Sure.
Good morning. Good morning to all of you who are here, those of you on Zoom, and those who will listen later.
I would like you to turn to the Gospel of Matthew. I will read two verses as we begin, and a number later, but I think these two verses capture the essence of the burden the Lord has put upon my heart: Matthew 1:22-23.
Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son,
And they shall call His name Immanuel;
Which is, being interpreted, God with us.
Lord, how we thank You that we could be in Your presence this morning to break bread, to remember You, and to rejoice that now we are those marked-out ones. We thank You that we can celebrate this table. How marvelous it is. It is an indication that God is with us always.
And as we turn to Your Word, there is such an impression of our need to hear You speak. We need Your Word. We need You to open Your Word. We need You to make alive Your Word, because You alone have the words of eternal life. Your Spirit, Your words, are spirit and life.
And You make that grand promise we will never forget: when You send Your Word forth, it will accomplish what You send it forth to do. Now, Lord, take these few verses and weave into them Your thoughts. Give us Your Word as we wait before You. We pray that we will see what is in Your heart today.
We pray that You will bless Your Word, and You will bless those who are hearing Your Word, that we may hear more than just sounds and man’s thoughts—however poor, however good—but that we would hear the Spirit speaking what is in the Lord’s heart. Lord, open our ears, open our hearts, and open Your Word. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Many of you know—well, by the way, for those of you who think I have become a traditionalist and this is a Christmas message, I am sorry, it is not. But if you like it that way, that is okay. You can have it as your Christmas message if you would like.
You might remember several months ago that I shared in the open testimony time about three astonishing realities. I do not know if anybody remembers that, but I shared on three phrases that have made a deep impact upon my Christian life.
The first is this phrase we read this morning: God with us. It is a very important phrase in the Word of God. You must know that to walk with the Lord and have fellowship with Him.
The second phrase I shared was God for us. Not only is He with us, but He is for us. How wonderful that thought is.
And then I shared the last phrase: God in us. Now, I believe these three phrases contain the highest assurances of God. They are tremendous. They are extraordinary. I do not know what adjective you would like to add, but they are indeed most wonderful.
I can only think of that word in Hebrews 6:18, from that anonymous and anointed writer, when he spoke about words that are “strong encouragement.” And so, this is what is on my heart for the next several times I speak. This is what the Lord has really impressed me with recently, in the past number of months.
Now, I would like you to think of it this way, because we are only going to deal with the first one this morning:
God in us—I cannot think of anything more wonderful. Like Ben said, forgive me. God in us. Has that come upon you with a sense of what it means? God is literally in you and in me. It is hard to describe, but I think it is the assurance of His unparalleled power.
I hope the Lord can make these things alive to us. You know, without these three astonishing realities, you could not live the Christian life. It would be impossible. You could not begin to do what the Lord asks you to do. It would be utterly undoable, if that is a word.
I think today we begin to look at this. I hope the Lord impresses you the way He deeply impressed me with these three words: God with us. I began to see it throughout the whole Bible once the Lord seemed to anoint that word. It seems to be a theme that runs from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament. It seems to be the message deeply embedded in the Word of God.
It is not just a message of the Old Testament, by the way. Many of you know those verses in the Old Testament. We will touch on some of them. But the second thing we want to know is that it is the concluding message of the New Testament—the beginning and concluding message of the New Testament.
And then, I think we need to look, maybe briefly, at the meaning of this assurance of His unfailing presence. What does it mean to you as a believer for the days ahead, for the trials ahead, for the difficulties ahead, and for the blessings ahead? What will that mean to you—the assurance of His unfailing presence?
I was caught, as I went through the Word from beginning to end, by the prevalence of this phrase: God with us. It occurs quite often. I believe it is the mark by which they know us: God with us.
I think it is the secret we need as individual believers, and I think it is the secret we need to live the Christian life together as the church of the living God. Without knowing God with us, where would we be? Just think of it.
But by knowing—not just the words, not just memorizing the verses, but knowing the reality of God with us—your whole life can be changed. And everyone around you can be affected by that. That is the importance of this wonderful three-word phrase.
I want to begin by looking at the Old Testament, because those words lift us into a place of assurance that we could hardly know if they were absent. I think from the beginning to the end of the Old Testament, it is very clear. God made it very clear. He intentionally made it clear, and He wants to make it clear to us that the one thing you will have is His unfailing presence.
From beginning to end—not just from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, but from the beginning of your life with Him to the end of your life, when you go and live with Him for all eternity. And even in all eternity, as we close, you will see it is the emphasis of what John saw in the Book of Revelation.
One simple way I would like to put it is this: I think it is the golden thread throughout the Scriptures.
Let us begin with Exodus 3. You cannot look at all of these passages; there are so many. But I encourage you, if you would, to take your concordance—and I know “with” is a hard word to use in your concordance, but maybe “with us” will help you. You can start with “God with us,” and you can discover riches untold.
In Exodus 3, you know the story of the burning bush. When Moses was in Midian, he saw what is described as that great sight: the burning bush that was not consumed. And you know, I believe he saw more than that great sight. It is quite clear he saw the great I AM.
And that great I AM was the One who assured him, “I will be with you.” That is the beginning. How marvelous, how marvelous are those words.
Look in Exodus 3. I will just read verse 12:
And He said, Certainly I will be with thee;
And this shall be the sign unto thee, that I have sent thee:
When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt,
Ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
Listen to those words again: “For I will be with you, and this will be the sign.” Brothers and sisters, how wonderful that is. Think of that. The revelation he had was not merely a burning bush that was not consumed. It was a God who declared to him in the very beginning, “Your secret is: I will be with you.”
That was it. And He said, “This will be your sign.” This is the great secret. I think that is so marvelous.
You will notice, when you read the Word of God and look at these phrases—“God with you”—that you often discover that conjunction first, that simple three-letter word, for. It occurs again and again when He says, “For I am with you,” or, “For I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Again and again, this is the amazing assurance He gives us of His unfailing presence. He told Moses this, and He not only told Moses this, but He continued to tell all of His servants this. He told the people of God this very thing: “I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you.”
This is how it is possible. You wonder how the Christian life is possible. This is the only way the Christian life is possible.
I do not know how many had an experience similar to mine when I was first saved, but I imagine, from what I have read in biographies, many have. I remember being so transformed and saved that I thought, “I will live for You forever.” It did not take me long to discover that I could not live for Him forever.
I did not have within me the urgency, the capacity, or the ability to live for Him and do all that He asked. But then He began to whisper to me early in my Christian life, “I am with you.” I have never forgotten it. It turned me around. It made everything different.
I saw that the things He requires are not within our capacity to do, but they are there because He has given all of these things to us, that we cannot fail when He is with us. How marvelous. What assurance—what abounding assurance that is when you look at this.
So this sign was the sign Moses had. It is the sign that we have: He will be with us. How marvelous. You begin to see it everywhere.
Then I think of Exodus 33. I am not just picking on Moses, but I think it is marvelous. He learned something marvelous in the beginning that I think we need to learn right away.
Exodus 33:13-16. You remember the section. Let me preface it without reading it all. Moses said to the Lord, “How will they know that we have found grace in Thy sight? How will they know we have found favor in Your sight—or in Your eyes,” was the actual word he used. “How will they know?” That was the burning question.
Beginning in verse 13:
Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy ways, that I may know Thee, to the end that I may find grace in Thy sight; and consider that this nation is Thy people.
And He said—this is God speaking; this is not Moses speaking—“My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”
In the beginning, the assurance—the overwhelming assurance—given to Moses was that the unfailing presence of God would be the thing that made the difference. Then read on:
And he said unto Him, If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
For wherein now shall it be known that I have found grace in Thy sight, I and Thy people? Is it not in that Thou goest with us, so that we are distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth?
That is what Moses saw. That assurance began to overwhelm him: “Is it not by Thy going with us?” Then he said, “So shall we be distinguished, I and Thy people, from every people that is on the face of the earth.”
Now think about what that says. Moses learned something tremendous at that point. He learned that this would be the distinguishing mark of the people of God.
Mac already talked this morning about the mark, right? We know about the mark in Revelation, in the forehead of those overcomers—the name of their God. But here, early on, Moses learned what the distinguishing mark of God’s people would be.
It was this: “I will be with you. My presence shall go with you.” And My presence is an unfailing presence. You may fail. The people of God may fail. The church may fail. But My presence cannot fail.
That was the distinguishing mark. How we need to know that this is our distinguishing mark.
I did not even know what that word meant when I was in high school. But I remember going to the draft board. When I was in high school, everybody was fearful about going to Vietnam. Ask these guys; they know some. I was certain I was going to go to Vietnam in the war, and I was certain I would not return. It was a fear.
I went to the draft board to get my draft card. None of you remember the big thing? People thought you would burn your draft cards and go to Canada. You remember that? I still have my draft card.
When I was filling out the application, they said, “What is the distinguishing mark?” I thought, “What is a distinguishing mark? What on earth are they talking about?” Then I thought, I had this birthmark, a small one on my back. I said, “That is the distinguishing mark. If you find me dead in a foxhole, and you flip me over, pull up my shirt, and see this birthmark, that is the distinguishing mark. You know it is me.”
But that is not the distinguishing mark of the people of God. The distinguishing mark—the thing that sets them apart from the world—is this assurance of His unfailing presence: that He is with us.
In addition to that, you will go on to see that He will never leave us or forsake us. You will go on to see that He will be with us to the end of the age, and He will be with us through all eternity. How wonderful. Can you have more assurance than that?
You tell people, “I have a distinguishing mark. It is not my big nose. Pittmans have big noses, you see. It is not my big ears. We have big ears too. That is not my distinguishing mark.” My distinguishing mark, the thing Moses discovered, was, “He will go with me.” How wonderful. Without that, what assurance do we have?
I think of Numbers 14:9. It is the story of the people of God before they went into the land, after the ten spies went. You know the story: Caleb and Joshua were faithful and believed the Lord could take them in, and they could overcome. But the people were in such fear.
Do you know what the people said? It is an amazing thing. We people—the people of God—are quite ornery people when you think about it. You know that to be true. You might be polite, but you know that to be true.
They said, “It would have been better if we had died in Egypt, or died in the wilderness. Why has Moses brought us out here?” I will tell you the secret beforehand: He brought them out there, in those terrible circumstances, in that wasteland of wilderness, among all those troubles, to discover the secret.
And the secret is: God with us. That was the reason.
Caleb and Joshua tried to encourage the people of God. Look at Numbers 14:9. I told you about it; I have not read it yet. Please forgive me. Sometimes I forget, and you can just remind me. Just yell out and say, “You forgot where you were, brother.”
This is what Caleb and Joshua said to the other people. They were so fearful. They did not know this secret, and it made them incredibly fearful:
Only rebel not against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
Now, do you know unbelief is rebellion against the Lord? Do you know that? What the writer of Hebrews is dealing with is the sin of unbelief.
“Their defence is departed from them”—kind of like the Virginia Cavaliers, by the way—“and the Lord is with us.” This was the assurance. It was the only assurance. It was the one secret. It was the only thing they really needed to know in the wilderness.
He would never leave them. He would never forsake them. I believe this is one of the greatest assurances we need to know if we are going to live the life of a true believer who lives in fellowship with the Lord and with the saints.
There is another word that came to Moses. This is probably the most famous word in the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 31:6-8. Everybody who is a believer knows this word, at least as far as I can determine.
This is the word God gave to Moses when he was told he could not go into the land:
Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them:
For the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee;
He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
How beautiful that verse is. What a thing to hold on to.
And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage: for thou shalt go with this people into the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.
And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee; He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
What a word of assurance that is—to Moses, to Joshua, and to the people of God. He will not leave thee, and then there is a double negative: neither forsake thee.
The Lord doubles down on His Word—or “double down,” that doubles down, I think is the way they say it. He will not leave thee, neither forsake thee. How marvelous.
This was the word that took the people of God from being overcome with fear into the promised land, to take the promised land everywhere the sole of their foot would tread. This is one of the key words about God being with us.
You will notice again, as you read that, there is that little conjunction: “For the Lord thy God, He it is that goeth with thee. He will not leave thee or forsake thee.” Thank God there is a reason. Thank God that word is there: for.
Thank God this is the greatest assurance of His unfailing presence in the whole of the Old Testament. It was the assurance not just to Moses. It was the assurance to Joshua. We already read that in verse 8. And it was the assurance to the people of God.
Sometimes—and I think we do this; you may not do this, so I will not blame you, I will say I do it—I think, “Well, that is good for them. That servant of God, that is good for him. That dear woman of God, they get it. It is good for them. But it does not reach me.”
But if you look at these three verses very carefully, it touched Moses, it touched Joshua, and it touched all the people. It became their secret, and it was the reason they could triumph in that dark place and overcome.
I think this is assurance—deep assurance, unwavering assurance.
When I went to the Netherlands the first time to be with brothers and sisters there, I was not adequately prepared. I did not altogether understand what state religion meant. Some of them may hear this message, so I will try to make it as clear as I can.
But the state religion—this extreme religion—says you cannot have assurance as a believer. When they told me that, I was stunned. I said, “Do you mean it? Do you really mean it? You cannot have assurance? What about all those words in 1 John? ‘I know.’ ‘We know.’ ‘You know.’ How can it be that we can have assurance?”
They said, “Oh, you do not understand. They believe if they have assurance, they become proud.” I said, “Can that be?”
Without this assurance, you could not live. You could not walk in fellowship with the Lord. You could not walk in fellowship with the brothers and sisters.
It is still a mystery to me. I have been there a few times, and I am planning, by God’s grace, to go again. I am thankful for the unfailing assurance. It has made a difference in my life. I believe it has made a difference in your life, and I believe it will make a difference in the life of everybody who comes into real contact with you and discovers who you are in the Lord.
This, to me, is the assurance of His unfailing presence. It is not only at the beginning of the Bible; it is all through the Bible, as I already said.
When you think of your Bible—my Bible—and I know Linda has this giant-print thing that she has. I hardly see how she can carry it. I am actually fighting with my eyes now. I may need to go to her giant big thing instead of this little thing.
But my Bible is above 1,500 pages. If you look at about the 750-page mark, right at the heart of the Bible are the Psalms. I happen to think the Psalms are 150 masterpieces.
Where would we be without the sweet psalmist of Israel and his Psalms? How would we know how to worship God? How would we know how to commune with the divine? How would we know how to pray?
I will tell you what: in the darkest times of history for me, in my walk, the Psalms were the most living. They came alive. I remember crying out for deliverance, and I found deliverance. I remember crying out for peace and finding in those words a God of peace.
I remember, above all, discovering in those words a God who was always with me. It made the greatest difference in my Christian life. He became my high fortress. He became my buckler and my shield. And like David said in Psalm 27, You have become my salvation.
When you think of these Psalms, they are full of it. It is prolific. The theme running through those Psalms is that God is with those ones. They were in communion with that living God, and that living God made a difference in their lives, changed their circumstances, and made them into something they were not.
I believe that is why the Psalms are the heart of the Bible, in the center of the Bible.
I think of David’s most famous Psalm, Psalm 23, and that most famous verse, Psalm 23:4:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
There is that little word, for. One reason: “For Thou art with me.” This was David’s secret. The sweet psalmist of Israel, as he walked in that journey with the Lord, had this grand secret: “Thou art with me.”
Brothers and sisters, this is to be our secret. Even though David failed, the God of David never failed. We often fail, but He never fails. I am so thankful for that.
Psalm 139 comes to me. It is another of David’s Psalms. I think you probably all know it: Psalm 139:7-13. Listen to what he discovered about God’s unfailing presence.
Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there:
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall Thy hand lead me,
And Thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me,
And the light about me shall be night;
Even the darkness hideth not from Thee,
But the night shineth as the day:
The darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.
For Thou didst form my inward parts:
Thou didst cover me in my mother’s womb.
Brothers and sisters, surely, if this is anything, this is a description of His unfailing presence. I think this should be our testimony. I do not think it was to be just David’s testimony.
I do not think that as he went through those difficulties, toils, and struggles, he was just writing poetry. I believe there was a message for the people of God for all eternity: if you are Mine, if you have that distinguishing mark upon you, if you are called by My name, you cannot go from My presence.
You may think you can, but you cannot. The one thing that will never fail is His presence. I think this is a beautiful thing.
Then I think of Israel in its darkest times—the history of Israel when they went into captivity. That is something I still struggle with spiritually and understand only to a certain degree. But if you can imagine God sending His testimony, the testimony of Jacob, into captivity—why would He do that?
I want to tell you something that has come to me many times, and in a fresh way: God’s discipline is never for destruction. Do not ever forget that. When you walk this life as a believer, God’s discipline is never for destruction. God’s discipline is always for recovery.
He sent these ones into captivity because of their sin and their idolatrous ways, but it was only to cure them, even if He found only a remnant that would come back and know Him in fullness.
Listen to Isaiah 41:10:
Fear thou not, for I am with thee;
Be not dismayed, for I am thy God;
I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.
Think about all those assurances contained in that one verse. He says, “Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed.” Why? That word again: “For I am thy God.” “I will strengthen thee.” He does not just stop there. “Yea, I will help thee.” He does not just stop there. “Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”
How marvelous. Think about the timing of this. They were in that darkest period, where they had turned from God and He allowed them to go into captivity. But it was only so He could bring them back to this place of knowing Him in this deep assurance. It is incalculable assurance.
Then I think of the way the Old Testament ends. I love the ending books of the Old Testament—Ezra, Nehemiah, those historic books. I love Haggai and Zechariah, those prophetic books.
I remember years ago reading Haggai and meditating on Haggai, and there were two verses that turned my life around. In Haggai, those who had returned—let me read Haggai 1:13:
Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.
I think there are two very wonderful things in this verse, and I cannot tell you the great impact it had. The first is a description of what true ministry is. First of all, true ministry is the Lord’s message. That is what true ministry is.
Thank God, in His sovereignty and in His mercy, He uses messengers. It is the message of the Lord in the messenger of the Lord that makes for true ministry.
Then there is the one word He had for this remnant. Some were weeping over the condition of the house. When they saw it, some of the older ones remembered the glory in the past, and they were weeping. Some were rejoicing. Many had stopped building—most had stopped building—and began to build their own paneled houses.
Then He brought this one word that made all the difference: “I am with you.” That was the key. That was the secret. That was what motivated them to get back to work. That is what changed them, so that they gave their lives without reserve, the house of God was finished, and the recovery of God’s testimony was assured.
He did not just do it in one case. Look in Haggai 2:3-4:
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zerubbabel was the governor, the ruler—you know that. Joshua was the high priest. And then He says, “Be strong, all ye people of the land.” All the people. This word was to all of them: “And work; for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Jack brought up work last night. Work is not a pleasant thing. The only thing that can compel you to do the work of God is when you see this secret. The secret was, “For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.”
That got hold of them. Some had given up because they saw something that did not live up to their expectations. Others found things too difficult and began to build their own houses for their own ease. Others outright quit. God had to say to them a word that would inspire them to continue the work, and that word was, “For I am with you.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the Old Testament. If you take this phrase out of the Old Testament, you just have history and prophecy. If you put this phrase back into the Old Testament, you have the very heart and thought of God for the whole Old Testament.
That was His design and His thought in making man in His image and after His likeness, and that is His design and His assurance to the end.
Now let us look at a few verses in the New Testament. I believe, like the Old Testament, the message of the New Testament is the assurance of His unfailing presence. But it goes to an even higher degree. There is an extraordinary demonstration of Him making His presence known to the people of God—almost unimaginable.
You remember it was prophesied back in Isaiah 7:14. I think you all know this:
Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign:
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son,
And shall call His name Immanuel.
This was the sign. This was the sign in Isaiah, near the beginning of Isaiah. You remember how discouraged Isaiah was. He was discouraged because King Uzziah had died, and yet in the very next chapter God forecast the greatest thing in His heart: that He would do the impossible.
A virgin will conceive. Now, I do not know—you may disagree with me—but that is impossible. In that context, without—you know what I am talking about. There is a big audience here; I will be careful. Just to conceive outright is an impossibility.
So God does the impossible thing. The emphasis is not on the virgin. Our dear Catholic brothers and sisters in the Lord have made the virgin the emphasis. The emphasis is not on the virgin. The emphasis is on the Son who will be born.
The whole emphasis about that sign is this word: Immanuel. And what does that mean? You know what that means. Immanuel means, “God with us.” This was the sign in doing the impossible that God would do.
That word Immanuel only occurs twice in the Old Testament, by the way: here and in Isaiah 8:8, when it talks about the Assyrians overtaking the land in their crushing power. It ends in verse 8 by saying, “Thy land, O Immanuel.” God with us. How beautiful.
Think about what that means. Man can only go so far. Assyria, in all its power, can only go so far. Egypt, in all its power, can only go so far. Rome can only go so far. Xi Jinping can only go so far. In the end, it is Immanuel’s land.
“Thy land, O Immanuel.” That was the sign given, this prophetic utterance about the New Testament.
Our text verse, of course, we have already read, but I will read it again—Matthew 1:22-23. I included verse 22 on purpose:
Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son,
And they shall call His name Immanuel;
Which is, being interpreted, God with us.
It was the start of the New Testament. This was the emphasis in the beginning of the New Testament: this great sign, this impossible thing. He would bring forth a Son, and the emphasis about that Son was that He would be with us—Immanuel.
I believe that is of spectacular assurance. In the beginning, that was God’s thought. Throughout the Old Testament, that was God’s thought. With that sign to Israel, that was God’s thought. In the beginning of the New Testament, that is God’s thought.
Think of what He did: the impossible thing. Think of it just for a moment. God became man. How impossible is that? It is one thing for a virgin who has never been with someone to conceive, but it is an even more miraculous thing that God would become man. It is even more miraculous that He would send His only Son.
If I had been advising God—and you are thankful I was not—I would have said, “Send Gabriel. He does not show up too many times in the Scripture. Let him be the one.” Although he does show up here.
But God sent the Son of His love. Let me ask you: how much would it take for you to believe with all your heart, with unwavering assurance, without any shred of doubt, that God is with us? What would it take?
You do not have to answer me. I will tell you what it would take. It would take the One who would not spare His only Son. It would take the One who was His darling from the beginning. It would take the One whom God could not hold back from declaring at His baptism and at the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
It would take that kind of assurance. But that is the impossible thing God did. Can you imagine? “And His name shall be called Immanuel.”
In Matthew, unlike Isaiah, he did not want to leave any doubt. He did not want you to dig out your concordance just to convince yourself what it meant. He did not leave even a shred of doubt. He said, “Meaning: God is with us.”
To me, that is the most wonderful thing. I can hardly take it in when I think about God not sparing His Son. There is no greater miracle.
I am going to say the miracle is not the virgin birth. It is a miracle—but that is not the central miracle. If you are upset at me, you can talk to me afterwards. The miracle is the birth of the Son, so God can prove to His people, once and for all, that He will never leave them or forsake them. That is the miracle.
I think of Matthew 18:20 when you think of the church. You remember that passage about the local church. If you are like me and read that passage, you just see the problems of a sinning brother. I wonder if, in the church, we do not see the problems with brothers and sisters more than we see the Lord’s presence.
But that is not what the Lord ended with when He talked about His church. He said:
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
That was the thing. That is the distinguishing mark of the church. It is not that we believe the same doctrine. My goodness, you could imagine the arguments we have had down through the church age.
It is not that I believe in several resurrections and you believe in one. It is none of those things. It is not your feelings about the priesthood of all believers. The one distinguishing mark is: God is with us.
His presence He will never take away from us. When those two or three who have problems—by the way, if you read the context—gather in His name, and when those two or three disagree on things, the one thing that is inarguable is this: “I will be in their midst.”
I think that is amazing.
Then I think of the end of Matthew. All of you know the verse. It is often quoted, Matthew 28:19-20:
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you:
And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
This was the last recorded word of Matthew. He wanted to make it clear, as he presented this King of kings and Lord of lords, that this was the last impression he wanted to leave before Christ ascended back to glory: “And lo, I am with you all the days, even to the completion of the age.”
I always think of that wonderful story of Campbell Morgan. By the way, I have Mary Ann’s book on Campbell Morgan on Matthew. Mary Ann is my mother-in-law, for those of you who do not know—Linda’s mother, Ben’s mother—who passed away one month ago.
That book was outlined throughout. You can hardly read it. I do not like people who outline books if I have to read after them, because I look at their underlines. Then she took a yellow highlighter and highlighted all through the book.
At the end, this was the last thing she underlined. Campbell Morgan, in that book, told a story of how he went to visit a dear old sister, 85 years old, and he was reading Matthew to her.
By the way, that is good counsel. If you do not know what to say when you visit someone, just read the Word. He was reading, and then he added a little bit. He was a young man at that time.
He read these words: “And lo, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age.” He said, “That is a great promise.”
That dear old lady of 85 years old, with a glint of sanctified humor in her eye, said, “That is not a promise at all. That is a fact.”
Do you know that fact? Do you know the difference? If I promise you something, you may not get it. If God promises you, you will get it. But this is an eternal fact. This is an unchangeable fact. It cannot be altered, because it was the words of our Lord Himself.
We could go further, but just think of Hebrews 13:5. The writer of Hebrews told them not to be consumed by the love of money—how many of us that touches—but to be satisfied with their circumstances.
Then he resurrected that ancient promise given to Moses, which I read to you: “I will be with you always. I will be with you forever. I will not leave you or forsake you.” He resurrected it to these Jewish believers who were beginning to doubt whether God’s Word was true and were beginning to go back to the shadows and not the reality.
Then I saw, when I read Revelation 21, that the emphasis is when that city comes down as a bride prepared for her husband. You read it—I do not have time—but it says, “And God is with them, and God will be their God.”
That is the secret. That is the end secret. Right now, this precious assurance—which is a fact, an eternal fact—is ours. But then it will be shadowless, and there will be no doubt.
In all eternity, we will enjoy this thing: God with us. “And He shall be their God, and they shall be His people.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the burden that is on my heart. It is so real to me. I apologize if I have not made it real to you, but it has deep meaning.
It means that we can have immediate and continuous fellowship—unbroken fellowship. It means we can have an unshakable faith, because it is an eternal fact. It means that we can know Him and not just know about Him.
It means we are never alone.
Now, I want to tell you something. If you have not experienced it, the Christian life can be lonely. But you are never alone. Do you know the difference?
The Christian life can be a lonely walk. You will be surprised who was your friend and is no longer your friend, or who used to like you and no longer likes you. There is a price to pay.
But here is the great assurance: you are never alone.
I remember the story about John Wesley when he was dying. How many of you know that story? I think Jim seems to know it, and Mac, I am sure, knows it from church history.
John Wesley was on his deathbed. The Methodists believed in living well, but they also believed in dying well. There was a book that made such an impact on John Wesley’s life. It was by Jeremy Taylor: The Rule of Dying Well. I think we could all read that, if we could find it, and be helped.
Wesley, in his last moments on earth, was gathered with those he loved and those who loved him. They were sharing verses. They were singing hymns. They were praising and rejoicing because they believed in the secret of dying well.
When Wesley was about to expire, he seemed to muster just enough strength to say, “The best of all, the best of all, is God with us.”
Then, when they thought he would pass, he mustered even more strength. John Wesley, that great man of God, raised his arm into the air, and he shouted, “The best of all, the best of all, is God with us.”
Is that the assurance you have? Do you know that? We have to know that. If we do not know that, what do we know? What do we know?
But if you know this, it is enough: God with us—the assurance of His unfailing presence.
Father, we thank You that Your Word is full of deep secrets for Your own—those You have called by name, those You have set apart and sanctified for Yourself. There are deep mysteries and deep discoveries to be found.
Those discoveries can change us from what we were into what we should be. Lord, we pray that You would take this phrase, “God with us,” and embed it so deeply in our spirit and in our heart that daily we will know Your unfailing presence in whatever circumstance we are in.
And daily, as we are gathered as the people of God together, with all the problems and difficulties, we would know God is with us. Above everything else, that would be our greatest assurance.
These things we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.