GOD WILL HELP YOU!

"Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them -- those who are mistreated -- since you yourselves are in the body also. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
Hebrews 13:1-6

One of my great joys in reading scripture is how God gives us new and fresh understanding every time we come to the Word. I had this experience on Monday in Hebrews 13. In the opening verses of Chapter 13 we are exhorted to love each other (v. 1), to be hospitable (v. 2), to be compassionate to the oppressed and needy (v. 3), to pursue sexual purity both inside and outside of marriage (v. 4), and perhaps most difficult of all, not to love money but to be content (v. 5). I don't know about you but this is a very formidable task for me!

Have you ever thought about the things that God expects us to do? Some of us try to do it and utterly fail. Others try and fail but think they are doing it anyway. Others don't even try because they know that they can't. How is it can God possibly expect such behavior from people who cannot behave in these ways?

The answer, in verses 5b-6, is found in a promise that God Himself makes to every one of us: "'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" So we can confidently say,"The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me?"' There is a deliberate double negative is present in the Greek text of our passage. The statement is quite emphatic and could be literally translated, 'not not will I leave you, neither not not will I forsake you,' or better still, 'I will never, by no means ever, leave you; neither will I ever, by no means ever, forsake you.'

When I read this text I discover that if if this promise is true, there is no valid reason why you should ever again experience fear or apprehension about your relationship with God or your life. That doesn't mean you won't experience such fear. It does mean there is no valid reason why you should.

What that means, practically speaking, is that you and I never, by no means ever again, have any excuse for being afraid of what others can do to us. We never, by no means ever again, have to try to do something alone that we know God wants us to do. Why? Because God, our omnipotent helper, is always and forever with us.

Think about it: since God is really and truly forever and always right here with you, other people cannot control or shape or determine your life. Some of you hear this statement in Hebrews I3:6—'What can man do to me?' and you say: 'Good grief, are you kidding? They can do a lot to me and they have throughout my life! They can criticize me, abandon me, reject me, lie to me,beat me up, rob me, slander me, sue me, even kill me!'

But God knows that. He said it explicitly in Hebrews I0:32-34, "But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven." and in 11:35-38, "Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented -- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. ".

Look right here in our passage at verse 3! Our writer isn't stupid. He knows that people can do a lot of really bad things to us. So what could he possibly mean in verse 6? Why does the promise `I will never leave you or forsake you' cause him to feel so confident in verse 6 that he an declare that no man can do him harm?

There are at least three answers:

1. No human can do anything to separate you from the love of God-
Romans 8:35-37, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ". Notwithstanding the worst imaginable physical torment or emotional distress or financial disaster, you and I are forever safe in the arms of God.

2. God is able to cause all things people do to us, even the bad things, to work together for our good-
Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." This isn't to say that all things are good, but that God can orchestrate the evil into a symphony of glory.

3.God enables us to respond with everlasting joy to whatever we do, by reminding us that we have `a better possession and an abiding one'
Hebrews 10:34, "For you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. "

The promise of Hebrews 13:5b-6 follows immediately after the five exhortations not to love money, I believe our author intends for us to understand that this is how we fulfill all five exhortations! We can love each other because God is always with us as our helper. We can be hospitable to strangers because God is always with us as our helper. We can find the energy and resources to help the oppressed and needy because God is always with us as our helper. We can live in sexual purity because God is always with us to help us. And we can break the power of money over our lives because God is always with us to help.

If these promises is true, the way to be free to live verses 1-5 and all of God's commandments is to know and believe and be satisfied by the promise of God summed up in `I will never leave you nor forsake you.'

If God really means that, then I am loved in such a way that I am overflowing with His helping love to love my brothers.
If God really means this than I am helped to do unto the least what He has done to a wretched sinner like me and be excited with the possibility and discernment that I may be serving even an angel in disguise!
If God really means this than I am helped to identify with the hurting, bound up, and the suffering and help them with the very comfort that Jesus has given to me.
If God really means this than I am helped to be the faithful, pure, serving, and devoted husband that God has called to be.
If God really means this than I am helped don't need to crave after money as the source of my security and identity and pleasure but instead to crave after Christ the source of true security, identity, and pleasure!

Where do you need help today? Remember the promise of Jesus in Hebrews 13:5: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Therefore you can say and pray Hebrews 13:6: The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" Wherever, whenever, and what ever you fear would you put this promise into your place of need and trust? Lord in this area_______I am asking for Your help. Amen!

Trusting in His kind promises to help me,
Pastor Bill