Roughly 3,450 years ago Israel was being taken from being slaves out of one of the most advanced civilizations that the world had known up to that time. They came from being slaves into becoming free. They were free from that slavery, but they were on a march in a wilderness that did not resemble anything that they were accustomed to—totally different—going from an advanced civilization to wandering through a desert.
When God called us out of the world and out of society, most of us, frankly, certainly if we're in the western world, most of us came out of slavery in some form or fashion. Out of slavery out of a society that is arguably the most advanced society that has ever existed—in Canada, the United States and England and Australia and South Africa and all of that.
We came out of slavery from the world into being free, but we're on a March, just like the Israelites, in a life that is totally different than what we were accustomed to. Our focus, our jobs, our diet, the Days we observe all changed as God called us out of this world and out of this society. I think we know that Israel coming out of Egypt is a type of our coming out of the world.
And we want to look at that today. There are very important, very instructive parallels between Israel's flight out of Egypt and our flight from the sins of this world and coming out of this world. So, if you want a title for the sermon, it's called:
Our Flight from Sin.
And we're going to draw some parallels between Israel's flight from Egypt and our flight from sin today in this age we live in.
The first thing or the First Parallel is that:
I. When we attempt to flee sin, Satan immediately comes after us.
But first what we want to do is establish the fact that Egypt is a representative of sin or a type of sin. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 11 and we're going to read verses 24 through 26. We want to establish, before we expand on this point, that Egypt is a type of sin. There are other Scriptures that we could use. You could give a whole sermon on that, but we'll just use this one. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24, it tells us that:
Hebrews 11:24. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, (NKJ)
And we know he was raised in that society, raised in the house of the Pharaoh. Verse 25:
Hebrews 11:25. choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the … pleasures of sin, (NKJ)
The pleasures of sin in that society, which was pagan to the core and that is why Egypt represents sin and is a type of sin.
Verse 26, it says that Moses:
Hebrews 11:26. esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the [all] treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. (NKJ)
He looked to a reward beyond this physical life. And he rejected the pleasures of that sinful society to come out of it and to lead a people into a desert.
Understanding now that Egypt is a type of sin, notice what happened when Israel tried to flee Egypt. Let's go to Exodus chapter 14. If you have a ribbon or a marker, we'll be coming back to Exodus a few times during the sermon. Exodus 14, we will begin in verse 5. The people were on the way out of Egypt. They were marching out into the desert and Pharaoh got some news he did not want to hear. Exodus 14 verse 5:
Exodus 14:5. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? (KJV)
"Our servants, our slaves, they're all gone! What are we going to do?" Verse 6:
Exodus 14:6. And he made ready his chariot, and took his people [his court] with him:
7) And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and [then,] all the chariots of Egypt, (KJV)
He had the chosen ones, the best trained ones, the best made chariots and then all the others he took in Egypt.
Exodus 14:7b. … and captains over every one of them. (KJV)
The beginning of verse 9:
Exodus 14:9. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, (NKJ)
They all pursued and they overtook the Israelites. They could go far faster than the Israelites could walk.
And Pharaoh, we can safely say—I think we understand this. This is a topic in itself, but Pharaoh, we understand—is also a type of Satan. So, Pharaoh with all of his minions, his armies, his equipment came after the Israelites. Satan, as we know, is prideful, arrogant and he hates anything that belongs to God. Pharaoh was prideful and arrogant and hated God's people and he wanted to destroy them. And he hated Moses most of all. So, we draw this analogy that the minute Israel started to flee sin Pharaoh came after them. The same is true for us. When we try to flee sin, guess what happens? Satan comes after us!
One of the topics when I counsel people for baptism is that I warn them in baptismal counseling that, once you become baptized, don't think that God is going to give you a rose garden. Don't think that God just greases the skids so you can slide into the Kingdom of God because what happens is Satan comes after you. Satan wants to get you derailed. Satan wants to get you off track because you are new in the faith. You're just starting—don't have a lot of experience. So, Satan now sees that you are vulnerable and he will come after you.
The same is true when we ordain deacons and elders because they are new in that regard in that office. Satan will come after them. If he can them off track in the beginning, then he can affect and influence a lot of other people. Satan tries to stop our progress, stop us from getting closer to God, stop us from getting off the path.
Understand that when Israel came out of Egypt, they were not trained to fight. They had been slaves for over four hundred years! They didn't have equipment. They didn't have training. They couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag, as we say today. And here Pharaoh is coming with trained soldiers, with all kinds of equipment after them.
And the same is true for us. When we were first converted, when we were baptized, we were inexperienced, totally inexperienced with spiritual warfare. Now, I came out of the military. So, I had some experience with warfare, but that was on the physical side. But all of us when we were baptized, we were under trained in that sense. We had no training; we had no experience in fighting spiritual battles.
Paul had to remind the Brethren that our battle is not a physical battle. It's a spiritual battle. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. The Corinthian Church had a lot of problems. It was very dysfunctional in many ways. And Paul had to remind them that their battle was not amongst each other. Their battle was not with the Roman Empire. Their battle was a spiritual battle. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, we'll read verses 3 through 5. Paul reminds them:
2 Corinthians 10:3. For though we walk in the flesh, (KJV)
And we understand that. And the prayer requests remind us of that—that we are fleshly. But notice what he says:
2 Corinthians 10:3b. … we do not war after the flesh: (KJV)
The Moffatt Translation says:
2 Corinthians 10:3b. … I do not make war as the flesh does. (MOF)
We don't fight the same way the flesh does. We don't have the same enemy as the flesh does, as nations do and people do. Verse 4 is a parenthetical verse here.
2 Corinthians 10:4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) (KJV)
The pulling down of walls, the pulling down of a fortress. Verse 5, notice. Now, he shifts the focus of the spiritual warfare he's talking about to the mind. He says:
2 Corinthians 10:5. Casting down imaginations, (KJV)
Now, imaginations are in the mind. He says:
2 Corinthians 10:5b. … and every high thing that [exalts] itself against the knowledge of God, (KJV)
And it all starts in the mind. He's telling us, "We don't have a physical battle. We don't put on boxing gloves or we don't grab a spear or a gun." He says, "Our fight begins up here [pointing to head] with our thoughts, with our emotions." And all of those, of course, thoughts and emotions lead to deeds.
He says, "The key is:"
2 Corinthians 10:5 continued. … bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (KJV)
That is our warfare! Every thought should be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Every thought we have should be a thought that Christ would have. Not that Satan would have or that Pharaoh would have or a carnal human being would have, but what Christ would have.
Warfare of the mind was something new to us when we first were baptized, but, now, that most of us have been baptized for years or decades, hopefully we're better at it now. We're better at fighting the battle of our mind, but the fact is that we must always be on guard because, unlike Pharaoh who came after Israel and was dealt with, Satan came after us right after baptism but, unlike Pharaoh, Satan is still here. He hasn't stopped. He is still attempting to get control of our mind. And he pursues us to this day. It would be like Pharaoh was always on the heels of Israel, always nipping at their backside trying to get them. That is the way Satan does with us today. God took care of Pharaoh, but for our training and for our benefit and to prove us and to put us to the test, He allows Satan to keep pursuing us. And rest assured, he will.
So, the First Point that we want to make is that:
I. When we were called out of this world to flee sin, Satan immediately came after us and comes after us just like he did with ancient Israel.
The Second Point is that:
II. When we flee sin, God regularly tests our faith.
He doesn't do it just once, but He regularly tests our faith to see whether we are in the faith or not. Let's go back to Exodus 14 and see that God tested Israel's faith immediately after they came out of Egypt. Exodus 14 beginning in verse 10, now let's understand. Pharaoh overtook them. We left off there in the first point. Now in Exodus 14 verse 10, he's getting close. Verse 10:
Exodus 14:10. And when Pharaoh drew [near], (KJV)
Notice the reaction of the Children of Israel.
Exodus 14:10b. … the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; (KJV)
They could see their enemy. They could see them coming with the chariots and the horsemen and the armor bearers and the spear carriers and the archers and all of that.
Exodus 14:10 continued. … and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto [God, unto] the Lord, (KJV)
Notice what they said in verse 11.
Exodus 14:11. … Because there were no graves in Egypt, [have you] taken us away to die in the wilderness [out here in the desert]? [They say, Why have you dealt like this] with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
12) Is not this the word that we [told you in the beginning], saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die [out here]. (KJV)
They wanted to turn around and go back. And they did not trust God that He would take care of them. Remember, they saw only what their eyes told them. And what their eyes told them is "There is this army coming. And we don't have equipment. We don't have chariots. We don't have spears and swords." And this army is right on their heels. They only believed what they saw with their eyes.
And if you only believe what you see with your eyes, you'll have the same reaction that they had. "God, why are You doing this to me? Why are You delivering me up to die?" They did not have the spirit that gives faith. They did not have the spirit that imparts faith into a human being.
So, they were tested right after they came out of Egypt. Now, let's jump to chapter 17 and see where they were tested again. God did not just test them once. He tested them routinely. Exodus 17 beginning in verse 1:
Exodus 17:1. And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. (KJV)
Now, they arrived in Rephidim with water because they had to have water to make the journey. And so, they had some water with them when they made camp there. But they looked around and the area where they were camping had no water. There were no streams. There were no waterfalls. There were no oases, no pools of water at all. And then, God allowed them to begin to get thirsty. They began to exhaust the water that they brought with them.
Now verse 2, it says (I'm reading out of the King James):
Exodus 17:2. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, (KJV)
The Hebrew word for chide means to hold a controversy. In other words, they had a bone to pick with Moses.
Exodus 17:2b. [They] said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why [are you holding a controversy] with me? [Why are you] putting God to the test]?
3) And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, [Why] is this that [you have] brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? (KJV)
This is the same attitude they had in Exodus 14 that we just read. Verse 4:
Exodus 17:4. And Moses cried unto [God, and he says], (KJV)
Now, put yourself in Moses' seat. He says:
Exodus 17:4b. What [am] I [going to] do [with these] people? [They're about] ready to stone me. (KJV)
Moses is in the middle. They're venting on Moses. He's the subject of their anger. In verse 5, God said (Christ the God of the Old Testament said) to Moses, He says:
Exodus 17:5. Go on before the people, and take with [you] of the elders of Israel; [be sure to take your] rod that [you hit] the river [with to start the plagues of Egypt; He said], take [it] in [your] hand, and go.
6) Behold, I will stand before [you] there upon the rock in Horeb; and [you shall hit] the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7) And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted… (KJV)
The Hebrew word means to test or to try.
Exodus 17:7b. [They tried Christ, or they tested Christ] saying,
Notice what they said.
Exodus 17:7 continued. Is the Lord among us, or not? (KJV)
What they were really saying is, "We don't know if God is with us or not?" The first time they get hungry they begin to doubt God, doubt that God is with them. And they are saying, "Why would a loving God allow us to get thirsty? Why would a loving God drag us out here in the wilderness where there is no water? Why would He do that?"
So, God tested their faith repeatedly and He does the same thing for us when we come out of sin. When we come out of spiritual Egypt, when we come out of our sins, God does the same with us.
I can't tell you the number of people back in the late 80s and early 90s when the Church started blowing up, how many people said, "How can this be God's Church? How can this be happening to God's people? Why would God allow this?" This is the same attitude as the Israelites had that we just read. "How can this be God's Church?"
And then, when we have our personal trials, health trials, job trials, financial trials, whatever. How many times… We've all thought it if we're honest. How can God do this to me? How can God allow this to happen to me? This is the same attitude. It's the same attitude because we don't see the big picture.
We don't see God and what He's attempting to do in our lives. We forget that God is faithful to His purpose and He is faithful to us. God called us for a reason. He has a purpose in our calling and God is faithful to that purpose. He doesn't veer off from the purpose in calling each one of us. He has a plan and a purpose for each one of us because He calls us by name. And He allows things or He causes things to happen to us for a definite reason—to teach us lessons, to teach us things we otherwise couldn't learn. And we must have faith in God that that is exactly what He is doing and it is for our benefit.
We forget that God is faithful to us. We forget sometimes God is faithful to His purpose for us. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and look at verse 13. Paul had to remind the Corinthian Church of this. He had to teach them and tell them because it is so easy to get off track. It is so easy to look at what is apparent. It is so easy to look and just absorb only what we see with our eyes. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13, this is a very familiar Scripture, but there is something we tend to overlook in this verse. The very first part of the verse we commonly quote, commonly think about.
1 Corinthians 10:13. There [is] no [test] taken [to] you but such as is common to man: (KJV)
We stop there. Yes, okay. We have faith that all the tests that we have somebody has suffered before. But notice the next phrase.
1 Corinthians 10:13b. … but God is faithful, (KJV)
God is faithful to us. He is faithful to the plan and the purpose that He has for each one of us. [Paul] goes on.
1 Corinthians 10:13b. … but God is faithful who will not [allow] you to be [tested] above [what you can handle]; but will with [that test] also make a way to escape, that [you] may be able to [handle it, to] bear it. (KJV)
In other words, God is faithful to His purpose and that purpose is to see us in the Kingdom of God. Everything that He causes to happen to us, everything that He allows to happen to us is for the purpose of seeing that we are Children in His Family in His Kingdom. And we have to have faith in that. Israel did not.
Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 2. Paul has to remind a young elder, Timothy. He has to encourage him in this same area. 2 Timothy 2, we're going to read verses 10 through 13. All of the apostles had trials that we can't imagine. All the early elders and ministers and the Brethren, too, had trials that we can't imagine. Verse 10:
2 Timothy 2:10. Therefore [Paul says,] I endure all things for the elect's sake, (KJV)
"I'm a living sacrifice for the Brethren."
2 Timothy 2:10b. … that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. (KJV)
He says, "I endure the beatings and the shipwrecks and the floggings and everything—hunger and cold because of the Brethren's sake." Verse 11:
2 Timothy 2:11. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: (KJV)
Meaning: If we are dead to our sins because of the blood and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which we just memorialized the night before last.
Verse 12— (Paul says, "If we be dead with him, we shall also live with Him, with Christ, with Christ in us.")
2 Timothy 2:12. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: (KJV)
That is a promise. If we suffer, we will reign with Christ.
2 Timothy 2:12b. … if we deny him, he also will deny us: (KJV)
We don't want to be in that position.
Now, the key—verse 13:
2 Timothy 2:13. If we believe not, (KJV)
Meaning: If we doubt God. Israel doubted God. They saw the clouds of dust and the horses running and the chariots coming and the foot soldiers running behind them. And they began to doubt God.
And Paul says, "If we doubt God," notice this:
2 Timothy 2:13b. … yet [even with our doubt, yet] he [abides] faithful: (KJV)
Just because we doubt God doesn't mean that we can diminish God in any way. God remains faithful despite our doubts, despite our lack of trust sometimes.
2 Timothy 2:13 continued. … [God abides] faithful: he cannot deny himself. (KJV)
The Twentieth Century New Testament says:
2 Timothy 2:13. … he cannot be false to himself!' (TCNT)
He cannot be false to His purpose. He can't deny His purpose because God doesn't change.
And so, when we waver, God doesn't waver. When we waver, God retains His faith in us and retains His faith in His purpose. Because, remember—we won't turn there—2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 tells us, "We walk by" what? "Faith." And not by" what? "Sight." We walk by faith, not by what we see. Israel walked by what they saw. We can't do that. We have to walk by faith.
We either know God or we don't. Now, think about that! We either know who God is, we know His nature, we know His character, or we do not. And if we don't know Him as well as we should—and, of course, that applies to all of us—then, we need to begin to develop a close personal relationship with God. If we don't really know Him, if we waver, if we doubt, then it's time for us to begin to study and to pray and to fast and develop a close personal relationship with God so that we do know Him and we do know His purpose for us.
And we're going to need that and we're going to need that faith in the days ahead. We really will. And we need to know that whatever God does, whatever God allows, whatever trials or tests come upon us, it's not for our hurt, not for our harm. It is for our development. It is for our growth. The purpose of those tests and trials are to see that we become Children, eternal Children in His Family and in His Kingdom.
So, the Second Point, the Second Parallel between the Israelites coming out of Egypt and us coming out of sin in our lives is that God will routinely, regularly test our faith as He did with ancient Israel.
The Third Point is that:
III. When we flee sin, God blesses and spares us in many ways—some of which are known and some of which are unknown.
When we come out of sin, God blesses us and He spares us. In some ways, we know. Some we see with our eyes. Some we experience. And, then others, we don't have a clue about.
Now, with ancient Israel, there were powerful obvious interventions: The Ten Plagues, the Parting of the Red Sea. You talk about interventions that you can see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears, they experienced that.
Let's go to Exodus chapter 13 and see another way God blessed them and spared them. This was obvious. It was visible every day. Exodus 13, we'll read verses 21 and 22. They could wake up every morning; they could go to bed every night and see this.
Exodus 13:21. And the [Eternal] went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and [by] night: (KJV)
Now, we don't have that today. But how would you like to wake up and see a pillar of a cloud that was unlike any cloud they had ever seen and a pillar of fire that we just never see? And that cloud or that fire, when it was time to go, it moved ahead of them. We know when Pharaoh was pursuing, it moved behind them to bar the way. But what an evidence of God's involvement!
Verse 22, this is something that shows God's love for His people.
Exodus 13:22. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. (KJV)
It was there! And it showed that God was with them, always with them—day, night, it didn't make any difference! It was very visible.
Now, let's look at another blessing and a way that God spared the people. Let's keep your marker in Exodus 13, but let's go to Nehemiah chapter 9 and we'll read verse 21. This is another visible intervention by God in the lives of the children of Israel. Nehemiah 9 and verse 21, we are being reminded of something God did for them on a daily basis. It says:
Nehemiah 9:21. [Yes], forty years [did You] sustain them in the wilderness, (KJV)
Every day for forty years! Notice:
Nehemiah 9:21b. … so that they lacked nothing; (KJV)
Food, water—but notice:
Nehemiah 9:21 continued. … their clothes waxed not old, and their feet [did not swell]. (KJV)
And when it is hot out in the summertime, sometimes you're out working and you go… And I've got this ring on my hand and sometimes your hands swell up and you can't get it off.
And what we're being told here is: No matter how hot it was, no matter how hard they walked, their feet didn't swell. Their bodies didn't swell. And no matter through the years, their clothes didn't wear out—their robes, the tunics, their elbows never wore out. Their sandals, never wore out. And what a blessing! It's small, but how would you like to walk in the desert on your bare feet over the rocks. What a blessing it was! And we're being reminded that God blesses in little ways and He blesses in big ways and both are visible. And, if we're honest with ourselves, we see that in our lives.
But God also intervenes in ways that we don't even know about. Let's go back to Exodus chapter 13 and see a way that was invisible to the Children of Israel but God intervened nonetheless. Exodus 13 and we'll read verses 17 and 18. This was just after they left Egypt. And God decided to take them in a certain way for a certain reason to take them on a certain route. They could have gone on a direct route, but it was not good for Israel. So, He took them on a circuitous route that would get them out of harm's way. Verse 17 of Exodus 13:
Exodus 13:17. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them… (KJV)
Not in the obvious way.
Exodus 13:17b. … not through the way of the land of the Philistines, (KJV)
Now the Philistines were second-cousins to the Egyptians. They were of the same stock and they were very warlike. God said, "If I lead them through the land of the Philistines, they're going to see war right out of the shoot. They're untrained. They're inexperienced. It's not good for them that I put them in a situation like that."
This is just as God does for us. When we come out of the world and we were first baptized, God would not put a trial on us then that He might allow today.
So, He says:
Exodus 13:17 continued. [I'm not going to take them] through … the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: (KJV)
"They can't handle it right now. So, I'm going to take them a different way." Verse 18:
Exodus 13:18. But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. (KJV)
God did all of this for their good. Now, they didn't have a clue at the time. "Why are we going this way?" They didn't know. God didn't explain it to them, but He did it for their benefit.
And [He does] the same thing with us. Think of the ways that God has blessed us! And we don't even know about it. God works behind the scenes moving the chess pieces around on the board so that life is easy for us in a certain way when we need it. He takes us out of harm's way when we need it, when it's good for us.
With Dorothy's recent situation where a doctor said that she had cancer; she had bone cancer. And I mean he said openly to our family doctor, "She has bone cancer and this is what I recommend for her treatment." And then, all of a sudden, we were faced with that realization, but then within three days—two and a half days—God was doing what God does. God is working behind the scenes in ways that are totally unknown to us. And all we know is a few days later another scan said, "She doesn't have any cancer. It's gone!" The MRI—excuse me, the CAT scan says she doesn't have any cancer. Like with Israel, God was doing things that we didn't have a clue about—totally invisible to us. And yet, look at the end result. What a blessing!
Some day when we face God and we can sit around and talk, I'm sure God is going to day to us, "Remember when you were a teenager and you were driving the car and you blew through that red light or that stop sign? You were new and inexperienced and you weren't paying attention." And He might run the reel back in our head. He said, "There was a car coming the other direction and I stopped it" or "I slowed it down." And I'm sure there are going to be many cases like that when we're going to sit down and God is maneuvering the chess pieces all around us that will just blow our mind. He took care of us like a loving Father does in ways that we don't know today. We can't imagine today.
But the fact is when we do our part—and Israel did their part; they left. When we do our part, God intervenes. And when we do our part today—we want to get close to Him, we study His word, we pray to Him, we fast, we have in Him our mind, He is centered in our mind—then, God does things for us. He intervenes in ways that we cannot imagine, ways that we have no power to intervene, but He does.
So, let's understand that when we flee sin, God blesses us in ways that we see and then, also, in ways that we don't see and have not seen and probably will not see until we talk to Him in the Kingdom.
The Fourth Parallel between Israel coming out of Egypt and us coming out of sin is:
IV. God blesses us in ways that we do not appreciate.
It's sad to say. We've all been there. God blesses us in ways that we don't truly appreciate. Maybe we do a little bit, but not to the magnitude we should or maybe we don't even think about it and we don't appreciate it.
Let's go back to Exodus 16 now and we'll begin in verse 1. Israel is on their way out of Egypt. Exodus 16 verse 1 and we're told:
Exodus 16:1. And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. (KJV)
So at this point, they've had thirty days experience. Now think about it.
When we go to the Feast, we have eight days of experience. And by the end of the eighth day, you're going to get used to your little place and the Feast site. And you kind of know your way around and you're becoming more accustomed to the new environment that you're in.
Well, they've had thirty days of experience. They've been on the march for thirty days. Verse 2:
Exodus 16:2. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
3) And the children of Israel said unto them, (KJV)
This is a familiar refrain.
Exodus 16:3b. Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; (NKJ)
They go on to say:
Exodus 16:3 continued. … [but you] have brought us forth [out of this beautiful land that we used to live in with food and meat and drink and vegetables and all of that] into this wilderness, [and you've done it] to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (KJV)
This is their attitude. Now notice how God responded. He could have gotten angry with them and just blasted them off the face of the earth, but notice how He responded. In verse 4:
Exodus 16:4. Then [Christ] said unto Moses, Behold, [I hear what they're saying.] I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may [test] them, whether they will walk in my law, or [not]. (KJV)
Meaning: We understand that to mean that they would gather twice as much on the Preparation Day. They wouldn't need to gather any on the Sabbath and it would hold over. Verse 11:
Exodus 16:11. And the Lord [spoke] unto Moses, saying,
12) I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even [you] shall eat flesh, (KJV)
So, in addition to the manna, He gave them flesh to eat. And then:
Exodus 16:12b. … in the morning [you] shall be filled with bread; and [you] shall know that I am the Lord your God. (KJV)
"I'm going to be good to you. I'm going to bless you so that you begin to have experience to know that I'm going to take care of you. I hear your whining and moaning. Yes, you're hungry or, yes, you're thirsty, but I'm going to take care of you."
Verse 13:
Exodus 16:13. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
14) And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15) And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they [didn't know] what it was. (KJV)
The word manna means "What is it?" So they didn't know what it was.
Exodus 16:15b. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord [has] given you to eat. (KJV)
Now think about this. Here they had this manna laying on the ground. (And Dale and Laura are farmers and they understand.) Here is manna. They didn't have to do any preparation for the ground. They didn't have to plow the ground. They didn't have to fertilize the ground. They didn't have to pull weeds. They didn't even have to harvest it. It was just right there for the taking. And my suspicion is manna was probably the perfect food. It would have to be. It would have to have every vitamin, every mineral—a perfect food for Israel—because they existed on it for all those years.
So, God blessed them with a food that was easy to get. Walk out your front door and it's right there. Open your tent flap and it's right there every morning. And then they could fix it in a number of ways and it was perfectly nourishing to them.
But guess what happened? They came to despise it. They came to hate it.
Keep your finger here. Let's go to Numbers chapter 11 and we'll read verses 4 though 6. What they did is they allowed their lusts to come over them and it got them to whining and crying again.
Numbers 11:4. And the [mixed] multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again [whining and crying], and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5) We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the [garlic]: (KJV)
"We had all this variety back in Egypt, back in sin. But we just have this manna here, this stuff, this same thing every day."
Numbers 11:6. But now our [life] is dried away: (KJV)
Oh, boy! They have it so bad. It is so hard.
Numbers 11:6b. … there is nothing at all, [except] this manna, before our eyes. (KJV)
Ungrateful! Unappreciative! They didn't appreciate God's gifts. And, of course, there is a huge lesson in that for us today, but we can do the same thing.
When God was calling me, my eyesight went from 20/20 to 20/50. And, oh, I whined and moaned because I couldn't be a fighter pilot. I was just devastated. I was destroyed. This was something I had wanted…. I remember the day when the thought came into my head. I was five-years-old and I saw a model airplane. And I said, "That's what I want." I went to military school, passed all the aptitude tests. And all of a sudden, my eyesight goes to 20/50. And I just moan and cry, hangdog, walk around, life's over with—all of that. And the fact is that I probably would have gotten my fanny shot out from under me because it was the height of the Viet Nam War. It was a blessing! Totally unappreciated, totally unappreciated by me! And often we only appreciate God's blessings in hindsight. Looking back, oh, I'm so thankful for that! But at the time, I was just whining right there with the Israelites, complaining.
And we have to understand that God blesses us in ways and we need to learn to appreciate it. Even in trials, we need to learn to appreciate it. We need to never forget Colossians 3 and verse 15. Let's turn there. We need to appreciate God's gifts.
Yes, Israel woke up every morning to the same stuff on the ground, but it was there. They weren't hungry. They were healthy. And I'm sure women as talented as women are at fixing food, they found different ways to make manna so to spice it up a little bit differently every day. And when they thought about it, it was pretty good stuff.
Colossians 3 and verse 15, it says:
Colossians 3:15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, (KJV)
When you're whining and complaining, you don't have peace. You're upset. You're in turmoil. He says:
Colossians 3:15b. … to the which also [you] are called in one body; (KJV)
And notice this!
Colossians 3:15 continued. … and be [you] thankful. (KJV)
Be appreciative.
When we, here in this country and any of us in the western world, we live better than kings lived back in the Middle Ages. We live better than people lived in the 1700 and 1800s. We have something called "running water." We have indoor plumbing. We have air conditioning. We have heating. We have cars with air conditioning for crying out loud. Think of it! And we whine and we complain. And we can go down to a grocery store and get about anything we want. And we whine and we complain.
Be thankful.
Let's go back to Psalms 100 and verse 4. This is the attitude we need to have every day when we open our eyes.
Harold Lee has had heart problems and circulatory problems for years and we were talking the other day. And he said, "I've learned every morning…." He said, "I asked God for five years," after his by-pass surgery, six way by-pass. He said, "I asked God for five years." He's going on number eleven right now. And he said, "Every morning when I open my eyes, I thank God that I'm still here."
Hopefully, we don't have to go through a trial to thank God that we're still here every morning. David says:
Psalms 100:4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [enter] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. (KJV)
That should be our attitude every day. That should be our theme song when we go to bed at night and we get up the next morning. We need to be appreciative of everything that God does for us. And here this Fourth Point, let's understand through the example of ancient Israel. God blesses us in so many ways, visible and invisible, and it's human nature not to be thankful or appreciative. And let's learn that lesson.
The Fifth Point, the Fifth Parallel:
V. When fleeing sin, we must learn to let God fight our battles for us.
We must learn to let God fight our battles for us.
Looking forward now to the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, the ancient Israelites were heading toward the Red Sea. And they were camped. If they were looking north from that camp, the Red Sea was on their right hand to the east. Then, the mountains came down from the west, but they were angling to the southeast and they came right down to the water. So, there was this ˅. Like this: ˅. Water here (east), mountains here (west to southeast) and they were right at the bottom of the ˅.
And as they looked forward, Pharaoh was coming right them with his whole army. They couldn't go to the west because of the mountains. They couldn't go to the east because of the Red Sea. Now, let's go to Exodus chapter 14. That's the context when we read verses 13 and 14 of Exodus 14. Pharaoh's armies were straight ahead. They were charging down to the point of this ˅ and they were trapped. There was no hope. They were whining and complaining and scared to death. Little kids were scared, elderly scared, moms and dads scared, thinking they were going to be wiped out. Exodus 14 verse 13:
Exodus 14:13. And Moses said unto the people, [Don't be afraid!] Fear not, (KJV)
Notice what he said!
Exodus 14:13b. … stand still, (KJV)
"You don't have to do a thing! Just stand there. Just watch."
Exodus 14:13 continued. … and see the salvation of the [Eternal], which he will [show] to you to day: for the Egyptians whom [you] have seen [this] day, [you] shall see them again no more for ever. (KJV)
Now, what they were seeing was the Egyptians charging them. There was no where to run, no place to escape. They were caught in this point and the Egyptian armies were spread out and they were coming down closer and closer together and they were the object. And their eyes told them, "We're dead men. We can't survive. It's not going to happen. I don't care what God says."
Verse 14:
Exodus 14:14. The Lord shall fight for you, and [you] shall hold your peace. (KJV)
They went from certain defeat to a total victory in a way they didn't expect. The Red Sea parted. They went across. Pharaoh and the armies were destroyed.
And the same thing can happen with us. God puts us in situations where we have no control. We can't do anything. It's beyond our capability to do something to save ourselves. God puts us into a place where we either trust Him or we don't. We either allow Him to fight our battles or we just shrivel up into a little ball of Jell-O whining and crying on the ground.
Again, I'll go back to this recent trial with Dorothy and me about her cancer. Finally, you get to the point you get this scan and the doctor is saying this.
Lisa's going through this with little Miette and the Halls have been through this. So many of us have been through this.
Finally, you get to the point where you say, "God, this is out of my control. This is out of my hands. I can't do a thing. This is up to You. I'm putting this problem on the shoulders of Jesus Christ," as Matthew chapter 8 tells us. He takes on our infirmities. He bears our sicknesses. You just put it on Jesus Christ's shoulders and you give up and say, "God, whatever You want. If my life is over, I accept that. If you want me to live on, I accept that. We'll do whatever You want. And we're putting it in Your hands."
Moses had to do that. The Israelites had to do that. They did it kicking and screaming and whining and moaning, but they did it nevertheless. And God puts us in the place where we have to do that. Every once in a while, He'll put us in that position because He wants to see "Are you going to trust Me? Are you going to let Me fight your battles for you? I want to see."
Let's go to Isaiah now, chapter 26 and we're going to read verse 12. I'm going to read this out of the New Living Testament Translation. Isaiah 26 and verse 12, we need to learn this lesson. We need to learn to have this understanding about how God operates because we need to let Him fight our battles for us. Isaiah 26 and verse 12, notice what it says. In the middle of a trial—life and death trial:
Isaiah 26:12. Lord, you will grant us peace, (NLT)
We're going to have peace in the middle of a trial. Why?
Isaiah 26:12b. … for all we have accomplished is really from you. (NLT)
"Everything we can accomplish comes from You—everything!" And finally we just give up and say, "God, take care of me. I'm trusting in You." And God did. God took care of ancient Israel in a miracle yet to be duplicated on this earth. And He will do the same for each one of us.
That leads us to the Sixth Parallel.
VI. When fleeing sin, God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want.
We need to understand that. When we come out of sin, God gives us everything we need, but He doesn't necessarily give us what we want.
Let's go back to Exodus 16 and verse 3. Let's see what the people wanted. This is what Israel wanted. Let's see if they got it. Exodus 16 and verse 3:
Exodus 16:3. And the children of Israel said unto them, (KJV)
Again, this is a familiar refrain.
Exodus 16:3b. Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, (KJV)
Oh, they wanted those flesh pots. They wanted to smell the beef. They wanted to smell the fish cooking.
Exodus 16:3 continued. … and when we did eat bread to the full; (KJV)
But they go on to say:
Exodus 16:3 continued. … for [you] have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (KJV)
They wanted to satisfy the flesh—food, drink, familiar surroundings. That's what they wanted. They didn't get what they wanted, but they got what they needed.
We won't turn there but Exodus 19 the whole chapter, Exodus 20 the whole chapter. What did God give them? He gave them His Commandments. He gave them His Statutes. He gave them His Judgments. That's what they needed—far more important, far more valuable that the flesh pots and the leeks and the onions and the garlic! He gave them what they needed, not what they wanted. God gave them far more than what they wanted. When you compare His Statutes and Judgments and His Commandments to an onion? Think about that! What kind of blessings did God give ancient Israel?
Now, today people want. Human nature wants certain things. We won't turn there—1 John 2:16. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life," that's in the world. That's what human nature wants and sometimes we go too far. We follow in the same path. We have lusts of the flesh. We want what we want. We want to fulfill our lusts—the lust of the eyes, the lust of flesh. We want to satisfy our pride. We want to elevate ourselves.
That's what we want, but God says, "I'm not going to give you that. That's not good for you. You should reject that."
What we need, we find in Acts 5 and verse 32. Here's what we need. We need this more than anything right now. God's people, as we get close to the end, this is what we need. Acts 5:32, we're being told that:
Acts 5:32. And we are his witnesses of these things; (KJV)
Christ's example, Christ's life, what has happened up to that point.
Acts 5:32b. … and so is also the Holy [Spirit, which] God [has] given to them that obey him. (KJV)
We need God's spirit. Ancient Israel needed the Commandments and the Statutes and the Judgments. We need God's spirit to obey the Statutes and the Commandments and the Judgments, but in the mind with the spirit to obey spiritually God's Commandments. That's what we need.
And we need to never forget; we need to never forget—we won't turn there, but in James chapter 1, we're told that—"Every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights in whom there is no variableness of turning." Every good gift we have comes from God—everything that is worthwhile.
Sometimes God doesn't give us what we want. He doesn't give us the 5,000 square foot house on the top of the hill. He doesn't give us a brand new Mercedes. He doesn't give us the clothes and the furnishing and all of that that we might like. He gives us what we need—every good and perfect gift—His Word, His spirit in us, the Church, the Body of Christ, Brethren, family. That's what we need and that's what He gives us—every good and every perfect gift.
The Last Point, Number Seven, when fleeing sin—as we go through the rest of the Days of Unleavened Bread, we need to keep this in mind—
VII. When fleeing sin, the danger is we can quickly turn back.
We can quickly turn around and go back into sin. It is so easy.
We won't turn there, but in Exodus chapter 32, the situation with the golden calf. We covered that in a sermon on Aaron a while back. Israel was there. Moses was up in the mountain. They were at the base of the mountain. This was just a few months after they had seen all the miracles in Egypt, just a few months after the Red Sea parted. They had seen all of that in just a few months! And Moses' influence had been removed for about forty days. His influence was gone. He was up on the mountain. They were by themselves.
And guess what happened? They turned around and went right back into paganism. They wanted something to bow down to. Aaron, as we know, acquiesced and went along with it. They wanted to turn back. And it just took one thing—Moses going up in the mountain and being away for forty days. Notice how quickly they turned back.
The same thing can happen to us. Sometimes just one event can happen to us and we turn around and we go back. Give it up. Throw it away. I'll give you a couple of examples.
1971: Dorothy and I were in Boston. There was a fellow. In 1971, of course, the majority of the people thought Christ was coming in 1972. And so, he refused, didn't want to buy household insurance or insurance on his house. He didn't. He saved the money. "Christ is coming next year. So, I'll save the money and buy this or buy that." And they had a house fire. They lost the house, lost everything in it, had no insurance. Wife, children, and guess what happened? He said, "God, how can You do this to me? Why would you allow this to happen? How can You treat me this way?" And he was gone out of the Church within a matter of a month—bitter, resentful, hated God—one event. One fire and everything was wiped away.
A few years later, 1974, this is again in Boston. You can think of, I'm sure, many examples, yourself. We had "super deacons" back in those days. I was a deacon and we had a super deacon. So, he kind of ran the deacons and basically ran the Church. He had been a super deacon for, I don't know, two to three years prior to that time and, obviously, was accustomed to it. But then a couple of years later a man was ordained an elder and it wasn't him. It was not him. Within a matter of weeks, he sold his house; he moved to Florida; and he left the Church.
Now, think about that—just an ordination. Some other guy gets ordained. It doesn't have anything to do with him. Well, it does, but the ordination itself didn't. But he threw everything away, everything away—one event, one little thing.
And God will test us that way—one thing. And it's like the example of Ahithophel. I don't know if you remember Ahithophel. He was David's counselor. And when Absalom revolted, Ahithophel left David and went with Absalom. And we're told—we won't turn there, but in 2 Samuel 16—the counsel of Ahithophel was as if a man inquired as of an oracle of God or at the oracle of God. In other words, Ahithophel's counsel was like God speaking. When God maneuvered it and worked it that when Ahithophel counseled Absalom to do a certain thing, that counsel was rejected. We won't turn there as I said, but in 2 Samuel 17, go read the account. When his counsel was rejected, he couldn't handle it. And what he did was he got on his donkey, went back to his home, put his affairs in order and hanged himself.
One thing turns a man's life around or a woman's life around. Each of them was tripped up by one event, one event.
And the breakup of Worldwide, how many people were tripped up? A lot of them weren't converted. But how many people were tripped up, minister, member alike! "How can this be God's Church? How can God allow this to happen? What's going on here?" And then they're back at their synagogue or back at their Sunday-keeping church.
One event can trip us up. We have to be very, very careful.
Without God's spirit, all of us are a step away from losing it all. Now, that is sobering. Without enough of God's spirit we are a step away from losing it all. Look at Psalm 73 and verse 2. David came so close to losing it all in the situation with Bathsheba. He came right to the edge. It could have gone either way. Psalm 73 verse 2, David says:
Psalm 73:2. But as for me [looking back on that event], my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. (KJV)
One look at Bathsheba and it started a chain of events with a thought in his head and it went from…. You know the story. One event. It is so easy to turn back. And look what he did over a period of months—just wrecked his life in that sense. God pulled him out of the fire to be sure. But one event.
Let's go to Ephesians 4 and verse 22. This is what we need to concentrate on during the balance of the Days of Unleavened Bread and then, obviously, on beyond that. We'll read verses 22 and 23 of Ephesians 4. We're being told:
Ephesians 4:22. That [you] put off concerning the former [conduct] the old man [what we used to be], which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (KJV)
Here's what we have to do.
Ephesians 4:23. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (KJV)
A new mind, a Christ-like mind.
Let's jump back to 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16, expanding on this theme a little bit. We must grow in the mind of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16:
2 Corinthians 4:16. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, (KJV)
Oh, it does. We're wrinkling and sagging and losing energy and tired and all of that as we get older. But notice:
2 Corinthians 4:16b. … yet the inward man [or mind] is renewed day by day. (KJV)
We must renew our minds every day! That comes through prayer. It comes through fasting. It comes through Bible study. It comes through meditating and putting God's thoughts in our minds and not the world's thoughts in our minds. It comes through what we watch on television, what we read in books, what we allow our mind to drift on and meditate on. It has to be renewed day by day.
So, let's understand that, like David, we're walking on the edge of a cliff. And we have to be very careful that our feet do not slip.
So, what is the conclusion of the matter? How can we avoid the sins and the mistakes of ancient Israel? How can we do that? What is the key?
The key is that:
God must be at the center of our lives at every moment of every day.
Our lives must be God-centered. Our marriages must be God-centered. Our childrearing must be God-centered. Our jobs must be God-centered. Our friendships must be God-centered. Our mental state must be God-centered. The thoughts that go through our minds must be God-centered. Everything must be centered on God.
Because remember, we won't turn there. You know the Scripture in Matthew 22. The young man asked Him, "Master, what is the greatest Commandment?" He gave him two, but the first one is you have to love God with all your mind, all your spirit, all your heart, everything! And if we do that, our feet will not slip.
We must allow God's spirit to lead us. Let's go to a closing Scripture in Romans chapter 8 and verse 4. As we go through the rest of the Days of Unleavened Bread and as we head toward the Feast of Tabernacles—it will be on us in short order. It will be here before we know it just like Passover was here before we knew it. We must have God's holy spirit to lead us. Romans 8 and verse 14, it tells us:
Romans 8:14. For as many as are led… (KJV)
And the key is the word led.
Romans 8:14b. ... by [God's holy spirit], they are the sons of God. (KJV)
We want to be the Children of God. The only way we can be is to allow God's spirit to lead us. Not Satan to lead us. Not the world to lead us. Not our carnal mind to lead us, but the spirit of God to lead us, to lead our thoughts, to lead our emotions, to lead our actions. We must do that.
Now, Israel did neither one. Israel didn't love God with all their heart. Israel didn't allow God's spirit to lead them. Of course, they didn't have God's spirit, but they could have followed the Statutes and Judgments and the Commandments. They didn't even do that.
So, let's learn from this example of ancient Israel that we cannot follow their example. It was a failure. But, rather, we must follow the example of Jesus Christ that we have been studying for the last days and weeks of loving God with all His heart. And He loved mankind as much as anyone could love anything because He gave His life for it. He sacrificed Himself for all mankind.
So, let's follow that example and let's live a life where we love God with all our heart and our mind and our thoughts and our spirit is filled with God's very spirit.
Transcribed by kb May 21, 2012