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[0:00] I directed a letter from a minister who told me that I'd been laid upon his mind as one who should preach the gospel.

[0:13] And with it, a letter from a church asking me to go and preach the following week. The minister so settled in his mind that it was the purpose of God that I should go out, he'd taken me before a church, before he'd approached me.

[0:36] He told the church, the Lord had told him I was to preach, and as they'd been without a minister for a fortnight, he told them to write to me.

[0:51] It was, my friends, a time of deep distress. I can see the place and the condition I was in, though it was over twenty years ago.

[1:07] I fell down in my kitchen, fell literally on my knees. I said, no, Lord, tis impossible, I can't speak.

[1:20] It was such a straight place. I went out that morning, no one knew.

[1:32] I wandered about the streets in London, crying, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, help me.

[1:44] He did. The Lord said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. My friends, this God is the living God.

[2:00] Oh, how wonderful it is. He leaves again and again emphasis in the record, in the word of God, that he is the living God, and that what he hath said he will surely perform.

[2:20] My mind goes back now to the word in numbers. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent.

[2:34] Hath he not said, and shall he not do it? Hath he not spoken? Shall he not make it good? God, I wandered about that day in a depth of trouble.

[2:50] No one knew about it except the Lord. But he knew from eternity about it.

[3:02] The years that have passed since then have proved that to me. For many, many times since that day have I reminded my God.

[3:16] He said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. But, oh, he's a wonder-working God. Not only does he give a promise, but always he underlines it in his own good time.

[3:31] And the first part of our text he gave me two or three years later in sweet confirmation of the word.

[3:44] There came a time when I was at the ends of the earth, feeling to be utterly helpless. And the Lord came in with power this time, for he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

[4:09] This God is the living God, friends. He cannot lie. He will perfect that which concerneth you.

[4:21] Who does it speak to? A sinner saved by grace. Is it you? How do you know?

[4:33] Oh, how good it is, my friends, to have an exercise, to be concerned as to one being right, not only for time, but for eternity.

[4:49] A character then again I'm going to trace out, as the Lord will help me, to find you. Oh, there is such a needs be in this dark day.

[5:06] Perhaps you don't know much about it here, but as we move about Zion among the churches, we find troubles everywhere, perplexities, fears, differences, battles going on.

[5:24] The truth watered down. A solemn day, my friends. There is a needs be to be right.

[5:37] A needs be then to ask oneself again and again, has the Lord begun the work in me? For certain it is that if he has begun the work, in spite of all the troubles that come, all the hatred of man or devil, to make no difference, only your comfort in the time state, and with your comfort too, there'll be that gracious help of your God.

[6:12] He won't leave you to be swallowed up in fear. He'll uphold you. But it is to be the character, isn't it?

[6:24] It's one loved of God and precious as time began. Not one who in the time state decides to turn over a new leaf.

[6:35] Not one who listens to some man who is perhaps considered to be evangelical. And preaches a religion that looks good outwardly.

[6:53] Doesn't want anything to do with doubts and fears, but in his own natural ability takes hold of Christ and the word of God and accepts it in his judgment.

[7:09] My friends, the character whom this text speaks to is one whom a God of foreknowledge, foreordained to glory.

[7:24] A sinner to be manifested in the time state as a brand plucked from the burning, a hell-deserving sinner, but saved through free and sovereign grace, undeserved mercy.

[7:43] called out of nature's darkness and not an empty repetition, friends. I know you hear it continually, but quickened into life by conviction of sin, the Spirit of God pointing the finger in the heart.

[8:04] Thou art the man. not to cause you to look over your shoulder and find another man, but to bring you into that place willing.

[8:19] God help me. God be merciful to me. Reveal a precious Christ. His own work.

[8:34] This God, my friends, when he puts his hand to it, finishes the work. There's a continuation of it as day succeeds day.

[8:46] There's prayer, living prayer, exercise prayer. There is communion with the living God. There is knowledge in the heart that Jesus lives because there is an acceptance at the mercy seat from time to time.

[9:09] Have you come this way? It'll be through trouble. When the Lord convinces of sin, it isn't like some poor minister saying to you, why all men have sinned and you're a sinner.

[9:25] The Lord God, when he convicts of sin, sends his people to hell feelingly. That is, he cuts them down and he gives them to know what sin means and they don't find that in a dictionary.

[9:40] They don't find it in man's words. They find it under the power of God sinking them low. You come there without conviction, friends, you'll never know life in Christ.

[10:01] He brings his dear people then to that place where they give him no peace until he speaks. peace. And he speaks peace.

[10:14] Have you been there? Do you know anything of that peace that the world knows nothing of? That peace that flows through Jesus and his precious blood?

[10:30] It won't do, my friends, to say, yes, I have known that peace. God is not mocked.

[10:45] Whatsoever a man soweth, so shall he also reap. The Lord will deal with you, friends, if you're hypocrites in his sight.

[10:57] You can be a hypocrite in the sight of man and he doesn't know it. But be it in the sight of God and send you to hell.

[11:10] Oh, what a need there is to be right. Peace that flows through Jesus and his precious blood, that peace is known and truly it makes the heart thankful.

[11:32] It brings true humility as a falling before this God. Unworthy, undeserving, wretched and undone, but oh, thou art a good God to me.

[11:52] You've been there? It follows that knowledge of peace. The measure of it is in the hands of a sovereign God.

[12:04] The length of time it lasts the same, but you'll know something of it. And it comes from the intercession of a precious Christ, the dear Son of God, co-equal, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, who came into this lower world, to seek and to save those that were lost, who lived, who died, who rose again, who suffered, bled.

[12:38] The agonizing of his heart before a holy God, that agonizing that came about through the darkness of the church's sin laid upon him.

[12:54] Your sin, my friends, this precious man, the God-man, now stands in between a sinner and a holy God, and ever lives to make intercession for them.

[13:12] and tis the reason this one ever knows peace, his mediatorial work, a blessed mediator between God and men.

[13:29] These things mean anything to you, sinner, as the needs be. for if this God hath called you by his grace, for this is what it is, convicted of sin, taught to pray, led to Christ, the revelation of peace, peace through blood, the devil will come.

[13:58] He'll harass you, he'll perplex you, he'll dismay you. Many, many times, you'll find yourself at the ends of the earth.

[14:11] No man to help you, no man concerned about you, perhaps man ready to rub you further still into the dust.

[14:25] But you've got a blessed God. If the Lord has brought you sinner, by the way of his precious grace, to know a living Jesus, though the enemy roar, though men attack you, though the circumstances of your life again and again be so rugged, you know not what to do.

[14:55] The word before us tonight will uphold you. tis the word of an unchanging covenant keeping God, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

[15:14] here. It is why we read the chapter tonight, friends. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. The children of God again and again wander about in the wilderness, cast down, weary of the way, fearful of the way, wondering where the scene will end.

[15:38] The Lord knew this would be so before time began. Tis the result of sin. All the troubles that are found in Zion spring from sin, man's sin.

[15:57] But the Lord loves his people with an everlasting love. And our text tonight, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, is underlined again by that blessed word in the Psalms.

[16:17] My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing which is gone out of my lips. He will uphold you, sinner, wherever you are, for Jesus' sake.

[16:35] His word cannot be overthrown, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain.

[16:52] the child of God, and the child of God, in his poor finite mind, his troubled mind, cannot take hold.

[17:08] Why should these things be? Someone here in this place, this particular condition, everything gone wrong, can't understand it, can't take hold of his promise, yet, dare not cut oneself off, looking back into time, remembering the blessing of the Lord in the day gone by, dare not say, it is a myth, sometimes fearful, it might be, but dare not say it is, though the enemy, perhaps at this particular time, in like a flood, got you down so deep in the mire, my friends, your God changeth not, left on record whom he is, it is why we have the opening of our text, for he hath said, who is he, who is this

[18:27] God? The Lord saw fit that his dear people should have knowledge of whom he is, the living God, this God, whom, the prophet says, with whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding, and then he says, behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance, behold, he taketh up the aisles, as a very little thing.

[19:15] This God is your God, sinner, able to save to the utmost all that come unto God by a precious Christ.

[19:29] God is able to do far more abundantly than you're able to ask, or even think. the Lord says, of this his dear people, he knows where they are, he knows the pathway they walk in, and he knows what their feelings will be from time to time, so he makes declaration of it in this way, why sayest thou, Jacob, and speak us to Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God.

[20:15] Are you there? Oh, it is good, my friends, to read the word of God, to find one's character portrayed there, for the Lord does not portray the deficiencies, the sinfulness, for the sinfulness here in this, this be your experience, he does not set it forth as something to delight in, but he sets it forth so that there shall be an encouragement, not that you're a sinner, but that others have come this way, and that he knows that it belongs to ruin nature, but he follows it up by saying, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching, or his understanding, is the one here then in this place, my way is hid from the

[21:31] Lord, I've come into such a strange place, it must be by chance, it must be of the devil, it must be me that's done it, my way is hid from the Lord, my friends, the Lord in his sovereignty saw fit that Job who he spoke of so highly should come into a place of near despair, Job having laid upon him such terrible things, it is often spoken of Job's ditch, whoever walked in such an experience as he had, all the things that mattered to him naturally taken away from him, he was one of the richest men in the east, all those that were near and dear to him, and the ties of nature taken away from him, that dreadful scourge of boils laid upon him so that physically he was a wreck, brought to the place to say, but he knoweth the way that I take, my friends, though you be in this very condition, why sayest thou,

[23:07] Jacob, speakest O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God, what does this mean, why the child of God from time to time says, the Lord doesn't know where I am, for the devil's saying in his heart, if the Lord did know where you were, he'd do something about it, and the child of God says, in the ruin that's in a wicked heart, he doesn't care either, my judgment is passed over from my God, the Lord has no concern about me, he's left me to myself, my friends, this strange way belongs to ruin nature, loved of God, precious in Christ, you stand perfect, complete in him, in the new man, the new man united to Christ in the ties of everlasting love and precious atoning blood, there'll be no separation there, there'll be no condemnation either, but your flesh from time to time, utterly ruined in the fall and by practice, you'll walk this pathway, away from time to time, but the

[24:38] Lord says, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint, and it isn't maybe, they shall, the shalls and wills of your God are as firm as the everlasting hills, it's you my friends that has the weakness, it's you that has the unbelief, it's you that's passing through the trial and can't see the end of it and comes to conclusions that have no bottom to them, the Lord knows what he will do, hence he hath set before you this wonderful word of promise, for he hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, perhaps you're saying the

[25:45] Lord hath forsaken me already, the church of old did say it, but the Lord's forgotten me, the Lord said can a woman forget her sucking child, can't she forget the son of her womb, yea they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me, that is my friends, all your circumstances, the whole of your pathway, all before me continually, I'm watching over you with a jealous eye, I know every step you take, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, my friends, see the foundation quickly, time flies so quickly, we can't go into a lot of details, but see the foundation,

[26:57] God the Father chose you, hear his word again, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, hear once more the declaration, this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise, hear again that wonderful word in the 43rd of Isaiah, it is all the same language, friends, but now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, nothing to do with the creature here, nothing to do with your will, nothing to do with your choosing Christ, fear not, for I have redeemed thee,

[28:01] I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine, all the work of the living God, chose thee in Christ before you were born, gave thee to his own dear son to be redeemed with an everlasting salvation, the dear son of God came into this lower world, born of a woman under the law, made flesh and blood without sin to walk this earth and in his holy body to fulfill all the law of God, the whole law, and by imputation to set it upon you, a righteousness imputed, he suffered, he bled, he agonized on Calvary's tree, he carried your sins away into the world of forgetfulness, he satisfied all the demands of infinite justice, blood for blood, he bought you with a price, he rose again, he left that wonderful word on record, that she'll never die, as he spoke to Mary Magdalene, she out of whom he had turned seven devils, he appeared to Mary and said, go to my brethren and say unto them,

[29:44] I ascend unto my father and your father and to my God and your God, in union with the lamb from condemnation free, the saints from everlasting were and shall forever be, here's the foundation sinner, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, underlined again, that blessed foundation, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin, past, present, and future, it can never be obliterated, that precious atoning blood, hath put away the sins of his dear people, sins, past, sins present, sins to come, all swallowed up in those glorious words, it is finished, salvation accomplished, all in the merits of a precious

[31:11] Christ, Christ, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, though this wonder-working God does not leave it to a poor man to speak about, nor for a poor man to take hold of in his own strength, when at the uttermost ends of the earth, even to say, it is the word of the living God, God, but the Lord underlines it again, underlines it with a word that neither man nor devil can destroy, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, it is that his dear people, when at the ends of the earth, are helped through grace, by the power of his spirit, to call upon his great and holy name,

[32:28] Lord, help me, Lord, undertake for me, Lord, make a way, without thee, I must perish, Lord, hear me, for Jesus' sake, and from time to time, to set before him his faithfulness, Lord, thou hath said, call unto me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me, the Lord must work, his name is in it, he must fulfill his faithful word, I will work, and who shall let it, he must work, as his dear people call upon him in that only name under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved, that precious name of

[33:44] Jesus, that name whom the prophet Isaiah again sets forth as that only way of salvation, the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, that blessed name that opens every door, the door of mercy, the door of extremity in need, God, will fulfill his promise, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, so that you'll be able to say, not only to man, but to your God,

[34:49] Lord, thou art faithful, that promise, thou art a good God, O Lord, thou art my God, for thou hast helped me when I had no helper.

[35:05] What's the object of it? It is, my friends, so that he shall have all the honor and the glory of that great salvation he hath set upon you.

[35:21] it is so his own dear son shall be exalted, so that the crown shall be put on his dear head, so that there shall be reality in the hymns that we sing, so that your heart shall be attuned to those precious words, O that my soul could love and praise him more, his beauty trace, his majesty adore, live near his heart upon his bosom lean, obey his voice and all his will esteem, unity with Christ and singing to the praises of him before your God.

[36:14] Here's the reason for this word, my friends, the reason for your trials too, to keep your soul alive, so that you'll be able to take hold of these precious promises, and then here and there say, I will not fear what man can do unto me.

[36:41] here. So as a final word, just to touch on this particular point of being here, friends, I remember looking back now over many, many years, I remember a man in the church having a difference with me.

[37:05] but that difference was not the difference that we would like to see, for we can have differences in churches and yet not become enemies.

[37:19] This man came to my home, and there was trouble, as he went out, I well remember as he walked down my drive, and there was hatred in his eyes, I called out to him as he went to his car, the Lord knows all about it, he is my God, he will help me.

[37:53] my friends, that man was a child of God, he is in heaven today, I believe, but it opened up this word, I have often looked at it, I will not fear what man you shall do unto me, for that man was a man, good amount of money, a good position, yes, in the churches too, he had much authority, and I hadn't been in the ministry too long, naturally I was afraid of him, wonderful word to have my friends, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, O take hold sinner, if there be one here this evening, at the ends of the earth, knowing not what to do, call upon him with unceasing prayer, seek to take hold again of our hymn, wrestling prayer can wonders do, bring relief in deeper straits, prayer can force a passage through, iron bars and brazen gates, the Lord will hear you, if you call upon him in truth, perhaps you say you can't do that, tell him to teach you, tell him you can't pray, tell him you've got a deep need, tell him your hope is built on nothing less than

[39:48]  Jesus, blood and righteousness, he'll open up to you, he'll never leave you, nor forsake you, and the foundation of it all is, my name is in it, the living God in Christ, who will ensure that his dear people Ellie are you, the one and the h Sea of the and be saved, the time has gone, the blessing, of its name, blessed�c unto came their glorified STR