Hebrews 13.5, let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For
he hath said, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. What power and comfort there
is in the word of God the man or woman who can lay hold on
the word of God by faith, the man or woman who can lay hold
on the word of God without putting a question mark on his word,
who accepts it all, can never be shaken, for he has in his
hand an all-conquering weapon. This is the weapon that even
our Lord used, if you'll turn with me to the fourth chapter
of Luke. When our Savior was tried by Satan, when on the mouth
of temptation, after forty days of fasting, Satan came to him,
and in verse 3 of Luke 4, he said, If thou be the Son of God,
command this stone that it be made bread. The Lord Jesus, who
had all wisdom, the Lord Jesus, who infinitely was more powerful
than Satan in strength, intellect, and wisdom, nevertheless chose
to use the Word of God with which to answer this tempter. He answered and said, that man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word of God. Verse 5, And the devil, taking
him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms
of the world in a moment of time, and said unto him, All this power
will I give thee, and the glory of them. For that is delivered
unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore
wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And once again the Master
answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it
is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve. And again he brought him to Jerusalem,
and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him,
If thou be the Son of cast Thyself down from hence. For it is written,
He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in
their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash
thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto
him, It is said, or it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God, even the Master. In answering the temptations
of Satan, in enduring the trials brought upon him by Satan, use
the word of God. And the word of God for me and
for you will chase away all doubts, and all despondency, and all
difficulties, and yea, even all demons. Back to our text again,
when the Holy Spirit would make us content He says in verse 5,
Be content with such as you have, for he hath said. That's the
foundation of contentment. He hath said. The foundation
of contentment is God's Word. When the Holy Spirit would make
us bold, He writes, He hath said, I will never leave thee, so that
we may be bold in our faith, and bold in our confidence, and
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. When the Holy Spirit
would encourage faith in us, he quotes from Scripture the
faith of Abraham, the faith of Noah, the faith of Job. When
the Holy Spirit would make us patient, he says, Remember the
patience of Job. When the Holy Spirit would make
us prayerful, he says, Elijah was a man of like passions, and
he prayed, and it rained not for so many days, he hath said,
I will never leave thee, I will never forsake thee." Now this
promise is repeated in the Word of God five times, and I want
us to look at it, beginning first of all with the twenty-eighth
chapter of Genesis. In Genesis 28, verse 15. Now this promise, he hath said,
this is the foundation of contentment. This is the foundation of boldness
and confidence. This is the foundation of faith.
He hath said. This is the answer we use to
dispel doubts and fears and despondency and difficulties, and yea, even
devils. He hath said. If I can get a
grip on this word, if I can believe it, if I can refrain from putting
any question mark on this book, I will have a weapon, an all-conquering
weapon in my hand, that even the Master chose to use. He hath
said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you." In Genesis
28, verse 15, it was said first to Jacob. Look at it, "...and
behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest." and will bring thee again into this land, for I will
not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken
to thee of." Who was Jacob? This week I thought a little
bit about the life of Jacob, and I've come to this conclusion.
I believe that this man Jacob experienced more trials and more
disappointments than any of the other people of God in the Old
Testament. Go back to the beginning of his
life. When he was born, God said to his mother, The elder shall
serve the younger. Now this was not the custom. This was not what was done in
Israel. The firstborn son always got
the birthright. The firstborn son was always
the leader upon the death of the father. But God said to his
mother, Esau is going to serve Jacob. And from that moment she
began to plan and plot and devise how she was going to get this
birthright for Jacob. And so when the father grew old
and before his death through her plotting and planning, even
the wrath of man shall work the will of God. And through her
plotting and planning, this boy Jacob did receive the birthright. But after he received it, he
had to leave home. He had disappointed his father,
he had made an enemy out of his brother, and he had to leave
home under a cloud of deceit. And he wandered into a foreign
country And there he met a beautiful woman by the name of Rachel.
And he went to her father's house and got a job. He fell in love
with Rachel. He was away from his home, away
from his mother, away from his brother, away from his father.
He was away in disgrace, really, because he had cheated. And fell
in love with this beautiful girl and went to her father and asked
him, Laban was his name, if he could marry the daughter. And
Laban said, well, you certainly can. But said, you'll have to
work for me seven years. That's a long time. But Jacob
did. Faithfully, he worked for Laban
seven long, hard years. And when the seven years were
up, they had a wedding ceremony. The bride, of course, was veiled.
And they were married. And when Jacob lifted the veil,
expecting to find his beloved, He found her sister. The father
had deceived him and given him Leah to be his wife. He still
wanted to marry Rachel. So he went back to the father
and told him he had deceived him. Well, he said, it's not
right for the youngest sister to get married before the oldest
sister is the reason I did that. And so he said, well, you can
marry Rachel also, but you'll have to work seven more years. So he worked seven more years,
and Rachel became his wife. To his disappointment, Rachel
was barren. She never had any children. Leah
had nine or ten sons, but Rachel, his beloved, never bore to him,
up until this time, a child. God blessed Jacob, prospered
him, and finally he decided to leave his father-in-law's home
where they were living. He knew that his father-in-law
wouldn't let him leave, wouldn't let him take his children and
his wives, Rachel and Leah, and the ten sons. So he had to slip
away from this place in the dead of the night. And when Laban,
the father-in-law, found out he had gone, he grew angry with
Jacob and started chasing him. And when his brother Esau found
out that he was returning home, he came out against him. And except for God's protection,
he would have been destroyed by his father-in-law, who hated
him, and also by his brother, who hated him. And then he had
two other sons. Rachel finally gave birth to
a boy named Joseph and a boy named Benjamin. But his sons
hated these two boys. There was division in his home.
The ten sons hated Joseph and they hated Benjamin, and finally
they sold his son Joseph into slavery, telling the old man
that his son had been killed, his favorite son Joseph had been
killed. And then his sons turned all
his neighbors against him. One of the sisters had been raped
by a neighborhood boy, and Jacob was trying to make peace with
all the neighbors, and so his son said, Let us handle the situation. So they went to see the neighbors,
and they made peace with them, and told them to meet them at
a certain place. And so they met them, and they
made some conditions there, and these neighbors fulfilled the
conditions. They did exactly what the boys
told them to do. And then in the dead of the night,
The boys took their swords and went down to the neighbors' houses
and killed every one of them. And Jacob's name became a stench
in the nostrils of the whole countryside. And then they found
out there was corn down in Egypt during the famine. So Jacob sent
his sons down to get corn. And when they came back, they
came back without Simeon, the older boy. And the old man sat
down and wept, and he said, Jacob, Joseph is not, Simeon is not,
and now you're going to take Benjamin away from me. His whole
life was a life of disappointment, a life of trial, it was a life
of suffering, it was a life of testing and tribulation, and
God came to him and said, Jacob, I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest, and I will bring thee again into this land.
I will not leave thee until I have done for thee everything I have
spoken. By God's grace, everything that
occurred in the life of Jacob was for Jacob's good and for
God's glory. He didn't know it at the time.
But in all these troubles, in all these trials, God never left
him. For all things work together
for good to them who love God, who are called according to his
purpose. The second time that this text
is repeated is in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 31. He has said, I'll never leave
you. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. In Deuteronomy 31, verse 6, we
find this text again, and this time it is spoken to the nation
Israel, to the whole body of Israel collectively. And we can
take this promise as a promise to God's because Israel is certainly
a type of the church. And God said to Israel, to his
people, to the church in the wilderness, Deuteronomy 31, verse
6, Be strong, and be of good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid
of them, for the Lord thy God, he it is that doeth, doth go
with thee, he will not fail thee. he will not forsake thee." The
church is God's institution on this earth. God hath ordained
it, and God will bless it. I do not believe that God Almighty
will ever forsake His church. I know there are many organizations
and institutions that go under the name of church, that are
not churches at all. But when a church meets to worship
and to preach the gospel. When a church sincerely is a
family of fellowship in Christ Jesus the Lord, when a church
carries on the divine ordinances of the Lord's Supper and Baptism,
ordained and instituted and given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, when a church is bold enough and has vision enough
and faith enough to send missionaries and support them and send ministers
to preach the gospel. And when a church by faith ministers
to the unfortunate and to the oppressed, God will not leave
that church, and God will not forsake it. As he said to Israel,
Be strong and be of good courage. I will not fail thee. I will
not forsake thee. And then the third time that
this text is used is in the book of Joshua. In Joshua chapter
1, beginning with verse 9. Now the third time it was spoken
to God's preacher. It was spoken to God's ministry. It was spoken to the man who
was ordained and sent of God to lead the people. We, as ministers
of the gospel, have a message. And that message is the gospel
of God's redeeming grace. Christ is our message. And when
we are bold enough to preach it, who He is, He is the Lord
of glory. He is God incarnate. He is the
anointed, sent Messiah to redeem us from our sin. What He did,
He came here as a man and obeyed the law and died on the cross
under God's wrath and God's judgment. He was buried and rose again.
He ascended to the right hand of the Father where he intercedes
for his people as our High Priest. Why he did it? That God might
be just and justify the ungodly. That salvation is not the product
of the human mind and the human intellect and the human merit.
It is a product of God's grace. And we're bold enough to declare
that there's going to be opposition. Christ said, Marvel not if the
world hate you. It hated me before it ever hated
you. And even when there is temptation
to please men and compromise this message, the Lord God will
honor those who honor his Son. And he said to Joshua in Joshua
1, verse 5, There shall not any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will
be with thee. I will not fail thee, I will
not forsake thee. It was not all easy, the way
was difficult, the opposition was strong, but God said, Joshua,
I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. Verse 6, Be strong
and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide
for an inheritance the land which I swear unto thy fathers to give
them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest
observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant
commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right
hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever
thou goest. The book of the law shall not
depart out of my mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night. that thou mayest observe to do
according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt
make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be
strong and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed,
for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest."
The next time that this is said is in 1 Chronicles chapter 28. In 1 Chronicles 28. Now David
had been king of Israel for a long, long time. And David was about
to die. He wanted to build the house
of God. He wanted to build the temple
of the Lord. But God had told him that he
would not be permitted to build it. He was a man of war, and
he would not be permitted to build the house of God. But rather
his son Solomon would build that house. And so David sat down
and talked with Solomon before he died. Now man may be able
to leave his son great wealth, and many men have done this.
They have left their sons great wealth. They have left them great
possessions. They have left them bank accounts
and spending money. They have left them fame and
worldly prestige. But there's no greater heritage
than this which David left to Solomon. Listen to it. And David
said to Solomon, his son, be strong and of good courage. 1 Chronicles 28, 20. Fear not, be not dismayed, for
the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee. He will not fail
thee, he will not forsake thee, until thou hast finished all
the work for the service of the house of the Lord. My son, trust
in the Lord. My son, give thy life to God. My son, receive God's Son. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. He will never leave
thee. He will never forsake thee."
And then the fifth time that this text is used is in Isaiah
41, verse 17. Isaiah 41, verse 17. Now this is spoken to sinners. This is spoken to the poor and
needy. This is spoken to the weary and
heavy laden. This is spoken to the hungry
and thirsty. Listen to it. Verse 17 of Isaiah
41. When the poor and needy seek
water, I believe this is the water of life. This is not the
water for which the body craves, this is the water of life for
which the soul pants. As David said, My soul panteth
after thee, as the deer panteth for the water brooks, my soul
panteth after thee, the living God. In a dry and thirsty land,
David said, where no water is. And when the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, for the world has none to give, but
when they seek water, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I,
the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not
forsake them." Sinners need water. They need the water of life.
for all have sinned and come short of God's glory, and we
are part of a wilderness, a dry, parched wilderness. And there
is no water, as the disciple said, Lord, to whom shall we
go? But he has the water of life, and he says, I, the Lord, God,
will hear them. And when the poor and needy are
thirsty and weary and tired and heavy laden, I will give them
the water of life. Come unto Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come and drink." Why the Lord will not forsake us? I asked
myself this question as I looked at this text. In Hebrews 13,
the Lord is my helper. The Lord has said, I'll never
leave thee, I'll never forsake thee. And I asked myself this
question, why will he not forsake us? Why will he not leave us? We're certainly not worthy of
his blessing. As Ron is saying in the psalm
a moment ago, we're not worthy of his grace. Why will he never
leave us? Why will he say to a man of trial
and a man of tribulation like Jacob, a man of trouble, Jacob,
I'll never leave you? Everybody else did. His brother
left him. His father-in-law left him. His
neighbors left him. He said, My name is a stench
in the nostrils of the whole countryside. Everybody left him. Why will God not leave him? The
nation of Israel, typical of the church, They failed God at
every turn. Why will he say to this worrisome
people, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you? Why will
the Lord say to his church, I'll never forsake you, I'll never
leave you? How can David sit and talk with
a man like Solomon, who even built images to false gods? to please his many wives, yet
God will say to him through David his servant, I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you." I have four reasons why God will
never leave me, why he'll never forsake me. First of all, I have
his word, and that's sufficient. I have his word. He said, My
word will not return unto me void. God cannot lie. I believe that his word is going
to be completely and totally fulfilled in every jot and tittle. Heaven and earth may pass away,
but his word will never pass away. But the second reason why
God will never forsake us is because of his relationship to
us. Turn to Matthew chapter 7, and
the Lord Jesus used this illustration himself in Matthew chapter 7. Would you forsake your son? Would
you forsake your daughter? Won't they always be your children? Whatever difficulty they're in,
whatever problems they're faced with, whatever disappointments
they bring, will you ever forsake them? In Matthew 7, the Lord
Jesus said in verse 7, ìAsk, and it shall be given you.î seek,
and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. What man is there of you, whom
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if his son
ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them
that ask him." We're part of his family. We're sons of the
living God. We're children of the King. And
the God of glory will never forsake his children. The third reason
why he will never forsake us and never leave us is because
of his honor. His honor is at stake. The songwriter said, God's honor
is engaged to save the weakest of his sheep. All that the Heavenly
Father gave, the hands of Christ will surely keep. There was an
old believer known all over the community for his faith, who
lay dying. And a young skeptic came to his
bedside, and he said to him, What if after all these years
of praying and reading the Bible and worshiping God and claiming
to believe on Jesus Christ, what if after all these years you
die and God sends you to hell? What would you say to that? And
the old man said, well, I tell you, son, If after believing
God's word with simple faith, and trusting Jesus Christ to
save my soul, and resting totally and completely in his blood and
in his blood alone, if I go to hell, God's going to lose a whole
lot more than I lose. And the young man was startled,
and he stepped back and he said, that sounds a lot like blasphemy,
old man. You wouldn't blaspheme God on
your deathbed, would you?" He said, No, son, I'm not blaspheming
God. I'm giving God glory. You're
giving God glory, but you just said if you go to hell that God
will lose more than you lose. How can you mean that? The old
man said, Well, son, if after trusting Christ and believing
God's word and resting in his blood, God sends me to hell,
I'll lose my soul. but God will lose his honor. Because God promised in his word,
he that believeth on the Son shall never die. And if God loses
his word and God loses his honor, God ceases to be God. And when
a house is half built and lays in ruins, the people come by
and they laugh and they say, this man began to build and was
not able to finish. Do you think this will ever be
said of God? He that hath begun a good work
in you shall perform that work till the day of Jesus Christ. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. The fourth reason. Almighty God
will never leave his people Because that's what he said. He had said,
I'll never leave you. So I can boldly say, under any
circumstance, under any trial, God is my helper. And I will
not fear. He will not leave nor forsake
his people because of his relationship to them. They're his sons. And
God Almighty loves his sons. And his honor is engaged to keep
the weakest of his sheep. He will never leave them nor
forsake them for the fourth reason, because full payment has been
made. Jesus Christ paid my sin debt,
and I've got no sins for which to give an account, absolutely
none. I heard a preacher on TV this
afternoon, and he said this, that Christ died for all my sins
prior to the day I was converted. My friends, Jesus Christ died
for all my sins, past, present, and future. There is not on the
record book of glory one charge against me." He said, where do
you find that? Turn to Romans, if you will.
Romans chapter 8. The Apostle Paul who said, He
was the chief of sinners, less than the least of all the saints,
not worthy to be called an apostle, yet in Romans chapter 8 he declares
in verse 33, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect.
Step forward. Anything. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's election? Who is He that condemneth? Not
the law, not the devil, not even the Father. Why can a man make
a boast like that? I'll tell you why. He gives the
reason, verse 34. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. When Christ died, full payment
was made for all our sins. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleansed us from all sin. Christ didn't die for 98% of
them. He didn't die for 99% of them. He died for all my sins. Payment, God's justice, cannot
twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand, and then again at mine. What would it be if we were forsaken
of God? Turn back to Hebrews 13. Why
is this such a great promise? He said here, I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. Why is this such a great promise?
Why is it so impressive? Well, first of all, there are
three reasons for that, and then I close. What would it mean to
be forsaken of God? First of all, it would mean utter
loneliness. If you go back to Calvary's cross
2,000 years ago, when the Lord Jesus Christ had been betrayed
by Judas, sold out, betrayed in the house of his friend, wounded
in the house of his friend, when he had been denied by the apostle
Peter, when all the disciples had forsook him and fled, when
he had been turned into the hands of the cruel, wicked Roman soldiers
and taken outside the city wall and cruelly nailed to a cross
and lifted up there to die between heaven and earth, the demons
raging at his feet, and the religious leaders mocking and ridiculing
and laughing at him, and the soldiers casting lots in the
sand for his garment, his disciples sneaking around, hiding from
the soldiers, and all the people crying out, he trusted in God,
let's see if God will have him now. And at that moment the sun
refused to shine and the whole sky grew dark, and Jesus Christ
screamed the cry of human nature in its utmost dismay, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Utter, absolute loneliness. There cannot come forth from
human lips a cry with more dismay and more agony Then this cried,
My God, thou hast forsaken me. I'll never know what that means,
because Christ knew what it meant. He was my representative. He
bore my shame and my guilt. And thank God, David said, though
my mother and my father forsake me, my God never will. My God never will. Though my
friends forsake me, though I'm alone, though I'm hated, and
my name, as Jacob said, is spewed out with disgust, my God will
never forsake me. I'll never be alone. What would forsaken of God mean? Utter loneliness. Utter loneliness. Secondly, what would it mean?
It would mean utter helplessness. The archangel of heaven without
God would fade away. Did you know that? Even the archangel
of heaven could not stand without God. Utter helplessness. As helpless as Ezekiel's bones
out there parched and dried in the field, as helpless as Ezekiel's
deserted infant lying out there in the weeds and in the field,
as helpless as a broken reed in a hurricane is a soul without
God. Christ said salvation without
God is impossible. The church cannot lift my spirit
or save my soul, only God. And if I'm without God, if I'm
forsaken of God, if I'm cut off from God, if God says to me what
he said of Ephraim, leave him alone, I'm utterly helpless. I hope God never leaves you alone. I hope God never leaves you alone. He said in Romans 1, of those
people, God gave them up. A man whom God forsakes is as
good as in hell, if God leaves him alone. The reason this verse
means so much, he has said, I'll never leave you. I'll never leave
you. I'll never forsake you. He has
said this. His honor is engaged to keep
it. We are his sons. I'll never leave
you. Never. If he did, it would be
utter helplessness. And then last of all, if God
leaves us, it'll be utter hopelessness. The people who came to the judgment,
some of them came with a religious profession. Some of them came
directly from a church service. Some of them came from church
membership. Some of them came from a white-hot
experience. Some of them came from a strong
profession and decision. And they came and stood before
God. And they said, Why, God, we preached in your name and
cast out devils in your name and did many wonderful works
in your name. And he looked at them and he
said, I never knew you. I never knew you. Forsaken of
God, I never knew you." And then the scripture says they cried.
What'd they cry? It's the strangest prayer meeting
ever recorded. It's the strangest prayer meeting
ever, ever experienced. They cried for the rocks and
mountains to fall. They cried for death. They cried
for annihilation, they cried for destruction, they cried for
the rocks and mountains. Oh, rocks and mountains fall
on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne.
Utter hopelessness without Him. Without him, I could do nothing. Without him, I'd surely fail. Without him, I'd be drifting
like a ship without a sail. But he said, he said, I'll never
leave you. I'll never know loneliness. I'll
never know helplessness. I'll never know hopelessness. Because he said, I'll never leave
you. So I can boldly say, based on
the authority of his word, the Lord is my helper. Not based on what I've done for
God. Lord, I've preached in your name.
Unsaved men can preach. Lord, I've done many wonderful
works. Unbelievers can do mighty works. Lord, I've cast out demons. Even
unbelievers can practice mind over matter. But I can say the Lord's my helper,
and by His grace He'll never leave me. Our Father in Heaven,
thank Thee for Thy Word, O the preciousness of it, O the power
of it. Thank Thee for Thy Word, O the
comfort of it. or the strength of it. Thank
Thee for Thy Word that gives us a very foundation for our
feet when everything about us is shifting and changing and
moving and fading away, when those things that we hold dear
and precious are being removed, when we feel the winds of winter
How precious is Thy word, what comfort, what joy, what consolation! I'll never leave you, I'll never
forsake you. When through fiery trials my
pathway shall lie, Thy grace all-sufficient shall be my supply. The flame will not hurt Thee,
I only design Thy dross to consume and Thy gold to refine. That
soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will
not desert to its foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. Thank thee, Lord, for thy grace
and thy mercy in Christ Jesus our Savior. Bless this message
to the hearts of the people. Give strength to the believer
and deep conviction to the lonely unbeliever. Let him see as never
before in reality what it means to be without God, without hope,
and without Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.