Topic: There Is a Way Out!

 

Text: 1^st Corinthians portrays Christ as “LORD”

Prophetic Scripture: (1 Corinthians 10:13).

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it .

 

The Spirit says, “When you are feeling tested and tempted beyond measure, always remember I have created a way out even when it seems there is no escape. Stay close to Me and I will ease the burden and temptations that put excess pressure upon you!”

God has sent me to the people of God with a message; THERE IS A WAY OUT!!!

How many know the devil never plays fair. He does exactly what:

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

He doesn’t relent (be more tender and merciful) in his attempts to defeat you. He kicks you when you are down to make you feel there is no way out.

 He wants you to think you are powerless to overcome by shooting every defeating thought or fiery darts imaginable into your mind.

He will use all sorts of things to lure you away from God and His Word.

He will tempt your flesh relentlessly!

How many know today, “GOD WILL MAKE A WAY OUT.”                                    

Have you ever felt trapped by your problems? When you lay down at night do your worries get in bed with you? Do you tell yourself, "If I can get some sleep things will look better tomorrow", only to find that the same situations are waiting on you when you awake? 

I read where a writer wrote, "Sleep, for many, is not a robber but a refuge - eight hours of relief for our wounded souls”. And if you are kept awake, it's not by counting your fingers or sheep, but by counting your debts, tasks or even your tears.                  
You’re tired.  You’re weary.  Weary of being slapped by the waves of broken dreams.  Weary of being stepped on and run over in the endless marathon to the top.  Weary of trusting in someone only to have that trust returned in an envelope with no return address.  Weary of staring into the future and seeing only futility” (uselessness; ineffectiveness; unimportance; something futile, such as an action or event).

The strength of futility is its apparent finality/final result.  We begin to believe that things will never change.  We need someone to reassure us that there is hope.                                               
 Look back at this timeless story of the Red Sea crossing.  We find that, with God, there's always hope and it's always too early to give up.

The Israelites had nothing but water in front of them and the Egyptian army on their trail. Now you’re talking about no way out.

Two little words I preached, and the message was “BUT GOD!!!”  

See how many times human resources have been brought to an utter end; despair has gripped the heart and pessimism/tendency to look on the dark side of things or to see difficulties and disadvantages and gloom has settled upon a people; and there is nothing that can be done. (So they thought).

 Then see how the Spirit of God writes in luminous letters, "BUT GOD," and the whole situation changes into victory. Good God Almighty!!!

Look, God not only made a way out for the Israelites, but He also took care of their enemies as well.

Once again we see the promise of God – God will always make a way out. 

A. GOD WILL MAKE A WAY OUT, WHEN ONE’S BACK IS AGAINST THE WALL           (Exodus 14:1-10). 

1^st. Satan wants you to believe that there's no way out and the walls are closing in (v. 3-4). 

When the Israelites had nowhere else to go, the LORD gave Moses a plan…and reassured him in Exodus 14:3-4.  [God seeing Pharaoh’s thoughts]!!!
                                                                                     
God said, “Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut then in”.  “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD!”  And they did so. Our God is Awesome!!!

What about when you have done everything right and you still end up between a rock and a hard place, what does it mean?

2^nd. Satan wants you to believe that he will overcome you (Exodus 14:9):
This verse tells us that “The Egyptians—all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops--pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea…”

3^rd. The enemy wants fear to blind your vision of faith (Exodus 14:10): 

This verse tells us that, as Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.

When the children of Israel saw the Egyptians, they were very afraid.                          
Satan will box you in in an attempt to keep your eyes off the Lord.

So, what do you do when there's nowhere to go? That’s when YOU continue to trust God Almighty!

How many know “true faith” goes into operation when there are no answers.

• 1^st Corinthians 10:13: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

 

This verse gives assurance of the eternal keeping of God in all temptations and His help in every one of them, providing we obey the warnings of 1^st Corinthians 10:1-12. No man can be kept from a fall if he persistently refuses to meet conditions.

Our standing depends upon our faith and union with God and steadfastness in prayer.

 

People of God, you can stand only as long as you depend upon God and continue in obedience to the gospel.

 

Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eat thereof thou shalt surely die.

 

Luke 8:13 “They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.”

 

John 15:7 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

 

1^st Timothy 5:15 “For some are already turned aside after Satan.”

 

So in order to stand you must be obedient to God!!!

 

 B. GOD WILL MAKE A WAY OUT WHEN YOUR PROBLEM IS BIGGER THAN YOU (Exodus 14:11-2O).

 How many know old slew foot/Satan would have you to believe there's no escaping your problems (vv. 11-12).

11 And they said unto Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?”

12 “Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness?”

A lot of people don't like to face problems head on. Some think the best way to solve problems is to avoid them.

Just know no problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from!" 

God’s working on our behalf even when we can’t see it all. He has a plan and purpose in whatever we walk through. He can cut a clear pathway through anything.  

Look just think, “Why would God deliver His children and then allow them to be plagued by the enemy?”   Because God wants you to know the battle is His (vv. 13-14).

13 And Moses said unto the people, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.”

14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Every problem we face is an opportunity to see God work.

The victory is obtained by going forward with the Lord (vv. 15-20).

15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

17 And I behold I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

 

II Chronicles 20:15 Thus saith the LORD unto you, “Be not afraid, nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.”

And last:

C.  GOD WILL MAKE A WAY OUT EVEN IF HE HAS TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF IMPOSSIBILITY (vv. 21-31).

God is a God of making your impossible possible.

1. God always points us in the direction of impossibility (vv. 16 & 21).

 16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

The Red Sea represents the sum of all the thoughts about life with which the human race has impregnated the universal ether (regions of space) and their own mind.  In Hebrew, ether means plenty, riches, abundance, fullness. 

This is why man must fulfill:

• Romans 12:2: Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
• Philippians 2:5: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
  
  This is the way man (male and female) can have plenty, riches, and abundance, by walking in the "fullness" of God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost!

A city in the lowland of Judah - which is Praise (the meaning of Judah), is being in touch with the fullness of abundant substance in the subconsciousness (lowland) that which is beneath the "heavenly"!  That's why the "loins of our mind must be girded up" (1 Peter 1:13).  The "loins" are the reproductive organs of the body.  And our "mind" have "loins" that can reproduce within us and bring forth the total of Christ in us!  And "praise" is one of the avenues we must travel in our walk with God!

Moses symbolizes this progressive or drawing-out process, which works from within outward. You see…..we have to go into the solitude of the within and lead our flock of thoughts to the backside of the wilderness, where dwells the Exalted One, the divine I AM, whose kingdom is righteous judgment.

Now a lot of people are only tempted to think that this is a wonderful story of God’s miraculous saving power on display, and leave it at that.

 

However, we would be missing the bigger picture in the story of redemption. The Old Testament prepares the way for the New Testament, and all of God’s promises, find their “yes” and “amen” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).
The exodus from Egypt, though a real, historical event, prefigures the saving work of Christ for His people. What God did through Moses was to provide physical salvation from physical slavery. What God does through Christ is to provide spiritual salvation from a spiritual slavery.

 

However, our slavery isn’t like that of the Israelites in Egypt. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt, but we are all slaves to sin.  As Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34, 36).

 

So you see, the passing through the Red Sea is symbolic of the believer’s identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul says, “For I want you to know brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1–4).
Paul is giving the exodus from Egypt a Christological reading; he is making the connection between the exodus from Egypt and salvation in Christ.

 

Notice how Paul says “all were baptized into Moses.” Just as the Israelites and those that were in the cloud were “baptized into Moses,” so too are Christians baptized into Christ:

• “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

So the parting of the Red Sea not only finalized God’s redemption of His people from slavery in Egypt, but it also prefigured the greater spiritual reality of God’s redemption of His people from slavery to sin through the work of Christ.

We have to recognize that in the power and presence of God, all our strength and ability lie. We must have the assurance of God’s power with us and in us.

Jesus said, “I speak not of myself; but the Father abiding in me, he doeth his works” (John 14:10).

 God always makes us walk our way through our problems (vv. 22-25).

The Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.  The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt”…

God always uses that which blesses us to destroy the enemy - His mighty power.

God is always glorified in the middle of impossibility (vv. 30, 31). 

That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses, His servant. 

 Just know, "Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends."

People of God, the Holy Spirit always has a way out of temptation.

Sure, there may be those moments or periods of several hours where you are having to fight thoughts almost every minute. Don’t give up!

Just stay close to the Lord, stay connected to other believers, and keep casting down those negative thoughts. Be on guard regarding your weaknesses.

If you do those things, the Spirit of God will begin to take over and the pressure will ease.

Remember, the Bible says God will not allow the temptation to become greater than you can bear.

•  (1 Corinthians10:13) There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:  but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.                                                                                                             

So stand up strong and see that the Lord has provided your way out today!

Clap Your Hands and Give God The Praise!!!

People of God…… just know:

GOD WILL MAKE A WAY OUT WHEN YOUR BACK IS AGAINST THE WALL!!!

GOD WILL MAKE A WAY OUT WHEN YOUR PROBLEM IS BIGGER THAT YOU!!!

GOD WILL MAKE A WAY OUT EVEN IF HE HAS TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF IMPOSSIBILITY!!!

Father, I thank you that you always provide a way out of temptation. I take control of my thoughts today and press in close to You. I know that YOU will ease the pressure of every temptation against me, in Jesus’ Name, Amen!

 

Evangelist Jackie Burton