Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Better Way to Look at God’s Will │ Msg 1111 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

A Better Way to Look at God’s Will │ Msg 1111 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: That last song We sang provides a wonderful introduction to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the mystery of God's will. We sang, God will make
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: a way, and the way he does it is often
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: absolutely unexpected and full of surprises, as all of us
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: could testify. I mean, would you have ever guessed the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: last five years of your life would have been as
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: your life has been. Not a person here would have
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: ever guessed that. I'm telling you He's up to something great.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: We can never figure it out. It'll be terrific, won't it.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Don't get your hopes up. You never will, as we're
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: going to learn. He's unsearchable, and he's unfathomable, and he's deep.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I want to read for you from both the Book
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of Job and the Letter to the Romans, if you
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: will locate both in your Bible, Job twenty three, and
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: then as you would expect Romans Chapter eight. It's awfully
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: quiet out there. You brought a Bible right, Job twenty three.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: It's just before the Book of Psalms. For you who
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: are from any other seminary but Dallas. It's a joke, folks, Relax,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Job twenty three and Romans chapter eight. Let me read
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Job twenty three. Beginning at verse three. And I want
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: you to feel the struggle that Job is going through
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: in the midst of his circumstances. Picture yourself having lost
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: everything covered with we call them boils. They're like ulcers
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: running ulsa all over your body. You buried all ten
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of your children, and you have claimed bankruptcy, and you
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: are now writing a statement to God. And I think
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you'd put yourself in those shoes. You'll appreciate what he
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: says in Job twenty three, verse three. Oh that I
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: knew where I might find him, that I might come
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: to his seat, I would present my case before him
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: words which he would answer, and perceive what he would
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: say to me. Would he contend with me by the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: greatness of his power? No, surely he would pay attention
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: to me. There the upright would reason with him, and
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I would be delivered forever from my judge. Now listen
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: to the fusion. Behold, I go forward, but he is
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: not there, And backward but I cannot perceive him. Or
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: when he acts on the left, I cannot behold him.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: He turns on the right, I cannot see him. But
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: he knows the way I take. When he has tried me,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: fast to his path. I have kept his way and
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: not turned aside. I have not departed from the command
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: of his lips. I have treasured the words of his
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: mouth more than my necessary food. But he is unique,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: and who can turn him? And what his soul desires
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: that he does, For he performs what is appointed for me.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: And many such decrees are with him. And Romans eight,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: if you will follow along, let me take twenty six
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: through thirty. And in the same way, the spirit also
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: helps our weaknesses, for we do not know how to
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: pray as we should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: us with groanings too deep for words. And he who
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: because he intercedes for the saints according to the will
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: of God. And we know that God causes all things
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: to work together for good, to those who love God,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to those who were called according to His purpose, for
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: whom he foreknew. He also predestined to become conformed to
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the image of his son, that he might be the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: first born among many brethren, whom he predestined he also called,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: and whom he called, these he also justify, and whom
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: he justified, these he also glorify. Those are amazing words,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: aren't they. You are getting a brief glimpse of where
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: we're going to be as we attempt to get a
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: hold of the whole issue of ambiguity, the uncertainty of
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: following God's will wherever it leads us, not because we
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: understand it or can explain it, but because we want
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: to be obedient to Him as his children. And here
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: we are today in the midst of God's plan for
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: our lives. You are right at the center of where
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: He has placed you. You are engaged in a journey,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and only he knows the destination on this earth where
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: it will take you. You have no way of knowing, even
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: one minute from now, what you will experience. No one
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: knows the future. You don't know the day of your death.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: He does. You don't know. Lives are impacting. He does.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: All of this is part of his unusual plan, and
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: we're the players in the drama of his performance. It's
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: about his will, not ours. Right, who would have ever
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: dreamed a year or more ago that we would be
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: sitting here in the midst of a new church, that
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: God is raised up, and that he would use us,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: by his grace to be a part of this beginning.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Isn't that fun? That exciting, and is just getting started?
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: That's great. I've gotten the place. Maybe I'm to the
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: age where it's okay. I've gotten the place that I
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: don't care. I used to care a lot about all
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the details. I don't care, you know, So we have lunch,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I'll go that far and this afternoon, I don't care.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: He's got a plan. It's going to unfold, and I'm
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: going to be a part of it, and you are too,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: And he's going to do some things that are totally
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: surprising in your life. And in mind, I can assure
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: you of that. Let's bow. If it weren't for your grace, Lord,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: we wouldn't even be sitting here. We wouldn't be participating
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: in these things. We wouldn't be smiling, we wouldn't be
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: feeling the peace and comfort that accompanies obedience. We'd be
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: out to lunch, we'd be struggling to find our way,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: would be we'd be going southeast when you'd be pointing northwest,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and we would be changing in the middle of the
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: stream because we wouldn't be comfortable, and a half dozen
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: other things we could name. You're in charge, and we
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: find great comfort in that. And were it not for grace,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: we would really have made a mess of everything. So
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: thank you for overruling. Thank you for demanding your way
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: at those times when looking back, we realized it was
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: really best, even though it led Job into a life
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: of loss. It led Joseph into a time in prison.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: It led Paul to a place where he was stoned
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: by those who didn't even understand. It led Daniel to
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: a den of lions, and of all things, that led
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the great Apostle John to an island where he would
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: write the revelation, how unsearchable are your judgments and unfathomable
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: your ways. Were it not for grace, Lord, we wouldn't
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: be a part of this new ministry, and we wouldn't
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: be able to sustain it. So we pause to thank
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: you for your grace, because our hearts are full of
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: joy for your great glory, and because of your grace,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: we pray. Amen. I have two enduring goals in life,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and they are related to one another. But let me
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: give you the first and then the second. First, I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: desire most of all to learn how to think theologically biblically.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I want to see life through the lenses of God's
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: eyes for the rest of my days. I don't want
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: to argue with him. I don't want to fight him.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I don't have to understand him. But I do want
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: to obey him. And so I want to see life,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: whether it be struggle or joy, whether it be lost
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: or gain, I want to see it all through God's perspective.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: And secondly, a goal would be I want to help
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: other people do the same thing. I want that as much,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I think, really, more than anything else. I want to
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: be able to turn to the scriptures, find direction, answers help,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and when I can't find answers, a reason to try
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: us and to wait for God when I can't see
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the reason behind where I'm going, and to have peace
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: through all of that. Now, I want to help other
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: people know how to do that too. I'm convinced that
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: everything within a screams against that way of thinking and
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that way of living. Here's the reason why. From the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: time we are very small children, we were self centered.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Our world revolved around what we wanted, when we wanted it,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: and if someone else had it, we wanted it even more,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and then when we got it, we wanted to keep
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: it and it didn't satisfy, so we were looking to
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: somebody else to rip them off and get it from them,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: whether it's a toy or our uncle's watch or whatever.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: And we spend our lives centered upon ourselves rather than
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: upon God. And the fallout of that is we view
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: God through human eyes, and we think that he is
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: a lot like us, except he's older and he's been
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: around forever. But we think his will is like our will,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: except it's smarter and certainly has a long view in mind.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: But our human style is read into God's character, so
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: that when he throws us a curve, we call him unfair,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: and cynics call him untrustworthy, and our faith gets shattered
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: because bad things happened to great people or little children
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: or countries. For example, if I were God, which is
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: a frightening thought, but if I were God, I would
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: never I would never have allowed Dietrich Bonhoeffer to die
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: at age thirty nine in a prison, in a concentration camp.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I'd have given him fifty sixty more years to live
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: and to write and to model that life of faith.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I would have never had those five missionaries that went
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: to the Alca Indians to reach them for Christ. I
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: would have never had them martyred. Never, I would have
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: sustained their lives and used them in ways that I
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: considered worthwhile. I would have never put Corey ten Boom
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: through what she went through, Certainly not Betsy or Papa
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: ten Boom, because that's not fair. I can think of
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: some people I'd put through that, but it wouldn't have
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: been Corey ten Boom, and it wouldn't have been Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: It would have been people that I felt deserved it,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: because that's the way I think. I wouldn't have had
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Chuck Swindolf's mother died at age sixty three and his
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: dad nine years later die that painful, slow death he died.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't have done it like that. My mother was
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: fifteen years younger than my dad. She should have outlived
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: him fifteen years. I mean, that's that makes sense, doesn't it.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: And I wouldn't have had you go through the tough
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: things you've gone through in this last twelve fifteen months,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: because I don't I don't think that would have been
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: fair to you. You deserve better than that. Well, most
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: of you do, you know. But that's not thinking theologically.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: That's putting God in human garb and giving him emotions
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: like we have, and calling fair what we consider fair, right,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: what we consider right, wrong, what we call wrong. And therefore,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: how dare he interrupt our world with such injustices and inequities? Okay,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: you're with me so far. We're just getting started. There
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: is a mystery and aura about the living God that
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: is by design to force us to trust him when
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: we cannot figure it out. He is inexplicable, he is,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: he is unfathomable. He is infinite. The hymn writer put
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: it well, immortal, invisible, God only wise in light, inaccessible,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the ancient
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: of days, Almighty, victorious, that great name we praise, unresting, unhasting,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and silent as light, that rulest in might. He goes
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: on to say all of these great terms about God,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: most of which just go right over our head. You
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: can't fathom infinity, you can't measure the the unmeasurable. You
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: can't plumb the depths of unfathomable. You can't grasp the unsearchable.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: You're not supposed to. Okay, so guess what the mystery is?
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: On purpose? Because the plan is profound. The plan is
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: designed to conform us to crist not make us comfortable,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: not give us our wish, not to help it be convenient.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go ahead and say it. Not to make
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: human sense. I'm convinced God's will is more often than
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: not humanly illogical. There, got it said, now, Jeremiah Chapter one,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Turn there. This is a great place to start. You see,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: in life we can focus on our circumstances. Don't miss
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: this our circumstances, other people, ourselves, or God. When you
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: think the a lot, you focus first. And I would
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: hope to think only on God, regardless of what people
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: say or think, regardless of the circumstances you're under, and
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: what are you doing under there anyway, circumstances you're going through,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: regardless of anything else. God and God alone is working
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: out his great plan and in the final tally it
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: will be fabulous, fabulous. My good friend Jay Kessler, who
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: unfortunately is leaving that school. He's been a part of
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Taylor University for so many years. Wonderful guy has a
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: great line. He says, I think our first response when
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: we get to heaven will be oh, is that great?
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: That's what it was all about. That's why he did
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: what he did. That's why those martyrs gave their lives,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: because thousands, multiple thousands of people came to Christ and
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: stepped into ministry that would never had even been impacted
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: had it not been for the deaths of those five people.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Wait a minute, don't make that walk
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: on all fours. If you do, you'll turn God into
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: a cruel and unfair kind.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: Of a creator from our perspective.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, he doesn't just throw people into the blind
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: winds of fate and stand back with arms folding folded, thinking, ah,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: let's see if they can make it through that. It's
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: not like that. Before the foundations of the world, he
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: designed and put together the plan that would include the
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: martyred Missionaries, the Corey ten Booms, the Dietricht bond Offers,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: and millions of other names. I could bring before you
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: that at the time did not make sense. Jeremiah, here's Jeremiah,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: verse four. I love this now. The word of the
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the womb, I knew you. Hear the breaks. What did
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you just read before I formed you in the womb?
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I knew you. You know why that's hard to grasp
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: because that never is true of any human being. You
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: never knew anyone before they were conceived. You can't. You're finite.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: You're a human being. You were limited in your ability
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: to grasp information, and we do well to learn a
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: little from history looking back. But he says, before you
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: were in the womb, I knew you. Look at this,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: you look at the next statement. Before you were born,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: I conset created you. I set you apart, Jeremiah, to
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: be my prophet before you took your first earthly breath
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: on this planet. I set you apart to be my spokesman.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: I have appointed you a prophet to the nations, Jeremiah, Jeremiah,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the Weeping Prophet. These nations are in bad shape. These
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: people are running away from God. They don't want God's will,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and the Lord puts a guy that cries a lot
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in front of them to be his prophet. You would
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: expect a you know, a crusader of first class linebacker
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: for the Chicago of Bears to lead the charge. No way,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: God uses weeping prophets in his plan. Now understand Jeremiah's
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: writing what happened? So he struggles with it. I said
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: verse six, A last Lord, God, behold, I do not
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: know how to speak because I am a youth. Sound
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: familiar Moses at the burning bush. I want you to
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: lead the exodus. Me I'm eighty. I blew it once.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: I've lost my ability to I want you to lead
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the exit. What will people think? What will here? Again? Remember,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: you can get your eyes on people, circumstances, situations, or
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: God or yourself. Who's he thinking about himself? We're born,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: We're raised to do that. We take care of ourselves.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: We watch out for number one. We're focused on on
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: how we look and what people are thinking and maybe
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: saying about us. If we have one button missing on
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: our shirt or blouse, it's all we can do to
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: exist until we can get alone and repair it. We don't.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: We are so focused on ourselves we can't get past
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: our self consciousness. He said, A last Lord, God, I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: don't know how to speak. I am a youth. Listen
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: to verse seven. The Lord said to me, do not
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: say I am a youth. That's a rather strong response.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Everywhere I send you you shall go, and all that
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: I command you you shall speak. And he also knew
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: he was afraid of people. He said, do not be
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: afraid of them. I am with you to deliver you,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: declares the Lord. The Lord stretched out his hand, touched
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: my mouth and said to me, I put my words
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: in your mouth. See. I've appointed you this day over
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the nations, the kingdoms, to pluck up and break down,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: destroy and overthrow, and build into plant. And here's Jeremiah.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: All this stuff is going by, and he's thinking, I
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: can't do it. I am inadequate. Inadequate. Eugene Peterson, in
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: his fine book Run with the Horses, addresses this scene.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: He was not qualified, he had not done well in
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the god courses in school. He hadn't been around long
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: enough to know how the world works.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Ah Lord, God, behold, I do not know how to speak.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I am only a youth. And that he adds this
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: little twist. We are practiced in pleading inadequacy in order
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: to avoid living at the best that God calls us
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: to do. His plan for us is so much greater,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: it is so beyond what you could imagine. But your inadequacy,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: you're pleading inadequacy will put the brakes on it every time.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, who am I? You know the problem? We
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: don't think theologically, we think humanly, we really do. You
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: are more concerned about what other people think than what
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: God says you are. If you really really believed the
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: promises of God, you would not have worried this past
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: week as you have worried. You would not try to
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: shoulder the load that is beyond your ability to handle.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: You would not have lied or made up an excuse
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: to cover your tracks. You to tell the truth. We
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: like we just live like that. That's the way we're
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: put together. God is shaping us into the image of
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: his son Christ, which means his discipline, his endurance, his faithfulness,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: his purity, his attitude, his whole approach to life. God's
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: goal is to make us like his son, and for
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: some of us that is a lifetime task. Let me
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: show you some things about God. Look at Romans chapter
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: eight eleven. Romans eleven. Turn there quickly. I got so
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: many more pages of notes than time allows me to preach.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: You would never believe it. So we're going to kind
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: of hit the high points and the main points. Romans
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: eleven thirty three. This is sort of a doxology before
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the end of the letter, chapters one to eight. That's
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a big section. And he ends with a great doxology
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: of thirty through thirty nine, ten and eleven. That's the
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: central section of Romans. He ends with this doxology, and
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: then thirteen through twelve through sixteen. He ends at another
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: point there. But look at this doxology in verse thirty three. Oh,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the knowledge of God. Pause and ponder that the depth
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: of God rich in depth. How unsearchable are his judgments
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: and unfathomable his ways? Force your mind for a few
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: moments to focus on those words depth, unsearchable, unfathomable. God
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: is too deep for us to understand, too profound for
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: us to explain, incomprehensible to the human mind. God's way
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: of thinking is not like ours. Isaiah writes in chapter
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: fifty five, speaking of God, my ways are high above
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts. We think in
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: this level God thinks in the level of eternity. We
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: see time in its tangible measurements. God sees all all
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: events without the limitations of time, therefore operating from that realm.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: He is about a plan that human beings who are
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: finite cannot fully grasp, and at times we resist. You
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: know why, because it doesn't make good sense to us.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: It doesn't you know what I would suggest that we do.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I would suggest we stop trying to figure out God
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and just obey him. You say, what are the practical
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: ramifications of that? I'm glad you ask. When you come
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: upon a situation that you cannot explain, don't try, because
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: when you do, you'll use human wisdom and you'll mess
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: things up. I know a family in our church that's
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: struggling right now with cancer in the life of one
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: of their family members. I don't know why. I cannot
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: explain that. I want to comfort them and put my
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: arms around them and assure them of my prayers of
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: and confidence that nothing is a mistake before God. I
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: can't describe why they would go through such a thing.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: You and I could name things, specific things that we've
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: gone through in the last several years, and they make
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: no no logical sense. We look back, try to figure
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: out how all of that. You can't figure it out.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you. God is at work doing his
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: mysterious plan, mysterious to us, which defies human logic, so
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: quit trying to make it humanly logical. Trust him, You said, well,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I was taught not to trust anything I can't understand. Well,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry that you were raised wrong, because you're supposed
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: to trust God and you'll never understand him. You understand death,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: You understand what you're going to go through. Beyond death,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: you understand how it's going to of course not you're
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: going to die. You're going to be one of those
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: who walks into heaven saying, oh, oh, that's what it
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: was about. You'll know then, but you won't know until then.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: You know how peaceful you can live if you decide
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: to live like this. Do you realize how relaxed you
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: can be, how free of stress? Honestly, he is unfathomable,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: He is unsearchable. Proverbs twenty verse twenty four. Man's steps
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: are ordained by the Lord? How then can he understand
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: his way? What a great line. How arrogant of us
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: to think we are supposed to understand who died and
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: left us in charge? Who told you you're supposed to understand?
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Remember Jesus' words, anyone who will come after me must
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: deny himself. Don't go too fast past those two words.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Deny himself. Take up his cross daily follow me. I
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: know it's not easy to deny yourself. I understand that
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: I'm as selfish as, probably more than most of you are. Selfish, impatient, shortsighted,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: a worrier, turn over things that usually never happened. Why, well,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm Type A. We see, we get around it
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: by labeling it. Well, that's a type A. Or some
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: of you, you know, some of you ladies may, oh,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: I'm high maintenance. Well that's too bad. Come we all
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: got to you know, serve up to you. I thought
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: God was in charge and heaven his way. I thought
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: he is the one who's working on us. You don't
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: want him to do that, do you? I don't either,
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Well he doing it. Look at job. That's a great
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: one to go to. Job twenty three job. Now there
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: is a study job. You know what his resume reads.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: I checked it again this morning. Blameless, upright, fearing God.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: One who turns away from evil job won one. You say, well,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: he probably wrote that, and maybe he wasn't All those
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: things God said in verse three of chapter two, blameless, upright,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: fearing God, one who turned away from evil. So that's
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: God's opinion of Job. You can't get more godly than that.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Verse eight of chapter one says no one was like
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: him on the earth. Chapter one, verse three, he was
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: the greatest of all the men of the east. There
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: is a classic godly man. You remember what happened, don't you.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: He had livestock, he had a ranch or a farm,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: He had servants, he had ten children, he had plenty
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: of money, and in a matter of hours he lost ranch, home, livestock,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: a means of making a living. All ten children, count them.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: And finally his health covered from the crown of his
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: head to the sole of his feet with boils. And
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: then these counselors came along to tell him that he
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: was really suffering the consequences of a proud life. And
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: then there's a whole dialogue back and forth. In the
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: middle of all of this dialogue. Chapter twenty three, Job,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: I think gets as close to the heart of the
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: issue that we can understand as he does in any
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: part of his book. Verse three. He is not in denial.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: He doesn't act like he is not in pain when
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: he is in pain, And so he says, Oh that
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: I knew where I might find him, that I might
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: come to his seat. I would present my case before
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: him and fill my mouth with arguments. Lord, I'm covered
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: with all these sores. I've lost all of my children.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: I've lost everything. I walked with you, I served you,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: I have faithfully presented your cause. I had prayed for
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: my children. Now that they are adults, I have done
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: all that I know to do that right. Look at me,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Look at me, and look at what was once my
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: home and my farm. It's all gone. Lord, help me.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: I would come before him, he says, I would fill
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: my mouth with arguments. Then verse five, I would learn
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the words which he would answer, and perceive what he
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: would say to me. Would he contend? Would he contend
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: with me by the greatness of his power? No, surely
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: he would pay attention to me. He wouldn't throw me
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: out of the court. He would pay attention to me.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: He'd be like a compassionate judge sitting on the edge
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: of his seat listening to my case. He'd be moved
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: with compassion over my situation. But I can't find him.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Verse eight. Go forward and he's not there. I go
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: backward and I cannot perceive him. Verse nine. When he
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: acts on the left, I can't behold him, and he
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: turns to the right, I cannot see him. Lord, I
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: am at a loss. Ever feel like that? You feel
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: like that at times? Cynthia and I went through a
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: struggle sometime back over a situation we were working through,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: and I said to her, on more than one occasion,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: I feel like the heavens are brass. I can't get
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: through a little later, she'd say to me, I feel
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: the same way. I just feel like we're just giving
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: words out in the room. You ever do that, Yes,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: you've done that. Admit that Job was there and he
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: said I can't find him. I look for him and
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: he's not around. If only he could, he could just
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: appear and I could reason my way through this. It
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: would help so much. And sounds like Job is getting
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: thin in his faith. Look at verse ten. But it's
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: one of my favorite sections. He knows the way that
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I take. When he has tried me, I will come
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: forth as goal.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, great insight, the will of God is a test
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: when he has tried me. The will of God is
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: not about geography. It is not about occupation. It is
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: not so much about what car you drive. It is
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: not centered so much.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: In the little, pickied details of every part of every
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: day that we worry over. It is about the big
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: picture of becoming like Christ and the test we pass
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: through to check our obedience en route. He knows the
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: way I take when he's tried me come forth as gold.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: I haven't died at his word. Look at how he
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: puts it. My foot has held fast to his path.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I've kept his way and not turned aside. I've not
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: departed from the command of his lips. I've treasured the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: mouth of the words of his mouth more than breakfast, lunch,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: and supper. Put together what God has said. I live
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: in the riches of I imbibe, I embrace, but I
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: don't understand. I don't understand why he's doing that. There's
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: a mystery here, and you know what, men and women,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: that's okay in fact, as He's planned it. I think
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: we're wasting too much time trying to come up with
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: exacting answers to explain the acts of a profound creator.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: And I think we ought to stop doing that. I
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: don't think that's how job endured all that he went through.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: He says he's unique. Who could turn him what his
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: soul desires? He does. He performs what is appointed for me,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: and there are a lot of such decrees with him.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: He's up to something in my physical condition, is there? Notwithstanding,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: it's all part of the gold making. Does it make
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: the journey easy? It does? It make it simple? It
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: does not. It makes it bearable because God makes no mistakes.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't make good sense to people like us,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: because we are riveted to earth. We don't like dangling things.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: We don't even like dangling participles. We don't like dangling stories.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: You like a movie to end, right, don't you hate
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: it when the credits start? You go, wait a minute,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, wait a minute. I want to know
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: who won. I want to know how that thing came
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: out and it ends. I often think it ends because
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: a guy who wrote it didn't know how to end it,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: and so he just kind of does that at the end,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: making you think he's really bright. But a lot of
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: life just the credits rolled before you get the thing
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: figured out. You lost the child you prayed for and
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: trusted God to sustain. You lost the romance that you
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: thought was sure to lead to marriage. It ended he
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: or she walked away from you, lost a marriage that
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: you thought he had put together. I could go on
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: with this. I mean, the hospitals are full of stories
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: that are wrapped in mystery, inside an enigma we don't know,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: and it's okay. See it's the okay part that requires
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: thinking theologically. I think that's where peace comes from. I
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: think you can just leave it with God. I really do.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: That's what job does. Okay, we're gonna wrap it up
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: in Romans eight. When you're ever not really sure how
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: to finish it up. Romans eight. That works every time.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: It's wonderful. I don't know what I'd have done half
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: my life I hadn't had Romans eight. You just don't
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: know what else to say. Okay, well, I think theologically,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: let's try to put this into one, two three kind
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: of simple terms. We'll all understand. We Americans like that.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: We like, you know, you got to have something to
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: go home with. So here we go, one, two three, four,
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: let's do it. Number one. We first wait and persevere.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, when we can't figure it out, we wait
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: and we persevere. You don't run, you don't fight. You
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: wait and you persevere. You get the X ray from
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: the doctor, You wait, you persevere through it. You may
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: get sick to your stomach. You may throw up in
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: the bathroom. You may you may feel your head spin,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: you may be knocked back with the word cancer comes
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: in the report, or whatever it may be. It's there.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: You've got to deal with it. Wait, persevere, Wait. Look
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: at verse twenty five. If we hope for what we
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: that takes faith, that takes faith, Lord God, I don't
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: know how to explain it. I don't know why this happened.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: Why now? Why me? Why this? I wait for you.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: I persevere through this time because you make no mistakes
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: and you don't have to explain it to me. I'm
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: going to trust you right now. We wait, we persevere,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: We risk trusting him, not knowing how it's going to
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: come out. I'm telling you how you go through it
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: when you can't figure it out. Second, we face the
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: test head on on our knees twenty six and twenty seven.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: In the same way, the spirit also helps our weaknesses,
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: helps our weakness. We do not know how to pray
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: as we should ever been there. A hundred times we've
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: been there, But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: groanings too deep for words. What does that mean? I
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: don't know. A woman tell me after the church or
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: first church service, Well, it may mean tongues. Where in
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: the world does that come from? Out of groanings too
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: deep for words? You didn't even talking about tongues. That's
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: not about tongues. Don't jump to those kind of conclusions.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: The Spirit interprets, I guess it means the Spirit interprets
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: our groanings that are too deep for words, and he
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: takes the groans, the ook ah, a lad, the alas
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: from Jeremiah's lips, Lord God, what is this about? And
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: we groan. We groan through times like this. The Spirit
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: intercedes as we've groan on our knees. I don't know
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: why I lost my job when I did of all times,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm left to raise these four
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: children on my own without the help of a mate.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know why, Lord, I groaned before you, and
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: the Spirit intercedes for us with those those words that
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: are those terms that are too deep for words. Look
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: at verse twenty seven. It's wonderful. He who searches the
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: Isn't that great migrown gets interpreted according to the will
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: of God. So when I face the test head on
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: on my knees, that takes humility. The first takes faith.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: This takes humility. I'm willing to surrenders, surrender my child.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: I'm willing to surrender my child. I'll weep as long
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: as my grief lasts. I can't stand the thought of
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: losing one or a grandchild. I will do that, Lord,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: I will do that as I wait for you in
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: this I'm helpless to change it. I'm doing all I
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: can to to get the medical help we need. If
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: that doesn't work, I'm cast on you. And if death comes, Lord,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: it's part of your plan. Okay, we're getting very very
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: serious right now, and it works against our human nature
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: to release anything we clutch. Remember, but here we humbly
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: release as we face this test head on. We're going
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: to learn in the process what He's doing. Look at
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: verse twenty eight. Now we rest in our sovereign God
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: and his plan. Verse twenty eight. I tell myself sometimes
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: out loud, this is for my good and for God's glory,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: even though I can't explain it. I was driving in
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: my car several weeks ago when our grandson was so sick,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: and I remember driving home having visited the hospital, and
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: he was laying there on that little tiny crib or
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: that looked like a huge crib, that little tiny, precious body,
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: kind of a gray color. And I said to Cynthia,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: I think we're gonna lose him. I could hardly get
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: the words out of my mouth, and I remember just saying,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: without even closing my eyes, I said, Lord, I've rested you.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: You know what's best. You know the reason for this.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: You know we want that little boy, but he's yours,
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: He was yours before he was ever ours. We rest
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: in our sovereign God. We know that God causes all things.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Look at all things that's included in it. Your situation. Now,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: if you think theologically, you won't, you won't put a
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: border around all things. You let it be all things.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: You're loss, you're gain, your prosperity, your bankruptcy, the accident,
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: the fall, the disease, the losses, whatever, all things were
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: work together for good to those who love God, to
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: those who are called according to His purpose. So we
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: rest in our sovereign God. We rest in his plan,
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: which is full of surprises. And fourth, we remember we're
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: being conformed to the image of Christ. We're not getting
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: our own way. God's will is all about God and
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: not about us. We remember we're being conformed to the
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: image of Christ twenty nine, whom he foreknew he predestined
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: to become conformed to the image of his son. This
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: kind of thinking takes faith, It takes humility, it takes flexibility,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: and it takes sensitivity. Do I need to give that again?
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: It takes faith, it takes humility, it takes flexibility, it
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: takes sensitivity. Stubborn wills will never get this. Your will's
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: got to be Christ got to be broken, shaped, twisted, changed,
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: so that you wind up saying it's your plan that's important, Lord,
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: not my wish. I didn't bring myself into this earth
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: and I can't take myself into heaven. What's wrong with that?
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: That's great theology. I suggest that you make it a
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: gold for your life to learn to think theologically. You
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: have a lot less struggles, a lot less arguments, at
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: least with others, You'll still have arguments with God. And
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: that's okay. Great thing about arguing with God. He never
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: tells anybody. Isn't that great? He doesn't talk about you
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: behind your back. He can handle it. I have a
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: dear friend who's now passed into glory, but he was
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: a classmate of mine at Dallas Seminary. He and his
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: wife had this wonderful little boy first born, and after
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: they finished the seminary, they moved to southern California, where
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: he was going to work on his doctorate, and he
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: earned his doctorate USC. While there, they had another child,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: and yet another two girls followed the little boy. And
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: one day this little boy stumbled into a neighbor's pool
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: and drowned. They lost that little boy, the doorable little boy.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: And my friend told me that his grief knew no bounds.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: This fine man of God, said. He got into his
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: car and he drove the freeways of Los Angeles into
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: the early morning hours, just screaming out.
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: To God about his loss of his boy and all
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: the dreams and hopes and wishes and desires he had
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: for that little boy gone.
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: Said, I pulled back almost at dawn into my driveway
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: and stopped. And the things I had said, he said
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: I would never repeat to another soul. But it dawned
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: on me when I got back home. God could handle
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: all of this, He could hear me, and he could
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: understand where it's coming from. Nay, great thinking Theologically, we've
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: had enough humanism. Okay, we've had enough human logic for
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: five more centuries. Let's just stop it. Let's practice words
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: like I don't know, I will trust, I can't explain,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: I release whatever. Because the star of the show is God.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: He is the beginning, he will be the ending, and
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: in between. By his grace, he lets us kind of
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: flit on the screen like a little gnat. That's enough
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: of you, And that's not like that, you know. But
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: the point is He's maneuvering a plan that's perfect. It'll
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: be for his glory and for our good, all of
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: our losses and heartaches, joys, sorrows, notwithstanding thinking theologically. If
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: you counsel, counsel people theologically, if you advise, advise them theologically.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: If you're going through a trial, go through it theologically, Okay, theologically, biblically,
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: this book, this is it. This is the stuff. This
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: is it, not the Quran, this book, not some mystic religion.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: This book, it'll get you through. You can do it.
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: Let's about together. I realize that you may have never
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: met Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. And some
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: of this may sound pretty goofy because you don't know Christ.
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: You've maybe encountered religion and been told to give up
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: this or stop doing that, and you'll be better in
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: God's eyes. If you're lost, you're as bad off as
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: you can possibly be, and until Christ comes into your life,
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: you'll never be any closer than bad off. It's called sin,
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: and your sin separates you from your God, and your
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: unbelief holds you at a distance. Christ died that you
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: can live. He paid a price you couldn't pay so
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: that you could know Heaven that you could never earn,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: never deserve. Just trust him today. Come to the cross,
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: Trust the Lord Jesus, Trust him, give him your life.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: Don't hold anything back. A Lord. We come at this
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: a little sideways because we're only human and we're trying
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: to uncover something that's mysterious and designed to be profound
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: and deeper than our understanding. But maybe we've gotten just
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: a corner of it, just a glimpse of it, enough
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: to find help in this journey from Earth to Heaven.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: And so I pray that as a result of what
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: we have heard regarding faith and flexibility and sensitivity and
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: these whole, all these areas that require such a trust
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: in You, that it might help us genuinely help us
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: in this journey. I pray for those especially troubled today
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: with unanswered questions, that they may be able to find
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: a sense of peace and a corner of calm having
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: heard what they've heard from your word today. It in
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: Jesus' name, everybody said Amen.
• 57:07
  Speaker 4: The preceding message, A Better Way to Look at God's
• 57:10
  Speaker 4: Will was copyrighted in nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, and
• 57:14
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty four, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 57:17
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindahl, Incorporated. All rights
• 57:22
  Speaker 4: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
• 57:26
  Speaker 4: is strictly prohibited.