Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Traveling a Rough and Rugged Road │ Msg 514 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Traveling a Rough and Rugged Road │ Msg 514 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: When God gave his word, it is called the doctrine
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Speaker 1: of revelation. As the Lord watched over the miraculous writing
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Speaker 1: of his word, it is known as the doctrine of inspiration.
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Speaker 1: As the Lord reveals to us the truths of his
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Speaker 1: words so that we apply them, it is called the
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Speaker 1: doctrine of illumination. And as God keeps his word and
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Speaker 1: holds it on this earth so that it will endure
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Speaker 1: not only earth but Heaven, it is the doctrine of preservation. Revelation, inspiration, illumination, preservation.
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Speaker 1: And that is what makes our worship so meaningful. We
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Speaker 1: come not to listen to man's wisdom or to read
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Speaker 1: words of human opinion, but to encounter the revelation provided
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Speaker 1: by our heavenly Father. I have given you an outline
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Speaker 1: for today's message, and you will find it in your
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Speaker 1: worship folder. You may want to place it here at
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Speaker 1: the crease of two Timothy chapter two, where we will
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Speaker 1: begin the message in a few moments. Giving to God
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Speaker 1: is a privilege for God's people. God never asks or
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Speaker 1: expect those who have not known his son to support
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Speaker 1: his work. So I say, without any desire to be offensive,
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Speaker 1: if you visit with us today, and you've never met
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Speaker 1: the Savior. This is an opportunity not for you to give,
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Speaker 1: but to receive His gift. So please do not feel
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Speaker 1: any sense of pressure or obligation to participate in an offering.
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Speaker 1: Take this as an occasion to turn by faith alone
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Speaker 1: to Christ alone as your own savior, and that is
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Speaker 1: the doctrine of salvation. Bow with me before the morning offering,
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Speaker 1: will you please. We have expressed to you, our Father,
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Speaker 1: to the best of our abilities, and from the depth
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Speaker 1: of our hearts, our deepest words of praise, gratitude. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for your word. It lives and abides forever. Grass
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Speaker 1: may wither and the flower may fade, but the word
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Speaker 1: of the Lord will endure forever. That word is alive
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Speaker 1: and active in shores far removed from ours, in settings
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Speaker 1: of danger, sadness, and loss, as well as on mountain
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Speaker 1: peaks of and delight and celebration. There are those this
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Speaker 1: day giving birth to children, and there is joy and
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Speaker 1: rejoicing over new life. There are those coming to Jesus
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Speaker 1: Christ by faith this day the beginning of a new
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Speaker 1: spiritual journey. How grateful we are that those words from
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Speaker 1: your word instruct us and teach us not only in
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Speaker 1: the rearing of children, but in the living out of
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Speaker 1: the life for the glory of Christ. And now, our Father,
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Speaker 1: our gifts come to you from grateful hearts. We are
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Speaker 1: so thankful for our occupation, for providing for us in
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Speaker 1: such an abundance, and out of that abundance, these offerings
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Speaker 1: come as we give first ourselves, and then our gifts.
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Speaker 1: Lift our hearts today, our Father, as we reflect on
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Speaker 1: that which is eternal, your word, and these songs of
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Speaker 1: praises which we ever give to thee in the name
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Speaker 1: of our Christ Jesus, we pray. Everyone said, Amen, I
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Speaker 1: want to set the record straight once and for all.
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Speaker 1: And it won't be easy, and I won't be able
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Speaker 1: to quote many contemporary preachers or popular speakers as I
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Speaker 1: do so. It is a message that is not popular,
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Speaker 1: and I can express the entire message in twelve words.
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Speaker 1: Now a plan to go beyond that, but I can
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Speaker 1: put it all in twelve words. Not only is life difficult,
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Speaker 1: the Christian walk is rough and rugged. Again, not only
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Speaker 1: is life difficult, the Christian walk is rough and rugged.
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Speaker 1: The road we travel from Earth to Heaven is filled
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Speaker 1: with potholes and detours and sharp curves. Dangerous drop offs,
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Speaker 1: and numerous obstacles. It is neither easy nor simple. Never
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Speaker 1: forget this. When you enter the Christian life, you enter
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Speaker 1: a battleground, not a playground. You won't hear that in
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Speaker 1: contemporary circles today, but you should. It is not God's
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Speaker 1: desire to make us feel good. It is God's desire
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Speaker 1: to grow us up. And the road that leads to
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Speaker 1: maturity is a rough and rugged road. Years ago a
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Speaker 1: man lived named F. B. Meyer, pastor in a church
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Speaker 1: in England, in fact several churches, and left in his
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Speaker 1: legacy dozens of books that to this day thrill the
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Speaker 1: hearts of the readers. He put his finger on this
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Speaker 1: particular issue when he wrote his book christ in Isaiah.
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Speaker 1: Early on he wrote this, think it not strange, child
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Speaker 1: of God, concerning the fiery trial that tries thee, as
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Speaker 1: though some strange thing had happened. Rejoice, for it is
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Speaker 1: a sure sign that thou art on the right track.
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Speaker 1: If in an unknown country, I am informed that I
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Speaker 1: must pass through a valley where the sun is hidden,
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Speaker 1: or over a stony bit of road to reach my
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Speaker 1: abiding place. When I come to it, each moment of
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Speaker 1: shadow or jolt of the carriage tells me that I
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Speaker 1: am on the right road. So when a child of
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Speaker 1: God passes through affliction, he is not surprised. A number
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Speaker 1: of generations later, there lived an old, trusty cynic, a
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Speaker 1: completely different kind of man, in that same United Kingdom
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Speaker 1: named Malcolm Muggeridge, who, late in life, after looking at
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Speaker 1: Christianity with a jaundiced eye of all things, came to Christ.
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Speaker 1: What he wrote about the Christian life I find equally
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Speaker 1: refreshing as what F. B. Meyer wrote. This is, in
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Speaker 1: fact one of the finest statements I have ever read.
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Speaker 1: Malcolm Muggeridge writes it in his work twentieth Century Testimony.
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Speaker 1: Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on
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Speaker 1: experience that the time seemed especially desolating and painful with
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Speaker 1: particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that
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Speaker 1: everything I have learned in my seventy five years in
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Speaker 1: this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence,
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Speaker 1: has been through affliction and not through happiness. In other words,
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Speaker 1: if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction
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Speaker 1: from our earthly existence by means of some drug or
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Speaker 1: other medical mumbo jumbo, the result would not be to
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Speaker 1: make life delectable, but to make it too banal and
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Speaker 1: trivial to be durable. This, of course, is what the
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Speaker 1: Cross signifies, and it is the Cross, more than anything else,
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Speaker 1: that has called me inexorably to Christ. Understandably, the message
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Speaker 1: today is not a health and wealth and great success
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Speaker 1: kind of message. It's a biblical message. It's a message
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Speaker 1: directed to you who have the scars and heartbreaks of
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Speaker 1: the past to live with, and the dark, dark memories
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Speaker 1: of difficult times that punctuate you to this day as
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Speaker 1: you live out your life. I've never heard anyone say
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Speaker 1: that it is easy to grow up. I don't know
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Speaker 1: why we have the idea that it is easy to
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Speaker 1: grow up as a Christian. The Lord draws us inexorably
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Speaker 1: to the Cross, and in doing so, in the words
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Speaker 1: of Jesus, you are to take up your cross. In
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Speaker 1: other words, say no to yourself and follow me daily.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that there are not joyful moments, of
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Speaker 1: course not. But the point is we don't really grow
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Speaker 1: in times of joy and rejoicing. We grow when the
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Speaker 1: bottom drops out of our lives and we recover somehow
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Speaker 1: finding a way to go on. Beyond the Valley. I
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Speaker 1: like the way Simonville put it. The extreme greatness of
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Speaker 1: Christianity lies in the fact that it does not seek
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Speaker 1: a supernatural remedy for suffering, but a supernatural use for it.
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Speaker 1: If you have not discovered a supernatural use for suffering,
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Speaker 1: no wonder you feel disillusioned. Small wonder that life for
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Speaker 1: you has become even more dark than before. And so
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Speaker 1: today I invite you to a journey that isn't an
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Speaker 1: easy one to take. I've said for years that when
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Speaker 1: you enter the Christian life, you do not enter a playground.
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Speaker 1: You enter a battleground, and all hell breaks loose against you,
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Speaker 1: and you are discovering why it is written of Jesus
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Speaker 1: that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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Speaker 1: People who look for entertainments a shallow and superficial. Those
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Speaker 1: who understand and endure suffering go to the depths and mature.
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Speaker 1: That's what I want for each of us. And so,
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Speaker 1: as with that in mind, a sort of a backdrop,
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Speaker 1: i'd invite you to Second Timothy chapter two, And in
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Speaker 1: doing so, I remind you these words were written from
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Speaker 1: a dungeon. The hot breath of death was on the
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Speaker 1: back of Paul's neck. It wouldn't be long before he
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Speaker 1: would hear Roman boots above him as they would drag
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Speaker 1: him through the hole, pulling him out of the dungeon,
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Speaker 1: lead him to the Austrian Way where the axe would
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Speaker 1: fall and separate his head from his body. Time was short.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't time to say silly things and to help
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Speaker 1: Timothy feel good. It was a reminder to Timothy, my
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Speaker 1: days were short, maybe down to hours. You have years
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Speaker 1: ahead of you. Timothy, now being oh probably twenty twenty
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Speaker 1: five years younger than Paul, says to him, here's the baton,
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Speaker 1: here's the torch, take it and run with it. So
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Speaker 1: when he prepares Timothy for the journey, it isn't a
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Speaker 1: journey of ease and relaxation. It is a journey of
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Speaker 1: rough and rugged terrain. So he says to Timothy, you therefore, you, therefore,
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Speaker 1: my son, be strong and the grace that is in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. So let's stay with the word picture of
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Speaker 1: a journey. Let's talk about how we pack our bags
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Speaker 1: for this journey. What do we need to put in
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Speaker 1: our bags that will get us through the valley, What
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Speaker 1: needs to go there? And stay there so that we
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Speaker 1: are equipped to handle what the journey has for us
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Speaker 1: and all its hardship and pain and sorrow. Look at
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Speaker 1: the verse. Be strong in the grace that is in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. You need a lot of grace, a lot
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Speaker 1: of grace. Now I interrupt our thoughts here for a
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Speaker 1: moment and turn back to First Corinthians fifteen. Just momentarily look. Paul,
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Speaker 1: in the end of this letter to the Corinthians First Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: drifts back into his own life and remembers the role
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Speaker 1: of grace as he describes the Lord's coming and dying,
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Speaker 1: and being raised from the dead, and being seen by
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Speaker 1: a large number of people, among them the Apostles that
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Speaker 1: were to carry on beyond him, Paul writes fifteen, verse six.
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Speaker 1: After that, he that's Christ appeared to more than five
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Speaker 1: hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now,
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Speaker 1: but some have fallen asleep, meaning they have died. Then
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Speaker 1: he that's Christ again appeared to James, and then to
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Speaker 1: all the Apostles, and last of all, as to one
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Speaker 1: untimely born, he appeared to me also watched closely. This
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Speaker 1: isn't a man simply putting himself down. This is the truth.
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Speaker 1: He appeared to me. Also, one of the qualities are
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Speaker 1: characteristics of an apostle, is that he must have seen
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Speaker 1: the resurrected Christ. There are no apostles today, no matter
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Speaker 1: what people may call themselves, because no one today has
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Speaker 1: seen the resurrected Christ with their physical eyes. Paul was
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Speaker 1: the last of the apostles. The Lord Jesus appeared to him.
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Speaker 1: As he calls himself the one untimely born verse nine,
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Speaker 1: He's not being overly self deprecated when he says, I
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Speaker 1: am the least of the apostles, meaning I am the
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Speaker 1: least deserving. I am the least of the apostle. I'm
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Speaker 1: not fit to be called an apostle. Why not, Paul,
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Speaker 1: Because I persecuted the Church of God. Read Firsse Timothy one,
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Speaker 1: and you will read of his persecution with hostility. He
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Speaker 1: turned against those who named the name of Christ, and
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Speaker 1: that's on his record. He turned thumbs down to those
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Speaker 1: who wanted to live. He stood back and watched Stephen
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Speaker 1: be stone without intervening. He is a man who has
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Speaker 1: persecuted the Church. And he said, of all people, the
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Speaker 1: Lord appeared to me, the least of the Apostles, Then
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Speaker 1: how can he go on into the Christian life? Verse ten.
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Speaker 1: By the grace of God, I am what I am,
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Speaker 1: and His grace toward me did not prove vain. But
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Speaker 1: I labored even more than all of them. Yet not
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Speaker 1: I but the grace of God with me. Three times
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Speaker 1: in a single verse he mentions grace when I didn't
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Speaker 1: deserve it. Grace rescued me when I wasn't searching for God.
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Speaker 1: Grace reached me when I had nothing to offer. Grace
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Speaker 1: made me whole when I faced the challenges of this
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Speaker 1: new Christian life. Grace empowered me when I could hardly
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Speaker 1: go on. Grace enabled me on and on. His is
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Speaker 1: a life of grace, no wonder he's called the Apostle
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Speaker 1: of Grace. Turned to Second Corinthians, chapter twelve. On our
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Speaker 1: way back to Timothy, just stop off at Second Corinthians
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Speaker 1: Chapter twelve. Second Corinthians is the most autobiographical letter Paul
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Speaker 1: ever wrote. So you learn more Paul in this letter
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Speaker 1: than you learn of him in any other. And here,
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Speaker 1: in especially chapters eleven and twelve, he pulls the curtain
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Speaker 1: back on his life and tells us so many things
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Speaker 1: he never tells us anywhere else. I'm looking at verse eight,
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Speaker 1: chapter twelve concerning this, that is the thorn. Paul had
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Speaker 1: been given a thorn in the flesh, some form of
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Speaker 1: physical ailment, suffering, some penetrating pain, some desolating hardship, perhaps
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Speaker 1: something like the loss of his eyesight or terrible migraine
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Speaker 1: that wouldn't end, some form of affliction. He says, concerning this,
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Speaker 1: I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me,
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Speaker 1: and he said, my grace is sufficient for you, for
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Speaker 1: power is perfected in weakness. Let's stop there. Today's televangelist
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Speaker 1: would say, all you need to do is name it
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Speaker 1: and claim it. All you need to do is call
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Speaker 1: on God, and he who never wants you to suffer,
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Speaker 1: will take away your affliction. He'll take away your pain.
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Speaker 1: That is heresy, That is not what the scripture teaches.
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Speaker 1: Paul says, I prayed three times, Oh Lord, take away
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Speaker 1: the foreign O't God take away the pain? Oh God,
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Speaker 1: relieve me of this? No, no, no, it isn't God's
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Speaker 1: will that everyone be relieved of pain. It isn't God's
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Speaker 1: will that everyone find a journey toward Heaven that is
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Speaker 1: easy and comfortable. Of all people Paul. You would think
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Speaker 1: he would provide that, but no, So what met Paul's needs? Grace?
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Speaker 1: Look at it verse nine. My grace is sufficient for you, Paul.
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Speaker 1: Power is perfected in your weakness. Look at Paul's response
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Speaker 1: most gladly. Therefore, I will rather boa about my weaknesses,
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Speaker 1: how boast about my weaknesses, so the power of Christ
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Speaker 1: may dwell in me. Therefore I'm well content with weaknesses.
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Speaker 1: I'll live with this pain, with distresses, with insults, with persecutions,
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Speaker 1: with difficulties, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak.
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Speaker 1: Read the last part on your own. When I am weak,
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Speaker 1: that I'm strong when God answered no, Grace sustained me
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Speaker 1: when I was forced to admit weakness. Grace kept me
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Speaker 1: on the journey. When more and more trials hit me,
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Speaker 1: Grace met me at every turn. Now back to Second Timothy,
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Speaker 1: chapter two. The journey from this life to the next
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Speaker 1: will be anything but comfortable or easy. Pack your luggage
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Speaker 1: full of grace. Be strong in grace, Timothy, I would
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Speaker 1: say today, be strong in grace. Dorothy, be strong in grace.
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Speaker 1: Bob be strong in grace, Donna, be strong in grace. Chuck,
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Speaker 1: be strong in grace. Strong in grace. You'll need it.
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Speaker 1: Otherwise you'll become cynical. You'll leave the journey. You'll think
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Speaker 1: God has forgotten you, and you'll forget the fact that
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Speaker 1: God is doing a great work through you and in you.
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Speaker 1: So pack your bags full of grace. So when we
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Speaker 1: get to Second Timothy, Chapter two, we're not surprised to
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Speaker 1: see that he says to Timothy, pack your bag well
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Speaker 1: with grace. And I urge you to become people of grace.
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Speaker 1: Grace with others and grace with yourself. See that what
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Speaker 1: you have you did not deserve. You do not you
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Speaker 1: can never earn or be able to pay back. The
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Speaker 1: journey will help. Grace will help you in your journey.
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Speaker 1: Now look at verse two. Chapter two, Verse two, we
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Speaker 1: need to help other people to prepare for the trip
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Speaker 1: as well. Look at what he says, the things which
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Speaker 1: you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses,
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Speaker 1: and trust these to faithful men who will be able
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Speaker 1: to teach others. Also, look at the handoffs. There's a
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Speaker 1: full relay. In verse two, Paul says, I have the
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Speaker 1: truth from God and I passed it on to you.
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Speaker 1: Timothy has taken the baton You're not to run with it, Timothy,
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Speaker 1: You're to pass it on to those in your generation.
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Speaker 1: Those in your generation are to pass it on to
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Speaker 1: those in future generations. I speak personally. I was not
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Speaker 1: born with the knowledge of the truth. I was, like
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Speaker 1: all of you, born distant from God, light years removed
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Speaker 1: from a life of righteousness. By the grace of God,
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Speaker 1: I was born into a home where the name of
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Speaker 1: Christ was spoken, but the grace of God. I was
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Speaker 1: in a home that loved the Bible, and so for
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Speaker 1: the grace of God, my mom and dad were the
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Speaker 1: first to tell me of Christ. I heard of him,
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Speaker 1: and the Sunday School followed, and teachers there as well
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Speaker 1: as older men in the church. As I grew up
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Speaker 1: in the church, I had those men who model the
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Speaker 1: life of Christ. They became parts of the relay of
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Speaker 1: truth in my life. And then I wound up going
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Speaker 1: to seminary of all things, And while there, under the
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Speaker 1: careful watchful eye of faithful professors, I learned more deeper
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Speaker 1: truths of the Lord Jesus, and these mentors passed along
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Speaker 1: truth so that I had become, by the grace of God,
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Speaker 1: a depository of those lives that built that truth into me,
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Speaker 1: and now I, of all things, have the chance to
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Speaker 1: pass the torch or the baton onto others, including you.
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Speaker 1: But it isn't to stop there. It's to go on
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Speaker 1: to yet others. All of us, my mom and dad,
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Speaker 1: my teachers in Sunday School, older men in the church,
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Speaker 1: mentors and professors at seminary, all acquainted with sorrow and
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Speaker 1: suffering and hardship. Help me become aware that suffering and
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Speaker 1: hardship and pain will be a part of the Christian life.
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Speaker 1: So I'm not disillusioned when it happens. It's as if
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Speaker 1: be my rights, I know that I'm on the right
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Speaker 1: road when the rough and rugged terrain occurs. So that's
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Speaker 1: the point of chapter two and verse two. You need
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Speaker 1: to help prepare others for the trip. This is what
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Speaker 1: I call the Apostolic deposit, the Apostolic transferrent, the truth
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Speaker 1: that goes all the way back to Christ, passed on
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Speaker 1: to the apostles, passed on to the apostolic delegates, passed
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Speaker 1: on to the prophets of the ancient days, passed along
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Speaker 1: to holy men of God, the church fathers, passed along
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Speaker 1: to other forefathers in the faith, and they have passed
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Speaker 1: it along to us. We've learned it from pastors and
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Speaker 1: friends along the way, and now we have the opportunity
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Speaker 1: of privilege to pass it on to our children and
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Speaker 1: to our grandchildren, to those around us. It's a process,
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Speaker 1: an unending journey from one person to another. The application,
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Speaker 1: obviously is that we as parents must do this with
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Speaker 1: our children, and our children with their children, and we
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Speaker 1: with their children as our grandchildren. The journey goes on,
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Speaker 1: and the Apostolic the transference of truth continues on. I
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Speaker 1: like the way John Stott writes of this, it is
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Speaker 1: to be a succession of Apostolic tradition rather than of
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Speaker 1: Apostolic authority, a transmission of the Apostles doctrine, handed down,
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Speaker 1: unchanged from the Apostles to subsequent generations, and passed from
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Speaker 1: hand to hand like the Olympic torch. This is the
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Speaker 1: good deposit. See the word in verse to entrust these
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Speaker 1: to faithful men. That word is a word for make
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Speaker 1: a deposit. Make a deposit into the lives of others.
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Speaker 1: Every Sunday morning, I make a deposit into lives through
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Speaker 1: the week. I have the privilege in you as well
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Speaker 1: to make a deposit into other lives as truth is transferred,
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Speaker 1: so we're all on the same journey. It isn't an easy,
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Speaker 1: simple journey. It gets complicated and at times it's rough
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Speaker 1: and rugged. If you could know the stories of people
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Speaker 1: sitting around you, you would have that in full color.
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Speaker 1: It would make you suck in your breath. You knew
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Speaker 1: the heartbreak and heartache and hardship of those sitting around you.
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Speaker 1: The Christian life is filled with people who follow in
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Speaker 1: the train of just the kind of life I've been describing.
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Speaker 1: That's the real life, that's the Christian life, but it's
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Speaker 1: empowered by the Holy Spirit, and it's for a prize
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Speaker 1: that will be ultimately rewarded when we stand before our Savior,
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Speaker 1: him who was able to present us faultless before his
27:29
Speaker 1: presence with exceeding glory to the only great God, our
27:33
Speaker 1: Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power now and forever. Now.
27:41
Speaker 1: I want you to think of yourself on the journey,
27:43
Speaker 1: and I want you to get your pen handy, okay,
27:45
Speaker 1: take out your pen if you haven't got it already,
27:47
Speaker 1: and I want you to underline five words and the
27:50
Speaker 1: verses that follow. It will help the passage come alife
27:53
Speaker 1: for you. Do you have the outline in front of you.
27:56
Speaker 1: Here's a place for you to enter that in. Remember
27:59
Speaker 1: thoughts disentangled themselves over the lips and through the fingertips.
28:02
Speaker 1: So as you write down soldier, I realize it's very elementary,
28:07
Speaker 1: but it's amazing. Helps keep you awake, it helps keep
28:10
Speaker 1: you linked in with where I'm going, because this is
28:13
Speaker 1: all about gathering truth, transferring truth to my brain, my heart,
28:18
Speaker 1: and then the hearts and brains of others around me.
28:21
Speaker 1: So first we're to stay focus like a soldier verse three,
28:27
Speaker 1: suffer hardship with me as a good soldier underlying soldier
28:33
Speaker 1: verse five. If anyone competes as an athlete underline athlete
28:41
Speaker 1: verse six, the hardworking farmer underline farmer ought to be
28:49
Speaker 1: the first to receive his share of the crop. Look
28:50
Speaker 1: at verse eight, remember Jesus Christ underline Jesus Jesus Christ.
28:57
Speaker 1: And verse nine for which I suffer hardship underline I.
29:03
Speaker 1: So there we have five word pictures, each of which
29:08
Speaker 1: help us understand better this rough and rugged journey. First,
29:13
Speaker 1: the life of a soldier. If you want to stay
29:16
Speaker 1: on the road, which is rough and rugged, you'll need
29:21
Speaker 1: to conduct your life in many ways, like a soldier.
29:23
Speaker 1: Look at verses the verses three and four suffer hardship
29:27
Speaker 1: with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. It's
29:33
Speaker 1: not hard to picture that we live in a day
29:36
Speaker 1: of battle. A war is going on, and we often
29:38
Speaker 1: see in the evening news the sights before us on
29:42
Speaker 1: our televisions of a person in uniform. Sometime they are
29:46
Speaker 1: in combat, perhaps the battle is just ended or it's
29:50
Speaker 1: just beginning, but we see them as soldiers. They are
29:59
Speaker 1: often dirty, bloody, and sometime limping, sometime being carried to
30:04
Speaker 1: the getaway vehicle or a helicopter to be lifted out
30:10
Speaker 1: of the site of battle. The point is they're all
30:13
Speaker 1: engaged in the warfare the battleground. Nobody is concerning himself
30:20
Speaker 1: for herself with a stock market, which is probably be
30:23
Speaker 1: good advice for all of us. None of those people
30:27
Speaker 1: on the battlefield are thinking at this moment my son
30:29
Speaker 1: is playing a Friday night football game for his high school.
30:33
Speaker 1: He may remember that, but it's a quick fleeting thought.
30:36
Speaker 1: Why because he's in the battle, he's not thinking about
30:40
Speaker 1: his retirement funds. Or she is not thinking about the
30:43
Speaker 1: child she left at home in the hands of her
30:46
Speaker 1: mother and dad. So what do you think of when
30:49
Speaker 1: you think of a soldier. Well, he even tells us
30:53
Speaker 1: an example verse four. No soldier in active service entangles
30:59
Speaker 1: himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he
31:04
Speaker 1: may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
31:08
Speaker 1: The key term is entangled. See that word pleco is
31:12
Speaker 1: the ancient word p l ko. Interesting term. It's used
31:16
Speaker 1: by Matthew and Mark and John for the platting of
31:20
Speaker 1: the crown of foreigns that went on Jesus head. It's
31:23
Speaker 1: a word for weaving, weaving something together. When you put
31:28
Speaker 1: a prefix in front of it would be our word
31:31
Speaker 1: in i, in in planting, or in weaving. It means
31:36
Speaker 1: to become involved in an activity to the point of
31:39
Speaker 1: interference with other activities and objectives. No soldier, I'll use
31:46
Speaker 1: that as an example. No soldier becomes involved in activities
31:50
Speaker 1: to the point of interfering with his activities and objectives.
31:55
Speaker 1: He's there for one reason. That's to win the battle.
31:58
Speaker 1: That's the reason she's in the fight. And as a
32:02
Speaker 1: good soldier, we must keep the same kind of concentration.
32:06
Speaker 1: It's a mental picture of courage and commitment, of usefulness
32:10
Speaker 1: and sacrifice. If you will see your life as a soldier,
32:15
Speaker 1: it would be very helpful because in the Christian life,
32:19
Speaker 1: you are doing battle regularly, not every moment of every day,
32:24
Speaker 1: but certainly every week of every month. At some point
32:28
Speaker 1: along the way, you're doing battle. You're engage in combat.
32:33
Speaker 1: So it's a picture of austerity and self denial. In
32:37
Speaker 1: World War Two, we had a watch word that we
32:39
Speaker 1: would say to each other, but someone talked about just
32:43
Speaker 1: kicking back, relaxing, or driving too far, using too much gasoline,
32:50
Speaker 1: or grousing about the sacrifices and the rationing that went
32:55
Speaker 1: in to living through that double war. On each side
32:59
Speaker 1: of us. We would say to one another, there's a
33:02
Speaker 1: war on. There's a war on. It was our way
33:06
Speaker 1: of saying, it's all part of the battle. You give
33:11
Speaker 1: up this so the soldiers can have it and use it.
33:15
Speaker 1: You no longer enjoy this kind of food or this
33:18
Speaker 1: particular product, because all of that goes overseas to help
33:22
Speaker 1: win the war that's going on. There's a war on.
33:26
Speaker 1: As good soldiers, we are engaged in the active service
33:29
Speaker 1: of the King of kings. Now, Timothy, there's something more
33:32
Speaker 1: to learn, and that is we are to compete as
33:35
Speaker 1: an athlete Verse five an athlete. In Paul's day, which
33:41
Speaker 1: would be the first century, the Olympiad was a set
33:45
Speaker 1: of games played even then, and everyone who competed in
33:49
Speaker 1: the Olympiad signed an oath that for ten months he
33:55
Speaker 1: would be engaged in the most rugged kind of rigorous
33:59
Speaker 1: prepperation and training. There would be a tight diet he
34:03
Speaker 1: would follow, there would be a rigorous exercise routine that
34:09
Speaker 1: he would follow. And he's literally signed an oath that
34:13
Speaker 1: said I have kept my promise these ten months. That's
34:18
Speaker 1: what it means when it says here, anyone who competes
34:21
Speaker 1: as an athlete does not win the prize unless he
34:25
Speaker 1: competes according to the rules. Today, the professional athlete would
34:30
Speaker 1: need to sign the oath that says, I will be
34:33
Speaker 1: drug free, I will stay away from human growth hormones,
34:38
Speaker 1: I won't be engaged in illicit performance enhancing substances, and
34:47
Speaker 1: if I am, there will be consequences that I suffer.
34:49
Speaker 1: He must compete according to the rules. But we're not
34:53
Speaker 1: dealing with the Olympia. No, we're not dealing with professional
34:56
Speaker 1: athletics today. We're dealing with the Christian life. Hell, is
34:59
Speaker 1: this really in the word of God. There are truths
35:04
Speaker 1: set forth that tell us how to walk. Go here,
35:08
Speaker 1: not there, do this, not that. When you please Christ,
35:13
Speaker 1: you must walk this way, not that way. Those are
35:16
Speaker 1: like the rules of the life. Those are the rules
35:19
Speaker 1: of the journey. And so when we think of ourselves
35:22
Speaker 1: as athletes, we think of ourselves as those who follow
35:27
Speaker 1: the rules Christ has given us. This isn't legalism. These
35:30
Speaker 1: are rules set forth in the scriptures. Pray without ceasing,
35:35
Speaker 1: worry about nothing, Trust me with your whole heart. Don't
35:41
Speaker 1: lean on your own understanding. These are rules to follow
35:45
Speaker 1: in living the Christian life. If we don't follow them,
35:48
Speaker 1: the journey that's rough and rugged will become even more
35:51
Speaker 1: difficult and in some places unbearable. So follow the rules
35:57
Speaker 1: as set forth in the scriptures. By the way, while
35:59
Speaker 1: we're here, Chapter four, verse seven, Paul says, I fought
36:04
Speaker 1: the good fight. I've finished the course. I've kept the rules.
36:09
Speaker 1: I've kept the faith. He's come to the end of
36:13
Speaker 1: his life, and he says, Timothy, when I look back,
36:16
Speaker 1: I remind you that I've followed the course God led
36:20
Speaker 1: me to take. I've kept the faith. I've finished the journey.
36:26
Speaker 1: But Timothy, you have twenty or more years in front
36:29
Speaker 1: of you. You've got a journey to take, and be
36:32
Speaker 1: ready for hardship. Suffer hardship with me. Don't think it's
36:36
Speaker 1: a mistake. It's part of the plan. God is growing
36:41
Speaker 1: you up to help you become the man he would
36:44
Speaker 1: have you be. Now we enter the third word picture,
36:48
Speaker 1: and I fully confess that I'm moving into an area
36:51
Speaker 1: about which I am really unfamiliar. That's the world of
36:54
Speaker 1: the farmer. I drive by farms, and I look out
36:59
Speaker 1: my vehicle window and I see farms along the way,
37:04
Speaker 1: and I see just enough to know that I want
37:06
Speaker 1: to keep driving by farms and seeing farms that are
37:11
Speaker 1: doing the job. Why. It is all about endless toil,
37:17
Speaker 1: hard work, long hours from dawn to dusk, constant effort,
37:25
Speaker 1: working in the dirt, plowing the soil, planting the seed,
37:28
Speaker 1: tending the crops, harvesting the crops, storing the crops, and
37:33
Speaker 1: sometimes even selling the crops. Regular disappointments to drought and
37:37
Speaker 1: too much rain or too much heat or early frost,
37:41
Speaker 1: or diseases or pests that come along. Enormous patients a
37:46
Speaker 1: farmer must have. Cynthia's grandfather was a rose farmer, and
37:51
Speaker 1: I remember looking at his hands when we would visit
37:55
Speaker 1: their home. You could strike a match on the calluses
37:58
Speaker 1: of his hands. I look at my hands, and who
38:02
Speaker 1: I don't want her granddad to see my hands. They
38:05
Speaker 1: don't look at all like his. Why because the hard
38:09
Speaker 1: work of farming. We were visiting just a month ago
38:13
Speaker 1: with a friend who years ago grew grapes in the
38:16
Speaker 1: San Joaquin Valley, and he said, you haven't seen hard
38:20
Speaker 1: work until you've grown grapes. Why. I look at grapes
38:24
Speaker 1: and I think, boy, how easy is that? Boom bottles
38:29
Speaker 1: of wine make a million? How simple is that? He said, Please,
38:34
Speaker 1: not until you've gotten on your hands and knees, worked
38:37
Speaker 1: under the vines, plucked the grapes. And by the way,
38:40
Speaker 1: they were in the raisin crop. So along with plucking
38:44
Speaker 1: all the grapes, which he says, by the end of
38:47
Speaker 1: about an hour and a half, you are beyond dirty.
38:50
Speaker 1: You look like the soil that you're working in. And
38:53
Speaker 1: he says, then we lay out all the grapes so
38:56
Speaker 1: they will dry become raisins. The little he wrinkled up morsels,
39:03
Speaker 1: chew them up. Don't think anything about it, he said,
39:05
Speaker 1: next time you chew a great Remember me, Remember me?
39:09
Speaker 1: I said, do you long for it? Not a day
39:12
Speaker 1: in my life? He says, do I long for the
39:14
Speaker 1: great farm? Why the work constant, everyday, backbreaking work. That's
39:21
Speaker 1: what this is all about. But it's not about farming.
39:23
Speaker 1: This is about the Christian life. We want it easy.
39:27
Speaker 1: We want people to tell us about a health and
39:29
Speaker 1: wealth gospel. We want folks to preach of messes that says,
39:34
Speaker 1: as soon as you pray, God says yes, and you'll
39:36
Speaker 1: give you whatever we want. We don't want a god.
39:38
Speaker 1: We want a heavenly billboy. We want a celestial servant.
39:45
Speaker 1: It's not our God who would grow in a context
39:49
Speaker 1: like that. We have a God who calls the shots
39:55
Speaker 1: to put it in everyday language. We serve a sovereign
39:58
Speaker 1: God who knows what is best. He sees our will.
40:02
Speaker 1: He knows we're stubborn, so he gives us the word
40:05
Speaker 1: picture of a farmer. He says, it's hard work. May
40:09
Speaker 1: I say a word to you who were in training
40:11
Speaker 1: for the ministry. Remember the words soldier and athlete and
40:17
Speaker 1: farmer as you prepare and stop looking for a handout
40:23
Speaker 1: from people, so that your life is easy. I heard
40:28
Speaker 1: one guy say, you know, it's the life of a preacher.
40:32
Speaker 1: You just can't beat it. I never see him all week,
40:35
Speaker 1: and I can't understand him on Sunday just playing golf
40:39
Speaker 1: and kicking back. First of all, I don't play golf.
40:43
Speaker 1: The holes are too little. That's a major reason I
40:46
Speaker 1: don't play golf. Second, I try to get rid of
40:49
Speaker 1: all those words when I was in the Marine Corps.
40:50
Speaker 1: I don't need to rehearse him again. I had nothing
40:54
Speaker 1: wrong with the golf game. I think it's great. But
40:56
Speaker 1: the ministry is not a bunch of golf games where
40:58
Speaker 1: we mix in a few devoteals every now and then,
41:01
Speaker 1: say a prayer at a ballgame. Nope, that's back when
41:04
Speaker 1: we could do that and things like that. Ministry's hard work.
41:07
Speaker 1: It's twenty four to seven. If you're looking for an
41:11
Speaker 1: easy way, don't go into ministry. People don't want to
41:14
Speaker 1: hear you whine about how long you have to work
41:18
Speaker 1: and how much under the gun you live your life
41:20
Speaker 1: and constantly at the disposal of people. What about Christ?
41:27
Speaker 1: That's why the Farmers mentioned it doesn't end. It's part
41:33
Speaker 1: of it. Now. Love it that Paul doesn't say to Timothy,
41:38
Speaker 1: just go you've got a great downhill slide ahead of
41:41
Speaker 1: your men, and go for it. In fact, if you
41:44
Speaker 1: really want to know who to look at, I had
41:47
Speaker 1: you underscore the name. Verse eight. Remember Jesus Christ says
41:53
Speaker 1: here he was risen from the dead. That tells you
41:55
Speaker 1: that he was one who experienced death. You realize he
42:02
Speaker 1: died far younger than most of us sitting here today.
42:07
Speaker 1: Never lived to see the age thirty five, never married,
42:13
Speaker 1: never knew the comforts of a home, never held an office,
42:17
Speaker 1: never wrote a book, never traveled two hundred miles to
42:21
Speaker 1: the place where he was born, never did one of
42:24
Speaker 1: the things that usually accompanies greatness what you do. Gave
42:28
Speaker 1: his life a ransom. He died for you. He took
42:35
Speaker 1: our place on a cross, and he says you follow me,
42:41
Speaker 1: follow me through the cross. Remember Jesus Christ, And if
42:48
Speaker 1: that memory Phages turned to Paul Verse nine. I suffer hardship,
42:53
Speaker 1: even imprisonment as a criminal, for the word of God
42:55
Speaker 1: is not imprisoned. But the word of God is not
42:57
Speaker 1: in prison. I love that greatest man that ever lived
43:02
Speaker 1: in the first century, besides the person of Christ, is
43:05
Speaker 1: under the judgment of one of the worst men that
43:07
Speaker 1: ever lived. In all of history, Nero more corrupt. If
43:10
Speaker 1: I were to tell you his full life, you would
43:12
Speaker 1: be embarrassed with the words I would use. And he
43:16
Speaker 1: sat in judgment on Paul. He is the one who
43:19
Speaker 1: said take his life. There's not one word of complaint
43:23
Speaker 1: in the last letter Paul writes, But he simply says,
43:28
Speaker 1: I'm here imprisoned as a criminal, but the Word of
43:30
Speaker 1: God is not imprisoned. How do I stay on a
43:33
Speaker 1: road like this? How do I make it? How do
43:37
Speaker 1: I keep from just cathing in? How do I keep
43:41
Speaker 1: the dark nights from turning my heart dark and my
43:43
Speaker 1: thoughts dark? Well? I skip verse seven. I didn't spend
43:48
Speaker 1: any time on verses eleven to thirteen, but quickly now
43:52
Speaker 1: verse seven. It's one of the hints, look closely consider
43:57
Speaker 1: what I say. The Lord will give you understand in everything.
44:01
Speaker 1: So the first thing I would say you need. You
44:04
Speaker 1: need to pause and take time to reflect on these things.
44:08
Speaker 1: The word consider means to perceive in the mind, Picture
44:13
Speaker 1: it in your mind, think it over with care, take
44:17
Speaker 1: note of it. Don't just skate through life grousing about
44:21
Speaker 1: things that are happening. Understand those things happen for a purpose.
44:27
Speaker 1: If God will say no to Paul's requests for the
44:29
Speaker 1: removal of a thorn. It's no surprise that he says
44:33
Speaker 1: to know to you for the removal of some situation
44:36
Speaker 1: that continues to break you down. Reflect on that, Think
44:41
Speaker 1: on that it says he will give you understanding in
44:44
Speaker 1: everything at least once a week. Pause and remember that
44:49
Speaker 1: it is a battleground. It isn't a playground. That the
44:52
Speaker 1: journey you're taking is not by accident. It's by design
44:57
Speaker 1: that Christ is shaping you into his imag not the
45:00
Speaker 1: image of a superstar, a big time celebrity. It's not
45:09
Speaker 1: that it's Christ. Consider what I say, and the Lord
45:12
Speaker 1: will give you understanding. The second thing we must hold
45:19
Speaker 1: fast to his promises. What we have at the end
45:22
Speaker 1: of this section is two pairs of epigrams. That these
45:26
Speaker 1: would be sentences that stand in paradox or in contrast
45:30
Speaker 1: to each other. Look at them. It's a trustworthy statement.
45:34
Speaker 1: The way that begins, it's probably one of the ancient
45:36
Speaker 1: hymns in Paul's quoting lines that they used to sing together.
45:40
Speaker 1: Most likely, if we died with him, we'll also live
45:44
Speaker 1: with him. See the paradox. If we endure, we will
45:47
Speaker 1: reign with him. See the paradox. Those two are written.
45:51
Speaker 1: That epigram is written to those who are true and
45:54
Speaker 1: endure faithfully. The next two lines go to those who
45:59
Speaker 1: are faithless. However, if we are faith less, he remains faithful.
46:04
Speaker 1: He cannot deny himself and the statement before it, if
46:07
Speaker 1: we deny him, he also will deny us serious words.
46:12
Speaker 1: Let me put it all in a sentence, and then
46:14
Speaker 1: I'll tell you a story. We're thru. Blessing and maturity
46:18
Speaker 1: come at the end of a painful journey. Blessings and
46:25
Speaker 1: maturity come at the end of a painful journey. You
46:30
Speaker 1: know what today has been about. It's been about getting
46:33
Speaker 1: your attention, setting the record straight, just in case you
46:37
Speaker 1: have begun to believe the lies that everything ought to
46:41
Speaker 1: be hunky doory, nice and easy, relaxed. Sit back, we
46:45
Speaker 1: all become fat cats. It isn't the life of that.
46:49
Speaker 1: That's a lie. It's a life of hardship and pain
46:53
Speaker 1: and suffering and sacrifice, and ultimately, by God's grace, we
46:58
Speaker 1: will make it for his God, and we will serve
47:01
Speaker 1: him faithfully to the end. But we got to get
47:06
Speaker 1: your attention. God has to break through the membrane. So
47:11
Speaker 1: I close with the story of a cat. Every time
47:15
Speaker 1: I tell a story about a cat, I get in trouble,
47:18
Speaker 1: I get male, I get emails from people who are
47:22
Speaker 1: cat lovers. Please, this is somebody else's story, okay. Donald
47:29
Speaker 1: McCullough wrote this in a book called Waking from the
47:33
Speaker 1: American Dream. I do like his story. I must admit.
47:38
Speaker 1: Frederick Cummings, a veterinarian who taught me a good deal
47:41
Speaker 1: about animals and much more about courage in the presence
47:45
Speaker 1: of suffering, had polio and was almost totally paralyzed. But
47:51
Speaker 1: that didn't prevent doctor Cummings from seizing life with joyous enthusiasm.
47:59
Speaker 1: He distinguished himself as a fine doctor of small animals.
48:05
Speaker 1: He hired me to work for him after school. I
48:08
Speaker 1: would go to his clinic and do everything from clean
48:11
Speaker 1: cages to perform very minor surgery. He was the brains,
48:17
Speaker 1: you could say I was the hands. Then at the
48:21
Speaker 1: end of a day I would help him to the
48:23
Speaker 1: van and take him home. Fortunately, he also had a
48:28
Speaker 1: great sense of humor. He needed it with me on
48:30
Speaker 1: his staff. Never once did he suggest that I go
48:33
Speaker 1: into veterinary medicine, and for good reason, I didn't exactly
48:37
Speaker 1: demonstrate the necessary gifts, but with grace and good humor,
48:41
Speaker 1: he overlooked my blunders. Cats were undoubtedly my biggest problem.
48:48
Speaker 1: I simply never trusted the critters, and they knew it.
48:52
Speaker 1: One day, an unusually foul spirited feline was brought to
48:57
Speaker 1: us by its proud owner. I didn't I think there
49:00
Speaker 1: was much hope for a cure inasmuch as we didn't
49:04
Speaker 1: do psychiatry, but I admitted the unwilling patient and somehow
49:09
Speaker 1: managed to get him into a cage. The animal held
49:13
Speaker 1: me personally responsible for his misfortunes. Whenever I stepped into
49:18
Speaker 1: the line of sight, he would hiss and snarl and
49:22
Speaker 1: lunge at me. Given the chance, he would have happily
49:25
Speaker 1: ripped my eyes out. The bars of the cage were
49:28
Speaker 1: my only protection, so it was definitely not the high
49:33
Speaker 1: point of my life. When doctor Cummins asked me to
49:35
Speaker 1: get mad Morris so we could work on him, I
49:40
Speaker 1: would have preferred his expeditious departing to wherever dead cats go.
49:46
Speaker 1: But how could I argue with my boss. I wasn't
49:48
Speaker 1: really afraid of losing my job. It had more to
49:52
Speaker 1: do with courage. My lack of it. Specifically, how could
49:56
Speaker 1: I admit my fear to a man who daily handled
49:58
Speaker 1: problems farward than mean cats. No, I had to try. It,
50:03
Speaker 1: had to open the cage door and grab that wriggling
50:06
Speaker 1: bundle of black terror. Easier said than done. I tried
50:15
Speaker 1: everything I could think of, but his claws wouldn't let
50:17
Speaker 1: me get close enough. One day I heard the gruff
50:21
Speaker 1: voice of doctor Craft, a veterinarian who regularly stopped by
50:25
Speaker 1: to help us with difficult problems. My problem definitely qualified
50:30
Speaker 1: with confidence of a man who had handled animals for
50:33
Speaker 1: thirty years. Doctor Craft assessed the situation, then asked me
50:38
Speaker 1: to find a lightweight rope. Now that was a task
50:44
Speaker 1: I could handle with it. He tied a lasso. Got interesting.
50:50
Speaker 1: Now open the door as quickly as you can, he said.
50:53
Speaker 1: As I jerked the door open, he tossed his little
50:56
Speaker 1: lariat like a seasoned cowboy roping a bad bull, and
51:00
Speaker 1: before the cat knew it what had happened, he was
51:03
Speaker 1: hanging from a noose while his life was flashing before him.
51:10
Speaker 1: The rapid approach of death effectively put Morris in a
51:14
Speaker 1: subdued state, and doctor Craft, not wanting to cut short
51:21
Speaker 1: the time for reflection and repentance seemed in no hurry
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Speaker 1: to offer clemency to the criminal. Don, He said, Don,
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Speaker 1: with a very wry expression on his face, and the
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Speaker 1: cat still dangling from the rope. You must first get
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Speaker 1: the patient's attention. Sometimes that's what God needs to do
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Speaker 1: to us. Sometimes he uses the noose of affliction to
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Speaker 1: get our attention. It's not a noose around our neck.
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Speaker 1: It's the sudden jolt, the surprising and unexpected turn of
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Speaker 1: events that drops us to our knees. The report from
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Speaker 1: the physician, the word cancer, the call from the police
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Speaker 1: department late at night, the word that reaches us through
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Speaker 1: a friend, or the pain in our chest, or the
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Speaker 1: stroke that silences the movement of a part of our body,
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Speaker 1: or a message like this designed to get your attention.
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Speaker 1: Listen to me. I have been faithfully taught. I now
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Speaker 1: faithfully teach. Here's the baton. You must run with it.
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Speaker 1: It's your move. Bow with me, please. I don't know
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Speaker 1: where any of this finds any of you today, and
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Speaker 1: that's probably best. So my words go out to you
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Speaker 1: at large, all of you, and each one of you.
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Speaker 1: I've lived long enough to know that God doesn't waste tests.
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Speaker 1: They are never at his surprise, always at ours, and
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Speaker 1: always intentional. He never makes a mistake. For some of you,
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Speaker 1: it's been a long journey, and he's not yet gotten
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Speaker 1: your attention. He will if you claim the name of Christ,
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Speaker 1: he will, and it will come in the most unexpected way.
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Speaker 1: You will even wonder if God loves you. Oh, he
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Speaker 1: loves you. He just knows you. While I do have
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Speaker 1: your attention. If you realize right now that there has
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Speaker 1: never really been a time in your life when you
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Speaker 1: have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, well God doesn't
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Speaker 1: yet have your attention. That starts. Remember, as Muggridge wrote it,
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Speaker 1: at the cross, and I point you to the cross,
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Speaker 1: and it's there, and there only you will find the
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Speaker 1: journey bearable. Trust in Christ and Him alone, by faith alone,
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Speaker 1: and the journey takes on a whole new dimension. Father,
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Speaker 1: thank you now for what we have heard in the
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Speaker 1: transference of Apostolic traditions. May it go with us. May
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Speaker 1: we not quickly forget it as the journey becomes increasingly
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Speaker 1: more rough and rugged. When we leave and enter the battleground,
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Speaker 1: our Father remind us that every jolt along the way
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Speaker 1: reminds us we're on the right road. I thank you
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Speaker 1: for the incongruity of your plan. I thank you for
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Speaker 1: the mystery. It keeps us waiting, it forces us away
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Speaker 1: from our plan and into yours. May these words land
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Speaker 1: on soft soil, May the seed bear fruit as it
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Speaker 1: bears a root, and may it begin a change in
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Speaker 1: those who need it the most. Thank you for the
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Speaker 1: transference of truth that has come down through the centuries,
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Speaker 1: including today. Maybe be faithful to pass it along to others.
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Speaker 1: Now to him who is able to guard you from stumbling,
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Speaker 1: and present you faultless before the presence of His glory,
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Speaker 1: with exceeding great joy, to the only wise God, our Savior,
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Speaker 1: be glory and majesty, be dominion and power, now and
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Speaker 1: forever and ever and ever and ever. In the name
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Speaker 1: of Christ, we pray, everyone said Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Traveling a Rough and Rugged Road was
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Speaker 2: copyrighted in two thousand and nine and twenty fifteen, and
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Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.