FEAR NOT. THE people of Israel in Egypt were slaves. In the wilderness they were no better than children. When they came to the Jordan, and were about to pass over into Canaan, they needed not only direction, but encouragement, and stimulus. To teach, embolden, and give them confidence, Moses addressed them, wrote his words in a book, and they are preserved and handed down to us, for our admonition and comfort. To every young believer, the Lord now speaks, as Moses did to Israel of old, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies; let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."-DEUT. XX. 3, 4. 66 Israel as a people, were distinguished by their knowledge of the true God, he had revealed himself to them, and had spoken with them, and had taken up his residence in the midst of them. Just so believers, they all know God, by the teachings of the Holy Spirit. He has revealed himself to them in Jesus. He has spoken to them in his word. He has taken up his residence in his Church, and he dwells also in every one of their hearts. This is their distinction, they know the Lord, they have fellowship with God, he dwelleth in them, and they dwell in him. Israel were brought out of Egyptian bondage, by passing through the Red Sea, where the Lord displayed his power, his justice, and his distinguishing grace. So the Lord's people are delivered from their bonds, are brought into liberty, and set forth for the promised land, through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus; in which ransom, God has gloriously manifested his power, justice, and distinguishing favour. Israel were distinct and distinguishable from all the world, during the forty years they sojourned in the wilderness; and believers are as really brought out of the world, and are made as distinguishable from the world as Israel, and the world becomes to them a wilderness, a strange country, through which they are passing to their Father's house. Israel were a people peculiarly the Lord's, and set apart specially for himself; and so true Christians are the Lord's, bought with a price, separated from the world, and set apart by his word and the operations of his Holy Spirit, for his own service, praise and glory. Reader, are you one of God's Israel? Do you know the Lord, as revealed to your heart by the Spirit? Are you delivered from the slavery of sin and Satan, through the precious blood of Christ? Are you, while in the world, distinct from the world-and is the world at the best a wilderness to you? Are you one of God's peculiars, set apart by his grace for his service on earth, as introductory to the enjoyment of his glory in heaven? Israel's enemies were many and various. Seven nations, who already had possession of the land, and claimed it as their own. They must all be met, opposed, and conquered, before Israel could enjoy rest. Just so, the believer has many enemies, they are various, and they are mighty. They also have possession, and will not give up, but as they are compelled. There is Satan, the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the great hater of God and of his Christ. Nor is there merely one devil, but millions, and they are all leagued and banded together against us. They must be met, be resisted, and be overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of the testimony. We must conquer them, or they will conquer us ; and only by stern, steady resistance can we do this. Then, there is the world, of which Satan is the god, this he sets in motion, directs, and influences against the Church of Christ. By craft, or cruelty, or both, the world as instigated by Satan is seeking our destruction. We are forbidden to enter into any league with it, or become its friends; and to deter us we are told, "If any man will be a friend of the world, he is the enemy of God." We must face the world, oppose the world, and by a steady faith in Christ, overcome the world. There is also the flesh, or the corrupt nature that is within us, which Satan ruled and swayed as he pleased once. This must be mortified, condemned, and nailed to the cross. Every depraved principle, every corrupt passion, every sinful habit, must be discovered, discarded, hated, and destroyed. They defile, pollute, and render us unfit for God; we must make no truce with them, but seek utterly to destroy them. There are also frequently false brethren, who like the mixed multitude which came up out of Egypt with Israel, do us much injury, and when discovered, must be separated from us. These foes form a formidable host, they are used to war, and are enough to excite alarm in the heart of the poor timid believer. But faced they must be, and overcome too. 66 Israel were reminded that the day of battle was come, Ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies." After the believer is delivered from the law, and is brought out into the liberty wherewith Christ makes him free, his whole life is a day of battle. Having once put on the armour, he must never put it off, but to put on his shroud. He must travel the whole journey of life sword in hand. There is no end to this war while life lasts, and frequently one of the sorest battles is fought toward the last. But there are some particular days, which may be called days of battle, as the day of Satanic temptation. In this day all the artillery of hell seems to be brought to bear upon us. The enemy solicits us to commit the foulest sins, perverts the holiest doctrines, or fills the mind with the most horrid blasphemies. Ideas the most polluting, thoughts the most profane, suggestions the most diabolical, are thrown into the mind, and it is hard to stand our ground, or use well our weapons. Dreadful is the onslaught which Satan makes, fearful the hurricane he produces in the soul. Like Joshua with Amalek, we have to fight in the valley, nor have we daylight sufficient to finish the confiict. There are also days, when the corruptions of the heart, and the lusts of the flesh, appear to have peculiar power. Every grace appears to be buried. Every evidence of salvation is concealed. The whole work of the Spirit seems to be destroyed. O it is fearful work, when our inward corruptions rage, swell, and boil like the sea; when Satan's foul suggestions roar through the soul like wintry winds; and nothing but confusion, misery, and gloom fills the Spirit! This is doing business in deep waters, it is more like a sea-fight, than a battle on land. O it is terrible! Then there is the day of open persecution, or more private opposition, when we have to do battle for our principles, and perhaps resist unto blood, striving against sin. And the day of death is often a day of battle, for then we |