We’re Not In Egypt Anymore

Text: Nu. 13:1-3, 25-33

Introduction

1. Our text today finds the children of Israel somewhat fresh out of bondage,

2. It has been a little over 2 years now

3. They had encamped at Mount Sinai for a year where Moses received instruction and made preparations

4. After a full year at Mount Sinai the Israelites break camp and began their march toward the Promised Land

5. From Mount Sinai they move into the wilderness of Paran, where our text picks up the history

6. Here in the wilderness of Paran Moses and the children of Israel pitched

7. The Bible declares that Moses, under the direction of the Lord, sends out some men, 12 to be exact

8. There are 2 things to note about these men

a. They were from every tribe

This showed fair representation
Every tribe would thus have a stake in the vision

b. They were leaders

They were not just ordinary men
But God commanded Moses to choose a ruler among them to send
So then these men would have influence over the remainder of the tribe

9. Moses gives them 2 directives

a. Survey the people

Stature – are they weak or strong
Size – are they few or many

b. Survey the land

Productivity – fat or lean
Potential – good or bad

10. So Moses sends out the 12 spies

11. They are sent on a journey that was nearly 500 miles roundtrip

12. The Bible declares that they returned from searching of the land for 40 days

13. They go unto Moses, Aaron and all the congregation to deliver their findings

14. The text tells us that of the 12 who physically surveyed the land, 10 return with an evil report, while Caleb and Joshua give a good report

15. I want to speak to you from the subject: We’re Not in Egypt Anymore

Exposition of the Text

1. Our text today deals with 12 spies

2. But amongst these spies we find two types of people

3. And what is revealed about these people paints a picture of our culture today

4. First let us deal with the 10 spies

# EGYPT MOTIVES

a. The text declares that they brought up an evil report

b. Can I take you back to Exodus chapter 1

c. There we find that Joseph has died, and all his brethren and all of that generation

d. Now a new king arises over Egypt who knew nothing of Joseph or his family’s history

e. The Bible declares that this king begins to scheme

f. He looks out and sees that the children of Israel are many in number and as such mightier than them

g. But greater than this he fears that if there ever comes a time that the children of Israel get bold enough they will leave the country

h. My brothers and my sisters hold on to that one

i. The adversary does not want you to move further than the state of bondage you are in

j. And so this new Pharaoh begins to devise a plan that would suppress the children of Egypt

k. The pharaoh sets over them taskmasters to afflict them with burdens

l. And the Bible says that the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor

m. There were three possible reasons, or motives, for such treatment

1) To break their spirits

You must understand my brothers and my sisters that this world has Egypt motives and they exist to break your spirits
Life has become so rigorous that folk don't even try to get out of the ruts that they are in
They continue to go round and round in the same circle
It has become so that they don't even have the desire to exit the freeway
Their spirits have been broken
Folk feel like there is no need to even try, success won't ever come to them
Folk look around and see how bad things are and they just give up
I might as well keep living like I'm living
My brothers and my sisters that was one of the motives of the Egyptians

2). To ruin their health, thereby shortening their days and thus leading to a diminished number

The Egyptians didn't care about the health of the Israelites
They would work them until there was no work left in them and then work them some more
There were no weekends
There were no lunch breaks
There were no holidays off
Their desire was to work them so until they had no ability to do anything else
They would work until they died
My brothers and my sisters look around at America
Folk having to work two and three jobs
Working so until they have run themselves in the ground
Folk stressed out and mentally are inept to apply themselves to life

3). To discourage them from having a family

The Egyptians desired that the children of Israel needed not marry
For if they married they would have children and thus the increase would continue
Can you see America
Nowhere else in the world is it more profitable to be a single parent
And don't misunderstand me because I'm not knocking single parents because I am the byproduct of one
But what I am pointing out is that our government has created a system called welfare that rewards and almost advocates non-marriage
And so man and woman don't want to be together legally and rightfully because it will mess up their benefits
And yes I said man because men are getting in on the game too

n. But my brothers and my sisters these were motives by the Egyptians to keep the Israelites suppressed

o. And so we see within the 10 spies an Egypt like motive

p. For the text declares that they brought back an evil report, even though they had seen first-hand that the land flowed with milk and honey

q. I can only imagine that these 10 spies didn't want the camp to move any further than where it was

r. And so they devised a plan that they would bring back an evil report

s. And it's obvious that Joshua and Caleb didn't make that meeting

t. Not only do we see their Egypt Motives

u. But the text reveals that their Egypt Motives led to an Egypt Mentality

# EGYPT MENTALITY

a. Egypt was a place of bondage, a place of limitation

b. And what happens is that after being in a place like that for so long, as they were for over four hundred years, there begins to develop a mindset

c. Can I talk to you for just a minute

d. Might I interject into your thought process that if Egypt was a place of limitation and the 10 spies began to operate in Egypt motives

e. That the Egypt mentality that overtook them was a mentality of limitation

f. Oh let me help you see it

g. The Egypt Mentality caused them to Limit God's Anointing

Can I take you back to Exodus
The Bible declares that Moses was tending to his father-in-law's flock
When there out of nowhere Moses sees a bush occupied by fire but not consumed by it
Moses enquires of the fire and encounters the Living God
God calls Moses out of the bush and tells him that he is to go to Pharaoh and bring forth God's people the children of Israel out of Egypt
God declared unto Moses that He had established His covenant with the children of Israel
And so God tells Moses, "Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, let My people go that they may serve Me."
And so then my brothers and my sisters we see that there was an anointing on their life
God had called them out of Egypt
Out of bondage
Out of limitation
And so God declared in Ex. 6 that He would take Israel to Him for a people and He would be to them a God
That He would bring them to a land swore unto their fathers
That He would give them a heritage
Oh my brothers and my sisters they had been divinely elected to be the servants of the Most High God
To dwell in the land given by the Most High God
But yet the text suggests that they now limited God's anointing
Can I take you deeper
To limit God's anointing is to say 2 things

God is not able

To anoint implies election by divine origin
It says then that that which is anointed has been done so by a divine being
In our case that divine being is none other than God
And so then for me to place a limitation on what God has elected to be so is to say that it is not able to be what God has said it would be
In other words God is not able to perform what He has declared
Isaiah found out that the word that goes forth out the mouth of God shall not return unto Him void
But that it will accomplish the thing He sent it to accomplish
And not only will it accomplish it but it will prosper in it
And so not only would they get the land, but the land was going to be fruitful unto them
But their Egypt mentality placed a limitation on God's anointing

God is not faithful

Not only did they doubt that God could do it
They doubted that God would do it
God had already spoken that He would give them a land
And here they were on the brink of having that land but because of an Egypt mentality they limited the anointing God had placed on their lives and thus said that God wasn't faithful to His own word
Balak wanted to curse the children of Israel but Balaam couldn't do it
The Bible says that as Balaam was on his way the Lord met him and put a word in his mouth to return and tell Balak
God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent: hath He said and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?
The Lord spoke unto Isaiah, "Yea I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it"
My brothers and my sisters if God said He would do it then there ought not be any doubt in our sanctified minds that He will do it
God is faithful enough to carry out His word

But their Egypt mentality made them limit God's anointing
And in doing so they doubted that God was both able and faithful to carry out that which He had elected them for

h. But not only did their Egypt mentality limit God's anointing

i. But it also Limited God's Ability

Notice what the 10 spies declared
They said that the men were of great stature and that they were grasshoppers not only in the sons of Anak's eyes
But notice they said in their own eyes
What the Egypt Mentality does is make you think that you are inferior
And so what happens is not only do others see you as small, but you see yourself as small
And so then they began to look at this conquest as something that was dependent upon their ability
When in all actuality it had nothing to do with them and everything to do with God
They had forgot that they were in bondage and God said let My people go
They had forgot that they were trapped by a Red Sea and God made a highway through the water
They had forgot that not only did God bring them through the sea but he swallowed the Egyptians up
They had forgot that they were without direction in the wilderness and God became a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night
They had forgot that when they were hungry in the wilderness that God fed them with manna from heaven
They had forgot how able the Almighty God was
And although they may not have been able, God's ability far exceeded their ability
But an Egypt mentality will cause you to limit God's ability

5. But my brothers and my sisters Moses didn't send out 10 spies, he sent out 12

6. And the other 2 came with a good report

7. And their report to the people, "We're not in Egypt anymore"

8. My brothers and my sisters Joshua and Caleb represent a transition

9. They represent a shift in the higher order thinking of God's people

10. Joshua and Caleb come with a different perspective

11. To remind the people that they weren't in Egypt anymore

12. They come with a Kingdom perspective

# Kingdom Motive

1. Let us go up at once and possess it

2. The kingdom suffers violence and the violent take it by force

# Kingdom Mentality

1. We are well able to overcome it

2. For we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us

We're Not In Egypt Anymore

Introduction

Exposition of the Text