Extraordinary Salvation
Series: ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY GOD
Speaker: James Barnett
Date: 23rd May 2021
Passage: Exodus 14:1-31
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Thank you, brother. Nice to see you all today. My name is James. And at the end of last year,
00:00:07 --> 00:00:14 we had a staff day out. The whole team went out and we spoke about ministry and what was important
00:00:14 --> 00:00:20 and challenging for us coming out of COVID. And we drank coffee and we walked around the lake at
00:00:20 --> 00:00:26 Narrabeen. There were about 10 of us walking around the lake together. And suddenly our group came to
00:00:26 --> 00:00:34 a halt. There was a snake in front of us. Everybody stopped. And part of our team at the time was our
00:00:34 --> 00:00:41 dear sister Erin. Erin is from the US and she got married at the end of last year and she moved to
00:00:41 --> 00:00:50 Canberra. And it turns out that she had a massive fear of snakes. And as soon as she caught sight of
00:00:50 --> 00:00:57 the snake, that was, you know, 20 meters away, she started moving backwards very quickly. I had to
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 look because there was a pole there. I didn't want to walk into it. And the rest of us were like, oh,
00:01:00 --> 00:01:07 it's just a snake. What's the problem? Come on. We'll just walk slowly around it. There's no need to fear
00:01:07 --> 00:01:15 it. Now, I don't know if you would react in the same way. We all have our fears, whether it's, you know,
00:01:15 --> 00:01:23 snakes or spiders. But there are also much more deeply rooted fears. Fears of how other people view
00:01:23 --> 00:01:30 me. Fear of failing. Fear of not doing enough to make the people in my life happy and pleased.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:40 And just like seeing a snake, these deeply rooted fears cause us to respond. These fears can drive us.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:48 The fear of failing can motivate me to work harder and study harder. The fear of not pleasing my family
00:01:48 --> 00:01:57 can drive me to seek money and success. And these fears are often bubbling under the surface for us.
00:01:58 --> 00:02:05 We're often confronted by them, but we don't actually know when these fears are coming up. It's one thing
00:02:05 --> 00:02:12 to see a snake and then respond. And we can say, I have run away because I saw a snake.
00:02:13 --> 00:02:22 But it's much harder to understand how our fears in life are motivating us. We can end up being in a
00:02:22 --> 00:02:29 never-ending cycle of trying to beat our own fears, trying to find success, trying to beat them. And when
00:02:29 --> 00:02:35 we do get a measure of success, we can think, I can deal with my problems. I can deal with my own fears.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:46 I can save myself. And these fears can make us forget that we have a God who saves us. That there is a
00:02:46 --> 00:02:51 God who is to be feared. And that he is the one for us to be placing our trust in.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:59 We are in a series looking at the book of Exodus called Ordinary People, Extraordinary God. And we've
00:02:59 --> 00:03:07 seen that Israel is on the very brink of being saved. Last week, we saw the Passover where God brought
00:03:07 --> 00:03:16 judgment on Egypt and Israel was saved by the blood of the lamb. And now they've fled Egypt, but they're
00:03:16 --> 00:03:25 pursued by Pharaoh's army. And the challenge for Israel was to not fear Pharaoh, but to stand firm
00:03:25 --> 00:03:34 and to trust in God. This is our challenge too. Now we don't have an army breathing down on our necks,
00:03:34 --> 00:03:43 but we do have an army of challenges before us. Challenges and trials and struggles that fuel our fears.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:50 And in the face of these, God calls us to stand firm because he fights for us.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:55 So I'm going to pray in a moment. Please be reading along with me in Exodus 14.
00:03:56 --> 00:04:01 Have the St. Paul's app out so you can take notes. If you want to use the QR code on the seat in front
00:04:01 --> 00:04:07 of you, that'll take you directly to the St. Paul's app so that you can be making notes as we go.
00:04:07 --> 00:04:13 Let me pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word to us today.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:24 As we consider Israel's fear and how you save them, help us to have a deeper knowledge of the things
00:04:24 --> 00:04:31 that motivate us so that we would not be motivated out of fear, but that we would respond to you out
00:04:31 --> 00:04:40 of trust. Amen. Firstly, today we're going to see the approaching fear, particularly for the Israelites.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:45 So first of all, approaching fear. Israel, as I've mentioned, they fled out of Egypt
00:04:45 --> 00:04:52 and God gives them instructions where they are to set up camp because God has a plan for the location.
00:04:53 --> 00:05:02 It's the same plan as behind the plagues so that the Egyptians would know that the Lord is God,
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 that he is in control. So chapter 14, verse 5.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:13 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their
00:05:13 --> 00:05:19 minds about them and said, what have we done? We've let the Israelites go and we've lost their
00:05:19 --> 00:05:26 services. We've lost all our slaves. What are we going to do? We've lost this large and valuable
00:05:26 --> 00:05:35 source of cheap labor. Let's go and get them. And this has been Pharaoh's pattern. He's changed his mind,
00:05:35 --> 00:05:41 continually. And so he gathers his army and he charges after them. And we get the details of
00:05:41 --> 00:05:49 Egypt's army for the first time here. And it's a very impressive army. His chariots are mentioned
00:05:49 --> 00:05:58 four times in four verses. Chariots were the most dangerous weapons of the day. You know, I imagine,
00:05:58 --> 00:06:06 fighter jets. That's what the chariots were for the time. Highly flexible, fast, dangerous.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:15 They would have been terrifying. Imagine you are running away. You are fleeing with all of your
00:06:15 --> 00:06:21 possessions on your back. You're holding a child. You're dragging another child along. And there are
00:06:21 --> 00:06:28 horsemen. There are horses dragging chariots with men in the back with spears and swords bearing down
00:06:28 --> 00:06:36 on you. The Israelites' response is almost understandable here. It's almost understandable.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:43 Maybe if they hadn't seen God's amazing miracles, the plagues that he had brought on Egypt to judge
00:06:43 --> 00:06:50 them we could understand it. But Israel show what they are afraid of. Chapter 14, verse 10.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:58 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:03 They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses,
00:07:03 --> 00:07:08 Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?
00:07:08 --> 00:07:13 What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:19 leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians
00:07:19 --> 00:07:27 than to die in the desert. There's an interesting repetition in the wording here of the language of
00:07:27 --> 00:07:36 crying out. Israel had been crying out to God to save them when they were in Egypt. Save us from our
00:07:36 --> 00:07:45 harsh slavery. And God heard them. He heard their cries. He's intervened to save them. And now as he
00:07:45 --> 00:07:53 is saving them, they're crying out again. God, don't save us. Send us back. What they're doing is they're
00:07:53 --> 00:08:01 focusing too much on their immediate circumstances. Seeing God's plagues should have reminded them of how
00:08:01 --> 00:08:10 big this God is. This quick mood change of Israel to a challenge or trial is the first of many that
00:08:10 --> 00:08:15 we're going to see throughout the rest of Exodus. And the way that Israel respond is it's really like
00:08:15 --> 00:08:23 a temper tantrum in a young child. Either let us be slaves or let us die in the desert. You know, at the
00:08:23 --> 00:08:29 first sign of trouble, they're willing to just head straight back to Egypt. With the Egyptians
00:08:29 --> 00:08:37 pursuing, Israel doesn't give a second thought to God's promises, they've still not learned that
00:08:37 --> 00:08:45 their circumstances are not the final standard on which to see that God is working. It's actually
00:08:45 --> 00:08:52 very easy for us to get into the same mindset as Israel, to question God. God, I'm looking at my
00:08:52 --> 00:09:00 situation right now. Where are you? Why aren't you working? Jesus himself had a moment like this
00:09:00 --> 00:09:07 in the Garden of Gethsemane. Just before he went to the cross, to his death, he sat in the garden
00:09:07 --> 00:09:15 and he prayed to God. He didn't face an army bearing down on him. He faced crucifixion,
00:09:15 --> 00:09:26 the judgment of God for our sin. He faced the fear of that coming day. And in that day, he placed his
00:09:26 --> 00:09:35 trust in God. Moses speaks into this situation of Israel fearing. And he calls them, it's our second
00:09:35 --> 00:09:45 point today, to stand firm because God saves. Verse 13, Moses answered the people, do not be afraid.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:51 Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today,
00:09:52 --> 00:10:01 you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still. The Israelites faced
00:10:01 --> 00:10:07 an army and they wanted to respond out of fear. And Moses calls them, don't be afraid. Stand firm,
00:10:07 --> 00:10:16 be still. The Lord will fight for you. Can you imagine trying to be still and trusting God when
00:10:16 --> 00:10:23 you can see the dust of one of the greatest armies of all time bearing down on you? You're sandwiched
00:10:23 --> 00:10:31 between this impending doom of the army, the desert and the sea. It's die by sword or drown.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:39 Every instinct you have is telling you to fight or flight, to run. Do they try and fight Egypt? Well,
00:10:39 --> 00:10:47 that's totally hopeless. Do they try and flee? Either way, not trusting in God. Now these commands
00:10:47 --> 00:10:55 from Moses, they sound really pastoral and caring. You know, don't be afraid. Everything will be okay.
00:10:55 --> 00:11:02 But they're actually not words of comfort. Moses isn't giving words of comfort. He's not saying
00:11:02 --> 00:11:08 everything will be fine. It's actually a really impatient command from Moses. The last part of
00:11:08 --> 00:11:15 the sentence that says, be still, one commentator suggested a slightly different translation, which is
00:11:15 --> 00:11:25 be quiet. Or even further, shut up. It's a really direct command because of Israel's lack of faith.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:36 Their fear at the invading army shows where Israel's true fear and trust lie. This fear and trust go
00:11:36 --> 00:11:45 together. Our fear reveals the things that we trust. Israel continued to fear and to trust in Egypt.
00:11:45 --> 00:11:54 They hadn't realized yet how big their God was that they could actually trust in him. They wanted to go
00:11:54 --> 00:12:00 back to Egypt because they were afraid of what was coming. They had trusted that things would actually
00:12:00 --> 00:12:08 be better in Egypt as slaves than trusting in God. They've quickly forgotten the many years of pain
00:12:08 --> 00:12:17 and slavery because their situation had changed. And so fear and trust go together. Moses's response to
00:12:17 --> 00:12:26 their fear and to their worry is trust in God. And they needed a sharp rebuke. Now Moses had been a
00:12:26 --> 00:12:36 shepherd for 40 years before he came back to Egypt. And sometimes sheep need a bonk on the head from the
00:12:36 --> 00:12:42 shepherd's crook. You know, imagine a shepherd with a stick, the staff. Sometimes sheep need a bonk on the
00:12:42 --> 00:12:49 head. Don't go that way. Go that way. Don't go that way. That's bad for you. That's where the lion is down
00:12:49 --> 00:12:59 there, you silly sheep. God has a much better plan for you in store. Stand firm. Don't be afraid of them.
00:12:59 --> 00:13:05 Sure, they've got one of the most imposing armies of all time, but they're just an army. God has shown
00:13:05 --> 00:13:12 you how powerful he is. You saw the Nile turn to blood. You saw God send plague upon plague. God struck to
00:13:12 --> 00:13:20 the very heart of Pharaoh killing his son. What makes you think an army can do anything when you've
00:13:20 --> 00:13:30 got the Lord fighting on your side? And so God is going to display his power. In the face of a
00:13:30 --> 00:13:35 seemingly hopeless situation, God will do something that would have been completely unexpected.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:43 He tells Moses to raise his staff, to raise his arms, and to see the water divided so that the
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 Israelites could walk through on dry ground. Verse 21,
00:13:47 --> 00:13:53 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a
00:13:53 --> 00:14:00 strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through
00:14:00 --> 00:14:06 the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left. In the plagues,
00:14:07 --> 00:14:18 God was using his powers of creation against Pharaoh. Here, the parting of the sea is an act of the reversal
00:14:18 --> 00:14:27 of creation. In Genesis 1, when God made the world, the seas came together and they separated themselves
00:14:27 --> 00:14:34 from the land. So the seas come together, and so you've got the sea and the land. But here,
00:14:34 --> 00:14:42 God splits open the seas to reveal the land. He sends the wind to do it, just like in Genesis.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:50 But for the Egyptians, this act of creation is going to bring death, whereas for the Israelites,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:56 this act of creation will bring life. The Israelites will go through to the other side,
00:14:56 --> 00:15:02 whereas this act of creation is going to bring death to the Egyptians. It's the ultimate judgment
00:15:02 --> 00:15:09 on Pharaoh, who had been attempting to get rid of Israel and their firstborns. Verse 23,
00:15:09 --> 00:15:15 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:16 Verse 25,
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 And the Egyptians said,
00:15:19 --> 00:15:25 Let's get away from the Israelites. The Lord is fighting for them against us.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:32 All too late do the Egyptians realize that God is real, and he is fighting against them.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:41 Within moments, at Moses' commands, the walls of water come crashing down on the Egyptians,
00:15:41 --> 00:15:49 and the army is killed. They've paid their price for rebelling against God, for ignoring him.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:55 Pharaoh has been fighting against the God of the world, thinking that he was God's equal,
00:15:55 --> 00:16:03 and yet he's destroyed. He set out to destroy Israel, but now the once mighty Egypt is brought
00:16:03 --> 00:16:09 face to face with his mistake. And Israel is saved from the hands of the Egyptians
00:16:09 --> 00:16:17 by the hand of God. They went into the water on the western side as runaway slaves,
00:16:17 --> 00:16:23 fearing for their lives. And they have come up out of the water on the eastern side
00:16:23 --> 00:16:33 as liberated, free people to praise God. This is God's marvelous salvation moment in the Old Testament.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 The rest of the Old Testament will talk about this.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:40 Psalmists, prophets, writers will go back and remember this time.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 Remember when God saved us.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 When we were hard pressed on all sides.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:51 When we were full of fear. There was an army bearing down on us,
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 and God did the unexpected.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 He brought us through the water to salvation.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:04 These aren't just saved people, but they are given a new identity.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 They are now following their God.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:11 And as they head towards the land, God is giving them.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:19 These are people who began fearing Egypt, desiring to place their trust back in Egypt.
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 Let's go back to them.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 We won't die if we go back to them.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:31 But the last verse of chapter 14 shows the significance of the salvation event
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 as they begin to trust God.
00:17:34 --> 00:17:40 The people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in His servant Moses.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 No longer afraid, wanting to submit to Egypt.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 Israel fears God.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:53 They have seen that He fights for them, and they're placing their trust in Him.
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 This is going to be a long journey for them.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:56 They're still going to struggle with this.
00:17:57 --> 00:18:01 But Israel is now fearing God and trusting in Him,
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 instead of fearing in Egypt and trusting in Egypt.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:11 God has used an amazing act of recreation to save His people.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:16 To take them from slavery and death to life and freedom.
00:18:16 --> 00:18:21 And they now get to be the people that God frees them to be.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:25 Our third point today, the people that God frees us to be.
00:18:26 --> 00:18:32 The death and resurrection of Jesus is so similar to this moment of salvation in many ways.
00:18:33 --> 00:18:38 This salvation through the sea is the big salvation moment in the Old Testament.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:45 But it doesn't deal with all of Israel's problems, as we're going to see in the coming weeks.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:52 The salvation that we have in the death and resurrection of Jesus is so much bigger than this.
00:18:53 --> 00:19:00 Like the salvation through the waters here, God works an amazing act of creation in Jesus.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:04 He brings life out of death to Jesus.
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 And it allows us to come to life too.
00:19:09 --> 00:19:14 In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul says that our ancestors, this Israel here,
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 they were all under the cloud.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:21 And that they passed through the sea and they were baptized into Moses.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:26 Israel were baptized into Moses when they went through the sea.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:31 They went into the water and they came out the other side.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 They went through the death and they came to freedom.
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 And this happens to us at the cross on Good Friday.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:43 We were slaves to sin and facing God's judgment.
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 But by Easter morning, we are liberated.
00:19:48 --> 00:19:51 Freed people, freed from sin, freed from judgment.
00:19:51 --> 00:19:58 Not because we've gone through the waters of death, but because Jesus has passed through death.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:07 So when we are baptized, it is a promise that we are people on the eastern side of the sea.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:12 We're no longer stuck in sin and slavery and death.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:14 We have been brought to life.
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 We are people on the eastern side.
00:20:17 --> 00:20:17 We are free.
00:20:17 --> 00:20:21 And so Paul continues to say in Romans 6,
00:20:21 --> 00:20:27 Don't you know that all of us who are baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
00:20:28 --> 00:20:31 And just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
00:20:31 --> 00:20:34 we too may live a new life.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:41 We as a church believe that baptism is a really important sign.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:46 If you haven't had a chance to be baptized, come talk to me.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:49 I'd love to talk about the value of baptism.
00:20:49 --> 00:20:55 It is a symbol saying that God has taken me down to the waters of death with Jesus,
00:20:56 --> 00:21:00 and he has brought me up out of it to new life.
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 And I am born again.
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 We do this in such a wonderful, visible way when we do baptism.
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 We get a big tank of water.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 You go down and get baptized.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:17 You go down, symbolizing that we have gone down into the death with Jesus.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:24 And when we come out, we're coming to life in Jesus because he was raised again.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:31 It is good to do, to say to other people that this is the Jesus that I believe in.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 It is good to baptize your kids as well.
00:21:34 --> 00:21:37 Come and talk to me about this if you want to talk more about baptism.
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 And so Moses has called to the people of Israel,
00:21:42 --> 00:21:42 don't be afraid.
00:21:44 --> 00:21:44 Stand firm.
00:21:46 --> 00:21:46 Be still.
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 Because God is fighting for you.
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 And that is so true for us in Jesus.
00:21:53 --> 00:22:00 Our sin and our fears threaten to pull us down like they did for Israel.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:05 Now we might not have an army approaching us,
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 but we might have debt piling up,
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 family challenges,
00:22:11 --> 00:22:12 our own sin,
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 our fears of tomorrow.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:19 These things threaten to pull us down into the watery depths.
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 And so how do we respond to these problems?
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 How do we respond to our fears?
00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 Well, not by pretending that everything is fine.
00:22:28 --> 00:22:32 And not by thinking that we can climb our way out of the water.
00:22:33 --> 00:22:38 Instead, we tell ourselves what Paul said in Romans 6.
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 I have been pulled down to the depths.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:45 In the death of Jesus, I have already died.
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 I died with him.
00:22:47 --> 00:22:48 And do you know what?
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 Those fears have died too.
00:22:50 --> 00:22:54 Christ has taken my sin,
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 my judgment at his death,
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 and he has given me victory in his life.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 Because he fought for us
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 by dying on the cross.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 Maybe we're tempted to return to slavery
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 and the things that we're chasing,
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 that we think will deal with our fears,
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 the things that we think will satisfy us.
00:23:16 --> 00:23:18 But Paul's words here are the same as Moses'
00:23:18 --> 00:23:19 stand firm.
00:23:20 --> 00:23:21 Stand firm,
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 trusting in the work of Jesus.
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 So that Jesus' finished work means that we can say,
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 I am Christ's.
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 I am on the east side of the sea.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:36 I am no longer under the power of sin.
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 I have gone through death in Jesus,
00:23:39 --> 00:23:43 and I'm going to stand firm in God's power.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:45 No matter what other people say,
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 no matter what my inner voice says,
00:23:47 --> 00:23:50 no matter how my emotions make me feel,
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 I am going to remind myself
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 that I have died with Jesus,
00:23:54 --> 00:23:55 and I have life with him now,
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 so I can stand firm.
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 And God calls us to be still.
00:24:01 --> 00:24:02 This is, ironically,
00:24:02 --> 00:24:05 the most active way to trust in God.
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 Israel, seeing the army coming upon them,
00:24:09 --> 00:24:10 staying still.
00:24:10 --> 00:24:14 For Israel,
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 standing still and not fighting
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18 meant that they had to trust in God.
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 And for us,
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 being still means not striving
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 and struggling on our own against sin,
00:24:25 --> 00:24:27 or trying to get ahead in life,
00:24:27 --> 00:24:29 but we come to God and ask him,
00:24:29 --> 00:24:31 help me trust in you today.
00:24:32 --> 00:24:33 Help me to be still.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 You rule.
00:24:35 --> 00:24:36 You reign.
00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 You have dealt with my sin.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 When we try and step in,
00:24:41 --> 00:24:43 we are saying to God,
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 God, you don't have this situation.
00:24:45 --> 00:24:47 You don't know the plans for my life.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 I need to be in control.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 And what it results in is busyness and stress,
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 worry and poor decisions.
00:24:58 --> 00:25:02 Martin Luther was a German reformer in the 1500s.
00:25:02 --> 00:25:06 He disagreed with the Catholic Church.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 He disagreed with their abuses.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11 And he called the Church to come back to God's Word.
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 But the Church,
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 the Catholic Church,
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 didn't like what Luther was saying
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 and chased him
00:25:18 --> 00:25:21 and tried to arrest him
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 to stop him reforming the Church.
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 And at a time,
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 he was hiding out of fear.
00:25:28 --> 00:25:30 He was hiding out of fear from the Church
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31 and from those wanting to arrest him.
00:25:31 --> 00:25:34 And he found a castle
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 and a prince that would protect him.
00:25:37 --> 00:25:38 And he was hiding
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 from those who were hunting him,
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 worried about his next steps,
00:25:43 --> 00:25:45 worried about what was coming.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:50 And he was heard wandering around this castle shouting,
00:25:50 --> 00:25:52 I am baptized!
00:25:52 --> 00:25:55 I am baptized!
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 I am baptized!
00:25:56 --> 00:25:59 Now, I'm not sure if you've been baptized
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 and have ever shouted,
00:26:01 --> 00:26:01 I am baptized.
00:26:02 --> 00:26:07 But instead of running as a response to fear,
00:26:08 --> 00:26:11 instead of stressing and worrying,
00:26:11 --> 00:26:14 he was declaring his faith loudly to himself
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 by reminding him,
00:26:15 --> 00:26:17 I have died with Jesus
00:26:17 --> 00:26:20 and he has given me life.
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 I have been baptized.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24 It doesn't matter what you bring me next.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 It doesn't matter if I get arrested.
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 It doesn't matter if they put me to death
00:26:27 --> 00:26:29 because I have been baptized.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:34 And that means that he had life
00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 and he could declare that loudly.
00:26:36 --> 00:26:39 Brothers and sisters,
00:26:40 --> 00:26:44 will you stand firm in your faith in Jesus?
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 Don't be afraid.
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 Will you be still
00:26:51 --> 00:26:56 and know that God has fought for you in Jesus?
00:26:57 --> 00:26:57 Let me pray.
00:27:02 --> 00:27:06 God, when we are attacked by our own fears,
00:27:06 --> 00:27:10 when we are full of worry,
00:27:11 --> 00:27:15 remind us of your love for us in Jesus
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 so that we might stand firm.
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 Help us not to be afraid,
00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 but remind us of our fear in you,
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 of your awesomeness and your power,
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 that you can deal with armies
00:27:28 --> 00:27:31 and you can deal with our own death
00:27:31 --> 00:27:32 and our own sin
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 and our judgment in Jesus,
00:27:34 --> 00:27:37 that there is no problem too big for you.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 Help us not see
00:27:40 --> 00:27:43 the situation immediately around us
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46 as the biggest thing in our lives,
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 but remind us that you are.
00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 Help us to be still
00:27:50 --> 00:27:54 and know that you have fought for us in Jesus.
00:27:54 --> 00:27:56 Amen.
00:27:56 --> 00:27:56 Amen.