The First Sunday in Lent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Exodus 14:5-31

In Christ Jesus, our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble, so that we have no need to fear (Psa. 46:1-2), dear fellow redeemed:

By all appearances, the Israelites were in big trouble. They had just marched out of Egypt carrying the wealth of the land with them after the Egyptians freely gave them whatever they asked for (Exo. 12:35-36). Egypt’s economy was in a shambles after the ten plagues the LORD sent. Every firstborn Egyptian son was dead. And the Pharaoh realized that the slaves who might rebuild the economy were kicking up dust on their way out of town. In great wrath (and because the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart), he and his army quickly set off in hot pursuit of the Israelites.

What could the Israelites do without proper weapons, without military training, and with so many vulnerable people in the company? Pharaoh and his charioteers were getting closer and closer. Soon they would be overtaken! In this moment of tremendous fear, they took out their anxiety on Moses. Why had he brought them out to die in the wilderness? Why couldn’t he have just left them in Egypt? It would be better to be slaves in Egypt than to die out here!

We can understand their reaction. They were thinking logically. Pharaoh’s army was much more powerful than they were. They could not stand against him or try to fight him. They had no chance. All very logical. But they were forgetting something. It wasn’t Pharaoh and his army against them. It was Pharaoh and his army against God! The LORD had already shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was far superior to Pharaoh. He had brought ten plagues on the land of Egypt, and there was nothing Pharaoh could do about it. The LORD could have sent a hundred plagues, and no one could have stopped Him.

We fall into the same kind of thinking as the Israelites. We imagine that when we face challenges, it’s up to us to find the strength inside ourselves to stand firm. It could be relationship problems with a family member or friend. It could be a health issue like a cancer diagnosis. It could be trouble at school or work or in the community. “Somehow, someway,” we think, “I have to dig deep and find a way out of this mess. I can’t count on anyone but myself.”

We try the same approach with strong temptations to sin. We might be tempted to take someone else’s work or possessions and pass them off as our own. We might be tempted to lie to avoid having to answer for our wrongs. We might be tempted to consume drinks or drugs that we know will harm us. We might be tempted to view images and videos online that we know we shouldn’t.

When those temptations come, how well does it work to grit your teeth, clench your fists, and shout your defiance into the darkness? “Take your best shot! I’m too strong for you! You can’t beat me! You picked the wrong target!” As soon as you are done shouting, the desire to sin will still be in your mind. The tug o’ war will keep happening. The devil will keep trying to draw you toward your destruction. He will tell you that you will never have rest until you do whatever it is you desire to do. But when you give in, you don’t find relief, you don’t find satisfaction. You find guilt, a gnawing, bitter guilt.

Guilt is a heavy burden. It’s so heavy, we look for ways to get rid of it. One of those ways is trying to pass the blame for the sin we committed. Moses became the target for the people of Israel. “It’s your fault! You led us out in the wilderness. You led us right into this trap. There’s nowhere to go!” Repentance never crossed their minds or their lips. And so we might blame a bad boss as the reason our stealing was justified, or another person’s bad deed as the reason we were compelled to lie, or an uncaring spouse for why we looked elsewhere to fulfill our needs.

Perhaps in some way, these justifications might make our conscience less sharp and therefore the burden of guilt less heavy. But however we came to the sin, we are the ones who did it. We are the ones who chose to do or say or think what God said we should not. In the big picture, in the grand accounting of it all, it is obvious that we have fallen far short of the righteousness that God has called us to. In our weakness, we have given in to many temptations. We have committed many sins.

If the Israelites were afraid of Pharaoh’s army on one side and the Red Sea on the other, we are in even worse shape. We have the devil, the world, and our own flesh facing us on one side with weapons poised to strike, and on the other side we look behind us into the deep pit of death. “Fear not,” Moses said to the people, “stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

“The Lord Will Fight for You.” That’s the key! We are stuck in the middle of a battle, a battle which on our own, we can’t win. We don’t have all the answers. We are not equal to the seasoned fighters who oppose us. But the LORD, our LORD, is more than their equal. Like David facing Goliath, He may have appeared overmatched in His state of humiliation on earth. But like David overcoming Goliath, Jesus won a complete victory.

Even in the Holy Gospel for today, it looked like Jesus was vulnerable. He was very hungry after forty days and nights of fasting. The devil seemed to make a good case from Scripture why Jesus should throw Himself down from the temple. The devil flexed his muscles by offering Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” All Jesus had to do was bow down and worship him. He could bypass all the suffering, all the pain, all the trouble for saving sinners. He would have instant rest and relief if only He would acknowledge the devil’s authority (Mat. 4:1-11).

Jesus stood firm against these temptations. He wouldn’t budge. Where we would have easily caved to the pressure, He did not. Hebrews 4:15 says that “in every respect [He] has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” He stayed strong for you. He resisted every temptation for you. He maintained a perfectly clear conscience, so He could credit you with His righteousness and holiness.

He gave this gift to you when He called you to the waters of Baptism. He brought you freedom from sin and eternal life and salvation through those waters. He baptized you into Him through those waters. The Israelites passing through the Red Sea is a picture of your Baptism. Just as a new people emerged from the sea no longer enslaved, with their captors destroyed, so the new man of faith was raised up in you through holy Baptism, and your old Adam was drowned.

If the Israelites doubted God’s commitment to them before, they could hardly doubt it now as they walked over dry land with walls of water on either side of them. This was their Baptism, as 1 Corinthians 10 says, “our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (vv. 1-2). But they did doubt God’s commitment again, many times. This is why St. Paul adds, “with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness” (v. 5).

Just because you are baptized does not mean that you will always remember what Baptism means and take comfort in it. Baptism means that the Almighty God of heaven and earth has claimed you for His own. He committed Himself to your care and salvation. He promised to guide you and comfort you and strengthen you through His Word and Sacraments. He promised to fight your battles for you, stand against all your enemies, and deliver you from every evil.

Going your own way and relying on your own strength is to step away from these baptismal protections. It is like picking up a little stick and charging at the whole Egyptian army by yourself. Or loading up your pockets with bars of gold and silver before jumping into the Red Sea in an attempt to swim to safety. Moses told the self-centered Israelites that the LORD would fight for them. All he asked of them was this: “you have only to be silent.”

The same goes for you. “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Being silent means not shouting boastful words into the darkness. Being silent means stopping your words of self-justification. Being silent means quietly repenting of your sins each and every day. Being silent means listening to the LORD’s strong word, hearing His promises, and trusting that He can take on any enemy that threatens you.

He certainly can. It appeared that the Israelites were doomed. But by the end of the day, they were singing and dancing while the Egyptians washed up dead on the seashore. You may feel at times like you are without hope, but the LORD makes a way through the trouble just as He opened a path for His people through the Red Sea. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For Thou art with me” (Psa. 23:4).

The LORD is with you. When the devil attacks you and fires temptations at you, that is your reminder that you need the LORD to guard and protect you. You need to hear Him speak His powerful Word into the darkness that threatens you. He will not back down from the devil. He will never abandon you. He will fight for you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)