| | | | We belong in the Promised Land - Jude 1:5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. Jude 1:5
In yesterdays post, Jude taught us that when we use grace as an excuse to live in open immorality, its like putting two locomotives on the same track heading towards each other; There's going to be a train wreck, and both grace and obedience will be destroyed - along with the passengers! That's why Jude says when a person uses grace as an excuse for sin, they "deny the Lord Jesus Christ," Jesus said...
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets ….but to fulfill. Matt 5:17
Its a misrepresentation of who God is.
Its a misrepresentation of who God's people are and how they should live
To help us grasp this truth, Jude gives us a few examples from the Old Testament, and the first one is Israel.
Example #1: Israel (Numbers 13-14)
5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jude is going back to the time when the nation of Israel was delivered by the power of God from the bondage of Egypt, and brought to the edge of the Promised Land. They witnessed the plagues, experienced God's miraculous deliverance at the Red Sea, they heard the very voice of God at Mount Sinai. They received manna from heaven, water from a rock, a cloud to cover them from the sun during the day, and fire from heaven at night! Standing at the edge of the Promised Land, they only needed to step out in faith and enter!
But the spies saw how big the men were, and they became afraid. Joshua and Caleb tried to encourage them to go, but the people refused. They not only refused, they decided to stone Joshua and Caleb, pick another leader, and go back to Egypt! After all God did for them, they still lapsed into unbelief, and as a result they never entered into the place of blessing and rest God had for them. It wasn't that God was mad at them for not going into the land, it wasn't simple stubbornness. By wanting to go back to Egypt, the Israelites were in effect rejecting God, they were rejecting all that God had done for them, and all that God had promised them. Their desire to return to Egypt revealed where their heart really was… in Egypt!
There's an additional side note to this truth: Once a person accepts Jesus Christ, going back to Egypt is no longer an option. They can try, but Egypt will never be the same. Think about it, how would it have went for the Israelites had they returned to Egypt? Would the Egyptians have accepted them back, and things gone back to how they were before? No... their lives would have been much worse. The Egyptian slave-masters would have been more cruel, their bondage much deeper.
The same is true with a Christian. Once you've accepted Christ, and the Spirit of the living God lives within you, Egypt is no longer an option. If we try and go back, our lives will be wose, our bondage greater. Christians, we belong in the Promised Land!
Tomorrow, we'll look at the second example in Jude, fallen angels.
Pastor Clay | | | | | | | |
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