The Folly Of The Wicked Series

TITLE: THE FOLLY OF THE WICKED

TEXT: EXODUS 14:1-31

INTRODUCTION:

- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus.

- As we look at each passage, we’re asking the question, “What can I learn from this passage about honoring God?”

- Last week, we talked about the importance of taking time to remember.

- We saw that we should remember what God has done for us by being dedicated, by celebrating, and by obeying and following.

- We saw that God gave the Israelites specific instructions for future generations about consecrating the firstborn, how to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and which route he wanted them to take at the beginning of their journey.

- It was the longer route, but God knew what He was doing, and would use this for His glory, as we’ll see today.

- Today, we’re going to look at the folly of the wicked, as Pharaoh and his army foolishly pursue the Israelites.

- When I was a kid, I loved to watch the tv show “Cops” with my father.

- We loved the theme song, “Bad boys, bad boys, whatchya gonna do? Whatchya gonna do when they come for you?!”

- I’ve got some good memories laughing with my dad and my brother as we watched some of the criminals make fools out of themselves on tv.

- There were quite a few times, though, when the criminals ran from the police.

- That’s never a good idea, but it was especially a bad idea when the criminal was leading the cops on a high-speed chase.

- Not only were they endangering the lives of the cops, but they were also endangering the lives of other drivers and pedestrians.

- One of the tactics police officers use to stop these high-speed chases is to throw out spike strips for the vehicle to run over.

- When they run these over, it flattens the tires, which is supposed to disable the vehicle.

- Unfortunately, the driver doesn’t always stop.

- So, we’d be watching the vehicles tires pop, and smoke start to come from the tires as they skidded, but sometimes, they still tried to keep going…

- Sparks would be everywhere as the rims of their tires screeched along the road, the car getting slower and slower.

- Usually, once they couldn’t go any further, they’d jump out of the vehicle and attempt to run…

- It normally ended with 4 or 5 muscular cops tackling the driver and putting the handcuffs on.

- Obviously, it was always an act of sheer folly for the criminal to run from the police in the first place, but as the pursuit kept going, it only got worse and worse for them.

- That’s because the wicked act foolishly when things aren’t going their way.

- That’s where we find Pharaoh and his Army today, acting foolishly, as they once again have second thoughts about letting the Israelites leave.

FIRST: THEY ARE BLINDED BY THEIR ANGER- VS 1-9

- When I lived in Colorado, my family lived in a trailer park.

- My brother was good friends with the kid a couple trailers over from us, named David.

- We used to play together all the time, but David would get upset with me sometimes because I was older than him, and he was better friends with my brother.

- One day, I remember going outside after it snowed and building a snow fort.

- I worked really hard on it and thought it was so cool because it was big and had tunnels.

- I thought I’d get to enjoy it for a while.

- The next day, however, I noticed that the fort had fallen, so my tunnels had caved in.

- I don’t remember why, but I remember thinking, “David did this.”

- So, I angrily yelled as loud as I could, “David!!!!”

- The whole neighborhood could probably hear me.

- So, I stormed over to his house, and knocked on the door forcefully.

- I was ready to give David a piece of my mind.

- Instead, his father answered the door.

- His father was a bit of a rough looking guy, so I was intimidated, but I was so angry about my fort that I decided to tell him what David did.

- I said, “I worked really hard on building a fort yesterday and came out today and it was ruined. I’m pretty sure David did it.”

- So, David’s father told me to hold on a minute, and went to his son’s room to talk to him.

- He came back a few minutes later and told me, “David didn’t do it. I asked him and gave him time to confess, but he says it wasn’t him.”