“Why would anyone want to go back to Egypt -
When the Promise Land is yours!”
By
Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING:- Numbers play a very important role in the Bible. Not every number represents something but the numbers 1-12 have a very specific meaning to them. We are all aware that the number 7 represents perfection and is the most mentioned number in the Bible and is often called God’s number. Well the number 3 is the second most mentioned number in the Bible and it represents fullness. Fullness is being complete, completely filled, maximum, and entirely. Fullness is the 3 manifestations of God, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. The Bible says in Colossians 2:9 “For in him (Jesus Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” He is the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost - Fullness. We are made in His image and likeness; God is a triune spirit Father, Son, and Holy Ghost we are made a Triophony having body, soul and spirit hence created in the fullness of His image.
FULLNESS: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Past, Presence, Future, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence Body, Soul, Spirit, Death, Burial, Resurrection, Outer Court, Inner Court, Holy of Holies, Tabernacle, Temple, Pentecost, 30, 60, 100 fold, fruit, more fruit, much fruit Faith, Goodness, Mercy, Peter, James, John, there were 3 crosses on Calvary, 3 men died 3 different deaths, 1 died in sin, 1 died to sin, and the 1 died for sin. I’ve been tried, tempted, and tested, justification, salvation, and glorification – fullness.
BECAUSE OF FULLNESS
WATCH THIS:- There were 3 stages that Jesus had to go through in His life:-
1. The Wilderness – place of temptation
2. The Garden – place where flesh brought under subjection
3. The Cross – place where victory is won
WATCH THIS:- There are 3 stages that we have to go through.
1. Egypt – place of sin & bondage
2. The Wilderness – place of temptation where carnality must die
3. The Promise (Land) – place of victory
It is within the wilderness that we struggle wrestling with our emotions, our feelings, our desires, our lust, and with God. If we yield to our emotions, feelings, desires, and lust we go back to sin and bondage or Egypt, but if we yield to God then we come into the promise He has for us. 1st Corinthians 2:9 says “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”. If I were to change that just a little bit I would add at the end for them that make it through the wilderness.
Why would anyone want to go back to Egypt -
when the Promise Land is yours?
TEXT:- Numbers 14: 1-4:- “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt..”
INTRO: I want you to remember the time when things in your life where comfortable. You were comfortable with your daily routine, you were comfortable with the decisions that were made for you, you were comfortable with your parents paying all the bills, buying all your clothes, and taking care of everything in your life. You really didn’t have any issues in life, sure we all had to face decisions on what I was going to wear to school, am I going to have a date for the dance, and will that certain someone be at the skating rink this Friday night and I get the chance to do the couples only song with them.
Do you remember those carefree days?
So many times when we are faced with life’s trials and tribulations we think back on those days and oftentimes begin to grumble and complain about why we have to be going through what we are going through right now. I mean let’s face it I have been in this walk for some time now. I’ve given up some things, let go of some things, been through some things and by this time in my walk with God I should be past this thing by now. We begin to complain and grumble asking the preacher why am I going through what I am going through. We say things like I don’t think it’s fair that after all this time I am still struggling with this and facing that. We complain because we go to church every time the church door is open, we fast, pray, and read our Bibles, yet when we look around and we see someone else that doesn’t even go to church or believe in God at all seem to be prospering we begin to grumble and complain.
Grumbling and complaining is one thing we don’t preach too much on today. You hear more sermons on how to get rich and about sowing a great seed in order to receive a greater harvest than we hear about the dangers of grumbling and complaining.
If we are passive about it we say well everybody grumbles about something. We grumble and complain that we are not able to fit into that suit or that dress that we bought a month ago because we have gained so much weight. Husbands and wives complain about each other. Kids tell each other how terrible their folks are and grumble about having to go to school and to bed at a decent hour because they have to go to school. The praise-team grumbles and complains because the congregation will not get behind them. Church folk grumble about how things in the church are going instead of praying that God will make a change. The saints of the church grumble about one another and even about the pastor saying thing like he sure does preach a long time! They grumble and complain talking about if I were the pastor I would do this and I would do that – and that is the very reason why you are not the Pastor because you would do this and you would do that instead of shutting your big mouth, and opening up your ears listening to what God said do and doing that.
Well the Children of Israel had a long history of grumbling and complaining. Just read the Old Testament, but if you read Genesis to Deuteronomy you will see the misery that their grumbling and complaining brought upon them. God’s wrath was pretty terrible because of their grumbling and complaining. In Numbers 11:1 the Bible says “And [when] the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard [it]; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed [them that were] in the uttermost parts of the camp”, because they complained. Numbers 12:1 it says, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.” Because they complained Miriam became leprous and had to sit outside the camp because she grumbled and complained against Moses, Aaron because he murmured and complained died without being able to see the promise land. Numbers 16, you read about the “rebellion of Korah” when the ground opened up and swallowed up all those that complained and murmured against Moses and Aaron and then the fire of the Lord came and consumed 250 people who complained.
Beware of grumbling and complaining.
HISTORY:- The Children of Israel were slaves for around 400 years. They were in Egypt because there was a famine in the land Genesis 41:56. Genesis 42:1 Jacob tells his sons to go to Egypt and buy corn to survive the famine. The providence of God had caused Joseph to be in place and be the anointed one that would save his family during the famine. You know the story Josephs brothers sold him into slavery because of jealousy many years later God had elevated Joseph to second in command in Egypt. When the famine came Egypt was prepared because Pharaoh listened and heeded the words of Joseph. When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy corn Joseph recognized his brothers and had the entire family come to Egypt to live. They came to Egypt as 70 souls and they multiplied greatly while they were there. As a matter of fact they went from being a family to becoming a nation while in Egypt.
As life happens Joseph and the Pharaoh died and the older generation passed off the scene. The new Pharaoh didn’t know Joseph or the relationship the Pharaoh and Joseph had and when he looked and saw the Children of Israel had become a nation of people he feared them and put them into slavery. After hundreds of years of slavery their mindset was that of slaves.
They were treated ruthlessly, killed indiscriminately, criticized, ridiculed, beaten, emasculated, abused, mistreated, plundered and many other things were done to them. Even though they were industrious and raised as Hebrews believing in the promise of God they became the product of their environment and turned to Idolatry because that was the norm of the culture they operated in.
It’s a terrible to become the product of your environment when the environment is so corrupt and ungodly as it was then and as it is now.
WATCH THIS:- When the Children of Israel were led out of Egypt by Moses, through the power of God it was all miracles, all power, all excitement, it was joy unspeakable and full of glory but just a little while later the honeymoon was over. The joy and happiness had turned to complaining and grumbling. They now had to believe God and trust Him for all of their provision, which HE was faithful to deliver, but it was a place of just enough, all of the variety they once were used to although they were in bondage was not available and they began to reflect on what it used to be like.
They no longer had idol gods to look at but they had to operate in faith and trust a God that was too Holy for them to look upon. They had been conditioned to walk by sight and not by faith. Their comfort zone and area of operating in familiarity was taken away. Although their past was slavery and oppression and they were considered the lower class and abused, they were comfortable because that was what they were used to. They were typical slaves with the slave mentality having to learn how to be free and now having to really walk out their faith and trust and take the initiative to inherit the promise land. They were accustomed to having everything delivered at their feet and felt that it should still be that way, yet they didn't want to be told what to do.
I like to believe that they felt like God I’m not sure I can trust you I feel better trusting myself and my past. I don’t see God moving right now and I don’t know how He is going to be able to do this that I need Him to do or I don’t know when He is going to move and I need Him to do it right now.
QUESTION:- Have you ever felt this way since you have been saved? If you haven’t hold on a while longer I promise you that it will come. The reason why we feel this way sometimes is because of the slave mentality. That’s why the Bible says in Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. If I may say it like this En-Vouge said “Free your mind and the rest will follow”.
WATCH THIS:- UNDERSTAND once God has delivered you out of your Egypt by His Spirit, we must be careful not to return regardless of how bad it may seem. We must learn to be like Paul and forget those things that are behind and press toward those things which are before us.
But wait a minute Pastor I knew how to operate in Egypt, I knew what to expect in Egypt, I knew what lied ahead in Egypt, but now out here in the wilderness, this is unfamiliar territory. I think I’m trying to do what is right but how do I know that I am wanting to go back to Egypt?
Well the Children of Israel’s wilderness journey sheds light on the attitudes of the Israelites behind their complaints. The old saying goes “your attitude determines your altitude”.
I want to bring out a few complaints of the children of Israel.
Numbers 11:1 says “And [when] the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard [it]; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed [them that were] in the uttermost parts of the camp.” Not only did Moses have to listen to their complaints, but the Lord heard all their griping as well. WATCH THIS:- When the Praise-team complains and grumbles God hears it as well. When the ushers complain and grumble God hears it as well. When you grumble and complain to the Pastor God hears it as well.
We often forget that the Lord hears everything we say. He even knows everything thought we think! Psalm 139:2 & 4 says “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. For [there is] not a word in my tongue, [but], lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether..” .
You can’t hide bad attitudes from God. Many people think that their bad attitude is like that unwanted tree in your yard. If you have a tree in your yard and you cut the tree down every once in a while you will have to go back and cut that tree again. The branches will begin to come back, leaves will come back and that tree is still a problem because you didn’t take care of the root. You must get to the root of a problem and kill the root in order for the tree to stop being a problem. The Children of Israel complained and grumbled like many saints do today, but let’s see what the root of the problem really was.
Fleshly Complaints
The Israelites began craving food other than what the Lord was providing. They complained saying, Numbers 11:4-6 says “And the mixt multitude that [was] among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul [is] dried away: [there is] nothing at all, beside this manna, [before] our eyes.”
The root of their complaint was their flesh. They forgot that they didn’t deserve anything! God was giving them bread they didn’t even have to work for. It was free. All they had to do was go and pick it up! But their ungrateful attitude caused a negative and they grumbled and complained “What? Manna again? All we ever get is this manna from heaven. We want go back to Egypt!” In Egypt they had fish and cucumbers and the food was comfortable. Although they were in bondage and slaves they felt comfortable and satisfied with the food they had.
So many times God wants to shower us with the supernatural manna from Heaven, but all we want is what we are comfortable with. Our mentality is still that of a slave mindset and our attitude is the attitude of being comfortable in bondage. You should never be comfortable being bound.
Remember - The Wilderness is – place of temptation where carnality must die.
Carnality:- pertaining to or characterized by the flesh or the body, its passions and appetites; it is sensual: not spiritual; merely human.
Sure the devil will give you what you like, but God will give you what is good for you.
WATCH THIS;- Romans 8:13 says “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”.
The root of the Children of Israel’s complaint was that of the flesh – they didn’t crucify flesh.
WATCH THIS:- In John the 6th chapter, we find Jewish leaders complaining about Jesus. Even His disciples were grumbling at His words. He declared, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst… Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died… if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever.” John. 6:35,49,51 After this, “many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore.” “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard [this], said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it From that [time] many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” John. 6:60 & 66.
This is why I have a real problem with the so-called sinners prayer. A lot of people start out in this walk by saying what is called the sinners prayer. They say, “Jesus, come into my heart. Be my Savior. Amen.” Then someone tells them they are saved and welcome to the family. They fail to let them know that this takes them from Egypt (bondage) and places them in the wilderness where carnality must die. Then a few weeks later they realize the wife, the husband or the new car they prayed for hasn’t been delivered to them yet and they start wanting to go back to Egypt.
What happens is they fail to understand that the cross had two sides to it. There is the death side and the resurrection side. The thing about the death side that they fail to understand is that the death side of the cross is a process. WATCH THIS:- Jesus hung on the cross from the 6th hour to the 9th hour and had not died, but He had to go through a process. The process of the cross is the dying of the flesh before victory can be won there must be a dying.
Many people want their resurrection right on the cross but they haven’t died yet. So while they are faced with the process of dying of the flesh, their mind goes back to Egypt and they say this cross hurts, I didn’t expect this, I remember when I didn’t use to feel this way. They begin thinking thoughts like I thought this would be a joyful experience. Then they complain Pastor I don’t understand why I have to be the one that gives up everything, I don’t understand why I have to suffer, I don’t understand why I can’t have what I use to have, I can’t understand why it has to be like this. Lord I wish I could go back to the way it used to be. I want to go back to Egypt.
Be careful because sometimes God allows us to have exactly what we’ve been praying for! God sometimes answers prayers of the flesh, this is what is called His permissive will; however, I guarantee you that you won’t like the results.
WATCH THIS:- The Israelites complained about manna and demanded meat and the Lord told them He would give them meat to eat. The Lord said in Numbers 11:19-20 “Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; [But] even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which [is] among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?”.
The Lord, knowing their hearts, knew they rejected Him for their fleshly appetites. So He gave them what they thought they wanted. Numbers 11:31-32 “And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let [them] fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits [high] upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all [that] night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread [them] all abroad for themselves round about the camp”.
Vs 33-34 says “And while the flesh [was] yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted”. The name actually means “the graves of greediness”. God answered their complaining prayer abundantly and they added insult to injury. There was no praise, no thanksgiving, no trust, and no faith. Their grumbling and complaining caused them to become greedy and when God gave them exactly what they asked they died. See sometimes God will give us what we ask for but the results are more than we wanted.
QUESTION:- Are you grumbling and complaining because you haven’t seen an answer to some prayer? Have you been grumbling because you’ve trusted God for a need you don’t feel He’s taken care of? Have you been longing for the way things used to be? Are you willing to go back to Egypt be under bondage all because you refuse to die to carnality in your wilderness.
Don’t allow your flesh to win over your Spirit – Remember Romans 8:13 says “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”.
LET ME TAKE THIS A LITTLE DEEPER!
I want to talk to you about another form of Grumbling and Complaining.
Jealousy Complaints
There is yet another danger of complaints and grumbling that’s buried in each one of us like a ticking bomb.
In Numbers 12:1-2 says, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard [it].”
On the surface, their complaint seemed to be about Moses choosing Black wife. But in all actuality Miriam and Aaron were judging Moses and once they began to gripe, their real complaint came out. In verse 2 we see their will complaint “Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us”
You don’t have to dig too deep to see the sin of jealousy. God had elevated Moses to a place of leadership, honor, and respect. And his family couldn’t stand it! Their complaint didn’t come from fleshly appetite, like those demanding meat. They complained because of their egos!
Unfortunately, egos didn’t die on the cross of Calvary. It’s das to say many so-called saved people have ego problems. Why does she get to sing the lead, why do they get to teach Sunday school, how come I don’t have a key to the church I’ve been here longer, I’m just as saved, oh they are the Pastor’s favorite. Instead of doing what the Bible says in Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” They get jealous and their ego is hurt WHY because they see what they think is glamour and glorious idolizing them from people and deep down inside they want that kind of respect and admiration too, but they don’t see the struggle that person had to go through to be where God has placed them. They don’t realize the death they had to suffer to be in the position they are in. All they know is their ego and they want their egos satisfied.
Jesus had to settle this problem among His 12 disciples the night before He was crucified. He’d already told them He was about to die. The week before they had watched Him hailed as King when He entered Jerusalem and now they were arguing over who would be the greatest in His Kingdom! Luke. 22:24 say “And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest”. John. 13:12-14 Jesus took a towel and water, and washed their feet one by one, like a common household servant. Then He said, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord; and you are right; for so I am. If I then… washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
Are you complaining because no one recognizes you? Are you picking at the flaws in the leadership? Are you grumbling because someone besides you is getting attention and praise? If your not being recognized still bothers you and your ego then you haven’t died in your wilderness yet.
Jealous complaining is like a destructive cancer.
God allowed Miriam and Aaron to feel the cancerous effect of their complaints against Moses. In anger, the Lord struck Miriam with leprosy – the cancer of that age. Numbers 12:10 Though He cleansed her of the leprosy, she and Aaron were later forbidden to enter the Promised Land “because of rebellion.” Numbers. 20:24.
Sometimes our grumbling and complaints come from egos we haven’t died in our wilderness. If you’ve been complaining because no one’s recognizing you complaining because someone else is being blessed and you are still struggling, complaining because you aren’t getting your way. Then you need to surrender your ego to God before it becomes like a cancer, eating away at your soul.
LET ME GO A LITTLE DEEPER!
Unbelief or Lack of Faith Complaints
The 13th chapter of Numbers, we find another type of complaint.
God told Moses to chose 12 men to go and survey the land which He had promised them. Numbers 13:2 says “Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them”. They went and spied out the land, they came back with a cluster of grapes so big that they had to carry it between to men. However, 10 of the men complained saying that there were giants in the land and that in their own sight they looked like grasshoppers. Joshua and Caleb had a different report. Caleb said 13:30 “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it”. The people complained all night and wanted stone Caleb choose a new leader and go back to Egypt all because they didn’t have faith in God.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”. Because of their unbelief complaints God’s anger was kindled toward them and He says to Moses 14:11-12 “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they”. All because they complained and didn’t believe God.
But Moses prayed for the complaining, stiff-necked, hardheaded, rebellious, I know it all, you can’t tell me what to do people. He said in Numbers 14:13 – 20 “And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear [it], (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell [it] to the inhabitants of this land: [for] they have heard that thou LORD [art] among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and [that] thy cloud standeth over them, and [that] thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now [if] thou shalt kill [all] this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD [is] longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation]. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word”.
WATCH THIS:- People always complaining about the Pastor I can’t believe they did that, I can’t believe they didn’t do this, If I were the Pastor – you better shut your mouth and stop complaining because they might just be the reason you aren’t dead because they are standing in the gap pleading God please pardon this people for they know not what they do.
Closing
When you come out of your Egypt and you begin to walk in the Wilderness of your life there is only one of two things that will happen, you must either die out to carnality and fleshy desires and enter into your promise land or you die spiritually and go back into Egypt.
I can’t understand why a person would want to go back to Egypt when the promise land belongs to you. If we obey God and stop complaining, hold on to His unchanging hand He will lead us and guide us to the promise land. But if we act according to the flesh, complain, get jealous, and have unbelief you will die in your wilderness.
When we learn to pray instead of complain we show that we have faith in God and believe that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or even think according to the power that worketh in us.
WATCH THIS;- Prayer shows that I trust and believe in the mercy and power of God. Although I may not be able to trace Him I trust Him. I may not have all the things that I was used to, but I believe He will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory.
SUMMATION:-
Why would anyone want to go back to Egypt:-
1. Fleshly desires haven’t died in the wilderness.
2. Jealous Ego haven’t died in the wilderness
3. Unbelief & lack of Faith hasn’t died in the wilderness.
For the Children of Israel Egypt was their place of bandage, held in captivity for hundreds of years they suffered a cruel and inhumane lifestyle. They began to worship idols and assume all characteristics of their captors. However, God heard their despairing cry and sent a deliverer to bring them out of their bondage. He brought them to the wilderness as part of the process in order to bring them to the promise land.
In the wilderness they complained and wanted to go back to Egypt, their complaining cost them the promise land, only Joshua and Caleb of the original one to be brought out of Egypt were able to enter into the promise land.
THE QUESTION I have for you is what was your Egypt that God delivered you from. We have all been delivered from bondage of some kind. Maybe yours was an abusive relationship, drugs and alcohol, homosexual lifestyle, pornography, or whatever. God has delivered you out of it and now you are in the wilderness process and there’s some dying that needs to take place in you. However, flesh keeps rising and brings to your remembrance stuff that you became accustomed to, not that it was good for you but you are accustomed to it in Egypt. Now you begin to complain because you are operating in the flesh, your ego is bruised and your lack of faith brings discontentment and you want to go back to Egypt.
Why would anyone want to go back to Egypt when the promise land is yours!
Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
