No Turning Back

The enemy won’t let us go without a fight. Even as the world and our old life of sin pursue us, we’re called to stand firm, trust God, and move forward in faith as He makes a way where there seems to be none. Following Jesus means there’s no going back to our old life, because we’ve been made new, called out, and set free in him.

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If you are visiting with us, guys, welcome by the way. My name is Ryan. I'm one of the pastors here at Impact. And uh we have been going through a series. We pushed pause last week because of Resurrection Sunday, uh, but we have been going through a series through the Old Testament historical narrative of Exodus, looking at God, uh how he delivered his people from 400 years of slavery in the land of Egypt. And one of the things we started off with was talking about all the typology or the imagery that we read, where there's so many things that point us to the gospel and what Jesus does for us. That the same way that Moses led God's people out of Egypt into the promised land, Jesus came as the greater Moses to lead us out of this world, out of our bondage to sin and our slavery to sin, and into the land and life of his promises for us. And so all of it kind of ties back to that. We studied through the plagues together, God demonstrating his power over the Egyptian gods. And then even on Good Friday, uh we we went through the whole Passover, the tenth plague, where God uh brought the angel of death and and every firstborn human and animal in the land of Egypt was killed on one night. So there wasn't a single house where someone did not die, but for the houses of Israel, right? The people of God remained safe and protected. And what was it that protected them from death? It was the blood of the Passover lamb. And it's the same as the blood of our Passover lamb, the Lamb of God Jesus, that keeps us from death that we deserve, right, because of our sin. So this last plague brought things to a head. Pharaoh finally says, Go enough. Take the people, leave Egypt, just get out of here. We don't want to see your faces anymore. And so Moses gathers the people together. We read in chapter 13 that there's a cloud that goes before them to lead them where they're supposed to go. At night, it becomes this pillar of fire that guides and directs them, kind of this picture of discipleship and following Jesus with our lives. So there's all these things going on. But I want to start reading in chapter uh 14, verse 5, where we see Pharaoh suddenly have a little change of heart and a change of mind. So let's start reading in verse 5. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people. And they said, What is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. So what is happening here? Quick question, by the way. Um, has anyone in here ever sinned? Some of you guys don't have your hand up. That's a lie, that's a sin. Right? Every hand should be up here, right? Every one of us. Now, if we know Scripture tells us all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, does that also, can we also then conclude that everyone in here is familiar with temptation to sin? Every one of us has been in that place where we have faced temptation, where we're feeling drawn to do something we know is wrong, do something we know is more selfish, it might hurt other people, and we make excuses for it and do it anyway, right? To do something we know God has told us very clearly, don't do it. And we feel drawn. Guys, if that's you today, you're familiar with this at all, maybe it's something you're battling even right now, in this season of your life, your faith, your walk with Christ. Tune in to what we're reading here. Because what we see is that Pharaoh, which represents the devil, the enemy of God, the ruler of this world system that opposes God, right? The spiritual system that defies God and tries to bring people away from him. So that's what Egypt represents. So we have the ruler of this world and and and the world itself chasing after God's people, trying to bring them back into bondage and slavery in Egypt. What can we understand? The enemy of God and this world will not let us go without a fight. I don't know what we think at times, but there's something in us that as soon as I place my faith in Christ, if I become a Christian, man, I'm really hoping. I know everything's not gonna be perfect, but we hope it's close to perfect, don't we? That everything's just gonna be better. I mean, I get it, I understand it, God loves me. So now everything's gonna change. I mean, it's just gonna be so fortunate in my life where all these opportunities are gonna come my way. And we are, many of us, so disheartened and discouraged when we give our lives to Christ and things get worse. And we don't understand. We thought everything was gonna get better. So why did I become a Christian and suddenly lose my job of 25 years? Why am I now struggling financially more than I ever have throughout any time period in my life? Why are my relationships crumbling? Why did my spouse just tell me they're leaving me? Why do my kids want nothing to do with me? Why did I just get this diagnosis? And we don't understand why all of this is happening because I became a Christian. Things should be good now. And yet that's not the gospel as promised by Jesus. When we look at the promise of Christ, we see the world chasing after us even as we make that decision to follow him. The world doesn't give up on its own very easily. It wants to bring us back into that bondage and slavery that we left behind. We want to leave this world and run from it, and yet it's going to chase after us, and that's what temptation is. Right? Temptation is this world trying to bring us back. It's the enemy of God trying to bring us back into our bondage to slavery and to sin. As when we decide to follow Jesus, our worldly circumstances might very well get worse. Let's read verse 10. Check this out. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, Is it because you are there are no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the wilderness? I mean, so passive aggressive, isn't it? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. We have this fear of we've left and now it's chasing after us, and things are getting harder, and we don't know what to do. Guys, Jesus told us very, very clearly that the world's not going to let us go without a fight. John chapter 15, verse 18. Hear the words of Christ. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Right? When we leave this world and say we are no longer following the course of this world, we want to follow Jesus, suddenly this world that loved us and had no issues with us is going to turn on us. And that's why we struggle. That's why we go through these hardships. So why as God's people do we not need to fear like Israel? Right? Israel was terrified. Why do what we not need to be afraid? First John chapter 4, verse 4. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them. For he who is in you, speaking of the Spirit of Christ, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. That's the promise. Not that your life is going to be perfect, because it's not. Your life again may actually get worse, but it will be infinitely better because of the Spirit of God in you. So that no matter what storm you face, no matter what opposition you face from this world, you have joy. You have hope that never disappoints. You can know and experience the tangible love of God to bring fulfillment and contentment to your soul in ways that no human being ever could. And it's only found in him. He alone is the source of life. Now, verse 13, kind of see, beginning to see how we deal with temptation, understanding that temptation is again the world, the enemy, trying to bring us back into bondage to sin, back into our slavery. How do we deal with it? Verse 13. Moses said to the people, because hear these words, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians, Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. That is God's gracious way of saying, just shut up. Quit complaining and watch what I'm about to do on your behalf. How do we deal with temptation? How do we respond when the enemy is chasing after us and this world is coming after us, trying to bring us back into bondage and slavery to our sin? Typically, we try to fight it in our own strength. Do we not? We try to fight it on our own and in our own strength and effort. We just we just bear down, we grit our teeth, and we're like, listen, I know I've been doing this, but next time I'm not gonna do it again. How's that working out for you? Right? We want to do the right thing, but that's what Paul said. I I know what's right, but I don't do what's right. And so it's it's my flesh, it's sin that is in me that keeps trying to draw me back into this world, to devoting myself to it and serving the same gods that I always served throughout my life. It's recognizing that our own strength is insufficient, that every New Year's resolution we make, we're going to break. No matter how much we say, I'm not, I'm not gonna stop going to you, I'm gonna get healthy. And here we are in April. And how's your membership going? And some of us we have temptations that are different than others because we all have different points of weakness. You know, maybe we made a decision. I'm gonna eat healthier and and have a cleaner and healthier lifestyle with my with my diet. Yeah, I've done that many times in my life. I've tried all kinds of diets, you know, the the the not diets, but just healthy eating plans, you know, like the whatever day diet. I just can't ever do them consecutively. You just kind of do a few days, then you mess up. And for me, it's not like breads and carbs and things like that. Anybody else love bread? Right? Breads, cakes, cookies, all that. Did you know there's something, it's like a superpower of mine. I can resist those, no problem. I have no problem with that. But if I decide to eat healthy and somebody sets a basket of tortilla chips with a bucket of guacamole in front of me, whatever decision I make in my own strength, I'm not gonna eat bad, I eat bad. It goes off, it goes completely by the wayside because I in that moment am tempted and drawn. This is my area of weakness. So we try to do it in our own strength, but we fail. And it's this cycle, this pattern where we begin to beat ourselves up and eventually just resolves our resolve ourselves to the fact to just hop into the chariot of Egypt and let us take, let them take us right on back into the world. Because we just can't do it. Guys, the good news is God never expects us to just do it. That's Nike. God has a very different understanding. He knows who we are, even in our inability and our weakness. What do we do? What did he tell the people? Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. You notice it's not stand firm and fight for your own salvation. No, we get to see what God does for us, what we can't do to resist sin and temptation, God does on our behalf. Right? Maybe Paul had these uh words, these this challenge in mind when he wrote to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians chapter six. And we know this kind of as a spiritual warfare passage, but listen to this verbiage. He says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Then in verse 13, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm. You guys see that language? Right, stand firm. Now we would go naturally, okay, I need to try harder to stand firm. Guys, back up to verse 10. Paul understands where our source of strength actually is. Verse 10 of Ephesians 6. Finally, be strong. What's the next phrase? In the Lord and in the strength of whose might? His might. Not be strong in yourselves and in the strength of your own ability. Just be strong in the strength that God affords and provides us as his children. Our only hope of victory over this world is God's strength. It is not our own. If you've been fighting and trying to resist the devil, maybe you've heard that verse before that comes from James chapter 4, verse 7. James 4, verse 7, we see, resist the devil and he will flee. And many of us, we are trying to do that, aren't we? We're just white knuckling it, we're baring down, and we're going to resist the devil. And we keep failing, we don't understand. It's because we skipped the first part of the verse. Resist the devil and he will flee is preceded immediately by submit yourselves, therefore, to God. The way we resist the devil is to stop resisting the work of God in our lives. It is to surrender to and submit to the sanctifying, transforming work of his spirit in us. Guys, all we have to do is say, Lord, okay. Okay. And when we say okay to him, he takes care of the enemy that's attacking. But we want to do it on our own strength. Okay, we got to fix this, we got to change this. No, submit to God's work. That is holiness. That is righteousness and obedience, is submitting to his work in our lives. Not our strength, but his strength in us as we submit. I think of my wife who decided no more paying to get our dog groomed. She's going to just do that on her own. And so she bought all the stuff and she got really good at it. And it's just still a painful thing to watch her try to groom our poor little dog who doesn't understand what's happening to her. Even though it happens every month or so, she doesn't get it. And my wife just wants her to be clean, wants to get the fur out of her eyes, right? So she can actually see where she's going and not slam into a wall. Wants to trim the nails so she's not slipping on the vinyl flooring. She has her best interest in mind. And yet our dog feels like she's being tortured. And so I watch my wife just struggle with her, trying to do everything she possibly can, doing the peanut butter thing, and here's a spoon, and lick the spoon and try to get her all groomed while that's happening and it's gone too quick. And then she just starts fighting, my wife starts resisting. At times we'll even nip at her, right? Fighting against this work of her for her good, for the betterment of her. And we do the same with the Lord. Verse 15. I love the Lord speaking to Moses. He says, This, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. You gotta see what's going on here, right? God tells Moses, What's wrong with you guys? Why are we complaining? Why are we listening to all this? Just tell the people of Israel to go forward. Guys, what was directly in front of them? The Red Sea. It's like, what's wrong with you? Why have you stopped? Keep going forward. Can't you see Moses in that moment going like Lord? There's an ocean. What do you mean go forward? And he tells Moses, take out your staff, and I'm gonna part the waters. As our tendency when things get difficult, when we face temptation, is almost to retreat, to turn back. But faith is going forward for one reason. Because God calls us to go forward. Even when it doesn't make sense to us, that we see what He tells us and what He says. And even though our feelings want something different, even though our flesh wants something different, even though we have desires that are pulling so strongly to go back to Egypt and indulge in our flesh and just do whatever we want to do and live how we want to live. Faith says, No, we're gonna move forward, even when this seems impossible, because God has said it, and so we're gonna do it. And that's where He meets us and does the miraculous. Verse 19 The angel of God who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness, and it lit up the night, or it lasted all night, without one coming near the other all night. What do we see here? The same cloud that is a type of Christ. We follow Jesus as his disciples. And so that's the same imagery there. It moves behind them, providing a couple of things. Number one, protection. Now the Egyptian army is not moving forward because they they don't know what's going on. They can't see, and so they're a little reluctant. So he's protecting his people, and he's also delineating and distinguishing between those of Egypt and those who are his children. That's what Jesus does. He brings a distinction between his children, his people, and those that are still in the world. That's we're living that distinction out. Verse 21. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and he made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided, and the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Is this incredible? I mean, this incredible supernatural miracle where God demonstrates his power, not just over people, but over all creation. You can imagine being an Israelite, there's probably still little trepidation moving into that recently parted sea. Wouldn't you be a little freaked out? Seeing these walls of water, you're like, oh my, the Lord is incredible. Like God is so amazing. Look what he's doing. And yet there's a part of you going like, He still wants us to go in there? Like, what if it comes back down? But they move forward in faith. The Lord made the sea dry land. In other words, God will always make a way, even when it seems like there is no way. Now, what does this mean when it comes to temptation? You know, we develop some Christian myths in the church. Things that we kind of think are in scripture and they're not in scripture. In fact, scripture tells us quite the opposite. For example, God helps those who help themselves. I think that was Benjamin Franklin and poor Richard's almanac. It's not anywhere in Scripture. What does God's word tell us? What did we just read? That God helps those who cannot help themselves, who are helpless. That's who he comes to defend. Right? To see his salvation on their behalf. We hear things like, you know, I know God only wants me to be happy. No, that's not only what he wants. Does God want our happiness? Absolutely. Our eternal happiness with him, in his presence. And so whatever needs to change in us, he will use whatever hardship, whatever pain, whatever suffering, whatever trial to bring us to a place where we surrender to him. God's priority is not our momentary happiness at any given time. His priority is our holiness to become like him, to prepare us to be with him in his presence forever. Another myth that we hear all the time is taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, and it's tried to be summarized, but here's the myth. You ready? God will never give us more than we can handle. Guys, some of you are like, I've said that. Please don't say it anymore. And here's why. It comes from 1 Corinthians 10 13. Let's read this together. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Right? So we take this and go, God will never give us more than you can handle. Meaning you'll never go through a trial, you'll never go through hardship that you can't get through. Nope. God's promise in those situations is that he will never give us more than he can handle. When we turn to him and cry out to him and let him do what only he can do. The promise is that God will never let us be tempted beyond what we're able, but with the temptation, will provide a way of escape. He will part the Red Sea. So we Have no excuse, no justification to say it's just too hard. I don't understand why I keep doing this. I guess it's just my lot in life, and I'm just powerless against it. There's nothing I can do. There's nothing you can do, but he's already done it. He's already done it. And so it is seeing the way of escape that he has provided for you and taking it, walking through it. Fear not, stand firm, see the Lord's salvation and go forward. Verse 23, the Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watched the Lord and the pillar of fire and of the cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, Let us free flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. And their wheels are getting clogged when they tried to go into this incredible, miraculous ground where God had parted the sea. God's people passed through in faith, and Egypt and the world got stuck, and it was going to be their place of their doom, as we're about to read. This realm of faith, because it's how we walk in faith, trusting in God's word and his promises more than ourselves. That's how we fight against temptation. Verse 26. The Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, and the w that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea, or better even, the Lord threw the sea onto the Egyptians, and the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the hosts of Pharaoh that he had that had followed him into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The crossing of the Red Sea as God's people moved through. Paul talks about it in his letter to the Corinthians. It's a picture of baptism. And part of the picture of baptism we see here in Exodus that this new life in Christ, we need to count the cost because there's no going back. It is a lifetime commitment, which is why Jesus said, Count the cost of following me. Think about the imagery here. When the walls of water collapse back onto the Egyptians, it is God delivering, it is him protecting his people from Egypt. But it is also him preventing his people from going back to Egypt. Because they're on the other side. The walls collapse back. And if they're tempted now, let's go back to Egypt. Where are they going to go? Because the life of following Jesus means there's no turning back. Jesus made this clear, speaking to people who said, I want to follow you. He says, anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom of God. We can't follow it. It is a lifetime commitment to surrender to him in every area of our lives. It's so common that I hear things like, you know, I tried the whole Jesus thing and it just wasn't for me. I'm like, well, that's the problem, is you tried the whole Jesus thing. Well, it's not something. He is not something that we try, that we try on to see how he fits. If we don't like it, then we can just go back to our old way of living. Jesus demands all of us, or he will have none of us. He says, take up your cross, deny yourself daily, die to yourself and follow me. It's all or nothing. So understanding the truth of the gospel is so important. He's not something we just get a taste of and see how it set he sets with us. I think some of this is just the natural byproduct of our culture that really celebrates even things like casual dating and relationships and things of that sort. The problem with that is it conditions us for, yeah, this isn't working out for me anymore. I'm going to move on and start dating somebody else. I think there's one pastor who actually called that kind of dating divorce practice. Because all we're doing is conditioning ourselves where I don't like this, I'm moving on over here. And a byproduct is that we take the same mindset and mentality and we apply it to our relationship with Christ as if we can try Jesus and if we don't like it, we just go back to Egypt. It doesn't work that way. When we pass through baptism into a new life in Christ, there's no going back. And the beauty is, is when you taste of Jesus, when you truly know who he is, you don't want to go back. You remember the chains and the bondage that you were in. You remember that he rescued and redeemed you. Why would you want to return? Yeah, things might get hard, but there's nothing this world has to offer us that can compare to the glory not just that awaits us, but that he gives us here and now the fulfillment again of our soul, that nothing in this world can provide us, but he alone can. Because you were made for relationship with God. That only comes through Christ and new life in him. Are you ready? Are you willing to make that decision to say, God, I'm putting my trust and faith in you and in you alone? Galatians chapter 6, verse 14, Paul writes this, but far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear this. By which, or some versions read, by whom, speaking of Christ, the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Even as Jesus said, take up your cross, die to yourself, and follow me. Dying to this world means everything in me that loves this world and craves its self-indulgent pleasures dies. And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It means old things have passed away and all things have been made new. It's life. And all that awaits us back in Egypt is death. And as we battle temptation, as we let the Lord fight for us on our behalf, we've got to remember what awaits us there. And that life is only found in following Him. Amen. Can we bow our heads together? I just want to give us a moment. If you're here today and you've never made a decision to give your life to Christ, the question I have for you, are you ready to leave Egypt behind? Are you ready to leave behind the bondage, the slavery, to sin, the struggle? Are you ready to finally say yes to Jesus Christ? If so, take this moment, let him know. Acknowledge your sin, your slavery. And let him know you can't free yourself or fight against Egypt. Fight against this world. That you need him. Thank him for the sacrifice he made for you. Dying on a cross. The death that you deserve because of your sin. Say, Jesus, thank you for making me right with God. Come into my life today. Change me. May there be a difference between me and those in this world. Make me more like you. And Christians, the question I have for us is: are we ready to stop living in fear and bondage? To start trusting him, moving forward in faith and in freedom that he offers. Letting him fight the battle on our behalf. Not yielding to temptation. Yielding to his spirit. That's where your heart is today, Christian. Will you let him know? Say, God, set me free. Set me free. Jesus, thank you for who you are. We are so grateful for everything you have done for us. And Lord, collectively, as a church family, we just want you to know today we decided to follow you. And we know there's no going back. We don't want to go back. But we want to keep moving forward, following you into this land of promise. The only one who can bring us life. In Jesus' name. Amen.