Has God Brought You Out of Egypt?

The God Who Saves from Egypt

Last week we started a new sermon series in the Bible, looking at the life of a man named Abraham (or Abram). And Abraham’s life is unique, because it shows us how God goes about bringing people out of Egypt – away from their moral failure into his special favor. The way God deals with Abraham sets something of a precedent because it’s the first account in the Bible that gives us a robust description of how God sets a specific people apart, to relate to Him in a special way, to receive his blessings, and to rest in his promises.

And this means that Abraham’s life has timeless importance. Because it helps us to better understand what it looks like to live a life of faith, and how God continues to engage with his people, for our good.

So if you haven’t already, please turn with me to Genesis, Chapter 12. If you’re using one of our church Bibles, you can find the text on page 8. I’ll be reading a larger chunk of text this morning – from Genesis 12, verse 10, to the end of Genesis 13. But before we hear from God’s Word, please pray with me once again, for the Spirit of God to help us this morning:

[Pray and Read Text]

The Development of Our Faith

For those of you who have ever started learning how to play a musical instrument, you know that whole process has the potential to be quite frustrating. For one thing, there are a number of new terms that might be unfamiliar – like treble clef, or sixteenth note, or key signature. And when it comes to reading music, it can sometimes take time to figure out what each note is, and how to make the right sound in response – which keys to push, or which strings to hold down.

But even if you have those things figured out, there’s also a certain endurance that’s needed to be able to play through a whole song. Guitar players need to develop callouses on their fingers. People who play trumpets, oboes, and flutes need to develop the right embouchure – something like the right mouth muscles – so that when they blow to make a sound, it produces a good tone rather than an obnoxious squawking noise. And building up endurance like this, to play the instrument well, consistently, throughout the whole song – gaining endurance and effectiveness takes time.

And we could say similar things about the Christian faith. When you’re first starting out, you might find that there are a number of words or phrases you don’t understand. There may be a number of names you don’t recognize. And then reading the Bible, and learning how to respond the right way to what it’s saying – that usually doesn’t happen overnight, either. And gaining aptitude and endurance to understand God’s Word, and to live it out practically, throughout the whole song of your life – developing in your faith like this is a process.

And in our text this morning, we’re given an opportunity to see some of that process happening in Abraham’s life. God shows us how Abraham’s faith developed, because he wants to promote the development of our faith, as well.

And as we work through the text this morning, there are three matters that are brought up, that are important for deepening and strengthening our faith.

First, the testing that refines our faith. That matter is raised in Chapter 12, verses 10 through 16. Second, from verse 17, through the end of the Chapter, we see the triumph of rescue from God. Third, we’re warned about the temptation to return to Egypt, in Chapter 13. These will be my three main points as we work through the text.

The Testing that Refines Our Faith

So first, the testing that refines our faith. You may remember last week, we looked at how God called Abram to leave his homeland. And we saw that God encouraged Abram in his obedience by granting him some rather exceptional promises. Abram was going to be leaving behind the nation he was a part of – his people. But God comforted him with the promise, that he would make Abram and his descendants into a great nation. Abram was leaving behind his family status and reputation, but God promised to “bless Abram and make his name great.” Abram was leaving behind the security of his old social connections and alliances – but God promised to take care of him, saying, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse.” Whatever it is that Abram has to leave behind in order to follow the call, God promises he will ultimately satisfy Abram with something greater.

And this gives us a picture of God’s special kindness and generosity. He doesn’t just make demands of Abram, even though God would have the right to do that. He doesn’t threaten to squash Abram like a bug if he doesn’t obey. But instead God gives reassurances and promises that he really cares about Abram – that He is for Abram, and not against him. God gives evidence that he can be trusted.

And Abram accepts what God has said. He uproots his family. He follows God’s lead to travel to a new land – the land of Canaan. And there he calls upon the LORD as his God. So far, so good.

But in our text this morning, we see that Abram’s young faith is tested. Because almost right away, after following God’s Word, and coming into this new land, we read in verse 10 of our text, “Now there was a famine in the land.” In other words, there was a severe shortage of food. Famine can be caused by a few different things – by an invasion of some sort of insect pest, like locusts, or by a severe plant disease – which is what caused the Irish Potato Famine in the mid-1800s. But it’s most likely that the famine here was caused by inadequate rainfall. The fig trees and olive trees likely didn’t have enough water to set a good crop of fruit. Shrubs and grasses were shriveling up, so there wasn’t new growth for Abram’s livestock to graze on.

And so Abram is faced with a dilemma. Because Abram had just left everything to follow God’s Word. He was depending on God to have his back. He was acting under the assumption that God had promised him blessings. But after this big step of faith, the first thing Abram encounters isn’t fullness. It’s famine.

At this point, Abram was probably wondering, “Have I made a mistake? Can I really take God at his Word?”

Even for you and I, it probably isn’t obvious why God would do something like this. We might look at how new and fragile Abram’s faith is, and assume that what Abram needs most is an extended season of prosperity in Canaan, to help confirm that God is reliable. We might assume that the best thing for Abram right now would be for his faith to be shielded from trouble and trials.

But God is wiser than us, and he knows that a protective bubble isn’t what Abram needs most, to build up his faith. Instead, God understands that for Abram’s new, fragile faith to grow stronger, it needs to be tested and refined.

Just imagine, for a moment, if there was a coach of a football team who gathered all the players and told them, “I can tell that you guys are all rather inexperienced and fragile at this point. So for the next few weeks, don’t do anything that would risk hurting yourself. Don’t lift weights. Don’t go jogging. Just do what you can to protect yourself.” It should be obvious to us that those football players would be getting bad advice. In their weakness what they need isn’t a prolonged season of ease and comfort. But what they need is training and testing. They need a certain degree of stress to be placed on their muscles and bones, so that they’ll grow stronger. They need to practice, and further develop the mindset and behaviors that will give them endurance in the middle of a difficult game.

And the same is true for our faith. When God brings us through trial, he’s actually showing us a special form of kindness. These trials are necessary for our spiritual health and growth. Hardship helps us to see what we were hoping in or trusting in other than God. And in the midst of our troubles, we’re given a unique opportunity to see how faithful God is to uphold us – not just in times of plenty, but in times of pain, too.

And so you should be prepared – whether you’re early on in your faith or further along – having your faith tested is normal. And it’s for our good. God does this, not to destroy his people, but to further develop us – to give us opportunities to take new steps of faith, even when it’s hard.

And as Abram is tested with this famine, here in our text, we see encouraging evidence of his continuing faith in God. Verse 10 tells us, “So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there.” Abram’s response is encouraging, in two ways. First, you’ll see that when famine came Abram didn’t turn back toward home. He didn’t go back to Haran, or to Ur of the Chaldeans, back toward the Northeast – even though that’s where all his friends and family were. Instead, he actually goes the opposite direction. He goes Southwest, into Egypt.

And the second thing to notice is that when Abram goes to Egypt, he doesn’t go there to settle down. He had settled down in Haran, on his way to Canaan. But at this point he seems to recognize that he can’t do that – not if he’s going to be faithful to God’s Word. Instead, when he goes to Egypt, he goes to sojourn – to be a traveler, just passing through. By sojourning in Egypt, he isn’t giving up on Canaan. But he’s just trying to faithfully provide for the needs of family, according to the resources and options that are available. So through this trial, Abram is given an opportunity to exercise the muscles of his faith – to practice trusting God with his future.

But at the same time, this trial brings to light ways that Abram’s faith is still weak. Because in verse 11, as he’s preparing to enter Egypt with his family, Abram is suddenly stricken with fear. Here he is – he has a beautiful wife, and a decent amount of livestock – and he’s entering this new land of Egypt where he’s a stranger, and where he’s vulnerable. He becomes convinced that the Egyptians would want to kill him, to take his wife and his possessions.

So Abram comes up with a plan to try to protect himself. He tells Sarai, his wife, to pretend like they aren’t married, and to refer to herself as Abram’s sister. He figures that if one of the Egyptians takes an interest in Sarai, then out of love and loyalty toward her, they’ll be motivated to treat him kindly, too, as her brother.

But, you see, Abram shouldn’t have had this fear. Because God had promised to bless him, and to make him (and his descendants) into a nation. He shouldn’t have been concerned that the Egyptians could derail God’s plans. But Abram was motivated by fear rather than faith. And when he tried to settle his concerns, himself, he just ended up making a much more complicated mess for himself.

Because when Abram arrived in Egypt, one of the Egyptians did take an interest in Sarai. And it wasn’t just random Mr. Egyptian Joe, but the king of Egypt himself. The great Pharaoh who ruled over the land sent his servants to bring Sarai into his house to be his wife, as we read in verse 15. And though it’s true that Pharaoh dealt well with Abram for Sarai’s sake, by giving Abram livestock and servants – Abram was now in a really difficult position.

Because how was he supposed to leave Egypt now, to get back to Canaan? To get back to the land of Promise? He couldn’t just leave his wife here in Egypt, in another man’s house. But if he tried to grab Sarai and flee the country, he would have Pharaoh’s army coming after him, to bring her back. And as you can imagine, the longer he stayed in Egypt, the more gifts he received, the more prosperous he became – it probably became more and more difficult to believe that leaving was a good idea, anyway.

Abram’s decision to act in fear – in some regard, it made his life easier. He was getting more wealth this way (as verse 16 tells us) – he was getting all kinds of new livestock. He had a close relationship with one of the world’s most powerful kings. Abram probably had a higher standard of living, than he ever would have had back in Ur of the Chaldeans. But here’s the issue: he wasn’t living by faith here. He wasn’t trusting in God’s provision, but was leaning on his own strategies to provide for himself.

And because of these entrapments and enticements – having his wife stuck in Pharaoh’s house, and having wealth and a comfortable lifestyle that he didn’t want to jeopardize – Abram was, in some sense, a prisoner in Egypt. A slave to Pharaoh, and to his own lingering unbelief.

The Triumph of Rescue from God

But the second way that this text promotes the development of our faith is by pointing us to the triumph of rescue from God. Because Abram is in a place, here, where he has spiritually endangered himself. He’s entangled himself in Egypt.

But notice, God looks upon Abram, and the mess he’s gotten himself into – and God intervenes. He steps in to help Abram get out of this spiritually dangerous environment. Verse 17 tells us that “the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.” And because of this, the truth comes out. Pharaoh learns that Abram is Sarai’s husband. And instead of killing Abram, which would run the risk of bringing more plagues on his household, Pharaoh urgently tells Abram to take his wife and belongings and to leave.

God makes a way to get Abram out of Egypt. And this is key, because if it were just up to Abram himself, in the weakness of his sinful flesh, he probably wouldn’t have been able to bring himself out. But God shows his commitment to Abram, in that he practically forces Abram out of Egypt. God rescues Abram out of complicated relational mess with Sarai and Pharaoh, and the temptation to forget about Canaan – and the LORD gets Abram back on track.

And God is involved in the lives of his people today, as well. Once God has called us to himself, it’s not as though from that point onward, he just sits back to see whether we sink or swim. But God stays involved in giving his people grace in times of need. God works through His Word, and through people in our life, and through our circumstances. He sometimes shows kindness in ways that seem very spectacular, but more often than not he works through events and conversations that seem very ordinary. And he rescues his people from their messes. He rescues us from Egypt. He rescues us from our sinful selves, in order to bring us into his promised blessings.

And what’s really remarkable about this part of Abram’s life, is that it closely resembles the way that God rescued Abram’s descendants, the Israelites, out of their slavery in Egypt 400+ years later. As I mentioned briefly last week, God had his prophet Moses write the book of Genesis for these Israelites. And it was supposed to be obvious to those Israelites, that God was dealing with them in a similar way that he had dealt with Abram. Just as Abram came to Egypt because of a famine, that was the cause of the Israelites going to Egypt, as well. And just as God rescued Abram by bringing plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the same was true, too, for those Israelites under Moses. And just as Abram came out of Egypt with many possessions, the same was true for the Israelites.

And there’s a point to all these similarities. The Israelites were supposed to walk away understanding that Abram’s life is a picture of how God is caring for them. It’s a picture of how God is caring for us. God is bringing his people out of Egypt, in order to lead us through life into his ultimate promised blessings.

But many of the Israelites misunderstood what this would look like. They assumed that the journey would be easy. They assumed that blessings would come quickly, completely. But God wants them to look at Abram’s life, and to realize the promises won’t come right away. The journey will be long. Your faith will be tested. At some points along the way, you’ll stumble. But the Lord is committed to his people, to call us back to faith, and to walk with us as we wait to enter the land of Promise.

The Temptation to Return to Egypt

But this text also points out – God’s people will be tempted to return to sin and self-reliance. They’ll be tempted to return to Egypt. And this is the third and final matter that we need to wrestle with, for the development of our faith. The temptation to return to Egypt.

Abram comes out of Egypt, with Sarai, his nephew Lot, and with a large number of animals. And in Chapter 13, verse 4 we’re told that Abram moved back to Canaan – “to the place where he made an altar at first. And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD.” He worshipped. This is the right way to respond to God’s great work to rescue us from our sins. This is what God intended for his people to do when he rescued them from their slavery – Pharaoh was commanded to let God’s people go, so they could worship him in the wilderness.

But when Abram’s descendants, the Israelites, were brought out of Egypt under Moses 400 years later, that’s not at all what they did. They didn’t trust God, but were instead critical of Him. Whenever food or water was running low, they complained. And on multiple occasions, when following God seemed too hard, the Israelites tried to take matters into their own hands. And wanted to return to Egypt (Exodus 16, Numbers 14). Being free to serve God, and to worship him – that wasn’t a priority. Their biggest priority was just to have a way of life that was familiar – a way of life that was easy, that didn’t require faith – a way of life that didn’t force them to rely on God. That’s what they wanted instead, even if it meant a return to their slavery.

So here in Chapter 13, God gives his people a subtle warning. He warns them against unbelief. He urges them not to live for worldly priorities and prosperity – not to return to Egypt, in their hearts. That’s the warning here.

And it shows up because of an argument that breaks out between Abram’s and Lot’s servants. Both Abram and Lot have a lot of livestock, and there’s not quite enough pastureland for all the cattle to find food and water. And so Abram decides to address the problem, and he makes an offer to his nephew, Lot. Lot can choose whatever part of the land around them that he wants to claim for his household and livestock.

In doing this, we see a glimpse, again, of Abram’s faith. He’s confident enough that God will bless him, that he doesn’t feel threatened by Lot. He doesn’t treat him like a rival. But he’s generous, and gives Lot the first choice. We see evidence here that Abram’s confidence in God is growing.

But then the text directs our attention to Lot – and this is where we see the warning. There’s an important contrast made here between him and Abram. Unlike Abram, who’s growing in faith, Lot is a man who compromises. He’s a man of weak faith. Up until this point, Lot had been part of Abram’s household. There’s no doubt that he knew something of the promises God had made to Abram. So by faith, Lot could have tried to make a plan to stay close to Abram and his God. By faith Lot could have blessed Abram by giving him the first choice of the land – since God had promised that he would bless those who bless Abram. But instead, Lot functionally decided that he could bless himself. His choice of land is motivated by selfish pragmatism, and not by good faith.

This maybe isn’t obvious right away in verse 10. The text initially says that “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well-watered everywhere like the Garden of the LORD.” It sounds like a good place, right? But the problem is that Lot was trying to establish an earthly paradise for himself, instead of seeking the good land promised by God. And notice, the text goes on to liken the Jordan valley to the land of Egypt. It should have been fresh in Lot’s mind – God had just brought him out of the Land of Egypt. That’s not the land of God’s blessing. The Israelites under Moses would have gotten the point here. Don’t go back to Egypt. But Lot wanted a life that looked like Egypt, anyway.

And the text further clarifies that Lot’s decision wasn’t a good one. Though the land he chose seemed so pleasant and prosperous in the moment, verse 10 lets on that Sodom would soon be destroyed. Also, when verse 11 says that “Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east,” it could be that his journey east is mentioned, simply to help us with our geography. But going east also had important symbolic significance in the book of Genesis. Because east, remember, was the direction that Adam and Eve traveled when they left God’s favor and presence – when they were driven away from God’s blessings in Eden. And when Lot makes this move – after he moves his tent as far as Sodom, we’re told in verse 13 that “the men of Sodom were wicked – great sinners against the LORD.”

So the picture we see here, of Lot, is that his primary concern is his physical self-enrichment. God’s promises are forgotten. Spiritual matters are neglected. His heart longs for Egypt. He’s turning away from being close to God, and he’s cozying his tent right up next to the sin capital of Canaan. He compromises. And this is a warning for us.

Because Lot, here, wasn’t totally faithless. 2 Peter 2, verse 7, indicates that Lot was genuinely distressed by the sins of Sodom. But a number of Lot’s key life decisions weren’t made in faith. And it just about ruined him. It certainly ended up ruining the rest of his family.

And we must not follow in Lot’s footsteps. Don’t live for the seductive comfort and ease offered by modern-day Egypts. When it comes to where you’re going to go to college, or where you’re going to live and work, or where you’re going to retire to, the first – and I really mean this – your first concern should be where will my faith be strengthened? Where will I find a good church or church plant, where I’m growing in my dependence on God, and his promises? These are the first priorities to deal with, and everything else will fall into place.

And this also relates to the time commitments you make, for yourself or your family – especially for Sundays. It’s common today, even for some Christians, to commit themselves to hobbies or sports teams that pull them out of church – out of Christian relationships. But do those hobbies make better promises than God does? Is setting aside time for youth soccer really a bigger priority than setting aside time to worship God?

If we make life decisions, purely based on what’s fun, or what feels nice, or what doesn’t stretch us too far, then we’re missing the message here. God wants to bring your heart out of Egypt. Though your eyes might tell you that the land of Sodom and Gomorrah will fill you with many advantages, it’s an illusion. Enduring happiness, fullness, blessedness – it comes through faith, from God alone.

As Abram continues to sojourn in the land, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises – the Lord speaks to him again in verses 14 through 17. And the Lord affirms his promises. God won’t leave him empty. The fullness of God’s favor is coming. And Abram presses on in faith.

And we’re encouraged to press on, too. God affirms his promises to us. This God, who brought us out of slavery to sin, through the death of Jesus Christ, in our place – He’s bringing us into a new country with better blessings than anything the world can offer. So don’t be overwhelmed by trials. Don’t forget God’s power and purpose in saving you. Don’t be enticed by Egypt. Don’t settle for Sodom. But let life’s various tests and temptations deepen your resolve to trust God. He’s at work to refine your faith, and to strengthen you for good in the years ahead. Let’s believe it. Please pray with me: