Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1830
“There shall not an hoof be left behind.” Exodus 10:26.
I SHALL have five texts—one of them a good one, the other four bad. The first text is good. It is God’s text.
That is God’s text and the whole sermon will illustrate it by exposing the compromises with which it was met. The other four are Pharaoh’s texts, or, if you like, the devil’s, for that is exactly what the devil says to men. Exodus 8:25— “Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go you, sacrifice to your God in the land.” That is his first proposal. Then we find him saying, at the 28th verse, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away.” That is the second of his compromises. In the 10th chapter, at the 8th verse, you have the third. He said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go?” Adding, “Go now, you that are men, and serve the Lord.” And Pharaoh’s fourth and last proposal is in the 24th verse of that same 10th chapter— “Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed.”
Satan is very loath to give up his hold on men. He is quite as loath as Pharaoh and he must be driven to it by force of arms—I mean by force of Divine Grace—before he will let God’s people go. Having once got them under his power through the Fall, through their sin and through their hardness of heart, he will not lose his subjects if he can help it. He will put forth all his craft and all his strength, if possible, to hold them in his accursed sway! Many of Satan’s slaves altogether disregard the voice of God. For them there are no Sabbaths, no Bibles, no religion. Practically, they say, “Who is Jehovah that we should obey His voice?” Now, when God means to save men—when the eternal purpose so runs and the Divine determination is to be accomplished, He soon puts an end to this. For some reason quite unknown to the man—it may be quite unthought of by him—he feels uneasy. He is disturbed. He thinks, one morning, that he will go up to a place of worship—not that he cares much about it—but he thinks that he shall, perhaps, be a little easier there. He takes his Bible—he begins to read a chapter. A very striking passage comes before his eyes. He is not more easy, for the text has fixed upon him. Like a barbed shaft it has stuck into his soul and he cannot possibly draw it out. He is more troubled than ever! He begins to enquire a little about the things of God—there is now some outwardly respect to religion—the man is considerably changed.
But do not imagine that the work is accomplished! Our blessed Master has to fight for every inch of ground which He wins in human hearts. With the matchless artillery of His love, He drives the enemy back farther and farther, till, at last, He conquers! But it is often a long and slow process and, were He not possessed with infinite patience, He would give it up. But where it is His resolve that a man shall come out of the world and shall be saved, that resolve must and will be carried into effect! And the man, though he is only brought so far that he begins to think a little about Divine and eternal matters, he will have to go a great deal farther than that.
You see him sitting under the Word of God and, perhaps, Satan now says, “Well, you are a fine fellow! You are beginning to occupy a seat Sunday after Sunday in the house of prayer. You have given up your evil habits to a large extent. You are quite a different man. Now that you have done something very pleasing to God, you may rest content with this.” And it is a very sad thing when men do rest content with such a paltry hope as can have come out of poor performances
like these! But still, they will stop just there if they can, for Satan does not mind where he makes men stop so long as they will stay under the dominion of sin and refuse to come to Christ.
Now the Lord begins to deal with the man, perhaps, in a way of affliction and trouble. His wife sickens. A child dies. He is, himself, unhealthy—he fears he is about to die and his fancied righteousness evaporates before his eyes and he thinks that now, surely, he must seek after something better. Then will Satan come in and say, “There is time enough! Do not be in too much of a hurry.”
If the Lord drives a man from that, by the solemn movements of the Spirit upon his soul, then the devil will say to him, “How do you know that this is all true?” And he has not to go far before he finds infidels to help his unbelief. I am sorry to say that he can find them in the pulpit pretty plentifully, preaching their infidelities as “advanced thought!” And so poor souls get bewildered and scarcely know their right hand from their left! They begin, again, to relapse into a condition of indifference and remain where they were.
Blessed be God, if He means to save such, He will, by push of pike and point of bayonet, carry the day! They shall not rest where they are. The right hand of the Lord is still stretched out and He will make the Pharaoh of evil yet know that Jehovah is stronger than he! Grace is mightier than nature and the eternal purpose more sure of fulfillment than all the resolves of case-hardened consciences! And so, at last, it comes to this—that the man is driven to yield to God and when he is driven to that point Satan comes in, again, with his promises.