What Lies on the Other Side of the Red Sea?

So we're here on this last day of Unleavened Bread. I don't know about you, but it seems like these days have gone by very quickly. I always enjoy being in the midst of where God has these seven-day festivals. We know the Feast of Tabernacles flies very quickly by during that seven-day festival and then the eighth day on top of it, but the days of Unleavened Bread have flown by very quickly, too. It seems like just not long ago that we were gathered together at Passover as this festival season began and we commemorated Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us. Everything, everything we have, everything we ever will be is dependent on Jesus Christ. His sacrifice made everything possible for all of mankind. And then we were together for the night to be much observed as the 15th began that night when God brought Israel out of Egypt. And they totally, by His power, nothing that they did, delivered them from the slavery that they were in and a life of futility and going nowhere. And then the seven days of Unleavened Bread where we picture putting the Unleavened Bread in, but continuing to put the sin out of our lives, the weaknesses, the faults, everything that God shows us that we need to be purified of as we go through this life that we live under His direction and guidance as He prepares us for eternity in His kingdom. So we have all these things that we have been talking about, thinking about, praying about, observing some of the physical things. And I hope every time we've taken that Unleavened Bread, we've been thinking about the spiritual part of the lives that we are to be living and what we're doing spiritually as well as physically. But in these days of Unleavened Bread, there is a lot, there is a lot of meaning. It was the most important, I guess, event in the Old Testament. And I want to start today back in 1 Corinthians 10 because Paul, as he reflects on what we are doing in New Testament times, and in case I don't say it later, Old Testament Israel did not have God's Spirit. You and I do. That goes without saying. So if I fail to say that later, there is a difference between us and them and the challenges that they faced and the challenges that we face. But let's just read through the first few verses here of 1 Corinthians 10, because today we want to look at what we've just learned or should have learned in the days of Unleavened Bread from the Old Testament and see how that maybe affects us and sets the pattern for us today. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1, Paul writes, Moreover brethren, I don't want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. He was there every moment with them, just like he is here with us, as he calls us out of the world, brings us and takes us on a journey to eternity, to the kingdom that he will establish.

But with most of them, it says in verse 5, with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. We remember that everyone that came out of Egypt that saw those miracles of God, all of them died in the wilderness. They were unfaithful. They never saw the Promised Land, the physical Promised Land. And there's a lesson for us in that. God calls us out, but we have our responsibilities, and Paul reminds us of that. With most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. And these things became our example for us today, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And he goes on and he says, don't become idolaters as them. Don't commit sexual immorality, verse 8, as some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 died. Don't let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted. And we're destroyed by serpents. Let us not complain as some of them did, and we're destroyed by the destroyer. So he recounts these mistakes that Israel made as they came out. Again, they were physical people without God's Holy Spirit. They had the carnal human nature that you and I have. We're still aware of that.

God gives us the Holy Spirit so those things can be put out of our lives, so we wouldn't fall prey to the same things that they did. In verse 11, he says, all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. And I think we would all agree, if we have our eyes wide open as to what is going on in the world today, not setting any dates. We don't know when God will set things in final motion for Christ's return, but we are living in times that are very much at least the beginning of the end times. When you see the world, how it's all set up, as I often say, it is a time unlike any time that you and I have lived in before, and it is marching quickly, quickly, quickly along. And as we are here in this year, 2024, and we look down the road of what's going to be happening, perhaps, in the world around us, we see that time fleeting quickly. We see things even in motion if we're watching the news on how certain things are just beginning to speed up a little bit, and how people's ideas are getting put into place, and we watch the world around us in the United States become a different place than you and I grew up in, becoming ever different. So, on this day, the seventh day of Unleavened Bread, tradition says, and there's reason to believe, that Israel crossed the Red Sea on this day. There are other things in the Bible that people have said and attributed to happen on the seventh day as well. The walls of Jericho fell down. I remember hearing in the past or reading somewhere in the past that some have even said that, perhaps, and I'm saying perhaps because it is total speculation, that God took Lot and his family out of Sodom on the seventh day of Unleavened Bread because there are a few things in those scriptures that are Unleavened Bread types, foot washing, unleavened bread, etc. So, this is a momentous and a meaningful day in God's plan. It's not just the last day of the feast, but there are things that happened on this day, and the crossing of the Red Sea was certainly one of those miraculous things that whether anyone believes in Christ or not, everyone seems to have heard of the crossing of the Red Sea. It was one of those miraculous things that you would almost think if you weren't a Christian, this is just someone's imagination. But who could ever imagine that a Red Sea would open and people would pass through it? Only God could have that answer and bring his people safely and finally away from Egypt. He physically destroyed Egypt at that point. And, as you remember, when the children of Israel were on the other side of the Red Sea, they were celebrating greatly. They're gone. The Egyptians have been swallowed up in the sea. Physically, they were out of Egypt. That was behind them.

But we learned something that the Israelites would learn later that now that they were on the other side of the Red Sea, there was a whole lot of other challenges and trials and tests that would come to them. They had seen God's mighty hand. They had been delivered no longer in physical Egypt, but they would learn and we would learn Egypt was still in them. And as they were on the other side of the Red Sea, they had a lot of things to face and a lot of things to learn, just like you and I have a lot of things to face and a lot of things to learn. Let's go back to Exodus 14 and just recount for a moment that time at the Red Sea when Israel found themselves with their backs up against the wall with absolutely no way out. There wasn't a physical thing they could do to deliver themselves. And you know the story, but in those verses when they're there panicked and they're complaining to Moses, why did we come out of Egypt? Did you just bring us out here to die? Moses gave them some words that are timeless for you and me, just as important as it was for them that day. Things that we remember because somewhere along the line, we'll face our Red Sea moments. You've probably heard sermons about that before. A Red Sea moment where it's like there's no way out. And the only thing you can do is trust in God. And we will face that sometime in our lives. And they were facing that. So if we look in verse 12 of Exodus 14, they're complaining, the Israelites, and they said, isn't this what we told you in Egypt? Saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve Egypt than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the people, don't be afraid.

Trust in God. Haven't you already seen his power? Haven't you already seen what he could do? It wasn't by your power that you're sitting here on this bank of the Red Sea. God did it. You don't think he can deliver you the rest of the way? Program your minds. Think. God can do anything in ways that we can't even imagine. Don't be afraid. Stand still. Basically, he was saying, well, he does say be quiet. Or stand still. Be quiet. Take the time. Think about things. Recognize who God is. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you shall see again no more forever. God will fight for you. He says he will fight for his people. He showed that then. He's shown that to us. It's something we can count on. He will fight for you and you will hold your peace. Don't complain. Don't panic. Don't go all over the place thinking you have a better idea or trying to figure out how you're going to get through this. God will deliver. And the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me, tell the children of Israel to go forward. You just keep moving in the direction that I've given you, God said. You know the vision. You know where you're going. You keep moving forward. I don't care what obstacles you have. I don't care who is trying to interrupt it. You just keep going forward.

Well, maybe we've even felt that a little bit. When Jesus Christ was on earth, as he was approaching those days of Unleavened Bread, he felt that same thing that God was telling Israel then. We'll be back in Exodus a few times, but let's look at Psalm 22 for a moment.

If we look at Psalm 22 and verse 12, Jesus Christ was there among the Jews, people, his own people, the Jews that he came to as a Messiah, he saw their reaction to him. He saw how they were treating him. He knew where this was going. He knew that they would surround him, and he knew that he was going to sacrifice his life. He had human emotions like us. He understood pain like we do. It didn't deter him. Let's look at Psalm 22 and verse 12.

He says, many bulls, many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They're ganging up on me. I understand what's going on. I understand what is happening. This happens. They gape at me with their mouths like a raging and war-oaring lion.

He could have looked at that and thought, it's hopeless. Don't want to deal with this. How do I deal with this? Maybe you and I have felt that sometimes in our lives. Certainly as we move forward in our lives, between now and the time of the return of Jesus Christ, we'll find strong bulls of Bashan, Vashan, or however you pronounce that. They will be looking at us. Stop them. Get rid of them. We don't want to hear what they have to say. We'll be facing those things and there will be the temptation to just give in. Stop going forward. Stop doing what you're doing. Just be friends with the world. Just calm it down and let it all happen easily. Christ never did that. He just kept preaching the truth. He knew what it was and he was prepared for it. And God has given us this time that you and I will be prepared for whatever it is. Now is the time to be looking at Moses' words. Don't be afraid. God can deliver. God does deliver. He is faithful. He knows the way, the truth, and the past, and the way, the truth, and the life. Down in verse 19, as this psalm goes on, David writing, we know it's a picture of Jesus Christ as well, he comes to the conclusion. He says, But you, O Lord, don't be far from me. I know you won't leave me. I know you know what I'm going through. I know that this is happening for a reason. But you, O Lord, don't be far from me. O my strength, hasten to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. You can deliver. Your might, your power. I'm powerless physically against them, but your power will deliver just as they saw in Egypt. You have answered me, and I will declare your name to my brethren.

What a lesson! What a lesson, perhaps, Israel learned on that Red Sea, but what a greater lesson you and I can learn from that lesson as well, now that we are here on the other side of the Red Sea, and as we look at our lives now, where we've been and where we are maybe symbolically crossing into another time in our lives with a world that is far, far, far different, far, far, far different than what we have seen in the past or lived in in the past. A world that will be full of opportunities to have our faith in God and to learn to trust Him and not go back to the ways of Egypt or this world or to look to those gods that may still be lingering in our minds and hearts like the Egyptians did or like the Israelites did and learn to trust Him with all our heart, mind, and soul while we have the opportunities today.

If we go back to Exodus, we can learn some things as they crossed over the Red Sea. They were celebrating. It is a tremendous thing to honor God and praise Him for calling us, opening our minds to understand the truth.

But also, there are things that we have yet to learn. And as we leave these days of unleavened bread, those lessons should never depart from us. We have much to learn still about what God wants us individually and collectively to become. So I want to look at five events in Israel's life that they didn't count on when they crossed over the Red Sea. Jesus thought everything was fine and dandy, that they were God's people and they were there, but God had other things in mind. He knew what He wanted them to become. He wanted them to become the model nation on earth who would follow His principles, who would live His ways, that would be an example to the world around. Look at this people. What makes them so happy, unified, at one with each other and their God? And look how their God has blessed them in response to them living by His way. So they've faced some tests in chapter 15 of Exodus. We see the first one in verse 22. As they are celebrating and singing on the shores of the Red Sea, they begin marching forward to where God would lead them. In verse 22 it says, Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. They went out into these places. They went three days. Three days in the wilderness and they found no water. Okay, here's a test. We're in a wilderness, no water. Three days ago, God delivered us through the Red Sea and when they came to Mara, they couldn't drink the waters of Mara, for they were bitter. Oh, here's water, but they're awful. They're awful. They're poisoned. They're bitter. They're going to make us sick. Therefore, the name of it was called Mara and the people... ah, key word, Paul used it. The people complained. What's this about? We find water and we can't drink it. We find water and it's going to make us sick. They complained against Moses saying, well, what are we going to drink? So, Moses, what does he do? He doesn't panic. He cries out to God. And the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. And there he made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there he tested them. They failed the test. They didn't turn to God and say, what do we do? They complained. They didn't like what they had been brought to. What are you doing, Moses? Basically, they were planning against God. Did he know what he was doing? He brought us out here. Now we find water and we can't drink it. But we see him what God said. It wasn't just about that water there. He was teaching them something as they came out of Egypt. He said in verse 26, if you diligently, and if you've been listening, if you're in Cincinnati, you've been hearing me, use some adverbs and draw attention to the adverbs that God places in the Bible. If you diligently, that means you're really working hard. You really are studying what you're doing. You're really paying close attention. If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obey him, learn the principles, learn the attitudes, have faith in him. He knows what he's doing. If you give ear to his commandments, if you listen and don't close your mind to it and think you've got it all nailed, give ear to his commandments and keep all his statues. Boy, he just keeps loading it up. If you do all these things, Israel, if you do all these things, New Testament Church of God, if you do all these things, if you are really living the life that God has called us to, he says, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have brought on the Egyptian. Whoa!

All those diseases, all that sickness that was in Egypt, all those maladies they had then, God says, you know what they were. They were just part of life in Egypt. But if you diligently follow me, he says, I won't put any of those on you. I am God who heals you. So he teaches them a very valuable lesson. Isn't it interesting? The very first thing he tests them in using waters, I'll heal you. Follow me and I'll heal you.

Could be a lesson, right, in that for us today. If we really are following God with all our heart, mind, and soul, if we really are coming out of Egypt and our trust is in God and living the way that he wants, he makes quite a promise there. And I'm reminded in 1 Corinthians 11, we've read this every year as we prepare for the Passover in 1 Corinthians 11, where it talks about discerning the Lord's body, taking the Passover in a worthy manner. And what does he say? For this reason, many are sick among you and some sleep. Ah, if you would just discern the Lord's body, if you would just do what he says and live your life exactly, diligently, keeping, reading, heeding, listening, really coming out of the world and doing what God said, look what he teaches Israel. Look what he teaches us today. If we really are heeding him.

The other thing we see in this thing is people complaining. Throughout Israel's history, you've heard about the complaining and the murmuring. We don't like this. We would have done it a different way. What is God doing? We think our way is better. We could have done this. Oh, if we were sitting back in Egypt, if things were the way they used to be, they would be so much better than they are today. That's our idea. It wasn't God's idea. He took them out. He was the one leading them to where they were going. But they complained. And if we go all the way to the back of the Bible, the book of Jude right before the book of Revelation, we see even Jude referring back to these things that happened in these days of unleavened bread or in these days of the exodus of Israel from Egypt. Picking it up in verse 3 of Jude, he writes, Beloved, while I was very diligent—there's that word again—while I was very diligent, really trying to get you to understand, really diligent in what I was saying, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation—we all have the same salvation—God desires that everyone would receive that salvation and accept Jesus Christ. While I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you, to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. Remember. Remember that faith. Remember that trust. Remember what God has done for you. Remember.

Think on that. Build that faith. Build that trust. Think on it when those opportunities arrive. And then he says in verse 4 to a New Testament church that has existed for a while, that has this common calling and common salvation, faith that once was delivered, for certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Like Israel, they thought they knew better. That's what they thought. They complained against God. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, God says you do know this, once you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Isn't that interesting that Jude goes all the way back to that?

There were some that went through that red sea. They saw the miracles of God. They saw the water turned to sweet water. They saw God work these other miracles as they progressed through their journey. And yet, somewhere along the line, they stopped believing, and when it came to going into the Promised Land, we can't do it. Let's go back. Let's forget what God has called us to. Boy, we just have to remember what God has called us to and not give in to the human nature and the carnal response of complaining. It's not what I wanted. What is God doing? How did He bring us out here? Moses, what are you doing? Trust that God has in mind for us exactly the way He wants His Church, different paths for us individually. My trials and my tests will be different than yours because He knows my weaknesses and where I need to be strengthened, and there's plenty of places to be strengthened, but He knows yours too.

Those tests along the way, they're not there to trip us up. They're there to teach us to have faith in Him. So there's one thing we can learn from that very first encounter that Israel went away as we bring it into our lives today. Let's go back to Exodus 16 then, and we see the next one that God gives them. And again, He says it was a test. I'm teaching them. God teaches us through our tests. He teaches us through the situations we find ourselves in, things that we didn't expect, things that we didn't encounter. What does He want us to learn?

He wants us to learn to become like Jesus Christ. And through our tests, we sometimes see our weaknesses and what we need to do and put out of our lives with the power of God's Holy Spirit. Exodus 16, verse 1, they journeyed from Elam. All the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. And then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Here we go again. Do you know what you're doing, God? Do you have an idea of where we're going? And the children of Israel said to them, Oh, that we had just died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Oh, if we could just go back to Egypt. If we forget all these other things, if we just go back to the way it was, but that wasn't where God wanted them to be. He brought them out. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and they will gather a certain quota every day. That A, I may test them. Will they follow my instructions exactly? Will they follow my instructions to the T? Will they learn the principle that I'm giving them? The people will go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. But we can understand physical Israel.

They should have thought, God delivered us to the Red Sea. He turned the waters of Mara sweet.

Now there's food. Why don't we just look to God? It's hopeless. We're here in the wilderness. No food. No wild animals running around that we can shoot. No crops that we can walk through the fields and gather up grain. But they didn't think. God is in control. He's got their backs. He knows what the answer is. But he tests them, and they failed. And then he talks about, of all things, the Sabbath day. As he teaches them about manna, he teaches them about the Sabbath day. Six days you'll pick up the manna. On the sixth day you'll pick up a double portion because it won't be available on the Sabbath day. It is a day to rest. A day for God. A day to be completely doing what he says. So before the Ten Commandments are ever given, God teaches them two things. I can provide whatever food it is you need, and it will be there for you every day. Trust that I will provide it for you every day like he did for 40 years. Don't pick up more than what you need the first five days. But on the sixth day, take a double portion because there's not going to be any available on the seventh day. It's a Sabbath to the Lord. It's a day for him. And so they saw this, and they understood it. It might have puzzled them, but look what he was teaching them. He's teaching them again, I can provide food or whatever you need, wherever you are. You don't have to fret. You don't have to panic. You don't have to do the things that people do when they panic and they begin to get hungry, and the grocery store shelves aren't as full as they're used to having them be. You can trust in God.

And so we'll put the Sabbath aside for a moment, but look what he was already teaching Israel. Food. When there's a scarcity of food, you can trust in God. He can provide.

I mean, I've heard world leaders even recently warn there will be food shortages. As they look at a world at war, and they look at what's going on, and what their ideas, I guess, are, there will be food shortages. You've heard our president say that a few years back. You've heard Europe say that recently. There will be food shortages. The Bible talks about food shortages. Jesus Christ mentioned in the times of the beginning of the sorrows, there will be famine. There will be pestilence. There will be tough times ahead. Times that will try men's soul. What will we do in those tests? Will we complain like Israel? Or will we look to God and say, there may be no food? There might be not anything that we can do, but God can provide.

Our faith is in Him. The pressure will be on. The pressure will be on to do things the world's way. You know, we might say, you know, forget it, I just need to do whatever the world says. You know, when you look at Revelation 6 and it talks about the third and fourth, the third and fourth horseman, the inflation that will be there, the scarcity of food that's going to be there, how much money it's going to cost. But more importantly for you and me, is what the government, the authoritative totalitarian government does at that time.

You're not going to buy or sell unless you bow down to me. And I've got the power to close your accounts, to cancel your credit cards, that though you're not going, no matter how much money you have, you're not going to buy or sell till you bow down to me.

What will we do at that time? Cave? Well, we say, God, this is too hard. Do you know what you were doing? Did you understand that this was going to happen? Yes, he understands, and yes, he told us this is going to happen. We know we can trust God. We know that he can bring us food for whatever and feed us in whatever way he wants. I don't have an idea what it is, neither do you. Israel didn't understand that the Red Sea, that he was going to open up the waters. They didn't understand when they were here in Exodus 16 that manna was going to start raining down from heaven. But he did it, and we can have that trust in him.

And then there's the Sabbath day. Interesting that he tied food into the Sabbath day and teaching them about the Sabbath day. On the sixth day, prepare. The Sabbath is a time to be with God. We're all prepared. We know what we're going to wear. We know where we're going to be. We're going to keep the Sabbath the way that God says it is his 24-hour period that he has set aside for us to be with him without the cares of everyday life. We're ready, and there's that preparation time because the Sabbath is so important and valuable.

Part of that Sabbath day—I won't take the time to turn to Leviticus 23. I think it's in verse 3 that says, there is a holy convocation on the Sabbath. God expects his people to be with him in his presence and with each other on the Sabbath day. We may not want to. We may complain about it too hard. You know, COVID did a number of things, but I think one of the things that maybe COVID did was developing us a little bit complacency where the Sabbath is concerned. It's very easy to watch a webcast, and if you're sick, shut in. Absolutely. Those are blessings, and for other people who are learning about the truth, to be able to see the Sabbath webcast is a wonderful blessing and something that congregations should be doing. But we shouldn't be ones who use that as an excuse not to come to church. You know, we see God's command in Hebrews 10. In the New Testament, he reminds us how important it is to gather together before Him. Hebrews 10 verse 24, probably a memory verse. I know I tend to read it maybe too often, but let's read it again.

Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. There is an inspiration to being with each other at Sabbath services. There is something that you get at Sabbath services that you can't possibly get if you're sitting home and watching 24 hours of webcasts or sermons. God built us as a family. He built the congregation. He built the holy convocation. He commanded the holy convocation. There are things we learn from being with one another, and one of them is how inspirational it is to be with one another and to help one another to grow because we all have this common salvation. Verse 25, he specifically says he doesn't mention the Sabbath, but he's even talking about more times to assemble together and become the one group, the unified group, that he wants us to have, all with the same purpose, all with the same outlook, the thing that Jesus Christ said several times in His final prayer before He was arrested, that they may be one. No divisions, no arguments, following God, trusting in Him, learning the doctrine, and at one with one another as well as at one with God. Verse 25, don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, even back there in Paul's days and today, but exhorting, encouraging one another. This is the way walk you in it, working with one another, exhorting one another, and so much the more, so much the more as you see the day approaching. Is this a time to be complacent and say, Sabbath webcast is good enough for me? As we see the day approaching, even more so as we see the day approaching, diligently, carefully doing God's will, following what He has to say. So there's lessons that God taught Israel. We can look at those lessons He teaches us today too and see they apply to us even more so.

Jesus, who God has called out, given His Holy Spirit, working with us to become like Jesus Christ, even more so in this day. Let's go back to Exodus. Let's look at another one. Exodus 17. Exodus 17. Let's look at verse 8.

We were just in Exodus 17 talking about the manna, the Sabbath, and in verse 8, all of a sudden there's an enemy. There's an enemy that shows up. Amalek. And Amalek, it says, came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. An enemy? God just brought us out of Egypt. They were our enemies.

There's more enemies. Maybe that took them by surprise that someone would come and attack them. And they learned some lessons. Here's some warfare. Here's Amalek, and of course we know that Amalek, well if you look forward to the end of the chapter there, you see God's going to have issues with Amalek from generation to generation. They simply hate the people of God. And even today we see in the world around us those who hate the people of God. And in Revelation, you and I are fully aware there will be people who hate us. They hated Jesus Christ. And he said, if they hated me, they're going to hate you. As the gospel gets preached more and more clearly, directly, boldly, and as God lets that resonate on people and that message go on, there will be people who hate that word. Because the societies of man, they're enmity against God. We read that in Romans 8-7. They don't want the word of God. We see that happening, and it's been a continual thing in America. Put God away. Get him out of our existence. As we look at our society today, and more and more, from even natural morality to more and more the most inane, insane things that go on in the country around us today. And what the world is championing is just kind of bizarre. It's like you live in a foreign world or watching some movie that you couldn't believe have happened. But we live it, and we see it all around us as people move further and further away from God. And groups of them who have just this intense hatred for anything of God. But here's Amalek. Here's Amalek, and they are going to...they're an enemy. And now they're having to fight against this enemy. They didn't count on that when they left Egypt, but they learned that they have to fight, and they learned a couple things as we go along in there. But let's go back to James.

James 4, because we learned something about warfare, and a lot of it is from the outside. There will be people of the world who want nothing to do with us except silence us. Revelation 17 does say that that kingdom, that authoritarian government, led by Satan, inspired by Satan, will be drunk. Drunk with the blood of the saints.

Much like the spirit in Amalek wanted to be drunk with the blood of the Israelites.

So that's for us today. In James 4, we learn where wars and fighting come from. They can come from external. They can come from internal sources too, can't they? James 4, verse 1, where do wars and fights come from among you? Don't they come from your desires for pleasure that warring your members? Aren't they? They've got something I want. Listen to that, what some of the causes of wars down through history have been. And mankind's history is littered with wars. Or we just hate you. That's going on with the Israel and Hamas things. Don't they come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members you lust and you don't have? You murder and covet and cannot obtain? You fight and war, yet you don't have because you don't ask. You don't ask or you ask and don't receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on, circle the word, your pleasures. I want it my way, not God's way.

And so Amalek, they were there, they were an outside enemy, but Jesus Christ said there will be enemies that we have. You know, a daunting verse, but Jesus Christ faced it in his lifetime, and we find in Matthew 24. Matthew 24 and the Olivet prophecy. In verse 9, he talks about tribulation. Tribulation. They will deliver you up, Matthew 24.9, to tribulation, and they will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then he says in verse 10, this is a this is a tough time. This is a tough time when that's happening. We need to bond together with each other. We need to bond together with God. We need to know exactly what he's doing. And then he says in verse 10, and many will be offended, and they will betray one another. Well, that's not the world. I would expect the world to betray me. Jesus Christ was betrayed on that Pass overnight by one of his supposed own, but that supposed own of his never did, never did get what his weakness was. Never did overcome his lust and desire for money, and he traded loyalty to God and walking with Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. He never got it. What are those things, those sins that so easily beset us, that carnal nature that's part of us, that maybe will befall us, that we might betray one another, that we might hate one another and deliver each other up?

That's an awful thought, isn't it? And yet Christ says it will happen. It will happen.

Many, many who came out of Egypt didn't believe that they died in the wilderness. They never saw the promised land. Lessons, lessons for us in those things. We go to 1 John 4.

We see with the anecdote to those natural desires of envy, coveting, wanting what someone else has, allowing things to get to a point where we're even bitter, against each other, or bitter against God. Those things should not even be named among us, and yet we see that. Where is it going? 1 John 4. Verse 18. There John, longest living of the apostles, he said, there is no fear in agape. Don't have to fear what man can do to you. You don't have to fear if he can might take your life.

Fear rather God, Jesus Christ said, who can take your eternal life from you. There is no fear in love, but perfect love. Perfect agape casts out fear because fear, the other kind, involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. Perfect agape casts out all those things. If we are really using God's Holy Spirit, really taking the opportunities to practice agape, all that carnal nature will be eliminated. Those things we read about in Galatians 5.19, replaced with the fruits of the Spirit, if we truly are following God, using His Holy Spirit, denying self in our own ideas, thoughts, whatever it might be.

Perfect love casts it out.

So these Amm, these Amalekites, if we go back to Exodus 17, attack. And we learn about warfare because they come upon us, and we learn more about how Israel battled Ammalek. It was more than just Moses' faith. It was more than Joshua leading the army against Ammalek. In verse 9, continuing on, when Ammalek came, Moses said to Joshua, Choose some men, go out and fight with Ammalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. And so Joshua did what Moses said. Moses stood there with his hands in the rod toward heaven, but his hands got heavy. As long as his hands were up there and he was looking to God, Israel won. You remember that story, but as soon as his hands got tired, Ammalek won. And so they realized, look to God, he's the one. Our eyes, our hands, have to be lifted toward God. And Israel combined with it, people to help Moses keep his hands up.

It took a lot of them. It takes a whole church to fight against the ways, the wiles of this world. It takes us individually to put on the armor of God, but the church as well. To be united in purpose, to be united with God, one behind him, walking behind him, and holding each other up, edifying one another, building each other up, encouraging one another.

That's what a lesson we learn and we can learn from Ammalek, a New Testament lesson that we can learn. Let's go to 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 3. We live in end times, and I just want to take a little bit of time to read through what God inspired to be written about the times that we live in, and to look at those traits that are there that mark the world we live in today, and if we're not careful, can creep into us as well, just as you said that they can creep into our lives if we're not watching, because we see the world around us. We see that it's an awful place. We see attitudes we haven't seen before. We see division in ways we have not seen before in this country. We see hate in a way we haven't seen. We see lies in a way that we haven't seen before. And all these things can creep into us if we're not watching. 2 Timothy 3 verse 1. Know this. In the last days, times we live in now, perilous, dangerous. Keep your eyes open. Beware. Perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves.

They will be lovers of money. They will be boasters. They will be proud. Narcissism is a key word in the world today. You read on YouTube and you see people talking about this, right? It's one of the signs of the times we live in. Blasphemers. Talking about God. Talking about His Holy Spirit. Disobedient appearance. Unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving. Slanderers. I'll say whatever I feel like saying, whether or not has any merit at all, because if I say it, you'll believe it.

And if I can plant the doubt in your head, that's what I'm going to do. Watch the news. You see that happen. Watch what's going on. That's what slanderers do. God hates that. Without self-control. Brutal. Despisers of good. Traders. Headstrong. Not going to listen to anyone. I know the way. That's the way I'm going, and that's it. Nothing's going to change my mind.

Haudie. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness. I'll say the right things. I'll say the right things, but that's not really what's in my mind. I'm more of a Pharisee and a hypocrite in that way, because I'll say what it takes to win you over, but really these are the things that are there. Notice down in verse 8 then, again we go back to the time of Egypt and Israel. In verse 8 it says, now as Janus and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth.

We don't want to hear the truth. Just like they resisted Moses and all these miracles God was performing, we can do that too. Remember the first few miracles that went on in the plagues? So do these also resist the truth. Are we going to be people that would resist the truth?

Are we going to yield to God? Let his Holy Spirit yield to him. So do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith. And then God says, as that comes among us, but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all as theirs also was. And then he says, carefully, carefully follow the doctrine of God. Carefully listen to what he has to say.

So we have these things, these traits that are there, and as Israel marched out of Egypt, you remember that Moses went up to Mount Sinai and he was gone for 40 days and 40 nights when God was giving him the commandments.

While he was gone, remember what Israel did? They built a golden calf. Aaron, the high priest, he led them into that. And Israel followed them, or he caved into what the people wanted rather than standing up and saying, no, Moses isn't dead. Moses will come back. Look what God has done. Do things the way God said.

There's no way we're going back to Egypt and build this golden calf. We are standing by God. Whether Moses is alive or not, we are standing by God. That's what we do. Regardless. His way, not my way. But they went back to Egypt and that golden calf, while we would never build a golden calf, we know that we have plenty of gods in society. And as we find ourselves in more tumultuous times, we could find ourselves leaning on those gods. Well, the United States has never failed before. Well, the Federal Reserve is really a good thing.

My money's always going to be good. Well, if I caved to this, God will be okay with that. He understands I have to do this and that. No, he understands faith in him. As we walk through our lives, faith in him. Trust in him. That's where he's leading. That's what he's teaching us.

And so as we go through our lives, we do that. And we listen to God. We pay attention to God, not a man, Aaron. Aaron of all people. He said, okay, build a golden calf. What? How does something like that happen? Why didn't someone in Israel stand up and say, no way? No way are we doing that? Where's people that'll stand in the gap for what God said? There was no one in Israel at that time.

To do that, if we look back in Numbers, we see this happened in Israel as well. God leads them for all those years. They have the golden calf, but then in Numbers 16, we see another thing that happens that is kind of like in Israel, where God is having Moses lead the people through the wilderness, food, water. I didn't even talk about the water, but in another chapter there.

And then people turn against God, turn against him. Numbers 16 verse 1, Korah, the son of Kohath.

Verse 2, they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown, gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, you take too much upon yourselves. Who do you think you are? What are you doing? Moses and Aaron. And the Lord, you take too much upon yourselves. All the congregation is holy. Blah, blah, blah. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? And when Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and basically he said, let God choose. You know what happened to Korah. A rebellion? A rebellion among anyone except in Moses? Moses, as he was faithful, as God worked all those things through him, as God was leading them, and then someone says, we challenge God, he's not doing it right. He's got the wrong, wrong leader. Moses shouldn't be it. It should be me, Korah says. And I heard a sermon years ago that was talking about Korah's background and how there is some interaction and some relationship between Korah and Moses, and perhaps all that welled up over time into just a bitterness. And that bitterness led to rebellion and led to them being swallowed up among the children of Israel. And yet we know over the course of time that that's happened in the church, in God's church. Go back to the book of Jude. We were there earlier because Jude, later on in the chapter, goes back to the experience of Israel as well in Jude 8. Jude 8. He says, he's talking about, now people, he said, Luke was these dreamers. They defile the flesh. They reject authority. They speak evil of dignitaries. And then he says, but Michael didn't do that. Verse 10, they speak evil of whatever they don't know and whatever they know naturally, carnally, human nature setting in. Like brute beasts in these things, they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit. What's in it for me? Money? Power? Agilation? Like brute beasts in these things, they corrupt themselves and perished in the rebellion of Quora. Wow! Just like Israel, but now we have God's Holy Spirit. Now we are here. And Jude says, this is what's happened or what happens. Peter talks about it too in 2 Peter 2. Verse 1, he says, they were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you in your midst.

A test for Israel? A test for New Testament Christians early on? A test for us today? Who will we listen to? Are we following God? Do we know the shepherd's voice? Do we know his direction? Do we know what he wants? Do we trust him? Or do we trust it ourselves? And like so many over the ages have gone away because they followed man instead of God.

There will be false teachers among you who will secretly, never upfront, always behind the scenes, always whispering and doing all these other things that people do, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. Now, a few weeks ago, I gave a sermon on discerning the Lord's body. You'll remember the word heresies. When you look at the Greek, we think of heresies as just a false doctrine, but heresies in the original was small groups, small groups that band together and then have these things, these ideas that they have, and they lead people astray and try to convince them to go their own way, who bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. Peter, writing for us, a warning to us, 250 followed Quora. Don't get that when you really look at it. Many! See that word many? Not just a few. Many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. And then he talks about covetousness, deceptive words. You can read through that yourself, but Paul talked about that. He warned the church that that would happen way back in early New Testament time. If we go back to Acts 20 and verse 28. Verse 28, he says to the church at Ephesus, recorded for us today, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you, speaking to the elders there, overseers to shepherd. Watch out for the church. Keep them on the path. Keep them focused on God. Keep them united. Teach them to be in perfect unity. And we all have a ways to go as we build, as God builds in us, the church that he wants us to be, has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. He did that. We just pictured it at Passover. For I know this after my departure, savage wolves from the outside will come in among you, not sparing the flock, also from among yourselves. Men will rise up. Speaking perverse, better translation, it says in my margin, misleading. Speaking misleading things designed to lead you astray. Speaking misleading things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Beware. Watch. It's happened many times in the church. It could happen again. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24, the very first thing he said is, don't be deceived. By any means that deception can come, and it's not just from the outside world. We have to know the truth, follow the truth, and keep very, very clear to the truth and know God, know what he's doing, and have complete faith in him.

So I could go on. You could go on, and you could study more about what happened to Israel as they came out of Egypt, and as they got to the other side of the Red Sea, how many things they had yet to learn? They weren't the perfect people when God brought them out. They had to learn things. They didn't have the Holy Spirit. But you and I do. So we are without excuse. Unless we are without excuse. If we just allow God's Spirit to lay dormant, if we just kind of revert to our old ways, think this, think that, our ideas, whatever it is, watching the world around us, and whatever, we could fall prey to any of these things that we talked about. Pay attention to what God has said for us to be. God brought Egypt or Israel out of Egypt, but Israel never really got the Egypt out of them. God brought us out of the world, and he gives us the Holy Spirit so the world gets out of us. So human nature, carnal, evil human nature, gets out of us and is replaced by the perfect agape love that God is working with all of us and all the other fruits of the Spirit. That's what we're doing. We have come this far. All of us God has called. All of us are here. All of us are obeying His commandments. We have work to do. We need to become the people He wants us to become. You know, tonight the sun will go down, and as you heard in the sermonette, you won't have to eat unleavened bread anymore. You can, but the spiritual application of it is it, but that sun should never go down on the lessons that we've learned during these days of unleavened bread and our commitment to follow God with all our hearts, minds, and soul diligently, carefully, and willingly as He leads us to where He wants us to go. Let's close in Exodus 14, where we started back an hour or so ago. Exodus 14. And remember God's words given through Moses, that whatever faces us in the future, that we pay attention to them. Revelation 14, verse 13, Moses said, God says, Don't be afraid. Stand still, whatever comes your way, stand still and think about God. Put your eyes on Him and see the salvation of the Lord and trust in Him, because He will accomplish what His will is that day. The Lord will fight for you, and you will hold your peace and always keep moving forward in the direction God is taking us.