26-1011p Transcript

(1:00) Good evening. Good to see everybody back again.

(1:04) This is kind of a follow-up from this morning. He will not leave. (1:12) It’s a bit more of an uplifting message.

Hopefully I didn’t depress you this morning. (1:18) There’s always something wrong. (1:20) But there’s a promise in scripture that has been spoken to more than one generation (1:26) and more than one kind of trouble and it has never been revised.

(1:32) Moses said it to Israel when he was about to die. (1:36) And they were about to cross a river into a land that was not empty. (1:41) God said it to Joshua when the man who had led them for 40 years was gone.

(1:50) The writer of Hebrews said to the congregation (1:54) that was being worn down and tempted to quit. (1:59) The words do not change. (2:02) I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

(2:07) Tonight, I want us to hear that promise (2:10) in the places it was actually given and then hear what it is for. (2:20) Moses is 120. He has been told he will not cross the Jordan.

(2:27) He gathered Israel and says, (2:31) Be strong and of good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them. (2:39) For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee.

(2:44) He will not fail thee nor forsake thee. (2:47) Deuteronomy 31.6. (2:52) Then he says it to Joshua in front of the people. (2:57) He will be with thee.

He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. (3:02) Fear not, neither be dismayed. (3:07) Look at the timing.

(3:09) The promise is not given after the land is taken. (3:14) It is given while the river is still in front of them. (3:17) The cities are still [strong], and the man they have followed is about to be buried.

(3:27) God does not wait until the hard part is over to say he will stay. (3:34) He says it at the end. (3:38) After Moses died, the Lord says it again, this time with his own mouth.

(3:46) As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. (3:51) I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (3:53) Joshua 1.5. (3:57) Joshua does not get a new promise for a new day.

(4:02) He gets the same promise attached to a man who is no longer there. (4:08) The leader changed. The promise did not.

(4:14) This is the first thing to see. (4:17) This promise is made to people who still have the work in front of them. (4:23) It is not the speech you give when the danger has passed.

(4:27) It is the speech you give when the danger is the next thing on the road. (4:36) Hebrews is written to brethren who already suffered, (4:39) already been put on display in their reproaches and afflictions, (4:43) already had their goods taken, (4:46) and are now being tempted to drift back to what was easier. (4:52) Near the end, the writer says, (4:55) let your conversation be without covetousness, (4:59) and be content with things as ye have.

(5:03) For he said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, (5:08) so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, (5:11) and I will not fear what man shall do to me. (5:15) Hebrews 13.5-6. (5:20) Notice what the promise is tied to. (5:23) Not to healing, not to a restored income, but to contentment.

(5:31) Be content with such things as ye have, because he said he will not leave. (5:38) But such things as ye have may be less than ye had last year. (5:43) It may be less than ye need.

(5:46) It may be less than ye ask for. (5:50) The command does not wait until the list improves. (5:54) The ground of contentment is a promise, not what ye have.

(6:02) And notice what the promise authorizes them to say. (6:06) So that we may boldly say, God has said it, so that we may say it as well. (6:16) The answer to his word is his word.

(6:20) The Lord is my helper. (6:21) I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (6:29) That is a permitted sentence.

(6:32) A tired congregation is allowed to say it out loud, (6:36) because God says the thing that makes it true. (6:44) People leave. (6:46) Moses left Joshua.

(6:49) Champions fail. (6:51) Strength fails. (6:52) Health fails.

(6:53) The years take things, but they do not bring them back. (6:59) None of that contradicts the promise, because the promise was never about them. (7:04) The promise is about him.

(7:07) I will never leave thee. (7:09) The I is the Lord. (7:12) The never is his.

(7:14) What he binds to himself, he keeps. (7:17) This is why the promise can sit next to a life that is still hard. (7:23) Joshua still had to fight.

(7:25) The Hebrew Christian still had to endure. (7:29) The Lord being with a man does not mean a man has nothing left to face. (7:35) It means he does not face the forsaken.

(7:40) Jesus said the same thing to the eleven before he ascended. (7:45) Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. (7:49) Matthew 28 20.

(7:53) He said to men he was about to leave in body, (7:56) and he said it as the ground of the work he was giving them. (8:03) Go, and I am with you. (8:05) The going and the presence are in the same sentence.

(8:08) So the Christian does not promise a life in which nothing departs. (8:15) He has promised the Lord, who does not. (8:17) There is a different promise.

(8:20) It is a better one. (8:25) It frees you from reading his silence, his absence. (8:30) A week in which you do not feel him is not a week in which he is gone.

(8:37) Joshua did not get the daily confirmation that the promise was still in force. (8:43) He got the word, and he walked on it. (8:45) Feeling forsaken and being forsaken are not the same thing.

(8:51) It frees you from the fear that has been running the week. (8:56) Hebrews does not say the threat is imaginary. (9:01) It says the Lord is your helper, and therefore the fear does not get to rule.

(9:07) You can name the trouble honestly and still refuse to let it set the terms. (9:14) It frees you from having to secure yourself. (9:18) The verse begins with covetousness and contentment for a reason.

(9:23) A man who believes he has been left will grasp. (9:27) A man who believes he will not be left can lose his grip on what he cannot keep. (9:35) Be content with such things as you have, for he has said, (9:39) that he will not leave us nor forsake us.

(9:44) It frees you to do the work that is still yours. (9:48) The promise was never a reason to sit down. (9:51) There’s a reason Joshua could stand up.

(9:54) The reason a worn congregation could stay. (9:57) The Lord is with you, therefore do what is in front of you (10:02) unto him and leave the outcome where it belongs. (10:08) The promise has been in force a long time.

(10:11) It was spoken at a river, spoken over a new leader, (10:16) spoken to a tired church, and spoken by the Lord himself before he left the eleven (10:22) with the world in front of them. (10:26) I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, he has said, (10:29) so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper. (10:34) Other things will leave, he will not.

(10:37) That is the promise. (10:39) Stand on it. (10:42) If you’re not a Christian, the invitation is for you.

(10:46) But if you are a Christian and carrying something that has worn you down (10:50) and needs a prayer to come forward, (10:53) he has not left you and you do not have to stand there alone. (10:57)