Forward! The Only Way That Leads To Life

And the Lord went before them by day, in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and by night. And he did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. That's Exodus 13, verse 21 and 22.

You know, Israel's historic journey came out of Egypt in no other way than by God's miraculous hand of deliverance, and by their willingness to follow his lead in their lives. They'd been freed from bondage unto Pharaoh through a series of plagues that had weakened his grip upon them, and then the final blow through the Passover, which took the firstborn of Egypt, sparing the Israelites who came under that blood. And through that deliverance, then Pharaoh's hold was broken, and he drove them from his presence completely. Now Israel's heading out of Egypt.

They're heading down the way on the wilderness road. They were free at last as they followed on the path of the cloud and the fire leading the way. And in light of so dramatic of a release from bondage, there was no other option for them but to go forward. Forward out of Egypt and forward to the Promised Land. This was going forward according to the lead of God. And of course, they couldn't stay in Egypt, and who would want to? You know, the nation had been decimated through the plagues that God had sent upon them, and Pharaoh said, Enough, I want you out.

And he drove them again from his presence. So staying was not an option, but you see, God had set a promise before them as well. He had set an inheritance before them, one that had been promised long before that generation who walked out of the nation. And God said, You are my people, and I will be your God. And there was a Promised Land now that awaited them. And so the only way they were going to receive that inheritance was to strap on their walking shoes, to gather up their children, gather up their flocks, and to move out.

Put one step in front of the other to where God was leading them. He was leading them forward, again, out of Egypt and forward to their promised inheritance. And the title for today's message, if you haven't guessed already, is Forward. Forward, the only way that leads to life. Forward, the only way that leads to life. And, brethren, today I want to remind us that just as it was Israel's calling to move forward out of Egypt and toward their inheritance, we too are people called by God to be moving constantly forward.

Forward from where we started, which was slaves of sin unto death, bondage in spiritual Egypt, move forward from there, which is where he has brought us to this point, but you don't stop. You continue to follow the lead of God and the cloud and the fire and continue forward, then, onto the inheritance of the kingdom of God that he has set before us all. Because, you see, forward is the only way to life. And it's the only way for the people of God to remain truly unleavened before him.

We came up to the Passover, we examined ourselves, we put the leavening out of our home, and symbolic of putting this out of our lives spiritually, and we've walked unleavened for these seven days, but again, this is a snapshot of what the entirety of our Christian life should be like as we walk out of spiritual Egypt, remaining unleavened, leaving behind that which sought to ensnare us unto death, that which was bondage, but walking forward now unto life.

Let's begin today by turning to an event that appears. Thank you, Mr. Klein. It appears to have happened on the last day of Unleavened Bread. And it was interesting this morning to hear Mr. Klein's sermonette and see that we were kind of starting at the same jump-off point, but going in different directions, and yet there's agreement between what we were talking about. So I appreciate him referencing this, and we'll go back and read the account and pour some more cement in the hole.

Exodus 14. I want to begin by looking at an event. It appears to have taken place on this last day of Unleavened Bread, and through it we're going to see God's reinforcement, considering the direction that he desires his people to travel. So Exodus 14, beginning in verse 5, here, Israel has trekked down the wilderness road towards the Red Sea, and they've come up now against that barrier that would now become a road shortly. Exodus 14 and verse 5, now it was told the king of Egypt that the people have fled. In the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we let Israel go from serving us?

See, we made ready his chariot, he took his people with him, and he also took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with boldness. And it might seem a little odd to us when we read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and it maybe almost seems like God caused him to do something other than what he would do otherwise.

But we need to understand that Pharaoh was already bent in this direction. His heart was already hard, and God just helped him along with that motivation that he was already feeling inside to go after the people of Israel, because God would fulfill a purpose through this event. Verse 9, so the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overlooked them, camping by the sea beside Pihai-Roth before Beel-Zephon. So, you know, he's coming up upon the scene, and Israelites are down against the sea, and I can't help but think in my mind the words of Yole Brenner in the Ten Commandments movie as they're kind of standing over that lookout, and he looks down at the people, and he says, this God of Moses is a poor general, because who would lead these people?

Hem them in between the mountains and the sea. Verse 10, and when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and they cried out, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?

For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. And then the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me?

Tell the children of Israel, notice to go forward. Go forward, God said. Okay, this is the answer. They see Egypt bearing down on them, superior military might. Just by the view of the eyes, as human beings view things, they're done. And they're pinned against the sea, and God says, tell them to go forward. Turning back to Egypt, surrendering is not the option.

Laying down just for the slaughter is not the option. The option is, with no other option available, you go forward. And it is the option that God would provide. Verse 16 says, but lift up your rod, Moses, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Again, that way that is opened up, it's opened before them in its forward momentum that they're to carry on with. Verse 21, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by strong east wind all that night.

And made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. This isn't just kind of tiptoeing through the marshy reeds, as some would make it out to be. This was literally a miracle of dividing the waters, and they stood as a heap on both sides, and the Israelites crossed on dry ground.

There was a wall to them on the right and on their left. Verse 23, And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass in the morning watch that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud. And he troubled the army of the Egyptians. He took off their chariot wheels so that they drove them with difficulty. I suppose they did. Ever have a flat tire? How about no tires? It would be a challenge. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians and on their chariots, and on their horsemen. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. And the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. And thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt. And so the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord and his servant Moses. Again, as I read earlier and express, there's no scripture you can turn to that says this took place on the last day of Unleavened Bread. But tradition has it that that was such, and you consider mileage and number of days out of Egypt. Some have made calculations and said it appears that this very well could have happened on that last day of Unleavened Bread. The point is the lesson that we do want to take from this. The lesson was the fact that there was complete deliverance from Pharaoh on this day. They would never see him again. They'd never be bothered by him again. But they still had to do their part. It says, the Lord will fight for you, and God did indeed fight for them. God opened the sea, made the way available for them, but Israel still had to do their part. They had to go forward in response. They had to obey the command of God to go forward. And from that point on, they had to continue putting one foot in front of the other to go forward. Because crossing the sea wasn't the destination, the Promised Land was the destination. And as long as they followed God, the momentum would always be forward. So when the cloud moved, they moved. And as long as they were submissive to God's lead, it always moved forward. And it never, ever moved back to Egypt again. But in these days of unleavened bread, and indeed as we exit them, we are to keep this same mindset, they're all about continually walking forward as well. Walking forward out of sin and remaining unleavened day by day by day, step by step as we seek the kingdom. Forward away from the poles and the temptations of the flesh that would seek to come and drag us back into bondage, back into spiritual Egypt. And just as God delivered Israel out of Egypt's grasp so that they could follow His lead, He has delivered us out of the grasp of sin and death through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. That hold has been released upon us so that we can walk free, so that we can follow the lead of God forward as well.

Something has always been amazing to me as I read through the Exodus account, and I come back to it probably, if not every year, almost every year in my sermon, sometime during the days of unleavened bread, is the fact that God's deliverance of Israel was complete. And there was not a man, a woman, a child who did not have the strength or the ability to put one foot in front of the other and walk out of Egypt.

When God said, depart, they all had the strength and the ability to depart. No one was left behind, and no one was too weak to make the journey. And for me, that's incredibly encouraging. In Psalm 105, verse 37, it's in the middle of the context of reiterating the deliverance of God's people. Psalm 105, verse 37, it says, He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes. There was none feeble among His tribes. In addition to that, we can read elsewhere that during their journey, their foot did not swell and their shoes did not well wear out.

And so the point is, God does not call anyone to destruction. He doesn't call people to get up from where they are, come out of this world and follow Him, and then not give them the ability to do so. Maybe we need a little help along the way. Or maybe we need a lot of help along the way. I think that's my category. You think of Israel, they couldn't cross that desert on their own. God delivered them. If they were just going to trek out on their own, they would die in that wilderness without manna, right?

The physical bread of life that they received, the daily manna, without the living water, the waters that flowed then out of the rock. Without that sustenance that came from God, they would have perished in the desert. And brethren, without God's spirit dwelling in us, without the living manna and the bread of life, His Son Jesus Christ, we would perish in the wilderness as well. But He has given us what we need to succeed.

And I would dare say that there are none feeble among this tribe, those of us sitting here, who cannot reach the calling of the kingdom of God if we follow God's lead and we do our part. Again, God has not called us to failure, He has called us to success. And He gives us what it is that we need to succeed.

So let's take confidence in that, allowing Him to lead us, empowering us by His Spirit, and we can make the Promised Land our focus as well. But we have to move in the right direction, constantly putting one foot in front of the other, going forward. That's what we've been called to. Coming out of bondage, out of spiritual Egypt, never returning that way again.

It is, I believe, a major lesson of this day. In Exodus 13, verse 17, we can see why God chose the specific route out of Egypt that He did. Because there were other ways they could have gone, and frankly, ways that would have been, if you look at the map, the preferable route. But God did not choose that. Exodus 13, verse 17, it says, Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near.

For God said, Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. Can't go back. Can never return. Can't even contemplate returning after you've been brought out by strength in hand. And a deliverance as miraculous as this, and a deliverance, shall we say, through the blood of the sacrifice, through the Passover. But lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.

Verse 18, so God led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. And so this was a process. It was a process of God working with them, and it was a process of them responding in kind and in faith to God. But it was also a process that continued with this concept of never returning to the starting place again.

You know, God didn't want Israel to face a circumstance in their infancy where they would turn around and run, right? Where they would see an obstacle that was so enormous that they just said, you know, God can't take us forward. We need to go back. And maybe that could have been what they were thinking at the Red Sea. But, you know, the mountains on one side, the sea, kind of they're backed up against the sea, and here's Pharaoh.

He's not really necessarily looking to take them back. He's looking to destroy them. So all they had for an option was to trust in God's deliverance to go forward. In fact, when you consider the instructions to Israel after they enter the Promised Land, God said, when you get there, you're going to want a king.

And so here's the kind of person you're going to set before you as your king. And yet there are certain conditions that I expect of this king and of you as it is regarding Egypt. And it's telling as well, so let's go to Deuteronomy 17, verse 14.

Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 14.

There's only one direction we want to be facing in this calling.

Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 14, it says, Notice from horses for himself.

It says, The going on verse 17, And it continues to go on with the standard of one who would be God's king in Israel, who would serve them in a godly fashion. But the point was, he was never to take you back to Egypt. He was never to go back to Egypt to conduct business and do these certain things that would then, so we say, bring you as a nation back to the source of your bondage. Because God said, You are my covenant people, and I delivered you through strength of hand.

And we have a covenant. I am your God. You are my people, and you will not return to bondage again. It's an important lesson for us to remember. And I would say, when we consider the symbolism in our lives today, the lesson is clear. Because once we've left sin behind, once we've acknowledged it in our life, put it out, repented, the point that God wants us to come to is realization. Moving forward now is the only option.

We can never go back to that again. Certainly, we must never turn our heart back to those things. Repentance, by definition, is a change in direction for the positive. You know, it's like I was going this way. This was my course, and I saw where that was leading, and I repented. I'm sorry. But that also requires a change of direction. I was going this way, and now I'm going this way. I'm the way that leads to life. And it's more than the sorrow of the world that says, I'm sorry I got caught.

Sorry I got the speeding ticket. It's a sorrow that produces real and lasting change in us to where we walk out of that sin, never to return again. That needs to be our focus. That needs to be our purpose as we seek the kingdom of God. Our momentum, brethren, must come out of these days of Unleavened Bread, continuing forward, continuing with the progress that we've hopefully made during these days, making it a commitment not just during one week out of the year, but every single day as we live this life.

The Apostle Paul is a good example about how this can be done in the life of a Christian. Paul clearly understood the essential nature of pressing forward in his calling and leaving behind that, which was not worthwhile. You know, leaving behind that, which could hinder you, could bring you back into bondage again in pressing forward with what it is that God had set before us. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8, if we go and see his example, we learn from this cloud of witnesses that have been set before us. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8, Paul says, Paul says, He's saying, you know what?

All those things I used to possess, because remember who Paul was? He was the Pharisee of Pharisees. Right? He was an elite man within his own standing of people and among the Jews. He probably had friends, he had status, and again, he says, all of these things, I count them lost. I count them as rubbish when I consider what has been set before me and the calling to take on the nature of Jesus Christ. Because the fact was, the Apostle Paul was opposed to those things when he thought he was serving God. And he had to be set straight and right to know the true destination of salvation.

So Paul says, though, it's okay. Right? In light of the new path, in light of where God is leading me, I count this as nothing. I can walk away from all that I spent my life building, because I'm on the true path now, and that path leads forward.

Verse 9, it says, We talked about this on the first day of 11 bread, that through baptism we are buried and raised with Jesus Christ, and we become companions, in a sense, of his death and of his resurrection. But Paul says here also, we will have a fellowship of his sufferings.

If we live this life in this world that's going the other way, brethren, we will share in the fellowship of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. If we stand what he stood for, if we speak the words that he spoke, if we live as he lived, and he himself said, don't think it's strange. He says, if they hate you, they hated me first. And that's just exactly what it means. So we do have to understand, we're heading into a time of challenge, maybe even facing what could be considered a Red Sea moment for the Church of God as we come up on the end of the age and wonder, what's God going to do?

How is he going to provide? How is he going to open the sea that his people carry through and carry on in his service? I don't know. At some point, we will have to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, but the commandment will always be when God opens the way. Go forward, but never go back. Back is never an option. Verse 11, it says, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

It says, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which were behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says, I press because it's an effort. It's an effort to swim upstream against the current in the world that's going the other way, because if you ever let up, the stream is pulling, and you'll just go right into that slipstream and you'll be carried right back into Egypt along with the rest of the world. So it takes effort for forward momentum day by day.

It takes effort to never back down in the face of challenge. It takes effort to continue living unleavened lives each and every day when the majority around us are doing something quite different, and the pull is to do something different. And Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice, did not diminish the law. He raised the bar on the law.

If you hate your brother in your heart, it is murder. So the stakes are that much higher, and the accountability is that much higher, but our calling is to continue in these things, and by God's Spirit, we can. It takes effort. And Paul says, I press, I push, I lean into the hill, and I go forward. Verse 15, Therefore, let us, as many as our mature, have this same mind, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

Brethren, he says, join in following my example, and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. And so, in other words, he's telling us to press forward together. Let's do this together. Let's be of the same mind, of the same focus. Note those who are on the same path, and we are doing this together. And it's not back there. The destination is forward, and it's forward together. This passage reminds us that we don't make this journey alone.

And it's not about me only. And it's not about you only. It is about us. And it's about us doing what we need to do to move forward as the congregation. Israel was the congregation in the wilderness, and their calling was to move forward. Follow the fire. Follow the cloud. Follow God's lead. We are the congregation, the called-out ones in the world today. That is this spiritual wilderness. And we're called to move forward together. And, brethren, we are our brother's keeper. We're called to look out for each other. We're called to help one another long in the process, and, yes, even pull one another from the fire, if it should become necessary, looking out the good of not only yourself, but the good of others.

We are our brothers and our sisters' keepers. There's a news story that I came across this week that, frankly, was a bit disappointing to me when I read it. In one sense, it kind of showed me mindset, the mentality of just mankind in the world around us. But it ended to a degree on a high note and reminded me of the value of looking out for one another, not just in the church. We are to be our brother's keeper in the church. But you know what? We're to be a light to this world. We're to be our brothers and sisters' keepers in this world around us, looking out for our fellow man as well.

So I read this article, and it was somewhat disappointing, but then, you know, also it had a glimmer of hope as well. There was a gas station in Kentucky selling gas, if you can believe it, for 44.9 cents a gallon. You know, you've probably all driven up to the pump. You know what gas costs these days. They were selling gas for 44.9 cents a gallon. And if you drove up to fill your car up, you probably said, that's a steal.

And you know what? It was a steal because it was also a mistake. It was a mistake. In setting the new price on the pumps that morning, the station owner had accidentally set the rate of 44.9 cents a gallon, when in fact he intended to set the rate at $4.49 a gallon. Probably forgot that extra 9 tenths, you know, on the end, so you miss a digit.

And on the computer pump, now, 44.9 cents a gallon. As customers filled up their vehicles that morning, they did so incredibly cheap. If you did the math, 20 gallons would cost you $8.98. You know, maybe if you're like me, you don't even like to look at the total number. Do you want to receipt? No. I don't even want to know. I'll look at the price on the sign, but, you know, it's kind of like... I saw a funny cartoon recently, right?

It was... I can't remember the full context of the cartoon, but it was the guy that was standing at the gas pump. You can get the picture. He's wearing a face mask standing at the gas pump. That was a year ago. This year, he's got the gas mask... or... gas mask... face mask over his eyes as a blinder, and he's standing there at the pump. So, what a difference a year makes. But... I had a point. Okay. So, you go fill up your SUV, and you buy 20 gallons. It costs $8.98.

And somebody's paying attention to the price, okay? You can't expect that person after person didn't notice that they're getting quite a deal on this. And you would think that someone would have alerted the gas station owner pretty quick, but nobody bothered to for hours. Vehicle after vehicle filled up at the pumps. Many were probably thinking, well, this is my lucky day. Others were probably thinking, I'm sticking it to the man.

You know? Exxon or whoever. But hour after hour, maybe you run two or three vehicles of your own through there. You're calling your family, you're calling your friends, get down here. 44.9 cents a gallon. Nobody bothered to tell the station owner that he was giving away thousands of dollars of fuel for five hours.

That's four dollars off per gallon. How many hundreds or thousands of gallons to get pumped out as word is spreading for five hours. Finally, one man bought 12.5 gallons of fuel and noticed it only cost him $5.68. He knew something was wrong, so he went inside to talk to the station owner. There's a little bit of a communication language barrier, so they print out a receipt for the pump. He shows them, here's how much I bought and how much I paid. The man frantically, this owner, quickly turned and punched in the new numbers on the computer. The article said, choking back tears the whole time. He was choking back tears in the process. Gas station owners only make a few cents a gallon. I don't know, three, five cents a gallon. The fact is, rising prices are killing them, too, because they're big... I keep doing that. Are the children awake? I want them to hear this sermon.

The profit margin comes with a convenience store. Somebody's going to buy pop, they're going to buy snacks, but now you spend all your money on fuel. Less and less people are going inside. These station owners are suffering anyway. This poor man had just lost thousands of dollars out of his own pocket in a matter of hours. This good Samaritan comes in and alerts them to it. There was a guy in line behind him who was angry. He wasn't angry because this station owner had been taken for a ride. He was angry because the guy blew the whistle. He said, what about us?

Who do you think you are? You just ruined a good thing. He was angry, but on a citizen, he actually paid full price. He said, let me pay fully for what I bought from you at this point. Henry DeHart of Chattanooga, Tennessee was the man who blew the whistle on the low price. In an interview, he said, what I find most frustrating about this is that this man, with the guts to own a small business, would get worked over by people for half of the day. He said, how many people this morning thought it was my lucky day while this man was getting taken to the cleaners?

Thousands of dollars, person after person. It's like nobody had an interest in helping this guy along who's just trying to make his way in the world like the rest of us. And I guess my point with that long story, brethren, is the fact we don't make this journey alone, and it's not about me only.

It's not about looking out for my interest only. It's about looking out for the interests of others. And we're to bring each other along to the degree that we can in this calling, maintaining the forward momentum. And yes, again, even if need be, pulling one another out of the fire. That requires a relationship. That requires commitment to one another.

We are, and we must be, our brother and our sister's keeper. For getting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead is an important aspect to remaining unleavened as we exit these days of unleavened bread. And it's not always easy to do so, but we're called to do it individually and collectively. And then we work together in this process by God's design.

When we consider the Apostle Paul, he had a lot to get past, didn't he, in his life? But frankly, when you think about the church, they had a lot to get past as well in terms of receiving him, accepting him, and allowing him to do the work that God had given him to do. Saul the destroyer, as he was known before Jesus Christ knocked him down on the road to Damascus, blinded him, revealed himself to him.

Saul thought he was fighting for God, thought he was upholding the God of his fathers in the persecution of the church, when in fact he was fighting against the work of God. But once that was revealed to him and he came to his senses, received God's Spirit, it was repentance, right? It was that 180-degree turn. It was going this way, but now I'm going this way, and it's forward in God's service. As Saul the destroyer, he persecuted the church viciously, committing men and women to prison, consenting to the deaths of others.

He said, I cast my vote against them. And it says he even compelled many to blaspheme. When you consider what would it be to cause a Christian to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ, that would include torture, among other things. And this was the Apostle Paul and what he had perpetrated upon the church. But just consider how the church had to come to terms with him. And he had to come to terms, frankly, with himself and move past what it was that he had done in order for them all to go forward together.

Fortunately, Paul, for him and for us, the blood of Jesus Christ is not like the blood of bulls and goats. It's not like the Old Covenant sacrifice that made people ceremonially clean before God, but they couldn't cleanse the conscience, couldn't heal the emotional damage as a consequence of sin. But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And as we truly repent before God and he forgives us, sometimes we have to be willing to forgive even ourselves.

To let go of the baggage, to let go of the damage that sometimes we drag with us, because, brethren, it's not healthy. God has called us out of sin, and yet we at times carry the guilt and the burden of Egypt with us, even in the process.

Even as we're trying to move forward, we haven't fully let go of the past. And it's not what God would have us to do because he's called us to be free. He's called us to follow his lead, and we cannot do so burdened by Egypt. If you're holding on to some form of guilt from a past sin or an action you've repented of, then you cannot truly move forward unless you let go, unless you accept yourself that you have been truly forgiven by God.

And if it's true repentance and we've turned and are going the other way from that action, God's forgiveness is there. A few quotes for you. Just these kind of points in the direction of where we've been and where we're going and the importance of leaving the past behind. This one is from Anonymous. And Anonymous says, You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one.

You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one. If you're stuck in the last chapter, turn the page. That's the point. Turn the page. Anonymous also said, You can't reach what is in front of you until you let go of what is behind you. You can't reach what's in front of you until you let go of what's behind you. It's like you're holding on to something here and you're reaching for something there and you come to the end of how far you can go and you just You have to let go before you can step forward and grab on and press for the goal that's before you.

Another quote from Anonymous. I hope to meet Anonymous someday and ask, how did you become so wise? Anonymous says, Don't let yesterday take up too much of today. Don't let yesterday take up too much of today. The point is, repent. We have to repent. Lay it all before God, but move on. Repent and move on. Sometimes that can be hard. Sometimes you can see the physical consequences around you. If somebody drives drunk and they hit somebody and they kill them, God may grant forgiveness and you may struggle with that guilt for a long time.

Come to the point of letting it go, but you know damage is still there. It's hard in some ways to move forward and to move past. It doesn't mean you make those pointless or of no significance, but the point is God would not have us stay stuck under the burden of something that he has released us from through the sacrifice of his Son. So to hold on to the guilt and the grief over a past sin that God has forgiven us of is to remain in bondage to that sin still.

And in that condition, you cannot truly walk free. You cannot truly move forward. And that's not what God wants for us. The God who we worship opens the sea. And what did he do for Israel? He opened the sea.

They passed through the sea. And what did the Bible call that? They called that a baptism. They were baptized into Moses. Moses was the mediator of the covenant. We are baptized into Jesus Christ. He is the mediator of the new covenant. But it was a type of baptism that Israel walked through as they went through the sea, and it typifies the baptism we've received in Jesus Christ. God removed Egypt from their life.

So you heard in the first message, right? You open the sea, Pharaoh pursues, and God closes the sea. Sin is buried in baptism. They're dead. And Israel walks forward free. And they weren't to try to reverse course and swim the Red Sea back to where they had come from. God offered them true deliverance by burying the bondage that came for them in the sea. And similarly, God has buried our sins through the water of baptism.

And he wants us to walk forward as people unencumbered and free so that we can follow his lead. So when the cloud moves, we move. And where God goes, we go as well. That's a significant point of this day. One more quote for you from Anonymous. Anonymous says, Don't look back. You're not going that way anyway. Don't look back. You're not going that way anyway. And Jesus Christ put it in another way, but similar.

He said, No one having put their hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. We're going forward. Our focus is forward. Our attention is forward. And we press forward. That's what God has set before us all. And so the lesson for us who have walked out of spiritual Egypt is that we must forget those things which are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead. Put your all into going in that direction because it is the direction that God is leading.

The cloud never ever ever directed the people back to Egypt again. God was always bringing them to their inheritance. Israel had a problem, though. They were constantly wanting to return to Egypt. And we saw that at the Red Sea crossing. Oh, it would have been better to have died in Egypt than to come out here. And you saw it if you were to study through their treks across the wilderness. When they got thirsty, they wanted to go back. When they got hungry, they wanted to go back.

And when they faced obstacles. And it was a constant issue all the way up to the brink of the Promised Land. And God considered that resistance to be rebellion by those people. You recall it was a sentiment that eventually led to their wandering 40 years in the wilderness. That was a time actually the cloud ceased going forward for a time. It never went back to Egypt. They wandered in circles, we could say, in the wilderness, until that generation died off and the generation that was willing to go forward was prepared. And then would follow God's lead. But they came right up to the edge of the Promised Land and they got a glimpse inside. And they said, no thank you.

Giants, cities walled up to heaven, fortifications, superior armies apart from God. And they said, no thank you. And they considered going back to Egypt a better option. Let us select a leader because we want to kill these leaders, select a leader that will take us back to Egypt again.

Let's notice Stephen's summary of their story in Acts 7. Acts 7, verse 35. Stephen basically carries us from Abraham all the way up through his time and Jesus Christ. But let's get this snapshot of Israel in the wilderness. Acts 7, verse 35 says, Does this Moses, whom they rejected, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge, is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer, by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush?

If we understand the word angel in the Old and New Testament, Greek and Hebrew, can mean essentially messenger. And that's who the word Jesus Christ was as he appeared to Moses in the bush. Verse 36 says, And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. In their hearts they turned back to Egypt. After all God had done to deliver them, the plagues upon Egypt, the Passover that broke Pharaoh's hold, opening to see before them, giving them manna in the desert, giving them water in the desert, they came up to that brink, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt.

And they rejected the leadership and the deliverance that God would bring. The problem with the Israelites was you can take Israel out of Egypt, but you couldn't get Egypt out of the Israelites. And there were just some things they couldn't seem to let go of, and their heart was always yearning to go back, where God had delivered them from by blood. And, brethren, the lesson for us is we must not fall into the same trap and the same mindset.

Let's notice the consequence of Israel's reaction here, and it's instructive for us. 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1, says, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed or accompanied them, as it is in the Greek, and that rock was Christ. It says, But with most of them God was not well pleased, for the bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

This is the result, brethren, of refusing to carry forward to the end. God was not well pleased with them, and their journey ended rather abruptly with their bodies just being scattered in the wilderness. It took forty years, but rebellion against God and refusing to go forward leads to death, because forward is the only way that leads to life. So again, that cloud circled for forty years until a generation was prepared that would go forward in their place.

Verse 6, Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written, that people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents.

Nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stand takes heed, lest he fall. Brethren, you and I have to be on the lookout in our own lives for the same spiritual attitude that grabbed hold of physical Israel.

We are the ones who have the attitude that kept them from receiving the inheritance, kept them from fully following God's lead. They'd follow them for a while when conditions were good, but as soon as there was challenge or difficulty that confronted them, they wanted to go back, and it must not be so among us. And Paul says, this is written for our example, upon whom the end of the ages have come. We are so much more there than he was even in his day. These words are for you and for me.

If we ever start to think that somehow life is better for us back in spiritual Egypt, then we've lost perspective, and we've taken our eye off the lead of God, Father, and Jesus Christ. And whenever Israel thought Egypt was better, they turned their back on the cloud and on the fire that led them. Forward must always be our perspective. Let's conclude in Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12, it's a chapter that falls right on the heels of Hebrews 11, if you could guess. Hebrews 11, right? The cloud of witnesses. Those faithful individuals who have gone before, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rahab, those who responded to God in faith and followed his lead because they could see a promised future in a heavenly country. Hebrews 12, verse 1 says, therefore, as in light of what we've just read, Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Right? God opened the sea before them, and he said, go forward. In this race, brethren, does never take us back to Egypt. It always takes us forward to the destination God has purposed for us. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set notice before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and it sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus Christ himself was willing to endure all that he endured for the joy that was set before him, for the promise and the vision of being restored to glory at the right hand of his Father. But not only that, I would say that was secondary to the vision of you and I receiving the glory of God the Father and Jesus Christ through his sacrifice. That was the joy that was set before him, and because of that, he endured all that he endured for you and for me. Verse 3, for consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. So the lesson for us is, if we ever become tired or we ever become worried and we start to doubt what it is that God is doing, look to the example of Jesus Christ. Consider what he endured and what he was willing to endure for our salvation. And consider the price that was paid. As I spoke on before these holy days began, consider the price that the Father was willing to pay. He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, the greatest price he could give for us. And Jesus Christ himself, for his love of the world, laid down his very own life. He said, I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again so that you and I could live. So if we become tired or weary or lose focus, we must turn our focus to these things, what has been done for us. And then from that perspective also be renewed in the knowledge that God who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. There are none feeble in this tribe that he's called out of the world. You all have the ability to make it to the kingdom of God by his Spirit and by the bread of life living in you. As long as we follow the lead of the cloud and of the fire, putting one foot in front of the other and moving in the direction God has called us to. Because he's not called us to fail. He's not called us to return to Egypt. He's called us to succeed.

God has called you out of this world. And he's put us together. And he said, you make this journey together. And we do so knowing that God will fight for us. That's what he told Israel, right? They came up against the sea. God will fight for you, and he did. God will open the sea for us because he did so for Israel as well. We can walk forward in confidence in that. But we must do our part just as Israel had to do their part. We must go forward, seek the kingdom, and never return that way again. Because brethren, forward is the way that leads to life.