26-1011p - Detailed Summary

Tom greeted the congregation and noted that the evening message was a follow-up to the morning sermon, titled “He will not leave.” He expressed hope that the morning message had not left anyone depressed, observing that life always presents something wrong, yet Scripture contains a promise spoken across multiple generations and various kinds of trouble that has never been revised. Moses spoke the words to Israel as he prepared to die and as the people stood ready to cross the Jordan into a land that was not empty. God repeated the same promise to Joshua after the man who had led them for forty years was gone. The writer of Hebrews directed the identical words to a congregation being worn down and tempted to quit. The words remain unchanged: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Tom stated his purpose for the evening: to hear the promise in the places it was actually given and then to understand what it is for.

Moses, at 120 years of age and knowing he would not cross the Jordan, gathered Israel and charged them, “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. He will not fail thee nor forsake thee” (Deuteronomy 31:6). He then spoke the same words directly to Joshua in the hearing of the people: “He will be with thee. He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed.” Tom highlighted the timing of the promise. It was not spoken after the land had been taken, but while the river still lay in front of them, the cities were still strong, and the leader they had followed for decades was about to be buried. God does not wait until the hard part is over to declare that He will stay; He speaks the promise at the threshold of the difficulty. After Moses died, the Lord Himself repeated the words to Joshua: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Joshua 1:5). Joshua received no new promise for a new day; he received the same promise attached to a man who was no longer present. The leader changed, but the promise did not. The first thing to see, Tom emphasized, is that this promise is made to people who still have the work in front of them. It is not the speech given when danger has passed; it is the speech given when danger is the next thing on the road.

Hebrews was written to brethren who had already suffered, who had been put on display in reproaches and afflictions, who had already had their goods taken, and who were now being tempted to drift back to what was easier. Near the end of the letter the writer exhorts, “Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with things as ye have. For he said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me” (Hebrews 13:5-6). Tom noted that the promise is tied not to healing or to a restored income, but to contentment. The command is to be content with such things as one has because the Lord has said He will not leave. Those things may be less than one had last year, less than one needs, or less than one has asked for. The command does not wait until the list improves. The ground of contentment is the promise itself, not the inventory of possessions. The promise also authorizes a specific confession: because God has said it, the congregation may say it as well. The answer to His word is His word. A tired congregation is permitted to declare out loud, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man shall do unto me,” precisely because God has spoken the reality that makes the sentence true.

People leave. Moses left Joshua. Champions fail, strength fails, and health fails. The years take things and do not bring them back. None of these realities contradict the promise, because the promise was never about those who leave; the promise is about Him. “I will never leave thee”—the “I” is the Lord, and the “never” belongs to Him. What He binds to Himself, He keeps. This is why the promise can stand beside a life that is still hard. Joshua still had to fight, and the Hebrew Christians still had to endure. The Lord’s presence with a man does not mean the man has nothing left to face; it means he does not face that difficulty forsaken. Jesus spoke the same kind of promise to the eleven before He ascended: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). He said it to men He was about to leave in body, and He said it as the ground of the work He was giving them. “Go, and I am with you”—the going and the presence occupy the same sentence. The Christian does not promise a life in which nothing departs. He has promised the Lord, who does not. There is a different promise, and it is a better one.

The promise frees a believer from reading the Lord’s silence as His absence. A week in which one does not feel Him is not a week in which He is gone. Joshua did not receive daily confirmation that the promise remained in force; he received the word and walked on it. Feeling forsaken and being forsaken are not the same thing. It frees one from the fear that has been running the week. Hebrews does not claim the threat is imaginary; it declares that the Lord is the helper and therefore fear does not get to rule. One can name the trouble honestly and still refuse to let it set the terms. It frees one from having to secure oneself. The verse begins with covetousness and contentment for a reason: a man who believes he has been left will grasp, while a man who believes he will not be left can loosen his grip on what he cannot keep. Be content with such things as you have, for He has said that He will not leave us nor forsake us. Finally, it frees one to do the work that is still his. The promise was never a reason to sit down; it was the reason Joshua could stand up and the reason a worn congregation could stay. Because the Lord is with you, do what is in front of you unto Him and leave the outcome where it belongs.

The promise has been in force a long time. It was spoken at a river, spoken over a new leader, spoken to a tired church, and spoken by the Lord Himself before He left the eleven with the world in front of them. “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,” He has said, so that we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper.” Other things will leave; He will not. That is the promise. Stand on it. The invitation was extended to anyone who is not a Christian. To the Christian carrying something that has worn him down and who needs prayer, Tom affirmed that the Lord has not left him and that he does not have to stand there alone.