Theme: Going Down the Path to Egypt
Text: Genesis 12: 10-20
Introduction:
A. Good morning everyone. Praise God, again we have come together to express our love, our trust, our appreciation and gratitude to God. I missed one Sunday here but I pray that all of us are doing fine through the grace of God.
B. Please open your Bible to our passage this morning, Gen.12: 10-20. This is the 3rd sermon of our series in the life of Abraham.
C. In our passage we have what is probably to be the saddest event in the entire life of the Patriarch Abraham. We see that he made a decision that brought tremendous trouble not only to his own life but also to the lives of others as well.
Our text tells us that Abraham took his family and moved to the land of Egypt because there was a famine in the land of Canaan. Well, he might be thinking of keeping his family away from the economic crisis that the famine would bring. So it seems that his decision was reasonable and not a problem. But you know, it’s a big problem because he left the place where he was called to be and went down to the land that God did not tell him to go. His going to Egypt is an act of disobedience. It is an act of backsliding from the course that God calls him to be. Children of God, remember this, no matter how reasonable, stepping outside from God’s will for us is an act of disobedience.
In the Bible, Egypt is always presented to us as a picture or type of the world. So, spiritually speaking, Abraham took his steps toward the world again. It is sad that many believers are taking their steps back again to the world of sin, regardless of how the Lord blesses them. But like Abraham, they will soon find out that the path to Egypt is not the right path, but it is troubled path.
Now let’s study this incident of Abraham’s life and find the truths about the path to Egypt. The path to Egypt is always:
I. A DOWNWARD PATH.
The prophet Amos described Egypt as a low place. That’s why we are told in verse 10 that Abraham went down to Egypt. Likewise, when the believer start to walk on the path back to the world it will always bring him down. Look at Abraham when he started traveling down the path to Egypt:
1. He is led down from the Land of Promise. Canaan was the promise land and it represented “God’s best” for him. If he was to experience God’s best for him, Canaan must be the place where he should suppose to be. He should stay there. But he went down to Egypt, a decision that led him to leave the place where he could find victory and blessings. It was indeed a downward path. Abraham could never find God’s best for him in Egypt. Victory and blessings can never be found in the land of bondage. It is only in the land of Canaan where Abraham could find the best provisions of God; where he could find God’s rest.
The same is true with every believer. If we want to enjoy God’s best for us then we should stay where God wants us to be. We should stay in the center of His will where victory and God’s blessings can be found. But when the believer starts walking down on the path to the world, he will be leaving the place of victory, blessings and God’s rest.
2. He is led down from the land of preparation. The famine in the land of Canaan that time was not a punishment for sin. It was meant to prepare Abraham in possessing the Promise Land. His faith was just being in the test. But instead of submitting to the test and trust God, Abraham ran away. But it would better prepare and shape him in possessing the Promise Land. Maybe he’s trying to find comfort in Egypt. But do you know what happened because of that? It took more than 500 years before the promise of God to Abraham was fulfilled. Friends, listen to this, the promise was fulfilled but not in the time of Abraham! Trying to find comfort in Egypt, he lost the privilege of enjoying the fulfillment of God’s promise to him.
The world cannot give us the comfort we look for in times of testing. When testing comes to your life, do not run away, face it with trust in your heart. The testing you face in life is designed to prepare you when God fulfills His plan for your life.
We know that the grandest plan of God for all believers is to bring them to His eternal home. Every test here is designed to prepare the believer for that eternity with Christ. Don’t ever run away from the test; don’t ever run to the world for comfort. Instead, submit yourself and be polished by it. The testing of our faith here is preparing us for the future glory.
Point: The path to the world will always bring you down. When the believer starts going down back to the world, he is going to miss God’s best for him. He is also going to leave away the place where he could be prepared to enjoy the fulfillment of God’s plan in his life both present and future.
II. A DISHONEST PATH.
The path to Egypt is full of lies and deceit; so is the path of the world. It is always a dishonest path. Every one who is going down this path is living his life in lies and deceit. He lies and being lied. He deceives and being deceived.
1. Abraham was deceived. First, he thought it’s ok to go down to the land of Egypt. But it’s not, thought it may seem reasonable, because he left the place where he should suppose to be according to the plan of God.
Friends, don’t be deceived to think that it’s ok to compromise our obedience to God for the sake of pleasure, or a need. Don’t be deceived to think that it’s ok to compromise the principles of God’s word to accommodate worldly principles for the sake of friendship, progress, and competition. No matter how reasonable, if we step outside the will of God, we are simply disobeying Him.
2. Second, in verse 12 he was worried with something as he entered the land of Egypt. He was afraid that the Egyptians would kill him for Sarai because she was so beautiful. But he was afraid and worried of something that could never happen. He believed this lie over the truth and the promise that God had given him. Man, he could never die because God’s promise had not been fulfilled yet. But he was deceived by the lie he had fabricated in his own mind.
This is true in the life of every believer. When you start living outside the will of God, you too would start worrying over many things. You start believing the deception of the devil, of your circumstances, of your feelings, over the promises of God that once you have received and enjoyed. This is how treacherous the path of the world is to the life of the believer.
3. Next, Abraham birthed a lie and lived by his lie. Being deceived of his own fear, he made a grand deception with Sarai’s connivance. At first, they just simply told every Egyptian they met that Sarai was his sister and not his wife. But one lie always leads to another lie. When the Pharaoh took Sarai to become his wife, Abraham was helpless. He could not refuse because of the lie they made before. All he could do was lie further. It’s the only way he can justify himself from his lie. So Abraham had no other choice but to become the lie himself. Friends, your lies will always affect your life. Lie begets lie.
Point: When a believer starts walking back to the world, he is going to live his life in lies and deceit. He will be in state of being deceived. Then he will be lying to other people. He will be lying to God. He will be lying to himself. And worst, he is going to justify himself with more lies. Indeed, the path to the world is a dishonest path. Believers should be determined to get away from it.
III. A DISASTROUS PATH
Like going down to the land of Egypt, going back your life to the world is potentially disastrous.
1. First, it can destroy your testimony. It was in the land of Egypt that Abraham lost his testimony. If only he stayed in Canaan, the place where God wanted him to be, his testimony would have been preserved. And you know what, even the Pharaoh told him to go out from Egypt. Abraham had literally been kicked out from the land. Friends, the same will happen to you when your testimony is ruined. You will become something repugnant even to the eyes of the unbelieving world. And remember, the lost will never forget ruined testimony.
Ex: David. He was known of his courage and faith when he fought and defeated Goliath. But he was also known of his great sin with Batsheba. Ruined testimony will not be forgotten.
2. Second, it can cause others to fall. Had not God intervened in the situation, Sarai could have been taken to become Pharaoh’s wife, and they could have been fallen into sexual sin. Abraham’s going down to Egypt brought troubles, not only to his own life, but to the lives of others as well. The truth is, when a believer goes back to the world, it causes others to fall away or stay away from the Lord. When a believer backslides and goes back to the life of sin again, he causes others to stumble. The believer’s going back to the world will ruin the lives of others.
3. Third, it can damage your worship life. In Egypt, Abraham had no altars, he offered no sacrifices, and he lifted up no prayers. He had no worship life at all in Egypt!
That’s true when you yield yourself to the passions of the world. You will lose your passion for God. You will lose your joy and excitement for worship. You will lose the fire and the zeal which you once have for your relationship with God. There’s no joy for worship when your life is in the world. Jesus said: “No one can serve two masters at the same time.” It’s either the world or God. You can never serve both.
D. CONCLUSION:
People of God, get away from the path of the world. Always choose to walk in the way up to Canaan, in the place where God wants you to be, in the center of His will, where you can find and experience victory and blessings. If testing come your way, trust God to take care of you, because He has promised to bring you through to His eternal rest.
