He Brought Us Out To Bring Us In
It was impossible for the Hebrew people to go into Canaan, the land that flowed with milk and honey, unless they came out of Egypt, the land of bondage. Therefore, God brought them out to bring them in.(Deuteronomy 6:23) This is a picture of salvation, too. We must come out of the bondage to sin and the things of this world, so that we can enter the freedom of salvation in Jesus Christ. However, some people want to have one foot inside of the world and one foot in Christ. That doesn't work. We have to come out to come in.
This is a great word picture that illustrates a vital truth for life. You can't go on a cruise and enjoy all of it's benefits, unless you go out of your home. You can't move from one house to a better house, unless you leave the old house. You can't enter the Christian life, until you decide to leave your old life to enter the new life. We call it "repentance." We must decide that the old way is the wrong way, that sin and bondage are not the way we want to live, so that we go the other way; we leave the old to begin the new. Yes, God has to bring us out, as He did Israel, but we have a choice. He is waiting to see if we are willing to "go out." Then, once we have gone out, there will be the temptation to go back, like Israel wanted to return to Egypt. If we try yo go back, we can't have all that God has for us. We can't be in two places at the same spiritually, either. That is why repentance is once and for all, forsaking the old for the new. It is walking away from a life of sin and the things of this world forever. Yes, we will be tempted by Satan to return, but we will say "no," because we have gone out from there, and we have entered a far better place.
This is why so many people are stressed out as they try to live the Christian life. They are trying to live in both worlds. Satan will turn you every way but loose, and you will be miserable, until you go out to come in. Leave the old place with its bondages, and move into the Promised Land of salvation, lock stock and barrel. It is the only way to have real victory and joy in the Christian life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 9-11.
This is a great word picture that illustrates a vital truth for life. You can't go on a cruise and enjoy all of it's benefits, unless you go out of your home. You can't move from one house to a better house, unless you leave the old house. You can't enter the Christian life, until you decide to leave your old life to enter the new life. We call it "repentance." We must decide that the old way is the wrong way, that sin and bondage are not the way we want to live, so that we go the other way; we leave the old to begin the new. Yes, God has to bring us out, as He did Israel, but we have a choice. He is waiting to see if we are willing to "go out." Then, once we have gone out, there will be the temptation to go back, like Israel wanted to return to Egypt. If we try yo go back, we can't have all that God has for us. We can't be in two places at the same spiritually, either. That is why repentance is once and for all, forsaking the old for the new. It is walking away from a life of sin and the things of this world forever. Yes, we will be tempted by Satan to return, but we will say "no," because we have gone out from there, and we have entered a far better place.
This is why so many people are stressed out as they try to live the Christian life. They are trying to live in both worlds. Satan will turn you every way but loose, and you will be miserable, until you go out to come in. Leave the old place with its bondages, and move into the Promised Land of salvation, lock stock and barrel. It is the only way to have real victory and joy in the Christian life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 9-11.