Let Us Not Return to Egypt
Categories: Sermon OutlinesSUBJECT: Apostasy
TITLE: LET US NOT RETURN TO EGYPT
PROPOSITION: To set forth an expository study of Jude 5.
OBJECTIVE:To help us better understand this verse and the importance of our deliverance from Egypt which corresponds to the bondage of sin; that we return NOT to Egypt.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Read: Jude 5.
2. Regarding the text:
1) We often quote Jude 3 to show that there is only one faith, correct system of approach to God, and that this faith has been once-for-all delivered. This is true.
2) In verse 3 Jude speaks of “our common salvation.”
a. Salvation is provided by God.
b. God has provided only one salvation and He revealed that salvation in “the faith.”
c. Salvation is located “in Christ,” 2 Timothy 2:10.
d. Every person in the world who had reached the age of accountability and responsibility to God has sinned and is a lost person.
e. The only hope for this person is being “in Christ,” in Christ’s church,
f. Any person who is not in the church which Jesus Christ built is a lost person,
g. God saves people in only one way and in only one place.
3) Now, in verse 5, Jude refers to the people whom God saved out of Egypt and then destroyed.
3. Reference to S.T.P.O.
DISCUSSION: In this verse we have –
I. Desire…”Now I desire to put you in remembrance.”
1. These words are probably one of the reasons why people believe that the person who wrote 1 and 2 Peter also wrote Jude.
1) 2 Peter 1:12,13.
2) 2 Peter 3:1,2,8,9.
2. We need to be reminded of things which we KNOW we ought to do.
1) Prayer, 1 Thessalonians 5:1? and Luke 18:1.
2) Giving, 1 Corinthians 16: 1,2. and 2 Corinthians 8: 1-9.
3) Assembling with others of “like precious faith,” Hebrews 10: 25.
3. Now, these as well as other things, we should remember and say to ourselves, “I don’t want to go back into Egyptian slavery. I don’t want to be separated from God and his people by going back into any former slavery, be it gross sin, another religion, family, friends or even the sinful influence of weak Christians.”
II. Declaration… “Though ye know them once for all.”
1. 1 Corinthians 13: 12,13-
1) We CAN know all things now because all things which God HJS planned have been given to us.
2) Paul says, “Now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.” When is this “then”? “Then” is when the prophecy and knowledge is completed, that is, brought to perfection,
a. Jude 3.
b. 2 Peter 1:3.
c. Paul describes the process then in progress in 1 Corinthians 2: 6-13.
2. Consider a simple illustration.
1) Let us take a large container: it represents God’s knowledge ability.
2) Now let’s take a very small container: It represents all of man’s capacity.
3) When we pour from the large container into the small one, it is filled to capacity immediately, but there is much remaining in the large one.
4) This is a poor illustration because when God has filled us with knowledge He has lost none.
a. This must illustrate matters of common knowledge,
b. God knows infinitely more than we can NOW know,
c. God’s giving the Bible has forever overflowed man’s capacity,
d. This makes me ask the question, “How could anyone want more?”
3. This is rather like the little boy who fell into a vat of molasses and prayed, “Lord, make my appetite adequate to the occasion.”
4. The Bible is the wisdom of God. We can never completely comprehend it. If we had more we could not use it.
5. The point is, God’s will had been once for all revealed in/the Bible! Any other religious guide is NOT from God.
6. Now let’s get to the application of this knowledge.
III. Deliverance…”That the Lord, having saved a people out of Egypt…”
1. The illusion here is to the exodus of Israel from Egypt under Moses.
1) God called Moses, Exodus 3: 1-6.
2) God sent Moses to deliver Israel, Exodus 3:10-12.
3) God visited ten plagues on Egypt, Exodus 7: 17- 12:29.
4) God miraculously delivered Israel through the Red sea and destroyed the Egyptians in the same sea.
5) God miraculously fed his people and provided them with water.
2. This has application to us and our deliverance from the bondage of sin,
1) God called Jesus back in eternity before the world was created.
2) God sent Jesus to deliver us from sin.
3) God visited a series of plagues on Satan as Jesus lived and ministered,
4) God has provided miraculous deliverance through the death, burial and resurrection of the Christ, by which God destroyed the power of Satan.
5) God has provided spiritual food and drink in the New Testament.
IV. Destruction…”Afterward destroyed them that believed not.”
1. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.
2. Hebrews 3:12-19.
3. Hebrews k:11-13.
4. The point is forcefully made that humanity either chooses to follow God or reject God.
1) We have the same options today.
2) Notice that those Israelites wanted relief from Egyptian bondage.
3) They got the relief, freedom.
4) Then they wanted to go back to Egypt, Exodus 16:2,3; and what for? onions, Numbers 11:5.
5. The application must be made. I must make it to me. You must make it to you.
1) One is freed from the bondage of sin ONLY when he follows Gods conditions and he himself leaves the bondage of sin,
a. This may be leaving a life of rebellious sin.
b. This may be leaving some pagan idolatrous religion such as found in Africa, India and even in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Our pagan gods include:
a) T.V. (1.0 Money;
b) Worldly pleasure; and
c) etc.
c. This may be leaving some religion which calls itself “Christian” but teaches and practices doctrines not found in the New Testament.
2) What is the source of the different religions which call themselves “Christian”?
a. 2 John 9-11.
b. If the doctrine is false, that is, different from the New Testament, then the religion can NOT be true.
3) What does Jude say? “The Lord…afterward destroyed them that believed not.
a. John 3:36.
b. Hebrews 3: 16-19.
c. Who was destroyed? Those who disbelieved,
d. Who disbelieved? Those who disobeyed.
e. To go back to ones former manner of life, whether rebellious sin, pagan idolatry, or something called “Christianity” is disobedience and will cause a child of God to be eternally lost.
CONCLUSION:
1. We have considered Jude 5. In it we see:
1) Desire;
2) Declaration;
3) Deliverance; and
4) Destruction.
2. Beloved, the major lesson of Jude 5 is “Let Us Not Return to EGYPT.” Let us not return to the slavery of sin; any sin, rebellious or religious sin. Let us not return to Egypt.