Morning By Morning #179

Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD
your God in the desert, but you must not go very far.”

Exodus 8:28

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

This is a crafty statement from the lips of Pharaoh, the evil tyrant. If the poor Israelite slaves had to leave Egypt, he would bargain with them so they would “not go very far,” keeping them within the reach of his terror and within sight of his spies. In the same manner, the world today hates the nonconformity and dissidence of Christians. It would like for us to be a little more compromising and not take our ideas to the extreme.

Ideas such as being dead to “the foolish things of the world” (1 Cor. 1:27) and being “buried with [Christ]” (Rom. 6:4) are ones that unbelievers’ carnal minds treat with ridicule. Thus, God’s Word teaches that these truths are nearly universally neglected—even condemned. Worldly wisdom promotes a path of compromise and speaks of moderation. According to this carnal thinking, purity is considered to be quite desirable as long as we do not take it too far. And truth is a prudent course to follow as long as we don’t denounce error too harshly. The world declares, “Sure, be spiritual by all means, but don’t deny yourself a little worldly fun now and then. After all, what’s the point of criticizing something when it is so fashionable and everybody is doing it?”

Many confessing Christians have fallen to this cunning advice but have suffered eternal loss as a result. Once we commit to fully following the Lord, we must immediately go into the wilderness of separation, leaving the carnal world of Egypt behind. We must leave its “wisdom,” its pleasures, and its religion as well, going far away to the place the Lord has called His sanctified ones.

When our city is on fire, our house cannot be too far from the flames. When a dangerous plague is spreading, we cannot be too far away from contamination. The farther from a deadly snake the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. May the trumpet call be sounded to all true believers:

“Come out from them and be separate” (2 Cor. 6:17).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

We should never be surprised when the world acts like the world! We should not expect them to accept our values and think highly of our standards. More and more the world views Christians as hateful, intolerant, and uncompromising. But this is nothing new, for Paul wrote, “We have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world” (1 Cor. 4:13). Earlier in the same chapter Paul says, “Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (v. 7).

The idea behind his words is that the only thing making us different from the world is that God has saved us—and He did it all, we can take no credit for it. Thus, our response to the world is what’s important, for Paul goes on to say, “When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly” (vv. 12 – 13).

“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).