======================================================================== ONE HUGE PROMISE TO DEFEAT TWO HUGE GIANTS by Sandeep Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the powerful promise in Hebrews 13:5-6 that God will never leave us nor forsake us, leading to a life of contentment, freedom from the love of money, and fearlessness. The speaker highlights the importance of focusing on Jesus alone, being content with basic needs, and finding joy in God's presence. The message stresses the connection between believing in God's faithfulness and experiencing peace, victory over anxiety, and the assurance of receiving a crown of righteousness. Topics: "God's Faithfulness", "Contentment in Christ" Scripture References: Hebrews 13:5, Philippians 4:6, 1 Timothy 6:6, 2 Timothy 4:7, Psalms 62:1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the powerful promise in Hebrews 13:5-6 that God will never leave us nor forsake us, leading to a life of contentment, freedom from the love of money, and fearlessness. The speaker highlights the importance of focusing on Jesus alone, being content with basic needs, and finding joy in God's presence. The message stresses the connection between believing in God's faithfulness and experiencing peace, victory over anxiety, and the assurance of receiving a crown of righteousness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hebrews 13, 5 and 6, God will never leave me nor forsake me. We just think about that statement, that case value. Does anybody think that God's going to leave you nor forsake you? I mean, from all that you've read of the Bible, is that a debatable point? Is that something that sounds like, I don't know, that's a doctrine that we probably need to prove out? Or do you feel like if you, if the little you knew about God, if you knew what God had done for you, if you believe that Jesus, God sent his son Jesus to die for you, which is what we all believe to enter the kingdom of God, it shouldn't be hard for us to believe that God's not going to leave us nor forsake us. Should be a pretty obvious statement that even children can understand. But what's the proof that we believe in it? What's the proof that we believe that God will never leave us nor forsake us? It's written in that passage in Hebrews 13, 5 and 6. Because it says there, Hebrews 13, 5 and 6, it says, so that, right? For he himself has said, I will never, because what's the proof that we believe that God will never leave us nor forsake us? The proof of it is right before that. We will be content with what we have. That's the proof that we believe that God will never leave us nor forsake us. It's not a complicated truth of it to believe it, but the proof of it that we're believing it is that we will be content. That's what the writer of Hebrews says. Be content. You keep your character free from love and money, being content with what you have. You know, because sorry, God will never leave you nor forsake you. Oh, so if I believe that God will never leave me nor forsake me, then it logically goes, the next step is I won't be discontent. And that'll be freedom from the love of money. So I think we can go back to the rock, which is, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. If that's a rock, there must be proof of that. Let's not memorize the promise. Because God says, if you really believe that promise, here's the fruit of it. Here's the proof that you believe in this promise that I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You'll be content. And the best definition of contentment that I found in the verse, if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content. That's the bar. If you have food and covering, you can be content. Anything above that is bonus, is a bonus. And we'll see how unbiblical we have gotten in our desires and our wants. I want to encourage you with how the Lord has pointed out this verse to me. I can't remember when, but he defined to me the definition of contentment. The Lord showed me the reason why I insult him practically and claim that God is leaving me or forsaking me is because I'm having this mindset or this attitude of discontentment. The bar of contentment is food and clothing. I'm discontented for any other things that's not been given to me. I don't get this. I don't get that. I don't get this job. I don't get this compliment. I don't get this, whatever it is. It's my way of telling God, sounds like, looks like you've forsaken me. Looks like you're deserted me. Connect those two is very important for us to hold ourselves to a proper standard. And then we will be ruthless with any form of discontentment, not being happy in our modern life. We have food and clothing with these, we shall be content. Then read that passage in 1 Timothy 6. He says, because those who desire to get rich, what are these people who are desiring to get rich? They are trying to get rich more than food and covering. This is not millionaires trying to be billionaires. This is not, even though I've got a lot of money to increase the salary. These are people who are trying to get rich beyond food and covering. And I see that on many layers removed from food and covering in my life. I've got tons of food and covering and then some. I've got some of the best food and coverings and then a lot of other toys and things that are not even promised. But still I struggle with discontent. Let me draw the connection between discontentment and the promise that God says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. It's a big promise. It's a big promise. God gave that promise as we read Joshua 1 Deuteronomy. He gave it to Joshua saying, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You're in the promised land and you've not fought any giants. Hey, I'm with you. And the story of Joshua is a story of triumph after triumph as the Lord is with Joshua and the people. That's what we have in front of us. We can conquer every giant because of this rock of a promise. I will never leave you nor forsake you. But we must see the fruit of it in contentment. And the other fruit of it will be the next verse in Hebrews chapter, back in Hebrews chapter 13, the next verses, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid of any man. I will not fear what any man will do to me. That'll be another evidence of me believing that God will never leave me nor forsake me. I'm not going to be affected by what man can do to me. And we can see how we are so affected by what humans do to us. I'm seeing that this promise is such a master key that can free me from the love of money on the one side, the verse, the beginning of that verse, Hebrews 13, verse five. And the next verse, Hebrews 13, it can give me, make me unafraid of what any man does to me, what any man says to me, what anybody does to me, any choice that they make. I can be unafraid. Imagine dear brothers and sisters in life where you're unaffected by what anybody else does. And we are totally content and free of the love of money and totally content with food and company. Imagine such a life. It is all possible. If we will invest in building this deep foundation of the Lord will never leave me nor forsake me. This is what is how powerful this promise is. Two massive giants can be killed. Fear of man and love of money. You can't serve God a man when Matthew chapter six, how do you kill that love of money? Here it is. God will never leave you nor forsake you. You cannot, if you seek to please man, you cannot be the sponsor of the Christ. Galatians 1.10. How do you solve that giant? The Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13, five and six is such a massive passage that we should invest in. So let's not beat ourselves up about the love of money. Let's not beat ourselves up because we're afraid of man. Let us double down in our investment in the seed that is an acorn that can become an oak tree, which is the Lord will never leave me nor forsake me. That's our homework. Knowing that those two giants will fall as we become strong in this oak tree called the Lord will never leave me nor forsake me. Another thought on anxiety. Do you know in the Sermon on the Mount, which some people would say is Jesus' greatest sermon, maybe, maybe not. But in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus covers so much, do you know what he spent the most time on? The most amount of words on, if that's any indication. Lost of the eyes, loving your enemies, judging others, lust, anger, more than all of that, it's anxiety. Think about that. Would you have spent the most time on anxiety? But you read that Matthew 6, 24 through 34, it's all that anxiety. Would you have proportioned your sermon covering so many different topics? We get so caught up with lust and anger, loving our enemies and judging others. I'm not discounting it, but proportion, he spends even more time on anxiety and worry. So many people, so many women can be so upset with their husbands who have a roving eye. Good for good reason that men should control their eyes. But I don't know if we've seen that anxiety, Jesus decided to spend more time on it and worry. It's a much more difficult giant. So we should attack the giant. It's not just a woman problem, it's a man problem too. All of us have to deal with it. But realize Jesus put a lot of weight on it. Don't be worried. Don't be anxious. Be content. They're all connected. And you know what we heard earlier from Josh? How do we get freed from anxiety? Philippians 4, 6 and 7 tells us that. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with in prayer and supplication, making requests known to God. No, with thanksgiving. The secret to being freed from anxiety too is the with thanksgiving part, as we've talked about before. We're not thankful. We don't count our blessings. I'm taking my mother to cancer treatments, as we heard. Okay. Lots of complaints in there. Well, count your blessings. That's a blessed word. To count our blessings as we are taking our beloved mother to cancer treatments. The devil wants us to focus on the trouble to take our mother and why is our mother having cancer and all those things. But if I can choose to not be anxious for nothing, my mother's got cancer, but prayer and supplications, Lord Jesus, please heal my mother of cancer. Lord, please be with her. Please give me the strength. Give her the grace. Give me the grace, but with thanksgiving, well, count your blessings too. We spend so much time in our anxieties and worries, prayer and supplications and no time on counting our blessings and thanksgiving. So we don't fulfill the formula. And so we never receive the peace of God. And so year after year, month after month, we wonder why are we still getting defeated by these sins? Because we're not following the doctor's prescription with thanksgiving, counting our blessings, being thankful, being content. The Lord will never leave me, nor forsake me. Being content with that, that's so critically important. One last thought on the reason why we get affected in so many of these things is I have found is the problem is with our goal. Our goal is wrong. So dear brothers and sisters, let's constantly keep reminding ourselves what our goal is. Is our goal victory over sin? What is our goal? So 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 tells me, I don't know what's going to happen in the future, what John is saying. I don't know what we will be like, but I do know this, that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him. Because we will see him just as he is. And then the transformation will be complete. And so what I see my goal is to keep Jesus in front of me. There are many different ways we say this, make Jesus our hero, make Jesus our standard. I have set you before me. You know, I don't want to place worthless idols, Psalm chapter 16. I've set you continually before me. In your presence is fullness of joy. We will be like him when we see him fully. So that's the pathway to transformation is to see him. Second Corinthians 3.18, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, we are transformed. It's being Jesus, constantly putting Jesus back and making him our goal and looking at him and seeing him. He has beautiful passage, this verse in 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7 and 8. 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7 and 8. Look at what Paul says at the end of his life. I fought the good fight. I finished the course. I've kept the faith. I think we talked about this last week, to be able to come to the end of our life and say we finished the course. We've kept the faith. We fought the good fight. Paul's at the end of his life and he's saying I'm done. I finished it. Well, what's coming ahead of me? John said, I don't know what's coming ahead of me, just that I'm going to see him and I'm going to be like him. Here's what Paul says. I'm going to get a crown of righteousness. Can you imagine yourself on your deathbed saying, I'm going to get a crown? If Paul said it, I'd like to think we can say it too. No false humility, but confident assurance. Just like you would say, I'm going to see Jesus when I die. I'm going to be with him. I can't wait to be with him when I die. Can I have that assurance? Like Paul said, I fought the good fight. I finished the course. I've kept the faith. I'm going to get a crown. You know why do we want to guarantee that we will get a crown? Here it is. God is going to give it to me and maybe to you too. He says that in verse 8. Anyone who loves his appearance, who loves to see him, who's looking forward to seeing him, who's not looking forward to anything on this earth, is looking forward to seeing him. You get a crown too. That's what it says in 2 Timothy 4, 7 and 8. It's a guarantee. So Paul on his deathbed or so to speak said, I'm finished and I know what's waiting for me. Why? Well, it's not just for me, Paul is saying. It's for you too. You can have a crown too. Can you have a guaranteed crown? If your love is appearing, if I love the appearing of Jesus, if I love, and that is because I'm constantly pulling Jesus back into my center. And because of that, and I know the Lord will never leave me nor forsake me and I'm kind of going and uniting with him. I'm killing those two massive giants of lack of contentment and love of money and fear of man have been beaten up increasingly all by just me clinging to the promise that God will never leave me nor forsake me and bringing Jesus into my focus. Loving his appearing. I'll end with that verse that Sharon said, Psalm 62 verse 1. Verse 2. He only is my rock. Not he is my rock. It's he only. I can underline that right. So he only is my rock. When we make he Jesus plus something else, he no longer is a rock. When it's Jesus plus health, when it's Jesus plus a promotion, when it's Jesus plus getting into this or that, when it's Jesus plus anything, that rock crumbles and disintegrates. But when it's Jesus only, then that becomes a rock for me. When God delays victory, it's because he's trying to make it Jesus only. He's not trying to tell me I'm useless. No, he's trying to make it Jesus only. He's trying to tell me, look, Jesus is all you need. You don't need Jesus plus your bright ideas. Jesus plus bring Jesus into the focus. Bring Jesus only into the focus. Throw away all the other baggages of what you think should be accompanying Jesus. Be content with food and covering. Godliness with contentment is great gain. And Paul in that passage in 1 Timothy 6 says a lot of people have gotten in trouble because they think godliness is a source of great gain on this earth. No. Godliness is a great gain if you couple it with I don't want anything. I got food and covering. God's guaranteed me that. I don't need anything else. It's Jesus only. And that's the hard work we have to do. Dear brothers and sisters, it's a great calling of God to take our minds off of our sins and our failings and fix our eyes on the promise. Let me say that one more time so that we really can understand this. We beat ourselves up so much and so often because we take our minds off of because we fix our eyes on our problems and our limitations and our failures. What God's reminded me over and over again and encouraged me and yanked me out of a life of discouragement is to say stop focusing on your failures and your limitations. You'll just get discouraged. Focus on the promise. Tie yourself more tightly to the promise that God will never leave me nor forsake you. If you really grabbed all that promise, you'd be getting rid of love of money. You'll be getting rid of being affected by what anybody says or does to you. You'll be content if you'll just fix your eyes on Jesus and love my appearing, not the appearing of any other gift or any other favor. If you love my appearing, I'll give you a crown. So we fix our eyes on that eternal crown that won't fade away. We have joy and we have contentment and we're free from the love of money and we're living unafraid lives. What a tremendous life. I'm sure you want these things. You want this life. So much hinging on that promise. The Lord will never leave me nor forsake me. It's a big promise. So we'll hold on to that. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/iUX5hbjsC5s.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/sandeep-poonen/one-huge-promise-to-defeat-two-huge-giants/ ========================================================================