You’re probably somewhat familiar with the story from the Book of Exodus that tells how God raised up Moses to lead the children of Israel out from their bondage in Egypt, where they served Pharoah as slaves for 400 years.

After a series of plagues to help ‘motivate’ Pharoah to consent to their departure, we follow their ‘exodus’ out of Egypt which included a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 14). This passing through the river bed is often seen as a type or foreshadowing of water baptism that followers of Jesus experience when they repent from their old way of living as ‘slaves’ (John 8:34; Romans 6; Eph. 2:1-3)

Best estimates as to the number of people we are talking about here range from one to two million people who came out of Egypt, passing through on dry ground when God parted the waters of the Red Sea, and then there was to be a brief passage through an inhospitable land known as the ‘wilderness’. It was only a place to pass through before another river would be traversed (Jordan River) which would lead them into the land of Canaan, a fertile and luscious land that God had set aside for them where He could establish them as His people and bless them beyond their wildest dreams.

This ‘promised’ land was NOT…a type or picture of heaven, because there were multiple groups of people living on the land, known as the Canaanites, made up of various nations and tribes. We will learn that these people had many ungodly practices and were wicked and needed to be overthrown and removed as the Israelites went in to take possession of the land. It was not an option. But before any of this could begin to play out according to God’s design, there were some small details to go over, which you may recall was the issuing of the Ten Commandments back at Mt Siani. (Ex. 19-21)

God was wanting to make it quite clear to these recently freed ‘slaves’…how important it was for them to listen to Him and do things His way…or else. And the people agreed wholeheartedly that they would indeed…’do all that the Lord has said’ (Ex. 24:3-8). We call this period of time in the wilderness a ‘time of testing’. This is what God explained as well when He reminded the next generation of Israelites (who were still in the wilderness after a 40-year extension) that “The Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness to humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Deut. 8:2)

As you probably know by now, that first generation of folks failed miserably. So bad, in fact… that they were banned from entering in to this promised land, and were forced to wander those 40 years until they ‘died out’ in the desert, save two of them, Joshua and Caleb. Long story, but we are told there were repeated failures on their part and that God was sorely disappointed with them because their ‘hearts were always going astray’ (Heb. 3:9-11). New Testament writers admonish us believers today with warnings to “Not be like them!” (1 Cor. 10:1-11; Hebrews 3).

So why all this backstory? It is because God has never changed (Mal. 3:6) and He is still known to ‘test the hearts of men’ even today (1 Thess. 2:4). And before you feel inclined to get defensive or offended at this prospect, let’s not forget that God also ‘tested’ His only beloved Son, Jesus…where after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River…He too…was ‘led into the wilderness to be tested by the devil’. (Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 4:1-14)

And what is this ‘test’ all about? Well, for the same reason those folks back in Exodus were tested…to see how serious they were about following God and doing things His way. As I pointed out in yesterday’s message, when God ‘saves us’ from any form of slavery and bondage, which is what ‘sin’ is (John 8:34)…there is usually going to be a ‘test’ that follows. This should not come as a shock or surprise to any of us…if you are familiar with the ways of God and His word.

So if you’ve been hanging with me here…perhaps God recently dealt with you about a particular sin in your life that had proven to be more than a challenge to overcome, despite all your sincere efforts which led to repeated failures. For the sake of this lesson today, let’s just use that ‘tendency’ some folks have where they are habitual ‘fault finders’ and they are always wanting to point out the faults in others which leads to all kinds of unpleasant confrontations that make everyone around them miserable. We even explored the possibility that an ‘unclean spirit’ was involved here, which is the reason some people have a problem overcoming this area of sin. Let’s just call it a ‘critical spirit’, where one might seem unable to control it, and it always seems to manifest at the worst times. Ever been around those people who you can never please? You’re miserable, they are miserable, and you never feel as if you will live up to their expectations. Truth be told, such people probably hate themselves, inwardly for being like that, and have made desperate attempts to ‘not be like that’…but overtime…they continue to be like that. And you could apply this to any sin for that matter that sincere Christians struggle with. They know they ‘shouldn’t’…but do. They almost sound like Paul’s lament in Romans 7…where he spells out rather clearly the struggle we all have…with this ‘wretched man’ …prior to being set free by Jesus. Anyone here relate?

So maybe this person was/is you, but you’ve been following along here and started to have some hope that you too…could be ‘set free’ and be ‘free indeed…once and for all’ (John 8:32,36). This is what Jesus came to do for all who come to Him. (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; 26:18; 2 Tim. 2:34-35). Which means you prayed recently and confessed to God that you had continued to fail in this particular area in your life (fill in your ____) and cried out to God to set you free from this ‘spirit of ________’. (We will continue to use ‘fault finding’ for our example in this lesson if that is okay with you.) :- )

In that moment of broken repentance (James 4:7-10) God heard your prayer of confession as you repented in your heart. In that very moment…the blood of Jesus washed over your heart (1 John 1:7)…and that ‘critical spirit’ was ‘dislodged’ and removed or evicted from your ‘heart’. It had no choice but to ‘go out’. You may have possibly even ‘sensed something’ leave you, not in a ‘Hollywood-sort-of-way’ that you might have seen in some exorcism movie, but whether you did or not…if true repentance took place…it should have been followed up with a wave of peace and ‘refreshing’ that comes from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19; James 4:8,10). This is a good thing, I promise.

And as I have also explained with scriptural evidence …you should know that you will be ‘tested’ in this area now; but the biggest part of the battle has already been taken care of with the removal of the real ‘source’ of this area of sin in your life that was eating away at you (Eph. 6:12).

I need to wrap up here for today, but let me leave you with this final note to ponder. The Bible speaks often of how Christians will ‘suffer’ in this life, and they will, and do. But…many sincere people suffer needlessly...and not because they are following Jesus. On the contrary, they are suffering for a ‘lack of knowledge’ as they continue to ‘sin’ and give place to the devil who comes to ‘steal, kill, and destroy’. (Hosea 4:6, Eph. 4:27: John 10:10). And what did Jesus warn would happen if we did not ‘go and stop sinning’? (John 5:14).

But the ‘suffering’ we’ve been called to experience takes place when we ‘deny our flesh’ as we ‘resists the devil’…when he returns to tempt us to sin again so that he might regain access back into our lives. You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s message. (sorry, not sorry that I went long today)