I’ll Stand By You
Seeing the Sacred in the Secular

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Good morning to all of you here this morning. It is good to be talking to those of you that are watching online, as well. We’re concluding our series today entitled, “Seeing the Sacred in the Secular.” What we’ve been doing for these past few weeks, is we’ve been taking a look at a secular song and then looking at how we might see a deeper meaning there from the perspective of the Lord. We believe that all truth is God’s truth. Even people far from God can experience inspiration from God and from God’s creation. We will hear certain songs that tug on our heartstrings. As believers, we see that there’s something deeper implied.

Today, we heard a beautiful rendition of “I’ll Stand by You” which was a song that was made famous by Carrie Underwood in 2007. Actually, though, she was covering a song that was written by the Pretenders, that they released in 1994. That song has been around for a little while; it’s kind of a classic now. Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer for The Pretenders, wrote this song. It actually made the top 20 that year, in1994. Then, it hit the charts again in 2007, because the words just resonate with you, no matter who you are. It has this idea, that no matter what, thick or thin, there would be a friend that would stand by you.

Maybe you heard some of the verses: “Nothing you confess can make me love you less. Take me into your darkest hour. I’ll never desert you. I’ll stand by you. Won’t let nobody hurt you. I’ll stand by you.” This is a friend, singing this song to another friend, saying, No matter what, I’m going to stand by you. It’s kind of like marriage vows, right? For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, I’m going to stick with you, as far as it is humanly possible.

We can say things like that and mean them, but the truth is, there’s only one person who can really keep that promise, and that’s the Lord Jesus. I’m convinced that He’s the only one that can really say, I’ll stand by you, and keep that promise. We’re just not able to live up to all of our promises; it’s not humanly possible.

There might be somebody here this morning and you’re facing some sort of uncertainty in your future right now. Maybe, you’re a young person and you’re graduating in May. You’re hoping to go to college in the Fall and you’re already starting to feel the butterflies, the anxiety of the unknown. What will it be like? Will I have friends? You begin to worry as you face the future. Maybe, it’s a new job; you’re starting a new job. I hope I fit in. I hope I know what I’m doing when I get there. Maybe you’re thinking of some other change in your life. Maybe, you went to the doctor and the doctor gave you some news, I’ve got to have surgery or I’ve got to go through this and you’re thinking, Oh, man, I really need a friend like that.

Whether you’re far from God or a follower of the Lord through Jesus, we have this in common; we have a need for a relationship with someone. It’s like God put it in us to desire someone who will stand by us; this is something we all have in common. I think it’s because the Lord made us for Himself, but knowing that He made us for each other.

That’s why the Bible is filled with so many “one another” commands. What have I said in the past? “You can’t do the “one anothers” without one another.” We need the Lord. We need each other. We need someone who will stand by us and someone who will help us face the future without fear and anxiety.

We’re looking, in today’s message, that the Lord promises to stand by us. We are going to be in Deuteronomy, chapter 31. In Deuteronomy. Moses told the Israelites that they could face an uncertain future without fear, because the Lord had promised to be with them. I believe we can face the future in that same way.

We’ve been through a challenging year, haven’t we? This past year, there has been more upheaval and change, perhaps, than many of us have ever experienced. There’s a lot of things we don’t know; a lot of us have figured that out. We can’t control what’s going on. We don’t know what the future holds, but we can know the One who holds the future. I believe today that we can face the future without fear, because the Lord has promised to be with us. As we look at the text today, we will see three reasons why we can face the future without fear.

Let’s look at Deuteronomy, chapter 31 now. The book of Deuteronomy was written by Moses. He wrote the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The word, Deuteronomy, means “second law.” What is Moses doing in Deuteronomy? Is he summarizing what he had already written? He’s saying it again; the reason he’s doing that is because the Israelites are starting to go into the Promised land, and he wants to remind them of everything that they’ve learned in the wilderness and everything they’ve learned coming out of Egypt. In the Greek, “Deutero” means second and “nomy “ means the idea of law. Moses is restating everything. They are about to go into the Promised Land. Moses gathers all of the Israelites, and here’s what he says:

Deuteronomy 31:1-8 (ESV) 1 “So Moses continued tospeak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3 The LORD your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the LORD has spoken. 4 And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” This is God’s word. Amen.

If you look at this passage, you can see, in verses one through six, that Moses is talking to the entire assembly of the Israelites. He’s called them all together, and he’s giving them this final “pep rally,” if you will, before they go into the Promised Land. This is happening in these first six verses. He says, “I am 120 years old today.”

Now, would you like to be the one to put the birthday candles on that cake? That’s a lot of candles, right? He tells him that he is 120 years old today, so listen to him. I know some things, is what he’s basically saying.

In verses one through six, Moses is talking to the whole assembly. In verses seven through, eight, he calls Joshua up, out of the assembly, and he lays hands on him. He, basically, commissions him and says to the assembly, Here’s your new leader. Here’s your new head because I can’t go in. He begins to explain these things well. Here’s the first reason you can face the future without fear.

You can face the future without fear knowing that: 1. God promises to go before you.

In verse three, it says, “The LORD your God himself will go over before you.” He says this to the Israelites and then he repeats it in verse eight, “It is the LORD who goes before you.” He says this twice, like a good communicator. He tells him what he tells them and then, at the end, he tells him what he told them . He repeats it. “The LORD will go over before you.”

This is the Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible. This is the Moses who, the first 40 years of his life, was a prince in Egypt. From his 40 to 80 years, he was a shepherd in the wilderness. From his 80 to 120 years, he was the deliverer of Israel from Egypt. He delivered them right up to the Jordan River to go into the Promised Land, but was not allowed to go in himself.

He gives us two reasons why he wasn’t able to go into the Promised Land, The first is, in verse two, “I am no longer able to go out and come in.” Is there anyone here who just feels like you can’t go out and come in anymore? If you had a pastor who was having trouble coming out and going in, you’d probably give him a stool and a table when he’s preaching, I am having some trouble going out and coming in. Moses has had some trouble. He’s getting older and he knows that there’s a limit to human leadership. He’s making preparations for them to have a new leader.

It’s important that the people of God know that the only personality that is their hero is the Lord, not their pastor. I pray that this church would never be like this; that it would be personality driven. This is not the “church of Gary;” this is the church of Jesus. I just work for Him. I serve Him and so do you. Moses is making it clear, I need to hand off the baton; I’m not able to come in.

Moses gives a second reason he wasn’t able to go into the Promised Land. He says that it was because the Lord told him he would not go over the Jordan River. Why was that? It was because, some years prior to this time, Moses had disobeyed God. God said to Moses that He was not going to let him go into the Promised Land now because he disobeyed Him. Moses rebelled against God’s word. What had happened was Moses had heard the people complaining that they were thirsty; they were wandering around in the wilderness. The first time that happened, he went before the Lord and asked Him, What do I do? God told him to take his staff and strike the rock and water will gush forth. It will be enough to quench the thirst of all the people, their cattle and so forth. Moses obeyed God’s command. It happened and their thirst was quenched.

Later in the story, as they’re wandering through forty years in the wilderness, it happens again. They begin to complain again. Moses goes before the Lord, except Moses has “had it up to here” this time. He’s really ticked off at the people. The Lord says, “Go to the rock, and this time, speak to the rock and tell the people that the Lord said to speak to the rock. Then, the water will come forth.” Well, that’s not what Moses does. Moses is angry; he’s frustrated at the people. He goes to the rock, and he does what he did the first time. But, God doesn’t do encores. He makes all things new; that’s the way He did it the first time. Moses doesn’t speak to the rock. He speaks to the people and he says, You rebels, you stiff-necked bunch of people, do I have to strike this rock and make water come forth? Moses strikes the rock and God still lets him have the water. But, when he finishes taking care of the people, God says to him, You rebelled against Me. I told you to speak to the rock instead. Out of anger and pride, you struck the rock and “chewed” the people out. As a result, you’re not going into the Promised Land. Moses can’t go out and come in at 120 years old. The Lord has said he would lead them right up to the Jordan, but that’s as far as he is going. And Moses is reminding the people of this reality. See, Moses recognized he’s not in charge. God is in charge.

Who is Moses handing the leadership off to? He’s handing it off to a guy named Joshua. In verse three, it says, “and Joshua will go over at your head.” In other words, the Lord will go before you, but your human representative from God, is Joshua.

Who is this Joshua? First of all, note that Moses didn’t choose him. God did. God chose Joshua and told Moses to use Joshua as his assistant. You can study this in the book of Exodus and in the book of Numbers. His name was not Joshua at first; it was Hoshea in the Hebrew or Yeshua. If you would say, in English, Yeshua was his name, which means salvation. But then, God told Moses to change his name. And he changed his name to Yeshua or Joshua, which, by the way, we have the New Testament equivalent to Jesus. It’s the same word. It means “God’s salvation.” Moses changes his name to “God’s salvation.” You can find this in Number 13:16.

Joshua was one of the two who gave a good report from the 12 spies. He and Caleb came back and gave a good report. The other ten gave a bad report when they went in the first time to the Promised Land saying that the ones living there were giants in the land and we were like grasshoppers in their sight. But, Caleb and Joshua said, No, we can do this. We trust God. And so, God led them into the wilderness for 40 years, so that that whole generation of rebels died off. Nowtheir children are getting ready to go into the land. Moses is holding a pep rally here, saying, Don’t make the mistake your parents made. Really, there’s only three old guys left: Moses, who is 120 years old, Caleb is 80 years old and Joshua is probably around 70 or 80 years old.

The reason we know about Caleb’s age is later in the story, when Joshua’s dividing up the land, as Moses had commanded him, he says to Caleb, Moses told me to give you whatever land you wanted and you’re part of the tribe of Judah. So Judah got this land but what portion do you want? Maybe Caleb would say, Well, give me this flat level pasture here with this nice spring because I’m 80 years old now, and I need a place so I can take it easy. But that’s not what Caleb said. He said, My right arm is as strong as it was 40 years ago. Give me the giants, give me the mountains.

I want to be like him, don’t you? I want to finish well. So, Caleb got the mountains. He got the area of Judea that God wanted him to have. Caleb’s about 80 years old and Joshua is probably about 70 or 80 years old. Those are the three old guys in the whole camp. Everybody’s young now, but they have been brought up in the wilderness. It’s like they went to a forty-year boot camp, and so, they’re ready to go in. Moses is making sure they understand some things; God is going before them.

One of the ways Moses helps them is to tell them who the new leader is going to be. It is Joshua; they were used to Joshua. He had been Moses’ assistant. He had guarded the Tabernacle. He guarded, at the foot of the mountain, when Moses went up to get the Ten Commandments. He was the commander of their armies whenever they would go into battle. The people were used to seeing Joshua in leadership positions. A wise leader will raise up young leaders and let the people get used to that young leader.

Moses doesn’t leave them in a lurch between leaders. He reminds them, in verse four, “And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.” They have, already, won a couple of important battles. Remember how, under Moses, they defeated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og.

If you can think about the land of Israel, the Jordan River goes down through the middle of the sea of Galilee and then down to the Dead Sea. On the eastern coast of the Jordan was the land of the Amorites. Moses tells the people to remember how they’ve defeated them and how the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manesseh were given these lands (Num. 32:33).

This is what God will do when you’re getting ready to face something new. He wants you to remember how He was faithful in the past. But, Lord, I don’t know about this. He wants you to remember the last time you were afraid and remember how He brought you through it. That’s what Moses is doing right here, saying, Look, God is going to go before you. Look how He went before you and defeated Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings. Don’t be afraid. He’s going to go before you. Be strong and courageous. He’s going before you.

Sometimes, it’s very helpful to remember what God has already brought you through. He’s already brought you this far. As we think about this, I want to pull out a couple of thoughts here. When we look at the Old Testament, I always tell people to “read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament.” Even better yet, “read it through the lens of Jesus .” I’m looking for Jesus on every page if I’m reading the Old Testament.

It’s not hard to see, in this story, because you see that Moses brought them the law, but Moses was not able to bring them into the Promised Land. Joshua was able to bring them into the Promised Land; Joshua’s name means “God’s salvation.” If I begin to bring this across the “New Testament Bible Bridge” and see it through the lens of Jesus, the Promised Land becomes a metaphor for the Kingdom of Heaven. Moses becomes a metaphor for the law, that leads you right up to it but can’t get you in it, because it tells you right from wrong. It, mostly, tells you you can’t get in with the law; you need something better. Joshua, “God’s salvation,” represents Jesus. It’s really easy to see, don’t you think?

As I was growing up, I would hear a lot of hymns about the Promised Land. Does anyone remember those? If you’re in my age group, we used to sing about the Promised land. We weren’t talking about going to Israel; we were talking about Heaven.

I remember this one song growing up; it was written by Samuel Stennett, an English Baptist pastor, who wrote this hymn, entitled, “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks” in 1787: 1. On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, Refrain: I am bound for the promised land, and cast a wishful eye I am bound for the promised land; to Canaan’s fair and happy land, oh, who will come and go with me? where my possessions lie. I am bound for the promised land.

Another song we would sing was, “I’ll meet you in the morning.” The songs were talking about the end of life, when you cross into Heaven and you’re looking for Jesus to get you there. I am bound for the Promised Land. Some of you are mouthing the words with me because you’re of my generation. You remember singing songs like that.

What we were talking about, is what we see through the lens of Jesus. He’s talking about more than just Israel and more than just Moses. He’s talking about us. He’s talking about what God wants to do here through us. Jesus has already gone before us; He’s already gone before us and has taken our death, our sin, our grave and has defeated it. You can look it up in Hebrews 2:10; Jesus is the Captain of our salvation. He is our Forerunner and Great High Priest. He went before us and He defeated sin, death and the grave. He went before us and took it. Not only has He done that, but he has gone before us and become our forerunner and our great high priest.

It says in Hebrews 6:19-20 (ESV) , “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever…” Who/what is a forerunner? A forerunner goes before you, in front of you. He went in front of you as a high priest. The Tabernacle that God instructed Moses to build was only an illustration, a picture of the one in Heaven. The Tabernacle was the copy; the original is in Heaven.

At this time, they had to keep on offering sacrifices because there was not one that was sufficient. In the New Testament, Jesus came and offered Himself as a sacrifice. Not only that, He became our great high priest, ascended to the Father and brought His own blood to the mercy seat of the Father. He became our forerunner and our great high priest. He paid it all . He paid it in full. He went before us. He’s not finished. He has gone before us to prepare a place for us.

John 14:1-3 (NKJV) “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” That is what He’s doing.

I’ve thought about this sometimes; it took the Lord six days to create the universe. But Jesus has been working on our place for about 2000 years. I don’t know what it is going to look like, but Paul said that no mind could comprehend that no human heart can hold it. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us.

God had led them through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. For forty years, they had the manifest presence of God. The cloud would hover over the Tabernacle when they were supposed to camp. When it was time to move, the pillar of cloud would move out, and they would break camp, pack everything up and follow the cloud. He had taken them through a forty-year boot camp, training them to follow Him. Come, follow me. They learn to follow Him. This generation is ready to obey.

How do we apply this? What was Jesus’ invitation to his disciples? He didn’t say, Come follow this law or come follow these principles. He said, Come follow Me. He has gone before us, friends, and He’s still saying, Come follow me. How can we pray in response to this promise, that God has promised to go before us? Well , here’s how we can pray. You can get up in the morning and say, Lord, I don’t know what this day holds, but I know You promised You would go before me. Would You go before me into this day? My boss has called me into the office and I’m a nervous wreck because they laid some people off last week and I’m worried it’s going to be laid off. Would You go before me and talk to my boss about that for me? Would You go before me to that operating room where I’m getting ready to have surgery? Would You go before me into that school where I’m getting ready to go? He promised He would go before you. God, would You show me favor today? Would You go before me and prepare my way and I will follow you?

That’s the first promise. I’ll stand by you by going before you. Here is the second.

You can face the future without fear knowing that:

2. God promises to never leave you.

God promises to never leave you. In verse six, it says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” He gives two features of what that looks like. He goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. He’s with you; He won’t leave you and He won’t forsake you.

First of all, let’s talk about what it means that He won’t leave you, because the fact that He’s with you, really, has two parts to it. He won’t leave you. He won’t forsake you. Let’s just talk about how He won’t leave you. By the way, I’m not worried about that part. I’m more worried about me because I’m not as faithful as He is. I want to be. Let’s talk about “He will not leave you.” This idea of not leaving you has the idea that He will not relax or let you alone. He will not be slack. He will be with you. He will stand by you. He will never leave you. Somebody needs to hear that; He’s not going to leave you.

If you said, Yes, I will follow you. Jesus, Yes. I accept that You’ve died on the cross for my sins. I want to be born again and follow You. He will never leave you. And so, Moses says to the people of Israel, He will not leave you, so be strong and courageous. Let’s look at some of this. “Be strong” doesn’t mean like “Rambo strong.” Literally, in the Hebrew, it has the idea of “to be fastened tightly or to be bound strongly.” In my mind , this word, “strong,” has more to do with getting a grip on the Lord. He’s your strength; He’s the source, so reach out your hand and take hold of Him and don’t let go. To be strong has the idea of to be tied and bound to Him. Be strong and be courageous.

Courageous has to do, if you look at the Hebrew, with the idea of being bold because you know you’ve got His hand and have your eyes wide open and looking for where you’re headed. Whereas, fear bows down.

Do not be afraid. “Do not fear or be in dread.” Dread has this idea of not even wanting to see this. Not wanting to see tomorrow. I dread it. It’s this foreboding. Sometimes we dread the future because it’s uncertain. Sometimes we dread it because we know what’s coming. Moses states it in the positive. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be fearful and dreadful. They’re opposites when you face the future, when you face the uncertainty of the future or when you face difficult days.

The second promise that will help you is that He won’t leave you today and He won’t leave you ever. He won’t leave you; He’s with you. He’ll stay with you. He’ll stand by you so you don’t have to be afraid. How does this help? How does it help that He promises He will stay with you?

It says in Isaiah 12:2 (ESV) “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” It helps because He’s your strength. He helps you to be strong and courageous because you’re hanging on.

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That’s how I can do all things. Not because I can do all things but because Christ strengthens me. He helps me to be strong and courageous.

How has Christ promised that He would be with us? Well, He promises at the end of the Great Commission, in Matthew 28:20 (ESV) “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” How is He with us? How is Christ in this room right now? Is He with me? Is He with you? He is with us through His spirit, through the Holy Spirit. That’s how He’s with you.

It says in John 14:16-18 (NLT) “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth… you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans…” Now he’s speaking to the disciples, and later He will be in you. After Pentecost, He’ll be in you. If you ask Christ to come into your life, He comes into your life through the Holy Spirit because the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit or one yet three distinct personalities. This is a difficult thing to understand but this is what the scripture teaches us. Jesus says to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them everything I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always to the end of the age. He will be with you through the Spirit. He’s with you. He’s in this room right now.

To those of you that are believers, the Spirit lives in you. You love the Word of God. As I’m preaching right now, your heart is set on fire by the preaching of the Word. You love the Word because the Spirit lives in you. For those of you that are far from God, that are visiting today or you’ve been coming a little while because there’s something going on in your life, you’re looking for something. You feel something today that makes you a little uncomfortable. That’s the Holy Spirit; He’s trying to ask you to let Him in and to let the Lord Jesus save you. He’s here; He’s in our midst and he’s present.

It says in John Chapter 14, “I will not abandon you as orphans.” John 14:16-18 (NLT) “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth… you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans…” I’ll never leave you.

Have you ever heard of this psychological disorder called SAD? It stands for Separation Anxiety Disorder. According to the American Psychiatric Association, Separation Anxiety Disorder is an excessive display of fear and distress when faced with situations of separation from the home and or from a specific attachment figure such as a parent caregiver, significant other or sibling. This is normal for children under six. If you want to see separation anxiety, just be at the nursery check every Sunday. That’s not SAD; that’s normal. But, when you get to be over six and you’re 16, you’re 26 or 56 and you still have it, it’s a disorder because you have anxiety about being left behind and somebody leaving you.

When I was eight years old, (many of you know my story, but it’s worth repeating here), my father died. He was 39 years old. He died of lung cancer. I’m the oldest of four children. My father was my hero. Whenever, I think about holding someone’s hand, I visualize his hand. Even when I’m thinking that the Father has my hand, I still see my daddy’s hands. I remember when I was a little booger . I mean, like, five years old. I was a “night owl;” I’ve always been kind of a night out. In those days, the TV went off at midnight. Did you all know that? It went to just a screen and didn’t come on again until 6 a.m. Some of the kids are thinking, What is he talking about? We have 500 channels. No, back in those days, we had two channels where I lived. We had two channels and one of them came in fuzzy. The tv went off at midnight; there would be like a “Pledge of Allegiance. God bless America,” and then it went off.

There was one particular night, when my dad said to my mom, Let’s see how long Gary will stay up. He kept me up and we watched “The Twilight Zone” that night. It was the episode where that ugly monster was eating the airplane wing. William Shatner was the guy playing the actor who had airplane anxiety. He opened the curtain, because in those days they had curtains on airplane windows, and that monster had its face pressed up against that window. I let out a “war hoop” when that happened and Dad put me to bed. He was in trouble with my mom then. And so, that whole night I wouldn’t go to sleep. I could hear him back in the other room saying, It’s your turn. Dad finally came in and lay down in the bed next to me; we had twin beds. I was in one and my dad laid in the other one. He stretched his hand out and held my hand until I went to sleep. There was just something about his hand holding my hand. His arm probably fell asleep and was just about to fall off, but he was so determined to get me asleep that he held on until I went to sleep. That was my daddy. He scared me to death with Twilight Zone, but then he held my hand.

My father died when I was eight years old. It was November 3,1966. I was in the third grade. My mom couldn’t take care of us; I don’t know what happened. So, we moved from Bristol, Virginia, to Wayne, Michigan with my aunt. Looking back on it, I realize that that eight year old boy had this condition at that time. I started acting out at school. I had uncontrolled rage at times. If you’re eight years old, you don’t know what depression is. You don’t know what anxiety is. You just know something’s wrong. Where’s my dad? Where’s my mom? Why are these kids at school telling me I talk funny because I say “y’all” instead of “you guys?” I say “coffee” instead of “kwaffee.” I was in trouble at school; I was making trouble. I couldn’t sleep at night. I was having nightmares that my daddy died and, maybe, I’m going to die. I would have nightmares of hell, that I was going to die and go to hell.

I don’t know what you think your children are able to understand spiritually, but watch out, they understand a lot more than you think. We started going to this church, Prayer Baptist Church, in Wayne, Michigan, and they had children’s church. Where I grew up, children’s church was sitting next to your mom, and if you didn’t behave, she pinched you. That was children’s church where I grew up. But, at this church, they had a special Children’s Church. One Sunday morning, I went forward and prayed to receive Jesus. The nightmares went away, and I started changing. I didn’t know what happened, but the anger started slipping away. It was like a light came on. I had a sense, at night, when I would lay down and pray that I was actually holding the Father’s hand. I’m talking about capital F. Not my daddy’s but my Father’s hand. He says, “I’ll never leave you,” and I believed it. That’s the second promise. Here’s the third.

You can face the future without fear knowing that:

3. God promises to never forsake you.

Look at verses seven and eight. Now, Moses has given this word to the people of Israel. Now, he’s going to give a more intense version to Joshua in front of the people of Israel because he’s commissioning Joshua now to lead them. He summarizes the three promises. 7 “Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” So, he summarizes everything I’m telling you, (1) He’ll go before you. (2) He will not leave you.(3) He will not forsake you.

“Forsake,” literally has the idea of “to loosen the bands” or “to let go.” Jesus says, “I will not leave you.” This next one is even sweeter to me. “I won’t let you go.” Occasionally, I have a bad Monday. He says, “I won’t let you go.” That means a lot to me. Does that mean alot to you? I won’t forsake you; I won’t loosen the bands.

It says in Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV) “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”’ Here’s that word, dismayed, in verse eight. Do not fear, do not be dismayed. They were dismayed. In Hebrew, it has the idea of to tremble or to be frozen with fright. I can’t move because I’m so scared. “Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” There’s that hand again. I will hang on to you.

I don’t know how many parents here know what I’m talking about. We had three children; our second, Jonathan, was a runner. What I mean by that was, when I took him out of his car seat and I was holding him there, getting ready to put him on the ground, his legs were already going. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at whatever he thought he was going to run to and it had nothing to do with me and the family. He had no need for us. He was self contained and ready to be independent from the time he was two years old. Now, if I’m going to be a good daddy, I can’t just put him down on the pavement at the Food Lion parking lot or wherever I’m at, because he’s going to get ran over by a car. He doesn’t look where he’s going. He’s two years old, so if I brought him out of the car seat and I put him down and needed to get the other one of the kids, I had to hang on to him. I had to grab whatever he would let me grab because he didn’t want to hold my hand. He tried to pull his hand, so I grabbed his ear. I grab the hair of his head. I grabbed his nose. Whatever I could get. You might think, Well, that sounds like abuse. No, I didn’t want him to die. I’d like to think I’m a pretty good daddy, but I recognize that boy had a mind of his own. If I was going to be a good father, I had better hang on to him.

Romans 8:38-39 (ESV) “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor nor

powers nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. Jesus, our Lord.” Oh, He’s got you. He’s got you; He’s not letting go.

John 10:27-30 (ESV) “ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” He’s got you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you, either.

Some of you are runners. Some of you have been running from God a long time. He wants you. If you say I want to follow Your Son, Jesus. I believe in Him. I believe He died for my sins. He will come and live in you through the Holy Spirit. He will cleanse you of all in righteousness. He’ll make you a child of God and, from that day forward, He’ll go before you. He’ll go with you, never leaving you nor forsaking you. He says, I will always stand by you, and He means it.

Do you have that assurance today? When you lay your head on your pillow at night, do you know that He’s got you and watches over you while you sleep? My wife and I pray at night, and as we’re laying our heads on our pillows, I’ll say, Now, Lord, You’ve got the night shift because I’m going to sleep and I can’t even watch to see what’s going on. But really, Lord, you’ve got the day shift, too, because I can’t even control that with my eyes open. I need You to go before me, Lord, and prepare the way. Let me see where you’re at work so I can join You there and follow You. And I know You won’t leave me. I know You won’t let go of me. Some days I have bad days and I’m not full of faith like I should be because I’m still in this world and some days get the best of me. But You never forsake me. That’s God; there’s no one like Him. Let’s pray.

Lord, thank You that You go before us. You say, “I’ll never leave you. I’ll never forsake you.” I’m praying for that person right now. That came in today on a thin thread. You barely got here. You don’t know the Lord. You’ve never given your life to Him, but you have a sense right now that you want to, you desire to . You can do it right now. You don’t have to wait. Right where you are. Prayer is just talking to God. You can talk to Him right now, right in your seat. Pray like this, Dear Father, I’m a sinner. I’ve been trying to live my life my own way. I’m a runner. I’ve been trying to run from You, but You’ve caught me today. Lord, I want you. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He was raised from the grave and He lives today. Come and live in me. Forgive me of my sin. Make me the person you want me to be. I want to be a child of God and follow You. If you’re praying like that right now, He’ll save you. Jesus will make you a child of God. Others are here and you know the Lord. But anxiety and fear and dread mark your life. It shouldn’t be this way. What promises are you not believing? Would you come to the Lord right now and say, Lord, forgive me, I’ve been relying on my own control. I’ve been relying on my own strength. I have forgotten that You go before me, that You never leave me and that You’ll never forsake me. Thanks for reminding me today, Lord. Renew my strength now in You. We pray all this in Christ’s name. Amen.