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SERMON SUBJECT: FACING LIFE’S IMPOSSIBILITIES WITH FAITH IN SPITE OF OUR FEARS SERMON TEXT: Exodus 14:10-20 SERMON THESIS: God’s people can face life’s impossibilities with faith and be victorious. INTRODUCTION: What seemingly impossibility are you facing? Is it a financial impossibility? Is it a physical problem? Whatever the seemingly impossible is that you are facing, the question is this: “Are you facing it with faith? Or Fear? In our text today, the Israelites were facing what seemed to be an impossibility. With the Egyptians in hot pursuit and the Red Sea in front of them, they had very little hope of escape. They were trapped. Their response to the situation was that of fear . . . (Exodus 14:10 NASB) "And as Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the LORD." What would they do? We will find out in this message. Furthermore, we will discover how to deal with our own impossibilities that life throws at us. Let’s continue by asking the question: How do we deal with life’s impossibilities? As I see it, and as our text reveals, we have three options. Option # 1: I. WE CAN TURN BACK - Moses and the Israelites had just begun their journey towards freedom when they were tempted to turn back. When any new challenge is set before there is always that tendency to turn back. They were tempted to turn back because they were faced with a seemingly impossibility. What would they do? Verse 10, as seen above, gives three initial responses to their present predicament: 1. They looked Which way did they look? They looked back. Leaving Rapid City, fifty miles out Carolyn and I stopped to look back . . . But like, the Israelites, we could not go back, nor did we want to go back, because the door behind us was closed. One of our tendencies in our journey toward heaven is to look back. If we are not careful we will tend to glamorize the past. To look back, and then go back, for the believer, would be like a dog returning to its vomit. There was nothing by slavery for the Israelites back in Egypt. We too, would be enslaved to sin, if we went back. Our tendency is, however, like the Israelites, when difficulties come is to look back. Well, we might reason, things were not so bad back there after all. This is what the Israelites began to do . . . (Exodus 14:11-12 NASB) "Then they said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? {12} "Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."" Looking back will usually bring out the worst in us. In most cases, it will cause us to blame someone in our past for our present situation. 2. They were afraid
When their past caught up with them, so to speak, they were afraid, according to verse 10. The Bible says, “They were very frightened.” Need to say, the thing they feared the most had come upon them. Living in the present with unresolved issues from the past can paralyze us with fear. You have heard it said, “Their past finally caught up with them.” Fear can make forward progression in the Christian life virtually impossible. Fear and intimidation is a tool of the enemy. Fear had practically paralyzed the Israelites in their tracks. What fear is their from your past that is paralyzing you in the present. 3. They cried out to the lord. Let us not be deceived by their response. This was not a cry of trust. Rather, it was a cry of anger. They were crying out in anger against God. Moses immediately became the object of their anger. They said, “ . . . It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians that to die in the wilderness”(v.12). Churches often act out their anger on their leader, when in reality they are angry at God. Facing some impossibility in your life, are you tempted to turn back? That is one option but not the best one. It is not even a good one. Now for the Option # 2: II. STAND STILL When faced with life’s impossibilities there are some who desire to neither go backward or forward. They simply want to stay right where they are. Baptists are often labeled as the “Chosen frozen.” These are the ones who do not want to change. The National Anthem for the chosen frozen is, “I shall not be moved!” We can credit the leader Moses with this move. He said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today”(v.13). This verse tells us something about Moses’ leadership. This was good advice, but in the estimation of one writer, he did not go far enough: 1. He believed in divine blessing but not strongly enough in human initiative. 2. He believed in the divine reality but not strongly enough in human risk. 3. He believed in divine initiative but not strongly enough in human participation. What does this mean for us? Divine blessing without human initiative leaves us standing where we are. Divine reality without human risk never takes us beyond our own human limitations. Divine initiative without human participation will leave us frozen in our tracks. It is quite obvious that Moses did not go far enough when he said “Stand by,” for God asked him, “Why are you crying out to me?” God said to Moses, “Tell the sons of Israel to go forward”(v. 15). Once we have taken our concerns to God in prayer, it is then time for us to take action. This brings us to the final option - Option # 3: III. GO FORWARD It is never enough to stand still . . . 1. We must go forward in spite of seemingly impossibilities. When we have positioned ourselves to go forward, God gets the glory. “Moses said, “ . . . see the salvation of the Lord!” (Exodus 14:18 NASB) ""Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen."" 2. We must go forward in light of Divine Promises (Exodus 14:16 NASB) ""And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land." Since I preached this sermon nine years ago following my 48th birthday, a lot of water has gone under the bridge. I (we) have faced some seemingly impossibilities, but God Has been faithful to His promises . . . 3. Go forward by careful obedience to God’s Word Like the Israelites who were set free from Egyptian bondage to go forward, as believers we have been set free from sin to go forward . . . CONCLUSION Facing life’s impossibilities become possible with God. Jesus Himself said, “ . . . with God all things are possible”(Matthew 19:26).
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