They Went Forth

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon

Genesis 12:5

And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered…

1. Energetic action! Men are not saved while they are asleep. No riding to heaven on feather beds. "They went forth to the land of Canaan."

2. Intelligent perception! They knew what they were doing. They did not go to work in a blundering manner, not understanding their drift. We must know Christ if we would be found in Him. Men are not to be saved through the blindness of an ignorant superstition. "They went forth to the land of Canaan, and to the land of Canaan they came."

3. Firm resolution! They could put up with rebuffs, but they would not put off from their resolves. They meant Canaan, and Canaan they would get. He that would be saved, must take heaven by violence. "To the land of Canaan they came."

4. Perfect perseverance! "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." Not a spurt and a rest, but constant running wins the race. All these thoughts cluster around the one idea of final perseverance, which the text brings out.

worlddic.com