If the Lord will enable me to
preach it, I've got a message for you. Turn with me, if you
will, to Hebrews chapter 13. Paul is rapidly bringing this
epistle to its conclusion. It was written, as you know,
specifically, at least on Paul's part, for those early Jewish
believers of the first century, many of whom, many of those who
had professed faith in Christ, were being persuaded to turn
back to and embrace in one measure or another the Judaism they had
forsaken. But we must never imagine that
it was not specifically written for us. It was Paul's personal
intent to write to these early believers among Abraham's physical
descendants, those who were born of God among Abraham's children. But the Holy Spirit's intention
is for us. The letter to the Hebrews is
addressed specifically to you and I. Now, I know that for many
reasons, but there's one specific reason. And it's found in Romans
15.4. You don't need to turn there. I've quoted it to you
many times. Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures,
might have hope. Throughout these 13 chapters,
as throughout the entire word of God, the Lord God speaks directly
to you and me. He is encouraging us here who
have been saved by God's grace to persevere in the faith of
Christ. We are required constantly to
engage in spiritual warfare. The religious world we have left
despises and ridicules. Family and friend may forsake
us, but we can't go back. We must run with patience the
race that is set before us, looking unto Christ, who loved us and
gave himself for us. We must follow him who endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, finally unto
death, even the death of the cross. The message of this entire
book really is found here in Hebrews 13. where Paul says,
let us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp. That's
the constant life of the believer, constantly going without the
camp unto Christ the Lord. I don't mind the fact that we
are on the outside of the religious world. That doesn't bother me
at all. We will be wise to make certain that's the case. I don't
mean we're on the outside looking in. We're on the outside fleeing.
getting away from it rapidly in all things. In this chapter,
Paul admonishes us to be faithful in all things. Look at verse
1. Let us be faithful to love one another. Let brotherly love
continue. In verse 2, he said, be faithful
in hospitality, charity, kindness. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. Some
have entertained special messengers from God for them by entertaining
strangers as they pass through their way. God's people, strangers
and pilgrims on this earth. Let us ever remind ourselves,
and God give me grace, I will try to do what I can constantly
to remind myself and you. Everything God has put in our
hands, he has put in our hands to use for his people and his
glory. He's put nothing in our hands
to be consumed upon our own lust. but rather he's put it in our
hands to use for his people and his glory. And then in verse
three, he urges us to faithfully intercede for our afflicted brethren. Remember them that are in bonds
as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being
yourselves also in the body. You're in one body with them
and you're in the same body of flesh they're in, subject to
the same temptations. In verse 4, he tells us to be
faithful in our homes. Marriage is honorable in all,
honorable among all people. The bed is undefiled. God ordained
this blessed, blessed relationship between a man and his wife for
their good and his glory. But whoremongers and adulterers,
whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. how that needs to be heard in
this generation. Verse 5, we're here called on to be faithful
to our Lord Jesus Christ in all things. Now here's a message. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For
he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. so that
we may boldly, confidently say, the Lord is my helper, and I
will not fear what man shall do unto me. And just exactly
to the extent that we understand and say from our hearts, the
Lord is my helper, to that extent, we will not fear what any man
shall do to us. This word conversation means
manner of life. Paul says, let your life be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have, because
God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. Now, this is a word from God
himself to you. This is a word from God himself
to you. If you're his, if you're in Christ,
it's God's word to you. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. God promises his perpetual presence
and ceaseless care to every one of his own. Now let's see if
we can milk that a little bit. First, I want you to see that
this is a quotation from the Old Testament scriptures. And
I'm going to spend a little time here. This will be the more instructive
part of the message. But I want you to see this. This
is a word from God given through the Old Testament scriptures
to his people in various circumstances. Now, I'm going to stress this
a little bit because people tend to think about the scriptures
as the old Bible and the new. And there is a good many people,
there are a good many people, a system of theology called dispensationalism. If you have a Schofield reference
Bible, it's just replete with it, which says really the Old
Testament was for the Jews. And the four gospels was for
the people who lived during our Lord's earthly ministry. And
for the tribulation saints, And I put that in quotes, those who
live in some man-invented period of great tribulation yet to come.
And the book of Revelation, that's for the millennial saints after
the Lord Jesus returns for the second time before they, as they
would teach, he returns for the third time, which the scriptures
don't teach. And the epistles of Peter and James and John,
and even this epistle to the Hebrews, was written just for
Jewish believers. So really, the only part of the
Bible that really speaks to us and is addressed to us are those
books written by the Apostle Paul. And everything else is
written for somebody else. So whenever you read something
in those other passages, that's not talking to you. Nothing could
be further from the truth. This is not two words from God,
but one. The Old Testament is the New
Testament concealed, the New Testament is the Old Testament
revealed. And the Word of God is called the Word of God because
it is one word from God Almighty to you and to me and to all His
people in all times. In this text of Scripture, Paul
quotes a promise that was given by God in the Old Testament.
But I've been thinking a good bit about this lately. He doesn't
quote the scripture exactly. And did you ever notice that
as our Lord, during his earthly ministry, repeatedly quotes from
the Old Testament, he'll quote a passage one way one time and
another way another time? Seldom ever, seldom ever will
you find in the New Testament a passage exactly quoted verbatim
the way it was in the Old Testament. Well, that was just accidental.
That was a slip-up. No. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't.
What our Lord did and what the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles
to do as they wrote the scriptures was not to quote the letter of
the scripture, but the sense of the scripture. Now, this is
so important. I want you to turn back to the
book of Genesis I want us to look at these four places in
the Old Testament Where this promise is given and we're going
to read all four places and I want you to notice that in all four
places There is something adding. There's just just a little something
First Jacob is on his way to Laban's house and man. He's fixing
to get himself into a mess and He's fixing to go through 14
years of treachery and deceit. 14 years. But God met him at
Bethel and made Himself known to him. And this is what He said
to him. Genesis 28, verse 15, Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest." What a word. Read on. And when I get done,
I will bring thee again into this your land, for I will not
leave thee, now watch this, until I have done that which I have
spoken to thee of. He said, I won't leave you till
I've performed everything I said I'd do for you. All right, turn
to Deuteronomy. Book of Deuteronomy, chapter
31. Moses is just about to be taken
up into the mountain and killed. God told him, you can come up
here and look at the land. I want to show you what it looks
like, but you can't enter in. There are many reasons for that.
On Moses' part, it was because Moses, the second time the Lord
said, speak to the rock, he struck the rock, the rock Christ Jesus. And the law can only strike Christ
at one time. The Lord Jesus can be smitten
but once. Sin can be punished but once.
And the other reason is Moses represented the law. And the
law could not bring the children of Israel into the land of promise.
So God's about to kill it. But he gives this word of promise
to Moses. He gives it to Moses, but he gives it not concerning
Moses. He gives it to Moses concerning
those two things which must have been the most fearful, apprehensive
aspects of him soon leaving this world. He had been 40 years leading
a congregation in the wilderness, laboring for them night and day,
devoting his life to them. And he's about to leave. God,
what's going to happen to Israel? And he was concerned about who
should lead them. And this is what God says to him in Deuteronomy
31, verse 6. He said, Moses, you tell Israel
this. Be strong and of good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, he it is
that doth go with thee. You remember back in Exodus,
Moses was about to take Israel, and he said, Lord, if thy presence
go not with us, carry us not up against. And God said, I'll
go with you. And he's reminding Moses, I told
you I would, and I'm going to continue to. I am the Lord thy
God, which doth go with thee. Read on. He will not fail thee,
nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua,
and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and
of good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the
land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them,
and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. Now Paul is quoting
from this promise. He doesn't say anything about
these things, does he? He doesn't say anything about God performing
everything he promised he would do. Doesn't say anything about
God performing this thing, causing the people to inherit the land.
And yet this is included in the promise. Read on. Verse 8. And
the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee. He said, I'll
go with you. I won't leave you. And now he
says, I'm going to go before you. He always does. Fear not,
neither be dismayed. Don't be afraid and don't be
confused. Don't let anything you see, anything
you taste, anything you experience, anything you hear, or anything
you think you see, taste, experience or hear, don't let it confuse
you. Don't let it shake you. Don't
let it cause you to tremble. Now, Joshua gets this promise
directly from God in Joshua 1. Joshua chapter 1 verse 5. The promise is greatly abbreviated,
but there's something at it. There shall not any man be able
to stand before thee all the days of thy life. That's what he means when he
says, fear not. For I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Nobody's going to stand before
you. Nobody. As you make your pilgrimage through
this world, walking the path God has marked before you, nobody
shall stand before you. Everything shall fall. He says,
no man shall stand before thee all the days of thy life. Now,
Joshua, you've been following Moses for 40 years. As I was
with Moses, so will I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee. And then in 1 Chronicles 28, Solomon had been commissioned
of God to build the temple that his daddy couldn't build. And
he has been ordained of God to sit upon the throne of Israel.
And this is what David, his father, said to him. 1 Chronicles 28,
verse 20, David said to Solomon, his son, Be strong. That's what it is to believe
God, Larry. It's to be strong. But I'm so weak. I'm glad you
know it. Now you're strong. Be strong
and of good courage. Of good courage. Not down in the mouth. not walking
around with your table between your legs, of good courage, and
do it. Do it. Do what? Do what God told
you to do. Do what you know God had you
to do. Do it. But I'm afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid of who? Fear not, nor
be dismayed. For the Lord, even my God, even
my God, What a word for a father to give to his son. Solomon,
you know how God's taken care of me? I've told you all your
life about how God's taken care of me. My God will be with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Look at this. Until thou hast
finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
Now, virtually the same promise is given to all God's people
over in Isaiah chapter 41. Let's look at that. Isaiah 41
verse 14. All of these things that have
been promised to Jacob and to Moses and to Joshua and to Solomon
are wrapped up here in this promise that God gives to his people.
Isaiah 41 verse 10. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that are incensed
against thee shall be astonished and confounded. No man is going
to stand before you. They shall be as nothing, and they that
strive with thee shall perish. Everybody will perish. Don't
fret about it. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee. They that war against thee
shall be as nothing and as a thing of naught. Verse 13, For I, the
Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear
not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm." What could
be more defenseless? Can you imagine anything more
defenseless? Anything weaker? Anything more insignificant?
Anything more disgusting? Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. tricky, deceitful, cunning, unstable
worm, and ye men of Israel, I will help you. I will help thee, saith the Lord
thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Now, what are we to
learn from this? Paul, by inspiration, That is,
by the specific direction of God the Holy Spirit, gives us
the same promise that God gave to Moses, to Jacob, to Joshua,
to Solomon, and to Israel. What do we learn from that? We
learn these two things. Number one, the message of this book is spiritual
and must be spiritually discerned. And number two, This is God's Word for us. Now let me show you this. The
message of this book is spiritual. Now, please understand what I'm
saying. We believe in the verbal, plenary
inspiration of Holy Scripture. Every word in scripture is inspired
of God and was written by men who were directly moved by God
the Holy Spirit, writing exactly that which God the Holy Spirit
told them to write. No question about that. But we
do not interpret scriptures in a strictly literal way. To merely
give the historic, literal, grammatically correct interpretation of a passage
of scripture is not to interpret the scripture at all. Not at
all. Now, I know there'll be some
folks here that say, well, boy, what are you saying? I said,
just what you think I'm saying. The historic, literal, grammatically
correct interpretation of a passage is not the correct interpretation
of a passage. The correct interpretation, Bobby,
finds God's message in that passage. And God's message in that passage
is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And every message in every passage
in all the scripture is spiritual, not carnal. Spiritual, not physical. Has to do with spiritual things,
not physical things. Now let me give you one clear
illustration of this. Come back to Exodus chapter 3.
Exodus the third chapter. God is speaking to Moses out
of the burning bush. And listen to what it says. Verse
6. Moreover, he said, I am the God
of thy father. The God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. What do you reckon the message
really is? What do you imagine God really
intends by that statement? Oh, well, that's simple. The
Lord was Abraham's God. He was Jacob's God. He was Isaac's
God. No, no, that's not quite correct.
He still is Abraham's God. He still is Isaac's God. He still
is Jacob's God. He still is Isaac's God. Well,
that's historical. That's literal. That's true.
That's not the spiritual message of the passage. And I know it's
not because our Lord used it in a different way. Turn over
to Mark, Chapter 12. Mark, Chapter 12. And this is
what I'm telling you. There's no way under the shining
sun any human being could understand what God meant by this statement
to Moses unless God told him what he meant. Couldn't be done.
Could not be done. Look in Mark chapter 12. In verse
18, you know those folks who come challenging our Lord, finally
the Sadducees, the smart, smart alecks, who denied the resurrection,
they came and said, Master, Tell us now, there was a fellow who
had died, and his brother married his wife, and then he died, and
his brother married his wife, and then he died, and his brother
married his wife, and he died. She had seven of them. Now, which
one's her husband in the resurrection? Oh, what a profound question.
Did you ever stop to think about those deep, deep things? Verse
24, and Jesus answering said to them, Do you not therefore
err? Because you know not the Scriptures."
He didn't say, Ron, you don't rightly understand the Scriptures.
He said, you don't understand it at all. You know not the Scriptures. Neither
the power of God. You've never experienced it,
don't know anything about it. For when they shall rise from the
dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are
as the angels of God which are in heaven. Now look at verse
26. And as touching the dead, that they shall rise. Look at
it now. He said, now this is what God
said to Moses. As touching the dead, that they
shall rise. Have you not read in the book
of Moses how in the bush God spoke unto him, saying, I am
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
He's not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You
fool, you don't understand the word of God or the power of God.
That's what God's talking about. Now, would anybody here have
imagined that Exodus 3, 6 was talking about the resurrection
of the dead, unless our Lord had said so right here? The message
of the book is about Christ. The message of the book is Christ.
The message of the book is spiritual. It's to be spiritually discerned.
But secondly, learn this. It is evident that every word
from God to any person written in this book Every word from
God to any person written in this book is God's word to us. Either given to warn or given
to bless. Either given as a word of condemnation
or a word of life. You see, this is what the book
says. God never changes. He doesn't change. What God said
he'd do in Abraham's day, God still does. What God promised
He'd do for His people in Joshua's day, He still does for His people.
His power is the same. His attributes are the same.
He does not change more than that. All the promises of God. Look over in 2 Corinthians 1.20.
2 Corinthians 1.20. Look at this. All the promises of God. All
of them. All of them. All of them. Did I say that clear enough?
All of them. All of them. All the promises of God are in
Christ. And they're yea and amen in Him. Never nay. 2 Corinthians 1 20. For all the promises of God in
Him are yea and in Him amen unto the glory of God by So what God promised Mother Eve,
and what God promised Brother Abel, and what God promised Brother
Enoch, and what God promised Brother Noah, and what God promised
Brother Abraham, God promised Bobby Estes and Judy too. They're
God's promises to us. You see, these promises are made
for us to Christ, and they're ours in Him. And the promises
of God are conditioned not upon our goodness, but Christ's goodness. Not upon our obedience, but Christ's
obedience. Not upon our doing anything or
being anything, but upon Christ's doing and being and us having
done and having been and now being as Jesus Christ is in Him
representatively. You see, all believers are in
Christ, one body in Him. I love what Robert Murray McShane
said concerning this. He said, every word of divine
love and tenderness that God has written in this book belongs
to me. Every word, every word. All right,
now look back at Hebrews 13 again. Here's a promise from the triune
God. He hath said. I like that, don't
you? That's not Don Fortner saying
something. That's not Lindsey Campbell saying
anything. He hath said. He said. That's God our Father,
Rod. He said. He said. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. What a remarkable, unconditional
promise. Quite literally, this is what
God said. I will never, no never, no never leave you or forsake
you. I get reprimanded sometimes,
or I used to, for using double negatives. I guess folks think
I'm not smart enough. No, I'm not supposed to, grammatically.
But sometimes double negatives are needed to give the strength
of what you're saying, meaning. Our Lord here uses five of them. He says, I will never, no never,
no never leave you or forsake you. Won't happen. I love the
way the Amplified Version paraphrases this. God himself has said, I
will in no way fail you, nor give you up, nor leave you without
support. I will not, I will not, I will
not in any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake you, nor let you
down. Relax. My hold is on you. Assuredly not, I won't forsake
you. And that's exactly all that was
said to Bacchus, to Jacob, and to Moses, and to Joshua, and
to Israel, all the way through the book. It's the same thing
God said to Solomon. All those things. This is a promise,
then, which assures us of God's constant help. The Lord is my help. I will not
fear what man shall do unto me." It guarantees the greatest possible
good. God said, I won't leave you.
I'll do you good. Not the greatest possible good
ultimately, though that's included. Not the greatest possible good
in the long-term balance of things, though that's included. Bob Duff,
God Almighty, has always done for you that which is the greatest
possible good for you. And that's what it's doing right
now. You got that? I'll never leave you. I'll take
care of you. I'll do you good. It promises
us all our needs shall be supplied. It promises us comfort in time
of trouble. And it's a promise that's substantiated
by God's immutability, His faithfulness and His love. And it's been confirmed by the
observation of faith. I have back in my library some
notes of a sermon I preached when I was 21 years old, about
God's great faithfulness. And you know what? It was a doctrinally
sound sermon. Exactly right. Exactly right. Matter of fact, you might hear
the same thing again. I've said the same thing many
times to you. But I had no idea what I was talking about. It was all theory. Just theory. Now, I'm 52 years old. Let me tell you something. God is faithful. Always faithful. I proved Him
so. Bobby read it earlier, that when
my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. He said, I won't forsake you.
He forsook the tabernacle. He forsook the temple. But we're
the temple of God. God Almighty once forsook his
own darling son when he was made to be sin for us, but now Since
God's own son has put away our sins that were imputed to him,
God Almighty, Rex Bartley, will never have any reason to forsake
you. Sin been put away. He will not
forsake you. Here's the third thing. Automotive for contentment. Paul has just told us, be content
with such things as you have. How come? Because God said, I'll
never leave you nor forsake you. If the Lord God is with me and
promises never to forsake me, want should never. Want should never. Be an emotion in my heart and
soul. Never. Lord God, give me a content heart. Teach me and make me want nothing
but what is. Content with your providence.
Content with your provision. content with your presence. Children of God, let your riches
consist not in the largeness of your possessions, but in the
fewness of your wants. Contentment makes poor men very
rich, and the lack of it makes the richest man very poor. Our wants ought to always, our
wants ought to always be limited to exactly our present possessions
and our present circumstances and our present experience. I
told you a minute ago, Larry, he always does you good. When He sends drought, He's doing
you good. And when He sends rain, He's
doing you good. No matter how much of either. He's doing you
good. When He sends blessing, what
men call blessing, He's doing you good. When He sends desperation,
what men call desperation, He's doing you good. When He sends
prosperity or adversity, He does you good. Teach me to want that
which is and no more. That's all. How come? God said,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. That means everything's
all right. Here's a promise to be believed. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Therefore, we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do to me. The Lord who is my helper is
greater than every foe I have or might have. The Lord who is
my helper is in absolute control of every one of them. He said,
no weapon that's formed against you shall prosper. Not even a
dog will bark at you, he said. Not going to happen. I'll protect
you. The Lord God Almighty, who is my helper, will sustain me. That means he won't leave you,
my brother, in the time of your greatest guilt. But he'll still be your advocate.
He won't leave you in time of your greatest temptation and
your greatest danger, but will make way to escape, and that
way is Christ Himself. And though others forsake you,
as they surely will. Our Lord knew what betrayal was,
and every one of His children know what betrayal is. But the
Lord will not forsake you. For 6,000 years, He's confirmed
this promise. He said, I'll never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. Wonder how far that word never
reaches. Never. It reaches to the deepest agony
of your soul. I'll never leave you. to the deepest pit into which
you might fall. I'll never leave you. It reaches
down to the grave. It reaches to the judgment seat. People have the idea somehow
that when we stand before God in that great day, all this time
he's been with us, but now he's going to leave us stand on our
own. What nonsense. is I'll never leave you. It reaches
to eternity. And then, eternity alone will unfold the
riches of the promise. He who died for us will be our
eternal friend. He who sanctified us with his
blood and by his grace will forever dwell with us and in us. Then God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, who has loved us with an everlasting love, will be with us forever. And
the sun of His love will shine upon us in the brightness of
everlasting glory. It will begin Then, to understand
what he said, when he said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. What a promise. I'm going to ask David Coleman
to come up here and start to put you on the spot, buddy. How
about you sing in Psalm 121, will you? David will sing Psalm 121
for us, if you want to turn there and follow along. And then Larry,
Chris, you pray for us as we're dismissed. I'll be leaving tonight. Shelby
and I will go into Arkansas. Hope to drive to Memphis tonight.
We'll be preaching in Arkansas, and then Wichita Falls, Texas.
And then Sunday morning, Ronald will preach here. Sunday night
is Lindsay. And Tuesday night, Ronald will preach here again.
And then Brother Larry, you're