Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 712
Delivered Sunday Morning, September 23, 1866, by C. H. Spurgeon
“Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.” Exodus 17:8.
THERE were two great trials which the children of Israel had to endure in passing onward to the promised rest— their needs and their enemies. But I must add a third, which sprang out of these two by reason of the unbelief of their hearts. That third evil, far worse than the other two, was their sins. Probably, my Brothers and Sisters, you have found out by now that you could contentedly endure your needs, and could courageously contend with your foes if you were not weakened and hampered by your sins. A man’s worst foes are those of his own household.
As for Israel’s needs, I think Israel may be congratulated in having known them. For suppose they could have brought with them enough provision from Goshen, or could have been supplied by trading purveyors? They would never have been honored to feed upon the manna which dropped from Heaven! And suppose a canal had been dug for them to flow at the edge of the whole road of their march? Or that they could have found a succession of wells hard by the spots where they pitched their tents? Then they never would have drank of that marvelous Rock whose flints gushed with water, of which the Apostle tells us that it was Christ, or an eminent type of Christ.
They were gentlemen-commoners upon the bounty of Heaven—courtiers fed from the table of the King of kings! They were lifted up to eat angels’ food—they were satisfied with royal dainties. In this light, they are to be congratulated for their needs, for, if they had not known hunger, nor thirst, neither had they eaten manna, nor had they drank the water from the Rock. And you, Beloved, are much in the same case. The day will come when in clearer light than this you will thank God for your needs, and be of the same mind as the Apostle, who said, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” And again, “For when I am weak, then am I strong.”
You will thank God that your needs were the platform for His Providence to display its care upon. That the very wilderness was a gift to you because He prepared a table for you in the midst of it, and might have left you to prepare one for yourself if it had not been a desert place. As for the enemies which beset the children of Israel, I was about to say they might almost be congratulated on account of them—for, fierce as they were—they could never have had victories if they had not known battles! The enemies of Israel were but so many sheaves for Israel’s victorious sword to reap—as the wild beasts of the wood yield food to the hunter—so were the haters of Israel as a prey unto their valiant men.
Over every enemy of His people the right hand of the Lord was gloriously exalted. You, too, Brethren, you, too, will have reason to thank God for all your enemies! If your life were one of perpetual peace it is clear there could be no triumphs. If there were not campaigns of warfare, there would be no shouts of them that triumph, no trophies to hang up in the halls of memory. Oh, if we can be kept from sins! If we can be preserved from their power we may be thankful for needs and even thankful for foes when we look at them in the light of the fiery pillar of God’s promised Presence. But our sins! Our sins! Our sins! What shall we do with them? If it were not for the victorious blood by which we conquer, we might lie down in despair—for who among us is, alone and unaided, a match for his sins?
This morning we thought of considering the war with Amalek as a typical representation of the experience of God’s people. Our prayer is that we may speak so that those who are greatly troubled and afflicted may derive some comfort from the Truth of God advanced—and that lagging saints may be stimulated to fight the battles of their Master, lest the curse go out against them—“because they came not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”
We shall use the text three ways. First, as a picture of the experience of each individual Christian. Secondly, as a representation of the history of each separate Church. And thirdly, as a very excellent description of the history of the entire Church of the living God, from its first day even till its close.
I. First, then, we have here THE EXPERIENCE OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIAN. Observe the children of Israel were emancipated from bondage, and had left Egypt behind even as you and I have been rescued from our natural estate and are no longer the servants of sin. They had been redeemed by blood sprinkled upon the door posts and upon the lintel, and we, too, have had redemption applied to our souls, and have seen that God has looked upon the blood and has passed over us.
They had feasted upon the paschal lamb as we have done, for Jesus has become to us our meat and our drink, and our soul is satisfied with Him. They had been pursued by their enemies, even as we were pursued by our old sins, and they had seen these furious foes all drowned in the Red Sea, which they had passed through dry-shod. And we, too, have seen our past sins forever buried in the Red Sea of atoning blood. Our iniquities, which threatened to drive us back into the Egypt of despair, are gone forever! They sank like lead in the mighty waters, the depths have covered them—there is not one of them left.