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: The scripture reading is found in Lamentations chapter three. Please
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  Speaker 1: turn with me to this Old Testament section of scripture,
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  Speaker 1: just beyond the Book of Jeremiah. Lamentations, chapter three, verse nineteen.
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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 our 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 with reproach, For the
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  Speaker 1: Lord will not reject forever. For if he causes grief,
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  Speaker 1: then he will have compassion according to his abundant loving kindness,
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  Speaker 1: for he does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons
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  Speaker 1: of men. Compromises only complicate our convictions. We promise ourselves
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  Speaker 1: that we will acomplish a certain thing at the early
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  Speaker 1: part of the week. By the middle of the week
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  Speaker 1: we've begun to fudge and compromise, so that by the
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  Speaker 1: end of the week we are somewhat off target, if
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  Speaker 1: not altogether. Perfect example dieting, who hasn't fought the battle
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  Speaker 1: of the bulge. We start early Monday morning, determined this
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  Speaker 1: has gone on long enough. We're going to trim off
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  Speaker 1: the fat. We begin to compromise before the middle of
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  Speaker 1: the week has arrived, and we don't want anybody in
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  Speaker 1: our family to remind us of what we said last
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  Speaker 1: Monday when Friday comes. Perhaps that's what attracted me to
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  Speaker 1: the stress diet. Breakfast one half grapefruit, one piece of
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  Speaker 1: whole wheat toast, no butter, Eight ounces of skim milt
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  Speaker 1: coffee black lunch, four ounces of lean broiled chicken breast
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  Speaker 1: skin removed. One cup of steamed zucchini herb tea no sugar,
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  Speaker 1: one oreole cookie. Mid afternoon snack, the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: package of Oreo cookies. One quart Rocky Road ice cream,
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  Speaker 1: one jar of hot fudge dinner. Two loaves of garlic
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  Speaker 1: bread heavy on the butter, large sausage pepperoni pizza, extra
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  Speaker 1: cheese for beverage. Two large milkshakes with whipped cream for dessert,
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  Speaker 1: three milky ways, an entire frozen cheesecake eaten directly from
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  Speaker 1: the freezer. Oh, the impact of one Oreo cookie compromises
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  Speaker 1: complicate our commitments. It's funny when it comes to a
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  Speaker 1: cute diet like that. It's tragic when it happens to
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  Speaker 1: a nation. It happened to the Jews, you know. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: in the words of Joseiah the prophet, they sowed the wind,
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  Speaker 1: they reaped the whirlwind. That's what he called it, reaping
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  Speaker 1: the whirlwind. They set in motion a cycle that ate
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  Speaker 1: them alive. Turn please to the minor prophet Hoseiah chapter eight,
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  Speaker 1: verse seven. There's the proverb. You may have quoted it,
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  Speaker 1: but you just didn't know where it was found. Market
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  Speaker 1: for they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind.
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  Speaker 1: It's not describing something as simple as a diet. He's
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  Speaker 1: describing something as tragic as a lifestyle. Why did they
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  Speaker 1: do it? Why did they ever take that first cookie?
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  Speaker 1: Moses had made it so clear when they left Egypt
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  Speaker 1: and entered Canaan, You're entering a lifestyle that is idolatrous.
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  Speaker 1: There is a whole way of living that is antithetical
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  Speaker 1: to your monotheistic way of life. Stay true, stand firm,
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  Speaker 1: be distinct, don't compromise, no idols, no intermarriage, live right.
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  Speaker 1: One wonders the first day someone ate the first cookie,
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  Speaker 1: they kept one of the idol, and then they didn't
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  Speaker 1: worship it. In fact, they decided they just sort of
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  Speaker 1: toss it in the trunk and maybe leave it in
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  Speaker 1: the closet. I mean, after all, it was the carving
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  Speaker 1: of someone's hand and meant nothing to them. It was
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  Speaker 1: just another idol, and maybe one of the children found it,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe a neighbor got interested in. Before you know it,
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  Speaker 1: they began to focus on the idol, and that seemed
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  Speaker 1: to lead to yet another plan, and yet another, and
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  Speaker 1: finally they reaped a whirlwind. They ate the whole package.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, if you're still looking at josea Ate, you'll
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  Speaker 1: see a series of things that led up to where
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  Speaker 1: they were. Verse one. They transgressed my covenant Verse one.
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  Speaker 1: They rebelled against my law. That's not simple Hebrew poetry.
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  Speaker 1: That's truth. That's the cookie. They looked at my law
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  Speaker 1: and they rearranged things. It didn't quite mean what it said.
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  Speaker 1: It's pretty strict for Canaan life. I mean it fit
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  Speaker 1: when we were in need, but and in the wanderings.
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  Speaker 1: But let's face it. I mean, you've got to look
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  Speaker 1: at things realistically. And so we'll take part of the law.
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  Speaker 1: We'll leave part of the law. It doesn't matter if
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  Speaker 1: our son falls in love with one of those Canaanites,
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  Speaker 1: that's okay. Sorry, we'll maintain life. He's been raised right.
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  Speaker 1: They rebelled against my law Verse three. Of all things,
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  Speaker 1: they now rejected the good that implies they embraced the bad.
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  Speaker 1: And verse four. When it came to kings, they didn't
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  Speaker 1: listen to me or seek my counsel. They set up kings,
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  Speaker 1: not by me. They appointed princes I didn't know about.
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  Speaker 1: They weren't my men. And with that silver and gold
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  Speaker 1: that I gave them, they made idols for themselves. Can
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  Speaker 1: you believe it? These aren't Canaanites, These are God's people.
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  Speaker 1: It all started with a cookie. Something so simple led
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  Speaker 1: to so much they sowed the wind, they reaped the whirlwind.
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  Speaker 1: Ben Franklin, way back seventeen fifty eight wrote, a little
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  Speaker 1: neglect may breed great mischief for want of a nail.
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  Speaker 1: The shoe is lost for want of a shoe. The
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  Speaker 1: horse is lost for want of a horse, the rider
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  Speaker 1: is lost. This is a day to pay attention to
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  Speaker 1: the nails, to take a look at the cookie, because
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  Speaker 1: that's the first step down. It leads me to a
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  Speaker 1: statement that I think is easily forgotten, So easily forgotten.
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  Speaker 1: When we continue doing wrong, we set in motion a
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  Speaker 1: cycle of complications. When we continue doing wrong, we set
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  Speaker 1: in motion of cycle of complications. Don't forget that. I'll
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  Speaker 1: try not to forget it too. See that's what happened. Then,
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  Speaker 1: that's why he says to Joseah, put a trumpet to
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  Speaker 1: your lips. Verse one. Scream it out, son, tell the people,
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  Speaker 1: as my prophet, it isn't worth it. It isn't worth it.
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  Speaker 1: You know what happened, You know what happened, strong, positive,
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  Speaker 1: united harmonious nation. Israel drove a wedge in through Jericho
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  Speaker 1: and conquered Canaan. They took over the land. But would
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  Speaker 1: you believe in the process of time. They didn't seek
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  Speaker 1: God's mind on who would rule over them, and before
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  Speaker 1: long they they voted in the godless, and the godless
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  Speaker 1: legislated a godless life style, and the godless life style
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  Speaker 1: ruined the people. By seven twenty two BC, the Assyrians
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  Speaker 1: invaded the north, and they led the people into captivity.
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  Speaker 1: God's people lost their freedom. Babylon came Nebucadnazar in all
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  Speaker 1: of his pomp and godless ness, and they swarmed over Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: and they took them in the south captive, and they
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  Speaker 1: marched them off to Babylon. Psalm one thirty seven says
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  Speaker 1: that we hung our harps on the willow tree. Our
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  Speaker 1: captors said, sing us one of those songs of Zion.
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  Speaker 1: Let's hear it, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, Let's hear it.
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  Speaker 1: How about end? Can it be that I should gain
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  Speaker 1: an interest in the Savior's blood? Let's hear you sing
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  Speaker 1: it now? And the Psalmist says, how can you sing
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's song in a foreign land? They lost everything.
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  Speaker 1: There was a prophet who watched them in transition. He
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  Speaker 1: prophesied forty strong years, and he wept more than he preached.
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  Speaker 1: He wrote a lot fifty two chapters, his name Jeremiah,
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  Speaker 1: and that book gets all of the press. But what
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  Speaker 1: is even more eloquent, in my opinion, is the journal
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  Speaker 1: of woe that he kept following the fall. It's called lamentations.
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  Speaker 1: Lamentations 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.
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  Speaker 1: Look for example, he is a man who has seen affliction.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter three 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 began 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,
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  Speaker 1: affliction verse three surely against me. He has turned his
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  Speaker 1: hand repeatedly all the day. 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 eight. Even when I cry out and
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  Speaker 1: call for help, even when I lamant, he shuts out
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  Speaker 1: my prayers. He's blocked my ways with hewn stone. He
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  Speaker 1: has made my paths not straight but crooked. He is
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  Speaker 1: to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion.
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  Speaker 1: In secret places. He has turned aside my ways. He
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  Speaker 1: has 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 fourteen. I had
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  Speaker 1: become a laughing stock to all the Jews. Hah, you're
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  Speaker 1: telling me that that's the god we ought to follow.
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  Speaker 1: He's the one that brought all this on us. And
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  Speaker 1: you told us a few years ago that we ought
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  Speaker 1: to repent, And this is the treatment we get from him.
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  Speaker 1: What a joke. I'm humiliated, Lord, they're laughing at me.
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  Speaker 1: He records it all in his journal. I'm broken verse four,
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  Speaker 1: I'm blocked. Verse nine. It's bitter. Verse fifteen. 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 twenty. 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 seventeen. My soul has been rejected from
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  Speaker 1: peace I have forgotten happiness.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: I talked to a man some time ago who said this,
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  Speaker 1: I can't remember the last time I laughed, Chuck. I
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  Speaker 1: haven't even been able to smile for days. He described
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  Speaker 1: to me a lifestyle that resulted in his definite plans
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  Speaker 1: to take his life. And I happen to have intercepted
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  Speaker 1: his path along the way, and he now lives. He's
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  Speaker 1: back with God because of something I've done, but because
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  Speaker 1: of the faithfulness of God. But he had lost his joy,
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  Speaker 1: he had lost the laughter. Hold your place here and
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  Speaker 1: go back for one verse in Ecclesiastes one verse this
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  Speaker 1: is our day of unusual books huh Hoseiah, and then Lamentations,
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  Speaker 1: and now Ecclesiastes. Just after the Book of Proverbs, Solomon
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  Speaker 1: records this very honest journal, chapter two, verse twenty five,
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  Speaker 1: two twenty five. For who can eat? Who can have
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  Speaker 1: enjoyment without him? Isn't it a great verse? Who in
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  Speaker 1: the world can enjoy a wonderful meal? Who in the
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  Speaker 1: world can laugh at life and laugh with God? Who
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  Speaker 1: has distanced himself from him? It requires the living God
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  Speaker 1: for there to be a joyful heart. Back to Lamentations,
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty eight, let him sit alone and be silent,
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  Speaker 1: since God has laid it on him. Sounds like what
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  Speaker 1: your mom used to say when she's spanked. You just
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  Speaker 1: sit there and be quiet. Now that I've laid it
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  Speaker 1: on you, That's what happened to the people of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: God has laid it on you. Now shut up and listen,
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  Speaker 1: says the prophet. Be quiet, learn in the silence the
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  Speaker 1: value of walking with God. There's nothing worse. It seems,
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  Speaker 1: nothing worse than being responsible for our own affliction. It's
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  Speaker 1: bad enough to be a victim, it's doubly difficult when
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  Speaker 1: you've caused it. F. B. Meyer, in a little book
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  Speaker 1: called christ in Isaiah, wrote, this is the bitterest of
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  Speaker 1: all to know that suffering need not have been, that
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  Speaker 1: it is the product of one's own sowing that the
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  Speaker 1: vulture which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of
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  Speaker 1: one's own rearing. Ah me, this is pain. That's what
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  Speaker 1: made this so tough. They had deliberately, consciously, and with
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  Speaker 1: some sense of calculation, walked away from the ways of God.
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  Speaker 1: You'll notice on the back of the sermon outline one
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  Speaker 1: of the few van goes of mine I've ever released.
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  Speaker 1: The principle is at the top, for they sow the
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  Speaker 1: wind and they reap the whirlwind. Now that maddening whirlwind
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  Speaker 1: begins with affliction. He gets it right in the gut.
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  Speaker 1: Then the desolation. He's falling. He's on his back, humiliated, isolated,
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  Speaker 1: feeling rejected from God all the way through. However, God
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  Speaker 1: hasn't moved. Reminds me of the story I love to
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  Speaker 1: tell about the couple on their twenty fifth anniversary driving
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  Speaker 1: home from a fine restaurant. She is plastered against the
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  Speaker 1: door on the right. He's sitting behind the wheel driving home,
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  Speaker 1: and she led, men, so, honey, remember when we were
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  Speaker 1: so close. I mean, I remember when we'd first gotten married.
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  Speaker 1: You could hardly drive. I was all over you, and
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  Speaker 1: look at us now. He answered, well, I never moved.
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  Speaker 1: That's when it is with our living God Lord. I
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  Speaker 1: remember when we used to be close. I never moved.
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  Speaker 1: I remember when you and I were on speaking term.
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  Speaker 1: I never moved. I remember when I used to talk
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  Speaker 1: to you in my deep moments and you meant something
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  Speaker 1: to me. I've removed. I never went anywhere. You're still
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  Speaker 1: important to me, You seet back in lamentations. The this
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  Speaker 1: of verse twenty one is a turning point. It's the
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  Speaker 1: hinge in the passage. Look at it. It's the good news.
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  Speaker 1: We've heard the bad news. The time for the good news.
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  Speaker 1: This I recall to mind. I love that I am
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  Speaker 1: in the midst of sadness and affliction. I am remembering
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  Speaker 1: the bitterness and the wormwood. I am walking through the
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  Speaker 1: remains of this city. I love kicking the debris and
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  Speaker 1: wondering how in the world this could have happened. And
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  Speaker 1: suddenly it dawns on me. It comes to mind. This
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  Speaker 1: points ahead, not back. I let a little arrow in
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  Speaker 1: my Bible that circled this, and then the arrow goes
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  Speaker 1: right down through verse thirty two. It's this that's coming
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  Speaker 1: that he members. Look this, I recall to my mind,
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  Speaker 1: and I have hope. By the way, there is nothing
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  Speaker 1: quite so encouraging as being in the pit and suddenly
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  Speaker 1: having a surge of hope. Someone has said, we can
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  Speaker 1: live forty days without food, we can live eight days
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  Speaker 1: without water, we can live four minutes without damage, without breath,
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  Speaker 1: but we can only live a few seconds without hope.
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  Speaker 1: You know what occurs when you are at the very bottom.
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  Speaker 1: Hope flees, It runs away when hope leaves. Your mind
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  Speaker 1: is shut down. You can't even recall those verses that
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  Speaker 1: you learned as a child. You can't remember one line
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  Speaker 1: of one song. You can't remember one prayer you ever memorize,
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  Speaker 1: because your hope's gone. Now in the midst of that,
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  Speaker 1: he got hope. What is the hope? Three lines? I
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  Speaker 1: want you to write them down. I don't want you
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  Speaker 1: to ever forget them. In fact, I suggest you put
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  Speaker 1: them on a three by five cards sometime between now
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  Speaker 1: and tomorrow morning, and you put them by your bed,
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  Speaker 1: and you prop that little card up and you read
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  Speaker 1: it every morning. I'll tell you why in a minute.
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  Speaker 1: Here are the three lines. They're right from the scriptures,
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  Speaker 1: Verse twenty two. The Lord's loving kindnesses never cease. If
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  Speaker 1: you like the word mercy in place of loving kindnesses,
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  Speaker 1: use mercy. It's plural. The Lord's mercies never cease. So
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  Speaker 1: that's line number one. This is a scripture worth remembering.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord's mercies never cease. Let that seep into your
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  Speaker 1: busy mind. Some of you have been in such a hurry.
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  Speaker 1: Not much as seeped in in the last ten fifteen
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  Speaker 1: twenty days. That is from God and shouts from heaven
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  Speaker 1: this passage does. It comes directly to you, personally delivered
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  Speaker 1: with your name on it. My mercies never cease. If
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  Speaker 1: you ever read Psalm twenty three through the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: anything but a sheep, you'll be short changed. The twenty
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  Speaker 1: third Psalm ought to be red. While we're wrapped in wool.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He
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  Speaker 1: makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me
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  Speaker 1: besides still or calm waters. While there he restores my soul.
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  Speaker 1: You're a sheep. The one who writes it is writing
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  Speaker 1: it from the vantage point of a sheep. He anoints
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  Speaker 1: my head with oil. There are some whose shepherd sheep,
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  Speaker 1: who tell me that oil is often put on the
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  Speaker 1: nose and on the head of a sheep in abundance,
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  Speaker 1: because sheep nuzzle around deep in grass, and they often
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  Speaker 1: get near the snakeholes, and snakes smell that oil and
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  Speaker 1: leave them alone. Without the oil, they bite him on
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  Speaker 1: the nose and on the lips, and on the mouth,
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  Speaker 1: on the cheek. But a good shepherd annoints they head
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  Speaker 1: with oil to protect him from the snake bite. And
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  Speaker 1: my cup runs over. The Lord even has sheep dogs.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: They're called goodness and mercy, and they follow me all
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the days of my life. They're there, goodness and mercy,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and they are so good to keep me in bounds.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: But sometimes I run, And even when I run, mercy stays.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: That's what this passage says. The Lord's mercies never sees.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Isn't that good? And she glad he isn't fickle? And
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: she glad he doesn't cool off at you when you
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: yell back at him, or when you ignore his statement,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: or you deliberately misread and misjudge his will. He's never sees.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Here's the second statement. Write it down. The Lord's compassions
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: never fail. Interesting word compassion. While you're writing, I'll give
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: you the word. It means sympathetic love, concern for the helpless.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: It always includes involvement when it's referring to God. His
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: compassions never fail. They are unalterably the same. His heart
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: keeps going out to the prodigal like the father. Remember
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: over in Luke fifteen. The boy wants all that he
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: has coming to him. He would like more, but the
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: father gives him what he has coming, and the boy
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: splits how long he's gone? We're never told? But the
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: father doesn't run after him and beg him and plead
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: with him in bargain and promise half the inheritance more
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: if he'll stay. He lets him go, just like our father.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: And the boy runs out of money, runs out of fun,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: and runs out of food. And in the pig sty
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: he comes to his senses and he practices his little speech,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I'll go back. Interesting, everything he looked for is back home.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Different perspective when you're in the pig sty with nothing
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: than when you're fat and sassy at home, not lacking
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the rules under the roof. And the boy comes to
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: his senses, and you remember the story. He comes back
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: and the father, seeing him still a great distance away,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: runs You think that dad didn't have compassion. Now he
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: did not run up to him and say, what have
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: you been doing? Give me an account of your time.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Where in the world is all my money? Look at
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the mess you've made here. You stink. You are awful,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: he said, kill the calf, kill Bruno. We're gonna have
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: a barbecue. We're gonna have a terrific time because my
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: boy who was lost has been found. He ran away
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: from me. NIC's back and I'm full of compassion. The
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: only one who gave him a legalistic list was the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: older brother. He was the more difficult of the two
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: children to raise, by the way, because his acts were deceptive.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: His rebellion was quiet, but he didn't know anything about grace.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: And our Lord, who is full of mercies, and those
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: mercies motivate him to feel compassion, finds himself never failing
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: in compassion. When you come home, he says, I missed you.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you're here. Third line great, No, let's put it.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: The Lord's faithfulness never diminishes. It is always g r
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: e a T great. The Lord's mercies never cease. The
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Lord's compassions never fail. The Lord's faithfulness never diminishes. It
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: is always great, isn't that good? It is always great,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: even when you blew it, even when you blew it,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: even when you made that stupid decision, even when you
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: made that stupid decision, even when your marriage failed, even
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: when your marriage failed, even when you knew better, even
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: when you knew better, his faithfulness never diminishes. It is
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: always always great. Now put that in a little card,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Set it by your bed, Read it every morning. Before
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: you ever get blanket victory, before you ever get your
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: feet on the floor. Before you ever look at yourself
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: in the mirror, especially before you look at yourself in
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: the mirror, look at the card and read it aloud.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: The Lord's mercies never cease, The Lord's compassions never failed.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: The Lord's faithfulness never diminishes. We looked in depth that
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: God's sovereignty when we were together, before I suggested it's
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: son of a divine resume of his sovereignty. You may remember, well,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I've done a little tool work on his faithfulness, and
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I'd like to read to something. By the way, faithfulness
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: is tied to his immutability, which is a forbit word
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: for he doesn't change because God doesn't change. He has
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: to remain faithful. So that's where I start being immutable.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: He not only will not change in his faithfulness, he
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: cannot change. That means he cannot change for the better,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: and he certainly cannot change for the worse. He never
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: cools off in his commitment to us. He never breaks
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a promise or loses enthusiasm. He stays near us when
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: we are zealous for the truth, just as much as
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: when we reject his counsel and deliberately disobey. He remains
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: intimately involved in our lives, whether we are giving him
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: praise in prayer or grieving him in our actions, whether
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: we are running to him or from him, he remains faithful.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: His faithfulness is unconditional, unending, and unswerving. Nothing we do
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: can diminish it, and nothing we stop doing can increase it.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: It remains great. What fine food that is for our minds. Now,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: I got a great thought while putting these things together.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: I thought, why is it when we lose all hope,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the enemy says, take your life? Why is it that
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: the enemy's favorite option for hopeless people, especially hopeless Christians,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: especially hopeless Christians, is suicide? Why is it he says,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: this dark night put an end to it. I think
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: I found part of the answer back in the passage.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: The Lord's loving kindnesses never ceased, the Lord's compassions never fail,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: The Lord's faithfulness is never diminished. But I missed a line.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Those three things are what new every morning. If you
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: take your life at night, you won't in the burst
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: of the dawn have the sudden realization that God is there,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: You'll be gone. I don't know about your life, but
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: I can tell you about mine. My hard time is
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: the night time, that is, when it's getting dark. Not
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: that I'm afraid of the dark. Sometime I am when
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I hear things. I sometimes imagine something being there. But
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I get depressed. I get down. I get low when
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: the sun goes down, and somewhere between sunset and bedtime,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: if I'm going to have a battle in the day,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: it'll be there. I never have that battle in the morning.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: There is something about the fresh dawn that brings back
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: the good truth that I'd forgotten the night before. Interesting,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: isn't it that very few people take their lives in
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: the early morning dawntime, usually at night, in the darkness,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: when life's kind of caved in on them. You know
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: what God's fresh new morning message is to us. Whether
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the sun can be seen or whether it's raining, the
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: dawn itself doesn't matter about the sun. He says, here
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: every morning, not every sun up. The weather is insignificant.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Every morning, the Lord comes through with the message, We're
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: still in business. You know I'm here, have moved. Let's
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: go to day together. That's why I suggest you read
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: those three lines. The rising of the sun says We're
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: still in business. You want a suggestion worth trying. I
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: suggest that you trust God to remember you. It's probably
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: been a while since someone has offered that piece of advice.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Just trust God to remember you. He won't forget your name,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: he won't forget your circumstance. He certainly won't forget your prayers.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: Trust him to remember you. Just trust him to remember you.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: You never come to him where he says, Let's see
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: what was this, Frank, just a minute, Gabriel? Was that name?
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: God doesn't operate like that. He's not on the edge
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: of heaven going what am I going to do with him?
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: He's faithful to know exactly where you are. He cares,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: he's there. Trust him. He remembers you. How do I
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: do that? Well, that's why God gave us. The rest
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: of the passage doesn't stop with verse twenty three. He
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: goes on in contacts down through thirty two. You see
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: when you are escaping, you're running, and you're ignoring him,
• 34:19
  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
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: things verse twenty five. Wait patiently, stop running, and start waiting.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: That's verse twenty five. The Lord is good to those
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: who wait for him. Okay, if you want to trust
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: him to remember you, stop running. Wait patiently. Second, the
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Lord is good to those who seek him. See the
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: last part of verse twenty five. So instead of ignoring him,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: start seeking him again. Lord. I'm back. I know you've
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: heard it before. I am ashamed to tell you what
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: I've been doing as if you didn't know, but it's
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: good for me to rehearse it. Here's where I've been,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Here's what I've done. Here are the things that shame
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: your name and bring reproach to you and hurt me
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: and other people. And I want to tell you today
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: as I come back to you, I seek you diligently,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: and I come on the merits of Christ, since I
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: haven't any merits of my own. I'm under the blood.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: I'm one of your children, and I've been away from you,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: and I've acted stupidly. I've acted ignorantly at times, I've
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: been even vile and vicious. But I'm back and I
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: diligently seek you. I'm not going to ignore you any longer.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Third verse twenty eight. We looked at it a moment ago.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Sit alone and be silent. Since he has laid it
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: on him. Stop talking sit silently, wait, patiently, seek, diligently.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Sit silently. That means you need to stop talking. Do
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: you've poured out your heart? Be quiet? Spend a day
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: in quietness. Sundays are great days to do that. Set
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: aside part of the afternoon to be quiet. The old
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: ancients used to meditate. That's kind of the lost art
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: of our twentieth century world of activity. I suggest you
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: revive it, not by repeating and repeating some mantra to
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: get into some other's world or some other frame of mind,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: but by simply waiting upon God. Take a passage, take
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: a psalm, take a section of scripture that's meaningful, and
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: let it speak. Say nothing, Just sit silently, let him talk,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: let him reassure you. Feel his arms around you, Understand
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: the cleansing that he's bringing, feel again the freshness of
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: his presence. Fourth Verses twenty nine and thirty. Submit willingly.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Let him put his mouth in the dust. Perhaps there
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: is hope that suggests no compromise, no rationalizing, no excuses.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: Shove your mouth to the ground. If that'll help, stop
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: trying to get around the heinousness wrong of your life,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: face it. Just submit willingly. Verse thirty Let him give
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: his cheek to the smiter. Let him be filled with reproach.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: The Lord won't reject forever. If he's caused you grief.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Look 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 fulfilled those three lines.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: He'll show you his mercies haven't seized, his compassions haven't failed,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: and his faithfulness hasn't diminished. David reading 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. Rights 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
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: to go toward town. We had moved there for my
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: father's health when I was thirteen. 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
• 39:14
  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
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: seasoned in our own smokehouse. That's the scene. I started.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: The little flock of Shropshire sheep, the kind that are
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: completely covered by wool except for a black nose in
• 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, a poor man next door
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: had a beautiful dog and a small flock of sheep.
• 40:06
  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: Scottish 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 fourteen miles from the farm. I
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: got off there that night about eleven 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
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: me and take me back after all that time, 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 away,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: some I'm 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: a 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. It'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. To
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: hear that hope forgiveness. If goodness and mercy are his
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: sheep dogs, I think his favorite pet might be understanding.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: That is faithfulness. He's there and hurtling through the darkness
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: of your life, will come this magnificent truth that will
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: wrap itself around you. And because God's faithful, he'll keep
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: his promise. He'll take you in.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: He'll take you home.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: Come today, Lord God, thank you for being more than
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: a friend. Thank you for your sovereign hand upon us,
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: for your mercies that are new every morning. For your
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: great faithfulness. Thank you for not leaving us when we
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: should have been rejected and left, for not abandoning us
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: when we deserved it. Thank you for being true to
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: your word. Thank you for keeping your promise. Uses that
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: all who come to you you will in no way
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: cast out. Today, some come, and in faithfulness you will
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: receive them. I pray as much for those who are
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: in your family who've run away from you. I pray
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: that you would win them back through your compassion and mercy,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: and that they would sense the understanding faithfulness of God,
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: and that that alone would draw them like a magnet
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: to you. We leave the results with you, our Father,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: and we would act upon them as you guide us.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: In the name of Christ, our strong Savior, we pray Amen.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, God's Mysterious Immutability was copyrighted in nineteen
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: eighty seven, nineteen eighty eight, nineteen ninety four, two thousand
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording was copyrighted
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: use is strictly prohibited