Hebrews 13:5b is a promise from God that you can stand on at any time: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. In the original Greek, this Scripture uses the word not five times. The equivalent translation in English would be, “I will not, not, not, leave you, and I will not, not, forsake you.” Jeremiah 33:3 promises, I will … show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. There is another beautiful promise in John 15:16: “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” Jesus said, “Believe that you have received it, and you shall have it” (Matthew 21:22).
In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things (His promise and His oath), in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever… Hebrews 6:17–20.
With this passage in mind, let me direct your attention also to the promises in Hebrews 6:11–15. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. The promises stand, but few people make them work, because that requires true diligence. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you.” And thus, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.
The book of Romans also talks about Abraham. And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Romans 4:19–22.
Abraham had a promise from God, and he was called “the father of the faithful.” He possessed the righteousness which came by faith. Yet, on two different occasions, Abraham put his wife in great jeopardy by saying that she was his sister instead of his wife (Genesis 12:11–20; 20:2–18). One king said, “God told me that we were all dead men unless I honored Abraham’s wife. Why didn’t you tell us?” Abraham answered, “I was afraid for my life.” In that instance, he was not a man of great courage. However, at another time, he took a few hundred of his own trained personal servants and defeated King Amraphel (another name for King Hammurabi who first codified the law in the land of the Chaldeans), along with several other kings (Genesis 14:8–15). During his moments of courage, he was ready to tackle the greatest standing armies of his day.
Abraham was a strange character. How do we reconcile the seeming contradictions of such great courage and such cowardice? I do not think we have to figure it out, because God did not. When God checked the ledger, He said it was all counted to Abraham for righteousness because of his faith. A man may have a lot of faults, but if he is a believer, if he believes what God says, God marks it down to him for righteousness. This is hard to understand.
A person in the world sometimes uses a very reasonable approach: “Well, I’m better than some of those people in the church. Why does God bless them when their life isn’t as good as mine?” He may be talking about morals or achievements and accomplishments, and his question is probably justified. However, it is not a matter of what a man can do; it is a matter of whether or not he believes God and what he receives from the Lord. It is a standing that he has before the Lord.
I have seen people who have a real walk with God do things that could be worthy of criticism, but at the time they were under such great satanic attack that the provocation upon them might have been a hundred times greater than upon other people. How are we going to evaluate their situation? We cannot. Nor will God evaluate us in that way if we just walk in faith. A righteous man falls seven times, and the Lord upholds him with His hand (Proverbs 24:16; Psalm 37:24). That is a lot of stumbling, yet the Lord keeps holding him up. We must face the fact that faith is absolutely important in the sight of God. Hebrews 11:6 brings out the fact that without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. As we seek God and believe Him with all our hearts, we please Him. We cannot please God unless we do that. This is something we have to understand.
You cannot pay attention to what people say. They can put on a front that seems to be moral and religious, yet they are as whited sepulchers, full of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27). Your walk with God should not be like that. The thing that is in you must come out; do not try to be a phony about it. Just “let it all hang out.” All right—so you made a mistake. Do not bother to cover it up. Do not try to practice deceit or to create some illusion or facade that will impress others. Instead, get down on your face and cry out to God. Believe Him and believe His promises.
Regardless of the problems that the young people have, they are coming up strong to do the will of the Lord. Faith is the thing that pleases God. Righteousness is not attained by moral effort. Righteousness is imparted and imputed by God. Anything else is self-righteousness, and in the sight of God that is not righteousness. Yet people still hold it up and venerate it.
Politicians are having their fun, tearing one another down, but when they get through they will have destroyed the basic confidence of the American people. It is good that the arrogance of the American people be shaken up. It is about time that they become more discriminating about their public officials and begin to seek God. As for the Christians, they must decide that there is nothing of this world order worth backing; they must begin to really seek the Kingdom of God and look for the Lord to come. The old order with its hypocrisy is surely going under.
What will happen to us? The same tactics will be used against us to try to make us appear as anything but what we are. Every fault will be magnified. Keep out from under the clutches of the law. Drive within the speed limit. If you get a traffic ticket, pay it. Do the thing that is right, because the world will try to magnify every offense against the children of God.
Nevertheless, our righteousness is of God. There is an honesty, and we are open with the matters that God indicates. We are not covering over; we are not lying; we are not being hypocrites. If we have a problem, it comes out. This is not the world’s way of thinking; it is God’s way of thinking. What does God do for us? He just keeps ministering righteousness to us. We see how the people grow, how they overcome one problem after another.
What a man says to me can be discerned as either the spirit of deception that is a part of the world, or the spirit of truth that God is bringing forth within His people. When I talk to a man, he can try to prove to me that everything he says is true and factual, but if he is evasive and deceitful, the real story will have to be pried out of him. Then it will be obvious how that man needs to be delivered.
In us there must be the spirit of truth. There must be an honesty and a desire to walk in the truth. Even if it is very expensive to face up to the truth, God will honor you for it. I have seen people who were honest with me do things that ordinarily would have wiped a person out; but they are still going strong, and they will make it because of the honesty of their hearts. Do not try to cover over your problems. The righteousness that you are looking for is not an illusion created by deception. It is imparted to a man who honestly walks before God. He does not try to cover up anything he has done.
An old-fashioned preacher may be very critical of some young people, because he sees a few of them standing outside a church smoking cigarettes. “How can that church have any witness or any testimony with them doing that?” he reasons. I am sure that if he has any young people in his church, some of them smoke cigarettes too. What is the difference then? The honest young people do not try to hide it, but they are getting deliverance and walking away from the smoking habit, and drugs as well. Because they are honest and lay it right out, God forgives them and delivers them. At no time do they put on a false front and attempt to make the church appear very proper.
I do not care how we appear in the sight of the world, if we are honest and if we are seeking God with all our hearts. People may criticize some of the young people who are reaching into a deep walk with God because they used to be terrible sinners. I suppose they were pretty bad sinners, but what drove them into that sin? It was probably the hypocrisy and the disillusionment they received from their parents, from their homes, and from their churches that many times pushed them a little too much.
Be honest. If you have a problem, do not be afraid to stand up and say, “I sinned, and I want God to forgive me. Will you pray for me?” Do not be afraid to do it. God will bring deliverance to you. You will get out from under that sin and walk with God. Honesty of heart is what real repentance is, isn’t it? Say, “Lord, here it is. I’m sorry and I can’t cover it up. I lay it out before You—help me.” God will help a person who will do that.
Pride tends to get into a person so that he does not want his image spoiled. Do not worry about it; you need not have an image. You need to have the righteousness of God that is imparted through your faith. Just believe Him with all of your heart.
There is a great need for us to learn a new way of thinking, until we have completely let go of the religious attitudes of the world and have a new concept of just taking a word from God and hanging on to it and watching a miracle take place. We do not have to put on a front for anyone. Just be honest, and seek the face of the Lord.