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Back to Egypt, Back to the World

Genesis 12:10–20 | Walking Out Faith, Part 3

Let's start with the basics, the most basic, straightforward terms of what the actual game is when it comes to faith, hope, the church, religion. Because there are so many paths to choose from, and there is so much false teaching out there, so much deception, that we need to get back to the foundation.

Here is the truth: you are not basically good. The world wants you to believe that. We have been so inundated with that philosophy that it is hard to process the alternative. The message we hear constantly is that we are fundamentally decent folks who stumble now and then, basically good people who basically need a savior because we are basically not quite good enough. But that is not true.

Under the surface, each and every one of us has a human condition in a fallen world. It is our default position. And it is sinful. It is evil. That is hard to say, and it may be hard to hear, but it is true. So great is this evil in us that we have absolutely no way to do enough good to work our way toward God. God had to work his way toward us.

Every other religious system in the world is people working their way toward God. And many times it is that effort that makes the ones putting the rules on people somehow significant and somehow profitable. Authentic Christianity is God working his way down to us while we were yet sinners, and he saves us in spite of ourselves. The best phrase about authentic Christianity, the one that gets at the heart of the whole thing, came from RC Sproul about a decade ago:

"Christianity at its core is nothing but one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread."

Our sin is so filthy and awful that the sacrifice needed could only be carried out by someone who was perfect. When John takes us into the throne room of heaven in Revelation chapters 4 and 5, all of eternity is lamenting that no one can be found worthy enough to redeem mankind. And then the Lamb is found, and heaven erupts in celebration. Jesus, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, was the only one who could take away the sins of the world. There is a wrath of God that is due on every single sinner. And when Jesus was on that cross, he took the full wrath of God upon himself. The wrath I deserved. The wrath you deserved. He stood in our place as our substitute and he paid a price we could not pay.

And now the greatest thing in the whole human condition in all of eternity applies to those of us who have trusted him completely: your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Your name is in the book, or it is not. We all get to the judgment seat of Christ. The book is going to be opened. And I have no reason to believe my name should be in that book, except for one thing. I put my trust completely in Jesus Christ to put it there. And when my name is read from the Lamb's Book of Life, I am going to feel lucky just to be in the room.

Once you are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, you have a new life in Christ. The old is gone. The new has come. And here is the thing: Christianity is not about making bad little boys and girls into good little boys and girls who now have to behave. That is not it. It is so much more than that. Jesus Christ paid the penalty on the cross to take a dead person in their sin and make them alive. That is a much different concept.

This new life comes with responsibilities. There is incredible freedom in Christ as a new creature, but there are also obligations to the one who paid the price for our redemption. And those obligations should come directly from good old-fashioned gratitude, because you do not deserve to have your name in that book and neither do I, but it is there because of what he did. Out of gratitude, we balance the freedom we have in Christ with the obligations we carry as servants. This is what good preaching does. This is what good churches do. It brings us to a place of true worship regarding the true, authentic hope that is within us.

We are all on a pilgrimage now. And we are not on a pilgrimage toward retirement. We are on a pilgrimage toward heaven. That is a much different understanding.

Abraham is our very first pilgrim. And what he shows us in Genesis 12 is a major lesson, one of the most significant parallels his life draws into ours. How God intersects with Abraham has incredible implications for those of us who strongly desire to walk out our faith. And when we watch Abraham go back on God and head down into Egypt, there is something here that could be incredibly life-changing if we look close enough.

The Text

Genesis 12:10–20

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake."

When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go." And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

What we have here is what some say is the saddest event in the entire life of Abram, and this is a life that still has Hagar and so much more to come. He makes a decision in this passage that brings tremendous trouble into his life. And it will bring tremendous trouble into ours if we look closely enough.

During a famine in Canaan, Abram takes his family and moves to Egypt. In the Bible, Egypt is always presented as a picture, a type, of the world. It is where the children of Israel were held in bondage to Pharaoh for 400 years. And even after they were delivered by the power of God, they still longed for what they left behind in Egypt. The book of Exodus records it clearly:

"Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

— Exodus 16:3

That is just like us, isn't it? Regardless of how the Lord blesses us, there is still a part of us that looks back longingly to the world and what we have left behind, especially when things get uncomfortable. We romanticize the past and forget what hardships were actually there. There is potential joy and potential hardship everywhere we go and everywhere we have been. That is just the fact of life.

As we watch Abram make this journey into Egypt, there are four truths about the road he traveled that we need to see today.

Truth #1: It Is Always a Downward Road

Genesis 12:10

The text says Abram went down to Egypt. That is not just geography. When a believer leaves Canaan, the place of victory and blessing that God calls us to, to go to Egypt, the world, it always leads them down. Always.

Canaan represented God's best for Abram. That was where he was supposed to be. That was where he was supposed to stay and hang out. There is no place more precious on planet Earth than where God wants you to be. And the famine that hit Canaan was not a punishment for sin. Many believe it was a test of faith. There is nothing in the text that says God led Abram to go to Egypt. Abraham was seeking his own solution and chose to go. He left God's best to solve his own problem.

One scholar put it this way: he left God's best to run away from God's test.

Real faith will always be tested. The great test is to submit to the test and trust God instead of running. For a powerful example of what that looks like, compare this to the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17. Before we even get to the widow, the Lord had already given Elijah some commands on how to survive, and Elijah followed them to the letter. And then this happens:

"Then the word of the Lord came to him: 'Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.' So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, 'Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.' And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, 'Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.' And she said, 'As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.' And Elijah said to her, 'Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth."' And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah."

— 1 Kings 17:8–16

She had faith that the word of God had come to her. And by that same faith, she gave the prophet the first portion with the very last of what she had. In the middle of a famine. Expecting to die. That had to be hard. But she trusted the word of God over her circumstances, and God came through.

Now compare that to Abraham. Abram was supposed to choose the uncertainty of Canaan over the abundance of Egypt. God had promised to bless him there in Genesis 12:2–3. Canaan was the place of God's rest for Abram, where he could rest in the arms of providence and trust God to take care of him. Notice that God says the same two words to Elijah twice in 1 Kings 17, once in verse 4 and again in verse 9: "Dwell there." The best place to be is where the Lord places you, even when it does not seem right for your current circumstances. To do otherwise is to step onto a downward road, and a downward road always becomes a dishonest one.

Truth #2: It Is Always a Dishonest Road

Genesis 12:11–15

The road to Egypt birthed a lie. It always does.

It is a sad day when a believer turns away from the truth to embrace a lie. And this may be the saddest episode in Abraham's entire life, forever preserved in the word of God. We can learn from this mistake. We all have those moments when we birth lies in our hearts to justify what we do and allow in our lives.

Here is how it played out for Abram. First, Abram told the lie. He instructed Sarai to say she was his sister so the Egyptians would not kill him. Then, Abram became the lie. After he told it, he began to live it. Then, the next logical step: Abram believed the lie. He came to believe the lie he had fabricated more than the truth he had received from God.

We know this because verse 12 tells us Abram was afraid of something that could never have happened. He could not die, not then, not like that, because God's promise to him in Genesis 12:2–3 had not yet been fulfilled. The covenant was still outstanding. But that is always sin's way. Going all the way back to the garden in Genesis 3, Eve sinned because she believed the devil's lies more than she believed God. Peter fell because he believed his own lies more than the Lord's word in Mark 14. One lie always leads to another.

The sad progression is the same every time: we tell the lie, we live the lie, and eventually we believe the lie as our new truth. It is a sad day when that happens in a believer's life.

Truth #3: It Is Always a Troublesome Road

Genesis 12:15–17

Sin splatters. It never stays contained to just the person doing it.

Abram's sin had the potential to cause others to fall. Pharaoh could have taken Sarai as his wife. When a believer goes down to Egypt spiritually, it causes others to fall away or stay away. Many times we do not see the punishment come right away, but it is coming. And it is worth asking ourselves: would it not be a shame to know that something we did caused a believer to stumble, or confirmed a sinner in a decision that leads him to hell? Jesus put it plainly:

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

— Matthew 18:6

Now here is something wild in this text. In spite of all of Abram's bumbling, God still chose to profit Abraham on his way back to Canaan. The Bible tells us Abram left Egypt with more than when he entered, sheep, oxen, male donkeys, servants, female donkeys, camels. He appeared to prosper in the far country. And that can happen. Sometimes a believer will appear to prosper in their spiritual Egypt. Think of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Not all who go to the far country come back with more. But even when they do, not all profit carries the same blessing.

Among the things Abram acquired in Egypt was an Egyptian girl named Hagar. She became a problem, a serious, painful, lasting problem for Abraham and Sarah. And Abraham's sin with Hagar still has consequences in the world today. What we think are the world's best blessings often become life's greatest burdens. We need to process things through the spiritual discernment given to believers, staying in the word and remembering that this world fades and we are pilgriming toward heaven.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

— Matthew 6:19–21

Are you pilgriming toward retirement, or are you pilgriming toward heaven? Those are very different pilgrimages.

Truth #4: It Is Always a Disappointing Road

Genesis 12:18–20

The world and all of its allure can never satisfy a soul that has tasted the goodness of the Lord. If you have been soundly saved, the world will never have your full attention, but it can sidetrack you. It can pull you down into Egypt for a season. You can make a journey down there.

Disobedience leads to surrendering part of your testimony. Abram lost a huge part of his in Egypt. He was literally told by Pharaoh, a pagan king, to take his wife and go. He was kicked out of the world by the world. Lost people never forget a ruined testimony. They may never remember your good works, but they will not forget your failures. Can there be redemption? Of course. But renewal comes at a price we do not have to pay if we can keep ourselves from going down into Egypt in the first place.

Think about what gets the most airtime. Peter's preaching at Pentecost, or his denial of Christ? David and the Ark of the Covenant, or David and Bathsheba? Which gets talked about more? That is just the reality of how these things land with people.

And then there is this: in Egypt, Abram had no altar. He offered no sacrifices. He lifted up no prayers. It seems he forgot about them entirely. He left God completely out of all he was doing. When a child of God lives in the world like the world, God and all that pertains to him gets neglected and many times ignored. Instead of bringing the light of the one true God into the darkness of Egypt, Abram only brought more darkness. He was not the salt and light he was called to be. And that is a tragedy within itself.

Jesus is clear about what he has called us to be:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

— Matthew 5:13–16

Here is the thing about that light: it is always organic when it is legitimate. It is not something we conjure up. It is not some effort or strategy. The salt and light spoken about here is a byproduct of authentic faith, of walking out the authentic faith pilgrimage while we are still drawing breath on this earth. When we depart from that walk and go down into Egypt, we cannot be what God has called us to be. And for the child of God, going back to the world is always a dead end. It is always a tragedy when a believer goes back to the world and finds themselves worse off than before they started.

Where Is the Tent of Your Heart Pitched?

Going into Egypt is not hard. All it takes is a little compromise here, a little compromise there, and before you know it you are miles away from the Lord. And when that happens, you will never prosper. And here, we are talking about kingdom prosper. Plenty of people go down into their Egypt and make a lot of money. What is really sad is how miserable they are with all of it. You will never prosper in the kingdom sense as long as you are not where God wants you to be.

So where is your heart today? Where is the tent of your heart pitched? Is it in Canaan, firmly fixed on the land of blessing, victory, and testimony because of God's promises? Or have you gone down to the world into Egypt?

The good news is that Abram's story does not end in Egypt. In Genesis 13, he returns to the exact spot where he built the altar and resumes in the gracious and merciful hand of God. Come home. Rebuild the altar. Live for Jesus the way he saved you to do.

Some of us are already there, walking out authentic faith in the middle of a world that is hitting us from every different direction in the multimedia age we live in. Stay prayed up, stay in the word, stay walking with the Lord. Hold tight to the fellowship of brothers and sisters who are walking the same road. We need each other in the trouble times we find ourselves in.

Others need to return, the same way Abraham returned in chapter 13. If that is you, there is a place for you. Come out of your Egypt. The altar is waiting to be rebuilt, and the Lord is gracious and merciful to those who return to him.

May the Lord be blessed because of us. And may his kingdom come soon.