[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] Lord's-day Snippet. Tremendous.

[mmoore11 at kent.edu]

-----Original Message-----
From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io <committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io> On Behalf Of Penny Golden via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2021 8:58 AM
To: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] Lord's-day Snippet. Tremendous.

A Lord’s Day Snippet! !
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church
Pastor Ron Rumburg
255

What though the arm of conquering death
Does God’s own house invade?
What though the prophet and the priest
Be numbered with the dead?

The Eternal Shepherd still survives,
New comfort to impart;
His eye still guides us, and his voice
Still animates our heart.

“Lo! I am with you,” saith the Lord,
“My church shall safe abide;
For I will ne’er forsake my own,
Whose souls in me confide.”

Through every scene of life and death,
This promise is our trust;
And this shall be our children’s son,
When we are cold in dust.

Philip Doddridge (1702-1751)

A Promised Companionship

“
And lo, I am with you alway, until the end of the world. Amen.”

Matthew 28:20, Geneva Bible

Matthew records that the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to a mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them, and when they saw Him, they began to worship Him, but some of them wavered in uncertainty.
Jesus came near and spoke unto them, telling them that “Complete authority has been given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go, therefore, and disciple all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and remember I am with you all the time until the end of the world” (Matt. 28:16-20, literal translation). David Livingston said that this “is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honour….”

Jesus had explained to His disciples that He had complete authority and since that was true, He charged them with a mission. There is a phrase in English, “Lo and behold” which refers to something wonderous or surprising happening. This phrase is used to announce things startling and important. Jesus draws attention to His promise to the eleven disciples who are now without His personal presence but have His mandate to go and teach all nations, baptizing those thus discipled in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “I am with you” in the emphatic, he did not say, “I will be with you.”

The wonderous promise is that He said, “Lo, I am with you always.” His servants are to remember that the glorious truth is “I am with you always” or [all the time]. “Always” has the sense here of the entirety of every day. He is always there! Jesus had noted that all authority in heaven and earth was His and He gave this unfailing and unchanging promise. “It is Christ’s presence that is with them in their work, and who would refuse to go a journey where Christ Himself will be companion in travel? If the work be hard His presence is sweet. Christ lays in here a sufficiency for the support of His servants against all the discouragements they may meet with in His work” [Thomas Boston]. Jesus does not abandon His servants in doing His work, though sometimes they may lack the sense of His presence, but He is with them the entirety of every day to the end of their days and after. The peace of His servants my be interrupted because of circumstances that seem harsh and the way rough, but he is present.

He said literally, “And remember I am with you all the time until the end of the world or the end of time.” Yes, on a mountain in Galilee the resurrected victorious Jesus made this promise and signed it with an “Amen.” The extent of Jesus’ promise is all the days until the completion of the world after which all His servants are glorified and eternally in His presence. Long before there was the promise of the Lord through Isaiah, “Fear not, for I Am with you, be not dismayed; for I Am your God: I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you, yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness” (Isa. 41:10). The Lord’s servants find their sufficiency in Him who has made them able ministers of the New Testament (2 Cor. 3:5-6). His word will not return void but will accomplish the divine purpose (Isa. 55:11).

“The gospel will hang the sign of folly at every wicked man’s door, let them entertain it as they will: Mal. 3:2, ‘But who will abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.’ It will torment them that dwell on the earth. Christ’s sword is two-edged, if it do[es] no execution on men’s lusts, it will do execution on their souls; Hos. 6:5, Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth.’ The word will never leave them as it finds them, but will either make them better or worse” [Boston].

There is a touching fact related in the history of a Highland chief of the McGregor clan, who was wounded by two musket balls at the Battle of Prestonpans. The clan began to waver when they saw their chief fall, and this gave advantage to the enemy. The old chieftain seeing the effects of his wounding, raised himself upon his elbow, as the blood gushed in streams from his wounds, and he cried aloud, “I am not dead, my children; I am looking at you, to see you do your duty!” Their sinking courage was revived. There was a promise in the fact that they still fought under the eye of their chieftain. It roused them to put forth their mightiest energies, and they did all that human strength could do to stem the tide of battle. Knowing that our Lord Jesus has promised to be with us as we serve Him should encourage us on the battlefield of life under the eye of your Saviour who said, “Lo, I am always with you!”
We need to remember this whenever we are brought into the conflict. Put on the whole armorer of God and remember who promised to be with you to the end of the world!

This is such a comforting promise to realize that Jesus is with us through thick and thin and through life to eternity. Think of David Livingston for a moment. In 1896 Glasgow University conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He rose to speak, and the audience was respectfully quiet. He was gaunt and haggard as a result of the hardships in tropical Africa, he often was laid low by fevers close to thirty times. His left arm hung helplessly by his side for it had been crushed by a lion. He announced on this occasion that he resolved to return to Africa, without misgiving and with great gladness. Then he added, “Would you like me to tell you what supported me through all the years of exile among a people whose language I could not understand, and whose attitude toward me was always uncertain and often hostile? It was this, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.’ On these words I staked  everything, and they never failed.”



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