DISCOURSE: 2343
GODS PROMISED PRESENCE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO DUTY
Hebrews 13:5-6. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath 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 unto me.
THE end of knowledge is practice: and hence the Apostle closes all his epistles with practical exhortations. The argumentative part of this epistle terminated at the close of the preceding chapter. This chapter begins with some particular exhortations suited to the Hebrews at that time. The advice contained in our text is suited to the Church in every state and every age: and the encouragement with which it is enforced, gives it a more than common interest. In truth, it is the promised presence and assistance of God, which is our great incentive to every duty; since without his aid we can do nothing, but with it can effect whatsoever God himself requires of us.
Let us consider,
I. The promise here recorded—
The promise was originally given to Joshua: but in our text it is represented as spoken to each of us. And in this light it ought to be viewed: for it was not given to Joshua as a mere insulated individual, but as the head of God’s people, whom he was conducting into Canaan: and between them and us there is a close resemblance: they were about to conflict with many enemies, whom they must destroy, before they could possess the promised land: and we also must sustain many conflicts before we can attain the full enjoyment of the heavenly Canaan. To us therefore there is the same need of the promise, as to him; and to us also is there the same right and title; seeing that it was spoken for the encouragement of all God’s Israel to the end of time.
The promise that God “will not leave us nor forsake us,” imports that he will be ever with us,
1. By the operations of his providence—
[There is not any thing in the whole universe which is not under his controul. “Not even a sparrow falls to the ground” without his special appointment: and “the very hairs of our head are all numbered.” Circumstances indeed may occur which may cause us to tremble for the issue of them: but he will so overrule them all, as to “make them eventually work together for our good [Note: Romans 8:28.].” We may be reduced almost to despair; and may be ready to say with the Church of old, “The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten us [Note: Isaiah 49:14.]:” but he will ere long force us to acknowledge that such fears were the fruit only of “our own infirmity [Note: Psalms 77:7-10.];” and that the very things which we complained of as “against us,” were no other than his appointed means for accomplishing all his gracious designs towards us [Note: Genesis 42:36.]. Our dangers may be as imminent as those of Israel at the Red Sea; but that shall be the time for Him to open for us a way to escape from them. Our wants may be as urgent as those of Israel afterwards in the wilderness; but that shall be the time for giving us manna from heaven, and water from the rock. The time for any interposition may seem to have actually elapsed; but still “in the mount the Lord shall be seen,” precisely as he was when he arrested the uplifted arm of Abraham, and restored his Isaac to his embrace. “The vision may tarry; but never beyond the appointed and the fittest time [Note: Habakkuk 2:3.].”]
2. By the communications of his grace—
[These are necessary for us, and must be renewed to us day by day: and if for one moment they be suspended, we must inevitably fall. But God will not withdraw from his waiting and praying people. He may indeed suffer temptations to arise, such as shall threaten to plunge us into irremediable ruin; and he may even permit Satan for a time to prevail against us; but still he will not utterly forsake us; but will restore our souls, and make our very falls subservient to the augmenting of our humility and watchfulness throughout the remainder of our lives, and to the qualifying of us for warning, and exhorting, and comforting others with increased effect [Note: Luke 22:31-32.]. So also he may permit our trials to abide; and, though entreated by us ever so much, may not see fit to remove them. But “his grace shall be sufficient for us,” and shall be the more magnified in us, in proportion as our conflicts are severe, and our victories conspicuous [Note: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9.]. He may, for wise and gracious purposes, hide his face from us; but it shall be only for a little moment, that the riches of his grace may be the more abundantly displayed in the subsequent manifestations of his love and favour [Note: Isaiah 54:7-10.]. If it be asked, why he will thus continue his loving-kindness to them? We answer, “For his own sake,” and because “he changeth not [Note: Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Romans 11:29.];” as it is said, “He will not forsake his people; because it hath pleased him to make you his people [Note: 1 Samuel 12:22.].”]
That this promise may produce its due effects, let us consider,
II.
The use we should make of it—
Innumerable are the benefits to be derived from it: but we shall specify only two: it should encourage us to discard, as unworthy of us,
1. All inordinate desires—
[“Our whole conversation should be without covetousness or discontent.” We should desire nothing which God has not seen fit to give us, nor murmur at any thing which he has ordained for us. For, what can we want, or what can we have to complain of, whilst he is with us? Could any worldly good add to our happiness, or give any security to us for its continuance? Would treasures, however great, be a richer portion than he? or would the loss of them be felt, if it led us to seek more entirely our happiness in him? “When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble [Note: Job 34:29.]?” If we have but the light of his countenance lifted up upon us, nothing can augment, nor can any thing diminish, our bliss. Many of these Hebrews had “taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods:” and thousands in every age have been able to testify from their own blessed experience, that “as their afflictions have abounded, so also have their consolations abounded by Christ [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:5.].” Let us only possess “the Lord for the portion of our inheritance and of our cup; and have that lot maintained to us;” and however small our portion be as it respects this world, we shall have reason to say, “The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage [Note: Psalms 16:5-6.].”]
2. All anxious fears—
[The ungodly imagine that they can prevail against the Lord’s people: but they are no more than an axe or saw in the hands of him that useth it: they can do more than our God and Father is pleased to do by them [Note: Isaiah 10:15.]. Now who will tremble at a sword that is in his father’s hands? If indeed our God were ever weary, or absent, or disinclined to interpose for us, or if the creature could effect any thing without his special permission, there were some reason for fear: but when he is as “our shade upon our right hand;” when he is as “a wall of fire round about us, and the glory in the midst of us [Note: Zechariah 2:5.];” whom shall we fear? “Who can have access to harm us [Note: 1 Peter 3:13-15.],” if we be hid under the shadow of His wings? “If He be for us, who can be against us [Note: Romans 8:31.]?” Whatever confederacies then may be against us, whether of men or devils, we need not fear: in Him, as our sanctuary, we may deride their efforts, and defy their malice [Note: Isaiah 8:12-14.]. What should be the state of our minds, the holy Psalmist has shewn us; “Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up: he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou Most High. But, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God will I praise his word: in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. In God will I praise his word; in the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me [Note: Psalms 56:1-4; Psalms 56:9-11.].”]
See then from hence,
1.
Of what importance it is to treasure up the promises in our minds—
[The promises of God are our great support under trials, and at the same time our great encouragements to fulfil our duty; since they assure us of all needful aid, both for the sustaining of the one, and the performance of the other. It is by them that we are enabled to cleanse ourselves from sin [Note: 2 Corinthians 7:1.]; and by them to attain the image of God upon our souls [Note: 2 Peter 1:4.]. Let us then lay hold of them; and, to whomsoever they may have been spoken in the first instance, appropriate them to ourselves. Let us rest upon them, and plead them before God, as Jacob did [Note: Genesis 28:15. with 32:12.]: and know that “in Christ they are all yea, and amen [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:20.],” as unchangeable as God himself. O what a treasure does that man possess who has laid up in his mind the most comprehensive promises of his God! He can be in no trouble, wherein he has not abundant consolation; and in no want, wherein he has not an adequate supply. O beloved, let the word of Christ, and the promises of your God, “dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” Mark the emphatic manner in which they are pronounced. Look at that before us in particular: as recorded in our translation, it is strong: but as it is in the original, its force exceeds the powers of our language to express: there are no less than five negatives to confirm the negation [Note: See the Greek.]. When will God violate that promise—“Heaven and earth shall pass away; but not one jot or tittle of that promise shall ever fail [Note: Matthew 24:35.]?”]
2. How truly blessed is a life of faith—
[What a source of misery to mankind is a covetous and discontented spirit! and what a prey are they to trouble, who have no refuge from the cares and fears which agitate the ungodly world! But faith in God is a perfect antidote to them all. It assures us of a God ever nigh at hand to help and succour his believing people. See how the promise in our text is introduced: it is there suggested as sufficient to counterbalance the loss of every thing, however desirable, or the apprehension of every thing, however formidable. It is suggested, in order to inspire us with a confidence which nothing can intimidate: “We may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” Think of an angel sent down to sojourn here: what would either the acquisition or loss of riches affect him? or would any confederacies either of men or devils concern him? He would feel as satisfied and as secure as if he were in heaven itself. This then is the tranquillity which we also, according to the measure of our faith, are privileged to enjoy, Let us then “know in whom we have believed.” Let us “cast all our care on him who careth for us [Note: 1 Peter 5:7.].” And let us so realize the promises of our God, as to know that nothing ever shall, or ever can separate us from his love [Note: Psalms 46:1-3.Romans 8:38-39.]