BENEFITS OF THE WILDERNESS

TEXT:
(Neh 9:9-15,19-23 NIV) "You SAW THE SUFFERING of our forefathers in Egypt; you HEARD THEIR CRY at the Red Sea. {10} You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day. {11} You divided the sea before them, so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters. {12} By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take. {13} "You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. {14} You made known to them your holy Sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. {15} In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them….."

{19} “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. {20} YOU GAVE YOUR GOOD SPIRIT TO INSTRUCT THEM. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. {21} For forty years you sustained them in the desert; THEY LACKED NOTHING, their CLOTHES DID NOT WEAR OUT nor did their feet become swollen. {22} "You gave them kingdoms and nations, allotting to them even the remotest frontiers. They took over the country of Sihon king of Heshbon and the country of Og king of Bashan. {23} You made their sons as numerous as the stars in the sky, and you brought them into the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess.”
WHAT INITIATED THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT

1. THE SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE

2. THE CRY FOR GOD’S INTERVENTION
WHAT DID GOD DO?

THREE STEPS FOR ANY GOOD WORK GOD DOES….

1. HE DELIVERED THEM FROM BONDAGE

2. LED THEM IN TO THE WILDNERNESS

3. BROUGHT THEM INTO CAANAN
WHAT DID THEY LOSE…

LOSSES:

1. COMFORT

a. LOSS OF “IDOLS” – In the wilderness you lose your options for worship...

b. LOSS OF “DISTRACTIONS” – In the wilderness there is not much to do…

(Num 11:4-6 NLT) "Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Israel also began to complain. "Oh, for some meat!" they exclaimed. {5} "We remember all the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that we wanted. {6} But now our appetites are gone, and day after day we have nothing to eat but this manna!""

c.

2. SELF-DIRECTION

a. LOSS OF “MY WILL” – In the wilderness you are not doing what you want..

b. LOSS OF “MY MIND” – In the wilderness God removes options for thinking..

(Exo 14:11-12 NIV) "They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? {12} Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!""

3. CLARITY

a. LOSS OF TEMPORAL DIRECTION – We don’t know what will happen next..

b. LOSS OF INTERNAL DIRECTION – We know little of how to plan for the future.

(Josh 5:6 NLT) "The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to bear arms when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the LORD, and the LORD vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us--a land flowing with milk and honey."

4. BONDAGE

a. LOSS OF BONDAGE TO PEOPLE – lose our unhealthy attachments to people

b. LOSS OF BONDAGE TO THINGS – lose our unhealthy attachments to things

c. LOSS OF BONDAGE TO IDEAS – lose our attachments to ungodly thinking..

(Exo 3:7-10 NIV) "The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. {8} So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. {9} And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. {10} So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.""

BENEFITS

1. DELIVERANCE OF GOD (vs. comfort)

a. FROM WORLDLY DISTRACTION (the World)

i. You have a few choices

1. GOD = wholeness & peace

2. WORLD = distraction & turmoil

b. FROM SELF-DISTRACTION (the Flesh)

1. GOD = wholeness & peace

2. SELF = selfishness, distraction & turmoil

c. FROM SINFUL PATTERNS (the Devil)

(1 John 2:14-17 NLT) "I have written to you, children, because you have KNOWN THE FATHER. I have written to you who are mature because you know Christ, the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you who are young because you are STRONG WITH GOD'S WORD living in your hearts, and you have won your battle with Satan. {15} Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. {16} For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. {17} And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever."

2. PRESENCE OF GOD (vs. clarity)

a. PROVISION – JUST ENOUGH

i. NEEDS ARE MET

ii. SUPPLIES DON’T WEAR OUT

(Neh. 9:21) For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.

b. POWER OF GOD

i. SIGNS AND WONDERS

(Luke 10:17-20 NIV) "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." {18} He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. {19} I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. {20} However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.""

c. PROTECTION

i. GOD DEFENDS YOU

(Isa 41:10-13 NIV) "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. {11} "All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. {12} Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. {13} For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."

3. DIRECTION OF GOD (vs. self-direction)

a. WAITING ON GOD

i. LEARN TO DEPEND

ii. LEARN TO LISTEN

iii. LEARN TO OBEY

(Isa 64:4 NLT) "For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who WAIT for him!"

b. TIMING OF GOD

i. STEP BY STEP – JUST ENOUGH

ii. MOVE WITH THE FIRE AND CLOUD

4. TRANSFORMATION OF GOD (vs. bondage to self)

a. REVELATION OF HIS PROMISES & COVENANT

i. OT = ten commandments

ii. NT = power of the spirit, word of God

(Rom 12:2 NIV) "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TEST AND APPROVE WHAT GOD'S WILL IS his good, pleasing and perfect will."

b. ILLUMINATION

i. SHOWS YOU THINGS YOU DIDN’T SEE BEFORE

ii. SHOWS YOU THINGS THAT YOU WERE TO DISTRACTED TO SEE BEFORE

c. POWER

i. OVER WORLDLY TEMPTATIONS (the World)

1. The world holds not interest for us…

(1 John 4:4-7 NIV) "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

ii. OVER FLESHLY LUSTS (the Flesh)

1. The flesh has no power over us..

(Col 2:9-13 NIV) "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, {10} and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. {11} In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, {12} having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. {13} When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,"

iii. OVER SPIRITUAL RESISTANCE (the Devil)

1. WARFARE – OVERCOME ENEMIES

2. The Devil has no ability against us

(Rom 8:37-39 NIV) "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. {38} For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."