Exodus 14:15 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:”

Exodus 14:15 “But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”

“speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward…” Go forward! Are you naming the name of Christ? Are you moving forward in life? Or are you going backwards “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?”

So many Christians these days are going anything but forwards… some are just totally untoward, and hence “save yourselves from this untoward generation”… others are stuck in neutral, not going anywhere in faith “I would thou wert cold or hot”… and others are in rapid decline, going back to old sins, old vices, old foolishness and the old life that they should know and want so much better than “And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods”.

When previous generations of Christians trusted that God was right, and they knew what to do and did it because they had received the light of God’s word… and moved forward by faith… often we draw back and come short of where God wanted to take us when he saved us… if we are saved “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”

In these verses above, God is telling Moses to tell the people to go forward… and you can too as they did! …and rather than read about it for the rest of your life, you can for yourself experience God’s marvelous deliverances by faith for your own testimony, as they had theirs “For he established a testimony in Jacob”. God promises are to faith people, you’ll never experience God’s promises without truly trusting in God and his righteousness. There are no half steps or corners cut “Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.”

And yes, on the topic of forwards, you will definitely get called and be thought of as “backwards” for trusting in the old book, but in truth, the only thing backwards is our society, as in any society, how could you ever move forward in life, personally or nationally, in any steps taken that depart away from Christ Jesus?

…. with that said, how to go forward in life? Well to go forward, as a Christian, you firstly have to have a starting point to proceed forward from “And many believed on him there.” Do you have a starting point of faith “when ye first believed” to move forward from? A well meaning Jew, Nicodemus, wanted to go forward, but Jesus said to him that there is no moving forward without first “ye must be born again”… because until you’ve been saved, there is no moving forward no matter how you beautify the life you’re building without that foundation cornerstone first laid in place.

The children of Israel had a starting point. We are introduced to them in Exodus freshly enslaved by a new Pharaoh, and before they can do anything and be anything for God, God first of all has to set them free from slavery “Let my people go, that they may serve me”… which he does through his power, and hopefully he has set you free from your sins through the power of the gospel. If not, you cannot move forward.

Everything that happened to Israel here foreshadows our deliverance in Christ, whom is pictured in God raising up a mighty deliverer in Moses, whom God used to lead the people out of Egypt.

… but after they were saved out of Egypt… Pharaoh wants them back! And Satan will want you back too when you try leaving the old life of slavery to sin. So many Christians “got out” only to be reclaimed by Satan, this world and their flesh down the road a bit… and quite literally down the road, the children of Israel are here brought into a situation where they have the Red Sea in front of them, Pharaoh’s pursuing army behind them…. and a whole heap of unbelief possessing their hearts driving them backwards in body and spirit!

There was a lot of joy when Israel left “harnessed” and “with a high hand” out of Egypt… but here they have quickly come up to a mighty obstacle like we will face in our way in our Christian life… and they quickly start going backwards in sight of it!

And it’s quite a sight to see so many professing Christians so quickly turn back to such a grossly inferior life and system of living when they had God’s power and purpose and provision at their disposal… but whom they disposed of. The Bible says “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” Hopefully you’ve grown strong in the Lord and the power of his might, or soon enough you’ll fade out…

It’s amazing how much unbelief dwells in our hearts, and we have to call it as the Bible calls it “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” That unbelief isn’t just oops or unfortunate… it’s evil. And with unbelief, the Red Sea was a big obstacle for a short sighted people… and they cried to Moses, who cried to God… only for God to say, what are you crying to me about!

Have you ever jumped up and down to God… only for God to be like, what are you going on about “gird up now thy loins like a man”… Had God stopped being God just because there was a Red Sea in their way? See, what’s big to you isn’t to God. This was nothing to God. What are you whinging to God about that’s in your path? Why not trust God? That would be totally rad, that’d set you apart because no many are doing it “There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name”

The Bible reviews this chapter many years later and in Hebrews 11:29 says “By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.”

And so what’s the way forward? … faith. Faith in God, alone. Faith is trusting that God has said and what God has said. Hopefully God hasn’t just spoken generally to you, but personally to you. And then it’s full commitment forward to him, and in him.

I can only implore you to trust God! Stop believing in yourself and all this self help, mind discipline, mind tricks about yourself… and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! Only two from this generation to leave Egypt would have a spirit in them to fully follow God… the spirit to trust God fully is very rare now as it was then… but there is great reward. He’ll pay off, be sure of that.

And God will bring you through, and when they crossed the Red Sea, the ground wasn’t even wet, it was dry. They didn’t even get wet feet! So don’t you get wet feet on God! There’s a reason to what he brings us through, and he can take us to some situations and places we never banked on, but he’s doing a work far beyond our little minds at the time. He’s perfecting Christ in us! And like gold and silver is perfected, so are we perfected in the fire… and the deep! All while, as the the Bible says “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. It’s a miracle journey, but it’s salvation with a purpose, a salvation that obtains. Turning back is not an option even while others “they have gone away backward”. Full stick forward! Full throttle dear Christian… he’ll split the Sea for you. And it’ll put a new song of praise in your heart when he does.

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