(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I've been abroad quite a bit over the years, especially when I was younger, before I had a family and a little bit when we had a smaller family. This was obviously in the days before COVID, before masks on flights and all sorts of strange things to be able to even get on a flight in the first place. But I found something that the best place they ever went to, some of the most enjoyable places and some of the most exciting places, always had people there trying to avoid the return trip home. So they're always trying to find a way to avoid having to come back home. Some would rack up a load of debt, some would get into all sorts of dodgy ways of making a living out there, but ultimately they would always eventually end up on that return trip home at some point down the line. But sadly it can be that way in the Christian life as well. As hard as people might try, they always end up going back to Egypt. As hard as they might try not to, they always end up on that return trip to Egypt. Now in case you're sitting there thinking, I ain't no Egyptian brother here. I don't even know where Egypt is. I bet there's some people here that don't know where Egypt is. Well your flesh does. Your flesh knows exactly where Egypt is. Your flesh couldn't be any more Egyptian than if you were riding a camel and donning a fez hat. Your flesh knows exactly where Egypt is. And in case you're wondering, in the Bible, Egypt is a picture of the world. Egypt is a picture of the world. It's a picture of the bondage of sin. And everyone here started off in Egypt. Every single person here started off in Egypt. Now some of you kids here might have only had a short time in Egypt compared to some of the adults who speak fluent Egyptian Arabic. But whether you go out early or you left Egypt late, the return trip is calling you. And it's always calling you. That return trip to Egypt, sadly, is always calling you back. Now you can't lose your salvation, in case anyone's sitting here wondering, what does that mean? I couldn't know. You can't lose your salvation. That's clear as day. You can't end up a useless, backslidden Christian spending his days staring at pyramids. We have to avoid that return trip to Egypt. We have to avoid it. And the title of my sermon today is Avoiding the Return Trip to Egypt. And let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this great group of people here. I pray that you just help them to have open ears and open hearts for what I'm preaching today. Preach accurately. Preach your truth out of your word. Just help me to preach clearly. Help me to lay this message on people's hearts and for them to be able to apply it and to avoid the pitfalls in life that so many of us, all of us, come up against. In Jesus' name we pray all of this. Amen. So in the book of Exodus, by chapter 13, God has just delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt with amazing miracles. And he's slain all the firstborn in Egypt, ordained the Passover, which is obviously a picture of salvation, and he's about to lead them to the Promised Land. Have a look down at Exodus 13 and verse 17, Exodus 13 and 17, where it reads, And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, less peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Sukkoth and encamped in Eitham in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. So they've just been saved from the bondage of Egypt, yeah? How does God avoid them getting that first camel home? Well, let's go back to verse 17 here, where it says, And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, less peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. And I believe that being straight out of Egypt here is a picture of the newly saved the babes in Christ particularly. They've just been saved, and I would say also, you could also say a new church as well, they've just been saved. And although there was a faster route we've just seen there, it was straight into war with the Philistines, wasn't it? God chooses to take them the other way. Why? In case the people repent and return to Egypt. And by the way, this is just off topic slightly here, this is a great verse to show people who are confused by the repent, actually means repent of your sins, damnable heresy out there, that it doesn't. Because if Egypt is clearly a picture of the world and the bondage of sin, he's worried that they will repent and return back to Egypt. But I don't think anyone here is confused. If you are confused, just I'll say it in a nutshell, you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved. You have to repent and believe. That's change your mind and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the title of my sermon is avoiding the return trip to Egypt. How do we do that? So how do we do that as Christians here? Well, number one, number one, the lesson we can learn from this passage is go far away. Go far away from Egypt. The further you go away, the less attractive that long haul flight packed in like sardines wearing masks apart from when you eat and drink, which is absolutely ridiculous. It makes no sense at all. You only have to wear a mask for part of the flight. If you're grazing like some sort of Egyptian camel, then you don't have to wear a mask for most of the flight. The whole thing's ridiculous, isn't it? But it's not very attractive anyway, is it? Because you've either got a graze or you've got to be sat there with an annoying mask on your face, packed in like sardines with your knees up to your chest, unless you get your flying business or first class. The bondage of the airport security kind of puts you off as well, doesn't it? Just having to go through that, just that flight in the first place is pretty off-putting a lot of the time nowadays. I mean, I remember the last time I went away with my family and it was just a headache. You're just being treated almost like a second class citizen now. The way they treat you like you're some sort of criminal and start wanting to pat down your kids and weird things like that is absolutely bizarre, isn't it? The further you go away as well, the more of a culture shock it is when you do return, isn't it? Yeah, the further you go and the longer you go for, the more of a culture shock when you do return. Now, verse 17 says, God led them not through the way of the Philistines, although that was near. Verse 18 says, but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. So they went the scenic route, but that wilderness scene didn't, I don't think, do too much for the flesh because God wants us as far away from Egypt as possible, doesn't he? If your trip causes bother and you're still nearby, well, you're more likely to turn back around, aren't you? How do we apply that in our lives, though? How do we apply that in our lives? Well, do we go and live in the middle of nowhere? Well, in case you're wondering, the UK doesn't really have anywhere in the middle of nowhere. I mean, there are maybe some upper areas in Scotland. Brother Jack can tell me about that later. But in general, you're going to be near someone, a near civilization. Well, turn to Proverbs chapter 4. No, the truth is you need to keep away from your worldly past. The boozing friends. Yeah, you need to keep away from your old boozing friends. If that was something you were into before, you need to cut them out. The cannabis smoking friends. If that was something you're into and your buddies that used to just sit there getting stoned all day, whiling away hours of their lives, playing video games or watching junk series or something else, you need to keep away from those people, don't you? Because eventually it's going to start pulling you back. You need to keep away from Egypt, don't you? Proverbs 4 and verse 14 says, enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men, avoid it, pass not, buy it, turn from it and pass away. That's some great advice there, isn't it? Avoid it, pass not, buy it, turn from it and pass away. That means go far away, doesn't it? Go far away. For they sleep not except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence, but the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more into the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness, they know not at what they stumble in, they often seem so oblivious to it all, don't they? I don't know if you've been around these sorts of people, they just don't even seem to kind of put two and two together when they're going through all sorts of problems and they just can't see that their wickedness is a big part of that. But what about keeping away from the ex-boyfriend or girlfriend where it always used to lead to sadly one thing? Keep away from him, you don't need to talk to him, you don't need to have any contact with him, do you? 1 Corinthians 6.18 says flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that comitteth fornication sinneth against his own body. That means go as far away as possible, doesn't it? Flee it, run in the other direction. Maybe it's a gambling, maybe you're into gambling, that means keep away. If you have to change your route and not go past the arcade, if you have to put blocks on your browser, if you have to change an email account because you're just getting hammered with things which you know would be a temptation to you, do it. The worldly music, keep away from it, don't play it, don't go somewhere in between, well it's kind of, you know, it's Christian blues, you know, nothing blue about being Christian, is it? Yeah? Doesn't really make sense. Or it's Christian rock or whatever, just keep away from it, if that's going to start sending you down that line. The junk movies, about the junk movies, well this one's okay I think, it doesn't have too much of whatever it is. It starts to encourage it though, doesn't it? Yeah, it starts to encourage it. So we have to do that as a church too though, don't we? We have to, like the individual, has to get as far away as possible, as far away so that you don't turn at that first bit of tribulation because when it's there, when it's next to you, when it's close to you, when you've got one foot there, one foot on the flight home, then you're more likely to get on that flight home, aren't you? You're more likely to go and, but same with the church. We have to make sure this church is as far away from the world too, don't we? Yeah? And that's everyone here, that's not just me. Obviously that means no worldly contemporary music in this church, yeah? We don't want to, well, you know, it's a grey area because they mentioned God a few times. No, no worldly band. We'll never have a worldly band here. You won't see a guy up here with electric guitar going like this while we're all pretending we're worshipping God, yeah? You're not going to get that here. But that also means there are standards of behaviour expected, aren't there? Yeah? We have standards in a church which is trying not to be a quick route back to Egypt. No drunkards or drug addicts in this church, yeah? No drunkards or drug addicts. We have standards, yeah? Okay, and that means that, you know, I've explained this before, that's, if you just, if you come to a church like this and you still just can't resist but drink alcohol, for me, I need proving that you're not a drunkard because I think, I don't understand why you're being in this church. If you still are getting involved in drugs and you're coming to this church, well, why are you here? Yeah? You're a drug addict. You have a problem and for me, that just goes hand in hand with, we don't want you in this church. And obviously, we don't want anyone under the influence. We don't want people who are still living that lifestyle in this church, yeah? Because that will, that little leaven will leaven the whole lump, won't it? People will start to see that. Kids will start to see that. Adults will start to see that. No fornicators in this church, yeah? And again, just to remind you, fornication is basically having a physical relationship outside of marriage, okay? That's not allowed in this church. If you're involved in that, if you're a new believer and you come to this church and you're in that, you've got basically a couple of weeks to either get married or get out because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. No, railers. We don't want railers in it. Well, how do you prove railing? I'll tell you how you prove railing is if someone's going around slandering and saying lies about people, they're railers, yeah? Railers get kicked out of the church. Once there's the evidence, they get kicked out, yeah? And you might be sitting there going, I know that person, as soon as there's the evidence, they get kicked out. And if, and if, and unless people come forward with the evidence, then I have to wait to kick them out. No railers are allowed in this church. No covetous people are allowed in this church, okay? Because this is not going to be a worldly church. This isn't going to be the worldly social club where everyone's here just thinking, well, what's the difference? This is a church, isn't it? This is the house of God, yeah? The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, isn't it? And that means we don't want covetous people in this church, okay? That means that if you're here trying to trade in church, you're trying to promote whatever business it is, side business in this church, showing clear covetousness. Again, if I get evidence of that, you're out of the church, yeah? That's how it works in the church like this. No extortioners, obviously, if anyone's, everyone, most people know I'm going on 1st Corinthians 5, you don't have to turn there, we've gone there many times before. No extortioners. Well, what's extortion? If you're doing sob stories, you're trying to scam money out of people one way or another, you're not welcome. No idolatry, obviously, either, okay? And I think everyone here knows what idolatry is. Now, why? Because we don't want our church to return to Egypt either, okay? We don't want our church to return to Egypt. That's why it's better to lose that person, even if they're a saved Christian thinking, but you don't want to scatter the sheep, no, it's better for the, so that the whole lump isn't leavened, okay? Because we should know how we ought us to behave ourself, yeah, in this church. And like I said, it's not some worldly social club. The title is Avoiding the Return Trip to Egypt. How do we do that? Number one is go far away. Number two is go somewhere suitable. Go somewhere suitable. Now, what do I mean? Well, if you want to avoid that return flight home, yeah, when you're away, well, you don't go to the 35-degree country when you hate the sun, do you? Yeah, when you burn at the first even sniff of sun. You don't go to the seaside when you can't swim, do you? Well, you might do. You might enjoy lying on the beach, but you don't go to a seaside holiday usually if you're scared of the water and you think that there are sharks everywhere to be seen because you watched Jaws one too many times when you were young. Yeah, you don't do that, do you? You at least learn how to swim first, well, and how to beat away a shark. It's on the nose, isn't it? Silly, right. And it came, okay, look at verse 17, it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt. God didn't throw them straight into war, did he? In case they went straight back to Egypt. And I believe, I believe this is a good reminder for new believers, especially for how we handle new believers. Because it would be great, wouldn't it, if people just got saved, got baptized, started coming to church three times a week, reading through the Bible twice a year minimum, soul winning twice a week at least, living a holy, separated, godly life. But it doesn't usually happen like that, does it? And I pretty much say that almost everyone here, it didn't happen like that, did it? Did you get saved and then first time you went to church, you were three to five, you were just doing everything exactly how God wanted you to do it? No. And we don't want to tie those burdens on new believers as well, do we? Now when I say that, when I say that, we do want to encourage people, don't we? Yeah, we want to encourage people to soul win, we want to encourage people to live a godly life, we want to encourage people to come to church and of course we want to encourage people to get baptized. But we don't want to pressure them and force them into something that they're not ready to do yet, yeah? Because look, for example, I announce from the pulpit the soul winning times, don't I? I preach the importance of soul winning in this church, but I'm not going up to anyone in this church individually and ask them why they're not soul winning. I'm not going and saying, are you coming with me, are you coming today? Because I believe that they're probably not ready. If they're listening to that, they're listening to this church preaching about it and I'm going to preach about it, yeah? And they still are choosing not to come and it's not just soul winning, but many things. Well, I would say that they're probably not ready yet, for whatever reason. Now a Christian should be ready, a Christian should go out, but did everyone here go out soul winning the day they got saved? The week they got saved, the month they got saved? No? You are now, aren't you? You are now, but look, if I'm not pressuring them, you better make sure you're not pressuring them either, yeah? Okay? And pressure doesn't always have to be direct pressure, it can be subtle as well. Okay? Now, you start shaming new believers into basically soul winning when they don't want to, church three times a week, homeschooling when they're not even convicted of that yet, how they dress, et cetera, yourselves individually, I'm talking about here, not me preaching the word of God from the pulpit. Well, they might just repent and return to Egypt, they might just sing, I can't even turn up at that place because these people are on my case there. And look, that's the same with our soul winning times as well, just to remind you here, okay? And remind everyone in the captains, we wait until someone requests to go on your soul winning time. Don't go up and start, well, you're local, why aren't you coming, yeah? And I'm sure that, you know, our soul winning captains don't do that, but obviously don't do that and don't do that as individuals either. If people want to join it, they'll ask, they know, I announce it pretty much every week who those people are. If they want to go, they're going to ask to go. If they can make it, they're going to ask. And when they're on that, we wait for them to request, we add them to a group and if they want to come, they come. If they don't want to come, they don't come, okay? It's up to them. Now, obviously, I'm going to preach it, but it's not for the fellow church member to drag them the direct route to war, yeah? You get it? Because look, when the preacher preaches it, it can put people off. Don't get me wrong, there'll be people that come in this church, listen to a sermon and walk straight back out, yeah? And don't come back. But the difference is, firstly, I'm in a room full of 70 people or something like that, okay? So they at least are not having me directly making them feel small and everything else and force them to do something that they're just not ready to do yet. Also, I'm praying and I'm hoping I'm being led by the Holy Ghost when I am preaching and I'm preaching the clear word of God, yeah? It's not for the individuals in the church to start trying to force people. Now, I would say that this probably applies to being forced into being a talker too soon as well. You could say that as well. Yeah, there are people that just feel almost ashamed that they're not and hopefully no one here would make someone feel like that. But it's possible, you could see that, couldn't you? Look, I've said it many times, I keep saying again, if you want to be a silent partner for 10 years, as long as you're coming out soul-winning, great, because every silent partner is half a pair, okay, and we have a lot of talkers and we don't have many silent partners, okay? Don't rush into it. There's no rush to suddenly be in the battle with the well-versed whoever it is who's got all sorts of attacks on the Bible and suddenly you're in the middle of a war that you weren't ready for and you're repenting and turning back to Egypt, yeah? Now look, turn to 1 Corinthians 10 because this passage also shows that God knows what you can and can't handle, okay? God knows what you can and can't handle individually and as a group. First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 is a great famous, famous verse that I think about many times where it says, there has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it, okay? That's a great verse there, isn't it? If you're in the war, then it means that God thinks you're able, okay? God thinks you're able to get through it without hopping on the first plane home but we don't want to be the ones dragging them into a war that maybe God wasn't leading them to, yeah? Now the way to escape, the way to escape the war isn't back to Egypt, okay? That's where the prisoners of war get taken. You want to go the other way and now as a church, how do we apply this? Well, you can apply this to how we disciple new believers as I said and those that are weak in the faith but also understand that wars will ramp up, yeah? They will ramp up. The children of Israel did end up in a lot of war. If you've read the Bible, there was a lot of war. Yeah, they didn't the second they came out of Egypt but the wars came soon enough, didn't they? And they will ramp up as and when the Lord thinks we as a church are able to bear it, okay? And that's as a whole as well because the wars sadly will result in some of the weaker Christians going back to Egypt. If I said, for example, and this is a good thing to remember, if I said we're going to the South End Pride Parade because there is one coming up, I was trying to have a look on this. Yeah, we're going to the South End Pride Parade to preach and to soul win. Yeah? I'm going to get a box out, we're going to preach at those homos and everyone there. We're going to go out soul winning there. Well, look, there's going to be some people that end up seeing that war and returning, yeah? The result of that is going to sit, look, and am I in God's will there? Does God want me going and even looking at those freaks? Does he want that? Does he want me leading the rest of the church there? Oh, but we're so bold. Oh, we're so bold because we're there at the Pride Parade. But that's not how it works, is it? Because we want to follow God, we want to follow the Lady of the Holy Spirit, and God doesn't want us preaching a load of reprobates. What are we going to even preach? What a waste of time. And then suddenly we're in a war that a lot of people weren't even ready for, yeah? Well, many will turn back. If I'm preaching God's will, what the church needs, and that can sometimes be what the nation needs, yeah, as well. But I'm not doing it for ego. Because some people would love it. They would love it if I was just preaching two-minute, five-minute clips all over YouTube on why all sodomites are this and, you know, and everything contentious, because that's what you do, isn't it? And every sermon was just, you know, sodomites, sodomites, sodomites, and everything else. Am I in God's will there? What's my motivation? What's my goal? A lot of the time it's ego, isn't it? Hey, look how bold I am, look how brave I am. No, but if I'm in God's will, I'm going to preach the whole counsel of God. I'm going to preach the whole word of God, and there are times when I need to preach that sort of stuff. But there's a line there, isn't there? And the church ends up in a war that God wasn't leading you into at that point in time, yeah? So we're letting him lead us in his perfect timing, yeah? And look, we're going to end up in war here. But we want to do it in his timing, don't we? Proverbs 3, 6 says, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. That's what we want, don't we? God's direct our paths. Now the title is avoiding the return trip to Egypt. How do we do that? Number one, go far away. Number two, go somewhere suitable. Number three, go prepared. Go prepared. If you don't pack for a long stay, that vacation usually ends pretty early, doesn't it? If you don't have enough shekels, then the Midianite merchantmen will be sending you straight back to Egypt pretty quickly, won't they? Well verse 18 says, but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. What does it mean that they went up harnessed? Well harnessed here is equipped with armour, furnished with a dress for draught, defended. I believe the children of Israel had armour, they had weapons, they were prepared, yeah? The children of Israel went out of Egypt prepared. They didn't just go away with a passport, a sombrero hat, and a pair of fake Ray-Bans. Or they Roy-Bans. They're funny, actually, especially when the paint starts coming off as well, you know? And then they get rumbled, don't they? Okay, but they didn't, did they? They didn't just go with, you know, a pair of shorts and a vest, and, you know, Ray off on holiday. Well, no, the children of Israel went prepared. You want to avoid the return trip? You need to pack the important things, don't you? Yeah? Pack the important things, and the most important is your sword. Yeah, the most important thing is your sword. Hebrews 4.12, you don't have to turn there, says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Because that sword will defend you from the watch sellers on the beach, won't it? That sword will defend you from the guy selling graven images in the far out land, just telling you you really need this amulet of whatever false god it is. That sword will stop you going home out of pocket. And look, you have to carry your sword, though, don't you? Yeah, it's no good just having a sword somewhere packed away. You have to carry it, you have to sharpen your sword if you're going to use it. You have to practice with your sword, and you have to ultimately use your sword, don't you? Yeah, you have to use your sword. What am I saying here? I'm saying read your Bible. Read your Bible. It's such a simple thing to preach, isn't it, but how many people, sadly, probably sitting in this room, didn't read their Bible this morning? How many people sitting in this room probably didn't read their Bible yesterday, either? How many people sitting in this room maybe have barely read their Bible all week? I hope not, but that's the truth, isn't it? Sadly, so many people don't use their sword. They don't even practice with their sword. They don't even unsheathe their sword, but if you read it, you'll be able to use the best weapon you have, and you won't be getting chased back to Egypt, because some people end up getting chased back to Egypt. Turn to Ephesians 6, because it's not just the sword that defends you, okay? You need the whole armour of God, don't you? Yeah, you need your Bible. Yeah, you need to read your Bible. Yeah, you need to hold your Bible. You need to have your Bible on you, but you also need the rest of the armour of God, and I know we went through this the other day, but it's a great passage of Scripture, and I don't think you could go through it too often either. Ephesians chapter 6 and from verse 10 says, Ephesians 6, 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, and put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Great verse there, isn't there, and a great truth there. Therefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand an evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Now, what's loins girt about with truth? For me, that's just being surrounded by truth, yeah, surrounded by truth, and obviously that comes from being in the word of God every day, and I would say regularly throughout the day as well, but it also means being surrounded by other forms of truth. Being surrounded by good doctrinally sound hymns is having your loins girt about with truth, as opposed to the worldly junk, or at least the weak doctrine rubbish out there. Not staring at rubbish junk movies, and all the fake falseness out there, and the rubbish series, and all that stuff, is having your loins girt about with truth. Not staring at the news channels all day, because there's so much lies and dishonesty and propaganda, it's having your loins girt about with truth. Yeah, being surrounded by good and honest things, which really ultimately comes from the word of God, is having your loins girt about with truth. He says here, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. That's not just being saved, that's getting righteous as well. Righteousness is a breastplate to you. That will defend you from the attacks of the devil. That will defend you from so much, if you can get righteous in your life, because look, when you're doing things for God, people want something on you. They want to find something on you. Believe me, they do. They want anything. They want to try and get something from you. They want to try and find something, and even, they'll go as far as slandering you, and if they can get anything at all, they'll just slander you completely, because they so want to bring you down, if you're doing a work for God. That means you have to have on that breastplate of righteousness. You have to be living righteously, because if you're not, they're going to try their best anyway, but ultimately, God's people know when it's slander or not, but you have to have on that breastplate of righteousness. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You shouldn't be forcing people, new believers, to go out and preach the gospel. By the way, that can be people weak in the faith as well. It's not just someone who's newly saved. There are people that are just weak in the faith. We want to try and build them up and encourage them, not force them out when they clearly don't want to, but you should be getting involved with soul winning. If you're saved, you should be going out soul winning, and I will continue to preach that from the pulpit here. If you're not going out soul winning, you do not have the armor on your feet, and that is a big weakness. To go into battle without armor on your feet, you need to have the armor on your feet, because if you're not out preaching the gospel, getting people saved again, that's just another accusation from the devil that can be used against you. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Sounds good, the shield of faith, eh? Above all, the shield of faith, again, comes from the word of God, doesn't it? But it comes from strengthening your faith from the word of God. Strengthening your faith, really, from doing the things that God tells you to do, and then seeing the response in your life from that. That's where that shield of faith comes from, because you keep seeing God answering and answering, and when you do things the right way, God comes through and answers. Sometimes you have to be patient. Sometimes you're going through things, you're dealing with things, you're thinking, come on, God, come on. And every time you do that, every time you're patient, every time you wait, every time you don't just get the first flight back to Egypt, every time that's going to strengthen your faith, isn't it? That's the shield of faith. And take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the helmet of salvation, and remind yourself that you cannot be killed. Remind yourself of your salvation. Remind yourself every day, if you have to. Like I said the other day, if you're soul winning, you'll remind yourself of salvation. It goes hand in hand, doesn't it? Because every time you preach in the gospel, you just remind yourself that you're saved. Nothing can change that. It's eternal. But remind yourself of that and the sword of the spirit. Of course, the sword. Don't forget that sword, which is what? The word of God. But if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you won't understand the word of God. You have to have the Holy Spirit. You have to be saved. Praying always with all prayer and supplication of the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Don't forget to pray, but it's not just for yourself, is it? It's not just for yourself. And the way you should look at that as a church is look at it as maybe ranks in an army and think of some of those old warfare techniques and how they would be a tight unit, wouldn't they? They'd be a tight unit and they're all defending each other at the same time. Sometimes there'll be formations where if there's one weak link, that's the way through. That's why we have to be praying for each other as well. We all need your prayers. I need your prayers. My family needs your prayers. The rest of this church needs your prayers. We're in a war here. This is a spiritual battle. We need prayers for each other as well. Because the weak link, that's how they'll get through. Please don't forget the prayers. Don't forget the prayers. That Wednesday evening prayer night's so good. Send them in. Send in the requests and get people praying for you. If you need prayers, put it on the group. Bring your prayers to the church and they'll pray for you, but we should be praying for each other anyway. It's a team game. And of course, as a church, we want to be harnessed too, don't we? And of course, this is talking both individually and as a church, what I've been saying. How a church actually runs and behaves, yes, that means preaching from the inspired, preserved Word of God, doesn't it? Obviously, to be harnessed as a church, you cannot be harnessed and preached from anything else but the Word of God. That means preaching the truth to be girt with. That means that we have to preach regularly the truth, clear doctrine, not bending to the world, not weakening, not getting liberal. And that's why this church, if we're going to be harnessed like the children of Israel, and we are a new church, aren't we? We're a new church and they were a new church. Coming out of Egypt, they were the first church in the wilderness. And as a new church, we need to make sure that we're preaching about righteousness. We need to make sure that we're harnessed, that we have also this armour on as a church. That's why we preach about righteousness. That's why, as a church, we preach about soul-winning. Because it's important, isn't it? Because it's mightily important that we go out and preach the Gospel. That's why we want to increase your faith in this church. That's why we want to keep preaching the Word of God, keep preaching from the Word of God, keep applying it to our lives, increase your faith. That's why we preach about eternal security at this church. You might sit there and go, I'm getting a bit bored of eternal security. No, it's important because that's one of the attacks. That's one of the attacks where even a seasoned Christian will get that attack. Are you sure it's eternal? Because you're getting it from every angle, aren't you? Preaching about prayer. That's why we preach about prayer, the importance of prayer. Because we don't want to turn this church into Cairo Baptist, do we? We don't want to turn this church into first Baptist Church of Egypt. No, we want this church to be as far away from Egypt as possible, don't we? So the title of my sermon today is Avoid the Return Trip to Egypt. How do we do that? Number one, go far away. Number two, go somewhere suitable. Number three, go prepared. And number four, go with confidence. Go with confidence, yeah? If you turn up abroad with a puzzled look on your face in a phrase book, well, they'll just as lightly fleece you and send you home on the first plane back, yeah? When you get into that taxi and you're in some faraway land, you've got to look like you know exactly where you're going, don't you? Yeah? Because if you get in there just, well, I don't know where it is, that journey's going to take three times as long on the double meter, isn't it? Yeah? You've got to go with a bit of confidence if you don't want to be getting ripped off and having to get the first flight home. You've got to be confident that you belong there and that you're there to stay. And we need to be confident that we belong out of Egypt and we're a way to stay, aren't we? Yeah? Verse 19 says, And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. Now turn to Genesis chapter 50, because this promise was made 400 years earlier, 400 years earlier. Those bones have been in Egypt for 400 years. Genesis chapter 50 and from verse 24, and 400 is an approximate number there, I didn't get the exact year, but it's around 400 years, Genesis 50 and from verse 24 says, And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die, this is Genesis 50 and verse 24, Joseph said unto his brethren, I die and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. So Joseph is making a promise here of a future event, yeah? And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died being 110 years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. So these bones in a coffin, by the way, in case you're talking about taking out the bones, you think they've all got, one's got a thigh bone, another one's got, no, they're in a coffin, but they're a reminder of the fulfilment of that promise of God, yeah? Through Joseph, that's a promise, 400 years before. Moses and the children of Israel are carrying a physical reminder that God fulfils his promises, yeah? That's what they're doing, they're carrying a physical reminder of that, they're going with confidence that God is bringing them out of this land, unto the land which he promised, which he sware to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob, even further forward than that, yeah? So we're talking really, if you're talking about to Abraham, a few hundred years earlier than that then. So and they're going with just a physical example of that, of that fulfilment of his promises. Now, you would hope that that would help them to not turn back when things get tough, to know that this was a promise, that God fulfils his promises, to not be wondering if they got things wrong. If God really, you know, will really get them to their destination. Turn to 2 Timothy 1, because we can have confidence in God too, can't we, and not be wondering if it would just be easier to turn back to Egypt, yeah? 2 Timothy chapter 1 you're turning to, we should have a confidence in God. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7, 2 Timothy 1, 7 reads, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. There's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of, even when you're being afflicted for the gospel, yeah? And you will get afflicted for the gospel. Verse 9 says, Who have saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's not works, is it? It's grace. But it's now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Sister Vanessa played that the other day and you can see I've had that in my head, yeah? But it's a great verse that goes with that, doesn't it? Because he says here, I am not, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. We can have confidence that God will take us to our spiritual destination, yeah? Yeah. Every single person here can have confidence in that. Titus 1 and 2, you don't have to turn and it says, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, yeah? It's a promise. We can have confidence in that promise, can't we? Turn to Psalm 34 though. Because we can also be confident that we're able to never return to Egypt. It's not just that, well you're saved no matter what, but we're able, you are able. Be confident of that. It's not, oh well I'm going to backslide at some point, so many Christians backslide. Yeah, so many Christians do backslide, but you are able not to backslide. You are capable of not going back to Egypt. 2 Peter 2, 9, will you turn to Psalm 34 says, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished. Yeah, God knows how to do that, and Psalm 34 and verse 15 says, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. So the Lord can and will deliver you out of all your troubles. There's no reason to quit, is there? There's no reason to quit and just go back to Egypt. Verse 18 says, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. It might not be straight away, but he will deliver you. It's not always right away, right when you think that you need delivering, but God will deliver you out of that. He will do it. You don't have to give up. You don't have to quit. He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Okay, so no one that really trusts in God will be needing to jump on that cheap flight back to Egypt, yeah? If you really put your treat, you don't have to go back. And when you apply that to a church, we can be confident when we do things God's way, we will succeed, yeah? We can be confident that we will succeed. We don't need to be out flyering the rich areas, do we? Try and get some really rich guys into the church. We don't need to be trying to appeal to the teens, do we? Just make it that little bit more worldly, just make it a little bit more attractive to teenagers. No, we can be confident, can't we, that even when times are hard, when it's time for war here and it's at its hottest, that the Lord will cleanse us with the word, yeah? That we will be all right. Ephesians 5, 27, you don't have to turn that says that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should be holy and without blemish. God's able to do that with the church as well, yeah? We do things right, we seek the Lord, we put our trust in God, we make sure we do it God's way. And look, we're going to have some hard times here, we're going to have some times where it gets pretty, it's going to get wild at times here, yeah? There's going to be all sorts going on and people, you know, attacking from all angles, but if we're doing it God's way, we can be confident, can't we? Yeah, we're confident that we will get through it. Title is avoiding a return trip to Egypt, how do we do that? Number one, go far away, number two, go somewhere suitable, number three, go prepared, number four, go with confidence and number five, go with good company, go with good company. If you've ever been away with bad company, it ruins a good holiday, doesn't it? Yeah, I've been away with people that just destroyed what should have been a nice holiday and they were just an absolute nightmare. And you could be in whatever, you know, your idea of paradise is, can't you? Yeah, it doesn't matter how, you know, luxury and just amazing this place is, if you're with bad company, you'd probably prefer to get the flight home and have a Butlins holiday instead on your own, wouldn't you? It's that bad, isn't it? So I've been, I've been, I remember being, being somewhere with an old friend who just like, oh, somewhere, you know, nice exotic and he just ruined the whole holiday and just an absolute nightmare for, and it wasn't just, there was three of us out there and two of us who just couldn't believe it, you know, and it ruined it and I was thinking, I just wanted to go home, absolute nightmare. When you go, you want the best company, don't you? Yeah, when you go away, you want to have the best company with you. Look at verse 20, it says, and they took their journey from Sukkoth and encamped in Eitham in the edge of the wilderness and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. So the children of Israel had the best company, didn't they? Yeah, didn't they there? They had the best company. He was the ultimate tour guide. He was the best private security you could get and he was basically the benefactor of the holiday all rolled into one, yeah? He's protected them there from the heat of the day with the pillar of cloud. He's leading them through the darkness, yeah, with a pillar of fire and then at the same time he ends up providing everything that they need as well, doesn't he? Okay, and he does all of that for us too if we choose to let him, yeah? If you choose to let him, he'll do all of that for you because we're the bad company, aren't we? Yeah, we're the bad company when it comes to that trip, when it comes to that stay away. We're the one that keeps disappearing, yeah? We're the one that keeps arguing about which way to go next, yeah? We're the one that's just constantly raring about what direction to go in but great is his faithfulness, yeah? Great is his faithfulness so you might be the worst company but God doesn't want to send you on that trip back home, does he? Well turn to Hebrews 13. It's up to us if we go with good company, yeah? With the best company or if we ditch him for the unstable Egyptian friend. Hebrews 13 and verse 5 says, Hebrews 13, 5, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he have said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Yeah, that's a great verse, isn't it, yeah? Stop focusing on other things and be content with where you are. He will never leave you or forsake you. Yeah, get that in your head, he will never leave you or forsake you because sometimes you can feel pretty distant, can't you? Being pretty far but he just wants you to stay by him. He wants you to come back to him. He won't leave you and forsake you. He's always there. He's a constant if you're saved. Verse 6 says, so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. He's the best private security you can get, yeah? He is the best. I remember going to India many, many years ago and the people out in India, they had in this particular place we were, used to get something called a night watchman. So Brother Raymond probably knows what I'm talking about here, a night watchman. So these guys would basically sit on your porch all night, wide awake if you got a good one. The lots of good ones would be out cold when you woke up but they would just sit on your porch all night as private security and they stayed up all night. They stayed up at night and they slept to the day and their job was a night watchman. And I'll tell you what, those guys helped you to sleep easy, yeah, especially if, especially if you, because some people would say, yeah, but you've got to be careful if that night watchman, who is it that he's friends with, how did you get that night watchman? But if you know that night watchman is trustworthy, wow, what an amazing thing to have. A guy just sleeping on your front porch or whatever it is, just, just, he's just ready. If anyone tries to break in, anyone tries to rob you, anyone tries to burgle you, then he's ready to deal with it, sound the alarm. And he's sitting there with a bamboo stick as well, which is pretty cool. But the good ones are with guns actually as well, but they're quite expensive. But yeah, night watchman, and look, God is the ultimate night watchman, isn't he? That pillar of fire, he's a trustworthy night watchman. He's not the night watchman where you're sitting there going, well, I don't know, you know, if this guy can really trust, no, you can really trust your night watchman, yeah? You can trust with everything. He said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that you could say the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And as a church, we need that security as well, don't we? Because we're wrestling against principalities and powers, okay? We saw that, didn't we, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So we need that night watchman, we need to make sure that we stay close to that night watchman. It's no good getting the night watchman. He sits on your porch and then you go, yeah, see her though, I'm off down the road. I'm off back to, you get the night watchman, he's sitting there, but you're off back on the first flight home instead. You got the night watchman there, stay with the night watchman. If we didn't have God's protection here, we would have been steam-rolled in the first month, yeah? We would have been steam-rolled on month number one. We're now 18 months in and we're still going strong, aren't we? Yeah, we're still going strong because we do have God's protection here, but we've got to remember that as well. We don't want to pull away from God then, do we? But it's also why we won't ever yoke up with these apostate churches, with these, you know, oh, they're an independent Baptist church, let's meet up for a picnic with them. Yeah, but what do they really believe? What do they really do? Do you want to meet up with a picnic with a load of people telling you that soul winning isn't really how you should do it? Meet up for a picnic with a load of people that are telling you that just keep obsessing over the pre-trib rapture and the Jews and everything else. If they're saved, great. Sadly, a lot of the time, people are yoking up with churches where, is the pastor even saved? Are half the people in the congregation even saved? They don't even seem to know what salvation is. They still seem to think that it's a process. Well, look, we don't want to yoke up with those sorts of people and obviously we're not going to be having interfaith meetings here. And I've been invited to interfaith meetings with, you can imagine it, you know, the only way you'd be going to that would just be to go rebuke all those wicked false prophets all in one room at a time. You could come out with a good strong rebuke, couldn't you? But we won't be getting involved with that, obviously. But also, I don't want to be yoking up with weird YouTube ministries. People that say, oh, well, it's OK, I don't go to church, but I've got a YouTube ministry. Right. Well, OK, great. Good on you. But we're not interested in that. Weird YouTube ministries, weird self-ordained churches. Yeah, we ain't yoking up with those people. Self-ordained churches, people that just can't actually be good church members, so they just make their own church. Can't deal with church, so I'll just be a church. No, we ain't yoking up with anyone like that at all. We want to be with the best company, don't we? We want to go away from Egypt with the best company. And the best company for us is other fire-breathing, independent, fundamental Baptist churches, isn't it? Amen. Yeah, other fire-breathing, independent, fundamental Baptist churches, which preach the whole counts of God. They so win, they do things right, they live on the word of God. And ultimately, that's really who you've yoked up with is really God's people and ultimately God, isn't it? Because that's where God is. God's in those churches. God's in the church going out soul-winning. God's in the church preaching the whole counts of God. God's in the church using the King James Bible. God's not in any of these weak, liberal, you know, sissified churches with their false Bibles and their weird plans of salvation and everything else, yeah? We want to yoke up with the best. Proverbs 13 20 says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed, yeah? And you need to remember that as Christians as well, because sadly, there are foolish Christians around, yeah? Okay? Don't be a companion of fools because you will be destroyed, yeah? Okay? And as a church, obviously, we want to keep that in mind as well. The title of my sermon today is Avoiding the Return Trip to Egypt. How do we do that? Number one, go far away. Number two, go somewhere suitable. Number three, go prepared. Number four, go with confidence. Number five, go with good company. And I've just got one last thought, and it's not really a point to add to that, which I was thinking about. And I've noticed when I've been abroad is the most successful, yeah, at avoiding that return trip were the ones that really planted themselves there, yeah? The ones that got a job, got a purpose, planned to stay, yeah? They were there for the long haul. They're the ones that didn't end up getting that return trip. The people that were a bit sketchy, I'm going to see how long I can last. They were going home sooner than they thought, yeah? The ones that, well, you know, I'll find some way or other, no, it was the ones that just got grounded. The ones that were focused, no, this is where I'm here to stay. I don't want to go back to the rain and the sleet and the rest of it. They said, no, I want to stay out wherever it was, wherever it is. And the ones that did, you know, that were there for the longest, a lot of the time it was some sort of job. Now, if we want to stay away from Egypt for good, we need to focus on serving God for the long term, yeah? Okay, for the long term. That's why I'm never impressed by, you hear these and you've seen them at church before, these fly-by-nights, you know, sort of, I'm so winning every day of the week, you know? And look, that's not, look, cool if you can do that, cool if you want to do that, but you better make sure you're in it for the long haul, yeah? You want to make sure that you're doing something that you can maintain for your life, yeah? Make sure that you're focused on the long-term goal of being a Christian for life, being in church for life and not getting that return flight home. Serving God properly. You have to turn there, Proverbs 16, 3 says, commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. Yeah? If you want your thoughts established far away from Egypt, you have to commit your works unto the Lord, yeah? You have to make sure that that's your focus, that's your goal, that's what you're planning to do is just to keep serving God, just knuckle down, be a good church member, be a good Christian, be a good soul winner, be a good dad, be a good mum, be a good child, yeah? Just do it, because God wants all those things, he just wants you to just serve him, to do it right, to get your heart set on that, to make action plans in your life, everyone's going to have individual issues here, yeah? Every whether you're a new believer, and I'll be honest here, most people here are fairly new believers, really, on the grand scheme of things, okay? Most people here are, and most people here are pretty new to church as well, to regular church, and most people here are new to trying to live right for God, to go to church three times a week, to soul winning, to the rest of it regularly, week in, week out. And if you want to do that properly, you want to do that, you need to make sure that your goal is long term, long term serving God, and also to make sure that you set some goals in place, there are things that everyone here knows that they have issues with, there are things that everyone knows that they might stumble at, yeah? There are things that everyone here knows might be a stumbling block for them, it might not be for someone else, and you want to put things in place that you avoid that stumbling block so you don't end up tripping straight back into that journey home, yeah? Because that's where the flesh wants to be, because it is home for the flesh, isn't it? Yeah, the flesh wants to be in Egypt, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, yeah? And we want to make sure that we avoid that return trip, and on that, let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer to finish off. Lord God, thank you, thank you for the truth and the barber of the truth, and the lessons that we can learn from stories like the exodus from Egypt, and I pray that you help people to remember this sermon in when times are hard, and when they start to get tempted, and if anyone here is being tempted by just going back to parts of their old life, that it's not, you know, it's not that, oh, well, I'll just do a little bit of my old life. Once you start going home, then it's hard to get back out again, and you don't want to be, at the least, just constant, just backwards and forwards, because eventually you'll stop going forwards and you'll end up just staying backwards, and we want to hope that, I hope, and I pray here, we pray that everyone here will just apply this to their lives, will take heed to those lessons you give us, the ways that we avoid those pitfalls, the way that we avoid that journey back to where our flesh wants to be, and I pray that you'll bless our day-to-day, that you'll bless our soul-winning, that you'll help encourage people to want to go soul-winning, and that you'll also just guide us to the right people that want to hear the gospel as well, and help us to get people saved, help us to return back as well for this evening's service, and we ask all these things in Jesus Christ's holy name, amen.