The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

piece of grass there lies the adder. They are everywhere. Let us be careful; let us gird ourselves with the might of God’s omnipotence, and then shall his Holy Spirit keep us, so that we shall tread on the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shall we trample under our feet, and we shall be “delivered from the snare of the fowler.”

      9. II. Now we pass on to the second point — THE DELIVERANCE. God delivers his people from the snare of the fowler. Two thoughts here: from — out of. First, he delivers them from the snare — does not let them get in it; secondly, when they do get in it he delivers them out of it. The first promise is the most precious to some of us, the second is the best to others.

      10. He shall deliver you from the snare. How does he do that?

      11. Very often by trouble. Trouble is often the means by which God delivers us from snares. You have all heard of the old story of the famous painter who was painting in St. Paul’s, and who, looking at his work, went gradually back inch by inch to get a view of it, so that he might see the excellence of its proportions, until his feet were just on the edge of the platform upon which he stood; and he would have fallen down and been dashed in pieces upon the pavement beneath, but just at that moment a workman who stood there, desirous to save his life, and not knowing how to do it, hit upon an expedient, which proved to be a very wise one. Instead of shouting out to his master, “Sir, you are in danger,” which would most certainly have sent him backward, he took up a brush, and dipping it in a pot of paint, dashed it at the picture. The good man rushed forward in anger to chastise him; but when it was explained, he clearly saw that his servant had acted wisely. Just so with God. You and I have often painted a fine picture, and we have been walking backwards admiring it. God knows that our backsliding will soon end in our destruction; and he by a sad providence, blasts our prospect, takes away our child from us, buries our wife, removes some darling object of our pleasures; and we rush forward and say, “Lord, why this?” — utterly unconscious that if it had not been for trouble we might have been dashed in pieces, and our lives would have been ended in destruction. I do not doubt that many of you have been saved from ruin by your sorrows, your griefs, your troubles, your woes, your losses, and your crosses. All these have been the breaking of the net that set you free from the snare of the fowler.

      12. At other times God keeps his people from the sin of the fowler by giving them great spiritual strength, a spirit of great courage; so that when they are tempted to do evil they say, with decision, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Oh! that was a noble escape of Joseph, when his mistress laid hold of his clothes; that was a noble escape of his, when his soul escaped like a bird out of the snare of the fowler; and I do not doubt that there are many here who have done deeds almost as noble as that of Joseph, who have had grace within their hearts, so that they have turned away their eyes from beholding folly, and when they have been tempted to evil they have put their foot upon it, and said, “I cannot, I cannot, I am a child of God; I cannot and I must not”; and though the thing as pleasing to themselves yet they have renounced it. You remember the case of Mr. Standfast in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress . Madame Bubble had greatly enticed poor Mr. Standfast with her offers. He says, “There was one in very pleasant attire, but old, who presented herself to me, and offered me three things, to wit, her body, her purse, and her bed. Now the truth is, I was both weary and sleepy: I am also as poor as an owlet, and that perhaps the witch knew. Well, I repulsed her once and again, but she put by my repulses, and smiled. Then I began to be angry; but she mattered that nothing at all. Then she made offers again and said if I would be ruled by her, she would make me great and happy; for said she, I am the mistress of the world, and men are made happy by me. Then I asked her name, and she told me it was Madame Bubble. This set me further from her; but she still followed me with enticements. Then I betook me, as you saw, to my knees, and with hands lifted up, and cries, I prayed to him that had said he would help. So just as you came up the gentlewoman went her way. Then I continued to give thanks for this my great deliverance; for I truly believe she intended no good, but rather sought to make stop of me in my journey.” That is how God delivers his people from the snare of the fowler, by giving them the spirit of prayer as well as the spirit of courage, so that they call upon God in the day of trouble, and he delivers them.

      13. And I have noticed one more very singular thing. Sometimes I, myself, have been saved from the snare of the fowler (I cannot tell how exactly), in this way. I have felt that if the temptation had come a week before, my mind was in that peculiar condition, that I would almost inevitably have been led away by it; but when it came, the mind, by passing through some process, had come into such a state, that the temptation was no temptation at all. We were just brought to such a state, that what might have ruined us before, we would not then look at. “No,” we have said; “if you had offered me this some time ago it might have been accepted; but now God has, by some mysterious influence of his Spirit, turned my heart in another direction, and it is not even a temptation to me at all — not worthy of a moment’s thought.” So God delivers his people from the snare of the fowler.

      14. But the second thought was, that God delivers his people, even when they get into the snare. Alas! my hearer, you and I know something about the net; we have been inside it, we have; we have not only seen it spread, we have been in its folds. We know something about the cage, for we have, unfortunately, been in the cage ourselves, even since we have known the Lord. The fowler’s hand has been upon our neck; it has only been the sovereign grace of God that has prevented him from utterly destroying us. What a blessed thing it is, that if the believer shall, in an evil hour, come into the net, yet God will bring him out of it! Poor Christian and Hopeful got into the fowler’s net when they entered into the castle of Giant Despair; but the key of promise picked the lock, and they escaped. They were in the fowler’s net, too, when Flatterer cast a net over them, and left them in the lane; but there came one who, after he had beaten them severely, took the net off, and they went on their way, better men than they were before they were in the net. I know one who is in the net now. Some bird, one of God’s own ones too, has been taken in the snare; and is now groaning and crying out because, alas! alas! he has sinned. I have a person here, a good man, a professor of religion, and a truly worthy one! but alas! he has sinned, and at this hour the tears are in his eyes, and he is saying,

      The tumult of my thoughts

      Does but increase my woe;

      My spirit languishes, my heart

      Is desolate and low.

      Turn, turn thee to my soul;

      Bring your salvation near;

      When will your hand release my feet

      Out of the deadly snare?

      Oh backslider, be cast down, but do not despair; God will restore you yet. Wanderer though you have been, hear what he says! “Return, oh backsliding children; I will have mercy upon you.” But you say you cannot return. Then, here is still a promise — “surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler.” You shall yet be brought out from all the evil into which you have fallen, and though you shall never cease to repent of your ways even to your dying day, yet he who has loved you will not cast you away; he will receive you, he will admit you into his dwelling place, and will even now restore you to the number of his people, and give you joy and gladness, that the bones which he has broken may rejoice. “Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler.”

      15. There have been very remarkable instances of God delivering his people out of the snare of the fowler, as the following illustration will show:

      16. “A young lady who belonged to a church in the city of New York, married a young man who was not a Christian. He was a merchant, engaged in a lucrative business, and the golden stream of wealth flowed in upon him until he had amassed a large fortune. He accordingly retired from business, and went into the country. He purchased a splendid residence; fine trees waved their luxuriant foliage around it; here was a lake filled with fish, and there a garden full of rare shrubbery and flowers. Their house was fashionably and expensively furnished; and they seemed to possess all of earth that mortal could desire. Thus prospered