Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Doing Right When You’ve Been Done Wrong │ Msg 3144

Transcript

Doing Right When You’ve Been Done Wrong │ Msg 3144 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: Interesting lyrics in that hymn, aren't they? In the rustling
0:07
Speaker 1: grass I can see him pass. Interesting that in the
0:10
Speaker 1: everyday affairs of life. My mother used to say to
0:15
Speaker 1: us three kids when things would get real quiet in
0:19
Speaker 1: the home, which happened like every four years, when there
0:22
Speaker 1: would be a real quiet moment. If you love to fish,
0:26
Speaker 1: when there was a slick on the water, when it's
0:28
Speaker 1: real quiet. She would say, be quiet, children, an angel
0:31
Speaker 1: is passing through. I would always go, where is that dude?
0:41
Speaker 1: Easy to forget that the angelic hosts surround us at
0:44
Speaker 1: all times. And because they are supernatural and they are invisible,
0:50
Speaker 1: space and matter and friction and all of that mean
0:53
Speaker 1: nothing to them. They can move from here to the
0:56
Speaker 1: center of Asia in a split second. They can hover
1:00
Speaker 1: over a moment in our experience. Not only do we
1:06
Speaker 1: not see them there, we often forget that they're there.
1:12
Speaker 1: They learn from our worship. See, angels know nothing of salvation.
1:20
Speaker 1: They are not born again. They are elect angels and
1:24
Speaker 1: have no will to do anything but follow. And there
1:28
Speaker 1: are presence angels that flood the throne. There are seraph
1:32
Speaker 1: angels called seraphim. There are cherub angels called cherubim. There
1:37
Speaker 1: are angels that bring messages to earth in various ways.
1:41
Speaker 1: It's a fascinating study. There's an old gospel song that says, holy,
1:46
Speaker 1: holy is what the angels sing. And I expect to
1:49
Speaker 1: make the courts of heaven ring. But when I sing
1:52
Speaker 1: redemption story, they will fold their wings for angels never
1:57
Speaker 1: felt the joy. that my salvation brings. They do watch
2:03
Speaker 1: with enormous interest as we gather for worship. They learn
2:09
Speaker 1: from our worship. Isn't that a great thought? May our
2:12
Speaker 1: worship be magnificent and may it be contagious. Now, I
2:23
Speaker 1: am reading a very convicting section of Scripture. You thought
2:27
Speaker 1: Romans 12, 1 and 2 was convicting. It was. And
2:31
Speaker 1: then Romans 12, 3 through 13, convicting, and indeed it was.
2:39
Speaker 1: But now we come to the section that really does
2:43
Speaker 1: ring the changes. Because there isn't a person that I'm
2:46
Speaker 1: talking to today who hasn't known the hurt of someone
2:50
Speaker 1: who has done them wrong. We all have that in common,
2:55
Speaker 1: some to greater degree than others. So I'm speaking today,
3:00
Speaker 1: not only to myself, but I'm speaking to you as
3:04
Speaker 1: if you and I were the only ones in the room,
3:07
Speaker 1: you and I. Take it that personally, otherwise it'll be
3:13
Speaker 1: just sermon number 31 in a list of sermons in Romans.
3:18
Speaker 1: You need to be transformed in an area of your
3:21
Speaker 1: life that has lacked attention long enough. You need some
3:25
Speaker 1: habits broken. You need to respond in a transforming way
3:31
Speaker 1: rather than a natural way. And God is ready to
3:35
Speaker 1: do that if your heart's prepared. We love God's word
3:40
Speaker 1: and in respect for it, we want to stand as
3:43
Speaker 1: it is read to us today. May we stand for
3:45
Speaker 1: the reading of Romans 12, 14, and then 17 through 21.
3:53
Speaker 1: Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.
4:00
Speaker 1: Verse 17. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.
4:07
Speaker 1: Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
4:11
Speaker 1: If possible, so far as it depends on you, be
4:17
Speaker 1: at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge. Beloved,
4:26
Speaker 1: but leave room for the wrath of God, for it
4:28
Speaker 1: is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.
4:36
Speaker 1: But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. And if
4:41
Speaker 1: he is thirsty, give him a drink. Or in so doing,
4:44
Speaker 1: you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not
4:52
Speaker 1: be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. May
5:02
Speaker 1: God honor the reading and may he be honored in
5:05
Speaker 1: the living out of the truths from this passage of scripture.
5:10
Speaker 1: You may be seated. And if you will dig back
5:15
Speaker 1: in your worship folder and find your outline for the
5:19
Speaker 1: morning's message, I would like for you to place it
5:21
Speaker 1: at 1 Samuel 24. over in the Old Testament, 1
5:28
Speaker 1: Samuel 24. Just insert it there in the crease of
5:35
Speaker 1: your Bible, and we will return to that momentarily. To
5:42
Speaker 1: give is a privilege set aside for God's people. Unfortunately,
5:47
Speaker 1: many of God's people never learn the joy of generosity.
5:51
Speaker 1: I have folks ask me who know the Lord and
5:54
Speaker 1: have walked with Him for some time is 10% an
5:58
Speaker 1: appropriate amount to give? I said, not necessarily. You can
6:01
Speaker 1: make it 15. You can make it 20. Don't ever
6:05
Speaker 1: go less than 10. In the Old Testament, it was
6:08
Speaker 1: about 25% that God's people gave to sustain the work
6:13
Speaker 1: of the ministry down through the history of the people
6:16
Speaker 1: of the Jews and down through the history of the church.
6:21
Speaker 1: We who are God's people are responsible for the sustaining
6:25
Speaker 1: of the work. And It is my moment from week
6:28
Speaker 1: to week to thank you for your generosity. You are
6:31
Speaker 1: wonderful models of what this means. I have never seen
6:35
Speaker 1: the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Let's pray.
6:46
Speaker 1: As I look out across these wonderful faces today, Father,
6:51
Speaker 1: I see pain and I see heartache and I also
6:57
Speaker 1: see joy and relief. I see curiosity. I see a
7:04
Speaker 1: little confusion. I even see resistance already. And so, Lord,
7:13
Speaker 1: regardless of what I see, you do a wonderful work
7:17
Speaker 1: that only you can do. You alone can change the heart.
7:21
Speaker 1: You alone. You alone. You alone can bring peace in
7:28
Speaker 1: place of chaos. You alone can bring relief in place
7:34
Speaker 1: of worry, anxiety. You will say one thing to one person,
7:40
Speaker 1: something altogether different to someone else. You will speak through
7:44
Speaker 1: words spoken to one. You will speak through words not
7:46
Speaker 1: even mentioned to others. You're like that. We do thank
7:52
Speaker 1: you for the presence of the angelic creatures that hover
7:55
Speaker 1: about us. Thank you for their magnificent, albeit invisible, invincible ministry.
8:06
Speaker 1: Remind us, Father, that the real world is the unseen world.
8:09
Speaker 1: That the real values are the priceless things. The real
8:16
Speaker 1: reason for living comes in what we give up. not
8:21
Speaker 1: what we hold on to. That the real joy is
8:26
Speaker 1: in loving others, not fighting them, not fighting against them.
8:37
Speaker 1: Speaking of the fight, there are those who have taken
8:39
Speaker 1: the fight to that other country far away. Some of
8:44
Speaker 1: the men and women have come home with broken bodies
8:46
Speaker 1: and hearts. To families who ache and grieve for them,
8:51
Speaker 1: others have returned with relief. Many have not come back.
8:59
Speaker 1: Take good care of them. Place your loving arms around
9:03
Speaker 1: family members who long to have them home. And remind
9:10
Speaker 1: them that your sovereign, whether here or afar, That our
9:17
Speaker 1: God is in the heavens and he is doing what
9:19
Speaker 1: he pleases. Our gifts are really yours. You've had them
9:25
Speaker 1: on loan to us for a while and now we
9:27
Speaker 1: as good stewards return these gifts to you. And we
9:32
Speaker 1: do so with joyful hearts. We smile inside as we
9:38
Speaker 1: give to you today. Thank you for our guests. Encourage
9:41
Speaker 1: them and reveal yourself to them in a special way, Father.
9:47
Speaker 1: As you speak to all of us. In this time
9:50
Speaker 1: of worship. In the name of Jesus we pray. And
9:55
Speaker 1: because of Jesus we give. And everyone said. Amen. It
10:04
Speaker 1: was Will Rogers. The late actor and author and humorist.
10:09
Speaker 1: Who once said. I never met a man I didn't like.
10:16
Speaker 1: Can you believe that? I mean, get real, Will. Some
10:24
Speaker 1: of you ladies are thinking, that's because Will Rogers never
10:26
Speaker 1: met my first husband. Some of you guys going, boy,
10:32
Speaker 1: Will Rogers never met a guy I used to work for.
10:34
Speaker 1: I would say Will Rogers never met Sergeant Fishburne of
10:39
Speaker 1: the United States Marine Corps boot camp. Not even a
10:44
Speaker 1: mother would love, as I recall. About three-fourths gristle and
10:47
Speaker 1: the rest backbone. I mean, get real. All of us
10:55
Speaker 1: have people we don't like. To make it worse, we've
10:58
Speaker 1: got people that don't like us either. So there is
11:01
Speaker 1: this battle going on, more often in strange silence than
11:11
Speaker 1: in verbal warfare, but it's there nevertheless. They turn us off.
11:18
Speaker 1: Our stomachs turn when we think of them. And mentally,
11:23
Speaker 1: we have their face on our dartboard. What's interesting is
11:28
Speaker 1: we say we have put them out of our minds,
11:30
Speaker 1: but they hound us and they haunt us. Truth be told,
11:39
Speaker 1: we think of them when we wake up and we
11:41
Speaker 1: are thinking of them when we go to bed at night.
11:46
Speaker 1: There's an old seventh century couplet that says, he who
11:49
Speaker 1: has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
11:55
Speaker 1: and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.
12:02
Speaker 1: Maybe you have one you've been meeting everywhere these days.
12:10
Speaker 1: To make it more difficult is that we're Christians. If
12:14
Speaker 1: we were lost, we could just smack them in the
12:17
Speaker 1: mouth and walk right on, you know? We'd just cut
12:20
Speaker 1: their lips off. Roll on. But we can't do that.
12:25
Speaker 1: We have Romans 12, 1 and 2, crawled on the
12:29
Speaker 1: altar and placed ourselves as a living sacrifice. I'm serious now.
12:33
Speaker 1: We placed ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, H-O-L-Y, holy
12:39
Speaker 1: and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable act of worship.
12:43
Speaker 1: We've done that. We've done that. While there, we have
12:48
Speaker 1: decided that we want our minds renewed and the Spirit
12:50
Speaker 1: of God is armed and ready to transform our thinking
12:55
Speaker 1: so that we think differently than we were raised, than
12:59
Speaker 1: we were taught. We think in such a way that
13:02
Speaker 1: old habits are broken and former actions are no longer taken.
13:08
Speaker 1: It's transformed mind. But we keep bumping up against this
13:14
Speaker 1: individual that has done us wrong and keeps doing us wrong.
13:19
Speaker 1: What do we do? Now, I could pontificate on that
13:23
Speaker 1: for the next 30 or 40 minutes. It would do
13:25
Speaker 1: no one any good. Rather than doing that, I'd rather
13:28
Speaker 1: start with a story. Let me tell you a story.
13:32
Speaker 1: So just sit back and listen. It's a true story.
13:36
Speaker 1: It's the story of a handsome, well-built, rugged outdoorsman kind
13:40
Speaker 1: of person teenager in his mid years, 15, 16 years old.
13:46
Speaker 1: He's the youngest in a family of eight boys. He's
13:51
Speaker 1: a shepherd, a sheep herder. One day his father whistles
13:56
Speaker 1: from the back porch and says, David, David, come in.
14:01
Speaker 1: David walks in and in this little house where the
14:05
Speaker 1: family of Jesse lives, He finds his brothers in sort
14:08
Speaker 1: of a semicircle. An old bearded man is there that
14:12
Speaker 1: he's never seen before, mumbles something strange like, I will
14:17
Speaker 1: anoint him for this is he. And the next thing
14:19
Speaker 1: David knows, he has oil running down his hair and
14:22
Speaker 1: the back of his neck. The brothers are sort of
14:27
Speaker 1: frowning because it wasn't them. And words about being the
14:32
Speaker 1: king of Israel follow immediately. And as quietly as the
14:35
Speaker 1: old man arrived, he left and is gone. That's it.
14:48
Speaker 1: There's no coronation. There's no parade. There's no applause. David
14:55
Speaker 1: slips back out in the field and begins to keep
14:58
Speaker 1: his father's sheep again. In the meantime, the one who
15:03
Speaker 1: is anointed king, named Saul, is slowly losing it. His
15:12
Speaker 1: acts of disobedience along the way have rendered him disqualified
15:17
Speaker 1: to serve as the king of Israel, but he remains.
15:20
Speaker 1: Remember that. He remains on for years, like over a decade.
15:29
Speaker 1: And little by little, he's losing it. Word reaches him
15:33
Speaker 1: through one of his confidants that there is a young
15:37
Speaker 1: man who plays a fine instrument and might be able
15:41
Speaker 1: to soothe his troubled conscience and heart. And he says,
15:46
Speaker 1: bring him. David moves from the sheep to the very
15:52
Speaker 1: throne room of the king where he plays his instrument.
15:56
Speaker 1: And the king's heart is soothed. And something happens between
16:00
Speaker 1: the two of them that's That's wonderful to imagine. The
16:09
Speaker 1: battle turns and the Philistines make a move in the
16:12
Speaker 1: Valley of Elah, this vast valley over a mile across
16:17
Speaker 1: with a ravine in the middle. And Saul and the
16:21
Speaker 1: Israel troops are bivouacked on one side and Goliath is
16:26
Speaker 1: on the other. Once again, The father calls David, asks
16:30
Speaker 1: him to take some food to the front lines. David
16:33
Speaker 1: carries the food to the front lines. He looks out,
16:35
Speaker 1: wonders why everybody's so afraid. And they say, look, and
16:39
Speaker 1: you'll see. David takes the tools with which he's most familiar,
16:43
Speaker 1: a slingshot and a stone. And he finishes off Goliath. Man,
16:51
Speaker 1: who doesn't love that story? I mean, the ground shakes
16:56
Speaker 1: when Goliath falls. And the tremor is heard all across Israel,
17:01
Speaker 1: and his name becomes a household word. Saul has slain
17:04
Speaker 1: his thousands, but David his ten thousands. And Saul does
17:09
Speaker 1: the math, and he hates him. He hates him. And
17:15
Speaker 1: the scripture says he looked at him with suspicion from
17:18
Speaker 1: that time on. All David's been doing is keeping the sheep,
17:23
Speaker 1: letting oil be poured on his head, playing his instrument,
17:27
Speaker 1: killing a giant. And now he's the object of Saul's ire.
17:36
Speaker 1: His celebrity grows. I mean, he's more popular than Tom
17:40
Speaker 1: Brady of the Patriots. Everybody knows David. More respected than
17:45
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning of the Colts. Got more women after him
17:49
Speaker 1: than Tony Romo with his new contract with the Cowboys.
17:55
Speaker 1: But David's not interested in wine women's song. He's not
17:59
Speaker 1: interested in that. He's interested in honoring God. He doesn't
18:02
Speaker 1: know what the songs are all about. It's not why
18:04
Speaker 1: he did it. He did it because he loves God.
18:07
Speaker 1: And he can't figure out why Saul's after him. And
18:09
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, flunk, a spear lands right near
18:13
Speaker 1: his face. And within a matter of a brief period
18:17
Speaker 1: of time, flunk, another spear. And he realizes this is
18:21
Speaker 1: for real. I got to get out of here. Saul,
18:26
Speaker 1: by now, is disintegrating. H.G. Wells, in one of his characters, Mr. Polly,
18:33
Speaker 1: describes Saul. He was not so much a human being
18:36
Speaker 1: as a civil war. If you've ever been around someone
18:41
Speaker 1: disintegrating mentally, you know it's often good to stay out
18:45
Speaker 1: of their way. They need help. But there's no one
18:49
Speaker 1: to help. David's on his own. After a while, he
18:54
Speaker 1: makes his Existence possible in the caves of En Gedi.
19:00
Speaker 1: If you ever go to Israel, be sure your guide
19:03
Speaker 1: takes you to the caves of En Gedi. And look
19:08
Speaker 1: in the caves. David slept in many of them for
19:14
Speaker 1: over a decade, running from Saul. 1 Samuel 24, there's
19:24
Speaker 1: a turning point in the scene where David has a
19:28
Speaker 1: chance to get back, to get even. Allow me. Now,
19:36
Speaker 1: it came about when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines,
19:41
Speaker 1: he was told, saying, behold, David is in the wilderness
19:45
Speaker 1: of En Gedi. You wonder if Saul was serious? Saul
19:50
Speaker 1: took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel and went to
19:56
Speaker 1: seek David. You know what the mission was? Terminate David.
20:04
Speaker 1: Don't bring him back alive. And the boots of the
20:08
Speaker 1: soldiers could be heard at the mouths of those caves
20:11
Speaker 1: as David lived, wondering which time the soldier would walk
20:17
Speaker 1: in and find him. And he's done nothing wrong. He
20:24
Speaker 1: and a handful of warriors that have teamed up with him,
20:27
Speaker 1: wondering if they'll ever get out alive. Now watch closely.
20:34
Speaker 1: They went to seek David and his men in front
20:36
Speaker 1: of the rocks of the wild goats. Verse 3 tells
20:39
Speaker 1: of Saul who came to the sheepfolds on the way
20:43
Speaker 1: where there was a cave, and Saul went in to
20:46
Speaker 1: relieve himself. Okay, I'm just going to give you a
20:52
Speaker 1: moment to picture that. Bible's a real book, doesn't dodge
20:59
Speaker 1: what nature calls. So Saul is in a very vulnerable position.
21:06
Speaker 1: What makes it interesting is that it's the very cave
21:09
Speaker 1: where David and his men are hiding. Can you imagine
21:18
Speaker 1: the council? Well, you don't have to imagine. You're going
21:20
Speaker 1: to read it. Verse 4. Verse 3 concludes, Now David
21:25
Speaker 1: and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of
21:27
Speaker 1: that cave. The men of David said to him, David, David,
21:35
Speaker 1: this is the day which the Lord has made. Slice
21:38
Speaker 1: his throat. He won't know it till he sneezes. Sort
21:44
Speaker 1: of a Swindoll paraphrase of what we're going to read.
21:47
Speaker 1: This is the day which the Lord said to you, behold,
21:49
Speaker 1: I'm about to give your enemy into your hand and
21:51
Speaker 1: you shall do to him as it seems good to you.
21:53
Speaker 1: You know the problem with that? It isn't a verse
21:55
Speaker 1: of scripture. But you always have people around you that
21:58
Speaker 1: misquote things and tell you what you want to hear
22:01
Speaker 1: when it's time to get revenge. So David hears them,
22:04
Speaker 1: and for a moment he yields somewhat. This is where
22:08
Speaker 1: the story gets very interesting. Remember Saul? He doesn't know
22:13
Speaker 1: David's anywhere near. Verse 4. Then David arose... and cut
22:24
Speaker 1: off the edge of Saul's robe secretly. Imagine. What a moment.
22:41
Speaker 1: I love scenes like this. Saul has no clue. But
22:48
Speaker 1: it bothers David. Swear you got to love him. That's
22:52
Speaker 1: why he's called a man after God's heart. Verse 5,
22:57
Speaker 1: it came about afterward that David's conscience bothered him because
23:00
Speaker 1: he had cut off the edge of Saul's robe. I mean, folks,
23:04
Speaker 1: back in those days, they took the king of the
23:06
Speaker 1: land seriously. We who shatter and assault and attack our president.
23:13
Speaker 1: In the days of Israel, they respected the anointed king,
23:18
Speaker 1: even one doing them wrong. And David is bothered. He
23:26
Speaker 1: said to his men, far be it from me because
23:28
Speaker 1: of the Lord that I should do this thing to
23:31
Speaker 1: my Lord, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand
23:34
Speaker 1: against him since he is the Lord's anointed. Can't you
23:36
Speaker 1: hear the men? David, David, get a hold of yourself.
23:39
Speaker 1: We're sick of eating roots, drinking from the waterfall. We're
23:43
Speaker 1: sick of these nasty clothes we have to wear day
23:46
Speaker 1: after day. This is your moment. We read David persuaded
23:51
Speaker 1: his men. Take that for what it means. Guys, no, no, listen, stop, no, no,
23:56
Speaker 1: we're not going to do that. He persuaded his men
23:59
Speaker 1: with these words and did not allow them to rise
24:03
Speaker 1: up against Saul. What were they saying? You may feel
24:06
Speaker 1: bad about it, not me. You'll always have people that'll
24:11
Speaker 1: want to run your errand for you when you don't
24:13
Speaker 1: strike back. This is the best part of the story.
24:21
Speaker 1: Verse 8. Afterward, David arose and went out of the
24:26
Speaker 1: cave and called after Saul, saying, My lord, the king,
24:30
Speaker 1: King Saul. Saul looked behind him. David bowed with his
24:35
Speaker 1: face to the ground and prostrated himself. David said to Saul,
24:40
Speaker 1: Why do you listen to the words of men saying, behold,
24:42
Speaker 1: David seeks to harm you. Behold, this day your eyes
24:45
Speaker 1: have seen that the Lord has given you today into
24:48
Speaker 1: my hand in the cave. And some said to kill you,
24:52
Speaker 1: but my eye had pity on you. And I said,
24:55
Speaker 1: I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord,
24:58
Speaker 1: for he is the Lord's anointed now. My father, look
25:01
Speaker 1: how close they were. They'd spent months together. My father,
25:05
Speaker 1: see me. And he holds up the hem of the garment.
25:09
Speaker 1: He holds up the robe, this piece he cut off. See, indeed,
25:13
Speaker 1: see the edge of your robe in my hand, for
25:16
Speaker 1: in that I cut off the edge of your robe
25:18
Speaker 1: and did not kill you. Know and perceive that there
25:22
Speaker 1: is no evil or rebellion in my hands, and I
25:24
Speaker 1: have not sinned against you, though you are lying in
25:27
Speaker 1: wait for my life to take it. Look, Saul, that's
25:32
Speaker 1: how close I was to you. And I never drew
25:36
Speaker 1: my knife To thrust it into you. Verse 15. The
25:44
Speaker 1: Lord therefore be judge and decide between you and me.
25:48
Speaker 1: And may he see and plead my cause and deliver
25:50
Speaker 1: me from your hand. Please note that. I now leave
25:54
Speaker 1: it with the Lord. I have my moment and I'm
25:57
Speaker 1: ashamed of what I did in the moment. I yielded
26:00
Speaker 1: even though it was not a treacherous thing. It was
26:04
Speaker 1: a shameful thing. I'm not going there. I'm going to
26:08
Speaker 1: stand and wait. I'm going to trust in God. Look
26:13
Speaker 1: at the response. Saul said, is this your voice, my
26:19
Speaker 1: son David? You are more righteous than I, for you
26:25
Speaker 1: have dealt well with me while I have dealt wickedly
26:27
Speaker 1: with you. You have declared today that you have done
26:31
Speaker 1: good to me, that the Lord delivered me into your hand,
26:34
Speaker 1: yet you did not kill me. For if a man
26:37
Speaker 1: finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? Watch.
26:41
Speaker 1: May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return
26:44
Speaker 1: for what you have done to me this day. Now behold,
26:48
Speaker 1: I know that you shall surely be king and that
26:50
Speaker 1: the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
26:56
Speaker 1: He heard words from Saul he could have never forced
26:58
Speaker 1: with the point of a knife. Saul, realizing that how
27:06
Speaker 1: much more righteous this young man is than he, says
27:10
Speaker 1: to him in remarkable vulnerability, you deserve the kingdom more
27:18
Speaker 1: than I. Now, fast forward to the 21st century as
27:28
Speaker 1: you turn to Romans chapter 12 and get your pen
27:31
Speaker 1: handy because I am going to give you principles you
27:35
Speaker 1: will need and you will claim in the days ahead.
27:44
Speaker 1: Our focus now falls on the verses in Romans 12
27:47
Speaker 1: that I read earlier, but a warning is in order.
27:51
Speaker 1: I need to warn you of something. Not only does
27:54
Speaker 1: the enemy hear everything I'm going to be saying, you're
27:58
Speaker 1: going to be tempted to erase it from your mind
28:00
Speaker 1: because you're going to justify your situation thinking it's unique.
28:07
Speaker 1: You're going to want to push the delete button about
28:09
Speaker 1: the time you put your key in your car. You're
28:11
Speaker 1: going to say, if Chuck only knew what I'm going through,
28:14
Speaker 1: he would have said, except for you. There is no exception.
28:20
Speaker 1: I am talking to you. Don't tell me the excuse.
28:24
Speaker 1: I am talking to you. More importantly, God is speaking
28:27
Speaker 1: to you today. And I am going to urge you
28:30
Speaker 1: for a few moments to think supernaturally rather than naturally.
28:35
Speaker 1: Verse 14. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do
28:41
Speaker 1: not curse. Principle number one, write it down. Deliberately resist
28:48
Speaker 1: your natural instinct. Deliberately resist your natural instinct. That's verse 14.
28:59
Speaker 1: All of us have built in instincts. When something comes
29:02
Speaker 1: too close to our face, we blink and we turn away.
29:05
Speaker 1: When we're about to fall, we throw our hands out.
29:07
Speaker 1: That's a natural instinct. We're in our car leaving. Another
29:11
Speaker 1: car's backing up quickly and doesn't see us. We honk, honk, honk.
29:15
Speaker 1: That's a natural instinct. When someone does wrong, the natural
29:19
Speaker 1: instinct is get even. Get back. Hopefully worse than he
29:28
Speaker 1: got to you. But this says, bless those Bless and
29:35
Speaker 1: do not curse. Isn't it interesting that the very first
29:38
Speaker 1: thing addressed is your mouth? The heart is a bucket.
29:43
Speaker 1: The tongue is a, the heart is a, well, the
29:45
Speaker 1: tongue is a bucket. And the bucket goes down into
29:48
Speaker 1: the heart and lifts out what's there. And in every
29:51
Speaker 1: depraved heart, which you and I carry around with us,
29:54
Speaker 1: there is a desire for revenge. There is a determination
29:58
Speaker 1: to defend oneself. There are a hundred excuses to justify
30:04
Speaker 1: what we have done and why we feel like we do.
30:07
Speaker 1: There is an ability to erase our wrong and to
30:10
Speaker 1: highlight their wrong. And out of our mouth come words
30:17
Speaker 1: of cursing. And they come out in all different ways.
30:21
Speaker 1: We speak against the person. Without a doubt, if you
30:24
Speaker 1: have had this enemy long enough, your friends know all
30:26
Speaker 1: about him or her. You've told. You've told everyone that
30:33
Speaker 1: you can get to listen to you all about this individual.
30:37
Speaker 1: That's the natural thing to do. But this says to
30:39
Speaker 1: bless them. You know what the word bless means? It's
30:44
Speaker 1: worth looking at. It's a Greek term that means to
30:49
Speaker 1: speak well of. It's from which we get our word eulogy.
30:54
Speaker 1: Isn't that interesting? What we say at a casket to
30:58
Speaker 1: a corpse. We say nice things. We don't curse at
31:03
Speaker 1: a funeral. We bless. He's saying, don't wait till the funeral.
31:10
Speaker 1: Say the right things now. Give praise even. You see,
31:16
Speaker 1: the human nature when anger comes is to handle things
31:20
Speaker 1: in a natural way. Thomas Jefferson said, and passed this
31:24
Speaker 1: on to us, when angry, count to 10. When very angry, 100.
31:29
Speaker 1: Mark Twain changed it. When angry, count to four. Very angry, swear.
31:36
Speaker 1: So it intensifies over the process of time. God says,
31:42
Speaker 1: before you get angry, bless. You say, come on. Wait, wait.
31:47
Speaker 1: You're already turning defensive on me. I did not write this.
31:53
Speaker 1: I'm simply a messenger. That's why I use the word deliberately.
31:59
Speaker 1: Because if you wait for it to come naturally, you'll
32:00
Speaker 1: do what you're taught to do. And that's fight back.
32:04
Speaker 1: And the people around you call you a fool, like
32:06
Speaker 1: David's friends in the cave. If you don't strike now, David,
32:09
Speaker 1: you're going to miss your chance. I was pulling my
32:16
Speaker 1: pickup out from a corner. I had paused at a light,
32:19
Speaker 1: and then I turned right. And I figured a little
32:21
Speaker 1: closely because a guy in a great big pickup with
32:23
Speaker 1: tires about as big as this room was coming bearing
32:26
Speaker 1: down on me. And he saw that I'd pulled out
32:29
Speaker 1: in front. He thought I was kind of a smart
32:32
Speaker 1: guy trying to push him out of traffic. And he
32:35
Speaker 1: decided that he was going to make my life a
32:39
Speaker 1: little different than it had been up to that moment.
32:41
Speaker 1: And he roared around me and then squealed around and
32:45
Speaker 1: turned right in front of me and stopped and stared
32:48
Speaker 1: at me. I go, why do you do that? Hey,
33:00
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get on the same road he's on.
33:02
Speaker 1: And he's taking his half out of the middle. And
33:07
Speaker 1: what right do I have? He's going to set things straight.
33:11
Speaker 1: You know why? That's what you do. I don't mean
33:15
Speaker 1: this to be pious, but that's what you do when
33:17
Speaker 1: you don't have the Lord. Honestly, I didn't just wave
33:21
Speaker 1: and say hi. I tell you, I was scared spitless.
33:26
Speaker 1: I just kind of backed up. I felt like my
33:29
Speaker 1: pickup was about this big. You're not going to win
33:36
Speaker 1: if you decide to solve it by cursing. You will lose.
33:41
Speaker 1: You will lose. You will lose. So start by deliberately
33:49
Speaker 1: resisting your natural instinct. Right in the margin of your notes,
33:53
Speaker 1: Proverbs 15, 1. A gentle answer turns away wrath. A
33:59
Speaker 1: gentle answer turns away wrath. But a harsh word stirs
34:08
Speaker 1: up anger. Verse 17, verse 18, principle number two. Never
34:18
Speaker 1: pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is
34:21
Speaker 1: right in the sight of all men. Here's the principle.
34:25
Speaker 1: Consciously fight every temptation to get even. Consciously fight every
34:38
Speaker 1: temptation to get even. The Opening part of verse 17
34:50
Speaker 1: in the Greek sentence is to no one. It's out
34:55
Speaker 1: of place for emphasis purpose. To no one pay back
35:00
Speaker 1: evil for evil. Getting even by reacting as the person
35:06
Speaker 1: first treated you couldn't be more wrong. David and Saul.
35:14
Speaker 1: The most natural tendency for that young, well-built, outdoor celebrity
35:19
Speaker 1: warrior is to put Saul out of his misery. He's
35:23
Speaker 1: insane anyway. That's not his to do. That normal reaction
35:33
Speaker 1: would be wrong. When you do what is wrong, an
35:36
Speaker 1: offense is intensified. When wounded and mistreated and humiliated, the
35:42
Speaker 1: person wrongs in return and the fight is on. And
35:47
Speaker 1: the Hatfields and the McCoys relive their lives, except without guns, hopefully.
36:00
Speaker 1: Never pay back evil or evil to anyone. Well, then
36:04
Speaker 1: what's the alternative to respect what is right? It means
36:09
Speaker 1: to foresee, to take thought of, to have regard for.
36:13
Speaker 1: That would include talking it out, doing that sooner rather
36:16
Speaker 1: than later, searching for ways it will communicate respect and regard. Now,
36:23
Speaker 1: I'm a realist. Let me just have you relax. I
36:27
Speaker 1: know that some enemies don't want there to be reconciliation.
36:31
Speaker 1: I know that. I understand that. Some folks want to
36:35
Speaker 1: fight the rest of their lives, but you don't. You won't.
36:43
Speaker 1: So the Lord gives us some breathing room in verse 18,
36:46
Speaker 1: if possible. Don't you like that? If possible. As so
36:51
Speaker 1: far as it depends on you. See, it's your barn.
36:56
Speaker 1: And you're not trying to clean his barn out. You're
36:58
Speaker 1: trying to keep yours clean. So far as it depends
37:01
Speaker 1: on you, you'd be at peace with all. And Well,
37:09
Speaker 1: let me get to the third principle, then I'll apply
37:11
Speaker 1: that in a moment. Here's the third principle. This is
37:13
Speaker 1: the next two verses. Never take your own revenge, beloved,
37:17
Speaker 1: but leave room for the wrath of God. Principle number three,
37:21
Speaker 1: get every word. Quietly trust God to handle all revenge.
37:32
Speaker 1: Quietly trust God to handle all revenge. Never take your
37:42
Speaker 1: own revenge, beloved. Leave room for the wrath of God.
37:45
Speaker 1: God is well able. You step back and say, Lord,
37:52
Speaker 1: if I get involved in this, I'm going to make
37:53
Speaker 1: a mess of it. You know how I am when
37:56
Speaker 1: I get my own way. Lord, this is your move.
37:59
Speaker 1: Take over. Take charge. And so you back off deliberately
38:05
Speaker 1: and you wait. You wait for God to bring the vengeance.
38:11
Speaker 1: which he will do in his own time, never fast
38:13
Speaker 1: enough for you. But he'll do it. He'll do it.
38:22
Speaker 1: In fact, it says, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
38:25
Speaker 1: If he's thirsty, give him a drink. For in doing so,
38:28
Speaker 1: you will heap burning coals on his head. Let me
38:30
Speaker 1: make something clear, lest you're given to pacifism. That's not
38:34
Speaker 1: a national defense verse. Okay, this is a personal relationship,
38:39
Speaker 1: one with one. This is not if the enemy is
38:42
Speaker 1: invading your shores. You stand back and go, well, whatever.
38:45
Speaker 1: Can I get you a drink? You're not going to
38:47
Speaker 1: do that. If a guy tries to break into your house,
38:50
Speaker 1: you don't say, hey, well, I got a lot in
38:51
Speaker 1: the kitchen. You might enjoy yourself. You shoot him. Okay? So, no,
38:59
Speaker 1: I knew that would get. Some of you have been
39:02
Speaker 1: waiting for something to applaud, and you got, finally, you're
39:05
Speaker 1: on my level, Chuck. I got it now. We're not
39:08
Speaker 1: talking about that. We're not talking about self-defense. We're talking
39:12
Speaker 1: about disagreements, arguments, those things that lead to lawsuits, fights,
39:19
Speaker 1: neighbor problems, on and on and on and on. We're
39:21
Speaker 1: talking about the stuff of life. And here it says,
39:27
Speaker 1: quietly trust God back. off, wait, trust him. And here
39:32
Speaker 1: he quotes from Deuteronomy 32, 35, and 36, where Moses
39:37
Speaker 1: sets the stage and Paul picks it up. As we
39:41
Speaker 1: back away and focus on doing what is right, our
39:44
Speaker 1: good disarms our enemy. Trust God. Don't trust me, trust God.
39:52
Speaker 1: When we back off and refuse to do what he
39:55
Speaker 1: or she expects, they're disarmed. And as in the case
39:59
Speaker 1: of Saul who says, you are more righteous than I,
40:03
Speaker 1: to you the kingdom should go. Why? Because the shame
40:07
Speaker 1: of his conscience forced him to be disarmed. I'm interested
40:17
Speaker 1: in the little phrase, you will heap burning coals on
40:19
Speaker 1: his head. It's a word for doing what is right,
40:24
Speaker 1: which results in shame, doing a powerful work in another
40:28
Speaker 1: person's life, where they can hardly stand it until they
40:34
Speaker 1: back away. Roy Lauren, in his old commentary on Romans,
40:39
Speaker 1: as a missionary to a group of Native Americans, worked
40:42
Speaker 1: hard to communicate the importance of not retaliating, He urged
40:47
Speaker 1: them to do what is right, and doing so will
40:50
Speaker 1: heap coals of fire on the enemy's head. He explained
40:53
Speaker 1: it carefully. Later, one of the tribesmen carried it out.
40:59
Speaker 1: Missionary later asked him about it, hoping to hear that
41:02
Speaker 1: it was his love that prompted him to do it.
41:06
Speaker 1: The tribesman said, no, I just like to see his
41:09
Speaker 1: head smoke. When you do it God's way, the head
41:16
Speaker 1: will smoke. But you will not have lit the fire.
41:23
Speaker 1: His conscience will light it. That area you can't reach,
41:30
Speaker 1: no matter how many swords you throw or spears you throw,
41:33
Speaker 1: no matter how many curses you level, you will not
41:36
Speaker 1: bring about repentance. God does that. Saul's head smoked, if
41:44
Speaker 1: you will, when he looked up and there was David
41:47
Speaker 1: with a piece of his robe in his hand and
41:50
Speaker 1: he realized he was close enough for me to feel
41:53
Speaker 1: his breath on the back of my neck and he
41:56
Speaker 1: never touched me. What kind of man is that? That's
42:05
Speaker 1: God's kind of king. Deliberately resist your natural instinct. Consciously
42:15
Speaker 1: fight every temptation to get even. Quietly trust God to
42:21
Speaker 1: handle all revenge. You know what that requires? Listen to me.
42:29
Speaker 1: I know what I'm talking about, especially today. It requires
42:33
Speaker 1: you letting it go. Letting it go. Recently, I have
42:44
Speaker 1: gone through a terrible time. Only Cynthia knows how terrible.
42:51
Speaker 1: And I was on the verge of going too far,
42:54
Speaker 1: saying too much. And she heard me on the phone
42:59
Speaker 1: virtually screaming to a close friend. And she was dressing
43:05
Speaker 1: in the bathroom and walked out and came down to
43:07
Speaker 1: the bottom of the stairs, quickly dressing. And then she
43:10
Speaker 1: said to me, can I say something to you? And
43:14
Speaker 1: I got up from my desk and I walked over
43:16
Speaker 1: and sat down on the top stair. And I said, yeah.
43:23
Speaker 1: Let it go. She said. One of those verbal spears
43:37
Speaker 1: of wisdom. I mean, the point is like, can you
43:40
Speaker 1: see it? It's about three inches out of my back there.
43:43
Speaker 1: And She said, I heard your voice. I heard your tone.
43:49
Speaker 1: I heard your volume. Way over there in the bathroom downstairs.
43:56
Speaker 1: Come on, honey. Let go. I did. Can you imagine
44:08
Speaker 1: my trying to preach this if I hadn't? Imagine what
44:12
Speaker 1: kind of hypocrite I'd have to be. to tell you
44:18
Speaker 1: what to do, and I'm not doing it. By the way,
44:21
Speaker 1: you notice the word I have not used since we started?
44:25
Speaker 2: Easy.
44:32
Speaker 1: The alternative is instead of being overcome by evil, you
44:36
Speaker 1: overcome evil. You know what happens when you're overcome by evil?
44:41
Speaker 1: Listen to me. You're obsessed. You're obsessed by wrong thoughts.
44:47
Speaker 1: If you will, you are possessed with plans for revenge.
44:53
Speaker 1: It occupies your waking moments and even accompanies your dreams.
44:58
Speaker 1: You are overcome by evil. And you become a victim.
45:05
Speaker 1: You're victimized by the very thing you're trying to get
45:08
Speaker 1: rid of. And some of you are living like that
45:12
Speaker 1: right now. right this hot little moment. Booker T. Washington
45:23
Speaker 1: once said, I will not allow any man to make
45:26
Speaker 1: me lower myself by hating him. In the midst of
45:35
Speaker 1: all of this, my dear daughter Colleen made me aware
45:40
Speaker 1: of a book I have never read before. I've now
45:43
Speaker 1: read it three times. It's A Tale of Three Kings
45:48
Speaker 1: by Gene Edwards. Listen to some excerpts and you'll know
45:54
Speaker 1: why I've not been able to put the book down.
45:59
Speaker 1: God has a university. It is a small school. Few enroll,
46:05
Speaker 1: even fewer graduate. Very few indeed. God has this school
46:12
Speaker 1: because he does not have broken men. Instead, he has
46:17
Speaker 1: several other types of men. He has men who claim
46:20
Speaker 1: to be God's authority and aren't. Men who claim to
46:25
Speaker 1: be broken and aren't. And men who are God's authority,
46:31
Speaker 1: but who are mad and unbroken. And he has, regretfully,
46:36
Speaker 1: a mixture of everything in between. All of these he
46:39
Speaker 1: has in abundance, but broken men Hardly at all. In
46:45
Speaker 1: God's sacred school of submission and brokenness, why are there
46:49
Speaker 1: so few students? Because all who are in this school
46:54
Speaker 1: must suffer much pain. And as you might guess, it
46:58
Speaker 1: is often the unbroken ruler whom God sovereignly picks who
47:02
Speaker 1: meets out the pain. David was once a student in
47:08
Speaker 1: this school, and Saul was God's chosen way to crush David.
47:16
Speaker 1: As the king grew in madness, David grew in fear.
47:21
Speaker 1: But David had a question. What do you do when
47:23
Speaker 1: someone throws a spear at you? Does it not seem
47:27
Speaker 1: odd to you that David did not know the answer
47:29
Speaker 1: to this question? After all, everyone else in the world
47:32
Speaker 1: knows what to do when a spear is thrown at them. Why,
47:35
Speaker 1: you pick up the spear and you throw it right back.
47:40
Speaker 1: When someone throws a spear at you, David just wrench
47:43
Speaker 1: it out of the wall and throw it back. Absolutely
47:46
Speaker 1: everyone else does. And you can be sure of that.
47:50
Speaker 1: And in doing the small feat of returning thrown spears,
47:55
Speaker 1: you will prove many things. You are courageous. You stand
48:01
Speaker 1: for the right. You boldly stand against the wrong. You
48:04
Speaker 1: are tough. You can't be pushed around. You will not
48:07
Speaker 1: stand for injustice or unfair treatment. You are the defender
48:11
Speaker 1: of the faith, keeper of the flame, detector of all heresy.
48:15
Speaker 1: You will not be wronged. All of those attributes then
48:20
Speaker 1: combine to prove that you are also obviously a candidate
48:23
Speaker 1: for kingship. Yes, perhaps you are the Lord's anointed after
48:28
Speaker 1: the order of King Saul. There's also a possibility that
48:35
Speaker 1: some 20 years after your coronation, you will be the
48:39
Speaker 1: most incredibly skilled spear thrower in all the realm, and
48:42
Speaker 1: most assuredly, by then, quite mad. You can easily tell
48:53
Speaker 1: when someone has been hit by a spear, he turns
48:55
Speaker 1: a deep shade of bitter. David never got hit. Gradually,
49:03
Speaker 1: he learned a very well kept secret. He discovered three
49:06
Speaker 1: things that prevented him from ever being hit. One, never
49:10
Speaker 1: learn anything about the fashionable, easily mastered art of spear throwing. Two,
49:17
Speaker 1: stay out of the company of all spear throwers. Three,
49:21
Speaker 1: keep your mouth tightly closed. In this way, spears will
49:28
Speaker 1: never touch you, even when they pierce your heart. Saul
49:35
Speaker 1: is in your bloodstream, in the marrow of your bones.
49:41
Speaker 1: He makes up the very flesh and muscle of your heart.
49:44
Speaker 1: He is mixed into your soul. He inhabits the nuclei
49:49
Speaker 1: of your atoms. We would say he's in your DNA.
49:56
Speaker 1: King Saul is one with you. David the sheepherder would
50:02
Speaker 1: have grown up to become King Saul II, except that
50:08
Speaker 1: God cut away the Saul inside David's heart. The operation,
50:13
Speaker 1: by the way, took years and was a brutalizing experience
50:16
Speaker 1: that almost killed the patient. And what were the scalpel
50:21
Speaker 1: and tongs God used to remove this inner Saul? God
50:25
Speaker 1: used the outer Saul. King Saul sought to destroy David,
50:32
Speaker 1: but his only success was that he became the handmaiden
50:35
Speaker 1: of God to put to death the Saul who roamed
50:38
Speaker 1: about in the caverns of David's own soul. Yes, it
50:46
Speaker 1: is true that David was virtually destroyed in the process,
50:48
Speaker 1: but this had to be, otherwise the Saul in him
50:53
Speaker 1: would have survived. David accepted this fate. He embraced the
50:58
Speaker 1: cruel circumstances. He lifted no hand, offered no resistance, nor
51:03
Speaker 1: did he grandstand his piety. Silently, privately, he bore the crucible.
51:10
Speaker 1: Because of this, he was deeply wounded. His whole inner
51:13
Speaker 1: being was mutilated. His personality was altered. When the gore
51:17
Speaker 1: was over, David was barely recognizable. When God wants to
51:26
Speaker 1: do an impossible task, he takes an impossible person and
51:30
Speaker 1: crushes him. And that may very well be you right now.
51:40
Speaker 1: This is your moment to do it God's way. I
51:46
Speaker 1: plead with you, let it go. Will you bow with me, please?
52:00
Speaker 1: I'd like our heads to be bowed and our eyes closed.
52:02
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask something unusual of you. I'm going
52:08
Speaker 1: to ask that you not share this with other people.
52:15
Speaker 1: Not for a while. I'm going to ask you to
52:20
Speaker 1: be quiet about it. Let it sink in. We get
52:29
Speaker 1: gabby and chatty and before we know it we're busy
52:34
Speaker 1: about trying to sound eloquent rather than being people of brokenness.
52:42
Speaker 1: If God's breaking you, we don't need any announcement. Let
52:49
Speaker 1: it be. Let it go. May I urge you to
52:58
Speaker 1: guard against putting your finger on that delete button. Don't
53:04
Speaker 1: let this message go. Get this CD just for yourself.
53:13
Speaker 1: Play it over and over and over and over again.
53:20
Speaker 1: Play it next year. Play it the year after until
53:27
Speaker 1: you finally begun to model the truth. If there's never
53:35
Speaker 1: been a time in your life when you have come
53:36
Speaker 1: to the cross and submitted yourself To the claims of Christ.
53:42
Speaker 1: Then that's. Job one. That's the place to start. Come
53:47
Speaker 1: there first. And go to your knees. Say to the Lord.
53:54
Speaker 1: I am a candidate for crushing. Start here. Start now.
54:05
Speaker 1: Hear our prayer. Oh Lord.
54:09
Speaker 2: Hear.
54:11
Speaker 1: Our prayer, O Lord, incline thine ear to us and
54:18
Speaker 1: grant us thy peace. Dismiss us, our Father, with this
54:27
Speaker 1: sober message ringing in our ears. May we see that
54:33
Speaker 1: it's a message not for any other person except ourselves.
54:42
Speaker 1: And in the crushing, stay close, Lord. Help us through it.
54:50
Speaker 1: As you fight the battles, calm our fears. And as
54:57
Speaker 1: you bring the enemy to his knees, guard us from pride.
55:05
Speaker 1: May we kneel with the enemy as you build that bridge.
55:13
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus Christ, who modeled this, I pray.
55:21
Speaker 1: Everyone said, Amen.
55:26
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Doing Right When You've Been Done Wrong,
55:29
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025, and the sound
55:31
Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
55:33
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
55:42
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
55:47
Speaker 2: In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. is grateful
55:51
Speaker 2: to Tyndale House Publishers for permission to quote from the
55:54
Speaker 2: book A Tale of Three Kings, copyrighted in 1992 by