Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
September 8, 2002 - W0236

How many times have you ever gotten lost as you were driving? It happens to almost all of us. Everyone except men, of course. I want you to know that men are never lost! One lady told me that the reason Moses wandered for 40 years was because he didnít stopped for directions.

The worst way to be lost, though, is when youíre going down the wrong road and you donít even know it. God, however, doesnít let that happen to us. He puts road signs up for us to read as we travel this journey called life.

It was in Jeremiahís day that God did this for His people as well. But they chose not to read or heed Godís road signs. God found them headed in the wrong direction, back to the very place of captivity that He had already delivered them from! ìBut now what are you doing on the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile?î (Jer. 2:18)

Have you ever found yourself ìon the road to Egypt,î heading back to where God once delivered you from? Maybe itís an illicit relationship youíre emotionally involved in or youíre promoting yourself for more power or promotion. Youíre drifting back to an old lifestyle, down a wrong road, and youíre missing Godís road signs for you. You might say, ìHey, Iím not actually doing anything wrong here.î But are you on your way, though, going down that road to drink the waters of the Nile?

Q1: Where is your Egypt? Where has God delivered you from? Share your testimony. (Knowing this will help us to avoid returning to it without even realizing it.)

Q2: Have you ever gone through a time (perhaps even now) when you started to head back to Egypt, to an area in your life God had already delivered you from?

If you fast-forward the video of your life from this, youíll see that youíre indeed thirsting after things you should long be done with. You might not go all the way, but its consuming your thoughts, inflaming your emotions and directing your desires. It can happen quickly or over a period of time. And what happens is that it eats away not just at your own life but at your relationships (maybe your marriage) and diminishes your passion for God.

Then you settle for less than Godís best. You begin to compromise with the devil and if you know anything about him there is no compromise with him. He simply comes to steal, kill and utterly destroy. When you compromise you will find that the end is still death.

When youíre on the road to Egypt, you become very susceptible to the enemy. So God puts up road signs to help you to see that youíre straying and ìon the road to Egypt.î The first is thisÖ

TELLTALE ROAD SIGNS:

1.     GODíS GRACE IS FORGOTTEN.

We can forget Godís grace when things get easy or comfortable. When Heís saved us from dire circumstances, spared the rod, and we forget His grace in our lives because everything is great. Thatís a dangerous place to be because we become susceptible to the devil and his temptation to ìgo back to Egypt.î Donít do it! Donít forget Godís grace; itís so precious!

ìLong ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds; but you said, ëI will not serve!íî (Jer. 2:20)

Isnít it true that when things smooth out for us we often go back to our old ways? It happened at one of the most prominent churches in the first century: Ephesus. They were doing so well but God warned them of one critical character flaw: ìLook how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and work as you did at first.î (Rev. 2:5 NLT) God was telling them to remember from where they had fallen and continue to love as they did at first, not taking anything for granted. Thatís so important! Because once we forget how gracious God is to us, weíll find ourselves back on the road to Egypt.

Q3: Can you remember your ìfirst loveî for God? Recount what happened to your lifestyle when you first accepted Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior. Is it different now?

A lady who was struggling with a compromising lifestyle came to me one day and said, ìPastor Wayne, my purse was stolen last night! All of my cash and credit cards are gone!î ìOh no,î I said, ìyou were doing so well!î ìYeah, itís gone!î she cried. I asked, ìWhere was it stolen?î ìAt Lopakaís Bar,î she reported. I wanted to ask her what she was doing back on the road to Egypt.

Donít forget the goodness of God. Keep your heart filled with His goodnessóthrough small groups, devotions, serving. Stay in close fellowship with other saints because one ember alone grows cold, but many embers together keep each other stoked for Godís fire! Keep your heart afresh and aflame with His goodness in different ways daily.

Q4: Have you taken Godís grace for granted? How do you keep your heart stoked hot for God daily?

The devil wants you to put your faith aside so that you will cool off. You see, he might be defeated but that doesnít mean heís dumb. Heís shrewd and he knows that if he can get you off by yourself, he has you. In fact, one of the most shrewd schemes of the enemy is this: He knows he probably canít get you to deny your faith, so he gets you to ìshiftî your faith.

?        A CASE OF SHIFTING YOUR FAITH.

Faith is putting your complete dependence upon something. ìBelieve,î the synonym of faith, is defined as ìcompletely leaning upon.î It means putting your whole weight onto something in good faith that it will support you. The enemy doesnít want you to fully believe God or trust Him to provide for all your needs so he gets you to ìshiftî your faith and fulfill your own needs. Or he gets you to put your faith in something else instead of in the Living God.

ìFor My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.î (Jer. 2:13) The Lord says that He freely provides but some people choose to make their own cisterns (or wells). And when they do that it actually ends up being broken, false cisterns. When we do it our own way, it usually doesnít turn out for the best. The truth is that we can never be fulfilled by anything but Godís fountain of living water.

Q5: Looking at your own life, are there any areas where you might be shifting your faith? Are there things youíre making happen on your own, that perhaps are in Godís will for you but not yet in His time?

So the first road sign that weíre on the road to Egypt is when weíve forgotten Godís goodness and we start shifting our faith. The second sign God brings up is when we startÖ

2.     TOLERATING WANDERING THOUGHTS.

ìHow can you say, ëI am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalsí? Look at your way in the valley!î (Jer. 2:23) In other words, look at how youíre living where no one sees. Whatís going on in your mind, in the arena of your imagination? Thatís how it all begins.

One of the most insidious lies the enemy sells us is that what goes on in our minds is of no consequence. ìJust let it run,î he whispers, ìtheyíre just thoughts. They canít hurt anybody!î And you allow your mind to dwell on somethingóan illicit relationship or a grudge youíre holding ontoófor weeks. The Lord would ask, ìWhat are you doing on the road to Egypt?î

And we protest, ìWell, Iím not going to do anything.î Yes, but what are you doing even going down that road? Have you seen Godís road signs warning you to turn back? If youíre tolerating wandering thoughts, then remember this: The devil is a headhunter, your mind is the battlefield, and his trophy is your imagination. You see, if he can capture your thoughts, he knows heís got you and he can get you to do almost anything.

Hard Q: Are you tolerating any wandering thoughts? Scripture says, ìguard your heart with all diligence,î are you letting any unclean thing in? Why?

Personal Activity: Diagram a pie chart according to where you spend your thoughts everydayórelationships, work, food, Jesus, etc. What are you spending most of your time thinking about? Is it what you want to be focusing on? How can you change that?

How do you get to the point of sin? Well, the enemy gets you to just start thinking about it. ìOh, you donít have to go all the way to the Nile. Just think about it!î Imagine Adam and Eve standing in the Garden of Eve right in front of that infamous tree. Letís say it was an apple tree just for the sake of this illustration. How many times do you think Eve walked by that tree and it never even entered her mind to disobey God and eat the fruit?

It wasnít until one time when she walked by and the serpent said, ìHey, pssst, Eve-sss! Did God tell you not to eat, sss, of thisss tree?î ìOh, yes,î she answered, ìGod said not to.î ìGod didnít really mean not to eat of it,î the enemy replied. ìThink about it. Jussst consssider it!î ìWhat do you mean?î she asked, her curiosity now peaked. ìMaybe it will make you wiser. In fact, you might become like God!î he tempted her. ìJussst consssider it.î

And she began to consider it. Once she began considering it, the hook was set. When that happened, Eve then drank of the Nile.

When you recognize bad thought in your mind deal with it! Thatís why the Scripture says, ìWe demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against  the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to ChristÖî (2 Cor. 10:5 NIV). Do you see that? If you can learn to read the signs when youíre on the road to Egypt, youíll be able to correct your mistakes before you make them. If you cannot, you choose a path that demands you to make the mistakes first. Learn to read the signs and prevent mistakes and their consequences. I cannot tell you how many years that will save you.

The first sign is forgetting Godís grace. When that happens we begin to drift down that road to Egypt. The second sign is when we begin to entertain wandering thoughts, dwelling on things that arenít Godís best for us. Where the devil says, ìJussst consssider thisss.î Watch out! But if we still miss those two signs, God brings the third sign, the most obvious one yet:

3.     REJECTING REPROOF.

If we miss this, we miss it! If we canít receive reproof, or correction, weíll already be at the banks of the Nile. God sent a Nathan to David when he was caught in the Nile with Bathsheba. God will send people to ask you, ìWhat are you doing on the road to Egypt?î How do you respond to reproof? Are you defensive or do you take their reproof as a warning to turn back?

Remember this, itís not the problem that I have committed that disqualifies me from the race. Itís my response to the problem when itís brought to my attention. People arenít often fired for making a mistake or series of bad choices. But do you get defensive? Blame others? How do you respond? That can be more crucial of an issue than the problem itself.

ìWhy do you contend with Me? In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction.î (Jer. 2:29-30 NIV) God brought reproof for His people so they wouldnít go too far down the wrong path and suffer worse consequences. But they still missed it. Will you?

Reproof isnít necessarily easy: ìAll discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.î (Heb. 12:11) Reproof may not be easy, but itís so worth it! Learn from it, itíll make all the difference in your life, your faith and your ability to pour into others.

Q7: How do you respond to correction or discipline?

It doesnít matter if youíve been walking with the Lord for one month or 10 years, we all get a little lost sometimes. Yet God will faithfully send road signs to lead you back onto the right path. Will you heed them? Will you watch out for them as they pop up as forgotten grace, wandering thoughts or rejection of correction? Do so and watch how God yields fruits of righteousness 100-fold in your faith journey!

Final Q: What point really "hit home" with you? Why?

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