promises

God Will Be Faithful for His Name’s Sake

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses. – Exodus 14:31

Do I hear some one say, “I fear that I shall never get out of my difficulties”? Yet you believe that the Lord has brought you out from the dominion of Satan? Tell me, has God brought you so far to let you perish? He has broken off the yoke of sin; He has given you a hope in Christ, and you are a changed man. Do you think that He would do all this for you, and then leave you? Come, my brother, has the Lord brought you out of Egypt, by the precious blood of the Lamb, that you should die in the wilderness? Do you believe that Jesus has redeemed you to let you be lost after all? …Do not doubt Him now, I pray you. Do not please the devil by distrusting your faithful God.

Suppose that the Israelites had been left to perish when Pharaoh said they were shut in, what then? What would the Lord have done for His great name? Would not the Egyptians have exulted over Israel’s God? A Scotch minister tells the story of an aged saint who, on her dying bed, said that her Saviour would never leave her to perish. “But suppose that He did not keep His promise, and you were to be lost?” She answered, “He would be a greater loser than I.” When asked what she meant, she answered, “It is true that I would lose my soul; but God would lose His honor and His glory if He were not true.” Brethren, if we have trusted in God, and have come out of the Egypt of the world through His grace, and have left all its sins behind us, if we were left to die in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus Christ would lose His glory as a Saviour, the divine Father would lose His name for immutable faithfulness, and the Holy Ghost would lose His honor for perseverance in completing every work which He undertakes. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2188.cfm

Our Heavenly Guide and His Appointed Way

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 2 Comments

“They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in” – Exodus 14:3.

Though Pharaoh said, “They are entangled in the land; the wilderness hath shut them in,” yet they had a guide. Look at the surroundings of my text, and you will see that they were guided by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, so that they had no need to be in any perplexity as to their road. We, too, have a Guide. In providence we are not left without a Leader, and in spiritual things we are not left without the Spirit of God, who shall lead us into all truth. Young traveler, you are not turned out alone into a wild wilderness to find a path: the Good Shepherd goes before you; follow Him as the sheep follow their shepherd. He never led His flock in the wrong direction yet. Do what He bids you, and you are safe. Do as He did when He was here below: His example is your safe direction. Believe Him and obey Him. Keep to the narrow path. Hold fast your integrity, and never let go your faith. You have a heavenly Guide. You are not left alone, and therefore you cannot be entangled in the land; the wilderness has not shut you in.

Remember that the Lord had appointed a way for these people. There was not only a guide, but a way. But where was that way? Mountains blocked them on either side. They could not turn back, for Pharaoh shut up that route. Where should they go? The reedy Red Sea rolled across their front. Hearken! Their way is across the bottom of that sea, and up from its depths to the other shore. A strange path! “It is no way at all,” cries unbelief. Have you never read concerning God, “Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known.” Tried believer, the Lord will make a way for you where no foot has been before. That which, like a sea, threatens to drown you, shall be a highway for your escape. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2188.cfm

This is Not True

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.” – Exodus 14:3

My text is, “Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.'” Upon this I make the first observation, that this is not true. It is only what Pharaoh said. And so, when Satan says, “They are entangled in the land,” it is not true; it is only one of the sayings of the father of lies. “They say”-says one. Well, what do they say? Let them say it: their saying will not make it true…Now, what Pharaoh said was not true; and his speech did not cause the children of Israel to be really entangled in the land. Pharaoh’s tongue speaks his wish; but his wish will not be realized. Our adversaries say that our cause is defeated. Is it? “Ah!” say they, we have shut him up. The man cannot answer us; we have crushed his faith and argued his confidence to death.” Have you? By the grace of God, we stand fast in the once-delivered faith, after all your sophistries and boasts. You say that we are entangled; but we are not. “Show us,” say they, “the way in which you will get out of the wilderness.” No, that we cannot do; but, if you will wait a while, the Lord will show you that, by leading us graciously through the divided sea, and it may be also by drowning you therein, as He did the Egyptians when the waters overwhelmed them. Israel could not guess her way, but Israel could wait till God revealed it. Newly emancipated one, thou art shut in with doubts and difficulties suggested by carnal reason; but I pray thee, believe thy God. By the blood of the cross, I entreat thee, believe the Lord Jesus. By the eternal judgment and the great white throne, believe thy God. “Let God be true but every man a liar.” Wait thou till He shall clear thy way, through the very heart of the sea if need be; a way which will conduct thee in safety to the other shore, where, with timbrel and with song, thou shalt proclaim His victory. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2188.cfm

A Childlike Faith

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.” – Exodus 14:3

This is an age when men assail the inspiration of the Bible, the atoning sacrifice, and the election of grace. I need not enlarge. Everything is now attacked. There is no part of the Bible which some critic would not take away from us. It may be, young friend, that you cannot answer all the objections which you hear. Do not wonder if you cannot. You would be wiser than Solomon if you could reply to all objections that cavillers may invent. A friend came to me with a great difficulty, supposing that I could answer it off-hand; but I replied, “He who fashioned this piece of criticism took time in the making of it, and you must allow me the same time to demolish it. I will do my best with it; but remember, if you find a thousand difficulties which I cannot meet, that fact will not prove that they cannot be met; for I do not profess to be omniscient, nor do I assert that faith is a grace which has no difficulties to surmount.” If there were a thousand more objections which could not at this present be answered, they might confuse our feeble minds, but they would not shake the eternal truth itself. God’s Word is sure, be the difficulties what they may. Know what you do know, and believe what you do believe, and get a firm grip of undoubted verities; and though, when you are worried with the doubts and hypotheses of philosophers and the like, Satan will say, “They are entangled in the land,” let him see that your worry is soon ended by a childlike faith in the living God. Real faith will find a way out of perplexity or will make one. True faith will sooner set aside the conclusions of human reason than the declarations of God: in fact, faith teaches reason to be reasonable by setting before it the highest of all reasons, namely, the testimony of God. God send us such a childlike faith, and then we shall not be “entangled in the land”! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2188.cfm

The Lord’s Lessons

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

LORD, by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled. – Psalm 30:7

Some of us know that when God shuts us up in the dark, He loves us as dearly as when He pours sunlight upon us, but beginners in divine life do not know this, and they are terribly put to it, since they judge God’s heart by His hand. “Can I be a child of God, and yet be so afflicted? and why is my light so dim?” It may be the Lord withholds the light of His countenance from them, and then they walk in darkness, and see no light. If they were always to enjoy calm and comfort, they would with self-complacency boast, “My mountain standeth firm; I shall never be moved,” and the Lord hides Himself from them to slay their pride. If they were always at ease, they would fall into living by feeling, instead of walking by faith. Therefore, the Lord tries them, leads them by a desert path, clouds their sky, and burdens their backs. Then they enquire, “How is this?”

Suppose it should be true that, ever since you have been a Christian, you have not prospered in worldly concerns as you did before. It will seem strange. When you were a man of the world, and were an enemy of God, you had plenty of money, and a host of friends; but now that you have become a Christian, your means and your friends are gradually melting away. Yet it is not hard to explain this in several ways. The Lord would not have us follow Him for the sake of what we get from Him. He would have us men, against whom even Satan could not say, “Hast Thou not set a hedge about him, and all that he has?” Our Lord desires followers who will cling to Him at all risks, for no other reason but their value of Himself and His truth. He would have servants who, having counted the cost, would lose estate and repute, yea, and life itself, sooner than turn aside from the way of their Lord. Perhaps you are being educated to this point of faithfulness. Do not, therefore, doubt, because of your exercises and tribulations; but take these things joyfully. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2188.cfm

The New Convert’s Desire

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? – Acts 8:30-31

When a man’s soul is renewed he begins to think, and he desires to understand many things which aforetime were indifferent to him. He meets with that most plain and precious truth, that “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,” and he is well satisfied with that declaration. Still, as he grows, he seeks more knowledge, and longs to understand the deep things of God…I have known people stumble over hard texts. “What means this text? What means that passage? What means the other Scripture?” You would be astonished if you knew how many people are disturbed in mind, lie awake at nights, and are likely to lose their faith in Christ, over Scriptures which are as cheering as can be when once they are understood. These people need that some man should guide them; for, like the Ethiopian nobleman, they will not otherwise understand what they read. There are to be found, here and there, thoughtful persons, not yet fully instructed in the faith, who are puzzled and confounded as the infinite glory of revealed truth opens up before their astonished gaze. They will know hereafter; but for the present they are sorely troubled and perplexed, and their cruel enemy rejoices that “They are entangled in the land.” Nothing contributes more to this than the divisions in the Christian church. One preacher cries up one thing, and another quite the contrary, till young converts cry, “Which are we to believe?” and they stand as if they had come to cross-roads, and did not know which way to take. I am sorry it should be so; but there is a promise to the family of faith, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” You shall not lose your way if you will accept the Word of God as a little child. Be of good courage; for it is written-“He shall guide thee continually.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2188.cfm

The Enemy’s Hope

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.”- Exodus 14:3

Israel had been a very useful body of workers; for they had built treasure cities and storehouses for Pharaoh. Compelled to work without wages, they cost the tyrant nothing but the expenditure of the lash. His exactions of forced labor had grown intolerable to the people; but the buildings erected had been a joy to the lord of Egypt. When they were quite gone, Pharaoh woke up to a sense of his loss; and his attendants felt the same; so that they cried, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” Then they resolved to drive them back again, and they thought it easy to do so; for they said “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.” They knew that the Israelites had no spirit for war, and they felt sure that they had only to overtake them, and hurry them back, like a drove of cattle. They had found them such submissive servants that they expected to fit on them their fetters again and rivet them for ever. Perhaps their God had shot His last arrow, and Egypt might capture His people again without fear of plagues. Thus, men thought; but the Lord thought otherwise.

Do not I speak to some at this hour who, during the last few months, have, by the power of the Lord’s gracious hand, escaped out of the bondage of sin? You have got clean away from your old master. With a high hand and an outstretched arm has God brought you forth into liberty…The enemy says, “I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil.” The Pharaoh of the infernal regions thinks to drive the fugitives back again like a flock of sheep; and, notwithstanding all that God has done for them, he hopes again to bring them under his yoke. If Jehovah has brought you out, His work will never be undone; but the enemy’s hope lies in his belief that you are hopelessly entangled by your present environment. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2188.cfm