Deut 31:6, Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." 
We are once again at a tremendous statement of the Lord to His people that we need to have absolutely embedded into our minds and our hearts! It is one aspect to be aware of something because the Lord says it in His Word. That is a good thing. However, for many people that is the end of it. It becomes merely head knowledge, a true statement in the sense that we know it is written down for us to read and sometimes we may even memorize it. We might be able to point to it in our Bibles - Book, Chapter and verse, with the proud knowledge of its address and its ideological importance.
However, when the truth be told, that is where it remains. It has no inherent meaning to us. We think of it only when we run across it in our reading or if it is mentioned in a sermon or is printed on a plague somewhere in our homes. It has no true, intrinsic value in our hearts and in our beings. We think that it does not have a practical application in terms of the every day living with all the stresses and the strains and the pressures and the circumstances and the anxieties of the rapid developments which form the basis for our getting through each day, each week, each month, each year, culminating in each decade. Everything else in the “real life”, as we label it, gets in the way and absorbs our thoughts and our ideas and our patterns of how we daily function on this earth.
That is why is it so necessary, so absolutely vital, that, when we are presented with a statement of God’s promise, that we take the time to dwell on it. We need to recognize that these are not just platitudes that are being proffered in order to put together a religious doctrinal basis in the development of a social order. 
These are the bedrock truths of how the people of God are to see Him and to think of Him and to hold to Him and to count on Him and to be brought into a true and living relationship with Him. These are foundational realities that He has put before us in order to mold us and to encourage us and to develop us into a people for whom there is no other means of life except to see Him in action. We need to count on Him to prove Himself each and every moment of every day, without fail and without doubt!
Our passage is so much more than just the words of a man who was trying to argue with and influence a motley group of obstinate people. Moses was doing everything he could to show this chosen nation of God Who God really was and all that He had done to bring them to the border of the Promised Land. He was making known how his Friend, The Lord God Jehovah, desired to have that rapport with each member of this people.
Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. The fact is that we need to learn the absolute certainty and veracity of the Words that God spoke through Moses. These are the fundamental truths of Who God is and what He has done, is doing, and will continue to do in each life whom He has chosen unto Himself.
He will not fail you or forsake you… I ask each one of us to take a moment, right now, to seek within our essential knowledge and understanding and being, as to the truth of this statement. Do we know that God will never fail us or forsake us? Ponder this reality. This is one of the most indispensable, critical, and foundational truths of the nature and the character and the essence of God. He will never fail us! He will never forsake us! God is the One Who goes with us at all times, in every place, without failure and without any limitation!
We can trace this specific promise to the people whom God so blessed. We have it reinforced to Jacob in Gen 28:14+15. 
Gen 28:14+15, Your descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 
    	This promise was reinforced to each of the succeeding patriarchs through the direct intervention of the Lord. It was echoed over and over again in the heritage of the fathers and then to the descendents as we have before us in this Book of Deuteronomy. 
Consider once more Deut 4:30+31. Deut 4:30+31, When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them. 
    	The promise was that even after the people had turned away from God and had forgotten their commitment to the covenant pledge that He had set before them to be their God and that they would be His people, God would still be faithful and true. He would not forget nor would He forsake them as they forsook Him. He might seem to withdraw from them for a time, but only in order to show them their utter need for Him as their only God. He would not fail them or forsake them. 
This was again reiterated to Joshua as he was about to lead the nation into the conquest of the Promised Land as detailed in Josh 1:5-7. Just as God had led Moses and guided Him, so would He continue to lead this people through His chosen servant, Joshua. Joshua was to know for certain that the Lord was going before him and before His nation to dispossess those nations currently inhabiting the Promised Land.
	Josh 1:5-7, No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 
    	Later, after the Promised Land was inhabited by the 12 tribes and during the reign of King Solomon, we have the following recorded for us in 1 Kings 8:56-58. It was during the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem which Solomon had built for the Lord. It expresses the continued knowledge within the people that the Lord was constantly faithful to His plan and His purpose in blessing His people with His very presence in their midst. 
	1 Kings 8:56-58, "Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. 
   	This had been reinforced to Solomon by his father, David in 1 Chron 28:20, in terms of accomplishing that which had been in the heart of David to build the Lord’s temple. David was a man whose heart was after the Lord. However, he was a man of war and was not the one chosen to build the temple for the Lord. This verse indicates that David, as also evidenced in so many of his writings in the Psalms, knew that which we need to understand about the Lord Our God. He will never fail neither will He ever forsake those who belong to Him and cherish Him and obey His Word.
	1 Chron 28:20, Then David said to his son Solomon, "Be strong and courageous, and act; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. 
	Now please turn to 2 Chron 20:14-18. Here we have the response of the Lord to King Jehoshaphat when Judah was being besieged by an army far too numerous to fight on their own. There was fear flooding the hearts of the king and the people until the Lord reminded them of to Whom They belonged and that He was the One to fight their battles.
	2 Chron 20:14-18, Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, 'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. 'Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 'You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you." And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 
	The Lord had to remind His people, as He has to remind us, over and over again that He is always trustworthy! He is ever faithful! He is always victorious! There is none who can stand against Him! These are truths of the nature and the essence of God that He magnificently manifests to those unto whom He has opened His heart. Because we belong to Him, we can count on Him no matter how impossible or dire the situation is!
	The Prophet Isaiah had much to say in this regard. We will read a couple of his pronouncements. We begin with Isa 41:10-14, as the prophet gives direct voice to the Lord in speaking His encouragement to His people. This fully includes us now in Jesus Christ. We are to count on the Lord at all times!
	Isa 41:10-14, 'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' "Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; Those who contend with you will be as nothing, and will perish. "You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, Those who war with you will be as nothing, and non-existent. "For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you.' "Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you," declares the Lord, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 
    	He is now our Redeemer! It is not something that will possibly happen in the great by and by. Today - we are saved from our sin and trespass! Today - we are freed from our fear of death and judgment! Today - we are given intimate access to the very throne of God’s grace and mercy! Today - we are enabled to know the full measure of His faithfulness and His presence and His Victory!
	Now please turn to Isa 43:1-7, and read the continued encouragement of the Lord through this prophet. He declares just how much we mean to the Lord God Almighty. 
Isa 43:1-7, But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. "For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. "Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. "Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. "I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made." 
        Another prophet giving voice to the fact that we need to take deep into our hearts the full measure of the power and the victory and the love and the faithfulness and the abiding presence and the supreme lovingkindness of the Lord is Jeremiah. Please open to Jer 31:1-14 so we can rejoice together in the boundless manifestation of how much the Lord cares for us and holds us securely in His Triumphant Hands. 
	Jer 31:1-14, "At that time," declares the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people." Thus says the Lord, "The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness - Israel, when it went to find its rest." The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. "Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! Again you shall take up your tambourines, And go forth to the dances of the merrymakers. "Again you shall plant vineyards On the hills of Samaria; The planters shall plant And shall enjoy them. "For there shall be a day when watchmen On the hills of Ephraim shall call out, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the Lord our God.'" For thus says the Lord, "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chiefs of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O Lord, save Thy people, The remnant of Israel.' "Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they shall return here. "With weeping they shall come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they shall not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My first-born." Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, And declare in the coastlands afar off, And say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock." For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, And redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. "And they shall come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, And they shall be radiant over the bounty of the Lord — Over the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; And their life shall be like a watered garden, And they shall never languish again. "Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy, And will comfort them, and give them joy for their sorrow. "And I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness," declares the Lord. 
	Notice the joy and the gladness and the rejoicing and the radiance that is to characterize those who are the Lord’s Redeemed! I point this out because that is something that is often missing in the out flowing of the hearts of God’s people. If there was a true recognition of the fact that we belong to the Lord and that He is going before us in our every time of conflict and circumstance and pressure and stress and anxiety of this age, we would express this joy and this gladness. It would well up within us culminating in intense worship and praise and thanksgiving unto Our Lord, Our Redeemer!
	Rather, as is sadly the seemingly endless focal point of so many of us, we are caught up in the constant and dismal pressure of this hopeless age which strives endlessly for more and more. We want more money to buy more things because we think that will somehow quench our unsettled yearning for satisfaction. Or, we find ourselves stressing over our lack of money to meet the constantly mounting bills and the ceaseless, earthly requirements that are pulling us away from our true and first love.
The Writer to the Hebrews, in Heb 13:5+6, brings our morning consideration to a climax at this point. We find here the reinforcement of God’s promise today, for us, right now, least anyone say that there is no understanding in the Bible as to the current social pressures of our time.
	Heb 13:5+6, Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," so that we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?" 
	If we truly knew that the Lord will never desert us or forsake us, that He is our helper in every single situation and dilemma and circumstance and obligation and fear and pandemic of today, we would not be so focused on needing to get more and more. When we do so, we are frittering away our joy as we end up in ever increasingly bitter attempts to make more and more money. With joy in the Lord, we would be content with the fact that we have everything we will ever need in Jesus Christ. 
What the Apostle Paul shares in Phil 4:19+20 is the basis of how we can be strong and courageous in Christ now and evermore. Phil 4:19+20, And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 
The fact that Our God will supply our every need is not just a wonderful hope. It is the truth of today, of tomorrow, and of all eternity. So be it!
Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Rom 15:11. And again, "Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him." Amen.