The Lord Is His Name
Category: Suffering, Trials & Burdens
Key Passage: Exodus 14
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: August 16, 2023
Exodus chapter 14, if you would please tonight. Exodus chapter 14. We have been on the life of Moses for months and months and months now. Last Wednesday we took a break, and Brother Gregory did a great job about hearing from the voice of God. I appreciate that.
Tonight we are back on Exodus.
Two weeks ago, we covered crossing through the Red Sea, an incredible miracle of God. Remember the East Wind; it blew the waters back, but remember it divided, a wall on the left hand and the right hand. Wind does not do that, friend. God did that. They went across the dry ground.
Then, of course, Pharaoh and his army and the chariots followed in. As they followed in, it is very interesting. God said, let me have them have some flat tires on those chariots. Now, you know, they do not go flat, but they fall off. They started falling off.
The Egyptians—it is interesting—one of the last things that went through their mind was, “This is God. God is against us.”
Look, if you will, in verse number 25. Look at that, Exodus 14:25: “And took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily. So that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.”
That kind of goes in line with 14:14, “The Lord shall fight for you.” They said that was the last thing that went through their mind. By the way, you know the last thing that goes through the bug’s mind when he hits your windshield? His legs. That is it. You will get that after a while.
But this is the Lord’s against us, and those two walls—my goodness—God said, you made your mind up long ago, and it was the end of them. The Israelites saw that happen.
Now we are going to pick it up at the last verse of chapter 14, Exodus 14:31, tonight.
Verse 31: “And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.”
“Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war.”
By the way, Christians ought never be involved in war? The Bible says the Lord is a man of war. How about that? They put that in their pipe and smoke for a while there. The Lord is a man of war. Not that we want war, but sometimes you have to have war to have peace. I am not saying that, but sometimes it is necessary. The Lord knows that. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name.
We are just going to go through this chapter a bit tonight, try to get through chapter 15.
When is the last time you sang unto the Lord? Now, it could be in church. Brother Patrick just led us in three good songs about sending the light out and rescuing the perishing. Maybe in church that is not typically my best time to sing unto the Lord.
When is the last time maybe you put the windows up in the car? At least if you are like me, you do not want anybody else to hear. Praise the Lord, he said, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”
Lester Roloff used to say that every Christian ought to give the Lord—that is the key—the Lord a concert every day. When is the last time you just sang unto the Lord? It may be in the shower. But just singing unto the Lord.
You know Ephesians says, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit: Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
This is a biblical thing. I try to read through Psalms every year, and I look at Psalm 147, 148, those last five Psalms. It talks so much about singing and praising the Lord. That is not just for the best singers. Now, the best singers, let them sing up here. That is why I am not singing up here. But everybody ought to sometimes just sing to the Lord.
We had a man in our church—I do not think he will mind me telling—he moved away. Brother Stover, Dale Stover, worked in the Bill Rice Ranch for thirty-something years. They used to have skits where he and another fellow would sing because they sang so bad; it was a skit when he sang. He heard me mention this many times about singing unto the Lord, and he thought, “Well, that is for everybody else.” But he said one day, “Well, I am going to try.” Pastor always uses some of these verses, so I will try it. He told me later on, “I tried that.” He said, “I am really shocked. It really does something to you when you sing unto the Lord.”
They just had this great victory, and they wrote this song from the victory. You can read chapter 15 and realize it is not some old song. They wrote this song from the victory they just had, and they sang it.
Some of you are better talented at it than I. Some of you, Brother Adams, he has written some songs. Some of the songs the choir is singing are songs Brother Adams has written, and it is passionate. My wife has written some songs. Some of you are better at writing them than some of us, but someone took their time out of this victory and wrote the song. Maybe you ought to write a song to the Lord. Some of you are a little bit more talented there. Not all of the Israelites wrote the song, but they were all singing to the Lord.
Friend, I am saying you ought to. I have been convicted about this a little bit lately, just reading through the last part of Psalms. I have been trying to do it yesterday, my day off. I was working in the yard a lot, and some of you can see I had this big limb come down. You ever had that limb you twisted and did not want to come down, and you just tugged on it a little bit, and you are tugging, and you look up, and boom—which I tore on my forehead. That is what that was. You thought my wife did that again. This time is different. Anyway, I was trying to sing throughout the day to the Lord. There is something about it.
The children of Israel sang this song of Moses. They were singing to the Lord. Can I just encourage you to make it a thing in your life where you sing unto the Lord?
It may not be—for me, it is better if nobody is listening, I can kind of… And by the way, sometimes ask the Holy Spirit what song do you want me to sing this day. When my wife went through cancer, it is amazing. I have sung some of these songs for fifty-four years. I do not know in my heart, but I do not. It is an amazing thing. This is called “Dum, dum, dum,” that is all it is. But when my wife went through cancer, I wanted to learn a couple songs, and I wanted to sing them during that time. How many ever heard that song, “God Wants to Hear You Sing”? The Bush Show used to sing that song, and what a blessing it is. I tried to memorize that song and sing it during that time a lot. I remember my wife and I have been through trials, and we had a certain song that kind of helped us through that trial. We would sing that song a lot. Just singing.
It is good to listen to good music; that is very important, but it is more than that if you study your Bible. It is singing good songs. Get in the habit of it. Maybe nobody else in the world knows you are singing, but you are singing unto the Lord.
I thought about Paul and Silas. Remember Paul and Silas? They got put in jail. I do not personally think it happened like that. I think they were beaten and bruised, and maybe Silas was over—“You big mouth, you are always preaching everywhere you go. Why did you have to open your mouth so loud right when that one Pharisee walked by?” I do not know how it happened. Paul was coming here. I think maybe they were just kind of down, I am sure. That is why I think it took until midnight. Typically, they closed everything down and put people in jail later in that area. I think they got put in jail earlier than that.
It is very interesting. The Bible says they prayed—even the order is very important—they prayed and sang praises at midnight. It was not like they were just singing. I think they did it on purpose. The Bible says they prayed, so probably they had this prayer and said, “Well, you know what? We need to sing.” As I was praying, the Lord spoke to my heart, “We have the mullet grubs going on. We need to sing.” And the Bible says, “And they prayed and sang praises at midnight.”
I do not know. Paul talks about how his speech was contemptible, so I kind of doubt he was a real good singer. But they prayed and they sang praises at midnight, and that is what God began to work in a great way. Can I just use this as an illustration, an example here? Let us pray. Let us sing. Let us sing. I mean, just work at singing to the Lord. Be a singing Christian. It may be, “I cannot sing around anybody.” I understand. I resemble that remark. But you can sing to the Lord. Singing to the Lord is such a good, good thing.
Now let us keep going here. We are just going to skip the song they sang; you can read it sometime. It is the first part of chapter 15. They sang praises. And Miriam got a timbrel out and led some of the ladies in singing. That is going on. They sang praises to the Lord.
We will jump down to verse number 22 here. We are going to change course here a little bit, just trying to get some truths here. Exodus 15, verse number 22: “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days into the wilderness and found no water.”
Friend, it is amazing sometimes when we have the greatest victories, just around the corner you are going to have just a trial. Help me out: Were the children of Israel following God’s will or not? Yes. They were right in the center. They were doing exactly what God wanted to do. They just came off the mountaintop, but be careful sometimes. Sometimes that is when it hurts so hard because we are so high up, and then boom. It is kind of like the rug gets pulled out from underneath you, and boy, that can really hurt. Trials often come after great victories.
They are traveling into the wilderness of Shur. Some—and I am not going to say exactly where they were; it is amazing how many people differ over that—but even someone said, “Well, that kid went to the Red Sea and got water.” Friend, the Red Sea is one of the saltiest waters in the world. There is a lot of evaporation and not a lot of precipitation, so that equals very, very salty waters. They could not drink that.
They are out there in this wilderness of Shur, and they have no water. Hey, that can be a problem right there if you have no water to drink. You understand what I am saying? This is not them just making it up in their mind and wanting to complain. There is a real trial they are facing.
Here is interesting: Spurgeon said this about this verse. He said, “Their first trouble was too much water; the second is too little.” Our trials are of all kinds. I am not trying to be, I am not trying to be now that Dombs about the Christian life, but friend, if you live for the Lord, it is going to be one trial, some victories in there, and then another trial.
It is just… Ms. Joyce was just talking to Ms. Jeannie on the phone every Wednesday. If I, every once in a while, will get to stick my head in the car and say, “Hey, Miss Jenny,” and I got two tonight. Ms. Jeannie, of course, she has been living with the Lord all these years, and I guarantee she would tell her, there are just trials. I do not say that to say everything is bad, horrible, or tough to live for the Lord. No, no. I am just saying so you do not get too upset, especially when things are going so good and then you turn around, and boom. That is the Christian life, and nobody likes it. But these people were living for the Lord and doing God’s will, and they just had this great victory. They saw the mighty hand of God split the Red Sea, and then it came down on Pharaoh and the army in this great victory, and then they turned around.
That is going to happen in your life. It is. That is part of living for the Lord. Over in the book of Job, it says it is just like you make a fire, and sparks fly up. They said, “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” It is just going to happen. Can I say this? Whether you are living for the Lord or not living for the Lord, the good thing if you are living for the Lord is you have peace going into the trial, and you have the hand of God, and you have the family of God, the joy of God while you are going through. But troubles are going to happen. It is part of living for the Lord.
Look over in 1 Peter chapter 4, if you would please. 1 Peter chapter 4. Many of you will know this verse. I want you just to see it. 1 Peter 4, and look in verse number 12, if you would please. 1 Peter 4 and verse 12. Peter writes much about suffering. “And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Much of it is about suffering. But look at this, 1 Peter 4, look at verse number 12. He says, “Beloved.” That does not mean you are not loved. No, no, you are still loved. But, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you.”
Do not be out of shape. Do not think this is the craziest thing in the world that I am trying to do right in problems. Do not do that. Trials are going to come. By the way, he says concerning fiery trials—they are hot, they burn, they hurt. Do not get too shook up about that. It is going to happen. That is part of the Christian life. That is part of life.
Here is the thing: If I let circumstances control my spirit—Sunday morning we were talking about the spirit—if I let circumstances control my spirit, then I am going to be on a roller coaster ride. I am going to be on a roller coaster ride. That is why the Bible talks a lot about ruling, controlling your spirit, and you have to work at it.
It was a good day for me when I understood a little bit better Philippians 4:4. Over there, where he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” I thought, you grow up knowing these verses, that means I have to always be up there just happy, smiling. Life is wonderful. It is great. It was a good day when the Holy Spirit told me, Paul, that “rejoice” is impossible all the time. Life is going to have trials, and it is going to want your spirit and things to really just dip. But you are always rejoicing in the Lord always. You are always working at this. And again I say, rejoice.
Rejoicing—you are trying to get back up there. You are seeking to be a joyful Christian again. You are trying to get in His presence again, and in His presence is fullness and joy. You are always… Here is what it is saying: You do not just get the mullet grubs and wallow in it. You are always trying to rejoice. That is so vital because you are going to be on the top side, having a great victory and crossing over the Red Sea, and then a couple days later, no water. What are we going to do? We are in the desert. We are in the wilderness. We need some water. That is just part of life.
Isn’t it interesting? Jesus was trying to teach His disciples. Remember He sent out—are you with me tonight?—remember over there? Jesus sent out His seventy disciples. Remember that? He sent them out. He gave them power, and boy, they cast out demons in His name, and they had power over the demons and the scorpions and all those things. They just had power, and they came back so, “Whew, Jesus, man, we had power! We could cast out demons in Your name!”
Remember what Jesus said? He said, “Rejoice not that the demons are subject to you,” because you have good days and bad days on those things. He said, “But rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” That does not change. You bank your spirit and your emotions the best you can on things that do not change—God’s promises—instead of circumstances, because circumstances are way up here. We praise the Lord, we got a victory, I saw that water coming down. And then the next day, “Now we need some water. Our canteens are running out. Three days’ journey. We need some water.” That is going to be life. That is so important that you realize and say, “That is all right. I am going to keep my eyes on the Lord.”
Look, if you will, I think many of you will know it by heart, but look over in Romans 8:28. If many of you do not know it, I get no credit; credit to my mom and dad, but some of these promises I grew up knowing. I will be honest with you, in Romans 8:28, I got probably just too familiar with it, and I had not really used it to the last bit. I do not know when, and the Lord said, “Paul, you haven’t used Romans 8:28 in a long time.” The Lord spoke to me, and I have been using it. It has helped me keep my spirit right when circumstances are up and down and all over the place and things happen that would bother me. I do not like it. It is such a good promise, and I challenge you tonight to start using this if you are not using it. It is a great promise.
You know it many of you. Look at it at Romans 8:28. I want you just to see it right there. Look at it if you would. Look at it black and white right there. “And we know”—it is not just “in,” but “we know.” There is confidence there. We know when bad things happen. We know. We have confidence in God’s Word. And we know that all things—the bad things, yeah. The frustrating things, yeah. When people do this or that other bother you, you want to strangle them—yeah, even that—and we know that all things work together, not individually, but they work together for good.
By the way, God was trying to prepare the children of Israel so that when they got over to the Promised Land, they would have enough faith and courage to enter in. This is what He is trying to do. He knew they needed some battles along the way. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Do not get bitter; you will lose that promise. “To them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” So when bad things happen—and they will happen—wait, wait. God has a reason for allowing that. We know that all things work together. God, you can bring some good out of that. I trust You to bring some good. Use that all day long if you have to. Trying to keep your spirit and your mind on the promises instead of the circumstances. Because circumstances, you will be like a term right now, yo-yo. Get you some of these promises and hang your hat on these promises instead of on the circumstances. Because victory—whoa, we are flying sky high—then the next day, “Why are we going to do? No water.” Three days later, “Hey, the canteens are empty. What are we going to do for water?”
Now let’s keep going. Let’s find out what happens in this order here. Look at verse number 23. Exodus 15, verse number 23. Are y’all still out there tonight? Good deal. I appreciate you being with me and hunger for the word of God. That is awesome. Praise the Lord for you. Verse number 23 right there: “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.”
I mean, it is bad enough not to have water in the wilderness. Now they have water, they cannot drink it. That is torture. “And therefore the name of the place was called Marah.” Marah is not just a place; it means bitter. Can you imagine your mouth is dry, and you think, “My baby, if I don’t get some water for my baby, pretty soon they are going to die.” My lips are cracking, and I need some water. Now we have water.
I am not sure how it happened. Maybe some of the children of Israel did drink it at first, and they got sick. You see them over there, everything inside is coming up. Maybe, “Oh, I’m not going to drink that.” Or maybe they were very sick. Maybe it was just a known thing that they could not drink there. I am not sure. But let me say this: In this up and down of the Christian life, sometimes the bad gets worse, and you are going to be tempted to get bitter. If you live for the Lord over the long haul, there will be times… Were they out of the will of God? Were they out of the will of God? No, they were right in it. Sometimes God will lead you besides tomorrow. It is just part of the journey to the victorious Christian life. You will go right by, and you are going to cross by this temptation to get bitter.
Sometimes we think of the big trials—the casket and the funeral in the morning. Sometimes it is just everyday life. Sometimes you wonder, “Why is so-and-so doing so good and I am doing so bad? Why did they get the promotion at work and I didn’t get the promotion at work? Why am I always sick?” That gets to you. You have physical ailments, and you wonder, “Will I get to you?” Or, “Why am I always poor? Why can’t we ever get ahead financially?” You are going to be tempted to get bitter from time to time. It is going to happen to you, friend. On this journey, you will battle this temptation of passing by the waters of Marah, bitterness.
Let’s keep on looking. Verse number 24. Oh, I am sorry; I am in chapter 15, not 16. That helps them in the right chapter. Verse number 24, chapter 15, verse number 24: “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”
Now, it is easy for us to say, “Well, these Israel, these Hebrew, Jewish people, they are always complaining.” But honestly, we are all guilty. Especially, can you imagine if you were… He is just so thirsty, three days, they have no water to drink, and they have little ones with them, and now the water they have is bitter, they cannot drink it.
Can I say this about just a little fault here? We are trying to hurry along. When you go through trials, especially from the bad to the worst, can I say this? Nobody passes with 100 percent. So a couple things about that: Don’t look down at somebody else when they are going through and they are not doing perfect. And when you go through and you don’t do perfect either, because nobody does, don’t beat yourself up. Yes, get right. Be honest about it: “I am murmuring and complaining.” But you see, if you beat yourself up, you are going to stay down longer. I say, praise God, He will forgive and cleanse. Now I can get His forgiveness, and I am going to get back up and stop complaining. I am going to start praising Him and get my eyes…
Let’s keep going. We will keep going. It will tell us what to do about it all. Let’s keep going. Verse number 25. Be honest about it. If you are mourning and murmuring, complaining, be honest about it. Don’t beat yourself up, though. And watch what He said to do. Verse number 25: “And he cried unto the Lord.”
Is this tree representing Jesus Christ on the tree? He is saying when you get to that point and you go by the bitter waters and life just… you travel by it, and you travel, you are so… you don’t do perfect, but you are so tempted to just get bitter. Friend, it is very important that at that time you put the tree in.
Now, what happens when you put the cross—the tree—of Calvary in? A couple of things happen. Number one, you realize I am going to heaven. I can take a lot on the trip if I know it is at the end of the road. If it is a hot blistering… you have no air conditioning, and I am about to die. I can take all that stuff, no problem, if I know I have a good air conditioner at the end.
Listen, first of all, you put the tree in, praise the Lord for His shed blood. I am going to heaven. Saints can be bad down here, but praise the Lord, I have no more tears, no more sorrow. I have joy. I have fullness of joy for the rest of eternity. I will be with Jesus and see my loved ones. Hey, I can take a lot on the trip if I am going home to heaven. That helped you with the bitterness—the tree. You are going to heaven because of the tree.
So first of all, what does it do? Well, I am going to heaven. Number two, hey, I am forgiven. All my sins, all the time I messed up, all the times I have shamed the Lord, all the times I have been a bitter failure. Because of the tree, I am forgiven. Why in the world would I get bitter? If I really got what I deserved, I would be in hell anyway, and He has forgiven me all my sin. He bore it all; He took all my sin. Those skeletons you have in your closet, every single one of them that nobody else knows about, even those in your heart—God knows about it. He placed those skeletons on Jesus, and He bore them on the cross, on the tree. How in the world can I get bitter against Him when He forgave me? And He sees me as the righteousness of God in Him.
Number three—number one, you are going to heaven. You put the tree in them. Praise the Lord, going to heaven. I can take a lot of cancer. That is all right because at the end of cancer, if it doesn’t get cured, I am going to heaven. Number two, I am forgiven because of the tree. And number three, after all He took—“Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree”—He suffered. They beat Him, they slapped Him, they spit on Him, they plucked His beard out, they spit in His face, the cat o’ nine tails, and nails in His hands and His feet, and eventually a spear in His side. He suffered like that for me. I can suffer for Him from now here.
How in the world when I get bitter? He suffered for God Almighty. He came down and suffered for men. Yes, I am going to have some suffering down here, but I can take that without getting bitter after I realize He suffered so much for me. You put the tree in there.
My dad, when he was young, still a pretty young Christian, got excited about winning souls. He was out trying to win souls. It came to the door. The lady was there, and he tried to witness to her, whatnot. I do not know all the details; I have heard Dad tell them many times, but I do not know everything about it. The husband came out and was mad—I do not know, just jealous or what—but he came out, and he was mad, and he pushed my dad off the porch. My dad, a couple years earlier, was a lost, functioning alcoholic. He said at first he turned and just walked away. He said, you know how sometimes that initial anger, you are hot, and then sometimes it builds? Anybody know what I am talking about? He said it was just kind of building. He said, “Man, I turned.” I said, “I ain’t letting that guy get away with that. Ain’t no way. He pushed me off his porch.” Dad said he turned around to go back and get that guy, and the Lord said, “After all I suffered for you, I bled and I died and they put a crown on you, and you can’t take that little bit of push?”
My dad said, “I’m sorry, Lord.” It didn’t really hurt anyway. My friend, you will be tempted to get bitter sometimes. Praise the Lord for the victory, singing to the Lord, but you are going to have good and bad times, and sometimes it even gets worse. My friend, don’t get bitter. Don’t drink the bitter water.
Now let’s keep going. We are going to finish this thing out. Put the tree in there.
Here is the neat thing. Look at verse number 26: “And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”
Can I tell you that? Just put it real simple: Keep living for the Lord. He will help you through the tough times. There are going to be tough times. There are going to be trials. Keep living for the Lord. He will bring you through it. By the way, even if you are not living for the Lord, there are going to be trials. But I would rather live for the Lord going through the trials. He will bring you through them. They might hurt, but they won’t harm you. Do you get that?
Look, if you will, real quickly over in Psalm 34. Psalm 34:19. This is a good verse from somebody. We were here in this building, and somebody showed me this verse. I had such a good thing at the time; there were some battles going on. It was just part of it, you know, and somebody showed me this verse. Such a great, great verse. It applies so well to this. Psalm 34, look at verse number 19. Psalm 34 and 19. When you are there, would you say amen? Psalm 34:19: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”
Oh, I like that, friend. The Lord delivered him out of all. Just keep living for the Lord. He will bring you through it. You are going to have times you are tempted to be bitter. I said, “No, no, I’m going to put the tree in there. God’s going to bring me out of this in His time. He will. He will.” That is what God said: “I’m going to take care of you. Keep living for me.”
Look at the last verse here. We are going to quit. We have just a quick business meeting here, just a minute here. But look at the last verse, verse number 27, Exodus 15:27: “And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.”
Wow. That is enough for each tribe. Twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees. They encamped there by the waters. They had enough for each tribe to hang around each well. Can I say this? “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Just keep doing right. “Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Notice that due season. After a great victory, boom, then trials—no water. Then even worse—water you cannot drink. Keep doing right. God said, “Don’t get bitter. Put the tree in there.” And blessings are coming. Friend, you can’t get to Elim blessings without going through no water, and then more blessings after that.
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful thing. The blessings of God beyond the trials of blessings, on the other side of the storm.
John Bunyan, just a dear godly man, over 300 years ago. John Bunyan would preach. He preached from the street sometimes. John Bunyan was a preacher, and he would preach: “Only Jesus saves.” No, the Anglican Church doesn’t save; Jesus saves. “No, I’m not going to get a license because if we get a license, they’ll say, ‘Hey, Church of Anglican Church.’” No, no, Jesus saves. Only Jesus saves. They said, “We’re going to have to put you in jail if you don’t get a license.” He said, “No, I’m not getting a license. God called me to preach, and I won’t preach what God doesn’t want me to.” They locked him up in the Bedford jail.
Well, that’s for a week or two, right, preacher? Well, a week or two, three, four months, ten, twelve years. Some say it’s according to how many sources you read, but some say that his blind daughter would come to him sometimes and say, “Dad, Dad, you can get out if you get a license to preach, but don’t preach about Jesus.” Now, this part, I know a lot of sources quote him for saying this. He says, “If I was out of prison today, I would preach the gospel again tomorrow by the help of God.”
He stayed in that Bedford jail for twelve years. Think about where were you twelve years ago? Think about how old would you be? Let’s see, I would be twenty years old in Illinois. How old would you be twelve years ago? All those years, John Bunyan sat in jail, twelve years. And he said, “I’m going to preach Jesus.” And yet in that Bedford jail, he would just have makeshift things—from anything, he’d get little parchments or any kind of containers—and he just wrote. He wrote John Bunyan—excuse me, that’s his name, John Bunyan. He wrote Pilgrim’s Progress.
It has been around for over 300 years. They say it is in over 200 different languages. They say there are 1,300 different editions of Pilgrim’s Progress. For years and years, it was the most printed book besides the Bible. You wrote it for 300 years. I think of the Bible Institute; our men just read it as a teenager in one of my Bible classes, we had to read it. God has used that all these years to thousands and millions of people. There is a movie out now, but it is a great movie.
Did John Bunyan have trials? Oh, my goodness, twelve long years. And yet at the end was even an oasis—twelve wells allotted, seventy palm trees, an oasis in the desert. God can give you an oasis right smack-dab in the wilderness.
Original File: The Lord is his name - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Wednesday PM 08162023