All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 31, we'll
be looking at two verses tonight. Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse
seven and eight. And I've entitled this message,
Strength and Good Courage for Israel. Strength and good courage
for Israel. The scripture says, and Moses
called unto Joshua and said unto him in the sight of all Israel,
be strong and of a good courage. For thou must go with this people
unto the land which the Lord has sworn unto their fathers
to give them. And thou shall cause them to
inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth
go before thee. He will be with thee. He will
not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed. Now here, the children of Israel
were about to enter the promised land. Moses, because of his sin,
you remember he was not allowed to go into the promised land. And he was about to die and he
calls all of the people together and he gives them the word of
the Lord to encourage them, to strengthen them. And especially
this word to Joshua, this word to Joshua. And so he calls Joshua in the
sight of all Israel and he blesses him and proclaims Him to be the
man that God chose to lead the people into the promised land.
Now what we have here before us are by these two men is a
type of the two covenants. The two covenants, Moses represents
the covenant of the law and Joshua represents Jesus Christ, the
head and surety of a better covenant, the new covenant. And just as
Moses could not enter into the promised land because you remember
his sin, he struck that rock the second time. What a picture
of the law Moses is, that Moses cannot speak in comfort because
he is of the law. The law cannot speak in comfort
to the sinner. The law can only strike. The
law can only condemn. It cannot save. And therefore,
anyone who is abiding under the law, that Moses is a great picture,
he was not allowed into the promised land. So is everyone that seeks
to come to God by the law. They're not allowed into the
promised land. Why? Paul says, therefore, by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight
of God. Why? For by the law is only the
knowledge of sin. All the law can do is expose
sin. It can't heal sin. It can't forgive
sin. It can only condemn sin. This is the message to all those
then who would come to God by their religious works. If a man
could have come to God by the law, then surely Christ would
not have had to come. But the fact is that none are
able to come to God in perfect obedience by the law. We've all
fallen short of the glory of God. We're all unrighteous. And this goes for all those who
would add Christ and the law. This doesn't go just for the
Jews who had the law only, but this goes for so-called Christians
who would then take Christ and then add the law to Christ. My friend, the more I read the
word of God, the more I see this, that straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that
find it. That doesn't mean narrow and straight by the law. It means
it's singular. The only way into the promised
land was with Joshua. And I tell you this, the only
way into heaven is through Jesus Christ, our Joshua. The way to heaven's narrow in
that it's singular, only Christ. Any man that says, Jesus, work
on the cross is acceptable, God, and pleasing to God, but not
effectual unless I make my decision. This is what religion is telling
men is that Christ died. He died for sin and that it's
just out there. He died for everyone and then
all you've got to do is make it powerful. You've got to make
it effectual to yourself by simply deciding to accept Jesus. Oh, friends, that makes faith
simply a work. It's a work. These are liars. These are thieves
and robbers who come up another way. But those who come to God
by faith in Christ alone, by the free grace of God, we have
not Moses as our head, but who? Joshua, Jesus Christ. And as
God here anoints Joshua, it is upon me to preach because the
Lord hath anointed me. God hath chosen me to preach
the gospel unto the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
preach deliverance to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind,
set at liberty them that brood. Me, you see how narrow that is?
Jesus sent me, he sent me, he anointed me. Why? Because he's
Joshua. He's the leader of Israel into
the promised land. Jesus was anointed the prophet
of God to preach the gospel of God to the poor, those who have
nothing, those who are bankrupt sinners, those who are captive
sinners, those who are blind sinners, those who are bruised
sinners, those who cannot save themselves. He came to preach
the gospel. And this gospel is about his
obedience to God that provides a robe of righteousness to cover
our shame. This gospel is about his death
that provides an atonement for sin, one which the law could
never provide by all those sacrifices. In fact, we know that all those
sacrifices just pointed to him. Those priests pointed to Him.
That tabernacle pointed to Him. That ark pointed to Him. All
of it pointed to Him. The law and commandments pointed
to Him. Why? He obeyed them. He honored
them. He magnified them in the stead
of His people. Now, who are you following tonight?
Are you following Moses? Or are you following Christ?
There's no middle ground here. You can't follow both. You're
either of the law or you're saved by grace. It's not a mixture. Listen, if it's a mixture, let
me tell you, I'm gonna spoil the surprise. You're under Moses. Remember what Paul said. He said,
if you be circumcised, what? Christ shall profit you nothing.
If you take that one law and apply it to Christ, Christ profits
you nothing. You can't be under grace and
law. And listen, anyone who says so
is a fool, and don't follow them, because the Word of God does
not teach such a thing. I tell you, we have a bunch of
Reformed people running around, so-called Calvinists running
around, trying to be under both. Now listen, you're Reformed,
you're Calvinist, that doesn't mean anything if you go back
under the Law of Moses. It means you're lost and you're
dead. I don't care how much Calvinism you believe. You don't have Christ. You're either following Joshua
or you're following Moses. You're either going after Christ
or you're going after the law. There's no mixture here. Who
are you following? Behold, Jesus then is our Joshua. And notice what he says here
to Joshua. And Moses called unto Joshua
and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, listen, be strong
and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people into
under the land, which the Lord has sworn of their fathers to
give them. and thou shall cause them to inherit it. And that's
just perfectly pictures Christ, doesn't it? He shall go with
this people. He shall lead this people, Israel,
into the land that God promised and cause them to inherit it. What God purposed to give us
as his people, Jesus Christ was ordained of God to go before
us. He was ordained of God to go
with us in that he was our surety, our head and accomplish for us,
earn this inheritance. It was the father who called
Christ to be our savior. And listen, this is the word
of God to Christ. You can definitely see this.
This is the Father's word to Jesus. Be strong and of a good
courage. I've anointed you to go with
this people. I've anointed you, that you must go with this people
into the land that I've swore to them, to give them. And thou
shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth
go before thee. He will be with thee. He will
not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed.
Therefore, as the Lord Jesus Christ walked upon this face
of this earth, who went before Him? The Father went before Him. Remember, He didn't even speak
a word of His own. Every word He spoke, He waited
on the Father, and the Father gave Him the words to speak. He trusted in God for everything,
and God went before Christ. Why? So that He would not fail. And you remember, he went to
bear our sins. At that point, I know this, God
forsook him because of our sins. But even then, Christ still trusting
in God, Christ believing God. And when he forsook him, he forsook
him because of our sin. And yet it was just for a moment.
And after he had endured the wrath of God, you know what he
did? God says, I'm with you. And he
exalted him and sat him on the throne where he now sits ruling
over all flesh. And that what he said, father,
the hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son may also glorify
thee as thou has given him power over all flesh. Now, what is
the purpose of his death? What is the purpose of his life,
of his righteousness? That he may give eternal life
to as many as thou has given him. Therefore, if Jesus is our
Joshua, we are then the Israel of God. You that believe, you
are the Israel of God. You are the chosen. You are the
redeemed. And seeing that we are in union
with Christ as he entered into his rest, you listen, we also
entered into that rest with him. Is he at peace? Is he resting? Then so are we. Why? Because
he's our Joshua. He went in and conquered the
land. He conquered our enemies, did away with our sin. And because
we are in Christ, believer, because you're in Christ, we have all
the blessings of Christ. Isn't that right? Our Lord said
by the apostle, he said, blessed be the God and father of our
Lord, Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Now, I can't even begin to comprehend
what all spiritual blessings mean. What is that? It includes
redemption, atonement, holiness, righteousness, eternal life,
heaven. God is our portion. God is our
reward. God is our shield. It includes
all spiritual blessings. And where are they found? In
heavenly places in Christ. So as we are in Christ, so then
we have all the blessings of Christ being in union with Him. We that are followers of Christ
had entered into the salvation and in Him, He is our salvation
and it's complete, isn't it? It's complete. When He came and
conquered as our Joshua, it was a complete conquest. He completed
our salvation. Is there anything left to be
added? No. He accomplished all our acceptance
with God. So then we can rejoice that God
has purposed to save us before the foundation. Christ came in
time as our Redeemer and paid the debt for our sin. And when
he paid it, it was complete. So what's left? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing remains to pay. He said, it is finished. The scripture says the, matter
of fact, the scripture says the works were accomplished before
the world began. In Hebrews 10 verse 12, he said,
you know, he pitched that against the law of those Old Testament
high priests. And he said, those Old Testament
high priests, they did their work. They were constantly working,
constantly sacrificing, constantly offering, and they were never
finished. But Paul says in Hebrews 10, verse 12, but this man in
opposition to them, opposed to them, this man, Jesus Christ,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, what'd he do? He sat
down. He sat down. Henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So we see that Christ, our Joshua,
has come in. He has went in before us. He has accomplished our redemption,
even as God the Father purposed. But listen, when did he do that? He did that 2,000 years ago. Yet it was as necessary for him
to die, it is also necessary for every elect sinner to hear
the gospel and believe on Christ. Our redemption was accomplished
a long time ago, but it was not until we heard and believed it
that it was applied to us. It is necessary for us to hear
and believe the gospel. That's what Paul says. He puts
it together in second Thessalonians chapter two and verse 13. He
says, we're bound always to give thanks to God for your brethren.
Why? Because you're beloved of the
Lord. Because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation.
And you know Christ is that salvation, isn't He? He accomplished that
salvation. And how do we receive it? Through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Well,
how did that come to us? How do we know we've been sanctified
by the Spirit? And how do we believe the truth?
Paul says it, he says, where unto you were called by our gospel. You see, the necessity of preaching,
the necessity of hearing, the necessity of believing, and all
of this is by who? By God. It's by God. Therefore, we must then believe,
and yet even our faith is not our own, is it? Faith is a gift. If you ever believe, it's a gift.
It's a gift of grace, it's not of works. Paul said, we are saved
by grace through faith and that, what is that? It's faith. That
faith is not of yourself. It is a gift of God. Otherwise,
what? You would boast, you would boast.
Go with me to first Peter, go with me to first Peter. Look
at chapter one and verse two. Peter here writing, he says,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience. Isn't that what we just read
in 2 Thessalonians? Paul said that we were chosen,
elect, and then we were to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and obedience, which is what? Belief of the truth, faith
in Christ, the sprinkling of blood. What is that? That's the
application of the new nature. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
in his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a living hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And we've been
begotten again to receive what the Father purposed and what
the Son purchased. What is that? Look at verse four,
an inheritance. You see what was purposed? You
see what Christ purchased for you? An inheritance. Notice this
inheritance, it's incorruptible, undefiled and doesn't fade away.
I like this, listen, reserved in heaven for you. Our salvation inheritance, get
this, it can't be corrupted. It can't be corrupted, it's incorruptible. What our Joshua fought for, what
our Joshua accomplished and was triumphant in, it can't be corrupted. Not by you and not by me, not
by the world and not by the devil. And listen, God will never change
it because he's immutable. And this salvation, this inheritance,
have you yet experienced the fullness of it? Why do you think
he says reserved? When something, you know, you
have a table reserved, you call ahead and you reserve, which
you haven't got there yet. Otherwise you wouldn't need to
reserve it. It's reserved in heaven. It was bought, it was
purposed and bought for you. It's reserved and it is kept
for you, though you've not yet received the fullness of it.
And that's why he says in verse five, who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. Therefore, we who are saved will never be lost seeing we
are kept and until we receive the full measure of the inheritance
of God. Now see our salvation. From election
to the resurrection, we have been saved. We are saved and we shall be
saved. We have been saved, we are saved,
and we shall be saved. Our inheritance is ours for sure,
but not yet fully revealed now. It is reserved in heaven for
us. So while we are kept by the power
of God through faith under salvation, ready to be revealed the last
time, what's taking place now? What's happening to us now? Though we are saved and no one
can take this from us, we've not yet experienced it, what
are we to expect in this time as we are living in this world?
Look at verse six. Wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptation. For what purpose that the trial
of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth,
though it be tried by fire, might be found in the praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Christ? Therefore, we are given
such great words of comfort in our text. Great words of comfort
because we are a people tried. We are a people in heaviness
and manifold temptation. My text, go back to your text
and read these words and see them as they are given to you
who are in Christ. These words are given to Christ,
but they are also given to you. Be strong and of good courage. Are you feeling weak? Are you
devoid of strength? Are you cast down because of
your sin and unfaithfulness? Are you feeling alone, sorrowing,
despairing, depressed? Are you being persecuted and
tried and tempted with no visible way of escape? It is then we
are encouraged to be strong and take good courage. Good courage. When our backs
are against the wall and the enemy are pressing at the gates
and the battle is hot, be courageous. Be strong in grace through faith
in Christ, trusting in Christ. For in Christ, God has given
us all the provisions we need. Everything you need. Now look
at this verse. You that are in trouble, you that are in trials,
look at this verse, and this is the strength. The strength
and the good courage come from verse eight. Look at this. And the Lord, He it is that doth
go before thee, he will be with thee, he will not fail thee,
neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed.
I've got three promises and one conclusion here. Three promises,
one conclusion. Here it is. Here's the first
promise. He goes before us. Second of all, he will be with
us. Third, he will not fail nor forsake
us. And the only conclusion is this,
fearlessness. If we can, by faith, lay hold
of these promises, the conclusion will always be, fear not, nor
be dismayed. So let's look at these in order.
He goes before us. The scripture says, in the Lord
he it is that doth go before thee. Now Joshua knew that this
had reference to the Lord because he had experienced this as they
journeyed from Egypt. Remember the Lord in the pillar
of cloud and the pillar of fire always went before leading Israel. He experienced the faithfulness
of God in leading them by that cloud during the day and by that
fire at night. In Exodus chapter 13, verse 21,
it says, the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud
to lead them the way and by night a pillar of fire to give them
light to go day and night. He took not away the pillar of
cloud by day nor the fire by night before the people. You
see, Joshua saw the faithfulness of God in this pillar. He saw
his faithfulness to lead Israel. Even so, by faith, we see that
God has been and always will be faithful to go before us,
to lead us. And I'll tell you this, even
after they had crossed the Red Sea, you know God led them that
way all the way to this point? all the way to the promised land.
Until they crossed over into the Jordan, into the promised
land, God led them. That rebellious and stiff-necked
people, God led them. He was faithful to lead them
and go before them. And yes, God is faithful, so
as He will be faithful to us by Jesus Christ to lead us. He
will lead us. God was faithful to keep and
provide for them, so He will for us. He will lead us. So be of courage. Do you need
to be led? I'll tell you this, the Scripture
says when that pillar of clouds stood still, Israel didn't move. Sometimes that cloud stands still,
and we become restless. We want to go. God says no, stay. It's best for you to stay. Isn't
that good that God goes before us and leads us? And in this
pillar of cloud, we know that's the angel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He leads us. He leadeth thee. Oh, blessed
thought. Words with heavenly comfort wrought. Wherever I go, wherever I be,
tis my God that leadeth me. He leadeth me. He goes before
us. Now, listen, I want you to know
this. He went before us in eternity. Our Lord Jesus Christ went before
us in eternity in that he was our eternal surety. He was our
representative from eternity. He was our Joshua, our leader,
our commander, our captain, our savior, our surety of the covenant. And he agreed to be our federal
head. He was titled the Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. That's pretty much before you,
isn't it? How much before you was this? Was he? He was before
you from eternity. Jesus Christ, behold this believer,
that when the enemy is on our trail and would seem to overpower
us, remember that the Lord has went before thee, before the
foundation of the world, And he hath before agreed to die
in thy stead, that you might be blameless before God. Secondly,
he went before us in time. When he was appointed, he came
into this world before us. He agreed to be our substitute
and in time, he came to be our surety. He came to be our representative. I like this in Jeremiah 23 in
verse six, it says, in his day, Who's that? That's the day of
Christ. That's the day when he would come. Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby
he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. You see, he
went before us by this name, Jehovah Tishkanu, the Lord, our
righteousness. He came to provide righteousness. He went before us to provide
what we could not provide for ourselves, obedience to the law
of God. He went before us to magnify
the law of God and make it honorable, and he did by his own perfect
obedience to the law. In Galatians 3.22, it says the
scripture concluded this, all under sin. You know, that's what
the scripture concluded, all under sin. By nature, by birth,
by practice, all under sin, all sinners, incapable of ever obtaining
righteousness by the law. That's the scripture's conclusion. And the scripture has also concluded
this, that the promise, what is the promise? Salvation. Righteousness,
the righteousness of God that can't be obtained comes by this,
the faith of Jesus Christ. That's how righteousness is obtained,
by the faith of Christ. You see, he went before you,
friend. He went before you to obtain righteousness by his own
merits. so that He might give to us who
believe righteousness. And that's what He's done. And
not only righteous, what else did He go before us to do? Atonement. Redemption. To pay the price
for our sins. By one hand, He made the robe
of spotless righteousness, and by the other, He wrought redemption. By His own blood, He came He
has gone before us and paid the sin debt by enduring the full
measure of God's wrath. Go to Colossians, read this with
me, it's very encouraging. Go to Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two, look
at verse 13. And you, here's you, I like that, and you, you
wanna know your place? Here it is, and you, Being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, what did he do
for you? He hath quickened us together
with him, having forgiven all trespasses. How did he do that? Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. Took it out of the way. Now,
how'd he do that? By nailing it to his cross. And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. He blotted out all
our sins. All the ordinances that was against
us, the whole law was against us. Justice was against us. But now that he has blotted out
our sins, the law has nothing to say. He's taken it out of
the way, nailing it to his cross. I like this, triumphing over
them in it. One man said that the cross was
the chariot of victory. The chariot, the vessel by which
victory was wrought. He came and by his cross, he
blotted out this. But it also means it could be
translated triumph in himself. He triumphed over them in Himself,
by Himself. He did this all by Himself. When
somebody goes before you, look, you're not there. They're before
you. They're going ahead of you. And
by Himself, He went before us. And by Himself, He put away our
sins. By one sacrifice, He forever
blotted out the transgression It was against us. Therefore, just as he told the
people of Israel to go over and be strong, be courageous. Why can you, how can you be courageous?
How can you be strong? Because he went before you. There's
a passage in Isaiah that speaks of a way being prepared. And they would take out, He said,
take out the stones, take out anything that would trip any
man up. Christ did that. He made the way, opened up the
way. And listen, He's gone before
us into heaven, hasn't He? He was in before us in eternity,
He was before us in time. Now He's before us in heaven.
He's gone into heaven. When he rose, he was the first
fruits of the resurrection. You know what's going to happen
to you when you die? Well, look what happened to him.
You want to know? Well, he went into the presence
of God. Well, that's what's going to
happen to his people. He went before us. So we might see the
way clear as to what will happen to us when we die. We will be
in the presence of God. And one day this body like his
will be raised from the dead. He's the first fruits. He went
before us. He ascended into heaven. And
what is He doing there? He is ever living to make intercession
for us. That's what He's doing there.
He's constantly forgiving your sins. perpetually cleansing you. He is your high priest standing
between you and God. He is mediating constantly. That's what He went before you. He went before you into heaven
so as to mediate between you and God. The Scripture says that
He is our advocate. When you sin, It's not a matter,
John says, if you sin, but it's really a better translation,
when you sin, remember, you have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous. That's what he's gone before
us to do. Now secondly, he says this, I will be with thee. I
will be with thee. When faith comes, when we believe
on Christ, the Spirit creates in us a new nature, doesn't he?
Ephesians chapter four and verse 24 says this, we are created
after God in true holiness. This is the righteousness of
God that is imparted unto each believer in the new nature, and
it is in this nature that the Holy Spirit dwells, that God
the Holy Spirit dwells in us. I know this, that there is a
religion, there's many religions today that believe that you can
be saved without having the Spirit of God. Has the Spirit of God
some kind of cherry on the top? You get a special blessing when
you have the Spirit. No, the scriptures are clear.
Any man that hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You either are saved and have
the Spirit of God, or if you don't have the Spirit of God,
you're not saved. You don't know Christ. Why? Because the Spirit
of God dwells in you. And if the Spirit of God dwells
in you, is there anything or power that can overcome Him?
Is there anything that can overcome the Spirit of God? No. Then be strong and of good
courage. Why? He is with you. He is with you. Philippians 2.13
says, For it is God which worketh in you both the will and do of
His good pleasure. The God whom the universe cannot
contain dwells in this mortal frame. Do you not realize how
much courage and strength we could have if we by faith could
grab a hold of that? If we would actually believe
what God says, would you not be strengthened? Would you not
find courage in the face of any trouble if you really knew the
Spirit of God dwelled in your body? Well, I don't feel like
the Spirit of God. It doesn't matter what we feel.
He didn't say you'll feel the Spirit of God. Well, you know,
if I don't feel the Spirit of God, then I don't have it. That's
not what the book says. The book says that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you. He makes His abode with you. Literally with us. Literally
in us. Not figuratively. It's literally
in us. And you won't look in the mirror
and see it. You won't look at your actions and see it. Where
can you see it? You can see it in God's word.
God's word tells us that he is in us. I had this scripture written
down here. It says this, but if the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, then what? You have hope of the resurrection.
It dwells in us. He dwells in us. And what does
he say? He said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Look at, go to this, go to that passage. Go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews
13. I know I got to move quick. Hebrews
chapter 13. Look at Hebrews 13 verse 5. This kind of struck me today
as I was preparing the message. He says, Let your conversation
be without covetousness. Does that strike anybody else? I tell you what, I was wanting
a whole bunch of things. I was really, I had my eye on
a bunch of things that I want. Nothing but covetousness of the
things of this life, the things of this world. We look at the
wicked and we say, man, I wish I had that. I wish I was like
that. But he says, let your life be
without covetousness. And what? Be content with such
things as you have. I don't have anything. Be content
with that. Well, I've got trouble. Be content
with that. How can we be without covet just
and be content? If you understood that God is
with you, you would be. Listen, four, this is how you
can not be covetous and be content, four. He said, I will never leave
you nor forsake thee. There's the answer to our covetousness,
isn't it? Be strong and of good courage. Don't covet what the world has.
I'm with you. What more do you need if you
have Him? If you have Christ, friend, you
have everything. You have everything. Everything
of value, everything of eternity, everything that's worth anything,
you have it. I'm with you. and I will never
leave you nor forsake you. He said in Isaiah, talking to
Israel, he said, thou whom I've taken from the ends of the earth
and called thee from the chief men thereof and said unto thee,
thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away,
fear not for I am with thee. I am with thee. Thirdly, he will
never leave us. He will not fail or forsake us. Go back to your text. Look at
this real quick, back in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse
eight. He said, he goes before us in
eternity. He goes before us in time to
save us. He goes before us into heaven to intercede for us. Listen, he is with thee. His
spirit dwells in us. He will not ever leave us. Look
at this. And he said, I will not fail
thee, neither forsake thee. How many times have I promised
somebody something and failed? Why do we fail in our promises? We are weak in the flesh. Our
sin, providence, circumstance, where we may be sincere, we may
promise, I won't fail you. You pay attention to this. Men
will fail you. Children, they will fail you.
Parents, they will fail you. Husbands will fail you. Wives
will fail you. God alone will not fail you. That's it. He's the only one
who is totally dependable. Why? Because he can't be stopped. He can't be hindered. When he
says, I will not fail you, he will not fail you because he
cannot fail. But you say, I have failed. Yes. Oh, we have failed. We have failed
Him, haven't we? But that's not the reason He
won't fail us. You pay attention. He won't fail
you because Christ did not fail to save you. Behold, listen, my servant. Who are you supposed to be looking
at? My servant. That's what God says, behold
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delight.
You look at him, he shall not fail nor be discouraged. Isn't
that what he said? He shall not fail nor be discouraged.
You know why you fail and you're discouraged? Because you're looking
within. You're looking for a reason for
God not to fail you. And so when we fail in our worship,
when we fail in our prayer, when we fail in our sin and unfaithfulness,
we then begin to think God will fail us. Why? Because we are dependent. We believe God's success is dependent
upon our success. No. He will not fail you because
of Christ's success. There's the foundation. There's
the rock on which we stand. There's our hope that God will
not fail or forsake us because of what Christ has accomplished.
Hold then to his promise. First Kings 8.56, it says, Blessed
be the Lord that has given us rest unto Israel according to
all that he promised. There hath not failed one word. of all his good promises, which
he promised by the hand of Moses, his servant. Not one word shall
fail in his promise. Not one. What's the conclusion
then? If he's went before us, he saved
us, he's now in heaven interceding for us, He's with us by His Spirit
giving us a new heart, a new nature by which we believe and
trust, and we are kept, aren't we? We're kept by the power and
Spirit of God as He is with us constantly. And now we see that He will not
fail to bring us to Himself. That's His promise. I will bring
you to Myself. I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place, I will come again and what? Receive you unto myself. That's
his promise. It's not gonna fail, friends.
It's not going to fail. What then is the conclusion?
Here it is, look back at your text real quickly. Verse eight,
fear not, neither be dismayed. The only result or conclusion
of faith in those promises is this, fearlessness. Fearlessness. What have we to fear if we are
in Christ? What promise will fail? When things go wrong, we begin
to think the promise has failed. No, it never fails. Matter of
fact, whatever is going on is only fulfilling the promise.
It's only fulfilling all of this stuff. All of these things that
you see in the outside are only fulfilling the promise. God will not fail, we shall not
fear what men shall do unto us. Remember what Jesus told Pilate,
he said, thou has no power except to be given thee. Why should
we fear men when they must have divine permission to do anything
to us? Shall we fear Satan? No, even
he needed divine permission to touch Job in anything he had
or his body. Shall we fear hell? I tell you
this, believers do. I think believers are really
the only ones who truly fear the eternal wrath of God, because
we're the only ones that understand our sin deserves that. How many
times we doubt and fear and we say, "'Tis a point I long to
know," often causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I his or am I not? Why is it causing anxiety? Because
we fear the destruction. But is there any real cause to
fear it? No. Remember, Christ has already
endured the wrath of God in our stead, and God cannot demand
twice payment for sin. So what then shall we fear? Paul
said this in Romans 8, he said this, what shall we say to these
things? If God be for us, if God go before
us, if God be with us, if God will not leave us or fail us
or forsake us, then what? What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Who can be against
us? I do pray that God would give
you such strength and courage. Not in yourself, you don't have
any strength. There's nothing to be courageous about looking
at you. But if you would believe what
God said, you would be strong and full of courage. May God
give us faith to see Christ went before us. Our Joshua went before
us. He saved us. And he now ever
lives to make intercession. He's with us by his spirit forever. And he will never leave us. And he will not fail to bring
us to himself. Be strong, be fearless, be full
of courage, good courage, good courage.