I'm going to ask you to turn with me this morning to the Gospel of John, please. The Gospel of John, we are going to read from the passage in the upper room where Jesus is praying for his disciples. We're in John 17. And we will read from verse 1. Alright, we are in John 17, beginning in verse 1. Let us hear now God's living and inerrant word. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do, and now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your Word. Now they know that everything that You have given Me is from You, for I have given them the words that You gave Me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from You, and they have believed that You sent Me. I am praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name which you have given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I'm coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself but they also may be sanctified in truth. And now will you turn with me this morning to Genesis 46. Genesis 46. We're coming back here again this Lord's Day morning. We made it through verse 1 last week. And someone was shocked before the service when I said it was my intention to make it from verse two to the end of the chapter today. So in Pauline fashion, gird up the loins of your minds, get ready to run. So we're going to read this chapter again because it is God's Word. It is important that we hear His living voice. So Genesis 46, beginning in verse one. So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.' Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters, all the offspring he brought with him into Egypt." Now, these are the names of the descendants of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and the sons of Reuben, Hanuk, Halul, Hezron, and Carmi, the sons of Simeon, Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of a Canaanite woman. The sons of Lebi, Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Judah, Ur, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. But Ur and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamel. The sons of Issachar, Tola, Huvah, Yob, and Shimron. Sons of Zebulun, Sered, Elan, and Jalil. These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob and Padan Aram, together with his daughter Dinah. Altogether, his sons and his daughters numbered 33. The sons of Gad, Ziphion, Haggai, Shunni, Esbon, Eri, Aredi, and Ariel. The sons of Asher, Imnah, Ishva, Ishvi, Beriah, with Sarah, their sister. sons of Bariah, Heber, and Malchiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob sixteen persons. The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin, and to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, the priest of Om, bore to him. sons of Benjamin, Bila, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Mupim, Hupim, and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob, 14 persons in all. The sons of Dan, Hushim, the sons of Naphtali, Jazil, Guni, Jezer, and Shilam. These are the sons of Bilha, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter. These she bore to Jacob, seven persons in all. All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were 66 persons in all. And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were 70. He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him to Goshen. They came into the land of Goshen. Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck for a good while. Israel said to Joseph, now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive. Just as said to his brothers and to his father's household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, my brothers and my father's household who are in the land of Canaan have come to me and the men are shepherds for they have been keepers of livestock and they brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. When Pharaoh calls you and says, what is your occupation? You shall say your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth, even until now, both we and our fathers, in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen. For every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. We often recite here the words of the prophet Isaiah, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever. This is His Word that He has preserved for us and has for us today. May His Holy Spirit teach and guide us. Will you pray with me? Father, we come now to the sacred truth of Holy Scripture. We come to Your Word that is living and powerful and sharper than any double-edged sword. We ask that the Spirit might minister this Word to us today, that He might unsheathe this sword and do the spiritual surgery, the spiritual work that needs to be done discerning thoughts and intentions. Use Your Word, O Lord, today in its transforming power to show us Jesus and to make us like Him. We ask it in His name. in the Savior's high priestly prayer, Jesus makes it clear that while we believers live in this world, we must not be of this world. That description has become a standard way for us to speak about ourselves as strangers and pilgrims. We are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. We live in this world, but as pilgrims, we live for another world. We are headed to another place. We are looking forward to another time. Now this expression is also an apt description of Israel and his family as they made their way in the migration from Canaan to Egypt during the Great Famine. They were going to a foreign land, a foreign culture. A culture dominated by foreign gods, pagan gods. And the question they faced was, how were they to live in Egypt, but not be of Egypt? To ask that question of us. How do we as the people of God live in this world, live in a culture that is in opposition to and often hostile toward the word and the ways of God? Well, Jacob's journey answers that question. It teaches us how to live in the world and not be of the world in three ways. Now, we began to look at these three ways or these three answers to our question last Lord's Day morning. And we saw that if we are to be people in the world, but not of the world, we must live worshipfully. We must be a people of worship. And worship as it's laid out for us in these first four verses involves two elements. Sacrifices and scripture. Now we looked at the first of these last Lord's Day morning in verse one. Israel journeys back to his boyhood home in Beersheba. And there he offers sacrifices to God. We noted that you and I are believers living in the era of the new covenant. So we don't come to church on Sunday morning bringing goats and sheeps and calves to offer up to God upon an altar. But that doesn't mean that sacrifices have no role to play in our worship. First and foremost, we must keep at the very center of our ministry the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The cross of Christ must stand at the heart of everything we do, and our motto must be that of the Apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians 1.23, I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But we ought to be concerned, brothers and sisters, not only with the cross of Christ and His sacrifice, but with our sacrifices as well. Scripture calls upon you and me to present to the Lord sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. And those sacrifices ascend as a sweet-smelling savor before God's throne when upon the altar of our hearts a sacrifice of self-dedication burns brightly to God. So that by the mercies of God, as Paul writes in Romans 12, we present ourselves as living sacrifices, wholly acceptable unto God, because that is our spiritual worship. You see, brothers and sisters, it is only, only Christ-centered, God-glorifying, cross-bearing Christians who are equipped to live in this fallen, broken, dysfunctional, and depraved world. And that's what we learned from verse one. But after Israel offered up these sacrifices to God, we discover in verses two through four that the Lord then spoke to him, spoke to him. This is the second element of worship, the word of God. Not only must sacrifices be an important part of our worship, but so too must be Scripture, Scripture. Now, as you look at these verses, verses 2 through 4, you will see that they contain one simple command. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt. Why might Jacob have been afraid? Well, he only knew Egypt by name and reputation. Unlike his grandfather Abraham or his sons, he had never been to this place before and the new and the unfamiliar is often quite frightening, isn't it? He did know that his father Abraham had been to Egypt and no doubt that was some source of fear as well because it had not gone that well. You remember that incident in Genesis 12 when he lied about Sarah being his wife? He put the covenant line in a terrible position. A position that threatened the promises of God from a human standpoint. And found himself kicked out of Egypt. Now this was the stuff of family legends. And no doubt Jacob knew this story well. and it would cause him no little concern as he headed into that foreign place. But then of course this was Egypt. It wasn't the land of Canaan. It wasn't the land of promise. He was an old man. He was going to die soon. He is now taking his entire family away from the place that God had promised him. Perhaps he was fearful that he would actually forfeit the future and what God had covenanted to bless His people with. The Scriptures give us a number of these hints. They do not give us a definitive answer. But what we know with certainty is that whatever the source of Jacob's fear, God did not want him to be afraid. And that's the exact same attitude God has for you The command to Jacob is God's command to us. Fear not. Fear not. That is the most often repeated command in all of the Word of God. But if you and I are honest, this world is a scary place. There seems to be very good reason to fear. It's a scary place. because of the rise in crime. It's a scary place. We've just been through two years of a global pandemic. There are shootings and murders listed one after the other. I got up this morning and opened my news app to find that someone had been killed at a car show. Was it in Kansas? I'm forgetting now the exact location, but three people were shot outside of a hotel last night and killed in North Carolina, and on and on it goes. If you read the news last week, you'll know that Amazon is moving all 1800 employees out of downtown Seattle because the crime rate, serious crime rate is so high, it's unsafe to work. This world's a scary place. Not just physically, it's a scary place spiritually. When we look at the forces of darkness around us, We have to ask ourselves, how on earth am I, as an individual Christian with all of this arrayed against me, supposed to live a holy and godly life? How is it possible? Everywhere we turn, there are images, either immoral images or images promoting greed and covetousness and all manner of sin that are tempting us, that are pulling at our heartstrings. How do Christian parents raise godly children in this world? What would have been labeled pornographic just a few years ago has now become school curriculum. It's astounding. It's disgraceful. This world is a scary place. But brothers and sisters, you and I, like Jacob, have no reason to fear. We have no reason to cower in the corner. Yes, we have every reason to be concerned. We have every reason to be cautious. We have every reason to exercise wisdom. But we do not have to shrink back and cower as though we have no hope. Why? We have no reason to fear because of who God is. Listen to what he says. I am God, the God of your father. I am God. This is the same one that we were introduced to in the very first verse of this book. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. I am God, the all-powerful one. God, the eternal one, the one who is infinite and absolute without beginning, without end. He says, I'm the God of your father. He's the God of Isaac, the God who chose Isaac, the God who entered into a relationship with Isaac, the God with who Isaac walked. This eternal God is also an intensely personal God. But this reference to your father is a reminder that the God who called Isaac is the God who called his father Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. This God who is the Creator is also God who is the Redeemer and the One who makes covenants and keeps promises. The eternal God is the personal God. He is the covenantal God. He is our God. And that's why we have no reason to fear. That's why he spoke to Jacob at Beersheba. And that's why God continues to speak to us in the Bible. The Bible is many things. It's a book of history. It's a book of wisdom. It is a book of philosophy. It answers the big questions of life. But first and foremost, Holy Scripture is the revelation of God, His being and His character. That's why he must stand at the center of our preaching ministry here at the church. And that's why we must, when we read scripture, be looking for its revelation of Father, Son, Spirit. I am God, the God of your Father. Now this is not the first time that Jacob had heard these words. When he left Beersheba for Haran, with Esau threatening his life. He slept along the way, putting a rock beneath his head for a pillow, and that night, he dreamed a dream of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth. And above that ladder stood the Lord. Do you recall the words of God to Jacob? Listen to them again. They come to us from Genesis chapter 28 and verse 13. The Lord stood above the ladder and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring. Now think about these revelations and their pivotal points in Israel's life. He's leaving Beersheba for foreign lands. or Padan Aram. God says, I'm God of your fathers. Your children will inherit this land. Now he is at Beersheba ready to head to a foreign land once again. A place where he will eventually die. And he is reminded of God's faithfulness. He need not fear that he's forfeiting the land of Canaan, the promises of God. because the Lord will keep every promise that He has made. I am with you, He says. You need not, you must not fear. When you and I are afraid, we're often concerned about what it says about us. I mean, I don't want people to think I'm weak. I don't want people to think I'm timid, that I'm a coward, that I'm not a man's man. I mean, how dare you mess with the male ego, right? Do we ever take time to ask the question, what does our fear say about God? It says, the Lord must be surprised by these set of circumstances. He must be surprised and doesn't know what to do. Or our fear says, well, God must be weak and He doesn't have the power to handle this problem. Or God must be unreliable. I can't trust Him to get me through this situation. Now, of course, every one of those is the lie of the devil. But how do you combat the lies of Satan? You combat it with the truth of Scripture. What is that truth? I am God, the God of your father. I am personal, eternal, and covenant. Jacob had no reason to fear when he headed down to Egypt, and neither brothers and sisters do you and I, because of who God is. He had no reason to fear because of what God would do. He says, I will make of you a great nation there. Now the promise to make Israel a great nation has been part and parcel of the Abrahamic covenant since the very beginning. Just go back to Genesis 12 and read verses 1 and 2. But notice what the Lord says to Israel. I will make of you a great nation there. There's the twist in the plot, right? They're going to become a great nation in the land of Egypt. There's the surprise. That's the unexpected bit. But it demonstrates to us that God knows no limitations. God isn't confined to work simply within Canaan. He can accomplish His will. He can fulfill His purpose. without hindrance, wherever it may be. God is not like the pagan gods of the ancient world. You know, a God for this city and a God for that city, a God for this nation and a God for that nation. The God of Isaac and Abraham is the God who created all things and rules and reigns over them. He had no reason Fear. I'll make of you a great nation. There would be success for the people of God. When you and I look at the world and we look at the position of the church in the world, we see that the statistics say the church is declining. I mean, the church hit its heyday in the 1950s. That's now 70 years ago. And it's been on a downward trajectory since. And there are plenty of naysayers, there are plenty of doomsdayers who will say the church age is over, the church is not a significant entity in the world anymore. Let me remind you that the one who said, there I will make of you a great nation, is the same one who said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The gates of hell will fight against the church. That's what it means to be in this world. But it will not prevail, because Christ triumphs. Jacob had no reason to fear, because of who God was, and is, and what he would do, and where he would be. He says, I'll be with you. I'll go down with you. I'll ride in the wagon with you. I'll walk by the roadside with you. I will be your constant companion and guide. And I'll bring you up to this land again." When did Jacob come back to the land of Canaan? When his sons carried his coffin and buried him in the cave in Machpelah. What does God say? Jacob, I'm going to be with you in life, and I'm going to be with you in death. I will not forsake you. I will go down with you. I will bring you back again, because I am the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Brothers and sisters, this is our God. And a worshipful attitude toward this God, a worship that is saturated with Scripture and that keeps the cross as the focus, is what prepares us to live in this sinful, sinful world. You see, a worshipful attitude keeps our focus in the right direction. And it also keeps it on the right person. When Christ and the cross stand at the center of our lives, then you and I are enabled then by the Holy Spirit to abandon a self-centered, self-absorbed way of life so that we can serve Christ and His people. and the world around us. When God's Word is at the center of our worship, when we are listening to the Word of God, then by listening our faith is increased. We are given courage to live bravely and boldly in this world. Are we to live in the world but not of it? We must live worshipfully. Then I want you to notice in the second place, we must live unitedly. We must live unitedly. In verses 5 through 7, we have the record of Jacob and his family setting out from Beersheba. And we get the big picture here in these three verses. They head down to Egypt and they arrive in Egypt. The end of verse 7, all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. And then we have verses eight through 27 where we have the genealogical record. We have listed Jacob's wives and their children and grandchildren. There's Leah and then Zilpah, then there's Rachel and Bilhah. And we get to the end and we have a summary statement once again in verses 26 and 27, all the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all. Then the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seven." Now why is this list here? Why do we have this record of people who have for the most part, kind of strange names, aren't they? I mean, you know, if you have twins, Hoopiem and Moopiem, there you go. If you've got twins, there is a great set of names for you. We have this list here to remind us these are real people. These are people created in the image of God that are precious in His sight. Folks, these are people like you and me. As you read this genealogical record, it represents the joy of weddings, the pain of childbirth, the dysfunction of sin, and the sorrow of death. Let me just think about it for a moment. Is there a more beautiful love story in the Bible than Jacob and Rachel? I mean, there should be a movie, right? There should be a movie. Is there a sadder scene than when Rachel goes into labor to give birth to Benjamin, and the labor is so hard, she dies in childbirth? Think about the dysfunction of sin here. Why is Leah even in this record? because Laban deceived Jacob. Remember the most shocking words in Genesis? In the morning, behold, it was Leah. But added to that, you've got Reuben who sleeps with his father's concubine. And then there's Onan and Ur who died under the curse of God and came. Folks, this is simply the stuff of real life. The ups and downs of what we all face. And God wants us to know that these are real people. And the next time you think your family is dysfunctional, just go back and read this list. But these are not only real people, they're God's covenant people. Because you see, these are the descendants of Abraham. The evangelist Matthew will pick up from verse 12 and he will trace the descent through the line of Ram until in chapter 1 of his gospel he reaches Jesus Christ. Remember, Jacob had no reason to fear because God would keep all of his promises. And Matthew says, yes, he's done exactly that. This line continues until it reaches its fulfillment in the Son of God incarnate. These are God's covenant people. But you'll notice they're few people. It's not a big group, is it? When you get to verse 27, there are only 70 people. I mean, I know I have, and I imagine most of you have been to family reunions larger than that. And if you think about it, in New Testament terms, this was the church of the day. This was it. This wasn't one congregation. This was the church universal, if you will. Right here. Small. Spies. insignificant. God was with them. And therefore the size did not matter because God would make them a great nation. When I meet people for the first time and they ask me, what do you do for a living? And they discover I'm a pastor. What do you think the next question is they ask me? The very next question, almost without fail, is how big is your church? How big is your church? Because we Americans, we have fallen for the hype of the church growth movement since, what, the 1950s and 60s? And we think if it's bigger, it's got to be better. You know, I find it curious. No one says, well, brother, are you faithful? Nobody ever asks me that. Do you stick to the Word of God? Do you preach the whole council? Is your church unified? Is there peace? Do you have good elders and leaders? Those aren't the questions. How big? And then when I answer the question, you can see the look that comes over their face. They're pretty unimpressed. And I hate to tell them, but I'm not there to advise them. You see, the size isn't the key. The presence of God is. The promise of God is. And where two or three are gathered in His name, He's in the midst. He's at work. But I want you to see, and this is really where I think the emphasis lies so much, is that this group of real people, Covenantal people, though only a few people, are a united people. Back in verses 6 and 7. Moses tells us that when they set out to go from Beersheba, they came and it was all of Jacob's seed with him. Do you notice that? It's at the end of verse 6, Jacob and all his offspring, and then again at the end of verse 7, all his offspring with him. All the family made it to Egypt. His motto was, no Hebrew left behind. And that's important because disunity undermines the health of God's people. It undermines the health of the local church and ultimately destroys its testimony. We see this when Paul writes his first letter to the Corinthians. From the get-go, it's factions and wars within the church stand out as being one of the prime problems. I am of Paul. I am of Apollos. I am of Cephas. Oh well, you're not like the spiritual folks I'm with. We're of Christ. We just follow Jesus. That kind of disunity, divisiveness, is contrary to what our Lord prayed. We read this morning from John's Gospel. We stopped at verse 19, but Jesus goes on in verse 20 to say, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. You see, the unity of the people of God bears witness and testimony. to the saving acts of Jesus Christ. Because when the world looks at us and sees love and unity among the people of God, then they start to realize there's something to this message about love that these people keep telling us. How is it that we strive for this unity? Ephesians chapter 4. Paul writes, I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager, get that, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace. We must gather as the people of God week after week with an intense desire and eagerness, Paul says, to maintain the unity of the Bible. That's going to take humility. It's going to take gentleness. It's going to take patience, because you've got to put up with me. And trust me, I know a lady who will tell you that takes a lot of patience. But if we are willing to put others above ourselves, then we will maintain that unity. Let me say a word. I know time's going on here. When I first came to this congregation, now almost 12 years ago, there were factions in the church. There was disunity in the church. It was not a pleasant situation to have to come into and circumstances to deal with. That's just being honest. But what I can say by the grace of God is that looking back now, over a number of years now, almost a dozen years, is that God has moved by His Spirit and worked in hearts and lives in some remarkable ways. I have seen marriages restored. I have seen friendships built. I have seen walls break down. And now, I met with someone Thursday night, and they said, you know what? This is the most peaceful place in the world. There is that unity of the Spirit, and there is the bond of peace that exists among us. That means you and I ought to be extremely grateful for that. and desperately eager to see that it's preserved. Unity bolsters the testimony of God's people. I said I'm going to get through the chapter. I'm going to do that. We're going to do it quickly. as we attempt to live godly lives in an ungodly world. We must live worshipfully, we must live unitedly, and we must live distinctly. Now, verses 28 to 34, we get the journey of the family into the land of Goshen. We're told in verse six, they came into Egypt. Now we have the details. Jacob and Joseph are reunited in the land of Goshen. and they hang upon each other's necks weeping. What a sight that must have been to see. All of those years of separation, all of those years of sorrow now dissolve in tears of joy. Listen to those words from verse 30. Israel said to Joseph, now let me die since I've seen your face and know that you are still alive. Have you heard something similar to that elsewhere in the Bible? Do those words sound like an echo of another passage of Scripture when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus up to the temple and there was old Simeon? His days had come to a close. And he says, Lord, now You're letting Your servant depart in peace according to Your words. For my eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and for the glory of Your people Israel. Those words of Simeon reflect what Israel here says to Joseph. My eyes now see you. the one whom God has appointed to be the Savior of His people. And then the family is prepared to settle in Goshen. We'll read more about that next Lord's Day. But in verses 31 through 34, Joseph gives them some instructions. He says, I'm going to go tell Pharaoh you're here. I'm going to tell him you brought all your livestock with you. When he calls you, you tell them we're shepherds, we're herdsmen. Our fathers were herdsmen. I mean, back generation after generation, we have been people of livestock and flocks. And when you tell Pharaoh that, he's going to settle you here in Goshen. This is the best land for flocks and livestock. He promised you the best. And he's going to let you settle here because, well, Egyptians think shepherds and herdsmen are an abomination. They're unclean. We saw that earlier, didn't we? When Joseph's brothers dined in his home, they had to sit at a separate table because they were shepherds, unclean people. That was their attitude. But what we notice here is that by settling the people in the land of Goshen, there is a distinction being made. between the people of Egypt and the people of Israel. Yes, they are in Egypt, but they are not of Egypt. Because God calls his people to live lives of distinctiveness among the people of this world. Peter describes Christ's followers in these terms in 1 Peter 2. You're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Now how as the people of God with this identity are we to live? Peter goes on, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak evil against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father on the day of visitation. This, brothers and sisters, is the charter for the church's life. to live lives of distinct holiness that bear witness to our holy God. The problem is we see this compromise everywhere. Horatius Bonner, the great Scottish pastor, poet, we sing many of his hymns around here. He said, I looked for the church and I found it in the world. I looked for the world. I found it. How are you and I to pursue this kind of distinct lifestyle? This past Thursday celebrated St. Patrick's Day. But it was also the birthday of Thomas Chalmers. Chalmers was the leading light and founder of the Free Church of Scotland, one of our sister denominations. His most famous sermon is entitled, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. And here's what Chalmers has to say in that message. We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our hearts than to keep in our hearts the love of God. No other way by which to keep our hearts in the love of God. and by building ourselves up on our most holy faith. You see, as the love of Christ is poured into us by the power of the Spirit, as we fill our hearts and minds with the truth of His Gospel, that then has an expulsive power. It pushes out the love of the world. But just be warned, the opposite is also true. If you love the world and the things of this world, out of you. Now remember that if you live this way, it will make you distinct from the world, and the world will despise you. They'll despise you. You will be no more honored than Israelite shepherds were among the Egyptians. But didn't Jesus tell us to expect that? John 15, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of this world, but I've chosen you out of this world, therefore the world hates you. These words of Jesus remind us that like Jacob in Egypt, We live in a foreign land dominated by foreign gods. We must, therefore, brothers and sisters, live worshipfully, unitedly, and distinctly. We must live those ways to maintain a vibrant testimony and a courageous stand for the name of our Savior. You've been very patient this morning. I thank you for your patience. Will you pray with me? Father, we simply bow before Your Word and submit our hearts to it. and ask that You would make us so heavenly minded that we might be of some earthly good. In Jesus' name.