Grosey's Messages

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!

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 be-

came 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!