Photo by Derek Thomson on Unsplash

Deuteronomy 6:20-23 (KJV) And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? 21 Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: 22 And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: 23 And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

Several years ago my wife and I had just finished eating at a Tennessee restaurant. At this restaurant the waitress brought you the bill, and you carried the bill up to the register to pay. As I stood in line at the register I noticed a sign on the wall behind the cashier. What was written on the sign stuck in my head. It said:

We Do Not Cash Checks
We Do Not Loan Money
We Are A Restaurant
The Bank Is One Block North!

When I read that sign it really blessed my heart. That restaurant knew what it’s purpose was, and stuck to what it knew. It didn’t pretend to be anything but a good restaurant. As far as I know that restaurant is still in business, and still packed with customers. It knows its job, and does its job.

In our town of Columbia there is another restaurant – part of a franchise – that was newly built. They stayed in business less than three months. You can find that brand new store closed, a sign on the window. What does the sign say?

Closed For Reasons Beyond Our Control

That sign is not true. I know why they are closed. I waited in line over 30 minutes for a simple order. When I complained to the manager he said – and I quote – “It’s been hard to get good workers”. That’s not a good excuse. The restaurant never figured out it was a restaurant. It died quicker than it took to build it.

As Israel got ready to go into the Promised Land the Lord wanted His people to know their purpose. That’s what this text is about – to know your purpose, then to
live so as to fulfill that purpose

Purpose is very important. You need to know your purpose.

Not too long ago we had Columbia Power and Water come to our church to put a light out in our parking lot. Because Brother Bill was on the ball he arranged it, and very quickly the light was put in. It looks great! Someone started asking me technical questions about the light. “Is it a halogen bulb?” My reply: “I don’t have a clue. It’s a BRIGHT bulb. It does what it’s supposed to do. I didn’t install it. If you want to know something technical about it, see the Power Company. That’s their job!”

Several years ago Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren wrote a book called The Purpose Driven Life. The first paragraph of the book says:

“It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”

That is very true. As Israel got ready to enter the Promised Land He wanted every parent to make sure that their children knew why Israel was. They were not to send their children to the priests, but were to do this themselves. If the parents lived faithfully and on purpose for God then then there would be a time when that growing child would come to the parent.

Deuteronomy 6:20-23 (KJV) And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

Faithfulness as a believer in fulfilling your purpose will cause your children and grandchildren to be faithful as well. As a parent or grandparent you are to give YOUR testimony of salvation.

Deuteronomy 6:21 (KJV) Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:

The testimony of every believer saved by the Grace of God is that we were broken, we were without strength, but God brought us out with a mighty hand. Israel was enslaved, just as we who were without Christ were enslaved. Israel was enslaved by the Egyptian world, and every believer now saved by Christ was once enslaved by this godless world. The Scripture says:

Romans 5:6-9 (KJV) For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Israel did nothing to save themselves other than to step out by faith and follow God. We who believe did nothing to save ourselves. We were dead in trespasses and in sins (Ephesians 2:1). We were by nature the children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). We were without Christ and without hope (Ephesians 2:12) but God in His infinite mercy led us out of Egypt, just as He led Israel. Our faith was small, but God took this small faith and blessed us anyway.

Deuteronomy 6:22 (KJV) And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

God made a miracle when He opened our eyes to Christ. He miraculously changed us from the inside out. Whereas sin was once a pleasure, now it becomes a horror. God drowned out sin – just as He drowned Pharaoh and his army – beneath the mighty waves of the sea of Grace. Praise Him for that. I remember the day of my salvation when the Lord led me out with a mighty hand. What happened that day?

God Brought Us Out

Deuteronomy 6:23 (KJV) And {God} brought us out from thence …

There is no salvation, dear one, if God has not brought you out. In our day many believe themselves to be saved, and yet they are still in the same old bondage they were in at the beginning. It is certainly true that we as Christians are still fragile, broken, and breakable. And yet if you are saved God has brought you out.

Imagine, if you will, the week after Israel came out of Egypt with God’s mighty hand. Though many who were born of Israel came out, there were many others who did not go. They heard the Word of God. They heard that God expected them to kill the lamb without spot and blemish, and to make unleavened bread. They heard that God was going to kill the firstborn of every house not under the Blood. But some born of Israel were better placed than others. They were comfortable in Egypt. So they did not leave with Israel the next day. They did not follow the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night. What are these people? Are they God’s people?

Absolutely not!

If you have not been brought out by God then you are not Israel, and you are certainly not a Christian. The Apostle Peter spoke of this in:

2 Peter 2:20-22 (KJV) For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

The key to that text is:

the DOG is turned to its own vomit AGAIN
and the SOW that was washed to her WALLOWING in the mire
When God led Israel out – they were OUT, not IN Egypt.
When God leads the Christian out – we are OUT.
We are no longer DOGS.
We are no longer PIGS.
We are God’s Sheep!
We are Christ’s flock!

The Christian is much like the young man born blind from birth. After Jesus gave him his sight the Pharisees began to question him. They said:

John 9:24 (KJV) … Give God the praise: we know that this man {Jesus} is a sinner.

The young man did not debate these Pharisees. Beloved, never wrestle with an unbeliever! If you wrestle with the lost, they’ll just confuse you. The young man simply told the Pharisees:

John 9:25 (KJV) … Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

I know all the theological explanations as to what happens when a person is saved. I know what all the powerful preachers with multiple doctorates say. But in reality I do not know how God saved me. I know that the day I was saved I was radically changed from what I was to what He made me. I know that I was blind, but NOW I see. I do not question my Jesus. He is My Shepherd, and I am His sheep.

Psalms 100:3-5 (KJV) Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

I was led OUT.
Israel was let OUT.
It’s time for the Christian to be OUT.
He is my God, and He changes me daily.

Before I was led out I loved the world and the way of sin. Now that I am led out I despise the world and the way of sin. The Israelite in bondage was taught to hate Egypt by Egypt itself. Pharaoh told his taskmasters:

Exodus 5:7-9 (KJV) Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 And the {tally} of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. 9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein; and let them not regard vain words.

There are many who are happy to wear the name “Christian” until the world begins to mock them and mar them. But let martyrdom come, or even be hinted at, and the false Christian will fall back to the world. The world despises the true Christian just as Egypt despised the Israelite. But this world is not our home. We one day will go to be with our Jesus. Until that day we will be tried in the world. Praise God for it!

My Purpose Is To Honor My Lord

Deuteronomy 6:23 (KJV) And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

God brought Israel out of Egypt not to let them go back to Egypt, but to live for Him in the Promised Land. What is the purpose of every Christian? It is to honor God. We honor God by living for Him no matter where we are.

Romans 6:12-17 (KJV) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

The old task masters have no hold on me anymore. If I err, then I confess my sin before Him. When we confess out sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9). If you are a Christian your sins may pursue you like Pharaoh and his army pursued Israel. If that happens, look up and ask God to drown that sin in the Red Sea of Grace. Let His Blood cover it. Let the depth cover them!

Romans 8:32-34 (KJV) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

I do not belong to the devil anymore. I belong to Jesus. You do, too, dear Christian, if you are indeed a Christian. We are out so that we can go in. Heaven is ours. Christ is ours. The Father is ours. Let us live to glorify our Lord and Savior.