6/21/26 - SO YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO EGYPT / Hebrews 3,4 & Numbers 14 | The Bible House
6/21/26 - SO YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO EGYPT / Hebrews 3,4 & Numbers 14
22 iýun 2026
Transcription
Can you believe in Christ and then turn away from him, the great lover of your soul? To whom shall you go, my friend? Can't you see the world you left behind is no good for you? That's why you left that old life. Don't let time make you forget all its pain and shame. Don't turn back.
Can't you see that there will never be another hope that's so supreme? Keep pressing on and let go worthless dreams. Don't turn back. You'll miss the prize of life eternally. What joy can be yours? But turn back and there's sin and slavery.
And you believe in Christ and then turn away from him, the great lover of your soul. To whom shall you go, my friend? Can't you see the world you left behind is so good for you? That's why you left that old life. Don't let time make you forget all its pain and shame. Don't turn back.
Can't you see that there will never be another hope that's so supreme? Keep pressing on and let go worthless dream. Don't turn back. You'll miss the price of life eternally. What can be yours? But turn back and there's sin and slavery, but turned back and there's only sin and slavery.
Amen. So let's pray together. Our God and our Father, we want to thank you so for this opportunity. It is an opportunity, a great opportunity. Though we may be bound, the word of God is not bound. Hallelujah. So open uh thy word to us, uh open thy truth to us. Give us willing hearts uh to want to obey uh the word of God, to obey your voice. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
So in Hebrews uh chapter 3, I'm just going to read a few verses beginning in verse 7. "Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith," now that's significant. Uh when the Bible speaks, no matter who wrote it, the Holy Ghost is speaking. It doesn't matter what human being wrote it. It is the Holy Ghost that is speaking. Very important to understand that. "Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness."
Now, that was not one day. We'll see in verse 9. "When your fathers tempted me and proved me and saw my works 40 years." So, that was a long time that this people uh tested the Lord. They were always complaining against him. This was uh culminated in Numbers chapter 14. They had uh tested him 10 times. They complained 10 times against him and uh finally they made it to the promised land.
Now it's important to understand this. There's only 11 days journey. We find this in Deuteronomy 1:2. 11 days journey from where they received from Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments, to the border of Canaan. It's just a walk across the desert. But they first built the tabernacle. That took a year. And so at the beginning of the second year after they had been delivered out of Egypt is when they started uh their journey to the promised land. And God had promised them in Deuteronomy 12 and verse 9 and 10 that he was going to bring them into this land and they would have rest. So uh the land of Canaan was to be a land of rest and the land was God's land. In uh Isaiah 88 it says it's called Emmanuel's land. Emanuel means God with us as we know from when our Lord Jesus was born. So, uh, they were to enjoy the land of Canaan with God.
So, now they've traveled. I don't know how many days it was, but it does tell us it's 11-day journey if you just walk straight. And they got to the border of Canaan. Well, Moses sent in 12 spies, so-called spies, to look at the land and to come back and to report. So, they're on the border of uh Canaan. These 12 men, chosen men, go in and for 40 days, they search out the land and come back with a report. Well, 10 of them uh were unbelievers. Said that there's no way that you could we could go into the land there. The the people are too great, too mighty. But there was two men of faith, Joshua and Caleb. Now, these are two great men of faith, Joshua and Caleb, young men. But they said that God has given us this land. God is with us. We can possess it.
Well, the people then were disobedient to God. They would not go into the land. In fact, listen to what they they say in Numbers 14 and verse 4. They said one to another, "Let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt." Well, in Egypt, they were slaves. They were in bondage, cruel bondage. And that's why God sent Moses because he heard their groanings and their sorrows and now they want to go back. Oh, what a a word that has for us who have lived in the sorrows of sin under the bondage of sin and the bondage of the devil and the cruel cruel treatment that sin brings into our lives and then God sets us free from that and we want to go back.
You see, anyone that wants to go back away from Christ, away from the freedom and forgiveness and life that's in Christ, they were never a true believer to start with. And we need to understand that when we talk about the nation Israel, we're not talking about people of faith. There was always a remnant of believers. Uh God always has a remnant of believers. Remnant means a tenth or a small number. But the nation as a whole were identified with God outwardly. The through circumcision uh through the presence of God in the tabernacle, they were outwardly connected and identified as God's people. But only when their hearts were circumcised, which is a an expression God uses, a circumcision of the heart. In other words, cutting off sin uh in your life. Uh only those that trusted in God uh just like we see with Joshua and Caleb out of 12, two men were men of faith and the rest said let's go back to Egypt.
Now I just want to read uh God's uh uh response to that uh verse 21. This is again uh Numbers 14:21. God says, "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled led with the glory of the Lord." Hallelujah. We look forward to that day when the Lord Jesus comes and his glory will show forth throughout all this world. Verse 22, "Because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt," remember God did those 10 plagues against Egypt in order to force Pharaoh to let the people go. Incredible miracles. "So they saw those uh miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness and they have tempted me or tested me now these 10 times." So 10 times uh since they had uh uh left Egypt, they complained against God and evidenced unbelief. That's why I'm saying outwardly they're identified as the people of God. It's like today uh people, anybody can go to church. It doesn't mean you're saved. So, in any particular church service, there's those that are saved, those that aren't. That's why the preacher always preaches the gospel because he's invited the public to come and he knows that there's unsaved people there. And even people that profess to be believers, that have been waterbaptized, that doesn't mean they're believers at all. It's all a matter of the heart. God knows the heart. And he said, "By their fruits you shall know them."
And so going on, he says, "They've tested me 10 times and have not hearkened to my voice." Remember that connects with what we saw in Hebrews chapter 3. "Harden not your heart." You know, the Holy Ghost is speaking. And uh verse 23, God says, "Surely they shall not see the land which I swear unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it, but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and followed me fully." And then also also Joshua. So here God is bringing judgment upon those that would not believe in him, would not bow to his authority, would not uh uh honor him and listen to to the judgment.
So remember it was 11 days journey. We don't know, I don't know exactly how long it took them to get there from uh after they made the tabernacle the second year out of Egypt. Now they make their travels. They're at the border. Okay? Now they won't go in. So, uh, so listen what God says. Now, the spies had been in the land for 40 days searching out the land, this land, uh, flowing with milk and honey, this promised land, the land, Emanuel's land. Now, listen what God says. Verse 29, "Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you according to your whole number from 20 years old and upward, which you have murmured against me." So 20 years old and older, they're going to die in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb and those that had uh a faith along with them.
Verse 31, "But your little ones which he said should be a prey. Them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which I which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness and your children." See, sin always has an impact upon the family. The sin of the parents will always have an impact upon the family. "And your children shall wander in the wilderness 40 years and bear your whoredoms until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness." So the children of these that did not believe God, they are going to uh be in this wilderness for these 40 years wandering. This is never God's will to wander through through life. He has a will for us, but this is God's judgment upon them. And so you might feel that you're wandering in your life that that you're just kind of lost. Well, it's because you've disobeyed the Lord. Because the the Lord has a perfect plan for your life. He will lead you in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. So, you need to get right with him and he will lead you on. And it'll be the most wonderful thing because God's will is always the best. So, for 40 years, the children are going to watch their parents die until uh through Joshua. And this is where you get to the book of Joshua. He brings them into the land.
So I just want to I I wanted to kind of set that out. So when we look at Hebrews chapter 3, going back to that when it says in verse 9, "Your fathers tempted me, proved me, saw my works 40 years," that's exactly what we uh uh were just talking about. The 40 years was not God's will. It was a judgment upon them. So, you know, God's will was that they would go have gone into that land that they would have walked that 11-day journey and gone in and begun to take that land flowing with the milk and honey. That land which was a to be a rest for them, but they refused. You see, when we refuse God's will, you don't know. You have no idea. We have no idea how long we'll be in judgment. You know, I I've been involved in the Calipatria State Prison in years past, and you know, 50% of the men there are lifers. How many times do they go back and review their lives and think about these decisions that they made, bad decisions, and the cost, the terrible cost to them and their families. Sin has a cost.
And so God goes on in verse 10 of Hebrews 3, "Wherefore I was grieved with that generation." So God, it it hurts the heart of God. Uh he's offended when people will not believe him because God is good. "Taste and see that the Lord is good." He says, "They do always err in their heart." See that's the issue, the heart. "And they have not known my ways." Now they had seen his works, his miracles, but they didn't understand what he was saying. He was saying God was for them, not against them. All these wonderful miracles that he did, providing water out of a rock. They had a cloud by day, protecting them from the sun when they went through the wilderness. And uh that during the the night time, they had a fire that would give light to them. I mean, all of these things that they they were fed with manna uh every day. All these things were intended to communicate that to them, these miracles, that God was good. God was for them but they saw the works but they didn't know his ways. And in other words, they didn't understand his heart. So verse 11, "So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest."
Verse 12. So now he is given the history just like we read in Numbers 14 and he uh then applies it and it's so important the word of God is to be applied to our lives today. This book is the Holy Ghost speaking to us today. It is not just a history. It is a living word for you and I. Verse 12. "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." You see, this is those that make a profession of faith in God, faith in Christ, but it's not real. It's not their hearts. They've never repented and they never given their hearts to Christ.
And verse 13, "But exhort one another daily." So this is why we need the word of God and we need fellowship. We need to be around one another and you need to be around the kind of people that will exhort you to live for Christ. He says, "Exhort one another daily while while it is called today lest any of you be hardened." That's the danger, "through the deceitfulness of sin." The danger is that our hearts could be hardened. And what is the process? The deceitfulness of sin. Sin is a lie. We read in Hebrews 11 that there's the pleasure of sin for a season. Well, of course, it's just like a lure. If you've ever go fishing, you have a lure. It's bright and shiny. It It looks very appealing to the fish until he bites on it and he's hooked. And that's the way sin is. The wages of sin is death. It always ends in sorrow, always in confusion.
And so the Lord goes on, "for if we are companions of Christ or we are companions of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end." Now what is he saying? He's saying that a true believer will continue in faith in Christ. He'll never turn his back upon God. Oh, we we may sin for a moment like Peter did and and in unbelief deny the Lord, but there will be an immediate recovery because a believer cannot go on in unbelief.
Now, I'm going to skip down to chapter uh 4 verse one. Hebrews 4:1. "Let us therefore fear." Let us therefore fear. All of us should have a healthy distrust about ourselves, about our hearts. None of us should trust our hearts. We should always allow the word of God to look into our hearts and see what our motives are. So verse one again, "Let us therefore fear lest the promise be left any of us entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it." To come short of it.
You remember when the Lord talked to this uh uh young man one time, the young man asked the Lord what the greatest commandment was. The Lord said to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, your neighbor as yourself. And the young man said, "Well, Lord, you know, you you've you've answered correctly." And uh the Lord told him, "You're not far from the kingdom of God." So the Lord told this young man, you're not far from the kingdom of God. Well, why was he not in the kingdom of God? Because he identified that a man is to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor is himself. He agreed that that was right. But he didn't apply it to himself. Remember we said earlier, you got to apply the scripture to yourself, the word of God. He didn't apply it to himself because if he had, he would have confessed his sin and said, "Oh God, Lord Jesus, I I'm not I've not done this. I've not loved God with all my heart. I've not loved my neighbor as myself. I'm a sinner." But you see, he didn't do that. So, he was not far from the kingdom of God. He understood the truth, but he didn't apply it to himself. And how important that is that we apply the word of God to ourselves.
So there's one other thing I want to bring up in relation to that verse that we read in Hebrews 4:1 where it says come short. So in Numbers 32, there's a very interesting event that took place. They're they're uh getting ready to go into the promised land and Moses is going to die because of his sin. Joshua is going to take him into the land. But there are two and a half tribes. Reuben, Gad, and a half a tribe of Manasseh that had a lot of cattle. And on the east side of the Jordan, so the Jordan divided the promised land from the uh wilderness. So uh they're on the east side right now. And there was a great pasture land there. And so these two and a half tribes asked Moses if they could stay on the east side of Jordan. Well, the whole point was God had had had brought them to go into the promised land. This was their blessing. This was the place God wanted them to be. But these two tribes were looking at the blessing, the earthly blessing of uh maintaining their cattle and uh living in this area where there was such feed for their cattle. They end up going and fighting in Canaan and then go back to this uh part to the east side of the Jordan.
But it pictures for us something that's that's very important. Christianity is not about believing in God so that we can get blessed. You see these people, these two and a half tribes, they wanted the blessing. They wanted the green pastures for their cattle. And Christianity is not about believing in God, believing in Christ so we can get blessed. No, it's about uh believing in God, believing in Christ so we can know God, so that we can serve God, so that we can have fellowship with God, so that we can live our lives for him. And regardless of whether or not there is green pastures, in other words, whether or not things uh uh go well for us or not, you know, materially, financially, healthwise, and every other way, whether or not those things go well, still our God is worthy to be served and worthy to be uh uh worshiped. And we are to go forward with our lives not looking for blessing but looking to get uh a deeper and deeper knowledge of God himself of growing in grace and in our knowledge of Lord and Savior Jesus Christ of of running this race that God has set before us. Not living for this life. Not seeking blessings from God. Not living a going to church so because I know that if I do that God will bless me. No, that's not it at all. We We have to understand that those two and a half tribes, they stayed behind. They fell short. They stopped short of the greatest blessing God had for them in the promised land. And the greatest blessing God has for you and I is to know him. To know him. To know him better and better. To know him more and more. Hallelujah. What a privilege. What an opportunity we have.
Let Let's close in prayer. My God. Now, Father, we want to thank you so praise you, oh God and Father, that you want to have fellowship with us. Place it within our hearts a desire to want to fellowship with you, to know you more and more. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
