Read Text: Number 14: 3-4
State Subject: The danger of turning back
Title: God will not part a Red Sea back into Egypt!
Objective: the purpose of the message this morning is to inform the listeners that there is a danger in turning away from the will of God.
Introduction: Church, what the children of Israel fail to see and what we as Christians often do not seem to comprehend, is there is a danger in turning away from the will of God. Church, you need to know this morning that there is a grave danger in going in the opposite direction from whence God has called us to go. For as we read in the Scripture lesson this morning in Hebrews the 10th chapter there is a danger in drawing back. Church, we need to understand this morning, God will not part a Red Sea for you to go back into Egypt.
You know church we wonder sometime why life is so difficult- we know that we have been saved and delivered and given a new life with new opportunities and we say that we are on our way to heaven. However, every now and then we get to a point in life where everything seems to going wrong. We get to a point in life where everything seems to be working against us. We began to have problems on our jobs, we began to have problems in our homes, we get to a point where our health seems to be on a steady decline, we find we are having headaches, backaches, muscle spasms, blood pressure goes up, heart rate slows down. Nothing sets well on our stomachs anymore. We find ourselves trying every medicine, every remedy, never the less nothing seems to do us any good. On the job, it seems like as soon as we get one problem solved two more pop up. At the house, as soon as one bill is paid off or caught up, another bill collector is calling talking about “what about me” In other words you get the mortgage caught up and the car note and the phone bill is pass due. On the other hand, you get the house painted only to realize that the carpet needs replacing. No only that but we get to a point sometimes where we starts to notice problems in the church. The ushers get it together at last, but the choir is falling apart. The steward and trustees are finally working together, but the deaconess’ are fussing and fighting. - Help me Holy Ghost. Church we find this happening in our life we need to examine our self and see if we are on the right course, we need to see if we are line up with what God has called us to do. We need to check and be sure we are not making the same mistake that the children of Israel made. For God will not part a Red Sea back into Egypt
You see church, the children of Israel was enslaved in Egypt and they cried out to God because of their bondage, and God spoke to Moses in a burning bush, and God told Moses I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt and I have heard their cry and I know their sorrows. Therefore, I have come down to deliver them from the out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up to a land flowing with milk and honey. And God told Moses Go and tell Pharaoh to let My people go. We know the story of how through many signs and wonders, God freed the people of Israel from the Egyptians and how He brought them to the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and His army was on their track, we know how when they got to the Red Sea, they look to the left and there was no where to go; they looked to right and could not go that way either; we know how it is sometime, with trouble on every side the only way they could go was forward, and how God stepped in and made a highway out of no way, and they people of God walk through the Red Sea on dry ground. Glory Hallelujah, but the story did not end there, after just three days journey, they ran out of water, and they came to a Marah, but they could not drink the water because it was bitter, but God showed Moses a tree, and when he cast the tree in the water the water were made sweet, Glory Hallelujah, keep my mind clear this morning Holy Ghost. And church we know it was not long before they ran out of food and they became to complain, so God fed them bread from heaven, and when they ran out of water again, He provided water from a rock in a dry land. We know how he was a cloud to keep them cool and lead them by day and a pillar of fire by night. Glory Hallelujah. We know how he fought their battle and kept them safe from harm.
Now in our text we find the children of Israel has made it safely through the dessert; the hard times behind them, they have been saved and delivered and is on the border of the Promised Land, that land that is flowing with milk and honey the land that God had promised them, nevertheless, because of fear and doubt they are will not go in to process the land, and they became to cry and mourn and the text say they murmured against Moses and his brother Aaron the priest and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! They said “On the other hand, if only we had died in the wilderness”! They said to one another, Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword? Then they decided it would be better for them if they went back into Egypt. So they said to one another, Let us select a leader and return to Egypt. My brothers and my sisters how many of us this morning wants to turn around when things get tough and go back to our old habits, how many wants to stop coming to church when things are not going right for us? In other words, how many want to do like the children of Israel that is turn around and go back to Egypt. That is to say, how many this morning, when things gets difficult in life, find yourself wanting to turn around and go back into the world and start to do things the way that the world does them,? Well church I stopped by this morning on my way to heaven to tell you, there is danger in turning back. For God will not part a Red Sea for you to go back into Egypt.
Don’t turn around now church, we come to far to back now. The children of Israel made it to the Promised Land and they saw the great walled cities and they saw the giants, and they felt themselves shrinking. They said they are too big, we are too small, we are defeated already, we mighty as well not even try. But two of them had a different vision, they said yes we saw it is big with big people and high walls, but we also seen the size of our God. We have seen Him in action when He brought us out Egypt and How he brought us safely through the Red Sea, and how He gave us water in a dry land, how He gave us bread from heaven, in other words He brought us safe thus far. He will provide for us again.
Church Jesus said Go, therefore, and remember I will be with you always, even until the end of the age. So when the storms of life is raging and you are being talked about, lied on, and called everything but a child of God, do not give up, just trust in the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength, just rest assured that the Lord will make a way somehow. Church when the way gets dark and dim, and you cannot see you way out of a situation, do not give up, do not turn around just know that Lord is with you, and walk by faith and not by sight.
Don’t let nobody turn you around, keep the straight and narrow way. For there is danger in turning around for the bible tells us that the Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but He by no means clears the guilty. Church there is danger in turning around. Don’t let no body turn you around. God told Moses that because all those men who saw His glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have put me to the test these ten times and have not heeded my voice, they will certainly not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who rejected Me see it. And they tell me that they were made to wander in the wilderness for forty years until they all were dead. Church do not spend the rest of your life wandering around in the wilderness, hold to God’s unchanging hand. Pray and seek His face, and turn from your wicked ways, and the Lord will fight your battles. Didn’t He wake you up this morning? Didn’t he clothe you in your right mind? Didn’t He put food on your table?
Don’t let nobody turn you around church for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there is not longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Church there is a grave danger in turning away from the Lord and going in the opposite direction from which He has called you. For Jesus said vengeance is Mine I will repay. The Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward. Just keep on trusting in the Lord, hold out, don’t let no body turn you around and you will receive the promise For yet a little while and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now church the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back they are not fit for the Kingdom. I don’t know about you church, but I am not going to let no body turn me around, for my mind is made up and my soul is heaven bound. I am going to that beautiful city of God that city where every day is Sunday and the Sabbath has not end. That holy city, New Jerusalem, that city where there is not more death, no more sorrow nor crying, that city where there is no more pain. That city where Jesus the Savior of the world sits on the throne. Just hold on church, keep on praying and trusting in the Lord, for Jesus said I will never leave you nor forsake you. Church tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus.
