Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Isaiah 41:10
Condemnation Lifted
I used to write a letter to a death row inmate and by his exposure to the gospel, he was saved. Even though he was awaiting execution, Charles (not his real name) had peace because he had trusted in Christ and pleaded with God to forgive him of his sins. Then he started sharing the good news with other inmates and now many had been set free by placing their trust in Christ. For “Charles” and anyone else that repents and believes (Mark 1:15), “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). God will save anyone who cries out to Him; even on death row. Besides, before we were saved, we too were sitting on death row (Rev 20:12-15).
At Peace with God
You cannot have the peace of God until you’ve first made peace with God and the one and only way to do that is receiving the free gift of God which is saving grace (Eph 2:8-9). If we do, then we “have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). We are no longer considered ungodly, wicked sinners who were once enemies of God have been justified by faith and we now have a relationship of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:6-10) and are now the very children of God.
Never Leaves Us
It seems like the author of the Book of Hebrews is connecting our love for money to our contentedness. He places our concern over God’s leaving us or forsaking us next to not having our needs met as he writes; “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb 13:5). Since He isn’t going to ever leave us, why would He ever forsake us? Why if He promises to never leave us would He leave us with nothing (Matt 6:33)? God said it and I believe it. That’s enough for me.
Never Forsakes Us
When there was a huge change of leadership with the passing of Moses to the leadership of Joshua, all of Israel might have been anxious about it because Moses had been the only leader that they had never known. It’s like a pastor who’s stayed at a church for forty years suddenly announces he’s retiring and a new pastor is taking his place, but at least with Israel, they were familiar with Joshua and had seen the examples of his godly leadership under Moses. To put the exclamation point for their trusting in Joshua’s leadership, God says “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” (Deut 31:8).
Conclusion
Christian, you and I should fight the good fight of faith from the position of faith and not fear for we have no fear of anything that anyone could ever do to us that could possibly separate us from God (Rom 8:38-39) and because our condemnation has been lifted, we’re now at peace with God and He promises every child of His that He will never leave them or forsake them. That’s why we have no reason to fear.
