TOPIC:‌“You Are Never Alone”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌John 8:25-30

 

‌‌“And he that sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone.” (John 8:29)

 

‌I want to begin my message by quoting two great men out of the past. One was a missionary and the other was a minister.

 

‌First the missionary. When David Livingstone returned to England for a brief visit towards the end of his life, he was honored by Queen Victoria. The cities and universities held him in high esteem. During his short stay he was asked to address the students at Cambridge University. Very simply and very quietly he said to those students: “Gentlemen, shall I tell you what it was that kept me true to my resolve through all those years in the Dark Continent of Africa? It was the words of a Gentlemen: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.' " David Livingstone was never alone!

 

‌Now the words of the minister. Charles Hadden Spurgeon, great English preacher of past years, once gave a remarkable testimony that throws light upon the truth I am trying to get across in this message. Quoting Dr. Spurgeon when he said: “I cannot recollect fifteen minutes when I was not conscious of the presence of Christ.” Charles Spurgeon was never alone!

 

‌There you have two dedicated Christians who personally could testify of God's abiding presence in their lives. And now we come to the words of Jesus in verses 28 and 29 of this chapter. In verse 28 He speaks about His coming death on a cross. In verse 29 He tells us about the divine support He was receiving from God the Father during this critical time of His life. Listen again to the words of Jesus from our text: “He that sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone.” Phillip's rendering is a little more emphatic: “The One who sent me is with me now; the Father has never left me alone.” There you have the unbroken fellowship and the abiding presence that God the Son had with God the Father.

 

‌Hold tenaciously to those words: “the Father has never left me alone.” Now as with Christ so with us. Enemies, friends, and perhaps even relatives, may abandon us in the hour of our desperate need, but not so of Christ. He has promised never to leave us alone. He will never desert us in our time of need. Get this truth down: You are never alone! Listen to these words of Christ: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). Let me show you how that plays out in the life of every child of God.

 

I.

 

‌Think, first of all, of this: We as believers . . .