Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Doing Right When You’ve Been Done Wrong │ Msg 1316 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Doing Right When You’ve Been Done Wrong │ Msg 1316 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Being misunderstood is one of the hardest grievances we ever
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: have to bear.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you absolutely did.
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  Speaker 1: The right thing, and God knows you did the right thing,
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  Speaker 1: but unfortunately no one has informed everybody else that you
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  Speaker 1: did the right thing, and you're forced to endure the
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  Speaker 1: sometimes harsh realities of being totally misunderstood, misjudged, falsely accused,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes even ridiculed. There are fewer hurts deeper than the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: hurt of being misunderstood.
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  Speaker 2: Yet Jesus said.
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  Speaker 1: That being harshly treated by the world is par for
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  Speaker 1: the course. Well, that's sort of a swindall paraphrase. The
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  Speaker 1: question is this, how should we Christians respond to such injustices.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Today in our series, I'm calling hands on Christianity, we
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  Speaker 1: want to look at a passage of scripture that talks
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  Speaker 1: about this very thing. Hopefully what we learn will empower
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  Speaker 1: us to do the right thing when someone else has
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  Speaker 1: wronged us. Turn with me, please to James five and
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  Speaker 1: listen closely. I'll read the passage to you from the
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  Speaker 1: New American Standard version of the Bible, starting at James five,
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  Speaker 1: verse seven. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of
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  Speaker 1: the soil, being patient about it until it gets the
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  Speaker 1: early and late reigns. You too, be patient, strengthen your hearts,
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  Speaker 1: for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain,
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  Speaker 1: brethren against one another, so that you yourselves may not
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  Speaker 1: be judged. The judge is standing right at the door.
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  Speaker 1: As an example, brethren of suffering and patience. Take the
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  Speaker 1: prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We
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  Speaker 1: count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the
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  Speaker 1: endurance of job, and have seen the outcome of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's dealings. That the Lord is full of compassion and
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  Speaker 1: is merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear
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  Speaker 1: either by heaven or by earth, or with any other oath.
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  Speaker 1: But your yes is to be yes, and you're no no,
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  Speaker 1: so that you may not fall under judgment.
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  Speaker 2: The most natural reaction in the world is to do
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  Speaker 2: unto others as they have done unto us, preferably worse
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  Speaker 2: than they have done unto us. There's a word for
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  Speaker 2: that in our language. In fact, there are several. One
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  Speaker 2: is revenge. Another one is retaliation, returning evil for evil,
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  Speaker 2: getting back. Sometime it is in the passive form of
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  Speaker 2: holding a grudge or feeling resentment toward another person. Men
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  Speaker 2: of literature have not overlooked this natural tendency in man. Nietzschee,
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  Speaker 2: the famous German philosopher, said that revenge is the greatest
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  Speaker 2: instinct in the human race. Byron called revenge sweetness. Bacon said,
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  Speaker 2: it is sort of a wild justice. So men and
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  Speaker 2: women alike have accepted the fact that we naturally want
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  Speaker 2: to get back. That is true. It takes place in
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  Speaker 2: a home between a husband and wife, between parents and children,
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  Speaker 2: and the other way around. It occurs on jobs where
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  Speaker 2: the boss and the employee would be involved in such
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  Speaker 2: a skirmish. It occurs in professions between the professional people.
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  Speaker 2: It occurs in the ministry. It occurs in a church.
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  Speaker 2: It can take place with people you've never met before.
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  Speaker 2: That happened to me a number of months. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: it's now been years ago. I was driving my car
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  Speaker 2: into a large shopping center and there was a small
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  Speaker 2: parking space which I felt was just about big enough
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  Speaker 2: for the compact car that I was driving. I was
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  Speaker 2: jockeying to find my place right in the middle, and
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  Speaker 2: I knew when I came to a stop i'd be
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  Speaker 2: faced with the dilemma of opening my door and bumping
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  Speaker 2: his car, which is constantly a bother to most people
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  Speaker 2: that want to keep their car looking half way decent,
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  Speaker 2: and for me to get my frame out of my
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  Speaker 2: little car without bumping his was a real job. My boy,
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  Speaker 2: who was then small, was with me, and he slipped
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  Speaker 2: out of his side with no problem. But I very
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  Speaker 2: gingerly pulled myself out and in the process bumped his car.
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  Speaker 2: A little bit bothered me, and I frowned and looked
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  Speaker 2: down and wiped off the side of his car to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that it was okay. There wasn't a mark
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  Speaker 2: on it. And when I came up from that maneuver,
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  Speaker 2: he was sitting inside his car and he wasn't smiling,
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  Speaker 2: and I smiled and I said, I'm sorry, but there's
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  Speaker 2: no damage. He still wasn't smiling. So I closed the
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  Speaker 2: door and I walked over to go inside this store,
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  Speaker 2: which happened to be a large grocery store with a
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  Speaker 2: big plate glass front, and something told me to turn
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  Speaker 2: around and look. Something was going to happen to my
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  Speaker 2: cars the world. When I turned around, he was already
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  Speaker 2: going around his car and he opened the back door
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  Speaker 2: of his car and he went smash smash into my fender.
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly the way I felt at that moment. My
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  Speaker 2: first reaction was to separate his head from his body.
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  Speaker 2: That was my first reaction. But I thought, man, what
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  Speaker 2: a scandal this would create. Pastor kills man in parking lot.
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  Speaker 2: And he was bigger than I was, and I thought,
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  Speaker 2: how much worse man kills pastor in parking lot? So
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  Speaker 2: I didn't do anything. My little boy had his hand
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  Speaker 2: in mind, and I thought boy would just foul everything
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  Speaker 2: up if he saw his daddy out there get smeared
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  Speaker 2: all over the parking lot. So I didn't do anything.
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  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I did do something, lied
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  Speaker 2: the rare virtue in my life of patience and walked away.
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  Speaker 2: But you know what, that is a pleasant memory and
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  Speaker 2: a rare one in my mind right now as I
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  Speaker 2: think back on that day that I walked away from
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  Speaker 2: what could have been an ugly scene, I'm grateful that
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  Speaker 2: I did. This can happen when you drive. You've seen
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  Speaker 2: people pass other people and it aggravates that person that
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  Speaker 2: was passed, and so he can't stand it if he
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  Speaker 2: has to go eighty miles an hour he will pass
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  Speaker 2: that other person and cut in front of him. I've
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  Speaker 2: seen people get out of the car and fight right
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  Speaker 2: on the street. I saw a fight on the side
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  Speaker 2: of the sant Ana Freeway not long ago, going on
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  Speaker 2: while people were driving by, and I thought, probably that's
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  Speaker 2: how it started. We naturally fight back. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: godd has a better idea. But it's not natural, it's supernatural.
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  Speaker 2: Peter tells us what it is, and James tells us
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  Speaker 2: how to do it. So let's look first at Peter.
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  Speaker 2: Peter's counsel is found in the second chapter of his
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  Speaker 2: first Letter, beginning in verse eighteen, as we deal with
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  Speaker 2: how to do right when we've been done wrong. Believe
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  Speaker 2: it or not, the Bible talks about that very perplexing
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  Speaker 2: problem first. Peter to eighteen, Servants, be submissive to your
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  Speaker 2: masters with all respect, not only to those who were
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  Speaker 2: good and gentle. And I might add, anybody can be
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  Speaker 2: submissive to a boss that's good and gentle. Any woman
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  Speaker 2: can be submissive to a man who is gracious and
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  Speaker 2: thoughtful and forgiving and easy to get along with great virtue.
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  Speaker 2: That's natural. But Peter's not talking about doing what is natural.
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  Speaker 2: He's talking about doing something that's supernatural. So he goes on,
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  Speaker 2: not only do those that are good and gentle, but
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  Speaker 2: also to those who are unreasonable. The amplified Bible goes further, overbearing, unjust, crooked.
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  Speaker 2: Did you hear that overbearing, unjust and crooked, be submissive
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  Speaker 2: verse nineteen. For this fine's favor if for the sake
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  Speaker 2: of conscience toward God, there's the secret conscience toward God.
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  Speaker 2: A man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. What
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  Speaker 2: credit is there if when you sin and are harshly
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  Speaker 2: treated you endure it with patience. There's no big deal.
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  Speaker 2: When you break the law and an officer stops you
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  Speaker 2: and gives you a citation and you patiently endure it
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  Speaker 2: and then pay it. You're not gonna make the headlines.
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  Speaker 2: You deserve it. You should be punished, and you were
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  Speaker 2: justly punished, and you endure it because you deserve it.
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  Speaker 2: But where the rubber meets the road, Verse twenty goes on,
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  Speaker 2: if when you do what is right and suffer for it, Ah,
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  Speaker 2: Shakespeare would add, that's the rub Yeah, that's what's tough.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, Peter says this finds favor with God when
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  Speaker 2: you endure it patiently. I want you to look at
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  Speaker 2: a phrase that is repeated, look carefully. Verse nineteen begins
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  Speaker 2: with it, Verse twenty he ends with it. It's like
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  Speaker 2: a parenthesis. Verse nineteen begins, This finds favor. Verse twenty
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  Speaker 2: ends This finds favor with God. You know what the
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  Speaker 2: word favor means. Literally, the word favor here is an
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  Speaker 2: action that is beyond the ordinary human response and is
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  Speaker 2: therefore commendable. That's what it means. Not when you do
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  Speaker 2: what is ordinary, but when you do what is beyond
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  Speaker 2: the ordinary. I would call that supernatural. That is what
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  Speaker 2: causes God to say, Great, that finds favor in my heart.
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  Speaker 2: I'm pleased with that. As a matter of fact, I'd
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  Speaker 2: like to be bold enough to say, God responds, I
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  Speaker 2: am impressed because he witnesses with his all seeing eye,
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  Speaker 2: the controlling power of his Holy Spirit in the tools
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  Speaker 2: of this life, when we are irritated, when we are irked,
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  Speaker 2: when we are treated unjustly, and he sees his child
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  Speaker 2: bloom like a rose. Oh, that finds favor. Now, before
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  Speaker 2: we turn to James, I want to say one word.
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  Speaker 2: Here are a few words in one sentence. I am
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  Speaker 2: not talking to your wife, your husband, your boss, your employee,
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  Speaker 2: your parent, your child, your neighbor. Are that person you
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  Speaker 2: can't stand that's in church this morning talking to you.
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  Speaker 2: God is addressing you and me in this passage, and
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  Speaker 2: it has to do with doing right when we have
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  Speaker 2: been done wrong. Peter tells us what is expected. James
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  Speaker 2: tells us how to put it into operation. So let's
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  Speaker 2: go back the book just before first Peter, if you're
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  Speaker 2: not familiar with your Bible, is the book where we
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  Speaker 2: are now chapter five. Working our way through this book,
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  Speaker 2: we've come to verse seven, and we'll go down through
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  Speaker 2: verse twelve this morning. Tonight we'll pick up at verse thirteen,
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  Speaker 2: and we'll go through verse sixteen in the matter of
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  Speaker 2: sickness and suffering and healing as it relates to God's
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  Speaker 2: method of that. To begin with, let me point out,
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  Speaker 2: for the sake of orientation, for general observations about the passage,
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  Speaker 2: which I think are significant enough for us to hang
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  Speaker 2: our hats on them. To start with, first, the passage
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  Speaker 2: is addressed to the believer four times. You will find
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  Speaker 2: the word brethren in these six verses verse seven, verse nine,
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  Speaker 2: verse ten, verse twelve. I have them circled in my Bible.
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  Speaker 2: It's almost as though James overworks the words, so you'll
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  Speaker 2: know he's not talking to the unregenerate. The man without Christ,
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  Speaker 2: therefore without the Holy Spirit, is living under frustration, trying
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  Speaker 2: to control his fuse, and it's designed that way. The
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  Speaker 2: misery of impatience and sin frequently draws a person like
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  Speaker 2: a magnet to the claims of Jesus Christ. So it's
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  Speaker 2: addressed to the believer, the one who can be filled
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  Speaker 2: by the Holy Spirit and perform in this fashion. The
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  Speaker 2: second observation is that these verses are directly related to
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  Speaker 2: the previous six verses. The previous six verses have talked
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  Speaker 2: to those that are plutocrats, the rich, who use their
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  Speaker 2: means to twist the courts and to maneuver lawyers like pawns,
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  Speaker 2: so that the just believer was given an unjust treatment.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, verse six, he tells it like it is.
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  Speaker 2: He speaks to the rich, and he says, you have condemned,
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  Speaker 2: you have put to death the righteous one, and they
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  Speaker 2: don't resist you. Now, he says in verse seven, Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: having said what I've got to say to the rich,
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  Speaker 2: I want to talk to those that have been condemned,
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  Speaker 2: those that have been treated unjustly. So it's in a
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  Speaker 2: context of contrast. Let me point out a third factor
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  Speaker 2: that I think is really the structure of it, and
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  Speaker 2: that is there are four commands in these six verses.
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  Speaker 2: These four commands make up the advice that James is
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  Speaker 2: laying on us. The first two are positive and the
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  Speaker 2: last two are negative. The first two are given in attense,
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  Speaker 2: that is right, now let it take. The last two,
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  Speaker 2: being negative, are saying don't start that habit or stop
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  Speaker 2: this that you have started doing habitually. And then there
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  Speaker 2: is a fourth observation, and that is woven into these
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  Speaker 2: verses and commands are four vivid illustrations. James is, perhaps
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  Speaker 2: more than any other writer, the most vivid of illustrators.
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  Speaker 2: He opens the shades and the windows of letting light
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  Speaker 2: come in and invade our understanding. So we should have
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  Speaker 2: no reason for missing James's message. Now, remember the question
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  Speaker 2: to be answered is how should I react correctly when
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  Speaker 2: I have been treated incorrectly? Okay? The advice James gives
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  Speaker 2: comes in four packages. First, be patient verse seven, and
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  Speaker 2: the first statement in verse eight. May I read these
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  Speaker 2: verses for you be patient? Therefore, brethren, until the coming
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  Speaker 2: of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious
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  Speaker 2: produce of the soil. That's the illustration. He's patient about
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  Speaker 2: it until it gets the early and late rains. You too,
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  Speaker 2: be patient, is like the farmer. All right, Let's look
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  Speaker 2: first at the term that is translated patient, and then
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  Speaker 2: let's look at the tents, because they relate. The term
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  Speaker 2: comes from a combination of two New Testament Greek words.
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  Speaker 2: The first one means far or distant, or long. The
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  Speaker 2: other term is thumas we get our word thermometer from it.
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  Speaker 2: It means passion or heat, or rage or anger. Long tempered.
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  Speaker 2: That's the thought. The colloquial term of our day is
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  Speaker 2: short tempered. James says, when something unjust takes place, have
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  Speaker 2: a long fuse. Don't blow up like Mount Vassivius. Let
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  Speaker 2: it lie, let it be be patient. I'm impressed with
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  Speaker 2: this particular word because of two things. First, it is
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  Speaker 2: the very first description of real love one Corinthians thirteen four.
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  Speaker 2: Love what suffers long. Remember that love is patient. Love
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  Speaker 2: has a long fuse. Isn't it remarkable how much more
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  Speaker 2: patience you have with those that you love than those
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  Speaker 2: that you don't It's amazing, isn't it. Parents mothers can
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  Speaker 2: work with little children, and another mother watches and says,
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  Speaker 2: how can she possibly deal so patiently with that creature?
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  Speaker 2: And the young mother that has love for this creature
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  Speaker 2: is just pouring over all kinds of attention because there's
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  Speaker 2: love there. The next reason I'm impressed is because you
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  Speaker 2: cannot learn without patience. There is no such thing as
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  Speaker 2: an impatient learner. You're not a learner. You're grabbing facts
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  Speaker 2: here and there. But those that are real students of
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  Speaker 2: the word are patient over the word. Those that are
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  Speaker 2: real students in the realm of their studies are patient
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  Speaker 2: and poor time and effort to the point of sacrifice
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  Speaker 2: just to glean those gems from that subject that area.
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  Speaker 2: Researchers are notoriously patient, careful people that pour over the
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  Speaker 2: subject at hand. The Greeks had a motto, the first
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  Speaker 2: necessity of learning is patience. You will never learned the
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  Speaker 2: lessons God has for you in that unjust irritation. Without patience,
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  Speaker 2: never will you can mark it down. Now the illustration behold,
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  Speaker 2: the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil,
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  Speaker 2: being patient about it until he gets the early and
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  Speaker 2: later or late rains. Now, we have never farmed in Israel.
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  Speaker 2: Most of us have never farmed, so we can't even
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  Speaker 2: imagine what it would be like to be a farmer
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  Speaker 2: in that land of Palestine. Over there, the soil is
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  Speaker 2: rocky and dry, crusty, and the farmer that plants plants
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  Speaker 2: with that constant reminder, I've got to be patient. He
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  Speaker 2: drops his seed in the soil, and then comes the
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  Speaker 2: early rain about October November, and it softens the soil
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  Speaker 2: and it causes that sea to die and then to
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  Speaker 2: pop up with a new green shoot. He waits for that,
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  Speaker 2: but oh, the weight really takes place right on through
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  Speaker 2: the winter what we would call the winter months, until
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  Speaker 2: April and May, when the late rain comes and that
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  Speaker 2: shoot is already up and the grain swells and the
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  Speaker 2: corn fills with taste and flavor. It just seems to
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  Speaker 2: burst out of the stalk. The late rains provide that
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  Speaker 2: finishing touch from God. No farmer races up and down
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  Speaker 2: the furze that he's plowed and bites his nails, you know,
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  Speaker 2: pleading where is the rain? He just patiently plants it
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  Speaker 2: and leaves it. Heard the most interesting account not long
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  Speaker 2: ago of a man who had his daughter with him
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  Speaker 2: in the woods. They were walking together and they came
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  Speaker 2: upon a cocoon. We don't see those much in our
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  Speaker 2: sidewalk jungle, but they do exist. And he looked at
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  Speaker 2: this little cocoon and it was a little creature inside
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  Speaker 2: of it was working like crazy to get outside. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, he had spent enough time in his little
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  Speaker 2: sack to know that it was nature was saying, look,
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  Speaker 2: take your flight. So he began to work his way
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  Speaker 2: and he was struggling, and this fellow with his daughter
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  Speaker 2: stared at it, and he said, tell you what, let's do.
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  Speaker 2: Let's help him out. And so he reached up with
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  Speaker 2: his big fingers and thumbs and he pulled that cocoon
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  Speaker 2: apart and split it open, and that little creature died.
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  Speaker 2: Because you can't hurry God's plan. That's why James says
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  Speaker 2: the coming of the Lord. That's why he mentions in
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  Speaker 2: verse seven, until he comes, It doesn't mean only the
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  Speaker 2: second coming. It means that, but it means until he
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  Speaker 2: makes his appearance on the scene. We want to hurt
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  Speaker 2: God's appearance. In fact, we want to help him out.
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  Speaker 2: So we split the cocoons and the result is a corpse,
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  Speaker 2: are at best a crippled situation. You ever hurried into
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  Speaker 2: a situation, Well, it's not an adult here this day
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  Speaker 2: that hasn't hurried into the situation and done the wrong thing,
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  Speaker 2: and you've lived to regret him. The very worst thing
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  Speaker 2: I could have done, but that fellow in the parking
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  Speaker 2: lot was to take him on. It's not God's plan.
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  Speaker 2: God's marvelous arrangement leaves room for his appearance. You two
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  Speaker 2: be patient. Verse eight begins, just like the farmer, Sometime
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  Speaker 2: it is a long wait. I was at the Rose
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  Speaker 2: Bowl game. What a mind boggler that game was. If
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  Speaker 2: you're a sports fan that you don't need to be
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  Speaker 2: told what it was all about. But it just so
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  Speaker 2: happened that in one hundred and six plus thousand people,
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  Speaker 2: God saw fit to put me sitting in front of
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  Speaker 2: the woman with the loudest mouth in the world. She
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  Speaker 2: yelled all the time, She yelled at the halftime, she
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  Speaker 2: yelled at the timeouts. The worst of all, she was
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  Speaker 2: from Ohio State, right back, whole row of the big
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  Speaker 2: old jersey, yelling yell it all the way through. She
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: didn't know the first thing about football, it seemed she
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: had such things as guard your territory. She said it
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: a million times, guard your goal. And I thought, as
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I was sitting there, we had a program, and I thought,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: you know, if I were to roll up the program,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: that's just about the right put it right in her mouth.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: But sure, as a role that would have become a
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: megaphone right in her mouth. I couldn't do that. So
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: you know what, I'm honest with you. I said to myself,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: we're gonna We're gonna wait this thing out. And boy,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: it was a long wait all afternoon. I realized that
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: the very best way to silence her was to win
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: the game. But if you watched that thing, you man,
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: it was obvious that sc was gonna go down the
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: tube until the last seconds, right. Oh, Hayden dropped that
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: beautiful pass on McCain. He caught in the end zone.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: He was silent behind us, all the stands were going well,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: and then when he put that two pointer on him,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Oh wow. You know, I wanted to turn around. Oh
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: that's my chance, and I thought, this is it, But
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't. Oh why didn't I? Because the lesson was learned.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: You see, that's God's plan. We want to ram the
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: program down their mouth. We want to take them by
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: the throat. We want to work out all kinds of
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: deals to make it hard on them. We want to
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: rub their nose in it. When it's all over, God says, look, man,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: let me handle that. There's one thing God specializes in
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: that I cannot handle it all. You know what it is,
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: impossible situations. And he surrounds us with him and then
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: he says, sit down and wait. So like the farmer,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: be patient. There's another one. And I think it's so
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: neat how James ties it together. When you are patient
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: and when you don't react, you know what, the next
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: tendency in the flesh is to be discouraged. If you're
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: not a fighter, then you often have feelings of self pity.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: You ever have those feelings? Well, no, what's got it
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: as bed as I've got it? You know that kind
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: of a feeling. You enter the new year with that.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Oh man, it's gonna be treacherous, But I'm waiting on God.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: You know how you'll make it sound right around the
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Christian friends, you know, James says, verse A, strengthen your hearts.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Here's where he opens all the stops. He plays at
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: full volume, because he hits us right where we are weak.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: The word strengthen is a Greek word that means to
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: prop up something or to support something that's heavy. Your
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: heart is heavy. Oh, there's no reason to feel down cast.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Let the Lord support you in this situation. You give
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: yourself totally to God. Let him have that situation. Oh
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: can he handle it? Psalm fifty five twenty two. Cast
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: thy burden upon the Lord. He will sustain you. He
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: will never suffer the righteous to be moved. First Peter
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: five says, casting all your care on him. That's supporting yourself. Support, strengthen,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: prop up your hearts for the coming of the Lord
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: is at hand. And once again I suggest a practical
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: idea of that, not waiting until the rapture, but waiting
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: is practically speaking, until he comes on the scene. Don't
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: rush in. Let him come on the scene, let him
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: take it, Let him come to your rescue and your defense. Now,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: I'm going to give you a simple idea that I employ,
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: and it is not natural with me. Frankly, I did
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: discover it, but it is not of my own making
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: and my own flesh. I call it the fifty twenty principle.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I'm honest, it comes to my mind when a situation
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: comes that I cannot handle and it is completely unjust.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Lorn Sanny of the Navigators has said, the greatest birth
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: the Christian must bear is the burden of being misunderstood.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: If you've lived with it, you know that's true. It'll
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: make you groan an ache like nothing else. Okay. The
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: fifty twenty principle is based on Genesis fifty twenty before
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: you turn, or if you just want to mark it
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: down and look at it later. It's based on the
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: life of Joseph, where his brothers had sold him down
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: the river, forgotten him, lied to his dead and said,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Joseph's dead. Here's the garment. Look at the blood, and
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: Jacob as it were. It buried the boy in his mind.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: And Joseph went on, as you know the great story.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: God gave him, through the experience in the prison, a
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: heart for him, and then promoted him to the prime
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: ministership of all of Egypt. And then his brothers came
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: back begging for food. Oh what a chance to get back.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: But did he do it? No, it says he wept
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: in their presence, and when they really got it all out,
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: on the table. He said, you know, Fellas, you meant
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: it unto me for evil, but God meant it unto
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: me for good. That's fifty twenty of genesis. Someone may
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: mean it unto you for evil, but let me say,
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: unless you can see beyond that someone you're gonna retaliate,
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: God means it unto you for good. God is using
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: that person as a tool on your frame to shape
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: you and to form you, and to make you, and
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: to build you into a person you would never otherwise become.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: You know, there are artists on this earth that have
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: tangible evidences of the work of their hands, canvas, watercolor,
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: pieces of stone that are beautifully carved clay work. You
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: know God's handiwork. You You are the handiwork of God.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: As you walk around this earth and live and have
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: your being, and raise your children, or live a life
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: of a single adult, whatever may be your calling your career,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: you are constantly the trophy of God's handiwork. Put fifty
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: twenty into operation. We don't need twenty twenty vision. We
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: need fifty twenty. Where we turn and say Lord, I'm
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: going to be supported in you. I won't take the
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: time to turn. But if you want to market down
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: and read it later, do so. Tewod Samuel, sixteen five
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: through fourteen. One of my favorite stories in all the
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Old Testaments. Tewod Samuel, sixteen five through fourteen. It's the
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: story of SHEMII. Shemi I was a dingling. He stayed
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: on the hill outside the temple, outside the court of David,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: and David walked out a beaten man. His boy had rebelled,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: had overthrown him, and David, in all the misery and
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: pain of that experience, was walking down the path, and
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: that shimmy eye up on the hill was throwing stones
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: at him. He was cursing him. Man. Oh. David was
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: surrounded by all of his buddies, and his buddy said,
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: you want us to finish off Shemmy I. Let's take
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: him on. David said, no, God knows what he's doing.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Let him shout, let him go on. God is at work. Oh.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: You'd ask any individual today in the flesh what they
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: would do. You'd be up that hill in ten seconds.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Cut his throat so fast he wouldn't know it till
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: he sneezed. Finish him off. But that's the natural reaction,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: David says, oh man, don't look up there, look up there.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: Fifty twenty. I'm going to support my heart in God,
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to say, Lord, it isn't fair. But
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: I am not going to build a deep seated resentment.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: That's verse nine. Look at it. Verse nine. Do not complain, boy,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: James is so practical. When you don't fight, you're patient,
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: when you don't feel discouraged and submerge in self pity.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: Then the next tendency is to hold a grudge. You know,
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: you haven't fought, you've been patient, you've you've supported yourself
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: in the Lord. But in your weak moments you begin
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: to entertain feelings of how can I get back, or
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: those feelings when something bad happens to the object of
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: your concern. There's sort of a I'm so happy that happened.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Maybe he'll learn. But James says in verse nine, don't complain.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: The word means to sigh or to groan, and the
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: focus of verse nine has to do with groaning or
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: complaining against someone else. Idea of bearing a grudge. Why
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: you do that, you will become the object of judgment,
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: and your judge lives at the door. The illustration on
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: the other hand is Verse ten, the prophets who stood fast.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: You know what a trick of the flesh. The most
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: creative thing in our body is the flesh. It never
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: runs out of ideas on how to get back. Most
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: creative force in the world. It happens whenever you are wronged. Wow,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: you can think of a dozen options in a moment
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: of time radio station. As a newsman, I read about
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: who released an actual story of a man who was
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: divorced by his wife, and he resented her so much
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: that when he paid alimony for the children for her,
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: he sent it in Nichols. Every time the alimony payment
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: was made, one hundred and six steve pounds of Nichols
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: landed at her door. Go ahead and laugh. That's all right,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: you can laugh about that. You know why, because down
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: deep inside he was frustrated. He had a grudge, so
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: he mailed or he sent the package Nichols regularly, Yes,
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: driving it down her throat. Our Christians can do that
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: in the most subtle ways. Time won't allow me to
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: develop it. But if you've been the front of it,
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: you know what I mean. It can come in the
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: form of a prayer chain. It can come in the
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: form of prayer meetings. It can come in letters, in
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: the windows, sermons books. Oh James says, consider the Prophets.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: Look at verse ten as an example of suffering and patience.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: Make a study of the Prophets. Don't blame your troubles
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: on someone else. Take a look at the prophets. Pick
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: anyone you like, and you read their autobiography. They will
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: tell you that they were spokesmen for God, and they
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: did not fail to speak for God, even if it
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: meant death, and in some cases it did. The writer
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: to the Hebrews says, what shall I say more? The
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: and of Samson, and of Jephthah, and David and Samuel,
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms and wrought righteousness,
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: and worked promises, and stopped the mouths of lions. They
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: waxed valiant in fight and turned to flight. The armies
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: of the Aliens. Women received their dead race to life again.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Some of them were tormented and tortured, not accepting deliverance
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: of whom the world was not worthy. This old, sin cursed, unregenerate,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: godless planet is not worthy of a few rare souls
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: that say I'm not going to fight back, and therefore
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: the world drops its mouth and stares in disbelief. I
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: cannot believe it. You want to have an opportunity to
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: witness you carve it out every time you respond graciously
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: to an ungracious act. It's the old story of the
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: fellow in the barracks. He was praying one night and
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: his drunken friend came in, and he slung his boots
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: across the barracks and hit his fellow right in the back.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: The next morning, the boots were at this other man's bunk,
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: completely shined. James says, don't be angry, patient, don't be discouraged,
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: support yourself in the Lord. Don't look for someone to blame. Instead,
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: look up and Fourth, he says, in verse twelve, don't
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: swear Verse twelve. Above all, my brethren, do not swear.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: And you would expect me to say that means profanity
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: in a broad sense, it would. The Greek word means
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: to grasp something firmly, and more often in the New
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Testament it means to grasp something sacred firmly for the
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: purpose of supporting what you're saying or what you're doing.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Get the idea. It's the idea of calling God into
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: the scene and presenting him to give validity to what
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: you're doing. That's the thought. It's as if a person
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: were to say, I swear by God what I'm saying
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: is right, or before God, that's the truth. That's what happens.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: It's what a person is supposed to do. Who lifts
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: his hand in the court and says I swear to
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: tell the truth, he is invoking a sacred presence upon
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: his statement. Now James goes on to say, either by
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: Heaven or by Earth, or with any other oath, no,
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: let your yes be yes, let your no be null,
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: and then he closes, so that you may not fall
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: under judgment. Now I've wrestled with this. That's been the
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: most difficult of the four to understand what it is saying.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: I come to the realization, at least for my own satisfaction,
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: that while it may include profanity, and that while it
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: may mean not to say, not to grasp onto God
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: and use him in vain, in some way I think
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: it's saying, don't appear super spiritual, don't turn the scene
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: into a bragomony, don't try to fill the present moment
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: of suffering with all of the super spiritual explanations. Just
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: let your yes be yes, your no be no, and
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: be very simple. Why do I say that because of
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: verse eleven, which I think tie together eleven and twelve.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: Look at the middle of the verse. You have heard
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: of the endurance of job. You have seen the outcome
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: of the Lord's dealings. There's the secret that the Lord
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: is full of compassion and is merciful. Insight comes at
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: the outcome. Put that down. Insight does not come now,
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: it comes later. Seldom will a person have insight into
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: his present. It is often at the end of the experience.
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: He looks back, she looks back, and you say, this
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: is why that happened. So in the midst of the suffering,
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: don't brag about it. Don't talk about how God is
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: this and God is that, and how you're learning this
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: and learning that. Be very quiet in the suffering. Let
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: your yes be yes, let your no be no. And
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: then at the outcome, when God gives you insight in
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: the future, there's the time to share it. Don't talk
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: all the time. Now, let me wrap it up in
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: a simple package for application. And I want to share
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: four very quickly. First, all of these. When unjust situations
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: come upon you, you're the target. First of all, don't
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: focus on the situation or you'll be angry. Be patient,
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: admit that it is a wrong. Don't fight. That's first. Second,
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: don't focus on yourself or you'll be filled with self pity.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: James says, stay objective, support your heart, prop it up
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: like David with Schimi. I remember fifty twenty. There's your principle. Lord,
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: I see this person not as an enemy, but as
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: a tool. I see the situation as the machinery you're
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: using in my life. Thank you for making me the
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: object of your handiwork and make it quick, Lord, get
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: it over quick. Third, don't focus on someone to blame
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: or you'll complain. Four, don't focus on the present. Look
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: to the future for the insight. Now, I have no great,
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: massive conclusion that will tie a beautiful ribbon around this message.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I just want to share
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: something in all honesty. As I close the message, I
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: have never seen it fail that when a passage as
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: practical as this is presented into our ears the very
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: next week or the very next several days, God brings
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: you to a place where you can use it. I
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: can't explain why. I can't even explain how God does it,
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: but it is almost to the point of my saying, invariably,
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: when situations come on a Sunday and a passage as
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: practical as this, for us to give attention to it,
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: he has a built in plan for us to use it.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: God may have arranged a particular package that is about
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: to be opened. It may be a summons to a court,
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: and you don't deserve it. It may be a word
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: of rebuke from an employer who lowers you with this
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: information and you don't deserve it. It may be a
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: neighbor who has lived with it long enough and under
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: a series of misunderstandings, he takes you up on it
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: and he calls your hand as it were, and you
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: don't deserve it. It may be a mate who, at
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: this particular time finally says look and she or he
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: has her eyes or his eyes only on himself, and
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: lowers you with a real slam to the mat. I
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: don't know what God may have, but you've heard the information,
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: and may God really help you remember it. Be patient,
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: prop up your heart, your spirit, don't hold a grudge.
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: Don't plan and scheme a subtle way to get back.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: Don't prance around with your thumbs under your suspenders telling
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: how great you're doing in it. Be very quiet, trust God,
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: ask him for the insight to go through it. You know,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: if you've never met the Lord Jesus Christ, I have
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: some practical information for you. Christ didn't only die to
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: take care of eternity. He died so that he could
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: change your life in time as well as give you
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: heaven as a reward. His death was a sufficient payment
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: for sin, so that now having him in your life,
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: you can handle the sin factor for the first time
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: in your life. You can know a control you've never known.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: You can know a dimension and a definition in life
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: you've never entered into. And he stands and he waits
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: for you to say to him, Lord Jesus, I want
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: you now in my life. Please come in. I am
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: a sinner, I am lost. You're holy and powerful. I
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: need your security and I have nothing to offer except
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: my faith. Let's bow our heads together at this moment,
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: just a quiet moment. Now, there's hardly a Sunday or
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: a week that passes but that I do not hear.
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: Someone tell me personally, or write me a note, or
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: send me a letter, and say, last Sunday, sitting in
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: the pew, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. So
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: this morning it might be your turn. Perhaps you're the
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: one that ought to be saying, ah, I put this
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: off long enough. God has graciously seen you through another
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: series of twelve months, and looking back on your life,
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: you know that it was by his grace. I wonder
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: if this morning you wouldn't acknowledge His right to rule
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: in your life totally, not by force, but by a
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: willing submission of your heart. Asking Him to come into
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: your life is just as simple as acknowledging that you
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: are lost, accepting his gift of eternal life, which begins
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: right now. Believing that He died and rose again from
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: the dead for you, you receive Christ into your life.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: Our father, We acknowledge today that you know our hearts.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: The Psalmist even opened himself before you by saying, search me, O, God,
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: and know my heart, Try me and know my ways,
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  Speaker 1: and see if there be any wrong within me, and
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  Speaker 1: lead me in the way everlasting. And so today we
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  Speaker 1: pray the same prayer to you. We so desire that
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  Speaker 1: you would search deeply, down deep into our hearts to
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  Speaker 1: find any anxious ways, attitudes, and affections that dishonor you
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  Speaker 1: or block the free flow of your spirit. Open the
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  Speaker 1: hearts of those who've never known you as Savior and Lord.
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  Speaker 1: I pray that as you reveal that great need to
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  Speaker 1: those who are without Christ today, that their response will
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  Speaker 1: be to bow their hearts before you and to come
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  Speaker 1: into your family by your grace through faith in your
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  Speaker 1: son Jesus. For those of us who know the Lord Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: I pray as well that you will bring us to
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  Speaker 1: a place of patience and long suffering, a willingness to
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  Speaker 1: trust you, even when being misunderstood and maligned and mistreated
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  Speaker 1: in a world that has lost its way, How could
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  Speaker 1: we expect anything other than that. As you use our
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  Speaker 1: testimonies and present our lives as models to those who've
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  Speaker 1: never met your son, encourage us, strengthen us to remain
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  Speaker 1: steadfast in our faith, blameless in.
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  Speaker 2: Our walk with you.
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  Speaker 1: Continue, Father, to lay your favor upon us, by your
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  Speaker 1: great grace and for your greater glory. I pray these
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  Speaker 1: things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, and
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  Speaker 1: our gracious friend.
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  Speaker 2: Amen.
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  Speaker 3: The preceding message doing right when You've been done wrong
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  Speaker 3: was copyrighted in nineteen seventy five, two thousand and three,
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  Speaker 3: and twenty sixteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
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  Speaker 3: twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are
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  Speaker 3: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
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  Speaker 3: strictly prohibited