Well, when I heard we were meeting
in a barn, this isn't what I imagined. But I sure am thankful for it.
And I'm thankful to be here. And I want you to know that the
church in Orlando has been praying for you and asking the Lord to
bless His Word to your hearts and specifically tonight for
these services and for tomorrow. My need is to hear a word of
comfort. David said, I will speak of thy
righteousness and thine only. And that's our comfort. The Lord,
our righteousness. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. Isaiah put it like
this. He said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. And tell them this, tell them
their warfare is accomplished. That's the glory of the gospel,
the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having finished
everything necessary to make us acceptable before God. What
a blessing it is. I understand that you all have
been listening to our messages from Orlando on CD. And I thought
about what the Apostle Paul said. He said, you know, his, his writing
was bold, but his bodily presence was weak and contemptible. And,
uh, you may wish after experiencing my bodily presence that, uh,
you just stuck with the CDs, but here I am. And, uh, I am
glad to be here. I want to ask you if you'll turn
with me in your Bibles to Jeremiah, the 42nd chapter, Jeremiah 42. And I'll tell you right up front
that the title of this message is very simple. The title of
this message is, Don't Go Back to Egypt. Don't go back to Egypt. The Babylonians had already carried
off the children of Israel into Babylon. And the scripture is
very specific about why they were carried off into Babylon.
The Lord had warned the children of Israel, if they did not observe
the Sabbath, that he would send in a foreign nation and take
them captive. And that's exactly what happened.
They refused to observe the Sabbath. And as a result of that, The
Lord raised up Nebuchadnezzar, the nation of Babylon, came in,
captured the people, and carried them off into 70 years of captivity. Now let me say very quickly and
very clearly, when I say observing the Sabbath, I'm not talking
about what you do or don't do on Sunday. The whole purpose
of the Sabbath that God gave to the children of Israel in
the Old Testament was to teach them how to find their complete
rest in the finished work of Christ. Christ, Hebrews chapter
4, is our Sabbath. And the truth is that most people
in religion actually violate the Sabbath today in their attempt
to keep it. They pride themselves in what
they do and don't do on Sunday in their efforts to keep the
Sabbath, but in all of that, they refuse to find their acceptance
and their rest and their completion in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is our Sabbath. Nevertheless, they were carried
off because of their unwillingness to observe the Sabbath. The Lord
said that he, or the scripture tells us that the Babylonians
left some of the weak and the feeble in Jerusalem. And Jeremiah was one that was
left behind. And so now those people that
are left in Jerusalem are fearful that the Babylonians are going
to come back and take them captive. And so they went to the prophet
Jeremiah. And they asked Jeremiah to ask
the Lord what they should do. And Jeremiah did just that. He
went before the Lord and he asked the Lord for direction on what
this remnant that was left behind in Jerusalem should do. And the
Lord came back with one very clear answer to that question. What the Lord told the prophet
Jeremiah and what Jeremiah told that remnant that was left in
Jerusalem He said, whatever you do, don't go back to Egypt. Don't go back to Egypt. Let me
show you that. Jeremiah chapter 42 verse 3. And here was their request of
the prophet Jeremiah, that the Lord thy God might show us the
way wherein we may walk and the thing that we may do. Then Jeremiah
the prophet said unto them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray
unto the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall come
to pass that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I
will declare it unto you, and I will keep nothing back from
you. Well, there's a message right
there in that one verse as to the duty and responsibility of
a man that God has called to preach the gospel. Go before
the Lord, hear from him the message that he would have his people
to hear and tell him the whole truth, nothing but the truth
as the Lord enables you. And I pray that will be the case
tonight. In verse five, then they said
to Jeremiah, the Lord be true and a faithful witness between
us. If we do not even according to all the things which the Lord
thy God shall send thee to us, whether it be good or whether
it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to
whom we send thee. And it may be well with us when
we obey the voice of the Lord our God. Well, the Lord came
back with an answer. In verse 13, he said, we will
not... Here's what Jeremiah said back
to the people. I'm sorry, let's back up to verse nine. Verse
nine in Jeremiah 42. And he said unto them, thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel, unto whom you send me to present
your supplication before him, if you will still abide in this
land, Then I will build you and not pull you down. I will plant
you and not pluck you up. For I repent me of the evil that
I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the King of
Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Be not afraid of him, saith the
Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his
hand. And I will show mercies unto
you that he may have mercy upon you and cause you to return to
your land. Message was clear, stay here.
Stay in this land, this land that God has promised to you.
specifically the land of Jerusalem, the city of peace, the presence
of God's mercies. Whatever you do, don't leave
this land. Now look at the next verse, verse
13. But if you say, we will not dwell in this land, neither obey
the voice of the Lord our God saying, but no, we will go into
the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound
of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread, and there will we dwell."
Three reasons why they would go back to Egypt. They said,
in Egypt, we don't have to fear the king of Babylon. In Egypt,
we don't have to worry about the sound of the trumpet. And
in Egypt, we have no hunger for bread. And rather than trust
God, we'll go and lean on the staff of Egypt and trust Egypt
to provide for us in these things. The Lord said, if you do that.
Verse 15, and now therefore hear the word of the Lord. Ye remnant
of Judah, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
if you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt and to go
and sojourn there, then it shall come to pass that the sword which
you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and
the famine wherein you were afraid shall follow closely after you
in Egypt, and there you shall die. Don't go to Egypt. Stay in Jerusalem. Stay where
God has promised His presence. Stay where He will bless you
with His mercies. Don't go back to Egypt. Look at verse 19. Then the Lord
hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah, go ye not into
Egypt. Know certainly that I have admonished
you this day. I've made it as clear as I possibly
can. Can the message be any clearer?
Don't go back to Egypt. Don't do it. Look at verse two of chapter
43. The latter part of that verse, and all the proud men said unto
Jeremiah, thou speakest falsely. The Lord our God hath not sent
thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn there. They went into
Egypt. They disregarded the word of
God. They sent the prophet of God
to get a word from God. He brought it clearly as he could.
Clear as a bell, but they disregarded it. They went down to Egypt.
You know what happened in Egypt? Nebuchadnezzar went to Egypt.
He destroyed the Egyptians. Babylon overthrew Egypt. The
sword they were trying to avoid, the warfare they were trying
to avoid, the fear of starvation they were trying to avoid. all
followed them just as the Lord said it would, because they refused
to trust God in Jerusalem, they went back to Egypt. Now, what's the significance
of that for us today? Egypt's a long way from here,
is it not? No, it really isn't. Egypt is
as far from you and me as is our own hearts. For the truth
is that we can be guilty of going back to Egypt in our hearts without
ever leaving the place where we live. What is Egypt? What is Egypt? Egypt is known
in the history of the children of Israel as a place of slavery. It is referred to in the Word
of God as the house of bondage. In Egypt, the children of Israel
were put into bondage. They were forced to work without
pay by the harsh taskmasters of Pharaoh that made demands
on them to produce a certain quota of works that they were
never able to meet. They were beat in Egypt with
the rod of the law and put in fear of not measuring up to the
requirements and the quotas of those who stood over them as
a constant threat of judgment. Egypt, in short, represents the
law. Egypt represents the law. Here's
what the scripture says, if it is of works, it is no more of
grace. Otherwise, grace is not grace. The two cannot be mixed. Law
and grace cannot be mixed. Either our salvation is a completed
work of God's free and sovereign grace with nothing left for us
to do, or it's a works gospel. It's one way or the other. Jeremiah said, I put before you
a way of life and a way of death. The way of life is the way of
grace. The way of death is the way of
the law. God never ever said to anyone,
do your best and I'll be satisfied. Never. The law can do but one
thing. It can only judge. It can only
condemn us. It can only pronounce us guilty
before God. The law shuts our mouths before
God and reveals us for what we are, sinners. But men, well,
they gravitate towards the law. You know, there's something in
every one of us, believers and unbelievers alike. We are born
into this world as Pharisees, and even after the Lord saves
us, we remain the rest of our lives recovering Pharisees. We really do. And the reason
that we need to keep coming back and hearing the gospel of God's
grace is to break the bondage of that pharisaical spirit that's
within every one of us. And that's what I hope the Lord
will do for us again tonight. That He'll show us How wicked
and how evil that works gospel really is. And how unable the
Egyptians are to save us and how dependent we are upon the
Lord. Egypt is mentioned in the Word
of God over 550 times. Over 550 times. Now you suppose
there's some significance to this place called Egypt? for
the Lord to mention it so many times in His Word? Let me show
you one of the very last places where Egypt is mentioned. Turn
with me to Revelation chapter 11. Revelation 11. One of the
last places where Egypt is mentioned. In verse 8 of Revelation 11,
speaking of those prophets, the prophets of God, this is symbolic
language. I don't expect this to be fulfilled
literally with the bodies of two men being left on the streets
in Jerusalem. But I do know that God's prophets
who preach grace are murdered by the lawmongers every day.
And listen what he says, and their dead bodies shall lie in
the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Now, where was
the Lord crucified? In Jerusalem, in Jerusalem. So symbolically, spiritually,
Jerusalem is now referred to as Egypt. Turn with me in your
Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 4. And look with me at verse 19.
My little children, of whom I prevail in birth again, until Christ
be formed in you. The church of Galatia was the
only church that Paul feared his labor was done in vain. He feared that they hadn't really
heard the gospel at all. And the reason was because the
Judaizers had come in behind the Apostle Paul and told the
people there, yes, Jesus that Paul preaches is the Christ.
He is the Christ. He's the Son of God. And he's
necessary for salvation. The Judaizers believed that. Jesus Christ of Nazareth who
hung in Jerusalem on a Roman cross is necessary for your salvation. But he's not sufficient. He's
not sufficient. There's something else that you
must do in order to find acceptance before God. Christ alone is not
sufficient. And so they went back to Egypt.
They went back to the law in order to try to find some obedience
to the law that was somehow going to recommend them to God, was
somehow going to improve their position with God, somehow going
to give them some advantage in salvation. They went back to
Egypt. And now here he says, I travail
until Christ be formed in you. I desire to be present with you
now and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you. Tell
me you that desire to go back to Egypt. Tell me you that desire
to go back to Egypt. Do you not hear what the taskmasters
of Egypt are saying to you? Do you not hear what the law
says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one
by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman. Now you know the
story. God had promised that Sarah would
bring forth a child. And Abraham and Sarah waited,
and they waited, and they waited. And they believed that God's
promises were true. But they did not believe that
God was able to do it without their help. And so they said,
you know, we we need to help God out here. We need to devise
a plan whereby we can help God to fulfill his promises for us. And so they brought Hagar into
the picture. And well, it's on the news every day. The world's
still suffering as a result of that sin. Is it not? One was born by the bond woman,
one by a free woman. But he was of the bond woman,
was born after the flesh. After the flesh. But he is of
the free woman, was born by promise. Isaac, a child of promise, type
of Christ. Ishmael, works of the flesh. Which things are an allegory? For these are the two covenants.
There's only two covenants. There's the covenant of works
and the covenant of grace. God gave to our father Adam a
covenant of works in the garden. That's right. God said to Adam,
do this and you'll live. Obey me and you'll live. Disobey
me and you'll die. That was a covenant of works.
Adam disobeyed that covenant. And as a result, he and all of
his descendants died as a result of his disobedience. The Lord
devised a plan of salvation through the free woman. These two things
are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one of
Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar, and
this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem,
which now is, and is in bondage with her children. What did we just read in Revelation
11.8? The city which Christ was crucified, Jerusalem, is Egypt. And now Paul tells us here in
Galatians chapter 4 that this Jerusalem, this place which is
supposed to be the presence of God's peace, the presence of
God's mercy, has turned into a place of the law. And he says,
but, verse 26, the Jerusalem which is above is What's the word there? Free. Free. All right, I want you to
turn with me to another passage of Scripture, Matthew chapter
2. Matthew chapter 2. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
come to do? He came to satisfy all the demands
of the law. All the demands of the law. And
so, in symbolism of that, in symbolism of that, God Almighty
ordained the Lord Jesus Christ to go down to Egypt. Look with
me, Matthew chapter 2 at verse 11. And when they were come into
the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and
fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their
treasuries, they presented unto him their gifts, gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. And being warned of God in a
dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into
their own country another way." These are the wise men. I look
at verse 13. And when they were departed,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream
saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and flee
into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word for Herod
will seek the young child to destroy him. And when he rose,
he took the young child and his mother by night and departed
into Egypt. What did the Lord say to John
the Baptist when the Lord told John to baptize him? John said,
oh no, Lord, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy to unlatch your
sandals. You need to baptize me. And the
Lord said this to John. He said, suffer to be so for
now, for this is necessary that all righteousness might be fulfilled.
Why did the Lord Jesus Christ go down into Egypt? So we don't
have to. So we don't have to. Why was
Christ baptized? Because it's his baptism presented
before God that is our righteousness. Not ours. Why did he go down
to Egypt? To show us that the demands of
the taskmasters of Egypt have been met. Egypt, the name Egypt translated
means the land of the crypts or the tombs. Egypt has always
been famous for the same reason it's famous today. People travel
to Egypt to see what? The tombs of the pharaohs, the
pyramids. What was the religion of Egypt
based upon? The religion of Egypt was based
on the idea that if you were going to have any wealth in the
next life, you had to take it with you. You had to take it with you.
Well, we know that the only people that were enriched by the wealth
that was put into those pyramids and those Egyptian tombs were
the tomb raiders. Did it benefit the Egyptians
in any way to take riches into their tombs with them? You ever been to an Egyptian
funeral? I've been to a lot of them. I've been to a lot of Egyptian
funerals. I don't enjoy going to them,
but I've gone to them from time to time because I've had to,
and family members and people that I, what, what, what, and
some lawmonger stands behind a pulpit like this and he spends
some time describing the silver and the gold that that dead person
has amassed in their life. by their good works, and that
somehow the goodness of that person that's dead is going to
recommend them to God. An Egyptian funeral. Wealth put
into the tomb of dead people in order to somehow present them
acceptable before God. You see, the religion of Egypt
is very popular today. Very popular. Here's what God says about all
those good works that men rely upon in order to get them into
heaven. God says they're wood, hay, and stubble, and they're
going to be consumed by the fire of His judgment. There's only one thing that's
going to recommend us to God. There's only one person that
can stand as our advocate before God and make us acceptable before
the Father. You know who that is. The one
who went down to Egypt for us. The one who in his life of obedience
satisfied all the demands of God's righteousness. The one
who was born of a woman, born under the law to save them. Save them who were condemned
by the law. to fulfill, Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The first words out of our Lord's
mouth recorded in scripture, he was 12 years old, left behind
in Jerusalem. You remember what he said? When
his mother rebuked him? Have you ever thought about it? If anybody knew who the Lord
Jesus Christ was, Mary knew. Mary knew. She never had a reason
to have a moment of doubt. She knew she had never been with
a man when she became pregnant with this child. She had heard
the voice of God declare to her who this was. And yet she rebuked
him. What did he say? He said, woman,
did you not know that I must be about my father's business?
My father's business. First words recorded out of his
mouth. What was the last words? recorded by Christ, hanging on
Calvary's cross before he gave up the ghost, was his last words. It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. And he hung his mighty head,
and he gave his spirit permission to depart. Having known that
he had accomplished everything that the father required of him
and of you and me, he had done it. He came in order to do the
father's business and he accomplished everything the father gave him
to do. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
19, Isaiah 19. Now this spirit of Egypt is so
insidious. It is so deceptive. Oh, it creeps
in unaware. And it finds a way to entice
us to listen to its voice, the spirit of Egypt. Look at what
the Lord says in Isaiah chapter 19, verse 1. the burden of Egypt. Behold,
the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt
and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence and
the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will
set the Egyptians against the Egyptians." You know, Paul put it like this in first
Corinthians chapter one. He said, is Christ divided? I've
had the joy of visiting gospel churches in different parts of
the world and in different parts of this country. And one of the
things that I've rejoiced in is the unity of spirit that God's
people have in the gospel. I, like many of you, spent a
lot of years in contentious religion. Where men competed with one another
to see who was more righteous than the other. Where men debated
with one another theological points of interest, massaging
their own pseudo intellect, trying to impress one another with their
religiosity. But you know it's not that way
in God's church. Look, I will set the Egyptians
against the Egyptians. Isn't that the way it is? Let
the potsherds of the earth contend with the potsherds of the earth.
Let the Egyptians play their Egyptian games. Let them debate
with one another. Let them try to impress each
other about their particular personal righteousness and holiness.
There's no place for that with God's people. We all look to the same one.
The ground at the foot of the cross really is level. It really
is level. I was preaching from First Timothy. I was talking to Cyril about
this today. I preached from First Timothy this past Wednesday night
and made a point about the fact that we often refer to Paul as
the Apostle Paul. You know he never referred to
himself that way. Never. It was always Paul, an apostle. by the commandment of God, a
servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, a messenger made so by God. He
never used apostle as a title. You know pastors never used in
the word of God as a title? Never. Anytime I sign my name
and I have to put my pastor name, it's always Greg Elmquist comma
pastor. The title that God gives to all
God's people is this, brother. Brethren. You want to ruin a
good man, give him a title. Just give him a title. Don't
call another man Rabbi. Don't call him Father. We're
brethren in Christ. There's no reason for us to contend
with one another or compete with one another about, you know,
there's no levels of righteousness or holiness. Oh, we esteem very
highly for His work's sake a man that God's called out to preach
the gospel and pray for him and encourage him and listen to what
God has to say through him, but we don't give him a title, put
him on a pedestal and act as if he's closer to God than we
are. That's why the scripture says that the Lord has made us
a kingdom of priest. We have one priest, one God and
father of us all, one master, and we bow all equally dependent
on him. But not so in religion. I set
the Egyptians against the Egyptians and now fight everyone against
his brother and everyone against his neighbor, city against city
and kingdom against kingdom. Isn't that the way it is? in
religion. Oh, one denomination is better
than another denomination. One church is better than another
church. They're all just a bunch of religious meeting places,
clubhouses all they are. They're just religious clubhouses,
you know, trying to impress each other. It's not that way with
God's people. It really isn't. God's people
genuinely esteem one another more highly than themselves.
They really do. We could read on there in Isaiah
19, but for time's sake we won't. Let's go back to our text. In a lot of ways, it's easier
to live in Egypt than it is to live in Jerusalem. It's easier
to live in Egypt. It's easier to rely upon Pharaoh.
than it is to live in Jerusalem. Living in Jerusalem requires
the Spirit of God. It requires faith. And walking
by faith, in many ways, is more difficult than to walk by sight. The works gospel offers a way
of salvation. that in many ways is easier than
the way of grace. Just create a few man-made commandments,
a few man-made laws, and try to keep those laws, and do your
religious duty. See, living by the Spirit, now
that's a whole other... The Jerusalem that's from above
is free. Yeah. The flesh would rather
be in bondage than to be free. Put yourself in bondage and relinquish
the responsibility of your soul to someone else. Or find out what it's like to
fellowship with God personally. And have the power of the Spirit
in your own life. You see, it's Not many people
do. The way is narrow, and it's windy, and it's uphill,
and it's difficult. It's difficult. The way of destruction,
it's a wide road. The way that leads to hell, it's
downhill, it's wide, it's just a coast. It's a coast. What did these people say about
going back to Egypt? Look at our text in verse 14. No, but we will go to the land
of Egypt. We don't believe you, Jeremiah.
We don't believe God sent you. We don't believe this is a word
from God. You're preaching a message of grace that's gonna
lead people to sin. You know, when Paul said that
people turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, he wasn't
talking about people taking the message of grace and using it
as a cloak to cover up their sin and to excuse themselves
to live how they want. He was talking about those people
who accuse grace preachers of preaching a licentious message,
preaching a message that's going to lead people into sin. Grace
doesn't lead to sin. Grace leads to Christ. It leads
to Christ. Look what he says. No, we're
going to go down to Egypt. Why? Because in Egypt we'll see
no war. You see, the truth is in Egypt
there's no conflict between the flesh and the spirit. In Egypt
you don't have to worry about what Paul said in Romans chapter
7. Now it's interesting to me that the Egyptians interpret
Romans chapter 7 as something that Paul expressed before his
conversion. That's the way the Egyptians,
that's the way they explain Romans 7. Because they don't have this
conflict in the flesh. They can't say that which I would
I do not and that which I would not that I do and to find the
ability to, well let's turn there. Turn with me to Romans chapter
7. Look at verse 18. For I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. You see,
here's the believer's experience. In Egypt there is no war, but
in Jerusalem there's a conflict. There's a conflict between the
flesh and the spirit. There is a desire in the heart
of the child of God to be completely without sin and no ability to
get there until they rid this flesh. The child of God would be without
sin. That's why the believer believes that to live is Christ,
but to die is gain. The last enemy, the flesh, will
one day be destroyed and we'll no longer have this conflict.
We'll no longer have this inner war between the flesh and the
spirit. Spirit is willing, flesh is weak. Oh, who deliver me from
this body of death? He concludes this argument, doesn't
he? Thanks be to God. Through Christ Jesus I am free,
therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. You see, my only hope of being
without sin is to be in Christ. To be in Christ. For in my flesh,
there's no good thing. There's nothing but sin in my
flesh. And this, you know, I just go down to Egypt, I'll make up
a few commandments of men. I'll pride myself in my ability
to keep those commandments, and I'll compete with other Egyptians
to see who's competing them better. And I'll succeed in the power
of my flesh to set up some rules and regulations that I can achieve,
and I'll just be done with this conflict. If you're going to live in the
heavenly Jerusalem, you're going to experience Roman 7. You're going to have it. You're
going to have a body of death. I understand that if a man was
guilty of manslaughter, if he was guilty of murder, they just
killed him. That was the death penalty. But if you're guilty
of manslaughter, what they would do is they would take the corpse
of the person that you killed and strap that corpse to your
back. And you'd have to Parade down
the street with that rotting corpse strapped to your back
long enough for you to learn your lesson from what you did.
Look what he says. Look what he says. Verse 24.
Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I've got this rotting corpse
hanging on my back. Everywhere I go, I can't get
rid of it. It stinks. I hate it, I want to be rid of
it. One day I will. In the meantime, my hope is that
my righteousness is in the glorious person and accomplished work
of my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a warfare in Jerusalem. There really is. Do you have
that warfare? Do you know anything about that? Don't go down to
Egypt. You'll be able to free yourself
of that conflict if you go to Egypt. You go to Egypt and set
up some rules and regulations where you can say, well, I handle
not. I noticed y'all have a lot of
Egyptians that live around here. We spent the night in Philadelphia
last night and walked around this morning. And I could tell
from the way some of the people there dress that there's a lot
of Egyptians that are priding themselves on what they handle
not, touch not, or taste not. It's that way in Orlando, too.
The spirit of Egypt is everywhere. Religious people pride themselves
in their keeping of the law. All they've done is they've made
up some man-made regulations that they try to keep so they
don't have to struggle in this warfare. But in Jerusalem, there's a war. There's a conflict. And that
conflict is not going to end until the Lord delivers you from
that body of death. You know, I said we're recovering
Pharisees. How often we thought, well, if
I could just get a handle on that or this or that, you know,
I'd be free from this. No, you wouldn't. It's not going to get any better.
This warfare that we have in the Spirit, as a matter of fact,
it gets worse. Because the more you grow in
grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more
aware of the corruption of that body of flesh you become. The more you hate yourself. I know Egyptians and unbelievers
would listen to what we say and what we think and what we believe.
And they said, boy, y'all just need to have a higher self-esteem. You know, you just don't think
very well of yourself. You need to think better of yourself.
You know, that's what the world says. In Jerusalem, there's a warfare. In Egypt, there's no conflict. Look back with me to our text
in Jeremiah 42. Look at verse 11. Be not afraid of
the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Be not afraid
of him, saith the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver
you from his hand. Where did we first hear of Babylon?
What did we first hear of it? The Tower of Babel. What was
that Tower of Babel all about? It was about man trying to build
a tower to reach up to heaven. Works, religion. And what happened
to the language of all those Egyptians that were at the Tower
of Babel? They got to where they couldn't
get along. They could not communicate with one another. God confused
their language. Isn't that the way it is in Egypt
right now? The only difference between one
flavor of Egyptian religion and another flavor of Egyptian religion
is what that particular sect requires of you to do or abstain
from. That's the only difference. The
only difference between Islam and Catholicism and The Baptist
and the Presbyterian and everything else, Hinduism, the only difference. It's all works. There's only
two covenants. There's only two covenants. There's
covenant of works, covenant of grace. The covenant of works,
oh, there's a lot of different flavors. One says, no, you've
got to wear this bonnet. Another one says, oh, no, you've
got to do this. Another one says, oh, no, you've
got to abstain from that. No, don't let that go into. Don't be afraid of Babylon. Don't be afraid of him. For I am with you. I'll present myself before the
Father on your behalf as your righteousness." What was the second thing they
were afraid of? Or the second reason they went back to Egypt?
Look at it. Verse 14. Three reasons. Three reasons why men go back
to Egypt. In Egypt, there's no war. There's
no conflict between the flesh and the spirit. You just give
yourself over to the law, you work your way into heaven, and
there's no conflict, as we see in Romans chapter seven, with
the spirit of Christ that's in you. What's the second reason
men go back to Egypt? There's no sound of the trumpet
in Egypt. What was the sound of the trumpet? What was the
trumpet blown for? The trumpet was blown in order
to warn the people that the enemy's coming. The enemy's coming. That's why the trumpet was blown. And people go to Egypt because
they don't want to hear the trumpet that the gospel blows. They don't
want to hear that trumpet. There's a trumpet in Egypt that's
being blown. But it's a different trumpet
than the one that's being blown when the gospel is preached.
What is the source of the enemy of those who would trust Christ,
honor God, and be saved through the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ? What's the hindrance? What's
the enemy? Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah 59. Here's the trumpet that people
don't want to hear. Here it is. Here's the sound
of the trumpet that people don't want to hear. And they will forsake
Jerusalem to go down to Egypt to hear a different trumpet.
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save,
neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. So that's what
we seek. We seek God saving us, hearing
us, having mercy upon us, and saving us. What hinders that
from happening? What hinders that from happening?
But, your iniquities. Now let's just stop right there.
Your iniquities. If you own a home, Your equity
in that home is the difference between what you owe on that
home and what it's worth. And if you're like us in Orlando,
your equity is not what it used to be. Equity. Equity equals out. The difference between what you
owe and what it's worth. Equal. That's the word. What does inequity mean? It means
not equal. Iniquity in the scripture is
not used to describe the things that men are ashamed of that
they don't want other people to know about. Iniquity is used
in the Bible to describe men's good works. The things that men
perform in hopes of impressing God and other men. The things
that men are putting on the... Here's the idea that Egyptians
have. Egyptians have this idea that
there's a balance scale in heaven with my name on it. And when
I sin, it goes on one side. And when I do something good,
it goes on the other side. And I hope that when I die, my
good deeds outweigh my bad deeds. Here's the problem. Here's the
problem. What they think is going on the
credit side of their scale is actually going on the debit side
of their scale. And so the more they do to try
to equal out their righteousness before God, the more unrighteous
they become. What has separated you from your
God? Your iniquity. Your thoughts of righteousness
apart from the hope and faith. That we have in the only one
who's righteous. Iniquity. You see. The trumpet that is blown in
Jerusalem. Says this. We have met the enemy
and it is us. The trumpet that men don't want
to hear, the reason that men go down to Egypt, because in
Egypt, when the preacher stands up and preaches against sin,
he's preaching against things that other people are doing.
And he's preaching against things out there in the world that you
need to avoid. You know, if you'll stay away
from this and you'll do that, you'll, you know, you'll conquer
this thing called sin. No, you won't. No, you won't. Sin can be defined with one word. And it's a really short word.
It's a one letter word. And it's the middle letter in
the word sin. Sin is not what you do. Sin is what you are. We don't become sinners because
we do bad things. We do bad things because we're
sinners. We're born sinners. The trumpet that men don't want
to hear that's blown only in Jerusalem is the trumpet that says the
enemy is you. It's not your wife. It's not
your husband. It's not your next door neighbor.
It's not that bar down at the corner of the street. It's not
the evil stuff that's going on in the world. The sin that doth
so easily beset us is the sin that's within. And it's not a
sin of some sort of outward behavior. It's the fountain of all sin. It's the mother of all sin. It's
the seedbed of all sin. It is the sin of unbelief. Unbelief. And so the believer cries out
when he hears the Gospel. Lord, I do believe, help thou
mine unbelief. Lord, I'm my own worst enemy. Lord, I'm the problem. My inability to believe you with
all of my heart and all of my soul and all of my mind, that's
the problem. Oh, it's so easy when somebody
blows a trumpet and puts all the sin burden on somebody else. But the gospel says, in me there
is no good thing. You know, in Egypt, the Egyptians are always monitoring
people's behavior. Sin is seen and things that other
people do, or things that we do. Here's what the Lord said
in Matthew chapter 15. He said, it's not what goes into
the mouth that defiles a man. It is what comes out. Some years ago, I was in Kiev,
Ukraine, and I visited a monastery that dated back to the eighth
century. And they took us down in the
catacombs of this monastery, and along the walls of these
catacombs were tombs. And the tombs were about maybe
two and a half feet wide and about six feet tall. And the
tombs had a door in front of them, and the door had a little
window in it. And they told us that these monks would lock themselves up in those
tombs alive. And they would feed them through
the little hole and give them water through the hole until
they just refused to feed and eat anymore and they would die
in that tomb. And then they would just fill
the tomb up through the hole with dirt and it became their You put yourself in a room all
by yourself, and you've got for yourself a sinful place. You're not going to buffet the
flesh and avoid... You see, that's the trumpet. That's the
trumpet. Lord, my inability to believe
as I ought. You shut a man up in an empty
room and that room becomes a sinful place. Here's what the Apostle Paul
said. This is a worthy saying. Faithful
saying. Worthy of all acceptation. This
saying is worthy to be accepted by all. Christ Jesus came to
save sinners of whom I am chief. Now that's the trumpet that men
go down to Egypt to avoid. Men enjoy comparing themselves
to other men. They enjoy comparing themselves
to themselves, believing that they're getting better. But in
fact, believers know themselves to be in more need of grace than
anyone else. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that you're in more need of grace than anyone else? That's not
practiced in Egypt. That's not experienced in Egypt.
In Egypt, men try to intimidate each other with who's better
than the next guy. But in Jerusalem, believers truly
esteem others more highly than themselves. Let me ask it to
you like this. Do you know anybody to whom much
is given, much is required, right? Do you know anybody that's been
given more light? more blessing, more truth, more
grace, more mercy than you do, than you've received and remain
as unbelieving as you are. Paul said, I've not yet apprehended
that which has apprehended me. Oh, that I might know, that I
might know the fellowship of his suffering. that I might know
the power of His resurrection. He wasn't talking about wanting
to suffer more. He would avoid suffering all
He could. He wasn't talking about having
some sort of resurrected, powerful life where He was, you know,
demonstrating some sort of superhuman strength. No. He was saying,
oh, that I could just see myself as I really am in Christ. That
when He was crucified on Calvary's cross, that I was crucified in
Him. and that He rose from the dead,
that I was risen in Him. When He ascended into heaven,
I ascended in Him. Oh, that I might know Him. He's my hope. He's my salvation. Me? I am the chief of all sinners. You think He was just speaking
with Hyperbole? You think he was just being,
he was just using exaggeration? He was, Paul was being humble.
No. No. He believed that. And every
believer believes that. That's why there's no, that's
why there's such peace and unity and harmony among God's people.
Because they look at each other and they think, oh, you're so
much better than me. Yeah, nobody needs more grace
than I do. Nobody remains more unbelieving.
You see, we're not. God's people don't try to intimidate
one another. They've heard the trumpet and
the trumpet has has spoken to their hearts and they know that
the enemy is within themselves. That's the trumpet that's not
being blown in Egypt. Don't go to Egypt. Oh, we're gonna go
to Egypt. There's no war in Egypt. We don't
have to deal with the sound of the trumpet in Egypt. And notice
finally, in our text, in Egypt, we'll have no hunger
for bread. To hunger and thirst after righteousness. To hunger and thirst after righteousness
is something that only happens in Jerusalem. It doesn't happen
in Egypt. God's people are hungry. God's
people stay hungry all the time. More, more of Jesus. Lord, just, oh Lord, reveal more
of yourself to me. Lord, enable me to know you better.
Lord, I'm never satisfied with what I know, where I am, or who
I... Lord, I hunger and thirst after righteousness, after Christ. You see, well, here's what the
prophet said. He said, when he ate the Word,
and Christ is that Word, you know that. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the living Word of God. And you don't separate
the written Word from the living Word. What did the prophet say
when he ate the Word? God gave him the Word. He said
he took the scroll and he ate it. And what did he say? When
he ate it, it was sweet to his taste. You remember what else
happened? What else happened? He swallowed
it. And it was bitter to his belly. The belly all throughout
the scripture is a picture of the flesh. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as sweet as he is to the taste, always leaves a bitter
feeling in the belly. Always disturbs the flesh. In
Egypt, you don't have that. You know what people in Egypt
live off of? The husk that swine do eat. That's what the Egyptians eat.
They eat husk. Pig's food. The children of Israel
were given manna from heaven. That manna was white, it was
sweet, it was satisfying. What did they say after a while?
They said, we despise this light bread. People ask our folks,
they say, well, what does your preacher preach? He preaches
Christ. Well, I know that, but what else? Well, we're going
to have a special meeting. We're going to have a conference.
Well, what's the topic of the conference, Christ? Well, I know,
but what else? You know, Jesus isn't enough. We despise that light bread.
We want to go back to Egypt. And what did the children of
Israel say was in Egypt that they hungered after? Leeks and
garlics and onions. Where do leeks and garlics and
onions grow? Jared, you know where they grow, don't you? You see the contrast between
that bread that comes down from heaven and the one that's taken
out of the ground. The flesh is satisfied with what
it can get out of the dirt. But the spirit is never satisfied
except with what God gives from heaven. Moses didn't give you
that bread from heaven. My Father gave you that bread
for I am the bread of life. Hungry and thirsting after righteousness
is seeking after the Lord Jesus Christ. It's coming to Him. It's
not coming to the law. It's coming to Christ. the person
of Christ, not a theological proposition of who Christ is
or what he did. It's the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We want to go back to Egypt.
Why? Well, because in Egypt there's no threat of war, no conflict
between the flesh and the spirit. There's no trumpet, nobody telling
us that we're the sin, we're the problem. In Egypt the sin
is always somebody else or something else or something we do. It's
not what I am. And in Egypt, there's no hunger
for bread. No hunger for bread. But in Jerusalem, the citizens
of Jerusalem, they're never satisfied with that that comes out of the
ground. Always looking up. Every day,
every day, begging God for that daily bread. You see, in a lot of ways, it's
easier to live in Egypt. than it is to live in Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, only the regenerate child of
God can live in Jerusalem. They're the only ones that can
live there. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
2. There's no hunger for bread in Egypt. Plenty of bread. Corn husk. There's no bread from
heaven. Garlic, leeks, and onions, yeah.
No manna in Egypt. No manna in Egypt. The man is
only in Jerusalem. Look at 1 Peter 2 at verse 1. Wherefore, laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes crave, crave after. You know what it's like
to just have a gnawing hunger? Can't ever get full? desire the
sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if so be
that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Have you tasted
Him? This gospel is not a theological
proposition. It's certainly not a set of rules
and regulations. The gospel is a person. It's
a person. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I have committed unto Him against that day. This is not
something you can do in Egypt. This is not something you can
do with rules and regulations. This is a matter of the heart. This is a matter of the Spirit
of God doing a work of grace in us, enabling us. He's got
to give us a new heart. The stony heart can live in Egypt. This is a living heart. God has
to take out that cold, hard, stony heart and replace it. with a beating, living, spiritual
heart that enables us to fellowship with Him. And by His grace, to become more than conquerors in that
warfare. Look at verse 4. To whom coming? Notice the tense of the verbs
there. What do they say in religion?
Well, you know, I came to Jesus. I remember when I came to Christ. They talk about coming to Christ
always in the past tense. They talk about being saved as
if it was an event that took place years ago. Then that's
what they're holding on to for the hope of their salvation. In Egypt, there's no hunger for
bread. In Jerusalem, you hunger and thirst after righteousness
every day. Every day. To whom? Coming. Don't trust in a past experience
for the hope of your salvation. Are you coming to Him right now? Right now. Are you trusting Him? for the
accomplished warfare. Are you trusting Him? One more passage of Scripture
and we'll close. Look with me to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. This is very important. And this summarizes everything
that we've been saying. What do the people say? Go ask
God what we should do. We're afraid of the Babylonians.
We need some security. Prophet came back and said, the
Lord will be with you. He's your security. Whatever
you do, stay here. Don't go back to Egypt. Don't
go back to Egypt. What'd they do? They went back
to Egypt. Second Corinthians chapter 10,
verse three, for though we walk in the flesh, We do not war after
the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. People ask
me, they say, well, do your church practice church discipline? We
do. Every time we come together, we practice church discipline.
We preach Christ. And I have found through years
of experience that preaching Christ is all the discipline
that God's people need and all the reason that the unbeliever
needs to get out of there. We just preach Christ. Weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. They're mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God and bringing into captivity every thought I hope you have the right translation
on this last phrase of this verse. To the obedience of Christ. Not to your obedience of Christ. to the obedience of
Christ. How do we live in Jerusalem?
Looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of
our faith. Looking unto Jesus. And keep
coming. To whom coming? To whom coming? Oh, that the Lord would keep
these recovering Pharisees from going back to Egypt. Keep coming
to Christ. Keep looking to Christ. Set your
affections on things above, where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Now that's something that only
could be done in Jerusalem. In Egypt? No warfare. In Egypt,
no trumpet. In Egypt, no hunger for bread.
In Egypt, the land of death and the land of bondage. In Jerusalem,
the Jerusalem that's from above, that is, not the Jerusalem that's
described in Galatians 4, but the Jerusalem that's from above,
she's free. She's free. Free in Christ. I
hope the Lord will speak that word to our hearts and convince
us of its truth. And we won't be like those people
who say, oh, we don't believe that. We don't believe that.
Oh, Lord, help thou mine unbelief. Lord, I'm a sinner. Isn't that
what that publican said? There's another story of the
trumpet. You remember the Pharisee and the Publican? Lord, I'm glad
that I'm not like other men. Oh, the self-righteousness of
Egyptians. And what did the Publican say?
Oh, God, have mercy upon me. The sinner, that's what he said.
The sinner. And which one went back to his
house justified? You know which one did. The one that begged
for mercy. Amen? Amen. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You for Your Word. We do ask, Father, that You would
cause us to keep looking to Christ, trusting in Him, and keep us,
Lord, from going back to Egypt. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Thank you. We should have dessert.