Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / God’s Mysterious Immutability │ Msg 711 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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God’s Mysterious Immutability │ Msg 711 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Scripture reading is found in Lamentations chapter 3. Please turn
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  Speaker 1: with me to this Old Testament section of Scripture just
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  Speaker 1: beyond the book of Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter 3, verse 19.
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  Speaker 1: Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
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  Speaker 1: Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.
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  Speaker 1: This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord's loving kindness indeed never cease, for his compassions
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  Speaker 1: never fail. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I
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  Speaker 1: have hope in him. The Lord is good to those
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  Speaker 1: who wait for him, to the person who seeks him.
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  Speaker 1: It is good that he waits silently for the salvation
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. It is good for a man that
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  Speaker 1: he should bear the yoke in his youth. Let him
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  Speaker 1: sit alone and be silent since he has laid it
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  Speaker 1: on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps there is hope. Let him give his cheek to
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  Speaker 1: the smiter. Let him be filled. Compromises only complicate our convictions.
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  Speaker 1: We promise ourselves that we will accomplish a certain thing,
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  Speaker 1: At the early part of the week, by the middle
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  Speaker 1: of the week, we've begun to fudge and compromise so
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  Speaker 1: that by the end of the week, we are somewhat
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  Speaker 1: off target, if not altogether. Perfect example, dieting. Who hasn't
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  Speaker 1: fought the battle of the bulge? We start early Monday
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  Speaker 1: morning determined this has gone on long enough. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to trim off the fat. We began to compromise before
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the week has arrived, and we don't
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  Speaker 1: want anybody in our family to remind us of what
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  Speaker 1: we said last Monday when Friday comes. Perhaps that's what
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  Speaker 1: attracted me to the stress diet. Breakfast, one half grapefruit,
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  Speaker 1: one piece of whole wheat toast, no butter, eight ounces
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  Speaker 1: of skim milk, coffee, black. Lunch. Four ounces of lean
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  Speaker 1: broiled chicken breast, skin removed. One cup of steamed zucchini.
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  Speaker 1: Herb tea, no sugar. One Oreo cookie. Mid-afternoon snack. The
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  Speaker 1: rest of the package of Oreo cookies. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
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  Speaker 1: One quart Rocky Road ice cream. One jar of hot fudge. Dinner.
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  Speaker 1: Two loaves of garlic bread heavy on the butter. Large
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  Speaker 1: sausage pepperoni pizza, extra cheese. For beverage, two large milkshakes
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  Speaker 1: with whipped cream. For dessert, Three Milky Ways, an entire
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  Speaker 1: frozen cheesecake eaten directly from the freezer. Oh, the impact
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  Speaker 1: of one Oreo cookie. Compromises complicate our commitments. It's funny
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to a cute diet like that. It's
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  Speaker 1: tragic when it happens again. to a nation. It happened
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  Speaker 1: to the Jews, you know. In fact, in the words
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  Speaker 1: of Hosea the prophet, they sowed the wind, they reaped
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  Speaker 1: the whirlwind. That's what he called it, reaping the whirlwind.
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  Speaker 1: They set in motion a cycle that ate them alive. Turn, please,
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  Speaker 1: to the minor prophet, Hosea, chapter 8, verse 7. There's
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  Speaker 1: the proverb. You may have quoted it, but you just
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  Speaker 1: didn't know where it was found. Mark it. For they
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  Speaker 1: sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. It's not
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  Speaker 1: describing something as simple as a diet. He's describing something
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  Speaker 1: as tragic as a lifestyle. Why did they do it?
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  Speaker 1: Why did they ever take that first cookie? Moses had
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  Speaker 1: made it so clear when they left Egypt and entered Canaan.
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  Speaker 1: You're entering a lifestyle that is idolatrous. There is a
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  Speaker 1: whole way of living that is antithetical to your monotheistic
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  Speaker 1: way of life. Stay true. Stand firm. Be distinct. Don't compromise.
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  Speaker 1: No idols. No intermarriage. Live right. One wonders the first
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  Speaker 1: day someone ate the first cookie. They kept one of
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  Speaker 1: the idols. They didn't worship it. In fact, they decided
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  Speaker 1: to just sort of toss it in the trunk and
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  Speaker 1: maybe leave it in the closet. I mean, after all,
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  Speaker 1: it was a carving of someone's hand and meant nothing
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  Speaker 1: to them. It was just another idol and maybe one
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  Speaker 1: of the children found it or maybe a neighbor got
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  Speaker 1: interested and before you know it, they began to focus
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  Speaker 1: on the idol and And that seemed to lead to
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  Speaker 1: yet another plan and yet another. And finally, they reaped
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  Speaker 1: a whirlwind. They ate the whole package. In fact, if
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  Speaker 1: you're still looking at Hosea 8, you'll see a series
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  Speaker 1: of things that led up to where they were. Verse 1,
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  Speaker 1: they transgressed my covenant. Verse 1, they rebelled against my law.
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  Speaker 1: That's not simple Hebrew poetry. That's truth. That's the cookie.
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  Speaker 1: They looked at my law and they rearranged things. It
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  Speaker 1: didn't quite mean what it said. It's pretty strict for
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  Speaker 1: Canaan life. I mean, it fit when we were in
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  Speaker 1: Egypt and in the wanderings, but let's face it. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: you've got to look at things realistically. And so we'll
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  Speaker 1: take part of the law. We'll leave part of the law.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if our son falls in love with
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  Speaker 1: one of those Canaanites. That's okay. It's all right. We'll
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  Speaker 1: maintain life. He's been raised right. They rebelled against my law.
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  Speaker 1: Verse three, of all things, they now rejected the good.
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  Speaker 1: That implies they embraced the bad. And verse 4, when
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  Speaker 1: it came to kings, they didn't listen to me or
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  Speaker 1: seek my counsel. They set up kings, not by me.
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  Speaker 1: They appointed princes I didn't know about. They weren't my men.
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  Speaker 1: And with that silver and gold that I gave them,
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  Speaker 1: they made idols for themselves. Can you believe it? These
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  Speaker 1: aren't Canaanites. These are God's people. It all started with
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  Speaker 1: a cookie. Something so simple led to so much. They
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  Speaker 1: sowed the wind. They reaped the whirlwind. Ben Franklin, way
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  Speaker 1: back 1758, wrote, A little neglect may breed great mischief.
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  Speaker 1: For want of a nail, the shoe is lost. For
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  Speaker 1: want of a shoe, the horse is lost. For want
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  Speaker 1: of a horse, the rider is lost. This is a
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  Speaker 1: day to pay attention to the nails, to take a
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  Speaker 1: look at the cookie, because that's the first step down.
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  Speaker 1: It leads me to a statement that I think is
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  Speaker 1: easily forgotten, so easily forgotten. When we continue doing wrong,
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  Speaker 1: we set in motion a cycle of complications. When we
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  Speaker 1: continue doing wrong, we set in motion a cycle of complications.
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  Speaker 1: Don't forget that. I'll try not to forget it too. See,
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  Speaker 1: that's what happened then. That's why he says to Hosea,
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  Speaker 1: put a trumpet to your lips. Verse 1. Scream it out, son.
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  Speaker 1: Tell the people it's my prophet. It isn't worth it.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't worth it. You know what happened? You know
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  Speaker 1: what happened. Strong, positive, united, harmonious nation Israel drove a
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  Speaker 1: wedge in through Jericho and conquered Canaan. They took over
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  Speaker 1: the land. But would you believe in a process of
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  Speaker 1: time they didn't seek God's mind on who would rule
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  Speaker 1: over them and Before long, they voted in the godless.
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  Speaker 1: And the godless legislated a godless lifestyle. And the godless
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  Speaker 1: lifestyle ruined the people. By 722 BC, the Assyrians invaded
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  Speaker 1: the north and they led the people into captivity. God's
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  Speaker 1: people lost their freedoms. Psalm 137 says that we hung
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  Speaker 1: our harps on the willow tree. Our captors said, sing
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  Speaker 1: us one of those songs of Zion. Let's hear it.
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  Speaker 1: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Let's hear it. How about,
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  Speaker 1: and can it be that I should gain an interest
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  Speaker 1: in the Savior's blood? Let's hear you sing it now.
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  Speaker 1: And the psalmist says, how can you sing the Lord's
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  Speaker 1: song in a foreign land? They lost everything. There was
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  Speaker 1: a prophet who watched them in transition. He prophesied 40
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  Speaker 1: strong years and he wept more than he preached. He
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  Speaker 1: wrote a lot, 52 chapters. His name, Jeremiah. And that
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  Speaker 1: book gets all of the press. But what is even
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  Speaker 1: more eloquent, in my opinion, is the journal of woe
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  Speaker 1: that he kept following the fall. It's called Lamentations. Lamentations.
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  Speaker 1: Great word. We don't use it nowadays. It's a story.
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  Speaker 1: It's a record. It's a journal of woe. To lament
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  Speaker 1: is to cry out with words of grief. It's a
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  Speaker 1: wailing cry in the middle of the night. It's the
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  Speaker 1: sadness brought on by loss. And Jeremiah, as he stumbles
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  Speaker 1: through the once strong city of Zion, takes notes. And
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  Speaker 1: he remembers when they were great, and he records now
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  Speaker 1: that they've lost it all. It's a book of woe.
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah remembers when they were a people of God. He
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  Speaker 1: remembers the warning, and now he records the failures. You see,
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  Speaker 1: they set in motion a cycle of complications, and that
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  Speaker 1: cycle is regularly repeated. It isn't limited to the ancients. Look,
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  Speaker 1: for example, he is a man who has seen affliction,
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  Speaker 1: chapter 3 of Lamentations. He has seen affliction. Remember that.
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  Speaker 1: That's the beginning of the cycle. When you do wrong,
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  Speaker 1: when you live wrong, when you compromise with the truth,
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  Speaker 1: you begin to be afflicted because God doesn't let his
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  Speaker 1: children play in the traffic. He spanks us. He disciplines us.
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  Speaker 1: He wants to bring us back and so he afflicts
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  Speaker 1: us with the whips of righteousness. And this man says,
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  Speaker 1: I've seen affliction because of the rod of his wrath. Affliction,
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  Speaker 1: verse 3. Surely against me he has turned his hand
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  Speaker 1: repeatedly all the day. You ever been there? Ever been
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  Speaker 1: under that smarting rod of God? You've walked away from
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  Speaker 1: his truth and you've suffered the consequences? Who hasn't been there?
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  Speaker 1: It isn't limited to the teenager. I meet far more
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  Speaker 1: adults there than I do teenagers. And under that rod
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  Speaker 1: of God, you're hurt. You're supposed to hurt. He cares
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  Speaker 1: too much to let you play around. Affliction turns to desolation.
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  Speaker 1: Look at verse 8. Even when I cry out and
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  Speaker 1: call for help, even when I lament, He shuts out
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  Speaker 1: my prayers. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone.
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  Speaker 1: He has made my paths not straight, but crooked. He
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  Speaker 1: is to me like a bear lying in wait, like
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  Speaker 1: a lion in secret places. He has turned aside my ways.
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  Speaker 1: He's torn me to pieces. He has made me desolate.
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  Speaker 1: He's walled me out. That's desolation, isn't it? You can
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  Speaker 1: just feel the emotion. I'm a laughing stock. Now there's mockery.
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  Speaker 1: There's the humiliation. Look down at verse 14. I have
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  Speaker 1: become a laughingstock to all the Jews. You're telling me
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  Speaker 1: that that's the God we ought to follow? He's the
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  Speaker 1: one that brought all this on us, and you told
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  Speaker 1: us a few years ago that we ought to repent?
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  Speaker 1: And this is the treatment we get from him? What
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  Speaker 1: a joke! I'm humiliated, Lord. They're laughing at me. He
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  Speaker 1: records it all in his journal. I'm broken, verse 4.
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  Speaker 1: I'm blocked, verse 9. It's bitter. Verse 15. He's filled
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  Speaker 1: me with bitterness. He's made me drunk with the wormwood.
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  Speaker 1: Look at this. He's broken my teeth with gravel. He's
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  Speaker 1: made me cower in the dust. You know what's happening?
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  Speaker 1: He's isolated. Verse 20. My soul remembers and is sunk.
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  Speaker 1: The Hebrew says sunk. I am as low as I've
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  Speaker 1: ever been. Verse 17, my soul has been rejected from peace.
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  Speaker 1: I have forgotten happiness. Wow. I talked to a man
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  Speaker 1: some time ago who said this. I can't remember the
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  Speaker 1: last time I laughed, Chuck. I haven't even been able
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  Speaker 1: to smile for days. He described to me a lifestyle
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  Speaker 1: that resulted in his definite plans to take his life.
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  Speaker 1: And I happen to have intercepted his path along the
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  Speaker 1: way and he now lives. He's back with God. Not
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  Speaker 1: because of something I've done, but because of the faithfulness
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  Speaker 1: of God. But he had lost his joy. He had
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  Speaker 1: lost the laughter. Hold your place here and go back
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  Speaker 1: for one verse in Ecclesiastes. One verse. This is our
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  Speaker 1: day of unusual books, huh? Hosea and then Lamentations and
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  Speaker 1: now Ecclesiastes. Just after the book of Proverbs, Solomon records
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  Speaker 1: this very honest journal. Chapter 2, verse 25. 2.25. For
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  Speaker 1: who can eat, who can have enjoyment without him? Isn't
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  Speaker 1: that a great verse? Who in the world can enjoy
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  Speaker 1: a wonderful meal? Who in the world... can laugh at
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  Speaker 1: life and laugh with God who has distanced himself from him.
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  Speaker 1: It requires the living God for there to be a
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  Speaker 1: joyful heart. Now back to lamentations. Verse 28. Let him
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  Speaker 1: sit alone and be silent since God has laid it
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  Speaker 1: on him. Sounds like what your mom used to say
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  Speaker 1: when she spanked you. Just sit there and be quiet
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  Speaker 1: now that I've laid it on you. That's what happened
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  Speaker 1: to the people of Israel. God has laid it on
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  Speaker 1: you now. Shut up and listen, says the prophet. Be quiet.
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  Speaker 1: Learn in the silence the value of walking with God.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing worse, it seems, nothing worse than being responsible
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  Speaker 1: for our own affliction. It's bad enough to be a victim.
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  Speaker 1: It's doubly difficult when you've caused it.
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  Speaker 2: F.B.
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  Speaker 1: Meyer, in a little book called Christ in Isaiah, wrote,
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  Speaker 1: This is the bitterest of all to know that suffering
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  Speaker 1: need not have been, that it is the product of
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  Speaker 1: one's own sowing, that the vulture which feeds on the
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  Speaker 1: vitals is a nestling of one's own rearing. Ah me,
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  Speaker 1: this is pain. That's what made this so tough. They
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  Speaker 1: had deliberately, consciously, and with some sense of calculation, walked
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  Speaker 1: away from the ways of God. You'll notice on the
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  Speaker 1: back of the sermon outline one of the few Van
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  Speaker 1: Goghs of mine I've ever released. The principle is at
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  Speaker 1: the top, for they sow the wind and they reap
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  Speaker 1: the whirlwind. Now that maddening whirlwind begins with affliction. He
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  Speaker 1: gets it right in the gut. Then the desolation. He's falling.
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  Speaker 1: He's on his back, humiliated, isolated, feeling rejected from God.
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  Speaker 1: All the way through, however, God hasn't moved. Reminds me
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  Speaker 1: of the story I love to tell about the couple
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  Speaker 1: on their 25th anniversary, driving home from a fine restaurant.
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  Speaker 1: She is plastered against the door on the right. He's
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  Speaker 1: sitting behind the wheel driving home and she laments, Oh, honey.
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  Speaker 1: remember when we were so close? I mean, I remember
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  Speaker 1: when we first got married. You could hardly drive. I
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  Speaker 1: was all over you. And look at us now. He answered, well,
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  Speaker 1: I never moved. That's the way it is with our
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  Speaker 1: living God. Lord, I remember when we used to be close.
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  Speaker 1: I I never moved. I remember when you and I
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  Speaker 1: were on speaking term. I never moved. I remember when
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  Speaker 1: I used to talk to you in my deep moments
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  Speaker 1: and you meant something to me. I never moved. I
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  Speaker 1: never went anywhere. You're still important to me. You see,
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  Speaker 1: back in Lamentations, the this of verse 21 is a
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  Speaker 1: turning point. It's the hinge in the passage. Look at it.
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  Speaker 1: It's the good news. We've heard the bad news. Time
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  Speaker 1: for the good news. This I recall to mind. I
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  Speaker 1: love that. I am in the midst of sadness and affliction.
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  Speaker 1: I am remembering the bitterness and the wormwood. I am
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  Speaker 1: walking through the remains of this city I love, kicking
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  Speaker 1: the debris and wondering how in the world this could
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  Speaker 1: have happened, and suddenly it dawns on me. It comes
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  Speaker 1: to mind. The this points ahead, not back. I've got
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  Speaker 1: a little arrow in my Bible that's circled this, and
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  Speaker 1: then the arrow goes right down through verse 32. It's
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  Speaker 1: this that's coming that he remembers. Look, this I recall
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  Speaker 1: to my mind, and I have hope. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: there is nothing quite so encouraging as being in the
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  Speaker 1: pit and suddenly having a surge of hope. Someone has
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  Speaker 1: said we can live 40 days without food. We can
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  Speaker 1: live eight days without water. We can live four minutes
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  Speaker 1: without damage, without breath. But we can only live a
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  Speaker 1: few seconds without hope. You know what occurs when you
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  Speaker 1: are at the very bottom? Hope flees. It runs away.
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  Speaker 1: When hope leaves, your mind is shut down. You can't
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  Speaker 1: even recall those verses that you learned as a child.
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  Speaker 1: You can't remember one line of one song. You can't
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  Speaker 1: remember one prayer you ever memorized because your hope's gone. Now,
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  Speaker 1: in the midst of that, he got hope. What is
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  Speaker 1: the hope? Three lines. I want you to write them down.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want you to ever forget them. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: I suggest you put them on a three by five
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  Speaker 1: card sometime between now and tomorrow morning. And you put
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  Speaker 1: them by your bed and you prop that little card
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  Speaker 1: up and you read it every morning. I'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: why in a minute. Here are the three lines. They're
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  Speaker 1: right from the scriptures. Verse 22. The Lord's loving kindnesses
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  Speaker 1: never cease. If you like the word mercy in place
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  Speaker 1: of loving kindnesses, use mercy. It's plural. The Lord's mercies
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  Speaker 1: never cease. So that's line number one. This is a
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  Speaker 1: scripture worth remembering. The Lord's mercies never cease. Let that
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  Speaker 1: seep into your busy mind. Some of you have been
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  Speaker 1: in such a hurry. Not much has seeped in in
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  Speaker 1: the last 10, 15, 20 days that is from God.
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  Speaker 1: And it shouts from heaven, this passage does. It comes
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  Speaker 1: directly to you, personally delivered with your name on it.
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  Speaker 1: My mercies never cease. If you ever read Psalm 23
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  Speaker 1: through the eyes of anything but a sheep, you'll be shortchanged.
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  Speaker 1: The 23rd Psalm ought to be read while we're wrapped
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  Speaker 1: in wool. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
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  Speaker 1: He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads
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  Speaker 1: me beside still or calm waters. While there, he restores
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  Speaker 1: my soul. You're a sheep. The one who writes it
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  Speaker 1: is writing it from the vantage point of a sheep.
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  Speaker 1: He anoints my head with oil. There are some who
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  Speaker 1: shepherd sheep who tell me that oil is often put
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  Speaker 1: on the nose and on the head of a sheep
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  Speaker 1: in abundance because sheep nuzzle around deep in grass and
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  Speaker 1: they often get near the snake holes and snakes smell
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  Speaker 1: that oil and leave them alone without the oil. They
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  Speaker 1: bite them on the nose and on the lips and
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  Speaker 1: on the mouth and on the cheek. But a good
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  Speaker 1: shepherd anoints the head with oil to protect him from
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  Speaker 1: the snake bite. My cup runs over. The Lord even
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  Speaker 1: has sheep dogs. They're called goodness and mercy. And they
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  Speaker 1: follow me all the days of my life. They're there.
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  Speaker 1: Goodness and mercy. And they are so good to keep
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  Speaker 1: me in bounds. But sometimes I run. And even when
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  Speaker 1: I run, mercy stays. That's what this passage says. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord's mercies never cease. Isn't that good? Aren't you glad
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  Speaker 1: he isn't fickle? Aren't you glad he doesn't cool off
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: at you when you yell back at him or when
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: you ignore his statement or you deliberately misread and misjudge
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: his will? His mercies never cease. Here's the second statement.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Write it down. The Lord's compassions never fail. Interesting word, compassion.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: While you're writing, I'll give you the word. It means
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: sympathetic love. Concern for the helpless. It always includes involvement
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: when it's referring to God. His compassions never fail. They
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: are unalterably the same. His heart keeps going out to
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the prodigal. Like the father, remember, over in Luke 15,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the boy wants all that he has coming to him.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: He would like more, but the father gives him what
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: he has coming. And the boy splits. How long he's gone,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: we're never told. But the father doesn't run after him
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and beg him and plead with him and bargain and
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: promise half the inheritance more if he'll stay. He lets
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: him go, just like our father. And the boy runs
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: out of money, runs out of fun. and runs out
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: of food. And in the pigsty, he comes to his
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: senses and he practices his little speech. I'll go back. Interesting.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Everything you look for is back home. Different perspective when
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: you're in the pigsty with nothing than when you're fat
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: and sassy at home, not lacking the rules under the roof.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And the boy comes to his senses. And you remember
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: the story? He comes back and the father seeing him
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: still a great distance away runs. You think that dad
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: didn't have compassion. Now he did not run up to
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: him and say, what have you been doing? Give me
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: an account of your time. Where in the world is
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: all my money? Look at the mess you've made. You stink.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: You are awful. He said, kill the calf. Kill Bruno.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: We're going to have a barbecue. We're going to have
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: a terrific time because my boy who was lost has
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: been found dead. He ran away from me. Now he's back.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: And I'm full of compassion. The only one who gave
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: him a legalistic list was the older brother. He was
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the more difficult of the two children to raise, by
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: the way. Because his acts were deceptive. His rebellion was quiet.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: He didn't know anything about grace. And our Lord, who
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: is full of mercies. And those mercies motivate him to
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: feel compassion, finds himself never failing in compassion. When you
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: come home, he says, I missed you. I'm glad you're here.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Third line. Great. No, let's put it. The Lord's faithfulness
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: never diminishes. It is always G-R-E-A-T.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: The Lord's faithfulness. Mercies never cease. The Lord's compassions never fail.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: The Lord's faithfulness never diminishes. It is always great. Isn't
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: that good? It is always great. Even when you blew it,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: even when you blew it, even when you made that
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: stupid decision, even when you made that stupid decision, even
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: when your marriage failed, even when your marriage failed, even
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: when you knew better, even when you knew better. His
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: faithfulness never diminishes. It is always, always great. Now, put
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: down a little card, set it by your bed, read
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: it every morning. Before you ever get blanket victory, before
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: you ever get your feet on the floor, before you
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: ever look at yourself in the mirror, especially before you
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: look at yourself in the mirror, look at the card
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: and read it aloud. The Lord's mercies never cease. The
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Lord's compassions never fail. The Lord's faithfulness never diminishes. We
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: looked in depth at God's sovereignty when we were together before.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I suggested some of a divine resume of his sovereignty.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: You may remember. Well, I've done a little tool work
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: on his faithfulness, and I'd like to read you something.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: By the way, faithfulness is tied to his immutability, which
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: is a four-bit word for he doesn't change. Because God
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: doesn't change, he has to remain faithful. So that's where
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I start. Being immutable, he not only will not change
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: in his faithfulness, he cannot change. That means he cannot
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: change for the better, and he certainly cannot change for
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the worse. He never cools off in his commitment to us.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: He never breaks a promise or loses enthusiasm. He stays
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: near us when we are zealous for the truth just
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: as much as when we reject his counsel and deliberately disobey.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: He remains intimately involved in our lives, whether we are
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: giving him praise in prayer or grieving him in our actions.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: whether we are running to him or from him, he
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: remains faithful. His faithfulness is unconditional, unending, and unswerving. Nothing
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: we do can diminish it, and nothing we stop doing
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: can increase it. It remains great. What fine food that
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: is for our minds. Now I got a great thought
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: while putting these things together. I thought, why is it
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: when we lose all hope The enemy says, take your life.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Why is it that the enemy's favorite option for hopeless people,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: especially hopeless Christians, especially hopeless Christians, is suicide? Why is
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: it he says this dark night, put an end to it?
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: I think I found part of the answer back in
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: the passage. The Lord's loving kindnesses never cease. The Lord's
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: compassions never fail. The Lord's faithfulness is never diminished. But
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: I missed a line. Those three things are what? New
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: every morning. If you take your life at night, you
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: won't in the burst of the dawn have the sudden
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: realization that God is there. You'll be gone. I don't
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: know about your life, but I can tell you about mine.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: My hard time is the nighttime. That is when it's
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: getting dark. Not that I'm afraid of the dark. Sometime
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: I am. When I hear things, I sometime imagine something
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: being there. But I get depressed. I get down. I
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: get low when the sun goes down. And somewhere between
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: sunset and bedtime, If I'm going to have a battle
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: in the day, it'll be then. I never have that
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: battle in the morning. There is something about the fresh
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: dawn that brings back the good truth that I had
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: forgotten the night before. Interesting, isn't it, that very few
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: people take their lives in the early morning dawn time,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: usually at night, in the darkness, when life's kind of
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: caved in on them. You know what God's fresh new
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: morning message is to us? Whether the sun can be
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: seen or whether it's raining, the dawn itself. Doesn't matter
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: about the sun. He says here every morning, not every
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: sun up. The weather is insignificant. Every morning the Lord
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: comes through with the message. We're still in business, you know.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: I'm here. Haven't moved yet. Let's go today together. That's
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: why I suggest you read those three lines. The rising
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: of the sun says we're still in business. You want
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: a suggestion worth trying? I suggest that you trust God
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: to remember you. It's probably been a while since someone
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: has offered that piece of advice. Just trust God to
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: remember you. He won't forget your name. He won't forget
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: your circumstance. He certainly won't forget your prayers. Trust him
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: to remember you. Just trust him to remember you. You
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: never come to him where he says, let's see, what
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: was it? It was Frank. Just a minute. Gabriel. What's
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: that name? God doesn't operate like that. He's not on
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: the edge of heaven going. What am I going to
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: do with him? He's faithful to know exactly where you are.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: He cares. He's there. Trust him. He remembers you. How
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: do I do that? Well, that's why God gave us
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: the rest of the passage. It doesn't stop with verse 23.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: It goes on in context down through 32. You see,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: when you are escaping, you're running and you're ignoring him
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: and you're talking a lot and you're fighting. So I'm
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: suggesting to carry out this trust, you do these four things.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Verse 25 says, Wait patiently. Stop running and start waiting.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: That's verse 25. The Lord is good to those who
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: wait for him. Okay? If you want to trust him
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: to remember you, stop running. Wait patiently. Second, the Lord
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: is good to those who seek him. See the last
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: part of verse 25? So instead of ignoring him, start
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: seeking him again. Lord, I'm back. I know you've heard
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: it before. I'm ashamed to tell you what I've been
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: doing as if you didn't know, but it's good for
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: me to rehearse it. Here's where I've been. Here's what
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: I've done. Here are the things that shame your name
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: and bring reproach to you and hurt me and other people.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: And I want to tell you today as I come
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: back to you, I seek you diligently and I come
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: on the merits of Christ since I haven't any merits
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: of my own. I'm under the blood. I'm one of
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: your children, and I've been away from you. And I've
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: acted stupidly. I've acted ignorantly. At times I've been even
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: vile and vicious. But I'm back, and I diligently seek you.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to ignore you any longer. Third, verse 28.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: We looked at it a moment ago. Sit alone and
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: be silent since he has laid it on him. Stop talking.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Sit silently. Wait patiently, seek diligently, sit silently. That means
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: you need to stop talking. After you've poured out your heart,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: be quiet. Spend a day in quietness. Sundays are great
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: days to do that. Set aside part of the afternoon
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: to be quiet. The old ancients used to meditate. That's
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: kind of the lost art of our 20th century world
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: of activity. I suggest you revive it. Not by repeating
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: and repeating some mantra to get into some other's world
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: of Or some other frame of mind. But by simply
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: waiting upon God. Take a passage. Take a psalm. Take
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: a section of scripture that's meaningful. And let it speak.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Say nothing. Just sit silently. Let him talk. Let him
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: reassure you. Feel his arms around you. Understand the cleansing
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: that he's bringing. Feel again the freshness of his presence. Fourth.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Verses 29 and 30 submit willingly. Let him put his
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: mouth in the dust. Perhaps there is hope. I think
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: that suggests no compromise, no rationalizing, no excuses. Shove your
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: mouth to the ground if that'll help. Stop trying to
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: get around the heinousness wrong of your life. Face it.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Just submit willingly. Verse 30, let him give his cheek
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: to the smiter. Let him be filled with reproach. The
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Lord won't reject forever. If he's caused you grief, look
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: at this. He'll have compassion. Remember, his compassions fail not.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: He'll have compassion according to his mercies. Like little dominoes,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: they bump up against one another. It starts with love,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: leads to mercy, then compassion and grace comes and it
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: washes over you and you have a fresh start. And
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: God calls it cleansing. Stop fighting and submit to him.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: It works. I know. I've been there lots. The beautiful
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: part of this is that God will fulfill those three lines.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: He'll show you his mercies haven't ceased, his compassions haven't failed,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: and his faithfulness hasn't diminished. David Redding, in a little
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: book called Jesus Makes Me Laugh. Clever work. Good humor.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: But underneath it is a real message. Writes toward the
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: end of the book, I remember going home from the
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: Navy during World War II. Home was so far out
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: in the country that when we went hunting, we had
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: to go toward town. We had moved there for my
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: father's health when I was 13. We raised cattle and horses.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Some who were born on a farm regard the work
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: and the solitude as a chore. But coming from town
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: as I did then made that farm home and Eden
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: to me. We lived in a beautiful bank house that
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: had been built from bricks made on the place by
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: the first settlers in the Northwest Territory. A bank house
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: was one where you could step into the second story
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: from the ground level on one side or step into
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: the first story on the lower side. There was no
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: heat upstairs at all, and I slept in a room
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: with the window door open all winter in sub-zero weather.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I was under about ten blankets and often under a
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: blanket of snow. I got up at five o'clock in
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: the dark and ate breakfasts of sausage we butchered and
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: seasoned in our own smokehouse. That's the scene. I started
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: a little flock of Shropshire sheep, the kind that are
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: completely covered by wool. except for a black nose and
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: the tips of the legs. My father helped them have
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: their twins at lambing time. And I could tell each
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: one of the flock apart at a distance with no trouble.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: I had a beautiful ram. The poor man next door
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: had a beautiful dog and a small flock of sheep.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: He wanted to improve with my ram. He asked me
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: if he could borrow the ram in return. He would
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: let me have the choice of the litter from his
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: prize dog. That's how I got Teddy, a big black
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Scotty Shepherd. Teddy was my dog and he would do
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: anything for me. He waited for me to come home
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: from school. He slept beside me. And when I whistled,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: he ran to me even if he were eating. At night,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: no one would get within a half mile without Teddy's permission.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: During those long summers in the fields, I would only
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: see the family at night, but Teddy was with me
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: all the time. And when I went away to war,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: I didn't know how to leave him. How do you
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: explain to someone who loves you that you're leaving him
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: and you won't be chasing woodchucks with him tomorrow, like always?
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: I love this story. So coming home that first moment
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: from the Navy was something I can scarcely describe. The
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: last bus stop was 14 miles from the farm. I
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: got off there that night about 11 o'clock and walked
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: the rest of the way home. It was two or
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: three in the morning before I was within a half
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: mile of the house. It was pitch dark, but I
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: knew every step of the way. Suddenly, Teddy heard me
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: and began his warning barking. Then I whistled only once.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: the barking stopped. There was a yelp of recognition. And
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: I knew that a big black form was hurtling toward
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: me in the darkness. Almost immediately he was there in
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: my arms. What comes home to me now is the
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: eloquence with which that unforgettable memory speaks to me of
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: my God. If my dog Without any explanation would love me.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: And take me back after all that time.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: My God. Yes. A thousand times yes. Why? Because he.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Is faithful. Let's bow together. Just be very quiet. I've
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: talked to Christians because most of us are Christians. Most
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: of us have found the way or God has found us.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: And those faithful dogs of mercy and goodness are following
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: us all the rest of our lives. But it may
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: be that there are a few of you who've gotten
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: away some in the family of God, and some of
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: you who've never been home. You know, all the stuff
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: you're looking for is at home. You're not going to
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: find peace out there. You're not going to find satisfaction.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: You're not going to find joy. You're going to find
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: the bitterness that goes with compromise. You can't put your
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: finger on that first cookie, but you know you've eaten
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: the whole bag. And you're sick. You're miserable. I invite
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: you to make a journey to a cross on a
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: hill where a man died. There's dried blood on that
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: timber because lots of people died on that same cross.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: But his death is different. It was a detergent sent
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: by God to wash away your sins. That's no secret,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: but most people have never heard it. And that man
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: not only died, but he came back to life. And
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: the God-man, Jesus Christ, offers you hope, forgiveness. Do you
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: hear that? Hope. Forgiveness. If goodness and mercy are his sheepdogs,
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: I think his favorite pet might be understanding. That is faithfulness.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: He's there. And hurtling through the darkness of your life
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: will come this magnificent truth that will wrap itself around you.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: And because God's faithful, he'll keep his promise. He'll take
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: you in. He'll take you home. Come today. Lord God,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: thank you for being more than a friend. Thank you
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: for your sovereign hand upon us. For your mercies that
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: are new every morning. For your great Thank you for
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: not leaving us when we should have been rejected. And left.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: For not abandoning us when we deserved it. Thank you
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: for being true to your word. Thank you for keeping
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: your promises. That all who come to you, you will
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: in no way cast out. Today some come. And in faithfulness.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: you will receive them. I pray as much for those
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: who are in your family who've run away from you.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: I pray that you would win them back through your
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: compassion and mercy and that they would sense the understanding
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: faithfulness of God and that that alone would draw them
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: like a magnet to you. We leave the results with you,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: our Father, and we would act upon them as you
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: guide us. In the name of Christ, our strong Savior,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: we pray. Amen.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, God's Mysterious Immutability, was copyrighted in 1987, 1988, 1994, 2000,
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.