We do not intend to depart from the routine that we have been prescribing for a long time past and we shall just take the verse as it comes from Hebrews 13 verses 5 and 6 and find no doubt that they have very special relevance to any harvest occasion. Hebrews 13 verses 5 and 6, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. How often indeed are these gracious words repeated, though not always appropriately. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. But we may not take them out of their context. But remember that there is a warning preceding these verses. The Lord does not say to all mankind, indiscriminately I will never leave thee nor forsake thee not in the sense in which this verse is used. That is a promise which is hinged upon a very very solemn warning to every one of us. The warning in these words let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have because he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And on that very account we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. It is a word as all the exhortations throughout the epistle to the Hebrews especially centred upon the circumstances through which these dear people were passing to whom the Apostle was writing. They were being tempted and tried. They were being drawn away from the Christian profession or from the purity of the faith. They were menaced by persecution. They were shaken in their minds by the Problems which were likely to arise from the fact that they were walking in the Christian pathway. They were tempted to turn aside to this and to that because of the fear of man. And they were reminded therefore of the Lord's words to Joshua that we have already read in the first chapter of Joshua and verse 5. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee in view of the enemies by which you are confronted and the odds which seem to be against you when almost everything seems to conspire to bring you down. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The word to Joshua as he was about to begin his campaign on the other side Jordan. And then the word of the Psalmist. in his distress too when he was in exile from his country and was surrounded by his foes and his life was under constant menace. The Lord, he said, is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. A word which is found in the 118th Psalm, verse 6 and the 56th Psalm, verse 4 if I mistake not. The Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. This therefore is the setting of our text this morning and you will see it once of course if it is appropriate to the occasion which has specially brought us together today surrounded as we are by the tokens of God's grace and mercy to us in temporal as in spiritual things. That we, along with all the people of God, should learn to be content with our lot and with the goodness and call, the ripened grain of God's all-sufficient Word. Thank God for the thought of our friends who put an open Bible upon the table in front of us. For that is the symbol of it all. That God is with us and by this means we are fed and sustained. Now let us examine our text in the light of all this. We have an old English word which is a modern English word too but not always with the old English meaning. The word conversation. There's probably too much conversation in this world. Not of the right kind. But this word conversation doesn't mean chatter or gossip or converse in the modern sense. But it refers to our manner of life, our character and in this particular verse it has a special word in the original which refers really to our moral outlook and behaviour, our spiritual state. There are two words we are told in the New Testament which are used in the Greek which are both translated conversations. The one is a more general word signifying our character and manner of life, but the other, and this is the word which is used here, which has a particular connection with our moral state in the light of the evil by which we are surrounded. Now some will say, well why did the translators translate a different word here to show us the difference? Because there is no such word in English that can be used. We have no equivalent word in the English language which would stand for the word that is used here. We just haven't got such a word. That is the glory of the great classical languages, I suppose, or one of their glories, that they were able to use words which defined meanings which were beyond the ordinary usage of our language. But though we haven't got a word to start here, we have an expression. There's always a way round, especially in our glorious and extensive English language, however much it is being polluted and debased like our currency day by day, these times through which we are passing. So we can express the meaning, though we must use several words to do so. We shall therefore say that this word conversation, let your conversation be without covetousness, refers to our whole moral outlook and behaviour, our manner of life and character in the light of God's truth. Let your conversation be without covetousness. Now this word covetous in the Bible is a very, very interesting word too in the original. If we translated it literally It would be the love of silver. Just think of that. The Scots, the Scotsman to this day uses the same expression. Some people have out-muckled silver. That's too much money. Silver or silver is still used in nine-tenths of Scotland to describe money and gain. I don't know why they should continue to use the word silver rather than gold when they're referring to money. Might just as well use the term paper today because that's what most money consists of, doesn't it? All paper money now. But silver was the common means of trade in those days. And very often by weight as the word shekel indicates. which was not a coin but a weight of money, originally was a shekel. And they used to weigh the silver just in the bullion, whether in bars or whatever other form that they carried silver about with them. And in many parts of the world, even to this day, as I believe in China up till fairly recently, at any rate, Not gold, but silver was the metal of exchange. There have always been men arising in this country who said that we ought to have a bimetal standard. We ought not to be anchored to gold, we ought to be anchored to silver as well, which is a very, very precious and important metal. But whether the mere mode of currency will affect trade in the end, I doubt very much myself. I have a theory which is rather old-fashioned, but may yet be proved to be true, that all values are dependent upon work. We call it production today, and that currency, whether it is silver or gold or only paper, is only a medium of expressing the real value. And so the price of money rises or falls according to what work is behind it. What productive and useful work is being done. That's why I'm against such traffics as drink and many other evils are one of the reasons. Because economically it's bad, it's unproductive. It actually employs a great number of people but they're being employed in doing nothing. It is a parasitic industry like many another industry that we might mention. Only that which produces, that which is of permanent and useful work ever gives us any ultimate real value and is the real quality which is behind the money which we use. These are strange times in which we live. Anyway, this word, let your conversation be without covetousness. Covetousness means the love of silver, the love of money, the pursuit of gain for its own sake. It is quite right to pursue gain. The more gain that I make, the better I'm pleased, especially if it goes into our literature fund. We want plenty of silver for that. And thank God for all those who have helped us from time to time, both far and near. We're never so pleased as when cheques come rolling in by the post. We're disposed to be discouraged and downhearted if the postman passes without leaving us something. But then you see we love this money which comes in but not for its own sake. We want it. We want as much as possible. We'll never be satisfied with what comes in so long as we want it for useful purposes to the praise and glory of God. Now there's nothing wrong in money. There's nothing wrong in the getting of it. Nothing wrong in the working for it. It's the motive which lies behind. If it is covetousness, if it is money for its own sake, if it's gain just for gain, then it is of the devil. But if it is for the glory of God, for usefulness, for what ought to be done with money, then It is to his praise and glory. It is of God and not of Satan. All money is not the Lord's money as some people think. A good deal of it is the devil's money. And we ought not to handle the devil's currency. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have. Here is the great opposite to covetousness, a word which begins in our language with the same letter, contentment. The great antidote to the disease of covetousness is to be content with such things as ye have. So says the Word. Be content with such things as ye have, because he hath said, I will never leave thee. nor forsake they. Contentment, which is hinged upon the knowledge that God is upon our side, is the great antidote to covetousness. And this is a very, very important word in the epistles of the Hebrews. For as we have said, these people were sore beset They had been deprived in many cases of their goods. Their money had been taken from them. Their homes had been destroyed. Their furniture had been burnt or cast out of doors by their enemies. They were being persecuted for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And none of us like our domestic goods to be cast into the streets, destroyed and broken and burnt before our eyes. I wouldn't like that to happen to me, and none of us would like it to happen to us. It breaks our heart to think of the sufferings of people where there is war and tumult today, with their homes broken up and ransacked, and themselves cast out into the bush, having to go and live in such shelters as they can find. because of the cruelty of men and the cruelty of the time. I'll picture the other day of a poor Arab in the town of Hebron, I think, in Palestine. There had been some terrorism going on and the Jewish government had quite properly taken vengeance upon the part of the country from which the trouble had sprung. Their only protection, their only means of providing for the safety of their people was to take very harsh measures. That was quite proper in the circumstances. But it was a heartbreaking thing to see the poor old Arab father there standing looking at the ruins of his home for which he had given all his life saving for which he had worked all his life and now he hasn't got a thing left. It's a hard hard and cruel world isn't it dear friends? When it happens just because you're a Christian which was happening to these people mentioned in the epistles of the Hebrews well it was a word to them not to be covetous of this world what this world can offer and give for you never know the time when it may be taken away and then how desolate will be your soul unless you something to fall back upon and to be content with God whose promise is worth all the loss we may sustain in this world, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So we may boldly rise up with new courage and say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Now it's a worthwhile text, isn't it? There is compensation here. For if we were rich and had all that this world could supply to us but was taken away overnight by one means or another, what would it matter if we could fall back upon God, the universal provider and say the Lord is my helper and he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you. And so Christ teaches this important lesson in the Sermon on the Mount. Take no thought for the morrow. Beware of looking too far ahead, for we can't do it and we'd be troubled if we could. Take no thought for the morrow. Be not anxious. Don't live just for tomorrow in all your striving, but rather strive after eternity and life forevermore. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. and all other necessary things will be added unto you. Covetousness desires that which God has been pleased to withhold from us, and it makes it the end of our lives, an undue valuation of worldly things. Beware of it, dear friends. It has destroyed many, and be content with such things as you have. And if God be pleased to increase your store and raise your standard of living, don't be covetous. Don't let it go to your head or to your heart. Don't let it affect your motives. John Wesley's weekly expenditure, his annual turnover, those things which he spent upon himself, remained the same from year to year throughout all his life, despite the fact that sometimes thousands of pounds were passing through his fingers. But he never increased his standard of living. We're not all called upon, of course, to be John Wesleys. He had a very special office to fulfill. But it is worth remembering, worth remembering. And sometimes to increase Our standard of living is to increase sorrow or to increase temptation. And we ought to be very, very careful in these things. I'm all in favor of an increased standard of living for everybody and thank God I've seen much of it in my time. That there's not anything like the misery and wretchedness that there used to be. I don't know that the people are any more happy or content. Well, at any rate, there's been an abating of misery and wretchedness in the community, socially speaking. And for this, we are very, very thankful indeed. But if men and women were only content with such things as they have, I fear that this is a covetous age. And the more we get, the more we want. And the more we have, the less content we are. with the things that we possess. That is certainly true of us as a nation. Let it not be true of us as individuals, and especially as Christian individuals. But let us lean not upon what this world affords, the material things of life, however much they may be the indication of God's blessing to us and upon us. But let us lean upon this one thing only, that he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. It has been well pointed out by those who are conversant with the principles of grammar that in the original Greek in this passage this word I will never leave thee nor forsake thee is about the most powerful negative in the whole of the Bible. One of the most powerful negatives in the whole of human speech or literature. We only have two negatives in our English version because the English language and grammar will not bear any more. When it says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. The word never and nor of course are negatives. Our sentence in English would not stand anymore because two negatives in English form an affirmative. That would never do according to the original language. But in the original there are no fewer than five grammatical particles, each of which is a complete negative in the language in which the Apostle Paul wrote. There are five negatives in that handful of words. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Don't ask me how you can crowd five negatives into a short sentence like that when two will do. But you see that's the genius of the classical language and the remnant of it left in French I believe where they often use two negatives where we use one. Well here we have five where we can only find room for two. And it is an enforcement by the Holy Spirit of a great truth upon our minds. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. It is absolutely impossible by the law of five negatives in a few words. It is absolutely impossible that this decree should be altered. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now that's worth turning out this morning to our harvest festival isn't it, to hear We always knew this text, it's familiar with all of us, but you didn't know how powerful it was, did you? I didn't know myself till yesterday. No excuse for that as far as I'm concerned because I ought to have examined it more closely long, long ago, but that is the truth of it. We live and we learn, more and more, one of the most powerful assurances and means of confidence to the believer. In all Holy Scripture, the words which God uttered to Joshua of old, Joshua, he said, no matter what the odds are against you, I will never, never, never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee. I haven't examined yet what it was in the Hebrew. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same powerful negatives exist there as do in the Greek rendering of them. a word specially given by God to the human race and to that portion of it which knows the power of his redemption. We learn from this that what God says to all his servants in days gone by, he says not to them only but to us. A very much afflicted man, I think slightly perhaps mentally afflicted. A man of my acquaintance who doesn't live in these parts at all, lives elsewhere. He has a great problem in his mind and he's been to all kinds of people but no one can give him satisfaction. Came to me and I found it was quite impossible to give him satisfaction. I had all the answers but they weren't the answers to him. I suppose because there's a kind of a twist somewhere in his mental makeup and he just can't bring himself to see the obvious. The human mind is a curious thing. And this is his problem. He said, I believe the Bible from cover to cover. But I believe the things that are said in the Bible are only said to the people to whom they are said. And therefore such a text as this wouldn't apply to him. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He would say, no, no, God hasn't said that to me, He said it to Joshua. It doesn't apply to me, because He hasn't said it to me. You just see where He is. Now you can't do anything with that type of mind, no matter how much you try. You just can't convince him, unless God does something and touches his mind and just puts him right upon that point. What hope have we got? Well, we can only pray, can't we? But let us be assured, dear friends, that this word is not only a word to Joshua, that when God spoke it to Joshua, He spoke it to us. And the proof of that is that a thousand or two thousand years afterwards, the Apostle Paul transports it from the first of Joshua into the thirteenth of Hebrews. And he said, it's a word for you who are now troubled, even although none of their names are mentioned. that we do not know one of them by name to whom the little group to whom he wrote and addressed this mighty document of the Christian faith. He said it is for you as much as for those in the past. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And that is a valuable clue for you and me that anything which God says in his word is applicable to us in our circumstances and our condition. It belongs to you and to me just as much as it belongs to them. And Paul confirms that in verse 6. For he takes a word from David. Something which David was led to write at the time of his great distress too when he was surrounded by his foes. David says the Lord is my helper I will not fear what man shall do unto me. But says the Apostle Paul who doesn't mention David although he got the word from David. He says so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. So he takes the word from David as he takes the word from Joshua and says it's not for them only. They were prophets. God spoke it to them and through them to us. And every dear child of God, however humble, nameless and obscure, might take it to himself or herself at every turn of the road and every time of distress and say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what men or devils can do unto me, whatever comes against me. will be for me in the end. And all things work together for good to them who love God, who are called according to His purpose. And very, very much more to the same purpose. I have a lot more to say. I've only finished page one and there's five more to come, but not today. Thank you. May the Lord bless us and enable us to take home some of these graves of comforts. and means of strength and confidence for his name's sake.