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 Backslider’s Door of Hope

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You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

Beware the Entanglements

Sherry Christian Life 1 Comment

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, “They are entangled in the land…” – Exodus 14:3

The workshop has its trials as well as the drawing-room. “Ah!” says Satan, “the man came out, and confessed himself a Christian the other night, but I know where he works, and there is not a man in the place who will sympathize with him. He will be entangled in the land.” It happens that one begins in the morning with a joke, a second comes on with an oath, a third follows suit with a sharp and bitter observation. All day long they give the new convert such handfuls of mud as they can find, and the hope of the evil one is that thus he will be forced back on his old ways. The same thing happens on the farm, or on-board ship, or in the barrack-room: old companions want to have our society and are not pleased with the silent rebuke which is implied in our separating from them. You know more about this than I do; but I wonder not at Satan saying, “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.”…Alas for the many who are speedily entangled in the nets of human associates, and never gain the liberty of Christ! The demands of business, of position, of self-interest, of custom-these all hold men as birds are caught with bird-lime, or as the needle is held by a powerful magnet, and so they are prepared to hearken to evil entreaties and return to the country from which they came out.

It is no small thing for the convert to set himself right with the world in his changed mode of dealing; yet this has got to be done, and done with decision, too, or there is no escaping from evil. At such a time the struggler feels-“I am entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut me in,” and the enemy of souls is of the same opinion. Now is his opportunity; but if you escape him now, he will never again have such an advantage over you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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