A New Year’s Benediction

A New Year's Benediction

(No. 3387)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 3, 1868.

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with
such things as you have, for He has said, I willnever leave you, nor
forsake you." Hebrews 13:5.

OBSERVE the way in which the Apostles were accustomed to incite
Believers in Christ to the performance of their duties. They did not
tell them, "You must do this or that, or you will be punished. You must
do this and then you shall obtain a reward for it." They never cracked
the whip of the Law in the ears of the child of God. They knew the
difference between the man who was actuated by sordid motives and the
fear of punishment–and the newborn man who is moved by more sublime
motives, namely, motives that touch his heart, that move his
regenerated nature and that compel him, out of affection, to do the
will of Him that sent him. Hence the address, here, is not, "Be
content, or else God will take away what you have," but, "Be content
and have nothing to do with covetousness, for He has said, "I will
never leave you, nor forsake you."

The promise is made the argument for the precept! Obedience is enforced
by a Covenant blessing. He has said, "I will never leave you, nor
forsake you." What then? Shall I be discontented and covetous? No! But
for the very reason that He has made, by His promise, my very safety
absolute and unconditional, assuring me, "I will never leave you, nor
forsake you"–for that reason I will keep covetousness and every other
evil thing out of my conversation and will seek to walk contentedly and
happy in the Presence of my God! See, Brothers and Sisters, this Gospel
motive. It is a Free Grace argument. It is not a weapon taken from the
arsenal of Mount Sinai, but taken from the region of the Cross and from
the council chamber of the Covenant of Love!

Another thing in the text to which I would call your notice is
this–that an Inspired Apostle who might very well have used his own
original words, nevertheless, in this case, as indeed in many others,
quotes the Old Testament. "He has said, I will never leave you, nor
forsake you." Behold, then, the value of Holy Scripture! If an Inspired
man quotes the text as of Divine authority, much more should we so
regard it, who are without such inspiration. We should be much in
searching the Scriptures and when we want to clench an argument, or
answer an opponent, it would always be well for us to take our weapon
from the grand old Book and come down with, "He has said." Oh, there is
nothing like this for force and power! We may think a thing, but what
of that? Our opinions are but of little worth. General authority and
universal opinion may sustain it, but what of that? The world has been
more frequently wrong than right and public opinion is a fickle thing.
But '"He has said," that is to say, God has said–Immutable Truth and
eternal fidelity have said God, who made Heaven and earth, and who
changes not, though nations melt like the hoar frost of the
morning–God who always lives when hills, mountains and this round
world and everything upon it shall have passed away–"He has said!" Oh,
the power there is in this, "He has said, I will never leave you, nor
forsake you"! So, then, let us be much in searching the Scriptures,
much in feeding upon them, much in diving into their innermost
depths–and then afterwards much in the habit of quoting them, using
them as arguments for the defense of the Truths of God, as weapons
against error and as reasons to call us to the path of duty and to
pursue it!

But now to come to the promise, itself, "I will never leave you, nor
forsake you." I shall call your attention, first of all, to–

I. THE REMARKABLE CHARACTER OF THIS PROMISE.

Is it not an amazing fact that while others leave us and forsake us,
that God never does? It is to each one of His own redeemed people that
He says, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." How often do men
play false and forsake those whom they call their friends when those
friends fall into poverty Ah, the tragedies of some of these cruel
forsakings! May you never know them! These so-called friends knew their
friends when that suit of black was new, but how sadly their eyesight
fails them, now it is turned to a rusty brown! They knew them extremely
well when once a week they sat with their legs under their table and
shared their generous hospitality–but they know them not, now that
they knock at their door and crave help in a time of need!

Matters have changed altogether and friends that once were cherished
are now forgotten. In fact, the man almost pities himself to think that
he should have been so unfortunate to have a friend who has come down
so and he has no pity for his friend because he is so much occupied in
pitying himself! In hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of cases,
as soon as the gold has gone, the pretended love has gone! And when the
dwelling has been changed from the mansion to the cottage, the
friendship, which once promised to last forever, has suddenly
disappeared!

But, Brothers and Sisters, God will never leave us on account of
poverty! However low we may be brought, there it always stands–"I will
never leave you, nor forsake you." Scant may be your board. You may
have hard work to provide things honest in the sight of all men. You
may sometimes have to look and look again–and wonder by what straits
you will be enabled to escape out of your present difficulty. But when
all friends have turned their backs and when acquaintances have fallen
from you like leaves in autumn, He has said, "I will never leave you,
nor forsake you." Then beneath His bounty you shall find a shelter! And
when these other hands are shut, His hands shall still be outstretched
in loving kindness and tender mercy to help and deliver the soul of the
needy!

Sometimes, and very often, too, men lose all their friends if they fall
into any temporary disgrace. They may really have done no wrong–they
may even have done right– but public opinion may condemn the course
they took, or slander may be propagated which casts them into the
shade! And then men suddenly grow forgetful. They do not know the
man–how should they? He is not the same man–to them at any rate–and
as the world gives him the cold shoulder, his friends serve him the
same. The old proverb, "The devil take the hindmost," seems to be
generally the custom with our friends when we get into seeming
disgrace! They are all off, seeing who can run away first, for they
fear that they shall be left to share in our dishonor. But it is never
so with our God. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." You may be
put into the dungeon, like Paul and Silas, but God will make you sing
there, even at midnight! You may be set in the stocks, but even there
God will cause you to greatly rejoice! You may be cast into the fiery
furnace, but He will tread the flames with you! You may be so
dishonored that men shall treat you as they did God's only Son–and
lift you up upon the cross of shame and put you to death–but you shall
never ask, "Why have You forsaken me?" Your Lord said it when He bore
your guilt, but you shall never need to say it, for your guilt is put
away forever and Jehovah will stand by you in all your dishonor! And
let me say here that there is never a child in the family that is
dearer to the great Father than the child that is suffering shame and
contempt from others! He loves them dearest when they suffer reproach
for His sake! These are nearer to His heart than any other and He bids
them rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be their reward
in Heaven if thus they bear and endure for His name! "I will never
leave you, My persecuted one! I will pour such joy into your heart that
you shall forget all the dishonor. I will send an angel to minister to
you. Yes, I will, Myself, be with you and you shall rejoice in My
salvation while your heart is glad and calm in the midst of the tumult
and the strife around."

Blessed be God, all the shame and spitting that men can put upon us can
never put our God away, for, "He has said, I will never leave you, nor
forsake you." Alas, sad is it for human nature that we must say it–how
many have been forsaken when they have been no longer able to minister
to the pleasure and comfort of those who admired them while they
profited by them! Some are thus thrown aside just as men throw away
household stuff that is worn out and is of no further use. Depend upon
it, men will not forsake us while they can get anything out of us! But
when there is no longer anything to profit by, when the poor woman
becomes so decrepit that she can scarcely move from her bed to her
chair, when the man becomes so laid aside by accident or is so weak
that he cannot take his place in the great march of life–then he is
like the soldiers in Napoleon's march–he drops out of the line to die
and thousands either march over him, or if they are a little more
merciful, march by and around him! But few are those who will stop to
care for such and attend to them. How often are the incurable forsaken
and left! But He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
If we should getso old that we cannot serve the Church of God, even by
a single word. If we should become so sick that we are only a burden to
those of our house who have to nurse us. If we should grow so feeble
that we could not lift our hand to our lip, yet the eternal love of
Jehovah would not have diminished, no, not so much as by a single jot
towards the souls whom He had loved from before the foundation of the
world! However low your condition, you shall find God's love is always
underneath for your uplifting! However weak you are, His strength shall
be revealed in the everlasting arms that will not permit you to sink
into disaster and your soul into Hell. This, then, is a very precious
text! Others may forsake us for different reasons–too many to be
mentioned now–but He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake
you." Well, then, let the rest go! If the Lord Jehovah stands at our
right hand, we can well afford to see the backs of all our friends, for
we shall find Friends enough in the Triune God whom we delight to
serve!

Again, this is a very remarkable promise if we think of our own conduct
towards God. "He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
And have not we often said the same to Him? We were like Peter–we felt
we did love our Savior–we were sure we did and we did not, could not
believe that we could ever be so false or so faithless as to forsake
Him. We almost longed for some temptation to prove how true we would
be! We felt very vexed with other professors, that they should prove so
untrue! We felt in our heart that we could not do like that and that we
would stand firm under any imaginable pressure! But what became of us,
my Brothers and Sisters? Charge your memories a moment. Did the rooster
that accused Peter never accuse you? Did you never deny your Lord and
Master and, at last, hearing the warning voice, go out and weep
bitterly because you had forgotten Him–He whom you had declared so
solemnly you would never forsake? Oh, yes, I fear we, many and many a
time, have said, "I will never leave You, nor forsake You," and yet
under some sarcasm, some ridicule, or some pressing trial, we have been
like the children of Ephraim and, though armed and carrying bows, we
have turned our back in the day of battle! If your voice has never
denied Christ, has your heart ever done so? If your tongue has remained
silent, has not your soul sometimes gone back to the old flesh-pots of
Egypt and said, "I would gladly find comfort once again where I did
find it with my old companions and in the old ways"? Ah, well, as you
think of this–how unkindly and ungenerously you have treated your
Lord–let this text stand out in bold relief, "He has said, I will
never leave you, nor forsake you." Although you have often forgotten
Him, yet, His loving kindness changes not! Though you have been fickle,
He has been firm! Though you have sometimes believed Him not, yet He
has remained faithful–glory be to His name!

Again, this promise is a very remarkable one if we notice how it
overrides all the suggestions that might arise from a mere view of
strict and severe justice. It might be said, "Surely a child of God
might justly be forsaken. He might so sin against God that it would
only be just to leave him utterly to himself." Now, I am free to grant
that a child of God might do so, no, that allthe children of God do do
so and that God would be just if He acted upon the stern principle of
His Law to forsake His children as soon as ever they were converted,
for it is not long after their conversion that they sin! And that sin
is a special kind of treason against God. He would be just even if He
cast them away! But what I desire to enforce is this–that the promise
is remarkable because it makes no kind of provision for this in any
sort of degree and under no imaginable circumstances! It does not say,
"I will never leave you, nor forsake you if–as certain brethren are
prone to put it–"if–you do not forsake Me." Nor does it say, "I will
never leave you, nor forsake you if you do such-and-such and
such-and-such." It is an absolute promise without any perhapses, ifs,
buts, conditions, or promises! "I will never leave you, nor forsake
you."

He that believes in Jesus shall never be so left of God as to fall
finally from Grace! He shall never be so deserted as to give up his
God, for his God will never give him up so far as to let him give up
his confidence, or his hope, or his love, or his trust! The Lord, even
our God, holds us with His strong right hand and we shall not be moved!
And even if we sin– sweet thought!–"If any man sins, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." Over the heads
of all our sins and iniquities, this promise sounds like a sweet silver
bell, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

Now, there are some that would make licentiousness out of this and go
into sin, but in doing so they prove themselves not to be the children
of God! They show at once that they know nothing of the matter, for the
genuine child of God, when he has a promise which is unconditional,
finds holiness in it. Being moved by gratitude, he needs no buts, ifs,
conditions, racks and scourges in order to do right. He is ruled by
love, not by fear! He is governed by a holy gratitude which becomes a
stronger bond to sacred obedience than any other bond that could be
invented! Hence to the child of

God, the knowledge that God will not leave nor forsake him, never
suggests the thought of plunging into sin! He were an awful monster,
indeed, if he did any such thing, but he hates it and he says–

"Loved of my God, for Him again

With love intense I burn–

Chosen of Him ere time began

I choose Him in return."

Observe, then, how remarkable is the promise–so contrary to the manner
of men, so contrary to our own conduct and so absolute and
unconditional, that it is, indeed, marvelous that such a word should be
on record. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

I cannot leave this part of the subject without remarking that such a
promise as this seems to me that it makes a clean sweep of every
suggestion to the child of God to be depressed in mind. You tell me you
do not feel, just now, as you did some time ago–you are not anything
like so earnest and lively in the Divine ways.

When a Believer is in this state, it is sometimes suggested to him that
doubtless he is not a Christian at all–and that he must go back
altogether to Egypt in order to get Gospel liberty. This is
foolishness! But this promise comes in and says to him, "God has not
left you, nor forsaken you." Whatever may be your present state of
thought and feeling, however low you may have fallen, the Eternal God
is still faithful! He has not forgotten you! Go to Him now–ask for
reviving and refreshing, for He will surely give them to you.
Conscience will, perhaps, say to some child of God tonight– indeed, I
hope it will–"There has been much today in business that has not been
what it should have been, and as you look back upon the day, you will
see much to mourn over." And then, perhaps, conscience will add,
"Therefore God will leave you." Now, if you come to believe that, you
will live worse tomorrow than today! And the next day still worse! But
if you can answer, "No, He has said, 'I will never leave you, nor
forsake you,'" and can go with child-like confidence to your God and
confess the sins of the day and begin again washing once more in the
precious Fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
tomorrow there will be a better day! The joy of the Lord will be your
strength against the sin and your confidence in your Father's Immutable
Affection will inspire you with zeal to trample down your temptations!
Perhaps the devil may be injecting into your soul tonight all sorts of
strange things–that God has quite forsaken you and that He will be
gracious no more to you and other lies of that kind. But He has said,
"I will never leave you, nor forsake you," and if you can get hold of
this, it will be a sufficient refutation of all the suggestions of your
own fear and of the infernal power! No, Satan! I will cast myself upon
the precious blood of Jesus! And if God should take all my property
away, yet He has not left me, nor forsaken me! I am sure of that! And
if my spirit sinks so low that I dare not look up, yet still He has
said He has not left me, and He never will! If my sins should roll over
me like a big billow and my conscience should cry out against me–and I
should feel no rest and no peace–yet still I will hold on to Jesus,
sink or swim, for He has said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake
you." And let God be true and every man and every devil– and even my
own conscience–prove a liar sooner than God's Word should for a moment
be placed in doubt!

We now pass on to ponder upon–

II. THE REMARKABLE COMFORT CONTAINED IN THIS PROMISE.

See how it abounds! I note, first, its constancy. "I will never leave
you, nor forsake you." That is, not for a day, not for an hour, not for
a minute! There are no breaks in the Divine Love. God does not depart
from His people to return to them, by-and-by, but He assures, "I will
never, no never, leave you." Perhaps that dear child of yours that is
sick is soon to die. Well, God will not leave you in the moment when
she is taken from you. Possibly that dear one who is now your comfort
and delight, your husband, may get sick and it will be a terrible
stroke for you to be visited with, but, "I will never leave you, not
even for an instant! Then in that trying time you shall prove the power
and solace of My Presence."

Perhaps, businessman, that great commercial project, that great
transaction of yours may prove to be a losing one– that bill may be
dishonored, you may come to bankruptcy without any fault on your part
but–"I will never leave you nor forsake you." Yes, you may have to go
to Australia and you may greatly dread the leaving your native land,
but even then, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." It may be you
may be so misrepresented as to become suspected by those whom you love
best and you may be even put out of the Church of God without any fault
but entirely through error. Well, but then, even then, "I will never
leave you, nor forsake you " not even for a minute! Oh, Brothers and
Sisters, what would be the consequences if the Lord left us for one
quarter of an hour? I solemnly believe that if God were to leave

His people even on their knees for twenty minutes, they would be
brought to the deepest Hell! But He will not leave them, even there!
And if it were dangerous to leave them on their knees alone, how much
more so in the market or in business amidst enemies–seeking to catch
them in their speech and deed! But He will never for a moment leave His
people nor forsake them! He will be at all times, at all hours, at all
seasons, in all days of emergency at their right hand and they shall
not be moved!

I notice in the promise, next to constancy, endurance. As there shall
be no breaks in God's love for His own, so there shall be no end to it.
"I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Yes it may not be desirable
to live to extreme old age when infirmities may abound and all strength
may decay, but if you should reach it, "I will never leave you, nor
forsake you." It certainly is a painful thing–that last stroke to pass
to the Throne of God–but, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
There shall never be a time when the Lord will cast away one of His
people! He shall never grow weary of them. He has espoused them unto
Himself–married them–taken them into eternal union with Himself! And
let the ages revolve as they may and time change as it will, God will
never leave or forsake His people! Comfort yourselves, therefore, with
the confidence of the endurance as well as the constancy of this love!

We are most pleased, however, with the fullness of the promise. The
text means, manifestly means, from its connection, a great deal more
than it says. We are told not to be covetous. Why? Why should we be
covetous? God has said He will never leave us and if we have Him, we
possess all things1 Who has need to be covetous when all things are his
and God is his? We are told to be contented–not to seek to hoard up so
much for the future–because God has provided for the future in the
very promise, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." God guarantees
to His servants that they shall have enough! Well, let that guarantee
prevent both covetousness and discontent! How shall this promise apply
to temporal things? "I will never leave you, nor forsake you " does not
look, at first sight, as if it had anything to do with our ordinary
expenses. But according to the text it has, for we are told not to be
covetous, but to be content with such things as we have. So then, the
text applies to the ordinary workingman, to the merchant, to every
Christian even in his money matters as well as in his soul matters! "I
will not leave you, even in these." He that does not let a sparrow fall
to the ground without His permission, will not let His children want!
If they should, for a little time, be in need, that shall work their
lasting good–they shall dwell in the land and verily they shall be
fed! The fullness that lies in the promise is perfectly unbounded. When
God says He will be with His servants, He means this, "My wisdom shall
be with them to guide them. My love shall be with them to cheer them.
My Spirit shall be with them to sanctify them. My power shall be with
them to defend them. My everlasting might shall be put forth on their
behalf so that they may not fail nor be discouraged." To have God with
you were better than to have an army of ten thousand men! And a host of
friends were not equal to that one name–the name of Jehovah–for He is
a host in Himself! When God is with a man, He is not there asleep,
negligent, indifferent–regardless in his time of suffering–but He is
there intensely sympathizing, bearing the trouble, helping and
sustaining the sufferer and, in due time–His own good time–delivering
him in triumph! Oh, precious word of heartening promise! Plunge into
it, for it is a sea without a bottom! "I will never leave you, nor
forsake you."

Better still, perhaps, in the promise is the certain truth of it. "I
will never leave you, nor forsake you " has been proven by God's saints
in all the ages that are past. Turn to the pages of your Bibles and see
if ever a man was ashamed that put his trust in Christ! See if he that
wrestled with the invisible God was ever confounded. Has not the Lord
stayed with His people at all hazards–broken the necks of kings and
scattered empires like chaff before the wind sooner than that one of
His faithful ones should come to ruin?

It has been so even in your own experience. You, too, have found the
text to be true. You have gone through fire and through water, but He
has never left you nor forsaken you! Your vessel scarcely had enough
water to stay off the bottom, but though she had almost grated on the
gravel, yet she has kept afloat and though, perhaps, you have been
wrecked, yet you have come safely to shore. You have lost much, you
say, but you have been a gainer by your loss and where you are today
you are by eternal mercy and Covenant Grace–and you could not well be
in a better position than God has put you Goodness and mercy have
followed you all the days of your life up till now and you are obliged
to confess it and to say–

"Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise."

So fear not, now that at this particular season God is about to alter
His previous dispensation! Out with them, poor Little-Faith! Away with
your doubts! Put away those black suspicions! He is a God that changes
not and, having helped you until now, He will help you even to the end!
Why how true this must be! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
How can God forsake that which has cost Him so much already? He has
given His Son's blood to redeem us and His Spirit's power to renew
us–and if He were to leave undone the work which He has begun–why a
tower has been commenced and He has not been able to finish it! A man
who has spent much money upon one enterprise will spend yet more to
finish it because of what he has already spent. Now God will not lose
the work of Christ and the precious blood of His Son–having begun, He
will certainly carry on even to the end! Besides this–God cannot leave
His people because He calls them His children–and how could He leave
His child? "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not
have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, she may forget, yet will I
not forget you." Even when the son has dishonored his father's name and
lost his own character, that father's love still holds on and still
follows that child with tears of sorrow, but still with faithfulness
and truth. And God will not cast away His own begotten sons whom He has
begotten again unto a living hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead! Beloved, Christ is married to His people and, therefore,
how can He leave them? He says, "As a young man rejoices over his
bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." And will He leave them to
whom He is knit by so near and dear, so tender and affectionate a
union? It cannot be! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Now, if
He did leave His people, what would it be? It would be giving up the
whole quarrel between Himself and Satan! It is in His people's hearts
that the great battle is being fought out between good and evil. To
give them up would be to give up the battleground to His great
enemy–and what laughter there would be in the vaults of Hell! What
mockery in the halls of Pandemonium if it could be said, "God has
forsaken His people! Given up His elect! Suffered His redeemed to
perish! Cast away His regenerate and forsaken the souls that trusted
Him!" The very thought of it is blasphemy! Far, far from us, let us put
it away. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

I cannot enlarge further upon the promise and need not do so because it
opens up itself, or rather God the Holy Spirit will open it up to you
if you sit awhile in your chamber and meditate upon it. I do not know
of a richer text or one more full of consolation. It is a long skein of
the Truth of God–unwind it. It is a precious granary as full as Joseph
crammed the granaries of Egypt! Open the door and feed to the
fullest–there will be no fear of your ever exhausting it! "For He has
said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

Now the third thing to be noticed concerning this promise is–

III. THE REMARKABLE EFFECTS THAT SUCH A PROMISE SHOULD PRODUCE.

Surely the first blessed fruit of such a glorious promise should be
perfect contentment. It is said to be hard to be content. I have the
pleasure of knowing some Brothers and Sisters who I am sure are
perfectly content. They even say so and I think without the slightest
mental reservation that they have not an unfulfilled wish or desire so
far as this world goes. They have all that heart could wish. And yet
these are not the richest people in the world and they are not persons
who are much to be envied for their mere external circumstances–yet
they are perfectly content. The fact is that the Grace of God makes the
people of God to sing sweetly where other people would murmur! They are
satisfied where others would find easy ground for discontent. But how
easy it is–how easy it must be for a man to be content when he knows
that God has promised to be with him in all circumstances and at all
times! Surely if anything could be a kind of conservatory–a hot-house
in which to grow the delicate plant of contentment to perfection–it
must be this full belief that high or low, rich or poor, well or sick,
God has said, "I will never leave, nor forsake you." Surely it was this
that made Bunyan's Pilgrim sing in the Valley of Humiliation–

"He that is down need fear no fall.

He that is low no pride–

He that is humble ever shall

Have God to be his guide."

Christian did thereby say that he was content whether he had little or
much, and that he left everything in his lot to his God. Oh, get then,
my Friends, my text fully into your souls and keep it there as marrow
and fatness–and you will be content!

Well, then, in the next place, it will cure your covetousness. A man
does not need to go on scraping and to use that muck-rake forever when
he knows, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." It was not a bad
argument which one usedwith Alexander when he said to him, "When are
you going to enjoy yourself fully?" Alexander did not answer the
question but the philosopher said, "What are you going to do next?"
"First we shall conquer Greece." "Yes, and then will you rest?" "No, we
shall then attack Asia Minor." "And when you have conquered that, I
suppose you will rest?" "No, we shall then take Persia." "And when you
have overcome Persia, what then?" "We shall march to India." "And when
you have taken India, what then?" "Why, then we shall sit down and make
ourselves merry." "Well " said the philosopher, "I think we had better
begin before we go to Greece, or Persia, or Asia Minor, or any of
them." And truly so it were as well for us to be content with that
moderate income which God gives us. Let us enjoy what God bestows upon
us now in gratitude to Him and give ourselves up to His service lest,
perhaps, in seeking more, we become spiritually poorer while literally
richer–and become less content with the great load on our back than we
have today, when we have enough and no more. It is a sweet quietus to
covetousness when God says, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

And, Beloved, what a promise this is to make a man confident in his
God. In his works, in his sufferings, in his enterprises–what a stay
of soul is here!

I know what it is to fall back upon this promise, sometimes, to keep
from depression of spirit and to find reviving in it. Perhaps you may
suppose that those of us who are always before the public and are
speaking concerning the blessed promises of God, never have any moments
of downcasting and never any times of heart-breaking, but you are quite
mistaken! We may have passed through all this, perhaps, that we may
know how to say a word in season to any who are now passing through
similar experiences. With many enterprises upon my hands, far too great
for my own unaided strength, I am often driven to fall flat upon the
promise of my God, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." If I feel
that any scheme has been of my own devising and that I seek my own
honor in it, I know it must come to the ground and rightly so! But when
I can prove that God has thrust it upon me and that I am moved by a
Divine impulse and not by my own monitions and wishes, then how can my
God forsake me? How can He lie, however weak I may be? How is it
possible for Him to send His servant out to battle and not succor him
with reinforcements in the day when the battle goes bad? God is not
David when he put Uriah in the front and then left him that he might
die. He will never put any of His servants forward and then desert
them! Dear Brothers and Sisters, if the Lord shall call some of you
even to things you cannot do, He will give you strength enough to do
them! And if He should push you still forward till your difficulties
increase and your burdens become heavy as your days, your strength
shall be and you shall go on with the tramp of soldiers with the
indomitable spirit of men who have tried and trusted the naked arm of
the Eternal God! "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Then what
does it matter? Though all the world were against you, you could shake
all the world as Samson shook the lion and tore him as a kid! If God is
for you, who can be against you? Though earth and Hell and all their
crew come against you and should combine together, yet if the God of
Jacob stood at your back, you would thresh them as though they were but
wheat and winnow them as though they were but chaff–and the wind would
carry them away! Oh, roll this promise under your tongue as a sweet
morsel!

How I wish that it belonged to you all! Oh, that everyone of you had a
share in it! But some of you, alas, have never fled to Jesus. Oh that
you would do so! Whoever trusts Him for pardon by His atoning Sacrifice
is saved! To look to the Great Substitute and depend upon Him for
salvation–this gives salvation–and then come the promises that belong
to the saved!

The Lord in His infinite mercy bless you for Jesus' sake. Amen.