[0:00] If you would turn back with me to that portion of scripture that we read in Exodus chapter 13 and 14 and I think will take us our text today will take us our text chapter 14 and verse 3. Exodus 14 and verse 3. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel they are wandering in the land the wilderness has shut them in. What we have here is the Exodus of God's people out of Egypt and it gives us great insight into how the Lord God guides and delivers his people and how he delivered them out of Egypt and the way he delivered them and saved them was not the way that they expected it wasn't the way that they expected and we also see in this text how divine guidance how God's people here in the text how they are guided how divine guidance and salvation that is God saving his people how these two subjects go hand in hand guidance and salvation they go hand in hand God will always direct and guide his people as sure as he will deliver them and save them we meet the children of Israel here in Exodus 13 and 14 and they are in a precarious position they are in a fearful position they're needing both guidance and they're needing deliverance and in 14.3 Pharaoh says Pharaoh will think the
[2:09] Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion they are hemmed in by the desert or as the ESV has it they are wandering in the land the wilderness has shut them in shut them in so fair thought so the first thing I want to look at here this day is God's people directed God's people directed chapter 13 and verse 21 to 22 says and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light that they might travel by day and by night the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people now what we see in this awesome display of the glory of God this signifies and teaches us about this wonderful transcendence but it also speaks about his nearness to his people his transcendence he's set apart he's a far off he's God and only he alone is
[3:27] God he is transcendent he is glorious he is holy he is divine he is absolutely perfect but he is near to the brokenhearted as well he is near to the people in the desert fire to be sure is often used in the scriptures to describe God the psalmist says our God comes he does not keep silence before him is a devouring fire around him a mighty tempest Sam 50 verse 3 I say are the prophet and his great vision of God says this and the foundations of the threshold shoot at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke Isaiah 6 Isaiah's great vision of the Lord so fire is a picture of the
[4:30] Lord God at work it's a picture of God at work it's a picture of judgment and it's a picture of cleansing a picture of mystery and a picture of comfort it's power to devastate and yet it's power to bless to destroy and to cleanse fire you often read the Old Testament and you'll see the Lord is surrounded by fire and also in our text we have clouds we have clouds the pillar of cloud by day clouds also common in scripture signify to a something of God's majesty and his character they reveal and they conceal this and that what God does he reveals but yet at the same time he might conceal the Lord Jesus Christ himself you will remember what's received up into the clouds and acts one moreover the book of Revelation tells us that the Lord Jesus is coming what he's coming with the clouds and every eye will see him John tells us in the revelation you see the clouds will reveal the Lord Jesus returning on his glorious return so here in our text here we have clouds as well you know for the Israelites in the wilderness here there was never a GPS like this before they were guided by their God God himself was their guide God was their guide the Lord went before them the Lord always goes before us people the Lord goes before you if you are in Christ here today he will go before you he is your guide he was their guide he is your guide he is my guide the Lord went before them this highlights the nuance of God continually going before his people and the Lord's guidance is plain and it is continual he will not stop guiding his people God is always present to guide his people and we as the Lord's people must never forget that in our times of trouble in our times of frailty in our times of weakness in our times of bereavement in our times of confusion in our times of despair in our times of wherever we may be in life the Lord will never forget you and the
[7:27] Lord will never stop going before you and guiding you this guidance was plain and it was continual God's people here are being guided away from something what are they being guided away from they've been guided away from Egypt the land of slavery where they had been for so many years they've been taken out they've been delivered and guided out of that place of sin and iniquity Egypt was always a metaphor for sin and iniquity and they've been taken out of it and they've been guided out of it Egypt and slavery no more but they are also being guided towards something they are moving forward you as a Christian and me as a Christian we are moving forward we are always moving forward we are moving toward that place of God's blessing and safety they are heading for the promised land they are heading for the promised land that place of blessing that place of safety that place they yearn for that place they longed for the Lord went before them but more so the shekinah grow glory shekinah glory that glory of the Lord did not depart from before the people our text tells us they saw the glory of God before them they were there and they saw the glory of God as they were guided away from sin toward the promised land you know the truth is that God gives to each of his people all the divine guidance they need we have the scripture we have God's glorious Holy Spirit we have providence all guiding you and guiding me the psalmist says and I think
[9:41] I preached on this a few weeks ago your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path in Psalm 119 105 elsewhere in the psalms it says the law of the Lord is perfect the law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy making wise the simple the presets of the Lord are right giving joy to the heart the psalmist says the commands of the Lord are radiant giving light to the eyes Psalm 19 we have the scripture we have God's wonderful glorious Holy Spirit working with that scripture and we have all the guidance we need in life and for beyond but we know there are days where we do become confused and we must wait upon the Lord as we son to reveal to us which way forward in whatever situation we may be in life the Lord will guide you and he will guide me you see we have through the eyes of faith the Lord with us all the time listen to the Lord Jesus himself speak before he departed he says I will ask of the father my father you see that's my father up there I will ask him and he will give you another helper and he will be with you forever the Lord
[11:20] Jesus says even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him Jesus says Christian you know him for he dwells with you but you know something else he dwells in you he dwells in you that Holy Spirit dwells with you and he will be in you that Holy Spirit that reveals things to you reveals God to you and elsewhere the Lord Jesus says when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth you see that in John 16 you see the spirit of God working with the scriptures and with providence at all the guidance we need on life's journey as we pilgrim through this land of Egypt as we leave the land of sin and as we head to the promised eternal land of God to glory itself the Lord will never leave you and the Lord will never forsake you do you believe that the state is the Lord your God who is guiding you are you unbelieving do you not believe that this God can guide you and deliver you and take you to that promised land when you breathe your last do you believe in this listen to I say and I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know he says in paths that they have not known I will guide them I will turn darkness before them into light the rough places into level ground these are the things
[13:15] I do and I will not forsake them it's talking about you Christian the Lord who takes us out of that place of darkness and sin and delivers us into that place of righteousness and holiness listen to another described God's guiding hand you are not turned out alone into a wild wilderness to find a path the commentator says the good shepherd goes before you follow him as the she follow their shepherd he says he never led his flock in the wrong direction yet do what he bids you and you are safe do as he did when he was here below his example is your safe direction believe him and obey him and keep to the narrow path I think it was Charles Spurgeon who wrote these words you know the Lord Jesus he is not only our guide but he is a forerunner he is the one who has gone before us he is the one we must follow he has gone before us he is a forerunner he is our pioneer if you read the book of Hebrews you'll see that theme in it he is a forerunner he is the captain of our salvation we are to follow him into glory itself what happened to Jesus he was raised what happened to Jesus he was ascended what happened to Jesus he's in glory he's a forerunner he has cut that path he has choked out that path for us into glory itself we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul a hope that never enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf the writer to the Hebrew says in Hebrew 6 now if you look at Exodus chapter 14 verses 19 to 20 we see the guide not only guiding you see the Lord God not only guides us but he protects us on this journey he not only guides us but he protects us look at verses 19 and 20 of Exodus 14 then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel and there was the cloud and darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night what a scene that must have been for these terrified Israelites and they were terrified the Lord God not only guides his people but he protects them on the journey so secondly we will look at the journey and you will see the journey in chapter 13 verses 17 to 18 verse 20 and at the beginning of chapter 14 14 verses 1 2 3 not only was the Lord their guide his direction led the people on the journey they were going on a way you see what had happened is the Passover lamb had been slaughtered the blood had been spilt they had had communion they had sat at the table so to speak the blood was spilt and it was smeared on the doorposts the covenant meal has now been eaten the angel of death that passed over them they were spared to escape out of the land of captivity they are moving out of Egypt and they are moving on with God and that is what we are all do when the Lord comes into our lives we are moving out of the land of sin the land of Egypt and we are moving on with God we are going forward and in our text we have two simple human activities that are designated by the
[17:43] Lord to show a pattern of obedience to war to them they ate eating and walking they have eaten the Passover lamb they have had that communion and now they are walking the eating now leads to walking with God you see there is a leaving in order to receive what is promised we leave our life of sinless Christians we leave that life behind us that is a leaving in order to receive what is promised and we have seen all this before in the scriptish way we remember Abraham was told to leave ear of the Chaldeans for what is promised do you remember now the Lord said to Abraham go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you and I will make you a great nation the Lord says to Abraham and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing you'll see that in Genesis 12 verses 1 to 2 there is a leaving in order to receive what is promised a leaving here is the promise to Abraham and the procession in the process of being fulfilled you see that promise to Abraham I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and here in the Exodus of the Lord's people here in the Exodus of the Lord's people we see that promise being fulfilled you see all of God's promises are always fulfilled sometimes they take hundreds and hundreds of years but nevertheless they are always fulfilled and here is this promise about to be fulfilled you know the scriptures reveal to us here that the Lord has not led his people through fullestine country the less they melt with fear chapter 13 and 17 the Lord in taking his people out of Egypt he has taken them full circle that is what he has done he hasn't taken them on the easy route the route we would have taken he takes them full circle they are to set up camp at Poha Hurot you see that in verse 1 of chapter 14 they have the sea on one side and they have the mountainous wilderness on the other there is a clear way out and the Egyptians have seen that they have not taken that clear way out they have the sea on one side the mountains on the other side there is a clear way out but they have not taken it the route they were on was not the most obvious way it was not the shortest way but you see the route that they were on going full circle it was God's way it was God's way sometimes we're prone to take the easy way out the most obvious way but very often that is not the Lord's way how often the Lord takes us on a journey along that narrow path on that obvious easiest way that we intend to take and sometimes it's blocked the Lord has blocked the way for them you will remember the Apostle Paul he was also blocked by the Lord and going to Asia to preach the gospel in Acts chapter 16 and verse 6 God the cloud by day and the fire by night declared to Paul that Asia is off limits Asia's off limits to Paul for the time being anyway you see the parameters of the journey of your journey and my journey the parameters are always set by the Lord they are always set by the Lord for the Israelites for Paul for you and I it is how we deal with these experiences that matter I remember hearing a story of a teenage boy giving his testimony in the town hall a number of years ago some of you might even know the young boys a young man today and the young man was telling us in the town hall he was saying to us that he was saying to us that that the prayer meeting night was the same night as his under 18 football and this young man was one of the best players in this team but this young man coming to faith he had to choose between the prayer meeting and the football you see the parameters were set by the Lord he chose the prayer meeting and he remained faithful to the prayer meeting and his teammates goaded him and his teammates begged him to continue the season on a Thursday night I think it was to play in the team but he said no I must go to the prayer meeting and anyway lo and behold the season finished and they were in the Cup final and the Cup final was on a
[23:33] Saturday night there was no prayer meeting on the Saturday night and lo and behold he got back into the team and when they played the game they won 1-0 he scored the winning goal and he got man of the match the parameters were set by the Lord now it doesn't always work like that I will never forget that young man's testimony it was such a lesson to me it was such a challenge to me the easy way out for him the easy way out for him would have been to go to the football and just say oh well I'm finished on the 18 this year anyway and then I'll go to the prayer meeting no he chose the prayer meeting the parameters are always set by the Lord further there is more to this journey out of the land of slavery and toward the land of promise if you look at the often neglected version chapter 13 if you go back a chapter go back to chapter 13 and at verse 19 the text tells us Moses took the bones of Joseph with him for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear saying God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones with you from there I think we get a richer understanding in the NIV and in the NASB in this instance of Joseph's prophetic words the NIV has it this way God will surely come to your aid and the NASB which is a wonderful translation says God will surely take care of you so with
[25:24] Joseph's remains acting in a sense they're acting as a testimony the remains of Joseph are acting as a testimony and a reminder to the people of the Lord's promises made to the patriarchs all that time ago all these promises and Joseph's remains been carried out of Egypt act as a reminder of who this God is about all the promises that he's given to these people these bones are a reminder to them in case they become unbelieving and of course they do become unbelieving the reminder that God would redeem that the Lord would redeem my people for himself to be his treasured possession to give them a future and a hope and that was the promise at the same time Joseph's remains taken on this journey of hope buying Genesis and Exodus together you see the two books are bound together because here is Joseph's remains coming out of Egypt from Genesis into Exodus Joseph that great man of faith that great man of integrity he was also on a journey with fixed parameters he will remember parameters measured by the Lord and he's still on a journey here he may be dead and his bones may be there he's with God and glory but his earthly journey is still being directed and guided by God his bones act as a reminder of the beauty and of the of the the trustworthiness of this God somebody says this about it whether walking or carried in procession the patriarchs enshrine a spirituality of faith in which their core identity is defined by belonging to the chosen people rather than by the culture in which they are born live or die did you hear that their core identity Joseph Moses their core identity is defined by belonging to the people of God is your identity here this day are you identified as belonging to the people of God or are you identified as belonging to the world and belonging to the culture in which we live you know will it be said of you and will it be said of me as we are carried out in procession and one day each and every one of us unless the Lord returns each and every one of us will be carried out as Joseph is carried out here will be carried out in procession will it be said of us that we belong to the Lord that we were on that narrow path that we were saved by the grace and the mercy of God and we are on that journey to the promised land will it be said of you and me as we are carried out in procession was our journey for the parameters of our journey set by the Lord
[29:01] I think we'll do part two tonight enough to change the text is that okay for tonight I'm only halfway and I'm not going to keep you so you want the second part would come out tonight we have the journey and later on this evening we'll look at the stopover and we will see how the Lord not only guides his people but how he delivers their people and we'll see how all of this that we've been looking at here this day points to Calvary the whole lot points to the Son of God saving his people on a cross on Calvary to hopefully we'll see you tonight let us pray Lord we thank you indeed for your work Lord and we thank you for your deliverance of your people Lord we thank you that you are a God who has set the parameters of all of your people's journeys we thank you Lord that you never leave us not forsake us we thank you Lord we thank you that you go before us in all that we do Lord there are days that doesn't fill the case in our experience there are days where we are unbelieving and doubting oh Lord but we pray this day that you would build up our faith by your word and by your spirit and Lord we thank you that we can be delivered in and through the blood of Jesus help each and every one of us in this place today to have that believing heart as we pilgrim through this wilderness Lord leaving Egypt and heading for glory so go before us now and pardon sin for Jesus's sake amen we will conclude by singing to God's praise and glory
[30:53] Sam 149 Sam 149 and we'll sing the verses marked 1 to 6 Sam 149 verses 1 to 6 praise you the Lord and to him sing a new song and his praise in the assembly office sense and sweet Sam's do you raise Sam 149 to God's praise praise the high praise of the Lord and let them have it there right now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all know and forever more man