Spurgeon: June AM
* 06/27/AM
"Only ye shall not go very far away."
--Exodus 8:28
This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant
Pharaoh. If the poor bondaged Israelites must needs go out of
Egypt, then he bargains with them that it shall not be very far
away; not too far for them to escape the terror of his arms, and
the observation of his spies. After the same fashion, the world
loves not the non-conformity of nonconformity, or the dissidence
of dissent, it would have us be more charitable and not carry
matters with too severe a hand. Death to the world, and burial
with Christ, are experiences which carnal minds treat with
ridicule, and hence the ordinance which sets them forth is
almost universally neglected, and even contemned. Worldly wisdom
recommends the path of compromise, and talks of "moderation."
According to this carnal policy, purity is admitted to be very
desirable, but we are warned against being too precise; truth is
of course to be followed, but error is not to be severely
denounced. "Yes," says the world, "be spiritually minded by all
means, but do not deny yourself a little gay society, an
occasional ball, and a Christmas visit to a theatre. What's the
good of crying down a thing when it is so fashionable, and
everybody does it?" Multitudes of professors yield to this
cunning advice, to their own eternal ruin. If we would follow
the Lord wholly, we must go right away into the wilderness of
separation, and leave the Egypt of the carnal world behind us.
We must leave its maxims, its pleasures, and its religion too,
and go far away to the place where the Lord calls His sanctified
ones. When the town is on fire, our house cannot be too far from
the flames. When the plague is abroad, a man cannot be too far
from its haunts. The further from a viper the better, and the
further from worldly conformity the better. To all true
believers let the trumpet-call be sounded, "Come ye out from
among them, be ye separate."