[0:00] Well, let's begin our worship this evening. We're going to sing to God's praise. We're singing in Psalm 46. As I said this morning, we were looking at the theme of coming to seek the Lord, the invitation the Lord gives us to seek the Lord while he may be found, to call upon him while he is near. And this evening, we're looking at the book of Hebrews chapter 13. And when we think of seeking God and coming to God, we then ask ourselves, well, what does God give to us? How do we go on with God? And we're going to look at one of the great promises that God gives to us, that never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.
[0:43] And this Psalm, Psalm 46, reminds us of that. God is our refuge and our strength and strength, a present day. Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid. We've got the promise there of God with us. So we'll sing from verse 1 to verse 7, and the tune is Bethesda.
[1:04] Amen. God is our refuge and our strength, which leads our present day. Therefore, although the earth we will not be afraid. Though hills have met, the seas be afraid. Though hills have met, the seas be be cast, the waters rolling may, and trouble be, yet o'er the hills, by swelling seas do shape.
[2:23] God is our way in the mountains into the sea. That debt's the day. Glory be with us God is yourน play optimization. Your ministry of our church. This night has met, you know, Lord have met. And bless our heart who will ever be with us. Because our heart is a place where in the Lord most high at least of God in the midst of one does dwell nothing shall us remove the Lord to us and help our will and that right early through the even rain to much us see the kingdom smooth and where the
[3:54] Lord God up to read his voice the earth earth is man for fear the Lord of hosts upon our side the Lord constantly remain the Lord of God of Jacob of the refuge are simply to maintain the earth God let's come to God in prayer let us pray
[4:54] Lord our gracious God as we once knew unite our hearts in prayer and praise to you we thank you for these wonderful promises that you give to us through your word the promises that are so many they are almost beyond our number beyond our recognizing just how amazing how beautiful the promises are that you give to us and deserving as we are we thank you Lord that your word reminds us again and again that although we as a people have have wandered and gone astray that you are a God who is calling back that you are a God who is telling us commanding us even to seek the Lord while he may as we have these challenges to us as we have the invitation of the gospel put before us so often we thank you too that you remind us of what it entails what coming to you means that we come to you as a
[6:02] God who is not just holy and mighty and awesome in so many ways that we could see you as beyond our understanding but that you are a God who desires that relationship with his people that we as your children could come and lay before you all our burdens calling you as our father one who is over us in all things the one who looks after us the one who loves us the one who has done so much for us we thank you that in the psalm that we have sung we are reminded of the wonderful presence that you give to your people a presence that comes in the midst of all our circumstances and situations in life a promise that is so precious to your people day after day that we could sing these words on you every day and just wonder and marvel at the meaning of them that
[7:04] God is our refuge and our strength our ever present aid and no matter what this world brings our way that you are the we go from here this night and into the week before us and whatever we are doing be it in our quietness of our own private devotions be it in our workplaces in our homes whatever we may do Lord may your words stay with us in our minds that we will be able to take even a few words of it with us this evening and meditate upon them and even to think of the promise which we will be studying
[8:12] I will never leave you or forsake you may we know the wonder of that promise in the week ahead and in all the days ahead for we thank you that that is a promise that is often repeated in your word throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament we find that it is a promise given to many people in many circumstances and that it is indeed for all your people as we go on in life's journey that as we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that we have that confidence assurance that you are with us and may your people not just as we gather here in your name but as we tune in online but your people far and wide throughout the world may they know the wonder of this promise may they know your presence with them for we thank you that you are not a God who is confined that you are not a God who as we were thinking of this morning is in the heavens high and cannot be reached that you have come to us that you have come down from heaven that the word has become flesh and dwelt among us that we know that in the person of
[9:20] Jesus Christ and that we know the words of Jesus even as he said as he would go from us that he would leave the comfort or the Holy Spirit to be with us and that we have the promise for always even to the end of the age and so surround your people anew this night Lord may you hear the worship of your name and the praising of your name from far and wide tonight as we thank you for the fact that you have your people near and far that you are building your church and so bless us here together Lord we thank you that as we can come to know you through your word that you already know us that you know our every thought and desire and motive that you know exactly where we are and what we need that you know nations and all that's going on in our world with the conflicts that surround us and we see it each day of our lives just now we see tensions rising we see something that we cannot see an end to but yet
[10:59] Lord we thank you that it is not in the hands of man but in your hands oh Lord and that there is a reason and a purpose for everything even the things that we cannot understand the things that we see and cause so much pain and worry and fear the things in this life on a large scale that concern us as a world and even the things of this life that maybe only affect ourselves and our own hearts and yet cause us grief and pain they are known to you and Lord we thank you that you are the one who is able to bring peace that you are the one who is able to bring a calmness over us Lord in the midst of it all and we just pray Lord for you in your power and by your will to come to come oh Lord and show yourself in a mighty way to this world that we would bow before you
[12:02] Lord that we would acknowledge you for you reminding us again and again through all of these years that have just gone past in the midst of a time of war a time of disease a time of the virus that took over our lives for so long in this world and brought so many things to a stand still Lord you have spoken and yet seemingly we haven't listened and so Lord we pray have mercy upon us that you would do us good Lord and not bring even more that we cannot comprehend but bring days of your power bring days of salvation brings days of your reviving power into our midst we pray that for ourselves and for the generations coming after us Lord that we would see a world where your glory is known and where your name is praised Lord we commit ourselves now into your hands we ask that you will be with us
[13:03] Lord and bless your word and the praising of your name may we lift our voices to you and praise anew this night that you are God and there is no other help us to look to you help us to rest in you help us to know your presence continually with us as we seek your face at this time and we come anew confessing our sins oh Lord we know that there is much in our heart that we would long to change and we thank you that you are a God of change you're the one who is able to shape us to mold us to right the wrongs in our heart to rid the blemishes to bring us through oh Lord even the purifier's fire to know that cleansing to know that renewing and to know Lord that you would make us more and more like you so Lord help us to reflect you and to give glory to your name and surround us Lord even now with your presence as we ask all these things in the name of our precious saviour Jesus Christ and for his glory
[14:04] Amen we'll again sing to God's praise we're going to sing in Psalm 118 and sing Psalms version page 155 we'll sing from verse 1 down to verse 9 Psalm 118 page 155 at verse 1 thank the Lord for he is good his steadfast love endures always now let the house of Israel say his love will last through endless days verse 7 it says the Lord is with me constantly he is the one who gives me aid I look in triumph on my foes I will not need to be afraid we'll sing from verse 1 to 9 to God's praise and the tune is Rockingham oh oh thank the
[15:06] Lord for he is good his steadfast love endures always now let the house of Israel say his love will last through endless days and let the house of Aaron say his love forever will endure let those who fear the Lord declare his love will stand forever sure
[16:15] I I cried in anguish to the Lord he answered me and set me free the Lord is with me I will not fear what harm can people do to me the Lord is with me constantly he is the one who gives me aid I look in triumph on my foes
[17:21] I will not need to be afraid be free it's better far to trust the Lord than look for help to man's defense it's better to man's defense it's better far to trust the Lord than in a prince of confidence of confidence of confidence we'll turn to read god's word now in the book of hebrews chapter 13 hebrews chapter 13 you find this around page 1 2 1 3 of the bibles hebrews chapter 13 we're going to read from verse 1 down to verse 19 let's hear the word of god let brotherly love continue do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them and those who are mistreated since you are you also are in the body let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have for he has said i will never leave you nor forsake you so we can confidently say the lord is my helper i will not fear what man can do to me remember your leaders those who spoke to you the word of god consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith jesus christ is the same yesterday and today and forever do not be led away by diversion strange teachings for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace not by foods which have not benefited benefited benefited benefited those devoted to them we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp so jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood outside the camp and bear the camp and bear the reproach he endured for here we have no lasting city but we seek the city that is to come through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to god that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name do not neglect to do good do not neglect to do good to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to god obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you pray for us for we are sure that we have a clear conscience things I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner and so on. May God bless that reading from his word.
[21:22] Before we turn back to this passage we're going to sing once again to his praise in Psalm 61, the Sing Psalms version, page 78 of the psalm books. We'll sing from verse 1 down to verse 6.
[21:37] Psalm 61 on page 78, the tune is Belmont. Oh hear my urgent cry, my God, and listen to my plea.
[21:48] From earth's remotest bounds I call when my heart faints in me. We'll sing from verse 1 to 6 to God's praise. Oh hear my urgent cry, my God, and listen to my plea.
[22:08] From earth's remotest bounds I call when my heart faints in me. Oh hear my urgent cry, my God, and listen to my plea.
[22:18] Oh hear my urgent cry, my God, and listen to my plea.
[22:31] From earth's remotest bounds I call when my heart faints in me. Oh God, conduct me to the rock that's high, far than I. For you my refuge from the foe.
[23:16] My power of strength on high. Oh let me dwell within your tent, forever there to live.
[23:41] O Lord, the shelter of your wings. Oh Lord, the shelter of your wings. Oh Lord, the refuge which they give.
[23:58] For you have held my foe. Oh God, and you have given me the heritage of those who fear.
[24:24] Your name God, here may. Come to earth, my God. On earth's берenten Rich anew. Oh my God, the refuge of the harbor. Thank you.
[24:58] We can turn back to our reading in Hebrews chapter 13.
[25:14] We're going to look at verse 5 and 6, particularly together this evening. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5. Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have.
[25:29] For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear.
[25:41] What can man do to me? When we think of God's promises, there are so many of them it's hard for us sometimes just to take them in and just to think, well, what's my favorite promise that God gives to me?
[26:02] When you think of them, you start numbering them. You start going through them. You just realize just how many there are and you're almost just scraping the surface the more that you go on.
[26:13] But we are told that we are to hold on to these promises. These promises should be precious more and more to us and hold them firmly and closely to us because they are the promises that so often keep us going day by day and keep us going through highs and lows in this life.
[26:35] Now, some people have tried to study, go right through the scriptures and just work out just how many promises of God there are. Efforts have been made by reading right through and thinking, well, there's a promise of God to his people.
[26:50] There are various estimates as to how many promises there are. Most would sort of narrow it down to around 8,000 promises that God gives to his people.
[27:04] Now, some of them can sound very similar. Some of them can be repeated again. But nonetheless, they are still a promise that God gives in a time and in an experience for his people.
[27:15] You think of that, 8,000 promises that God gives. How many promises have you broken in your own life? How many promises have you made to people and you've let them down?
[27:30] And yet every promise that God gives to his people, they're secure and they've come to pass. They are fulfilled in Christ. The amazement of God's promises to us.
[27:44] And when we think of songs and psalms that we sing, how many of them contain, so many of the promises that God gives to us, which we sing through. Many of the psalms, we sing promises that God has given us.
[27:57] We think of many of the hymns that have been written. We think of the promises that God has given. There was one hymn written, standing on the promises of Christ, my King.
[28:09] It's just a psalm that was written by someone who was in the midst of a period of ill health, grave ill health, at the point where this person thought that they were going to die at around the age of 30.
[28:24] And yet they survived and lived more than 40 years after that. And yet this person wrote this hymn. In the midst of that, given confidence, given assurance of God's help through his promises.
[28:38] And just to quote some of the words from it, it says, Is that how we live our own lives?
[29:10] Do we live it in that way of standing on the promises of God, on the word of God, and the confidence that that gives to us? As you go through the scriptures, you find that the promises of God are so many and so varied.
[29:28] From the beginning, when we see God's promise to Noah, where he said, Never again will I flood this world. And you go through to the promise that Christ himself gives in John 14, when he speaks of the fact that he is going to prepare a place for his people.
[29:50] And when he says that, he says, If I go to prepare a place, I will come again, and I will take you to be with me where I am. So you have almost the promises from the beginning right to the end, and the promise that Christ gives to his people of a place, and a time when he will return to take his people to him.
[30:14] But think of that promise that Jesus gives, that he goes to prepare a place, and that he will come again. When we think of what we were looking at this morning in Isaiah 55, that wonderful, almost gospel passage in Isaiah 55, where it's a great invitation, Come to the waters, come all who are thirsty.
[30:39] And then the verse we were looking at, Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, that there's this urgency to come to the Lord while we have opportunity.
[30:51] As I said this morning, we're going to think, Well, what does it mean for us now? What does that mean for us on a day-to-day basis? We seek the Lord, we find the Lord, we love the Lord, but what does he give us now?
[31:07] And especially when you think of that text in John 14, when he says, I am going to prepare a place for you. I am going away. He says that to his disciples. Now, another place, I am going away, but I will leave my comforter, the Holy Spirit.
[31:23] We often maybe start to think, Well, where is he now? Has he left us in the meantime? Has he left us in the midst of all the dangers and the turmoil that surrounds us, all the anxieties and fears that come our way?
[31:37] Has he just left us to go on blindly by ourselves? And no doubt there are times when we maybe feel that sense of isolation, when we maybe feel that we're alone, that we're struggling.
[31:52] But has he left us? Well, it comes back again to standing on the promises of Christ our King. And what is the promises that he has given to us, repeated again and again and again through Scripture?
[32:12] Well, one of the most wonderful promises he gives to us as we look through Scripture is that he has not left us and that he will not leave us. When you look at Scripture, you find that it's constantly with us, always there for us when we put our trust in him.
[32:32] And that this is true until he comes again. Hebrews 13, verse 5, is this promise that we're looking at together this evening.
[32:44] I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. And it's a promise, as we often see in Hebrews, is quotes from the Old Testament.
[32:57] And you go back to the Old Testament and you find this promise given. In particular, it was given to Joshua at a time when he was taking over from Moses as the leader of God's people, as he was taking them on into the promised land.
[33:15] Joshua was anxious. He was fearful what this meant. How could he do it? Well, God gave him this promise and he repeated this promise to him. You read it in Deuteronomy 31, verse 8.
[33:29] Moses assuring him, the Lord goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.
[33:42] And then God himself gives him, Joshua, that promise in Joshua 1, verse 5. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
[33:55] I will never leave you nor forsake you. You have that promise repeated. And it's an often repeated promise to God's people.
[34:06] When he calls his people back to himself, he says, return to me and I will return to you. I will be with you. That sense of relationship that God has with his people.
[34:18] You look at it in the New Testament context. And Jesus, before he left this world, before he ascended to God, what did he say to his people as he left them?
[34:30] He gave them a command. He gave them a commission. In Matthew 28, verse 19, he said, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
[34:47] And he gave them this promise, this assurance. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. He gave them this promise.
[35:00] And this is a promise that we have today ourselves. That as we put our trust in the Lord, we have this promise, I will never leave you or forsake you.
[35:14] And as in verse 6 it says in Hebrews 13, it goes on to say, So we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear.
[35:26] What can man do to me? There is confidence that this promise brings. The Lord is my helper. The Lord has promised.
[35:37] I will never leave you nor forsake you. And the Lord often gives this promise in the midst of challenging times. And it's no different for ourselves today.
[35:50] When we think of the world in which we live and all the worries and concerns that we see around us on a daily basis, does not the word of God give us confidence?
[36:01] Does not God's promise give us confidence? Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. Not until the Lord returns.
[36:14] But we want to just look at this promise for a few moments together. First of all, we're going to think of the background to it.
[36:25] And then we'll think of the promise itself. And then we'll think of, well, what kind of response does it call for? So first we want to just see a little of the background to this promise.
[36:41] As you read through the book of Hebrews, it's a book that's full of so much teaching from the Old Testament. The Old Testament is often quoted in it.
[36:55] And it's a book that was written to the people in the midst of various trials and tribulations that they were experiencing in their lives. And the writer to the Hebrews is urging the people to maintain both their confession, their confession that God is their Lord, that they have this relationship with them, but also that their confidence.
[37:18] Confidence is a word that we will see come up again and again throughout the book of Hebrews. We'll look a little bit about that at the end as we think of the response this calls for.
[37:30] But it's about having a confidence in God. And this confidence, as you see as you read through it, is so often in light of their suffering. For example, in Hebrews 10, verse 34, it says, You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
[37:56] There was this confidence in God. Even though many of their people were in prison, probably unjustly, their property was being taken from them, confiscated, but they knew what they had.
[38:11] They knew they had a kingdom belonging to God, a kingdom that could not be shaken. As again, you read as you go through the book of Hebrews. And that's what the writer was doing.
[38:23] He was bringing them to this point where they would have this confidence and this assurance, based on this promise, I will never leave you and never forsake you.
[38:33] And you find that as you come towards the end of Hebrews, chapter 10 onwards, there's a lot of kind of practical teaching for us.
[38:44] In chapter 10, you have a number of texts there that we can be quite familiar with. We've quoted one there in verse 34. There's kind of, there's suffering, but there's other verses too that you think of, the not neglecting to meet together.
[39:00] In verse 25, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. There is this call to worship and this assurance, this confidence that faith gives.
[39:16] So you have that full assurance of faith in chapter 10, which then goes into chapter 11, that wonderful passage of the faith of God's people, so many from the Old Testament.
[39:28] the faith that they had in the midst of so many different challenges. Then you have chapter 12, where we're encouraged to not grow weary, but to run the race, to run the race with patience, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, that we have one who we can look to, one who is with us.
[39:55] Then later on in Hebrews 12, it says in verse 28, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
[40:14] We have this worship of God and God seen as a consuming fire. And this call to worship is what follows on into chapter 13, where we see it in practical ways and practical experiences, how our focus is still to be on God, who is with us.
[40:36] And verse 5 and 6, as you're reading through chapter 13, it may almost seem like an odd verse. When you think of what it's talking about, you see so many things that the challenges of the people faced in chapter 13, so many of the challenges that we face ourselves today, challenges to love one another, to have brotherly love, to not neglect hospitality to strangers, the fact that there is persecution, the fact that there is lust that can often so much rule our hearts, the fact that there is a love of money that takes people away from God.
[41:19] And then as you go on past verse 6, you've got the place of faith and the word of God, but also in the midst of false teaching. And then it goes on to speak almost of the leaders, the politicians of the day.
[41:35] There's a whole host and a variety of things being spoken about there, but they're not separate from our faith. They're so often the challenges to our faith and the places where we think, well, has God left us in the midst of all of these challenges?
[41:53] And so verse 5 and 6 are almost like a central point of let's keep our focus on the Lord. Remember, in the midst of all of these challenges, of all these temptations that come our way, the Lord, he will never leave us.
[42:11] And so anything else that may seem that this is what we need, this is what will help, no. What we need is the one who has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.
[42:23] And when we have that, we can confidently then say, the Lord is my help. There is a bit of the background to this text.
[42:35] Challenging days, days when there's so many different things going on, days just like our own, but with this wonderful promise in the midst of it.
[42:45] Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. And many a Christian has testified to this. I'm sure many a Christian here can testify to these words.
[43:00] The Lord is my helper. The fact that he will never leave us or forsake us. Some have testified to this in spectacular ways.
[43:13] I'll give you one example. A missionary, John Payton. He went to the New Hebrides in the Pacific Islands. Small cluster of islands together there.
[43:25] And he went to one of these islands to minister among the tribes there. And they were fearful of these people coming and especially coming with the word of God. There were people who went, the missionaries who went, were often attacked.
[43:38] Some were many were killed for coming with their faith. John Payton, he went and was faithful to God, but he had his own challenges. And there was this one night when he with his wife were staying in the mission headquarters.
[43:56] They were staying there, just the two of them there this night. But outside, they saw that the local tribes had surrounded the place that they were staying.
[44:07] And they were just waiting for them to attack. And they were fearful. John Payton and his wife were terrified. And for that night, they were praying during the night for the Lord to protect them and the Lord to keep them.
[44:22] When daylight came, they were astonished to see the tribe leave without attacking them. And they were just amazed. They thanked God for his protection during that night.
[44:34] And they carried on their ministry. And little by little, the Spirit of God worked in that place. And people started to come to faith. And a year later, the chief of the tribe was converted.
[44:47] He became a Christian. And John Payton spoke to him about his faith. And then he asked him about this night when they had surrounded his home, when himself and his wife were there.
[45:00] And he asked, how come you didn't attack? Well, the chief seemed astonished. And he said, well, who were all those men who were there with you?
[45:12] And John Payton said, what? Men? There was nobody there that night but myself and my wife. And the chief said, well, there were hundreds of men standing round your home protecting you with swords and bright shining clothes.
[45:28] And then John Payton well knew that is how the Lord had answered his prayer for protection in a spectacular and amazing way. And we say to ourselves, well, that's well and good for him but that's not the kind of things that I see in my life.
[45:46] But that's not the norm. But it doesn't mean that God is not with us. It doesn't mean that God has left us. He is with us.
[45:58] And there are many ordinary ways in which God reminds us too that he is with us. A word and season from his Bible, from his word himself.
[46:11] A friend who gives us comfort. An unexpected provision. There are so many ways that he reminds us that he is near. And why is that?
[46:22] Because he has promised, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Whether it's the ordinary or the spectacular, it doesn't matter.
[46:34] It is God's promise to his people. And we see a little of this promise as we look at verse 5 here. what it does for the people then and what it does for ourselves today.
[46:50] It gives them a renewed focus. It gives them a renewed confidence and encouragement in their experience. So that in the midst of their people being put into prison, persecution, their property being taken from them, all of these things, they still have this confidence.
[47:11] the Lord is my helper. The Lord is my helper because that is what he has promised. And when you look at this promise and how it comes up in the Old Testament and right through into the New Testament, into our own present day, it continually reminds us that God has made this promise and has kept this promise through time.
[47:36] It is God himself who has given it. It is not just a promise from man, but for he has said, the Lord has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
[47:54] God doesn't break his promises. He keeps every one of them. And behind this is his covenant promise.
[48:04] That is what is behind these words, I will never leave you nor forsake you. It's equivalent to the promise God made in his covenant in the Old Testament. I will be your God and you will be my people.
[48:19] Where he will keep us secure. But it means trusting in him. It means going on with him. Because the Bible also reminds us of the opposite of this.
[48:34] And that is almost the abandonment of God. When God, we turn our back on God and God leaves us to our own devices.
[48:45] You see it again throughout Scripture. You see it in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy. Again, there's a warning in chapter 31 verse 16. God says, they will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.
[48:59] On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them. I will hide my face from them and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them.
[49:10] And on that day they will ask, have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us? They recognize in the midst of disobedience our God is not with us.
[49:27] And the same would be true in Isaiah's day as the people turned their back on God. But God is calling them to seek him, to come back to him. The same is true here in the days of the Hebrews as they may be tempted to turn their back on God that they would fail to see God with them.
[49:46] The same is true in the book of Romans as God says, well, if that's what you want I'll leave you to your own devices. It brings disaster upon us.
[49:56] But the greatest disaster of all is that we would be consumed by this God for turning our back on him.
[50:08] And that is a warning that the book of Hebrews gives again and again as well. But the writer to the Hebrews keeps saying, but you have a kingdom.
[50:20] But you have a God. You have one whose kingdom cannot be shaken. You have one whose kingdom is secure. You have one who has made this promise to you.
[50:31] I will never leave you nor forsake you. And this means that we can have confidence to say the Lord is my helper.
[50:42] We can be abandoned by others around us. We can be left helpless in so many ways. But God will not leave us.
[50:53] there was a story from the Second World War of six pilots who had left an aircraft carrier in an afternoon to go on a mission.
[51:05] They were in the waters where there were many submarines and they had been tasked to go and fly around and see if they could spot submarines. And they had.
[51:15] They had spotted a number of submarines. And as they were returning to come back to the aircraft carrier, it was getting dark. And as they were trying to find the aircraft carrier where they thought it must be, they started radioing and asking for a light so they could land.
[51:33] But they were told that the captain had said that the ship was to be in blackout. Because of the number of submarines in the area, they were afraid to put on any light because the submarine would spot them.
[51:47] And again and again they kept radioing and saying just give us a light to land, give us something that we might see where to land. And they had to keep saying we can't. And eventually the radio operator was so broken hearted by what he was saying that he switched off the radio so that he wouldn't hear the pleading for a light anymore.
[52:07] And they all had to ditch their planes in the ocean. A sense of abandonment from their own people that they couldn't help in the midst of the fear of enemy submarines around them.
[52:21] They were abandoned, they were helpless. Well there was a greater abandonment than that. And that's when we look to the cross. When we think of what Christ has done for us, the one who later on in this chapter has described as going outside the camp of giving his blood.
[52:44] That as we look to the cross we see the greatest sacrifice of all. The place where there was darkness, where there was abandonment, where Jesus cried those awful words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[53:03] Why have you left me? Well why? Well the cross was the place of God's fulfilling every promise in Christ.
[53:15] That he had to suffer. That he had to suffer as it says outside the camp. That he had to give that sacrifice that we might live.
[53:27] That we might have light. That we might have hope to walk in his ways. If you feel abandoned, if you feel at times you're just groping in the darkness, think of the cross where Christ died for our sins.
[53:48] Where darkness overcame for a time that remember the resurrection. That glorious day that he has risen. That he is with us.
[54:00] Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. And that's what we see being hammered home for us here. He has suffered for us outside the camp so we might have life through him.
[54:16] The Lord is my helper. Can we say that tonight? Well this does call for a response.
[54:28] The promise is there for us. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. But as with all of God's promises, it calls for us to respond.
[54:41] And what was the response that the writer to the Hebrews was looking for here? Well if you look at verse 6 it says, so we can confidently say, we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper.
[54:58] I will not fear what can man do for me. The call of this promise is for us as a people to have confidence.
[55:11] And as you go through the book of Hebrews you see it calls people to have this confidence. This confidence to persevere, this confidence to worship, to trust God no matter what.
[55:26] And just when you see the word confidence in Hebrews it gives us confidence in many different ways. Hebrews 3 verse 6 gives us confidence in his hope.
[55:39] It says, we are his house, his people, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope. The hope that there is in Christ, the confidence that brings.
[55:55] There is confidence to persevere. Again in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 14, for we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
[56:11] The confidence to persevere. In chapter 4 verse 16 it gives us confidence despite our sin where it says, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
[56:31] The Lord is with us. In chapter 10 verse 19 we have confidence in his finished work. Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.
[56:47] Again it's this confidence. It's not in ourselves. It's in the blood of Christ. And this confidence is despite opposition.
[56:59] in Hebrews 10 verse 35 we've seen the kind of opposition that they face. But it says therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward.
[57:13] So the word confidence keeps coming up as you're going through Hebrews. But the foundation of it is all at this last point in chapter 13.
[57:25] It's the last quotation from the Old Testament. I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper.
[57:40] I will not fear. What can man do to me? Do you have that confidence tonight?
[57:51] To confidently say the Lord is my helper. It's the confidence that comes from seeking the Lord while he may be found and calling upon him while he is near.
[58:06] In knowing the pardon, in knowing the forgiveness of sin, in knowing the faith that that gives to us, that is where that confidence comes. And it's a confidence in which we go on.
[58:19] The Lord doesn't leave us. He gives us the promise that he is with us constantly. Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.
[58:33] There is no time and no place where God abandons his people. Through life, through death, to eternity, he is with us.
[58:48] We can have confidence in that because it's not of ourselves. it's of him. It's faith in Christ as our Lord, as our King, that we can stand on his promises and know his presence always with us because he will never leave us or forsake us.
[59:12] So let us confidently say the Lord is my helper. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, may we know the blessing of your word to us this night.
[59:28] May we know the confidence it brings to us that we are not abandoned, that we are not alone, that you have said that you will never leave us or forsake us and help us to have the confidence to say the Lord is my helper, that we would know that on a daily basis, that we would know the assurance and the comfort and the grace that that gives to us, a grace that is always sufficient for our every need.
[59:55] So hear our prayers Lord and continue with us. That's all we ask. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to conclude by singing in Psalm 71 in the Scottish Psalter verse 16 to verse 18.
[60:16] The tune is Weatherby, Psalm 71, page 311 of the psalm books. And again, these verses remind us of God's wonderful presence with us and the confidence that that gives.
[60:31] I will constantly go on in strength of God the Lord and thine own righteousness even thine alone I will record. Verse 18. And now Lord leave me not when I, old and gray headed grow till to this age thy strength and power to all to come I show.
[60:48] We'll sing these three stanzas to God's praise. Amen. And I will constantly go on in strength of God the Lord and thine own righteousness even thine how old I will record.
[61:26] What if love teaching me?
[61:43] Have a love to who asked me what a love The Lord has gone, and I'll mourn thee, may not when I hold and grant it through, till to this age thy strength and power do all to come my show.
[62:37] After the benediction, I'll go to the door to my left. We'll just close with a benediction. Now may grace, mercy, and peace from God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore. Amen.
[63:11] Amen.