May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn
to the book of Psalms, Psalm 107 and we'll read verse 7. Psalm
107 and verse 7. And he led them forth by the
right way that they might go to a city of habitation. This is a wonderful and blessed
statement that has a direct relationship to every single living child
of God. And all those who already, of
course, have passed through this world and are now in glory, every
one of them have proved the truth of such a statement as this. The Lord has led them forth by
the right way. The Lord never makes a mistake
in his people's lives. They are always led by the right
way. Sometimes, of course, we may
not always consider it to be the right way. As we look at
ourselves, we may perhaps be tempted to think sometimes the
Lord's made a mistake. But the Lord never makes mistakes.
The Lord always brings his people by the right way. It may be a
wandering way, it may be a strange way, it may be a difficult way,
but the truth is it will be the right way. And the wonderful
outcome is that if we and the whole Church of God is led in
the right way, then they might go to a city of habitation. That
means that we shall at last get home to glory. Now I know, of
course, that perhaps in this particular chapter the reference
is often made to Israel itself. And we know how they wandered
about, didn't they, through the wilderness to be brought at last
to that city in Canaan, brought safely there. But the Lord did
lead them, and he did bless them, and he was with them, and he
did not leave them, and he did not forsake them, and that's
why they had reason, and that's why we have reason to exclaim
in the same words that the psalmist did in the first verse, O give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth
forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand the enemy. I often
think that perhaps the Church of God are very backward in acknowledging
the goodness of the Lord and that his mercy endures forever. Those who are redeemed, those
for whom Christ has died, those for whom Christ has shed his
precious blood, surely those are they that this refers to. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Well may it be our continual
desire continue concern to acknowledge what God has done in leading
us. Now there are very many leadings. There are natural leadings and
of course there are spiritual leadings and they both unite. Grace and Providence do unite
because they are all part of of the leading by Almighty God
that we might go and come to a city of habitation. So we have a great statement
here that, and he led them forth by the right way. Well, if we think perhaps of
the Israel of old, what did the Lord do? He led them out of Egypt. He led them out in a most amazing
way. If you ponder the way that Israel
came out, it was ordained by Almighty God. Pharaoh was sometimes
half willing to let the people go, but he put conditions. But
eventually, they all went out. The Lord let every single one
of them go. The Lord directed them, and Pharaoh
let them go. And we read, and not a hoof was
left behind. That means there were no cattle
either left behind. Everything came out of Egypt. The Lord led them out of Egypt. But of course, their time in
Egypt was a time of great trial. and great temptation towards
the end of their time there. Initially, of course, when they
went down into Egypt by the invitation of Pharaoh and Joseph, it was
a time of wonderful prosperity and blessing. But then things
became difficult and more difficult and very difficult. until the
time when the Lord ordained that they should be led forth out
of Egypt. And so they came forth with a
high hand. Nobody was to stop them. Everybody, all the Egyptians
encouraged them to go. And so they came forth. The Lord led them forth. And
then just thinking of natural Israel again for a moment, think
how they came to the Red Sea. It was only a short time, wasn't
it? And now they were hedged in. There appeared to be no way. The Red Sea in front of them,
the Egyptians behind them. What was going to happen now?
The first test of their faith. My friends, we perhaps foolishly
think when we come out of one difficult situation, everything's
going to be easy. But you see, very quickly we'll
find there's a recourse to have that exercise and that test of
our faith. And so the Lord, he led them
forth on the right way. They came to the Red Sea and
the Lord had to appear for them again. And he led them through
the Red Sea on that dry land. What a wonderful deliverance
it was. How much cause they had to praise
and thank their God. No wonder the psalmist says,
oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for
his wonderful works to the children of men. Well, we'll leave Israel
for a moment and we'll just come to our own situation. And you
may say, well, I don't think I've been in a place like that. Well, you may not have physically
been, but you may have spiritually been in a situation like that.
That you've been in Egypt, you've been in bondage, you've been
held out by the devil, and you haven't been able to free yourself. And perhaps things have appeared
to have got worse and worse. And there doesn't seem to be
any possibility of being delivered, having any escape from that place
of bondage. Well, how dependent you are,
how dependent you would have been, perhaps to be led forth
out of your spiritual condition, out of the prison house, So effectively,
Israel were in prison, weren't they? It wasn't a building, but
they were in prison. They couldn't actually get out.
They were captive there. And so we have been, perhaps
we are, in our spiritual state, we are captive. Well, we have
been captive by the devil. And we haven't been able to deliver
ourselves. We haven't been able to, as it
were, escape from his clutches. And he's got hold upon us. And
whatever we did, there appeared to be no way, no solution. Well, he led them forth by the
right way. Now then, in the case of Israel,
and of course, in the case of our spiritual life, there was
that wonderful deliverance, and that deliverance was set forth
by the Passover. What a wonderful sign that was. children of Israel had to stay
all those years to come to that glorious occasion when the Lord
set before them the way of spiritual deliverance as also of course
the way of natural deliverance. Think of it all those years the
Lord was gracious The Lord hadn't shown that sign, he hadn't brought
to them in that great way, there had of course been those sacrifices
previously, but not quite in the same way, until the appointed
time when the Lord set before them the wonder of redeeming
love. And that is really the same in
our spiritual life. We are, as it were, captive,
and we're imprisoned, and we can't free ourselves. We may
be almost despairing. And then perhaps, as it were,
the light shines, the glorious light of the gospel. And what
is that? It's set forth in the face of
Jesus Christ as the lamb slain. The wonderful picture we have
in the Passover of the lamb slain, roast in the fire, and the blood
placed upon the doorpost and the nipples. And where was the
safety? Only under the blood. You see,
Israel would not have gone out in that way without that blood
being set forth. And so it is in our spiritual
way. The only way that you and I are
to come forth is through the blood of the Lamb. As we see
in the Lord Jesus Christ, all that we need to deliver us from
that condemnation, the soul that sinneth it shall die. But you
know to have set before us the glory of the suffering Lamb of
God, who suffered in our place, so that we might go free. We
read in the Gospel of John, if the Son therefore shall set you
free, you shall be free indeed. Now you see, when the Lord set
forth that freedom to Israel, the devil couldn't stop it. And
it's the same, my friends, in our spiritual life. When the
Lord comes with power from on high, through the work of the
Holy Spirit, to direct our hearts to view the suffering Saviour
standing in our place as our Deliverer, then there is that
deliverance. There is that freedom. We've
been set free. And what has occurred? The Spirit
of God has led us forth by the right way. And when that deliverance
comes, and when we know something of the blessing of that deliverance,
then we shall realise why it was that we had to walk perhaps
the thorny road, perhaps the difficult path, perhaps the rocky
way. And it appeared to get more difficult
and worse and worse until the light shone into our hearts,
that light of the glorious gospel in the face of Jesus Christ. And so, you see, Israel were
led forth. They came out of Egypt. And what
a blessing for you and me if that spirit of God has brought
us out of spiritual Egypt. We've come forth. What a thing
it is to be blessed with that. And I wonder tonight if you and
I are able to testify that Lord has led us forth, led us forth
out of that state of spiritual darkness, spiritual bondage,
into that great light as we saw the light and that light showed
us the Lord Jesus Christ as the one thing needful. We were directed
to him and him alone. There was no one else that could
suit or meet our need but the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the
eye of faith, we looked up and we beheld the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. And we looked up and we beheld
the Lamb of God that has taken away our sin, so that we are
set free. And what a glorious freedom it
is, because it's a freedom that will never be taken away. We
may perhaps sometimes find ourselves entangled with the things of
the world and the devil will set traps for us, but you see,
he'll never be able to once again put us in that locked place of
a prison house because the Lord has set us free. And he led them
forth by the right way. And then you see, we will not
complain about the way. We will not complain about the
Lord's dealings with us. We will come and say from our
heart, as for God, his way is perfect. Well, it was many, many
years, wasn't it, that Israel were in Egypt. But the appointed
time came to deliver them. And the appointed time comes
in the life of the child of God to deliver them. and to show
them the blessing of a glorious Saviour. It's the work of the Holy Spirit.
Do we not bless the work of the Holy Spirit? Are we not thankful
for the blessed work of the Holy Spirit to reveal unto us the
Lord Jesus Christ in all his glory and in all his great wonderful
work? and that finished work, to realise
that the Saviour did not fall, did not fail in that work His
Father gave Him to do. He fulfilled it, so that you
and I might be led forth by the right way. Well, here we have
this great statement, and He led them forth. It was only the
Lord that led them forth. I know, of course, that Moses
was used, but it was God that led them. God directed them.
And then you think of Israel again, come back to them, and
think of how they came out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, into
the wilderness, and God appeared to them there. And he gave them
the law. And he gave them the ceremonial
law. And what did the ceremonial law
do? He directed them to Christ. He gave them the tabernacle.
What did the tabernacle do? Directed them to Christ. My friends,
it was the leading of the Holy Spirit. And what is it in His
people's lives today? It's really the same. As we may
have come across the Red Sea, we come into the wilderness.
Perhaps it's in the wilderness that God then shows to us something
of the beauty contained in the ceremonial law. And all those
aspects that direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we are
greatly blessed today with the New Testament. and especially
the epistle to the Hebrews, that we have an insight to those glorious
ceremonies which were carried out so very carefully and so
very regularly in accordance with the holy law of God. But
you see there was teaching in it, and my friends there's teaching
in it for us today. as we may view these things,
really what it is, it's food and drink to our souls. And it's
really good for us to ponder and to meditate upon those great
things which were set before us in the Word of God, showing
us the ceremonial laws. Don't pass them by. Don't think
they're of no consequence. Don't think that they're now
outdated. Well, they were there for a blessed
means and of course Israel of old they walked With that veil
over them. They didn't see things clearly
at all But what a blessing is for us today to have these things
revealed to us You know as as Christ has been revealed to us
as our need then as we walk before him then we grow in grace and
in the knowledge of of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as
the preciousness of the Gospel is revealed to us. Well, I will
not go through it tonight, but you can ponder it as you have
the available time, and I'm sure you will have time to do it.
Just read and ponder the Hebrews and lay it alongside the the
picture that we have in the Word of God that sets before us the
tabernacle and how it was constructed and what went into it, and all
the sacrifices, how important they were, and what they signified,
my friends, as food and drink to our souls. And if this Word
is true, He led them forth by the right way, it'll mean that
you and I led into these truths for the edifying of our souls
and for the honour and glory of our God. Because these things
do bring honour and glory to God as these things are revealed
to us and we rejoice in them because we see Christ as some
new aspect. As it were, the light shines
on some new aspect of the work of the Saviour. We rejoice. And we bless God, and it's food
for our souls. And we should be concerned that
we are spiritually minded and are looking to find Christ in
the pages of scripture, so that as we find Christ, we bless the
leading of the Spirit of God in our spiritual life, and he
led them forth by the right way. And so Israel, they'd come out
of Egypt. They had this wonderful revelation
then that Moses received from Almighty God. But we need to
be warned, don't we? We need to be warned. Israel
rebels, didn't they? How many times, sometimes how
quickly, Israel rebelled. He led them forth by the right
way. You know, you and I need to Pray
for grace and patience. We need patience for the Lord
to direct us and to lead us into all truth as it is in Jesus. Sometimes we're tempted to get
impatient. Sometimes we want to move on
at a faster pace. Well, the Lord has ordained the
pace that you and I will walk in our spiritual life. And you
and I won't walk in the same pace, each one walks in a different
pace. The Lord has ordained that pace
for you and me, which will be good for us, it'll be the right
way, and that right way will have this benefit, it will bring
honour and glory to Almighty God. So if you and I were to
plan our life, plan our way, we wouldn't plan it the same
as God would plan it, or has planned it. And we wouldn't, therefore, bring
that honour and glory to our God, which his plan does. And
let us remember that the Lord's leading always brings us in that
way. Israel had to wander in the wilderness,
40 years. We know it was because of their
sin, We know it was because they disobeyed the word of the Lord. And again, these are instructive
things to us. They were told to go up and to
possess the land. The Lord had granted them the
favor of sending 12 spies to go and spy out the land. And
they went and they came back, and 10 of them came back with
an evil report. And therefore, Israel believed
the evil report. My friends, we need to be very
careful not to believe the evil report. Perhaps the way ahead
appears to be very difficult. You see, there were giants that
the spies had seen. And all the towns were all well
defended. And to actually proceed in that
way seemed to be very difficult and seemed to be very hard. And
therefore, they refused to go. Now, the word was very true.
He led them forth by the right way, but they rebelled. And if
the Lord directs us in a particular way, the devil may say, well,
you can't do that. There's giants in the way. And
in any event, all those cities are well fenced and defended.
You can't pursue that avenue. You can't go that way. It's just
too difficult. Well, never forget the words
of Paul. He said, go in the strength of
the Lord God. And that's the way that you and
I can go, not in our own strength. Israel were, at that time, relying
on their own strength, apart from, of course, Joshua and Caleb.
And Caleb said, we are well able. And of course they were, because
God was with them. Without God, they would have
failed. With God, they would succeed. Exactly the same in
our lives today. My friends, without God, we shall
fail. With God, we can do all things. Nothing is impossible. It's wonderful
to have such a God. By disobedience, we're really
limiting Almighty God. We're really dragging Him, as
it were, from His throne. If the Lord gives us direction
and a leading, we are to follow that way. He led them forth by
the right way. And it's a way of blessing, and
it's a way of true union with the Lord, because God is with
us. If we're not walking with the
Lord, you see, we're walking away from God, and God is not
with us. But if we are keeping close to
the Lord and hearing His voice and following His direction,
then we can believe it will be a way of good and the right way
for us. And we have this promise here,
and He led them forth by the right way. Well, we can think,
can we, of many in the Word of God, but if we just think perhaps
of the Apostle Paul, You think of his life. Was it the right
way? And I'm sure we'd all say, yes,
of course it was the right way. But look at what the apostle
had to endure in that right way. So many attacks, stoned, imprisoned,
beaten, spoken against, much, much opposition. But it was the
right way. It was God's way. And we should
therefore not be surprised if in our lives today we find there
are oppositions. We may not perhaps physically
be stoned or beaten or put in prison. But it may be in a spiritual
way. There may be those who, as it
were, throw stones at us. And by that I mean wrong words,
unkind words. And they're stones, and they're
very painful, and they may knock us down and drag us down. But
it shouldn't stop us. It shouldn't halt us, because
we're being led by the blessed Spirit of God. We might be beaten. Yes, people may try and beat
us, to afflict us, to halt us in our spiritual journey. Well, we're not to give up. Never
forget of course that lovely and wonderful example of Paul
and Silas in Philippi in prison in the midst of great affliction
and opposition. They were being led forth by
the right way and of course we know the result. First of all
they sang at midnight praises unto the Lord God and the prisoners
heard them. And then of course when the earthquake
occurred and the Philippian jailer thought that they'd escaped and
he cried out and was going to thrust his sword into himself
and Paul cried out, said, we're all here, safe, do thyself no
harm. And he then sprang in and cried
out, what must I do to be saved? Oh, the wonderful work of the
spirit of God. Paul had to suffer. But it was
the right way. He was led by the Holy Spirit
and it was therefore a time of wonderful blessing. The Jada
and all his house were believers and were led forth and were baptised. What a wonderful occasion that
was. Well, the Apostle, that was only
just one instance in his life. There were many other instances,
weren't there, when the Apostle had so much opposition. But I'm
sure he did not complain. He told us, when he wrote to
the Corinthians, of that path. But he tells us the Lord was
with him. and he led them forth by the right way. And then you
think when he came to before King Agrippa, that wonderful
pronouncement that he made before Festus and Agrippa. He wasn't
fearful to speak forth the word of truth. You see those things
that he spoke, they could have resulted in him being executed
more or less on the spot. But the apostle was faithful.
and the Spirit of God was leading him forth to declare those great
and glorious truths. So that was spoken that Festus
said he was mad, and Agrippa said, well, I'm almost a Christian,
almost persuaded. Oh, the great work of the Word
of God in the heart of the Apostle Paul. And so we see that he was
led forth by the right way. It wasn't the wrong way. Man
would probably have said, well, how foolish you are, Paul. Why
don't you stop preaching? Why don't you stop doing this?
No, you see, God was with him. That's a great blessing, isn't
it? That's the important thing, isn't it? If God be for us, who
can be against us? most concerned to be led forth
by the Spirit of God in the right way and to go in that way, not
to hesitate, not to turn back. You see, if we set our hand to
the plough, we're not even to look back, not even to look back. Tendency is to look back. But
don't look back. And again, we remember in Pilgrim's
Progress, there was a pilgrim when he was escaping from the
city of destruction. Did he look back? No. He put
his hands to his ears, fingers in his ears, so he wouldn't hear
those cries of him to return. And he ran forth crying, life,
life, eternal life. Yes, he was running away from
the city of destruction. And he didn't look back. My friends,
what a wonderful thing it is when God gives you and me grace
to leave behind the city of destruction, being led forth by the Spirit
of God. The right way. There is, you
see, being led out of the city of destruction. Leaving behind
the things of this poor old world. being separated from the things
of this world which only drag us down and drag us back. Oh,
to be led forth then. Well, it would be a good thing
in your life and my life that we have the wonderful evidence
that we are being led forth by the Spirit of God. And we will
have the answer of a good conscience. We will have the answer of the
Holy Spirit in our hearts, that it's the right way. I'm sure
if you and I are children of God, we'll realise whether we're
in the right way or the wrong way. We may make excuses to go
the wrong way, but you know when we're in the right way, we're
encouraged because we have the evidence of the Spirit of God
with us, to know that it is the right way. And He led them forth
by the right way. And you think of Joseph in his
life. He was led forth by the right way, wasn't he? What a
strange life he had. What a test of his faith he had. But he was led and he was led
in a very strange way so that he might be in that very prison
where the butler and the baker were to have dreams which he
was able to give the meaning of and then after another two
years pharaoh had a dream and the butler then remembered his
thoughts and told pharaoh of joseph and joseph was called
before pharaoh to be able to interpret his dream and let's
not forget that joseph didn't claim any merit himself He said,
interpretations belong unto God. And it's good when we desire
to always give the honour and glory to God, when God leads
us, when God directs us, to not kind of try and make out that
we've made some wonderful decision and wonderful direction, but
to recognise and to appreciate and to testify that it's God
that has led us in this way. that God has directed us, that
God has helped us, so that we are led forth by the right way. Well we know of course that Joseph
was able to give that evidence and that description of what
Pharaoh had dreamt and then he was promoted to the second in
charge of the kingdom. all in accordance with God's
gracious and wonderful leading and planning for that man. Joseph
could never have thought of such a path. And my friends, I'm sure
as we look back in our lives, we would never have thought of
the path that God is leading us in and God is directing us
in. But the blessing will be if we
can believe the truth that we have here. It was the right way
that we might go to a city of habitation. What it means is
this. Our life is a preparation for
our eternal home. for our eternal habitation. It's a preparation. And God knows
what you and I need, what preparation we need to be found ready and
right to go and leave this earth and to enter in to that eternal
place of glory. The Lord knows what we need.
You and I don't. We may think we do, but the Lord
knows what we do need. therefore he continues to lead
us right down to the very last moment of our life. He led them
forth by the right way. They might go to a city of habitation,
and because of the gracious leading of our God, to be able to then
praise him. Oh that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works, to the children
of men. Well, can we testify of the work
of God in our souls? The work of God. Just ponder
that for a moment. Are you able to see the work
of God in your soul? That leading by the Spirit, His
work, not your work, His work, His calling, His direction, His
blessing, His instruction, His conviction, it all emanates from
the blessed and glorious power of the Holy Spirit of God. Have you and I the evidence then
of the work of the Spirit within so that we can join here and
realise the truth of these words that we are being led forth by
the right way because of God's work in our hearts, the evidence
of that work. It's not something that you and
I can grasp naturally, but it's something that you and I can
lay hold of in a spiritual way, because it is His work, and it's
like this. God does that for you and me
which we could not do for ourselves. That's God's work. That's not
your work or my work. And when you are able to recognise
God's work, how thankful we should be that God has ordained and
guided and come to us and delivered us and enabled us to see the
light shining and to look up and to behold the glory of that
work of salvation. Well, you see, this leading will
lead us to Christ. My friends, anything less than
that will not be true leading. That leading will lead us to
Christ. We may not always realise God's leading initially, We may
perhaps find it very irksome, because God may have, as it were,
hedged up our way. Hedged up our way, you know. Jeremiah, godly man that he was,
he tells us how his way was indeed hedged up, and he wasn't very
happy with it, and he didn't enjoy it, but it was indeed the
right way. He tells us, he hath set me in
dark places, as though they be dead of old. He hath hedged me
about, that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy.
Also, when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. Now,
was Jeremiah a child of God? Well, of course he was. But you
see, the Lord was testing even Jeremiah's faith. And my friends,
God tests our faith today. And so we should be thankful
that we have a God who is hedging us, putting a hedge around us,
so we can't go the way we want to go. We may not be very happy
about it. We may have our plans, and we
find those plans are being crossed. We're being stopped in our tracks.
One thing or another seems to come and halt our progress. And
we find ourselves being annoyed. What it's good if we just step
back and consider, is this God's hand upon me? Is this God dealing with me? You see, he was hedged about
and he had a heavy chain. You can imagine, can't you? If
you've got a heavy chain, you can't run very fast, can you?
You'd really be slowed down in your pace, wouldn't you? You
may have got a plan and you want to rush ahead and do it. You
may find you can't, because God's put a chain on you. Sometimes
a chain is an illness, yes, an affliction. And God places it
on you, and it may be heavy, and you can't do what you want
to. It's God leading you, it's God directing you. And even when
you cry and shout, he shatters out your prayer. Maybe, of course,
that you're praying for your will to be done. You're not praying
for God's will to be done. And so, he goes on, and you can
read the third chapter in Lamentations, because it's a very expressive
chapter. But then, we come down to verse
22, we read, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not. because of his love toward
us. There we have observed perhaps
God's dealings with us in stopping us and hedging up our way, and
now we come and say yes, it is the Lord's mercies. We are not
consumed because his compassion is found out there anew every
morning. Great is thy faithfulness. And then he comes and makes a
wonderful statement. And it's good, you see, if this leading
of Almighty God brings us to be able to say this, the Lord
is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. Is the Lord your portion? You
know, we have to be honest, don't we? You may have to say, well,
no, he's not. But it may be that the Lord's
hedging you up so that He will be your portion. Then you'll
thank God for it. The Lord is my portion, says
Jeremiah. Oh yes, saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in Him.
The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him to the soul that
seeketh Him. You see, this is the direction,
this is the leading of the blessed Spirit of God. He led them forth
by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. And so if we are to arrive safely
at that city of habitation, it will be because the Lord has
caused His work to appear, and He has dealt with us in His way. He's knocked us into shape, and
some of us need a lot of knocking into shape. You see, some of us are very,
or have been perhaps, very rebellious against God's dealings with us. But, my friends, you won't stop
the Lord working. My friends, it's good if you're
given grace to submit under the mighty hand of God, that we may
be exalted in due time, casting all our care upon him. God's
dealings, dealings with us so that we will be a prepared person
for this city, this glorious city, this place of heaven. No one arrives at glory without
being prepared. And this life is a life of preparation. It's a wonderful thing, isn't
it, to think the Lord is so compassionate and so merciful and has such
love toward us that he is dealing with us in love to our soul and
he's preparing us for this city of habitation. How humbling it
is to have the realisation that Almighty God is leading us. nonetheless just think of that
the god who created all things looks upon you and me insignificant
sinners of the earth and is leading us forth by the right way so
that we might go to a city of habitation to know that the Lord
is dealing with us as sons and daughters of the Most High God. What a privilege, what a blessing,
how humbling, as we think of ourselves, as the Spirit shows
us, we are utterly unworthy of any favour. And to think, yes,
this great, kind, gracious God has dealt with me, and worthy
as I am, just like Israel of old, just like all the saints
of God. I'm part of that happy family
that God is graciously blessing, and it's in this way he led them
forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. Amen.