Leaving Spiritual Egypt Behind

Brethren, today is the last day of Unleavened Bread. Traditionally, this portrays a time looked upon when the nation of Israel went through the Red Sea, and in doing so, left Egypt behind. This deliverance was the most wonderful physical deliverance Israel was ever to experience in their national history. Of course, a much greater deliverance would take place later on with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Passover. Our God is the great deliverer. Our God is the great giver of hope. This weekend, we are hosting our Young Adults. Ages anywhere from 18 to 35 or 36, somewhere in there. All of us today are looking at a specific scripture, and I'll get to that in a few minutes, as the theme for the weekend. But one of the great words in this scripture that I'm going to read in just a couple of minutes is the word hope. The word hope. Our great God is the great deliver, the great giver of hope. He mercifully has delivered each and every one of us. That's why we're here today, to worship Him. He's delivered us through many and varied trials. He's been there for us. We've experienced the power of His deliverance. And as you and I have experienced the power of His deliverance, we've experienced a great deal of joy. We've rejoiced. We've felt hope. Or maybe others in a similar situation would have no hope. To get us started today with the message, let's take a look at John 10 and verse 10. John chapter 10 and verse 10. I quote this quite often. I think it's a powerful scripture.

John chapter 10 and verse 10. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that He might have it more abundantly. Let's zero in on that last phrase. I have come, Christ has come, that they may have life and that they might have it more abundantly. When our great God delivered Israel from Egypt, He delivered them from the harsh bondage of slavery. He delivered them from Egypt's society of false gods, false customs, false values. He delivered them from a way of life that produced only suffering. Our great God has delivered us from a way of death, and we're so very thankful for that. As we heard in today's message, the beginning message, our sermonette, our great God has given us a way that works, a way that produces fruit, a way that is a way of healing. Our great God has delivered us from a way of life, a way of thinking that was life-crushing, life-defeating. And God has set us free to pursue and enjoy the godly hopes and dreams of walking toward the kingdom of God, our promised land. By way of contrast, John 10.10. Let's look at the first half of the Scripture. The thief, talking about Satan, does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Whereas our God is a great deliverer, the great giver of hope, Satan is the great enslaver. Satan is the great crusher of hope. And you know, it's easy for us to think, well, we're coming out of society, and society's got no hold on us because God has called us to a way of life that works, as we heard just a few moments ago. And all that's true. But when you take a look at what happened with Israel, and we think about us and our relationship with society today, Israel had to go through those first three of the 10 plagues. Oh, they cried. They wanted deliverance. But there was something in them where God had to say, well, you know, you think you want deliverance. No, I know you want deliverance, but there's, you're holding back a little bit. You still have too much into the current society in Egypt. So God allowed them to go through those first three plagues, along with the Egyptians. And then God made a difference between Israel and Egypt. It wasn't long after they left Egypt that the nation of Israel began to murmur, showing their heart wasn't fully in what they thought it was in. They began to say, you know, I wish we were back in Egypt.

Now they felt elated when they left. They wanted to be away from slavery, but there were certain things that they were invested in that they didn't really fully realize they were invested in when it came to Egypt and Egyptian society. Once again, mentioning our sermonette, talking about 1995 and what took place in our church 24 years ago. You know, Mr. Armstrong used to give sermons and say, 50% of you folks don't get this. And bless his heart, he was overly conservative. It was probably 90% that weren't getting it. 80 to 90% of the people many of us used to fellowship with went back into Egypt. They went back into Egypt. They walked away from our God, the Great Deliverer, the Great Giver of Hope, and went back to the way of thinking that would enslave them and crush their hope. They went back to spiritual slavery. They went back to a society with its numerous false gods, values, and customs. They went back to a way of life that would only eventually produce suffering. The question for us today, for each and every one of us, are we still living enslaved in spiritual Egypt? We're not going to talk about a history lesson today. We're talking about our day right now, our society right now. Where are we? Where is our mind right now today? Are we still living enslaved in spiritual Egypt with its false hopes and dreams? Or have we allowed God to free us from the bondage of those false hopes and dreams to pursue the kingdom of God, our promised land? My theme today is very simple. If you're the kind of person who likes to take notes, you might want to jot this across the top of your paper. Leave spiritual Egypt behind with its false hopes, and go forward with godly hope toward the kingdom. Leave spiritual Egypt behind with its false hopes, and go forward with godly hope toward the kingdom of God. Now, I made mention that we have a theme for those who are not young adults and have now gotten the various packets of information we've sent out. Our theme is here in 1 Peter 3 and verse 15. Let's turn over there. I promised I would read that. Let's take a look at it. 1 Peter 3 and verse 15, all weekend long, through various seminars and sermons and Bible studies and breakout groups, we're going to be examining this particular Scripture. We're going to really dissect it. We're going to take a good close look at it and understand the meat that is here. 1 Peter 3 and verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. 2 Peter 3 and verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. We're looking at a frame of mind. We're looking at a frame of mind that produces something in our hearts. It produces a kind of an action. It says, always be ready to give. What did Mr. Armstrong preach so eloquently over the years? He talked about a way of give. We are out of the abundance of the heart give to the people around us. And what are we to give them? A defense. A biblically reasoned, a biblically well thought out discussion as to why we believe what we believe.

Give a defense to everyone who asked a reason for the hope that is in us. The hope that is in you. And we do it with meekness and we do it with fear. We don't end our room and say, hey, I've got the answers, you poor dumb person. I got the answers that I'm going to give them to you. You sit down in that chair. I'm going to preach at you. No, we don't do that. We don't call anybody dumb. We stand in the grace of God. We understand, whether we're fifth generation Christian, like some of you are, or a first gen like me, we understand what we understand by the grace and the mercy of God Almighty. It's not because of what we are. It's not because of our intellect. It's because of what God has done in each and every one of our hearts and minds, as He's opened our hearts and minds to see His beautiful truth. So on this last day of Unleavened Bread, we want to focus on leaving the leavened hopes and dreams that Satan would love us to bite on and hold and embrace. We want to leave those behind. We want to move forward. We want to move forward to the kingdom of God with the hopes and the dreams that should be ours. I've only got two points for you. I've given you the overall theme of the sermon today. Point number one of the two points I've got. Point number one, one. Satan's hopes and dreams for you mean that you will be settling for less, far, far less if you go that route. And I believe I know you well if you don't want to settle for that. You don't want to settle for Satan's hopes and dreams for you. You don't want to be settling for far, far less. And yet, brethren, there are plenty of people that I have known. I've not been coming to church as long as many of you. I've been coming to church after I left my parents' home and was able to be on my own at age 18. I've been coming to church since 1970, even though Sabbath and Holy Days at home since 1967. And I appreciate the fact of what God has given me. And you appreciate the fact of what God has given you. And we don't want anything less than the beautiful things that God has for us. So let us not settle for less. Others have. You know, there was a survey that was done years and years and years back when I was a student at Ambassador College in the early 70s. And somebody took a look at the history. I don't know how they did this. But they said at that particular point in the early 1970s, two people out of every three who came into the church left. I don't know if they were talking about baptized people, attendees, what they were talking about. And all I know is what I was told in a sermon one day. Too many people have gone back into spiritual Egypt. We don't want it to be us. You don't want it to be you. I don't want it to be me. We don't want to settle for far, far less. And yet Satan never rests. He never, never rests or let go. 2 Timothy 2. I mean 2 Corinthians 2.

2 Corinthians 2. There's a concept here we want to wrap our minds around. 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 11. Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Satan has devices. The exegetical dictionary of the New Testament in defining devices calls these evil intentions or schemes. Satan has his evil intentions and schemes. He wants us to go back into the world. He wants us to go back into spiritual slavery. He wants us to fall for evil intentions and schemes. He wants to enslave us. He wants us to enslave us. God will be there every step of the way to help us in that battle, help us in that fight. Let's turn to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6.

Verse 16. Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey? You are that one slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were the slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Echo the sermonette you heard earlier. I think both messages are working together quite nicely here. But God be thanked that though you were the slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. Don't have to cross the red sea to be delivered. You can be delivered from all sorts of falsehoods that Satan would have you and I to swallow, to believe. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to moral lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

We don't want to settle for the passing pleasures of this world. We've got a brother. Now, we've got an elder brother, Jesus Christ, but we've got a lot of brothers and sisters in the Scripture. If you take a look at Hebrews 11, you can see some of their stories. Certainly Moses would be one of them. Moses didn't want to settle for far, far less. He wanted a real thing. Now, at this point in my notes, I want to go through some of the hopes and dreams that Satan would have some of us fall for.

And a lot of these, brethren, are not evil ovened by themselves. A lot of these aren't necessarily leavened ovened by themselves, but if you and I view them and pursue them as an end in themselves, then we are settling for far, far less. Then we will fall miserably short of what God desires for us. It's a matter of orientation. It's a matter of perspective. You know, as I was thinking about this materialist last week, something interesting happened to me.

I was in Aurora on Orchard Road, driving north. At that point, there's two lands going north, two lands going south, and about 100 yards in front of me pulls out this beautiful vintage Corvette. I think it was probably about a 1960s, 1970s vintage. Somebody had done a marvelous job of restoring that vehicle. It wasn't the original paint color that normally would have been on that kind of a car. He had a painted bright white chrome. It was a day like this sun shining down on that chrome. Gorgeous car. And I'm thinking, wow, that's a gorgeous car. No sooner had that thought left my mind than the hubcap flew off.

It was the hubcap on the driver's side front tire. Flew off like a frisbee. Didn't hurt anybody. And as my mind is trying to wrap myself around that, then momentarily the whole front tire flew off. And here you've got this beautiful car who's now going nose down. The driver's trying to take control. He's swerving it off the side of the road.

But this tire is bouncing on the other northbound lane, crosses that onto the southbound oncoming lane, and crashes into a pickup truck. Now, I'm going about 50 miles an hour, so all of this is happening in a matter of a few seconds. I didn't see the damage that took place on the truck. But perspective is interesting, because there's an awful lot of people who say, boy, I would set my heart on having a car like that.

Oh, really? I'm driving my little family car down the road. There's that beautiful vet just sitting there, lopsided, looking awful. I've got my granddad's car that I'm driving. Granddad's car that I'm driving. That happened to me, I don't know why, but back when I was in sales in Michigan, back in the 1970s, I remember I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was on a freeway. And again, there's a pickup truck, not more than maybe 100 yards in front of me.

I need to follow more than 100 yards behind vehicles, I guess. And not only did the back tire, driver's tire of this pickup truck, fly off, it flew off with part of the axle. So as the back end of the truck went down, the tire went flying in the air, and it's bouncing. It's bouncing like five and six feet high with a part of that axle in there. And I'm thinking, what if that thing comes right through my windshield?

I'll be stuck like a bug. Two months later, and I don't know if it's the same guy, same truck, but two months later, the same thing happened. Same freeway, Grand Rapids, Michigan, pickup truck, another tire and axle goes off. I thought, I've got to stop working Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lovely town, but I don't need to be there. Perspective is so interesting. I was reading a story about our Apollo astronauts. Our Apollo astronauts, when they were going to the moon, were traveling at approximately 24,000 miles per hour.

24,000 miles per hour. Now, what is that? That's seven miles per second.

Now, let's look at the first one. Now, let's imagine our astronaut, this is imaginary, let's imagine our astronauts can travel at 186,000 miles per second. Speed of light. Little audience participation here. Not real loudly, but out loud, say the word Jerusalem. Okay. At 186,000 miles per second, when you said the word Jerusalem, light went around this world seven times. Now, I can't get out of my chair. You say Jerusalem next to me. I can't get out of my chair seven times. At the speed of light, one can reach the moon in less than two seconds. You can reach the nearest star in four years. In 120,000 years, you would reach the outer edge of the Milky Way. I know you're going to be awash in numbers here. In two million years, you can reach the constellation Adromina. In 20 million years, you can get to another galaxy. So here we've got a God who's created this vastness of space. And it is said that when the first Russian cosmonaut circled the Earth at 300 miles into space, he said, I've looked and I don't see God. He was like an ant on a boulder. I've looked. I don't see God. It's a matter of perspective. Satan certainly has perspectives for us. He wants us to bite on certain things. As I said, some of the things I'm going to mention, and young adults, I'm not picking on you. Because the things I'm about to mention, whether you're 18, 36, or 106, any of these things, any of us can fall for. False hopes and dreams that we can set our heart on. Examples. We can hope for material things. We can set our heart on a big house, a nice car, fashionable clothes, a big enough budget for luxury travel. Now, is any of those things wrong of them by themselves? Of course not. And frankly, some of those things could be used quite profitably. You can have a big house, and you invite a lot of people in. You do a lot of entertaining. You do a lot of serving. You can have a big car. You drive people places. It's a matter of how we use what God gives us. But we don't want to be materialistic. And over the years, as I've dealt with, you know, the 40 years I've been in the ministry, and I've dealt with various aspects of the Church of God, various groups in the Church of God, because I've asked various people, what do they think is some of the biggest problems facing God's people? One of the things they'll bring up on almost every occasion is materialism. That's a false hope. That's a false dream when we set our heart on that as an end to itself. Let's look at Colossians chapter 3. Here's where our hearts need to be. Colossians chapter 3 verse 1.

If then you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on the earth. This is what we are aiming for. This is what we want. We don't want to settle for far, far less by just having a nice car with its wheel off sitting on the side of the road. Other things we can hope for. The Satan would love us to bite on and just set our hopes and dreams on that as an end to itself. Self-confidence. Self-confidence. We don't want to look or feel fat. We want to be attractive as we age. We want an attractive spouse. Once again, is there anything wrong with any of that, of and by itself? No, improper balance. But if we are just simply looking at this as an end to itself, then we're really biting on the wrong thing. 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. You know this section starting here in verse 15.

1 John 2.15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. The world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. Satan wants us to get into these physical things, but God wants us so much more for us. He's got so much, much more for us. How about career? How about career? How about career? We want to reach a level of success that we feel makes us untouchable at work. We can't be replaced because of our level of expertise. We want to feel as capable as others think we are. We want to feel as capable as others think we are. We got some people fooled. We want to be recognized as talented or even brilliant. Now, there's nothing wrong with being recognized for doing good work, but if that is the end in itself, we're settling for a physical crown. We don't want to be settling for that. Revelation chapter 5. In verse 10, talking about career, Revelation 5.10, And is made as kings and priests to our God, And we shall reign on the earth. Now there is a career. There is where we can set our heart. We are looking to be with God in His kingdom and to serve for all eternity.

One last area here. There can be so many more. I think most all of us in this room can appreciate this one. A hope for health things. None of us like being ill. None of us like being under the weather. None of us like going through the things we've gone through. I certainly don't. You know, I've catalogued with the congregation here and in Beloit what I've gone through physically. You don't need to keep on bringing that up. But again, as Randy Delosandro is looking at this as a end in itself, such as growing old without losing your mind or control of your body. Hey, who wants that? I don't want that. You don't want that. But again, are we just looking at the physical alone? We don't want to die from a painful or debilitating disease. We want to have plenty of energy to enjoy each day.

Satan wants us to just zero in on the physical. Again, we need to be taking care of ourselves. There's laws that God has put in place for our bodies and minds. We understand that. Again, we want to approach this from a balanced perspective. But again, Satan wants us to focus in on only the physical. Let's look at Isaiah chapter 60. Here's a prophecy about your future.

Isaiah chapter 60.

We read so many times about the resurrection in the New Testament. Here's a scripture that deals with the resurrection in the Old Testament. It's talking about you. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1, where it says, "...arise and shine, for your light has come." This is talking about a time when you are resurrected as a spirit being, a creation of light, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people. Here we've got a time frame. The end of the age. You know the scriptures we go through on the Feast of Trumpets. It's a horrible time for the world, the worst time the world has ever seen. So it is a time of darkness. But in that time of darkness is the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is your resurrection. End of verse 2. But the Lord will arise over you, and his glory will be seen upon you. The Gentile shall come to your light, and the King shall come to the brightness of your rising. Now that's a career. That's a career.

So brethren, let us not allow Satan to feed us hopes and dreams where we settle for far, far less. Paul talked about this. Let's give one last verse in regard to this section of the sermon. Let's go over to Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3, verse 3, For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. For I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I more so. Then he goes through a number of things where he could be crowing about how great he was in the flesh. But notice his conclusion here in verse 7 and 8. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I might gain Christ. Count them as rubbish. So Satan has hopes and dreams for you. He hopes that you will settle for far, far less. And yet you don't want that. You want to settle for the abundant life. That brings me to point number two, last point of the day. Go forward with godly hope toward the kingdom. Let's look at the positive here. Go forward with godly hope toward the kingdom.

I know many times the physical can get us down. Second day of Unleavened Bread, I gave my daughter Danielle a phone call. She turned 34. And I called her up, said, sis, how you doing? Not so good. I could tell by her voice. I said, sis, what's wrong? I'm 34! I'm old! I said, Danielle, I'm almost twice your age. She said, yeah, you're almost 70! I said, well, thanks, baby. You know, it was tough as a kid working with those clay tablets and the styluses.

I said, sis, you are 34. How I wish I could be 34. Now, if I could be 34 again, I want to take what I've learned from that point to this point. I want to take that back with me. I don't want to go back and make all those same mistakes, horrible things again. She said, I know, Daddy.

Let's look at 1 Corinthians 2.

Thankfully, by the end of the conversation, she didn't feel so bad about being 34. She's my pumpkin. Pumpkin, pumpkinetta. 1 Corinthians 2.

Verse 9, 1 Corinthians 2.9, But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. As we de-leaven our lives, as we leave spiritual Egypt behind, in all the false hopes and dreams Satan would want us to bite on and accept and embrace, as we de-leaven and leave spiritual Egypt behind, let's look forward to the tremendous hope that God gives to us. I just listed a few of these hopes here. 1. Hope. The hope of the resurrection. The hope of the resurrection. Let's turn to the resurrection chapter here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you in mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, the last trump, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when the corruptible is put on incorruption and the mortal is put on immortality, and shall be brought to pass the same that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? We, as Christians, have the hope of being freed from the enslavement of the flesh. And I don't know about you, but I look forward to that.

I look forward to that. I get tired of asking my wife where my glasses are, and she says, they're on your head. I would like to have better vision. I'd like to have not one ear that almost doesn't work. I was happy when I found out that I was having some issues with blood pressure and some other things recently, and I went and had some expensive tests done. Because back in August of 2015, I had a quadruple bypass. And I thought, oh man, maybe the bypasses aren't working. Maybe I need to have some stents or something done. All that was okay. All that was okay. But it helped me to appreciate the fact of what God has given me. He's given you and I the freedom. We don't want this flesh in all of its problems. We are going to be resurrected to a whole different kind of a life into God's kingdom. And think about it. We tend to think about it from our perspective. As we talked about perspective, let's think about the resurrection from Christ's perspective, from God's perspective. How much God our Father has loved those who have gone before us in the faith. The Abrahams, the Moseses, the Daniels, the Debras, the Saros, the Mary, Marys, Peter, Paul, all the various ones. We can name so many of them. And yet, their voices are now silent. And when Jesus Christ is going around the globe and he's collecting all the saints, just think of the thought that's going through his mind, but now he can talk to Abraham again. Now we can talk to Sarah again. Now we can talk to Deborah again. And the ecstasy that the Father and Jesus Christ are going to feel because of the hope of the resurrection. This is something we want to hold on to. Satan can't touch that. There's another hope here we can talk about. The hope of the crown of life. The hope of the crown of life. Revelation 2. Interesting where this is placed. There are other places, but this particular setting here. Revelation 2, verse 10.

This is to the church in Smyrna, a much persecuted church. Notice what it says here in Revelation 2, verse 10. Now does Jesus Christ then say, forget it because I'm not going to let you suffer? No. They're going to suffer. We're going to suffer. Do not fear any of those things you are about to suffer. Earlier today, as young adults, we heard Mr. Faye talk about the fear of fear. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. And notice again, Christ doesn't say, but I'm going to stop him. Doesn't say that. The devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. Again. Not intervening there. There's lessons for us to learn as we suffer. And you'll have tribulation 10 days. 10 years. 10 years. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. The crown of life. And again, Christ's perspective, God's perspective. You know, one of the sacrifices those of us in the full-time ministry make is we're not near our families. You, some of you, because of your profession, you're not near your families. So many of us are in that same boat. You are my family. I get to be with you. And I appreciate that. And I love you, and you love me. And I really appreciate it. But when I think about some of the best times in my life, I think about what it was like to be around a dinner table with my mother and father, and my brother and my sister. I think about what it's like when I'm able to go back to Michigan and have a meal with my son and his wife and the three kids, or my daughter and his, her husband and their kid. And just, there are so many times I'm sitting in a situation like this, I think it's so good to be with family. It's so good to be a family. And Christ realizes, and we realize, that we're going to have that for all time. The crown of life. Not going away. Not going away. That's a tremendous hope to hold on to. Another hope. Another hope. The hope of a glorified body and mind. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Verse 42. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It's sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown in a natural body. It is raised in a spiritual body. There's a natural body, and there's a spiritual body. Notice. In glory and in power. I look forward to that. You can look forward to that. And you do look forward to that. You know, when you think about our Father God, when you think about our elder brother, Jesus Christ, and you think they have been in existence for all time, and you think that there's coming a day when you are resurrected, and your mind is not like it is now. I mean, back in a day when I was going through school, I had a tremendous memory. You asked me to memorize something. Now, it wasn't a photographic memory. It wasn't that good. But I had a good memory. Today, I remember to have a pencil and paper at all times. That's my memory today. If I can write things down. But when we're resurrected, about the closest I can think is our minds. Are going to be like a supercomputer. And as the Father and Jesus Christ are teaching us, we are just absorbing this in. And we'll never catch up with them. And we'll learn, and we'll learn, and we'll understand, and we can ask questions. How beautiful is that? To be face-to-face with the Father. To be face-to-face with Jesus Christ. To ask whatever questions we want to ask. And we'll get those answers. And to learn, and to grow, and be stretched. I don't think we're going to be resurrected and just kind of sit around, playing chess or checkers or something. I think God's got something else. I don't know what he's got in mind, but he's going to have something in mind. God's a worker. He works. He wants us to work. And we've been doing that. Which gives me a segue to the next hope here. The hope of service in the kingdom of God. The hope of service in the kingdom of God. Let's go to John 14.

John 14, verse 1.

Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house. In my Father's house. Now, what is the Father's house? In John 2 16, the Father's house is the temple. In the Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I'd go and prepare a place for you. Mansions translates from a word that means dwelling places. Around the exterior of the wall of the temple are many chambers for the priests to use when counseling worshipers. There were locations that there were these niches they could go into. So Christ here is talking about how He's preparing a place for us to serve. Verse 3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also.

A place of service where we roll up our sleeves spiritually for all eternity and do the will of God with the family of God, being challenged, being stretched. Last hope I have for you today, and there are so many more, but last I have for you today, is the hope of eternal at-one-ment with God and Jesus Christ. True, unleavening, true, unleavened hope of eternal at-one-ment with God and Christ. Revelation 21. And that's one of the more powerful and beautiful scriptures that there is in my estimation. Revelation 21. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth that passed away, and there is no more sea. New ballgame here. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he, God, will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor cry. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. The former things have passed away. The heavens, the earth, will be transformed, because sin once lived here. Satan once rebelled here, and that needs to be purged, that needs to be cleansed, and it will be cleansed. Then we who are glorified will inherit from God all things, all things. Join ownership and rule over not just the earth, but the entirety of the universe, and we will be at one with God and Christ for all time. What gets better than that? We're talking about an unleavened lifestyle. What gets better than being at one with God and Jesus Christ for all time? Those are the hopes. Those are the dreams that we want to set our hearts upon, not the things that Satan would have us set our hearts upon. So today we've asked the question, are we still enslaved in spiritual Egypt with its false hopes and dreams, or if we allow God to free us of the bondage of those false hopes and dreams to pursue the promised land, the kingdom of God? My point today was very simple, a little wordy, but simple. Leave spiritual Egypt behind with its false hopes and go forward with godly hope toward the kingdom. We just took a look at a few of the false dreams and hopes that Satan would have us settle for. Material things, self-conscious things, emotional things, career-related things, health things, which again, of them by themselves aren't bad, but if that's where it ends for us, that is bad. And we looked at things where we go forward with godly hope toward the kingdom. We look forward to the abundant life, the hope of the resurrection, the hope of the crown of life, the hope of a glorified body, the hope of service of the kingdom of God, the hope of eternal at one moment with God in Christ. Last scripture, Matthew 25.

Matthew 25, verse 21. I read a letter in my Bible.

This is now reality. No longer is looking down the road here. We're looking at this is what God has given us, the joy of our Lord.