“And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.” (Exod. 8:28)
When Moses came to tell Pharaoh he was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt (a type of the world), Pharaoh didn’t like it. See, he (like the world) was an enemy of separation. I know the world yells, “Separation of church and state” all the time, but the truth is they do not like the thought of a Christ-honoring, Bible-believing, sin-hating, separated Christian.
Instead of the word “separation,” they prefer the word “moderation.” To the believer today, they say (as Pharaoh said to Moses), “You can still read your little Bible and pray your little prayers, just don’t go overboard. Don’t become fanatical about it.” Pharaoh said, “only ye shall not go very far away.”
Sadly, many believers today have acquiesced; they have given in to the world’s demands. Yes, they say the are believers. They are followers of Christ, but they just don’t want to follow Christ if He leads them too far away from where their friends are.
That is why you see believers, and even churches, who are trying so hard to walk the fine line between the WORD and the WORLD. Yes, they preach and teach the Word (at least the parts that do not condemn worldly living), but they don’t want to be looked at as being fanatical by the world. But Jesus WAS fanatical. He never watered down the cost of following Him. Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). What part of our lives can we say the world hates? What part of our churches can we honestly say the world hates?
Sure, we do not need to get into LEGALISM, but what about PHARAOHism? Pharaohism says, “Sure, live your little Christian life if you want, just don’t go too far. Just live your life in moderation.”
A true child of God, however, will want to live far away from Egypt. A child of God will hate what Pharaohism loves and will love what Pharaohism hates. He will realize that when you are following the LORD, you can’t go too far!