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JEREMIAH 43:7

"BACK TO EGYPT"

I. "SO THEY CAME INTO THE LAND OF EGYPT."
        A. It is a sad and tragic day when a nation or person returns to that place from which
           they were once delivered.
                1. Their fathers had been delivered from Egypt by the mighty hand of God.
                        a. He had called them out of Egypt that they might follow Him.
                        b. Egypt was a place of unbearable        .
                        c. Symbolically, it represents life of flesh.
                2. How sad to see a person who has been delivered by God from         of sin,
                   return to old life.
                        a. We have seen people miraculously delivered from heroin addiction
                           - no withdrawals. Stay clean for a year - then go back.
                        b. We have seen God deliver a person from alcoholism - their ruined 
                           lives come back together again - only to return.
        B. This is the story of failure.
                1. They had been given so much.
                        a. The promised protection and power of God.
                        b. The land flowing with milk and honey.
                        c. They had subdued the nations about them.
                        d. They were brought to Zenith of glory and power.
                2. In their prosperity they forsook God.
                        a. Prosperity can be a dangerous thing.
                                1. And they that will be rich...
                                2. If riches increase, set not your heart...
                        b. They forgot it was God who made them great.

II. THE REASON FOR THE RETURN TO EGYPT.
        A. Fear. They feared the Babylonians would come and carry them away captive.
                1. Faith brought them out of Egypt.
                2. Fear drove them back.
        B. It was also disobedience, "for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord."
                1. "The leaders had come to Jeremiah to seek the word of the Lord."
                        a. They promised full obedience.
                2. After 10 days, God's word came to Jeremiah.
                        a. They were to stay in the land - God promised to protect and bless.
                        b. They were not to fear the king of Babylon. God promised mercy.
                        c. If they go to Egypt, their fears will be realized.
                                1. "The sword you feared" overtake you.
                                2. "The famine you feared will follow."
                3. "They obeyed not the voice of the Lord."
                        a. We often have a rather bizarre concept of submission.
                                1. I will submit if you tell me to do what I want to do.
                                2. If I agree with it.
                                3. That's not submission at all.
                        b. They promised to obey the Lord, as long as He told them to do what
                           they wanted to do.

III. VS. 8 - "THEN THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO JEREMIAH IN TAHPANHES."
        A. God continued to speak to them even after their failure.
                1. Though now in prophetic judgment.
                2. Take great stones and hide them in the clay.
        B. Flinders Petrie, in excavating Tel Defenneh, found brick pavement underneath he
           discovered large stones. The very ones Jeremiah had placed there.
        Stand fast in the liberty.