[Biblemat] S:> Why Israel Failed: Egypt Never Left Them

Thu Feb 22 22:39:40 CST 2007

http://www.deusvitae.com/faith/outlines/index.html

                      Why Israel Failed:
                    Egypt Never Left Them

I. Introduction
   A. Recognition of Israel's failure
      1. Israel in the flesh, overall, a failure
      2. They did not keep their obligation in the covenant
      3. God first punished them, exiled them, and then entirely 
         destroyed their religious system in 70CE 
         (cf. Matthew 24:1-36)
      4. Parable of the Vineyard shows what happens (Matthew 21:33-44, 
         Mark 12:1-11)-- original occupants (Israel) removed, new 
         inhabitants (Christians) enter
      5. Failure of Israel due to many reasons together-- perhaps a 
         few failures could be endured, but the combination caused 
         downfall
      6. Nevertheless, we can learn from each instance of failure
   B. 1 Corinthians 10:6
      1. Failure of Israel is designed to be a lesson for us
      2. We must learn so that we may not fall into the same 
         temptations!
   C. Let us begin to consider reasons why Israel failed and avoid 
      these difficulties

II. Israel's First Failure
   A. From the beginning of the people of Israel-- the Exodus-- we 
      find failure in them
   B. Background
      1. Jacob and his children sojourn in Egypt during hard times 
         (Genesis 46-50)
      2. The sojourn continues for hundreds of years
      3. A pharaoh arises who knew not Joseph and thus enslaved the 
         people (Exodus 1-2)
      4. The people cry out for deliverance (Exodus 2:23)
      5. God calls Moses to deliver His people from slavery 
         (Exodus 3-6)
      6. After plagues, the Passover, and the crossing of the Red Sea, 
         the deliverance is accomplished (Exodus 7-15)
   C. God, therefore, has acted mightily on behalf of Israel
   D. Israel has been delivered from its bondage
   E. All, however, is not well!
      1. Exodus 16:1-3: in Egypt, they had meat pots
      2. Exodus 17:1-3: dying of thirst
      3. Numbers 11:1-10: different kinds of food in Egypt
      4. Numbers 14:1-4: a desire to return to Egypt!
   F. All of these grumblings have one thing in common: reference to 
      Egypt
   G. What does this mean?

III. Egypt Never Left Israel
   A. Famous adage, many permutations: "you can take a tiger out of 
      the jungle, but you cannot take the jungle out of the tiger"
      1. The meaning is relatively easy to understand
      2. Even though you can take an animal out of its environment, 
         such does not mean that the animal is going to actually 
         change
      3. In terms of Israel, we can truly say that "Israel was 
         delivered from Egypt, but Egypt never left Israel!"
   B. At every negative turn, the people returned, in their minds, 
      to Egypt!
   C. On the surface, this makes no sense at all!
      1. Egypt was where they were slaves!
      2. They had cried out to God to be delivered!
      3. Slavery, hard bondage, forced labor-- that's what they 
         wanted to return to!
   D. One can see the ludicrous sight: a group of people having been 
      set free returning to bondage voluntarily
   E. How did this occur?
   F. Israel, in its distress, forgot about the bad but remembered 
      the "good"
      1. Israel, in the wilderness, could have decided to focus on 
         how even though the present wasn't great, it was better than 
         bondage, or they could focus on how bad it was and how things 
         were different earlier
      2. Most Israelites chose the latter
      3. Memories of hard labor, slavery, bondage-- basically gone
      4. Memories that remained were food and water, since that is 
         what they lacked in the wilderness!
   G. On account of this tendency, this particular generation would 
      not inherit the promise (Numbers 14:21-23)
   H. The next generation would inherit the promised land
      1. Numbers 14:31
      2. A generation not tainted by the past memory would receive 
         God's promises
   I. To get Egypt out of Israel, an entire generation had to pass 
      away before Israel received its land!

IV. Application
   A. The lesson for us is just under the surface and not difficult 
      to understand
   B. Israel was released from bondage and was in the wilderness 
      heading to the Promised Land...
   C. ...and did not enter the Land because they kept thinking back to 
      the "great" things they left behind!
   D. We are like Israel!
      1. We have been released from the bondage of sin 
         (Romans 6:16-18)
      2. We are in the wilderness of this pilgrimage in life 
         (Philippians 3:15-20)
      3. We are heading for the Promised Land of Heaven 
         (Hebrews 4:1-11)
   E. No wonder Paul uses this very story in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12!
   F. Unlike Israel, we must remove Egypt from our hearts!
   G. We must never forget the depravity of sin
      1. We understand the ridiculousness of the idea of a freed 
         people voluntarily returning to bondage in physical terms
      2. Why is it any different in spiritual terms?
      3. As Israel forgot the sufferings of Egypt but remembered the 
         food, so many people look back to the "fun" they had while 
         in sin wistfully and forget about the bondage and suffering 
         of sin (Romans 6:16-23)
      4. Such persons are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin 
         (Hebrews 3:13)
      5. We must always remember the difficulties we previously 
         encountered, and realize that no matter how hard it may get 
         in this "wilderness", it is better than the life of sin we 
         once experienced (cf. Titus 3:3-7)
   H. Unlike Israel, we must keep the Promised Land in sight
      1. Only two people-- Joshua and Caleb-- brought back a good 
         report of Canaan and therefore only they from their 
         generation entered it (Numbers 13-14)!
      2. Israel's problem was that they thought more of what they 
         left behind in Egypt and less about the treasures and value 
         of what God was giving them in Canaan!
      3. If we desire to make it to Heaven, we must keep focused on 
         Heaven and its eternal delights-- if we look back to the 
         life of sin, we will stumble (cf. Philippians 3:13-14)

V. Conclusion
   A. Because Egypt never left Israel, that generation perished in 
      the desert
      1. This is an object lesson for us (1 Corinthians 10:1-7)
      2. If Israel perished because they had the wrong focus, what 
         will happen to us if we also have a wrong focus?
      3. We must not fall into Israel's failure!
   B. Luke 9:62
      1. Jesus' statement accurately sums up what we have been 
         saying
      2. When we become Christians, there is no more time to look 
         behind us
      3. We are only fit for Christ's service when we look to Him 
         and focus on Heaven!
   C. Let us always look to Christ and focus on Heaven, and leave 
      the life of sin behind
   D. Invitation/songbook

Ethan R. Longhenry/ disciple_of_iesus at hotmail.com
Evangelist, church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio
 (http://www.norwalkchurch.org)
Website: http://www.deusvitae.com
AIM: Deus Vitae / ICQ#: 28317056
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Yahoo! Messenger ID: discipuliiesus

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