represented chaos.

Storms, raging waters, death at sea, ocean untamed.

Even mysterious creatures we don't even know exist.

It's risky.

It's dangerous.

It's unpredictable.

So water serves as kind of a metaphor of destruction, of disintegration, of uncreation.

So if you go all the way back, you'll notice in Genesis 1 when God creates the world, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters and nothing happened until the Spirit of God did hover over the waters.

For instance, in Genesis 1-2, now the earth was formless and empty.

Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And when the Spirit of God began hovering over the waters, things began to happen.

Instead of darkness, God separated the darkness from the light.

There was day and night.

When the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, he brought this order into the chaos where you had sea now and land.

He brought the land together.

The point is, all through the Old Testament, you'll see that when God shows up, order comes to chaos.

He brings order.

Now, when you rebel against God and you go the other way, chaos returns.

So God uses the flood to destroy the world in the time of Noah because what he's actually doing, he's making an appropriate judgment.

If you revert back, if you say, I don't want to live with God, I don't want to live within his parameters, I want to choose to live apart from God, God promises you as you walk outside those parameters that chaos will return, Segregation ruined death.

Okay, so let me take a pause here, even though I'm almost out of time.

I don't care.

I'm not going to repent.

Willful sin cannot be forgiven.

Listen, why aren't you listening to me?

Why am I not getting through to you about the sacredness of sex?

Why are you ignoring me?

We're not.

Yeah, you are.

I meet people, they talk to me, and it's like, have you heard anything that I've said?

If you think you can violate the way of a creator and no disintegration or ruin occur in your life, you are incredibly foolish.

You say, well, Pastor Jeff, you know, that part of the Bible is archaic.

Oh, now you get to choose what's archaic and what's contemporary.

Maybe salvation itself is archaic.

And maybe you're going straight to hell.

You don't get to do that.

The Bible is the Word of God.

Well, God will forgive me.

Okay, you don't care that you're wounding the heart of God?

Well, everybody does it.

You don't care that you're wounding the heart of God?

But he will forgive me.

You think forgiveness comes without repentance?

I'm saved by grace.

Do you think that that means chaos will not return to your life and disintegration and ruin will destroy you and others?

Why are you ignoring me?

I know the answer.

I'm just going to say it out loud.

Because you don't understand the gospel.

I don't care if you've been coming to church for 50 years.

You don't get it yet.

And you're a grace abuser.

And you don't love God.

If you can do that and violate those parameters without shame and guilt.

Now, it's different when you succumb to temptation, you have guilt and shame and you're trying your best.

That's totally different.

But if you can just engage in this with no shame and no guilt and go on cavalierly your merry way, you don't understand the gospel, you're a grace abuser, you don't love God, and the plague of disintegration will hit you.

What are the plagues in Egypt?

Have you ever thought about that?

Locusts, flies, frogs, hail, death, untamed, unregulated chaos.

You know, some scholars believe that the Red Sea is the 11th plague because Egypt's sin against God has unleashed chaos and the waters of God's judgment come again.

The waters were held up by God in order, and because of the sin of the Egyptians, God caused disorder, and the chaos ensued, and the Egyptians were drowned.

This is the judgment of God.

Now, the question is, why were the Israelites spared, though?

Now, this is the end and the good part.

Are they good people?

Man, have you read the Bible?

They were petulant, childish, murderous fools.

Stubborn, stiff-necked, a sorry bunch.

So why did the waters not come down on the Israelites?

Because they had a mediator.

They had a mediator.

Exodus 14.10, as Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them.

They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.

And then you look at Exodus 14, Moses answered the people, don't be afraid, stand firm, you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring today.

The Egyptians you see today, you'll never see again.

The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still.

And notice verse 15, then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me?

Moses wasn't crying out to God.

The children of Israel were crying out to God.

Moses had faith.

And yet God is rebuking Moses for what the children of Israel we're doing.

Why?

Why?

Then Moses, verse 21, stretched out his hand over the sea.

And all that night, the Lord drove the sea back with strong east wind and turned it into dry land.

Here's what you have.

You have one man who is so identified with the Israelites that their guilt is placed on him.

And he's so identified with God that God's power is coming through him.

He's the man in the middle.

Moses is so identified with the people that he gets rebuked for their sin.

He's so identified with God that he's the vehicle for God's saving power.

But guess what?

I know a better mediator.

In Jesus Christ, we don't just have a mediator who was fully man and close to God, we got a mediator who was fully human and fully God.

We don't have a mediator who was rebuked for one sin in one verse.

Here is what Jesus received.

When Jonah was in the boat, and the storm of God's wrath was about to sink the boat, Jonah said to the men, This is a storm of God's wrath, and the only way you're going to be saved is if you throw me in.

Throw me in and you'll be saved.

They threw Jonah in and they were saved.

Jesus said in Matthew 12, a greater Jonah is here.

Toss me into God's wrath and you'll be saved.

And so on the cross, folks.

Jesus was thrown into God's wrath, thrown into the sea of God's wrath so that we could be saved.

The plague of darkness came down on him.

The plague of blood came down on him.

Jesus Christ experienced chaos so that you and I could be reordered and remade and renewed.

So that the floodwaters poured over him so that you and I could walk on dry land of the promised land.

Jesus is the ultimate mediator and the reason you and I could cross over.

So this is what you need to see.

God brought them out to take them to Mount Sinai and give them the law, which means he saved them first, then he gave them the law.

He didn't give them the law and say, do all this, then I'll save you.

No, it's the opposite, isn't it?

He brought them out.

He brought them out because he loved them.

And in Leviticus 11, 45, I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.

Therefore, be holy.

Because I'm holy.

Now listen carefully.

The more you consider and understand what God has done, the more you will see the floodwaters go over his head, and in your heart and mind, the more holy you're going to be.

The more real what Jesus has done for you, the more you get it, the more holy you're going to try to be.

No one who truly understands the grace and provision of God would take sin lightly.

Some of you need to repent, man, this weekend.

Oh, my.

You've been playing this game a long time, and you think there's no disintegration.

You think you can just cavalierly keep doing this and say to yourself, well, that's the old Bible.

That's archaic.

You know, that doesn't apply to me.

Come on.

Come on.

Maybe salvation doesn't apply to you.

It all applies to you, my friend.

And the more you understand that your salvation has nothing to do with your behavior, the more your behavior will change.

It's ironic.

It's ironic.

The Exodus story reveals our salvation.

He got us out objectively.

We are freed, past tense, from the penalty of sin.

He's getting us out subjectively.

We are getting freed, present tense, from the power of sin.

And he will get us out practically.

We will be free, future tense, from the presence of sin.

Well may our accuser roar of sins that I have done.

I know them all and thousands more.

Jehovah knoweth none.

When you truly take that in, you will repent of the sin that's causing the chaos in your life.

You talk about promises.

Here are the two promises about which you can be certain.

God separates your sins, past, present, future, as far as the east is from the west.

He remembers them no more.

But two, real grace, when it's truly understood, causes repentance.

That's the paradigm, the Exodus story.

of the salvation we have.

Father, thank you for a fantastic narrative that has sustained and taught us for a couple of thousand years.

And I would pray in Christ's name right now, if there's anybody in this room that has not been walking with you for such a long time, that your promises to them would overwhelm their soul, that they would remember that objectively, judicially.

They stand in no condemnation, but because the grace has come down into their life for those who truly understand what God has provided.

If there is no passion in our hearts to live a holy life and to defeat the sin that is in our life, not to earn salvation, but to love the one who's given so much for us, I pray those.

would stop and ask the question, do I really understand what this salvation is about?

Bend the knee, confess their sin, allow God to take their sin, and to march toward the life of sanctification because of his grace in Christ's name.

Amen.

I am so glad you're here this weekend.

Welcome, West Coe.

Welcome, Rancho.

Welcome, San Dimas.

Okay, we said that in this series, we're going to do some serious Bible study.

So Exodus chapter 14, Exodus 14, the greatest promise, as we enter this series called promises, the greatest promise you've been given.

that God will not go back on, one of them.

He'll not go back on any promises, but the promise, one of the promises, the primary promise you can be assured of is that you are saved, salvation.

The problem with that is, it's kind of become an archaic word.

So I remember seeing a sign by the side of the road, Interstate 40 and 75 down in Atlanta earlier this year, and it said, Jesus saves.

And underneath little letters, From what?

And then, yeah.

And then there was another sign.

I think this was put up by the Atheistic Association.

There was another sign that says, Jesus is the answer.

And then underneath it said, what's the question?

You with me?

So salvation doesn't hold the same meaning that it was held.

So there's a lot of people, when we say Jesus saves or he's the author of salvation, they're not sure what that means.

My daughter, When she was doing her undergrad degree locally here, came home from college one weekend and I noticed she had a Bible that was kind of her textbook for the school that she attended.

And I opened it up and I went to the Exodus account.

It's a little trick of mine.

If I read the Exodus account of any Bible translation, I'll know where the Bible translation is coming from.

Sure enough, this translation, which was the Harper Collins Bible, denies the reality of the Exodus event.

It denies that the Exodus event was a literal event that it ever happened.

Now, you know what the Exodus event is, right?

It's Charlton Heston, you know, the parting of the Red Sea.

So, I've heard this argument numerous times.

They'll tell you, well, there's not enough outside cooperation that something major like that happened.

Or there's no information in extra-biblical literature or resources to corroborate that there was actually a great massive Exodus out of Egypt into Canaan or the Promised Land.

Now, what they don't tell you is that archaeology confirms that Egypt, especially the eastern Nile Delta, had many Semitic people during the late Bronze Age.

What they don't tell you is that we have tomb paintings show Semitic people entering Egypt.

Papyrus, the kind of material on which they recorded history, show how the Egyptians used forced slave labor to build their cities.

We know there's a large Semitic group.

arriving in Egypt at the right timing for the biblical narrative, primed for a mass exodus.

But the thing that they don't tell you, they conveniently leave out, is this.

The Egyptians were notorious for leaving out embarrassing historical events.

And this is a pretty embarrassing historical event for the Egyptians.

Now for you and me, there's no way you and I can understand the gospel if we don't understand the Old Testament.

And especially if we don't understand the exodus narrative.

So, if you attempt to read any New Testament passage without an understanding of its Old Testament passage inextricably tied to it, then you're going to miss the meaning of most New Testament stories.

I had a friend of mine recently ask me, I was kind of quoting scripture, he was asking me questions.

I said, well, the Bible says this.

He asked me another question, the Bible says that.

And he said, how do you know so much?

I said, well, first of all, I'm not that smart.

I understand the New Testament because I have a very good understanding of the Old Testament.

Now, I'm still learning, but if you have a good understanding of the Old Testament, it's going to help you understand the New Testament.

Verses and passages that seem unclear to you suddenly come alive, especially when you read a book like the book of Revelation.

You try to read Revelation without an exhaustive understanding of the Old Testament, you're going to go off into all kinds of eerie, fiery, weird stories.

Now, there is no...

passage that explains Christianity better in the Old Testament than the Exodus event.

Do you know how many times Exodus is mentioned?

in the New Testament.

Matthew says, out of Egypt I've called my son.

So Matthew's making the connection between Jesus' work and the Red Sea miracle.

Luke 9, the transfiguration account, Moses and Elijah are talking to Jesus about his departure into Jerusalem, which he's about to accomplish.

And in Luke 9, 32, man, Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.

They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

Interesting that the Greek word for departure there is the word exodus.

It's an incredible hint.

When Jesus went to Jerusalem, he was going to accomplish the ultimate getting out, the ultimate exodus.

Hebrews chapter 3 and 4, we're told that Jesus is the greater Moses.

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 29, by faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land.

So Hebrews 11 is talking about the Christian faith.

And it's using the Red Sea crossing as kind of a paradigm for the Christian faith.

1 Corinthians 10, the most significant passage in the New Testament, Paul makes this enigmatic statement where he says, the Israelites passed through the Red Sea and then they were baptized into Moses.

And that's a statement that refers to the Israelites' solidarity with Moses.

So the Israelites are connected to Moses like Christians or Christ followers are connected to Jesus.

And Paul goes on to say that these things serve as an example for Christians.

So he sees Jesus as the greater Moses, and just as the Israelites were baptized into Moses and are uniquely identified with him, Christ's followers are baptized into Jesus and are inextricably tied together with him.

His exodus is our exodus.

Now, I want you to think about something for a moment because the exodus story, which I'm sure many of you have been through, but I'm not sure you've been through it this way.

It's a paradigm.

It's a model.

It's a pattern for our own salvation.

Now, I'm going to get into some quick and heavy stuff here.

But look, when you go to the movies, you sit there for two hours.

And yeah, you know, you might have to go up and get to the bathroom because you got three large Diet Cokes and you thought you could drink all of them and not have to get up.

But come on now, you can do this.

It's time for us to kind of move into this.

Don't worry about the time.

You'll get out on time.

But you got to lean into this because it's like geometry class.

If you miss a day, you miss the year.

So here we go.

I want you to think for a moment what an Israelite would say if you were able to interview them while they were in the wilderness.

I think they would say to you, if you said, who are you?

They would say, well, I was in a foreign land under the sentence of death in bondage, but I took shelter under the blood of the Lamb, and my mediator led us out, and we crossed over, and now we're on our way to the promised land, but we're not there yet.

But he's given us his law to make us community, and he's given us the tabernacle because you have to live by grace and forgiveness, and his presence is in our midst.

And he's going to stay with us until we get home.

Now that's exactly what a Christian would say.

Almost word for word, right?

The Exodus teaches us what salvation really is.

What it is that you have.

How it changes you.

What you are to ultimately expect because of it.

So let's talk about this.

And I encourage you, I usually don't do this, but if you can take notes, I know it's on the app, I know it's in the phone, but if you're writing, write fast.

Number one, first, salvation is about getting out of bondage.

And if you're in the scripture with me, Exodus 14, 5, 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.

Isn't that an interesting way to put it?

Why don't they just go out and hire more servants?

No, they've lost their labor force, their slave labor force.

Now they're realizing they're going to have to do the work on their own.

They change their minds.

They form a posse.

And now they're going to go out and pursue the Israelites, riding out to either bring them back or kill them.

How do the Israelites respond?

Oh, I love the Bible.

Look at this story, verse 10.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up.

There were the Egyptians marching after them.

They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.

They said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?

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

Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians.

It will have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.

I got to tell you, as a leader, I understand Moses, but if I were Moses, here's what I would have said.

You didn't say that.

That?

That's not what you said.

And I want to pull out the proof out of Exodus 4.29.

Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses.

He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed.

And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down in worship.

They were happy.

We're getting out.

Now, a few chapters later, in Exodus 16, you see the real attitude of the Israelites.

In verse 3 of chapter 16, the Israelites said to them, if only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt, there we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted.

What a big fat lie.

No, you didn't.

You were starving.

But you brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.

Now, there is no more basic word in the Bible for redemption than the Greek word that means to loose.

to release from bondage.

That is ultimately what salvation is about, to be freed from something, to get out of something that is binding or restricting you.

And the Israelites are a picture of this.

They were in bondage, they got out of bondage, they were let go, they were freed.

Now here's the key, and I think this is going to bring some great understanding to us.

Even though they are objectively free, they are not subjectively free.

Because in their hearts, they're still slaves.

And the reason is because there's layers to slavery.

First, we indeed are objectively free.

You and I, in Christ, have been judicially acquitted under the law.

Romans 8-1 and Romans 5-1.

Therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we are made right with God through faith.

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8.1, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So we are objectively freed from God's judicial wrath and punishment towards sin.

God's wrath is his settled anger towards sin and unrighteousness.

We don't love God like we should.

We don't love our neighbor as we should.

And we know that.

And before Christ, under the law, we were objectively guilty.

But after Jesus, we are freed.

We got out.

God no longer sees us as guilty.

So we are indeed objectively free.

But second, we are subjectively enslaved.

You ever read the book of Galatians?

The entire book is about Christians in Galatia who are objectively free, and yet they keep drifting back into the law, into works righteousness.

Now, why would a person do that?

Why would a person who's been told they are judicially free from the law because of grace, why would you go back into the law?

And here's the reason.

Even though you know that the judge has declared you justified and acquitted, you would rather prove to yourself that you are justified and acquitted.

You would rather prove your personal righteousness.

We typically don't like something we cannot control.

And we can't control God's grace, but we want to.

We would rather assure ourselves by our good deeds than depend upon God for his provision.

And so we move back in and out of the slavery to the law and we say to ourselves, I'm going to obey the law to prove that I'm worthy of salvation.

The problem is, you know you can't do it perfectly, so you're back enslaved before the law, which is why you're an emotional mess.

But it does prove a good point.

Deep inside, all of us know we should be perfect.

We should love our neighbor as ourselves.

We should love God.

And I want to tell you, being a pastor and sitting by the bedside of people who have died, where the lights have faded, there are two things they usually talk about.

But it really falls under one category.

And it's never about, I wish I'd have made more money.

I wish I'd have done this.

I wish I'd have climbed a corporate ladder.

It's always this.

I have not lived the way I should have.

I even have an atheistic friend that doesn't even believe in God.

That's near the end of his life.

That is saying, you know, I've made a lot of mistakes.

Some massive regret.

I've got a lot of guilt and shame.

Now, this is not the time to argue with him.

But part of me wants to say, you don't even believe in God.

You don't even believe in objective morality.

And you're still experiencing guilt and shame.

The problem is just because some pastor like this comes along and tells you a couple of times that if you believe in Jesus, all your sins are forgiven, you are at peace with God, and there's no longer any condemnation, that does not extinguish the reality that you know in your heart you're not who you should be, right?

The fault of the human heart is works righteousness.

It's the natural bent, the natural default mode of the human heart.

So that we remain in bondage to the law subjectively.

Objectively and judicially, we are free from condemnation.

Subjectively, we remain in bondage.

You say, well, how so?

How am I a slave?

Your head believes the gospel, but your heart struggles with the truth that God can really forgive you.

And you feel somewhere that you should be able to have some control over this, that if you can have a couple of good days in a row, that maybe you are worthy of salvation.

That if you say no to temptation maybe for a whole month, man, maybe I am worthy to be in heaven with God.

Third, not only are you objectively free, second, you're subjectively enslaved, but third, you are objectively free from the enslavement to the law.

You are objectively free from the enslavement to the law.

It no longer has the power to enslave you.

Now, here's what that means.

It means it cannot, the law that is, it cannot, no matter what, because of the grace provided on the cross of Jesus Christ, it cannot judicially accuse you because Christ met the requirements of the law on your behalf.

Got it?

The law can no longer demand that you obey it as a means to secure your salvation.

Yet, Paul gives this command.

He says, don't allow sin to enslave you.

Well, there's a problem.

If we are free from the enslavement, then why do we have to be told not to allow sin against the law to enslave us?

Judicially, we are free from the law's establishment, but practically it has power to enslave us again.

You know that, right?

You can still live as a slave under the law, subjectively.

How can that happen?

Well, first of all, if you move back into this idea that the only way you can be justified or saved is if you keep it perfectly, you're still a slave to it.

You got the wrong master.

But also, sin can enslave you by casting upon you the ramifications that come through breaking the law and violating the precepts.

I've said a lot of things you've probably forgotten.

Don't forget this one.

Sin is the suicidal action of the human will against itself.

What does that mean?

Every time you sin, you weaken your resistance.

It makes it easier for you to do it again.

Each time you sin, you are destroying your ability to say no, to resist it.

Now, the point is, when you become a Christ follower, that doesn't just quickly disappear.

Christ is your Savior.

Objectively, the law of sin and death has no power over you.

Subjectively, though, the bondage you feel to sinful habits remains.

Right?

Are you following me?

You can do this.

Don't you fall asleep on me.

So I've got a friend that I've mentioned numerous times.

She grew up in a very difficult, a horrible bondage situation.

Prostituted out by her parents as a young girl.

She learned to survive on the streets.

Coping mechanism, drug abuse, in the sex trade.

All an awful lot of shame and guilt, but a lack of knowledge or understanding of where to go and what to do later in life.

She comes to one and all she finds Jesus immediately.

According to the Bible, when she gave her life to Christ, she is now justified under the law.

Objectively, God will no longer hold her responsible, but subjectively this learned past behavior is not easily discarded.

Life has taught her that the acceptance and significance she's looking for come through sex and men.

That value and meaning comes from a man's approval.

Which means she's going to be in the battle for the rest of her life to fight against those temptations.

Objectively, she is not condemned under the law.

Subjectively, it's a lifetime battle.

That's a more extreme case.

Let's take a less extreme case.

A woman grows up in a Christian home with extremely legalistic parents.

A mother who says, why can't you do better?

Why can't you just be holy?

God is going to come down and get you.

Later in life, she discovers that the God her parents presented to her is not the God of the Bible.

That God isn't sitting up in heaven waiting to thrash you every time you mess up.

Objectively, she's freed from the law and the power, its power to constantly condemn her.

Subjectively, she often feels that she has not lived up to her mother or God's requirements, and therefore she feels constant subjective shame and unworthiness, which ironically weakens her resolve to defeat the sinful habits because she's convinced she's a loser.

So her upbringing has made her the antithesis of the little engine that could.

She's the little engine that cannot.

And she is convinced.

She's convinced that she's a loser and she cannot overcome this issue in her life, whatever it is, an addiction to something, whatever, which in turn is devouring the power of the Holy Spirit and claiming that the Spirit of God is not powerful enough for you to overcome the sin in your life.

Fourth, the bondage to our idols remains.

You know what an idol is, right?

If you've been here any length of time at all, you know by now.

It's something that you worship, that you serve, that you depend upon for your happiness.

As long as you have this amount of money in the bank, you find that you have joy.

As long as you have this kind of power, there's joy.

As long as your looks are what you think they ought to be, when I've tried to tell you they're going to fade, exhibit A, I told you they're going to go.

They're going to go, I promise you.

They're going to go.

Some of us get our joy from the idea that we think we've separated from the herd, that we are unique.

These idols do not magically disappear when you become a Christ follower, even though objectively, judicially, you are made righteous under the law.

Because you take an alcoholic, an alcoholic becomes a Christian, he doesn't become sober on day one, does he?

Most alcoholics would tell you they are forever an alcoholic.

It's a day by day, week by week, month by month.

It's a battle.

Wouldn't it be great?

I become a Christ follower.

Boom, no alcoholism.

Well, it's not just alcoholics.

It's any addiction that you have.

Any sin that is prevalent in your life doesn't just go away.

It would be cool if it did.

But the thing in your life that is destroying you is just like Pharaoh.

Pharaoh says, serve me or die.

You can't live without me.

me.

You have to have me.

You can't live and breathe without me, which means that thing controls you.

It has your ultimate allegiance.

You are a slave to it, and you tell yourself that you can't defeat it, but the reality is you don't want to defeat it because you're afraid your joy is dependent on it.

In the Exodus story, objectively, Pharaoh is no longer their master, but subjectively, he's still got a hold on them because he's chasing them into the Red Sea.

And this happens, I'm telling you.

If there's one message I hope to get out to the pastors that I speak to over the course of my life before I die, the pastors are the worst.

We are.

Let me tell you why.

Most of us have never been in the real world to work the job.

Now, I'm different than Michael.

Michael and I are very different.

We had secular jobs before we went into ministry.

But a lot of pastors, the only job they've ever had is ministry.

And here's the problem.

We preach from platforms like this.

We tell people, don't allow your job or your position or your success or failure determine your significance and value and joy in life.

And yet pastors...

will build their own kingdoms and their own churches, but it's not only lead pastors.

It's all kind of pastors, whatever position they're in.

Their joy, their happiness is based on how much approval they get, on how many times people tell them how wonderful they are, and let a little criticism come along, or let something bad happen, which happens every day in the real world, right?

And boom, we fall apart.

Why do we fall apart?

Notice I said we.

It's something you have to grow into.

You fall apart because your hope and significance is not in God, it's in your occupation.

It's in the approval and pleasure of people.

That is the condition of every Christian.

You know in your head that you're free.

You know there's no condemnation.

You are at peace with God.

You are perfect in Christ's righteousness.

But subjectively, you allow what people think of you.

You allow your successes and failures to build you up or destroy you.

You allow an addiction to master you.

You may be objectively free, but subjectively you're not.

God Has freed you from things you allowed to enslave you because you have not yet worked the freedom into your life.

Ah, but here's where we have a picture of the theology of redemption.

Full redemption is about getting out.

It's about getting completely out of bondage, but it has layers.

And here's the gospel.

We are freed.

Past tense, from the penalty of sin.

We are getting freed, present tense, from the power of sin.

We will be free, future tense, from the presence of sin.

That's the gospel.

We got out, we are getting out, and one day we'll say we gotten out.

We've arrived.

So, salvation or redemption is about getting out of bondage or slavery, but two, how do we get out of slavery?

How do we get out of this slavery?

The answer is you cross over.

Only one way, by grace.

Exodus 14, Moses answered the people, do not be afraid, stand firm, you'll see the deliverance of the Lord, or the deliverance the Lord will bring to you today, the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

The Lord will fight for you, I love this, you need only be still.

On the one hand, the principle of grace could not be clearer.

The deliverance is not your deliverance.

You can't perform it.

You're not good enough, Strong enough?

This is not your doing.

Stand still and watch God.

Your salvation.

You can't do anything.

Nothing you can do.

Stand still and watch God.

That sounds a lot like Romans 4, 5.

However, to the one who does not work, but trust God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

Moses says to the people, receive God's deliverance.

His salvation, not by works, but by faith, be still.

And that is the principle of our faith.

But we're also given a wonderful visual of how grace operates because the Israelites are under the threat of death.

Pharaoh wants to destroy them, wants to kill them.

Now, as they stand on the shore waiting to cross, they're still reachable as Pharaoh's army pursues, right?

They're still under the sentence of death.

But as soon as they cross through the Red Sea, as soon as they cross over, does this remind you of any New Testament passages?

As soon as they cross over, they have crossed over from death to life, from light, or from darkness rather, to light.

This is why I say again and again, This is different from every other religion.

There is nothing else like it because every other religion is this.

It's like building a bridge.

I want to get from here to there.

I'm here and God's over there.

I'm going to put a pylon down of righteousness.

I'm going to do some good things and then I'm going to leave it there and I'm going to do the next pylon.

Maybe I speak five or six mantras.

Maybe I give alms to the poor.

Maybe I travel a certain distance.

I'm going to keep putting these pylons down all my life.

Hopefully before the end of my I will have reached God.

That is every other religion in the world except for one.

Every other religion says it's about your effort to work your way across.

Christianity is unique because basically it says this.

One minute you're not regenerate and the next minute you are.

One minute you're out, next minute you're in.

One minute you're in darkness, next minute you're in light.

One minute you're outside the family, next minute you're adopted in.

For you Kiwis, one minute you're out, next minute you're in.

Only Kiwis will understand that it's worth it.

The Bible says in John 5, 24, Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

Isaiah 51, Old Testament now, Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road into the depths of the sea, so that the redeemed might cross over?

Dr.

Martin Lloyd-Jones was a great preacher and revivalist, and he says, I had a test for the people in my church, he said, to know if their Christianity was authentic or not.

I'd walk up to them and ask them one question.

I would say, are you a Christian?

He said, 90% or more would say, well, I'm trying to be.

I'm in the process.

And Martin Lloyd-Jones, the doctor they called him, said, a person who says that has no idea what a Christian is in the slightest.

A Christian is a position or standing or identity.

What makes you a Christian is a change in status, not a system of pylons.

I'm working hard.

I'm really trying.

What do you mean you're trying to be?

You're not in the kingdom, suddenly you are in the kingdom, by faith.

You're not in the family of God, suddenly you are.

You're not born again, then you are.

You're not justified, then you are.

There's a great movie by one, in my opinion, one of the greatest actresses ever, Cate Blanchett.

Fantastic actress.

2002, the movie was called Heaven.

Probably most of you have not seen it.

There are these drug dealers.

It's based in Italy.

In Rome, drug dealers, she's a teacher, she loves children, but there are local drug dealers that have killed children, that have sold these supplies, and children are dying left and right.

She complains to the council, she complains to the police, nobody will listen.

So she takes matters into her own hands, she builds a bomb, and she takes the bomb up into the, I don't know, 40-story building, and she sneaks it into the trash can of the drug lord and runs away.

Unfortunately, when she runs away, the janitor comes in and empties the wastebasket.

And the janitor is in the elevator, way on the top floor, and four people enter, two of whom are children.

The bomb goes off.

The children are killed.

She learns in the movie.

that she has killed innocent children and she cannot live with herself.

She is overwhelmed and man, she is such a great actress.

I've never seen anybody.

It was convincing.

It looked like she was having a panic attack, falling apart.

She totally falls apart and she says, even though she escapes from prison, she says, that doesn't matter.

I have killed innocent people.

I cannot go on living.

At the end of the movie, she takes her own life.

The Apostle Paul loved the law.

Oh, he loved it.

He was a professional do-gooder.

And he dove into the law, and he realized how beautiful the law really was to present to us the righteous way of living within God's parameters that would give us the shalom, the life of flourishing.

But then when he became a Christ follower, he looked into the law differently and he realized, even though he loved it, oh, it overwhelmed him of how guilty and shameful he really was.

Remember, here's a guy that persecuted Christians, that killed Christians.

He was a murderer and a thief.

And yet he's the one that writes these words.

There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

Think about that.

Paul understood in one moment of time, he crossed over from death to life.

And you don't find him coming to Christ and saying, well, you know what?

I've been a bad boy.

I got a lot to make up for.

Think about that.

Nowhere does Paul say, I got a lot to make up for.

No, he knew that legally and objectively, he had been justified by the blood of the lamb.

And he understood what that meant.

He was amazed that he, the chief of all sinners, could be used the most.

And he ends up writing half of the New Testament.

I want you to notice what the text says in Exodus 14, 22.

And the Israelites went through the sea on dry land with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Man, this is my favorite scene in the Ten Commandments movie.

Or in the movie, how many of you saw Of Gods and Kings?

It's a remake.

It was made a few years ago.

Cole plays the soundtrack.

If you haven't seen it, Of Gods and Kings, great remake.

and the opening of the Red Sea is even greater than Charlton Heston.

They go through, but I often wonder as they're walking through the water, there would have been different attitudes.

I think some people would have said, man, look at this.

This is cool.

Ooh, eat my dush, you know, smocks, whatever.

But a second group, I think, would have said, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

This is the end.

This is the end.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to die.

I think you would have had a third group that maybe, this is good.

This could be good.

This could be good.

This could be bad.

This could be bad.

This could be good.

And then you had a fourth group, I'm convinced that we're walking across saying, man, he's going to kill me because I deserve it.

I deserve for these waters to come over me.

I am doomed.

I am doomed.

The point I'm making, they walk through with different measures of faith.

A different quality of faith, but they were equally saved.

Listen, you are not saved by the quality of your faith, but by the object of your faith, your Redeemer.

Everything about this story tells you, if the Exodus account is a paradigm of our faith and salvation, then it means that God has already fought your greatest battle.

Everything about this text says grace, Now, here's the downside.

Far too many people will take this text and they'll say something like this.

If I have enough faith, if I let go and let God, God will fight my battles for me and deal with these unfortunate events I've gotten myself into.

Exodus, this text is not saying that.

The text is saying, stand still and see that God will fight my battles for me.

God has already fought the big battle for you and has already accomplished your salvation.

You've already crossed over.

Sin and death, your greatest enemies, have already been defeated.

All your other problems are small potatoes compared to this.

Your salvation has been provided for you.

You're justified.

Now listen, but your sanctification is going to be a lifetime Time battle.

But the sanctification line never affects the salvation line.

Your level of sanctification never impacts your salvation because your salvation is by grace through faith.

Your sanctification, Paul said, well, not Paul.

Some people think somebody else.

Let's forget that.

Hebrews chapter 12 verse 4, in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

The writer says this battle is going to be a battle of overcoming the feelings that you have that do not correspond with objective truth for the rest of your life.

Now, stay with me here.

Salvation is about getting out.

How do we get out?

We cross over by grace.

But, oh, this is the best part of the story.

So I need you to lean in.

They walked off and you're distracted now.

Focus again.

The Egyptians followed the Israelites.

The Israelites went through the water and they were fine.

Then the Egyptians were covered over.

So why did the Israelites go through?

Why did they escape the waters?

So, if you look back in the Old Testament, this is one of those, this is a part of the story that it helps me understand by understanding ancient cultures.

In the ancient world, think about the flood of Noah.

How did God destroy the world?

Water.

So, in the ancient world, God could have judged the world any number of ways, but in the ancient world, water represented chaos.

Storms, raging waters, death at sea, ocean untamed.

Even mysterious creatures we don't even know exist.

It's risky, it's dangerous, it's unpredictable.

So water serves as kind of a metaphor of destruction, of disintegration, of uncreation.

So if you go all the way back, you'll notice in Genesis 1 when God creates the world, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

And nothing happened until the Spirit of God did hover over the waters.

For instance, in Genesis 1-2, now the earth was formless and empty.

Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And when the Spirit of God began hovering over the waters, things began to happen.

Instead of darkness, God separated the darkness from the light.

There was day and night.

When the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, he brought this order into the chaos where you had sea now and land.

He brought the land together.

The point is, all through the Old Testament, you'll see that when God shows up, order comes to chaos.

He brings order.

Now, when you rebel against God and you go the other way, chaos returns.

So God uses the flood to destroy the world in the time of Noah because what he's actually doing, he's making an appropriate judgment.

If you revert back, if you say, I don't want to live with God, I don't want to live within his parameters, I want to choose to live apart from God, God promises you, as you walk outside those parameters, that chaos will return.

Integration.

ruin death.

Okay, so let me take a pause here, even though I'm almost out of time.

I don't care.

I'm not going to repent.

Willful sin cannot be forgiven.

Listen, why aren't you listening to me?

Why am I not getting through to you about the sacredness of sex?

Why are you ignoring me?

We're not.

Yeah, you are.

I meet people, they talk to me, and it's like, have you heard anything that I've said?

If you think you can violate the way of a creator and no disintegration or ruin occur in your life, you are incredibly foolish.

You say, well, Pastor Jeff, you know, that part of the Bible is archaic.

Oh, now you get to choose what's archaic and what's contemporary.

Maybe salvation itself is archaic.

And maybe you're going straight to hell.

You don't get to do that.

The Bible is the Word of God.

Well, God will forgive me.

Okay, you don't care that you're wounding the heart of God?

Well, everybody does it.

You don't care that you're wounding the heart of God?

But he will forgive me.

You think forgiveness comes without repentance?

I'm saved by grace.

Do you think that that's the case?

That means chaos will not return to your life and disintegration and ruin will destroy you and others.

Why are you ignoring me?

I know the answer.

I'm just going to say it out loud.

Because you don't understand the gospel.

I don't care if you've been coming to church for 50 years.

You don't get it yet.

And you're a grace abuser.

And you don't love God.

If you can do that and violate those parameters without shame and guilt.

Now, it's different when you succumb to temptation, you have guilt and shame and you're trying your best.

That's totally different.

But if you can just engage in this with no shame and no guilt and go on cavalierly your merry way, you don't understand the gospel, you're a grace abuser, you don't love God, and the plague of disintegration will hit you.

What are the plagues in Egypt?

Have you ever thought about that?

Locusts, flies, frogs, hail, death, untamed, unregulated chaos.

You know, some scholars believe that the Red Sea is the 11th plague because Egypt's sin against God has unleashed chaos and the waters of God's judgment come again.

The waters were held up by God in order and because of the sin of the Egyptians, God caused disorder, and the chaos ensued, and the Egyptians were drowned.

This is the judgment of God.

Now, the question is, why were the Israelites spared, though?

Now, this is the end and the good part.

Are they good people?

Man, have you read the Bible?

They were petulant, childish, murderous fools.

Stubborn, stiff-necked, a sorry bunch.

So why did the waters not come down on the Israelites?

Because they had a mediator.

They had a mediator.

Exodus 14.10, as Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them.

They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.

And then you look at Exodus 14.

Moses answered the people, don't be afraid.

Stand firm.

You will see the deliverance the Lord will bring today.

The Egyptians you see today, you'll never see again.

The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still.

And notice verse 15.

Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me?

Moses wasn't crying out to God.

The children of Israel were crying out to God.

Moses had faith.

And yet God is rebuking Moses for what the children of Israel were doing.

Why?

Why?

Then Moses, verse 21, stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with strong east wind and turned it into dry land.

Here's what you have.

You have one man who is so identified with the Israelites that their guilt is placed on him, and he's so identified with God that God's power is coming through him.

He's the man in the middle.

Moses is so identified with the people that he gets rebuked for their sin.

He's so identified with God that he's the vehicle for God's saving power.

But guess what?

I know a better mediator.

In Jesus Christ, we don't just have a mediator who is fully man and close to God.

We've got a mediator who is fully human and fully God.

We don't have a mediator who was rebuked for one sin in one verse.

Here is what Jesus received.

when Jonah was in the boat and the storm of God's wrath was about to sink the boat Jonah said to the men this is a storm of God's wrath and the only way you're going to be saved is if you throw me in throw me in and you'll be saved they threw Jonah in and they were saved Jesus said in Matthew 12 a greater Jonah is here toss me into God's wrath and you'll be saved and so on the cross folks God bless.

Jesus was thrown into God's wrath, thrown into the sea of God's wrath, so that we could be safe.

The plague of darkness came down on him.

The plague of blood came down on him.

Jesus Christ experienced chaos so that you and I could be reordered and remade and renewed.

So that the floodwaters poured over him so that you and I could walk on dry land of the promised land.

Jesus is the ultimate mediator and the reason you and I could cross over.

So this is what you need to see.

God brought them out to take them to Mount Sinai and give them the law, which means he saved them first, then he gave them the law.

He didn't give them the law and say, do all this, then I'll save you.

No, it's the opposite, isn't it?

He brought them out.

He brought them out because he loved them.

And in Leviticus 11, 45, I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.

Therefore be holy because I'm holy.

Now listen carefully.

The more you consider and understand what God has done, the more you will see the floodwaters go over his head, and in your heart and mind, the more holy you're going to be.

The more real what Jesus has done for you, the more you get it, the more holy you're going to try to be.

No one who truly understands the grace and provision of God would take sin lightly.

Some of you need to repent, man, this weekend.

Oh my.

You've been playing this game a long time, and you think there's no disintegration.

You think you can just cavalierly keep doing this and say to yourself, well, that's the old Bible.

That's archaic.

That doesn't apply to me.

Come on.

Come on.

Maybe salvation doesn't apply to you.

It all applies to you, my friend.

And the more you understand that your salvation has nothing to do with your behavior, the more your behavior will change.

It's ironic.

It's ironic.

The Exodus story reveals our salvation.

He got us out objectively.

We are freed, past tense, from the penalty of sin.

He's getting us out subjectively.

We are getting freed, present tense, from the power of sin.

And he will get us out practically.

We will be free, future tense, from the presence of sin.

Well, may our accuser roar of sins that I have done.

I know them all and thousands more.

Jehovah knoweth none.

When you truly take that in, you will repent of the sin that's causing the chaos in your life.

You talk about promises.

Here are the two promises about which you can be certain.

God separates your sins, past, present, future, as far as the east is from the west.

He remembers them no more.

But two, real grace, when it's truly understood, causes repentance.

That's the paradigm, the Exodus story.

of the salvation we have.

Father, thank you for a fantastic narrative that has sustained and taught us for a couple of thousand years.

And I would pray in Christ's name right now, if there's anybody in this room that has not been walking with you for such a long time, that your promises to them would overwhelm their soul, that they would remember that objectively, judicially, They stand in no condemnation, but because the grace has come down into their life for those who truly understand what God has provided, if there is no passion in our hearts to live a holy life and to defeat the sin that is in our life, not to earn salvation, but to love the one who's given so much for us, I pray those.

Would stop and ask the question, do I really understand what this salvation is about?

Bend the knee, confess their sin, allow God to take their sin, and to march toward the life of sanctification because of his grace in Christ's name.

Amen.