Our Marching Orders

I. "AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, WHEREFORE CRIEST THOU UNTO ME? SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, THAT THEY GO FORWARD"

A. The message of our text is contained in the simplest word - "Go forward"

1. This command came at a time when Israel was hemmed in from all sides making any movement seemingly very difficult, if not impossible. Example: They were surrounded by mountains - before them was the Red Sea and hard upon them was the might of Egypt - Pharaoh and his military might

2. These conditions had immortalized Israel; they were in complete panic - Ex 14:6-12

B. God's marching orders for ancient Israel were:

1. "Go forward"

2. Go forward in faith

3. Their hope of going forward centered in their looking up only

II. OUR MARCHING ORDERS "GO FORWARD" AND ITS IMPLICATION

A. Our orders to go forward simply mean:

1. To break with the past - Phil 3:13

2. That was the one great sin of ancient Israel; they never broke with the past - Acts 7:39; Neh 9:17; Num 14:4

3. This is one of the great difficulties with many of us today - to break with the past.

Examples: Lot's wife - Gen 19:26; Luke 17:32; the seventy disciples - John 6:66

B. The three fold implications in our marching orders are:

1. There can be no going back to the old life and its implications – Luke 9:62

2. There can be no going back, because we have tasted the good word of God; we have been taught by the Holy Spirit to go forward - to go back would be sinning

against the Holy Spirit - Heb 6:4-7

3. Again, there need be no going back; God has prepared the way for us all the way to

the New Jerusalem - I Cor 2:9; Heb 11:13

III. OUR MARCHING ORDERS TO GO FORWARD-COMING FROM GOD IMPLICATE THE HONOR OF GOD

A. He assumes full responsibility for our safety:

1. The experience of ancient Israel is a typical example - Ex 14:19-31

2. Peter walking on the water - Matt 14:28-29

B. To go forward means:

1. Progress - Prov 4:18; 2 Pet 3:13

2. That was God's order in creation - Gen 1:2

C. To go forward means also:

1. Destination - Heb 11:14-16; 2 Pet 3:13

2. Growth in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ - 2 Pet 3:18; I Pet 2:2

3. Transformation of character - into the likeness of the Son of God - Rom 8:28-29; Phil 3:10

D. The law of being successful in going forward:

1. Divest ourselves of every weight and sin that doth so easily beset us - Heb 12:1-9

2. Had ancient Israel detached their hearts from Egypt and what it stood for, their

bodies would not have remained in the wilderness

3. So long as we cherish any sin in our lives, it will impede our progress in our Christian experience

E. God's marching orders to the church and its members:

1. God says, "Go, preach the gospel" - Matt 28:18

2. "Go, and teach all nations" - Matt 28:19-20

3. "Go forward, for I am with you always even unto the end of the world" - Matt 28:20

F. To go forward means:

1. That there is no growth in standing still

2. That to go forward means progress in our relationship to the will of God. Examples: Had Peter not obeyed the command of the Lord, "Come" he would never have walked upon the water, contrary to the law of gravitation; had Peter not obeyed the Lord to catch a fish he would never have known that the Lord knows all things

G. Let us obey God's marching orders.