The Door of No Return | Doors | Pastor Brad Wilkinson

He didn't open the door for you so that you would turn around and retreat when things got tough. He didn't open the door for you so that when life and the enemy attacked you, you could go back to what was familiar to you. This is the door of no return. When you walk through into your freedom, there is no going back. It's so good to see you on this Sunday morning. Man, I echo what Cassidy said, an epic weekend, and the weekend's not over. It's just getting going. We're kind of like halfway there. We got all the rest of the day today. Well, some of y'all don't. You're going to go to brunch after this. It has been such a power-packed weekend, such a filling weekend, and I'm excited to be in the house of the Lord with you today. Can we talk about some other important things? The Spurs won. Man, wow. That's all I got to say. I don't know if I'm more excited that the Spurs won or OKC lost because here's what I realized, and y'all know what all this comes back to me, how it all comes back for me. Most of the OKC fans are also probably Oklahoma Sooner fans. So it all comes back to Longhorns for me. You know that, and so there's just rivalry. OK, I told you important things. That is really not important, but it is fun, and it is exciting, and go Spurs go. OK. Hey, we're in the middle of a series that I've been calling Doors, and I want you to think for a second. In Scripture, everything that Doors represent. Now, we don't have time to go through every representation, but let's walk through a few. Doors represent access in Scripture. Doors represent opportunity. Doors are seasons of transition. Doors represent salvation, if you will. Doors represent a choice. Doors represent separation. Doors represent God's timing. There are so many thoughts behind what Doors represent in Scripture, and if you'll remember week one, we looked specifically at what I called the door of protection. We looked at the book of Exodus when the Lord told the children of Israel that they were to slay a spotless lamb. You had to eat the lamb, but beyond that, you had to put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of your house. So, it wasn't enough just to have the blood in a basin. The blood had to be applied to your life, and you had to stay inside in order to be protected, and then if you'll remember last week, we looked at the door of priority, and really, we put it side by side with the door of distraction because the two are always at war, and the two are always side by side, and they're always very close, and every day you have a choice

will you walk through the door of priority or will you allow the enemy to distract you because here's what we learned through the story of Eve. Remember that the enemy doesn't have to get you to hate God. He just has to get you to put other things in front of God. Just like Eve, she got distracted. The enemy started with the conversation. He got her mind focused on things that didn't really matter, and when he did, he slipped in, and he appealed to her appetites and things that seemed good to her and things that were attractive to her, and so we looked at the door of priority and the door of distraction. This week, I wanna actually kind of, it's really a continuation, if you will, of the first week, and I wish I could have told you that I planned it that way. Honestly, I didn't. I can't take credit for that. It's just the way that it kind of worked out, and as I was preparing and studying, I just felt just a leading to this specific door, but Exodus chapter 14, and as you might be turning there in your Bibles, let me ask you a question. Have you ever found yourself standing in the doorway between bondage and freedom? The doorway between bondage and freedom, because today in Exodus chapter 14, as we look at kind of the tail end of what we studied in week one with the Passover story, let me catch you up for those that weren't here maybe week one and kind of figuring out how did we get where we are. So there was a series of plagues that took place in Egypt because the children of Israel had been held captive for 400 plus years, and the Lord said, this is the time that they need to be set free. but Pharaoh would not let them go. And so every time that the Lord would send a plague to get Pharaoh's attention, the pressure would be on and Pharaoh would say, oh wow, this is a lot, I don't wanna deal with this anymore. And then he would promise to release them, but when the pressure was released, he would change his mind. And so what we see, we see it happen time and time and time again until we get to the 10th plague, which was what we studied in week one of this series with the blood on the doorpost. And now, Pharaoh had finally, after the 10th plague,

relented and said, okay, we're gonna release the children of Israel. And so this kind of leads us into where our text finds us today. So picture with me that the Israelites have now fled captivity. And they are at the beginning of their journey and they get word now, of course, just like it had happened in the nine plagues before, that Pharaoh once again has changed his mind. But this time they were a little bit further into the journey. They had actually stepped out of Egypt and were walking into what they thought was gonna be freedom. But now they get word that Pharaoh has changed his mind. So mountains were to their left and mountains were to their right. In front of them was the Red Sea. Behind them was now the full force of the Egyptian army. And in the natural to somebody looking on and to even those that would be standing on the banks of the Red Sea, there was no place to go. There was no way of escape. And I want you to see how this plays out in scripture. Exodus chapter 14, verse 10. As Pharaoh approached the people of Israel, they looked up and they panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. And they cried out to the Lord.

And they said to Moses, why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn't we tell you that this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, leave us alone. Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It's better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness. I think this is really important because it comes back to the opening question that I asked as we started our text today. Because as the children of Israel were standing on the banks of the Red Sea, they weren't just escaping Egypt. They were standing at the doorway between bondage and freedom. Whether they recognized it or not, this is exactly where they were. And Moses is like, let me talk to you for a second, people. Verse 13, Moses told the people, don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. And I love this. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The enemy that you see today

will never be seen again. Why? Because the Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. Obviously, people were freaking out. Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving. Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the Red Sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. Now, for those of you that are unfamiliar with this story, and even if you are, this is crazy. This is insane. This is, what? You want me to, and you're gonna, what? But look at everything, you, Moses, shh, just do what I say. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will charge in after the Israelites. And then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land. I love the details of the Scriptures. They didn't even walk through, it wasn't even muddy when they walked through. I don't even want you to get your feet dirty.

Isn't it amazing, when God gets ready to do something for you, he's gonna go ahead and do the job, he's gonna do it well. This is the God that we serve. So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea. on dry ground with the walls of water on each side. Can you imagine? Just think about it. Walking through. Your kids are in tow. Daddy, what's happening? I'm not sure, just follow me. Then the Egyptians, all of Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers, in verse 23, chased them into the middle of the sea. But just before dawn, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw their forces into total confusion. He twisted their chariot wheels, making their chariots difficult to drive. Let's get out of here, away from these Israelites, the Egyptians shouted. The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt. And when all the Israelites had reached the other side, the Lord said to Moses, raise your hand over the sea again, and the waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians and their chariots and their charioteers.

So as the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over the sea and the waters rushed back into its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but the Lord swept them into the sea. Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers, the entire army of Pharaoh. All of the, this is the fulfillment of what he had told them just a moment ago. All of the Egyptians who had crossed the Israel, who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived. Now, we're talking about doors, and I, this text just tees it up. I mean, it's low-hanging fruit to talk about an open door. You talk about an open door, this is the story of an open door. If I've ever seen anything so easy to preach about, this would be it, but I don't wanna do that. I actually wanna do the exact opposite. For the next few minutes, I wanna introduce to you what I'm calling the door of no return. The door of no return, and I love where we're going with this text for the next few minutes today, because, especially because of the water baptisms that are taking place, because I think it's a beautiful picture of where many of us find ourselves today, that Pharaoh and the Egyptian army are behind you,

the Red Sea is in front of you, and fear is on the inside of you. That in your own life and in your own circumstances, in your job and with your family, you feel surrounded on every side and in the natural, it doesn't look like that there is a way of escape, it doesn't look like there's a path to peace, that there's a plan for hope. If you were to look around, you would say, I don't know how we're gonna get out of here, I don't know how we're gonna make it to the next season of our life, because many of you find yourselves standing in the doorway between bondage and freedom, and standing in the doorway between bondage and freedom, you and I often say the very same thing that the children of Israel said, you know what they said? Let's go back. Because with my eyes, going forward doesn't seem possible. The only way that we can save ourselves and our families is if we retreat and we go back to bondage and the captivity that we had been enslaved to for the last 400 years. The captivity that my mama knew and my daddy knew and my grandparents and my great-grandparents, this is the only logical next step,

is to just retreat and go back to captivity. Now I think the reason that many of us say the same thing that they said that day is not because you think going back is good for you, but I think the real reason is because it's familiar to you, because you know what captivity is like. You know that at least in captivity, you might have breath in your body, that you're alive but you're not really living, that you got some food on the table. It's not what you know, it's not what God has in store for you, but you settle for it because there's breath in your body. You settle for it because it's what you know and what you know is more digestible than what's in front of you. It's interesting that people want freedom until they realize that their freedom might cost them something. That their freedom is going to require a little bit of courage and a little bit of faith and a little bit of boldness. And at the very heart of this, this is a trust issue. It's exactly what it is, it is a massive trust issue. Because when you find yourself in a place where going back is not an option, you're gonna find out real quick where your trust lies. Let me say it this way, if you're taking notes, write this down. As long as going back remains an option,

you'll never fully learn how to trust God. Because you'll keep retreating back to the same thing that was comfortable for you even though it's unhealthy for you. If going back remains an option, you'll never fully learn how to trust God. And Pharaoh and the Egyptians are a picture of bondage for you and I, what does that look like? Represents sin in our life. It represents things that have held us captive in the past. Pharaoh and the Egyptians represent an old way of living, an old way of thinking, an old way of talking. That you did it for decades and decades and it seems comfortable for you and natural to you. And you better believe that Pharaoh will always chase what God has delivered. Don't be so naive to think that because you've been set free you're in the clear now. You need to know that when you've been set free and delivered, you have a target on your back. The enemy in Pharaoh will always chase the thing that God has delivered, you know why? Because he misses the control that he had over you. He had you right where he wanted you when you would keep going back to that old way of living and that old way of thinking and talking. Amen. What, oh, this is, this is, what if your greatest threat was not the enemy in front of you,

but it's the Egypt behind you that's pulling you back into an old way of living? Some of us get so focused on the next devil, we looking for a devil on every street corner. There he is, ha. Some of you need to stop worrying about the next devil and you need to deal with the devil of yesterday that's trying to pull you back into an old way of thinking and an old way of living. I truly believe that the greatest threat to many of your freedoms is to the thing that keeps pulling you back. Amen. Let me try to bring this out. I got just a few minutes left. Did you notice, did you notice when God parted the Red Sea for them? He parted it, why? So that they could go, which way? Which way? He parted the Red Sea so that they could move forward. This is important. This is not just some random, wow, no, no, no. God said, I'm gonna part the sea so that you can walk through what you thought you would never be able to get through. I'm gonna deliver you in such a way. Now, let's take it a step further. What happened when they got to the other side?

He said, Moses, stretch your hand out again. And what happened to the water? The water returned to its normal state. And what did it do? It eviscerated the enemy. It totally wiped out the thing that was chasing you. Amen. This was the door of no return. God says, I'm gonna open the door and you're gonna walk through the door. You're gonna walk through from bondage to freedom, but on the other side of the door, you were never meant to open the door and try to walk back through. And we got too many believers, listen, who have been set free, but you keep going back to the door. Have a good day. God bless. He didn't open the door for you so that you would turn around and retreat when things got tough. He didn't open the door for you so that when life and the enemy attacked you, you could go back to what was familiar to you. This is the door of no return. When you walk through into your freedom, there is no going back. For those of you that were water baptized today, some of you experienced freedom like you've never experienced before. You need to know that the enemy is going to come after you. You're going to be attacked. I know. I'm sorry for the encouragement. Today is not the day to retreat when life gets hard and circumstances arise in your life. It's the day to plant your feet and realize, I've walked through the door and I'm not going back. What if God is saying, I'll part the waters for you so that you can walk into your freedom, but when you get to the other side, don't be tempted to go back to an old way of thinking. The waters are closed, not just for your physical freedom, but for freedom in your mind because the enemy is going to get in your head and start whispering in your ear that what you

did didn't matter, that it was an emotional response. Don't you give the enemy that power. You have walked through the door and it is the door of no return. I will not walk back into the thing that held me captive for decades of my life. I will slam it closed and I will run into the freedom that God has in store for me. God didn't bring you this far so that you could just run back to Egypt. Some of us need some spiritual grit. I don't know why I'm saying this. We have too many spiritual wimps. You think the enemy is going to attack something that God doesn't have a plan for? The reason the enemy is after you is because you're making waves in the kingdom, because your life is changing, because things are different than how they used to be. The enemy will always chase the thing that God has set free. For those of you that were water baptized today, today is a declaration. It's more than just water. I mean it's actually just water. It's hose water in fact. But it's more than just water. Your baptism day is a declaration to the whole world and to the enemy that's chasing you that God has brought me out and I will not go back. You can bring it all against me but I know what God's delivered me from. Today is a declaration that what God has delivered me from I will not return because I've walked through the door and there ain't no going back baby. Because what's in front of me is so much greater than what's behind me. Where God is leading me is so much greater than where I've been even though I'm familiar with it and I don't know what the future holds. I'm gonna move forward. The water is not magical but it's a marker in your life. You're gonna face battles. You're gonna face challenges. You'll have struggles in your life but you know here's the beauty of it. Now you have your direction settled. I know which way I'm going. I know which way I'm moving. Before I was teetering back and forth but today I've stepped through a threshold and where I used to be held captive on the other side of the door is freedom and this is my door of no return. Now listen, listen. I know this is gonna shock you but there's nothing magical about the door. Again you're gonna have the decision. you're gonna have to make the decision because the enemy will tempt you and try to tell you that what's on the other side of this door is better than what's in front of you the decision will be yours it will only be the door of no return if you choose not to walk back through it there is no retreat there is no going back today God is closing the door of an

old season in your life today God is closing the door of an old addiction of old shame and guilt that you used to carry around today God is closing the door on an old identity it's the door of no return and when the enemy tries to whisper you can still go back where you came from is better than where you're headed today we're gonna declare as a church this is the door of no return there is no retreat in me I will run towards everything that God has in store for me my future is greater than my yesterday where God is leading me will always be better than where I came from and there is no devil in hell that will convince me otherwise would you stand with me all across the room