Participants: C.A. Murray
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000042
|
00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth live from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Winds Of War with C.A. Murray. 00:22 Welcome once again to the second evening of our series 00:25 entitled, the Winds Of War. 00:28 And if you watched last night, you know that Pastor C.A. Murray 00:31 threw us a curve when we thought he was going to be 00:34 talking about war in heaven. 00:35 But he actually was talking about the war that's 00:38 taking place in the human heart. 00:39 And so tonight, we invite you to invite your friends and 00:42 family members to stay tuned for this message, When War Why. 00:49 A very classy title. 00:50 One that I'm sure you have not heard before. 00:52 But I'm sure the message also will be new and unique 00:56 in the way that Pastor C.A. unfolds that message. 00:59 We have also tomorrow evening, then we have Sabbath morning, 01:02 and also Sabbath afternoon. 01:04 So don't forget we've just begun this series. 01:07 And if you're in the driving vicinity, we invite you to 01:09 come to Thompsonville at the 3ABN Worship Center, 01:12 the largest city in the world. 01:14 At least we believe so. 01:16 But before we go into the message, we invite the 01:18 Lord's presence, so bow your heads with us 01:21 as we ask for God's divine guidance. 01:24 Gracious Father in heaven, we thank You. 01:26 Last night, our hearts were warmed as we understood 01:29 that truly there is a war taking place. 01:32 Not in the Middle East, not around the world, 01:35 but truly in the hearts and lives of each of your children. 01:39 And we know there are various reasons for those wars to exist. 01:43 We have been told to examine ourselves to understand why, 01:47 what about us causes the wars to rage in our hearts. 01:51 So tonight, take us again to the foot of the cross. 01:54 We also pray a blessing on your manservant, Pastor C.A. Murray 01:58 as he breaks the bread of life. 02:00 May we not just listen to it, but may we hear what 02:04 the Spirit is saying to each of us individually. 02:07 And we thank You. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 02:11 Tonight, I welcome once again Pastor C.A. Murray. 02:22 Thank you Pastor John. And good evening. 02:26 Every time I see Pastor John standing at this desk, 02:33 I have a little sense of pride. 02:36 I remember when he was a young lad there in Brooklyn, New York. 02:39 And he's someone I love and respect greatly. 02:42 Thank you for being with us again tonight. 02:44 Our subject is, When War Why. 02:48 On tomorrow, Why War Who. Sabbath morning, When War How. 02:55 And then Sabbath afternoon, War No More. 02:59 So we thank you for being with us. 03:01 I want to say just a couple of things. 03:05 Somewhere in this message, I will repeat something 03:09 that I said on last evening. 03:11 Now I need to say that to you because, it's not because 03:14 I am lacking things to say. 03:16 In fact, I spent some time this afternoon triaging and 03:19 cutting stuff out because I knew it was a little long. 03:23 But there are one or two points that we will reiterate 03:27 because I feel they are important. 03:31 And I also feel that they are things that we, as Christians, 03:34 sometimes neglect and need to re-establish and 03:38 reaffirm in our lives. 03:39 And so there are some things that we're going to repeat 03:42 almost verbatim from last night and try to re-emphasize them, 03:48 to red flag them, because they are things that I really believe 03:52 Christians need to take a special look at. 03:54 In fact, when we get to that point, I will tell you, 03:57 "here we are," so that you don't miss that point, 04:00 and you know where we are. 04:04 We're going to go to the book of 2 Kings chapter 13 04:08 and begin reading at verse 14. 04:11 2 Kings chapter 13 and begin reading at verse 14. 04:19 I'll give you a moment to find it with me. 04:21 2 Kings chapter 13 and beginning at verse 14. 04:29 Shall we pray. 04:30 Father God, we thank You for the power in Your Word. 04:37 We thank You, Lord, that Your Word is indeed a lamp 04:41 unto our feet and a light that shines brightly on 04:46 the path before us. 04:49 And so Lord, tonight as we look again at the struggles, 04:53 the wars of Your ancient people, may we see clearly 04:59 to make application to our own lives 05:03 and the struggles that we're called to face and win in Jesus. 05:10 Teach us this night those things that You would have us to know. 05:13 And then help us, embolden us, enable us to do them. 05:17 Because surely it is in the doing that we are 05:21 made like Christ Jesus. 05:23 And we thank You. In Jesus' name, amen. 05:27 I'm in 2 Kings chapter 13 and I'll begin reading at verse 14. 05:35 The Bible says: 05:43 I'm reading from the New King James. 07:06 One of the precedence that we established on last evening 07:11 is that Satan and the Lord both use war, 07:19 but in two dramatically different ways 07:24 with two very, very different purposes 07:29 that are diametrically opposed each to the other. 07:33 They are mutually exclusive. 07:37 God uses war one way, Satan uses it another. 07:42 And so, their purposes are different. 07:46 And much has to do with our response to those wars 07:55 that's chastising of the Lord. 07:58 Our lesson today is drawn from the closing days 08:01 of the ministry of the prophet Elisha. 08:04 He was sick, the illness was protracted. 08:08 We are not told either in the Word of God nor the 08:11 spirit of prophecy what he was suffering from. 08:14 But we are given to understand that the 08:17 illness lasted a long time. 08:22 It was during this suffering that this incident takes place. 08:28 And I need to say here parenthetically, 08:30 even during this long and severe illness, 08:34 Elisha never lost his faith in God. 08:39 Never lost his trust in the Lord, never lost his 08:43 confidence in God. 08:46 So even during this illness, he is deathly sick, 08:49 he continues to minister to a fallen Israel 08:53 and to its fallen king. 08:56 Prostrated by disease, yet still on the battlefield for his Lord. 09:03 Israel is in spiritual shambles. 09:06 Ahab is no longer the king, he's not on the throne anymore. 09:11 But the legacy of evil left by Ahab and Jezebel 09:15 has done a thorough work in turning God's people 09:19 to a pernicious, malignant, aggressive idolatry. 09:24 This country is not the same post Ahab and Jezebel 09:28 as it was pre Ahab and Jezebel. 09:31 This is a different country, an idolatrous country, 09:34 a country that has turned its heart and its mind from God. 09:40 Ellen White talks about the condition 09:42 in Prophets and Kings, page 254. 09:45 She says: 10:02 In other words, God was now using the Syrians and its king, 10:08 Hazael, to chastise His own people. 10:13 God was using a heathen king to be the whip on Israel. 10:19 And I want to say here just parenthetically, 10:21 you know, we can learn from anybody. 10:25 If your heart is open and your mind is open, 10:28 you can learn from anybody. 10:30 Even those people that we sometimes look down on. 10:33 Remember I said last night Ellen White said that 10:36 because of the skin color of some of the people that were 10:38 giving information to the Northern army, it was rejected? 10:41 And it almost cost some of those soldiers their lives, 10:45 and many it did cost their lives or they were 10:47 thrown into prison because they rejected the person 10:50 because they looked down on the person. 10:52 Never look down on anybody. 10:54 Being a Christian means having enough sense 10:56 not to have to look up to anybody, but not looking 11:00 down on anybody either. 11:01 Amen? 11:02 So God was using a heathen nation to chastise 11:06 His own people. 11:08 Jehu had slain the house of Ahab. 11:13 Ahab himself had died in battle. 11:15 Jezebel was thrown out of a window and eaten by dogs. 11:19 You remember that story. 11:20 Jehoahaz, Jehu's successor, had let things slip and the 11:25 country had again regressed. 11:29 And the Syrians had taken many of the towns and some of the 11:33 cities lying just east of the capital. 11:36 You see, ladies and gentlemen, that is how God works. 11:40 He will warn you that disaster is coming. 11:44 He will try to encourage you gently to come back in line, 11:50 to turn you from error. 11:53 But if He's got to speak louder, I say again, 11:56 He will do that too. 11:57 One preacher told me, "You know, God will allow you to 12:00 break your ankle to keep you from breaking your neck." 12:04 Now he knew what he was talking about because 12:06 I have broken my ankle twice playing basketball 12:10 on the Sabbath. 12:13 mm-hmm 12:14 I had gotten a scholarship to play at Erie Community College. 12:17 Knew I shouldn't have been there. 12:19 But I had free education. 12:22 So I was playing basketball on the Sabbath. 12:24 Year one, I heard my ankle when it snapped. 12:26 Boom. 12:27 Broke. 12:29 And then one year later, almost to the day, 12:32 I broke the exact same ankle in the exact same spot. 12:36 And I heard the voice of the Lord say, "See." 12:44 Exact same ankle. 12:45 And so the pastor told me when he came 12:46 to see me in the hospital, he said, 12:50 "God let's you break your ankle. 12:54 Next time, it may be your neck." 12:58 mm-hmm 13:00 God will let you break your ankle to keep you 13:02 from breaking your neck. 13:04 Amen? 13:06 In fact, when the pastor told me that, I kind of straightened up. 13:11 Now I need to spin something here for just a moment. 13:14 I had a full basketball scholarship 13:17 at Erie Community College. 13:19 And evidently, I was good enough because I went 13:21 down to Alliance College in Pennsylvania, 13:23 and they gave me a full basketball scholarship. 13:26 But I gave up that scholarship 13:29 to go to Oakwood College and become a minister. 13:32 Now that sounds good, but that's spin. 13:35 And I'll tell you why. 13:37 I've got a newspaper here that is from February 24, 1978. 13:45 I'm going to hold this up here and maybe the guys can get it. 13:49 You're not going to be able to read it, 13:50 but you can kind of see it. 13:52 This is a newspaper that is 33 years old. 13:54 It is the New York Post. 13:58 It says, "Brooklyn tackles Hunter at CUNY." 14:02 This is Brooklyn College playing Hunter College. 14:06 And the reason this made the newspaper is not because 14:08 Brooklyn College is playing Hunter College 14:10 for the championship. 14:12 It's because a friend of mine... 14:14 And you know him too, Pastor Lomacang. 14:16 Arturo Belisle. 14:17 Remember, he use to play with us on Sunday morning. 14:20 Arturo Belisle was the point guard on the 14:23 Brooklyn College team. 14:26 And he couldn't play in the big game because the big game 14:31 was on Sabbath. 14:33 Now my wife always flinches when she hears me say "big game" 14:35 because she says, "You know, it's always a big game. 14:37 Every week there's a big game. There's always a big game." 14:40 But this was the big game. 14:42 This was the championship game. 14:44 And Arturo played with us. 14:48 And could not play. 14:50 And he said, "'I do what I believe in.' 14:52 Arturo, a Seventh-day Adventist, says, 'That's what counts. 14:57 God comes first.'" 15:00 So he didn't play in the big game. 15:02 Now, Arturo is a very important person on the team 15:04 because he was the point guard. 15:06 The point guard is the person that distributes the ball 15:10 to everybody else on the team so they can get easy shots. 15:13 It's like the person who actually sets the table 15:16 and brings the food. 15:18 And if the point guard doesn't bring the food, nobody eats. 15:22 And this article says that Arturo loved God 15:27 more than basketball. 15:30 And so his coach said, "Can't you get some kind of 15:35 dispensation from your priest?" 15:40 Right here in the article. 15:42 And Arturo preached a sermon that day in the locker room. 15:46 He said, "First of all, we don't have priests. 15:48 And secondly, even if I could get a dispensation 15:52 from my pastor, I can't get a dispensation from God. 15:56 Because the Sabbath comes from God, not my pastor." 16:01 And so Arturo didn't play. 16:04 And the team said, "That's all right. 16:07 We'll win the game for you without you." 16:10 Well, they lost. 16:12 They lost bad. 16:14 But he stood up for the Lord. 16:17 So why do I carry this article from 33 years ago, Pastor? 16:22 Because it's a statement to me. 16:25 It's a humbling thing to me who had to break his ankle twice 16:31 for playing on Sabbath before I got it through my skull 16:36 that God comes first. 16:38 And Arturo put God first. 16:43 He didn't play in the big game. 16:45 But at the end of this article, the coach said, 16:47 "You know what I'm going to try to do? 16:49 I'm going to try to arrange all our games next year 16:52 so he doesn't have to play on the Sabbath." 16:55 You stand up for God, God will stand up for you. 16:59 Amen? 17:00 And amen. 17:05 And so, the fact is that when we do stand up for God, 17:10 God will stand up for us. 17:12 Now God will send or allow you to get into a little trouble, 17:18 scrapes and skirmishes, little battles, tests and trials, 17:22 little life flow insurrections, dare I say ankle breaks. 17:29 He will allow you to break your ankle 17:32 to keep you from breaking your neck. 17:36 These are calls from God to either, as I said last evening, 17:41 get you going, keep you from stopping, 17:46 or keep you from changing into a wrong course. 17:51 The Syrians, then, were God's appointed and anointed agents 17:56 to tell His people, "You're getting off course. 18:00 Your spiritual train is off of the track." 18:05 You know, the Bible says in 1 Peter 4:12, 18:10 don't be surprised at the fiery trials which are to try you. 18:15 God is going to allow some stuff to enter your life. 18:22 Because you need the stuff. 18:25 Amen? 18:26 God is going to allow some tests, some trials, 18:29 to come into your life. 18:30 I talked with Arturo after this and this sounds like he got 18:33 total support, everybody loved him and respected how he stood 18:38 for the Lord. 18:41 But he said, when the cameras were off 18:44 and the newspaper reporters were gone, 18:46 and particularly after they lost that game, 18:49 he took a lot of heat for his faith. 18:53 Same thing that Martha said to Jesus, 18:57 "If you would have been here..." 19:02 But he wasn't there. 19:04 He was serving the Lord. 19:06 And he took some heat for serving the Lord. 19:11 And so, God was warning Israel that you're off course. 19:17 And for a while, it looked like the Syrians were going to 19:21 overrun the entire country, the whole kingdom. 19:26 Total destruction was avoided because of a reform movement 19:30 that was begun by Elijah and carried forward by Elisha. 19:37 Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 11. 19:40 The Bible says: 20:04 God doesn't want death, God doesn't like death, 20:07 God does not promote death. 20:11 But sometimes, God has got to trouble the waters 20:14 to get our attention. 20:16 Now that statement, or one similar to it, 20:18 appears some three times in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. 20:24 God is trying to say, turn before death comes. 20:29 And therefore we avoid it. 20:30 War is not God's first option. 20:33 God does not desire the death of His people. 20:37 And I say that because I have heard people say 20:39 that the God of the Old Testament is a 20:42 God of death and destruction and legalism and war, 20:45 and the God of the New Testament is a God of grace. 20:48 But really if you work this out, things may be just the opposite. 20:53 Particularly when you read the book of Hebrews. 20:57 Hebrews says that the blood of goats, rams, and bulls 21:01 could never take away sin. 21:03 Could not. 21:04 And so, the Old Testament had to be a God of grace. 21:08 Had to be. 21:09 Because bulls and rams and goats couldn't take away their sins. 21:13 It was the grace of God looking forward to the blood of Christ. 21:17 And so the God of the Old Testament is just as much a 21:20 God of grace as the God of the New. 21:23 Perhaps even more so because Christ had not yet died. 21:27 So God is a God of love. 21:30 And He does not desire the death of His people. 21:33 Jesus said, "I have come that they might have life... 21:38 ...and have it more abundantly." 21:41 And so, in the book of Prophets And Kings, page 254, 21:44 we find this statement by Ellen White. 21:55 Are you listening to me? 21:57 "It was because of His love for erring Israel 22:01 that God was permitting the Syrians to scourge them." 22:04 To spank them, if you will. 22:07 The Bible says, "As many as I love, I chasten; 22:10 I rebuke and chasten." 22:12 Broken ankle, not broken neck. 22:18 You may wonder why there is this constant annoying 22:21 turmoil in your life. 22:23 Not full blown war but an insistent, incessant 22:30 unsettling of your life. 22:32 You can't seem to quite get settled down. 22:36 It may be a heads up from God that you're losing your way. 22:42 It may be God trying to gently tell you, 22:45 you need to come back in line. 22:47 And here's where we'll repeat what I said on last night. 22:50 Every war, every challenge, every bit of turmoil 22:56 in our lives is an opportunity for self examination. 23:04 When there is war in your life, when there is conflict 23:07 in your life, it is an opportunity that demands, 23:12 first, self examination. 23:15 God is saying, this is your chance to look at your life 23:20 and make sure you're in the right way. 23:23 Galatians chapter 6 verse 4, I say it again, 23:26 "Let a man examine his own works," God said. 23:32 So God will bring some disturbances in your life 23:34 trying to get you to check yourself out. 23:37 God will put you next to somebody at work 23:40 who doesn't particularly like you, and who you may not 23:43 particularly like. 23:44 And so before you ask for a transfer... 23:51 ...see what God has got in that for you... 23:53 Amen? ...for your growth. 23:56 Look at your own life first. 23:58 Is the devil in them... 24:01 Or... 24:04 mm-hmm 24:07 The devil may be a lot closer than you think. 24:11 So God is asking us to redress and look at our own lives. 24:15 You know, after we got into Afghanistan and realized 24:19 they were a lot bigger, a lot badder, and a lot tougher 24:21 than we thought, the general sent back to the White House 24:24 and said, "Mr. Bush, we're going to need more troops." 24:29 He looked at his situation and realized he needed some help. 24:33 God is saying, do the same thing in your life. 24:35 You may get into something that's a little bigger, 24:37 a little tougher than you're ready for, so you call back 24:39 to the Lord and say, "Lord, I think I need 24:41 a little more faith." 24:44 And it's coming. 24:46 But you never make that call if you don't assess the situation 24:50 and look at yourself. 24:53 And I say again, everybody in the world may be wrong 24:58 and you right, but I doubt it. 25:05 It may be a heads up from God. 25:08 You may need a little spiritual chiropractic 25:13 to get straightened out. 25:16 So Elisha remains faithful in spite of the opposition, 25:23 and in spite of the prevailing times in which he finds himself. 25:29 You know what's interesting? 25:31 God will bless a whole nation in His effort to bless 25:35 just one faithful person. 25:37 God will bless a whole house in His effort to answer the prayers 25:42 of one faithful Christian. 25:45 Yeah. 25:46 I had a member of my church who was the only male in the family 25:54 that loved the Lord. 25:56 Wife didn't go to church, kids didn't go to church. 25:58 Her sister lived with them and she didn't go to church. 26:01 And we prayed for a car for him. 26:07 And a member of the church gave him a car. 26:12 And not an old beat up car. 26:14 I think, a year old car. 26:16 You know, when he got that car, everybody rode; 26:19 sinner and saint. 26:21 Amen. 26:22 Everybody got to ride. 26:24 So in God's anxiety to bless the Christian, 26:28 the non-Christians also got blessed. 26:30 Amen? 26:32 And so Israel was held back from destruction 26:36 because of people like Elisha who stood up for the Lord 26:40 in really, really rough times. 26:43 Once when he was in Damascus, in enemy territory, 26:49 Ben-Hadad, the Syrian king, who had also attacked Israel 26:53 and was its sworn enemy, sent his general, Hazael, 26:58 with 40 camels of food and presents and gifts 27:02 to ask Elisha if he was going to die. 27:06 Ben-Hadad was sick and near death, he was on his deathbed. 27:11 And Hazael went to Elisha and said, 27:15 "Is the king going to die?" 27:18 And Elisha began to cry. 27:21 And Hazael said, "What are you crying for?" 27:24 And Elisha said, "I'm crying because I see that one day 27:30 you're going to be king. 27:32 And you're going to treat God's people just as badly 27:36 as Ben-Hadad did. 27:38 Syria is not going to change under you 27:41 as it was under Ben-Hadad." 27:44 He said, "By the way, tell the king he's not going to die, 27:50 but he's going to die." 27:55 He said, "Okay." 27:56 So he went back and he told Ben-Hadad. 27:59 The first thing the king asked him is, 28:01 "What's the news? What's the news?" 28:03 He said, "Elisha told me to tell you 28:06 you're not going to die, but you will die. 28:13 This disease is not going to kill you, 28:15 but you're going to die." 28:18 And so the next day, Hazael went into the king. 28:21 He was weakened from his disease and couldn't 28:24 get up from his bed. 28:26 He took a thick cloth, the Bible says, and dipped it in water. 28:30 And instead of placing it on the kings head to cool 28:33 his fevered brow, he placed it over his nose and mouth 28:36 and suffocated the king. 28:38 So he didn't die, but he died. 28:42 Not from the disease but from an assassination 28:46 of his top general. 28:48 And then the Bible says, Hazael became king in Syria 28:54 just as Elisha had predicted. 28:57 But Israel had not repented, Jehovah had not relented, 29:01 and Hazael was just as bad to Israel as was Ben-Hadad. 29:07 I say again, God can use the unrighteous to chastise 29:12 the righteous. 29:14 And so, just because the battle emanates from unchristian 29:19 sources does not mean it's not used by God. 29:26 So, when war, why? 29:29 You have to ask why. 29:31 God used the Assyrians as a whip. 29:34 God used Nebuchadnezzar as a whip. 29:38 God used Cyrus as a whip. 29:43 Sometimes, the chastising of God comes from unexpected places 29:48 and through unexpected people. 29:54 Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5. 29:56 The book is Hebrews, chapter 12 and verse 5. 30:01 The Word of God says: 30:21 Don't be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. 30:26 "For whom the Lord loves, He chastens." 30:32 Syrians at the gate, Syrians in your life. 30:37 War, dare I say holy war, an act of supreme love. 30:45 I say again, God will allow you to break your ankle 30:52 to keep you from breaking your neck. 30:56 God will put you in hot water to keep you out of boiling water. 31:03 For whom the Lord loves, He chastens. 31:07 I maintain that the hardest of all Christian disciples 31:14 and discipleship, and all of the Christian discipline 31:19 that His disciples are called to endure, 31:23 is a dispassionate objective sanctified self evaluation. 31:32 I've seen Christians, or at least professed Christians, 31:35 or alleged Christians, complain about everybody 31:39 or everything and never really entertain the notion 31:43 that they may be the problem. 31:45 If you're always at war, if you're always in strife, 31:49 you really have got to look within. 31:52 You see I'm begging this point? 31:54 Coming back to it again and again and again and again. 31:57 Because we're spending a little too much time looking around 32:00 when we ought to look within. 32:02 Particularly in these last days. 32:06 We need to look at ourselves and make sure we're in the faith 32:10 and that we're in Jesus. 32:13 And most importantly, that Jesus is in us. 32:21 The truth is, far too many Christians harbor unforgiving 32:27 and accusatory spirits. 32:30 Ellen White says this. 32:34 She says pride is the number one sin in the church. 32:43 And it keeps us at war with each other. 32:47 It is almost impossible to detect, 32:52 and all but impossible to cure... 32:57 ...unless you've got Jesus. 33:00 Amen? 33:01 Unless you've got Jesus. 33:05 The test of your Christianity is how you respond under pressure. 33:10 And I can't wait till Sabbath to give you your pressure test. 33:15 Sabbath morning we're giving you a pressure test. 33:17 Real simple test. 33:18 I found this about the Word of God, Pastor John. 33:21 When God gives you a test, it's never really complicated. 33:25 It's always easy and the results are clearly black or white. 33:29 No gray. 33:30 When God gives you a test, it's either obey or disobey, 33:33 live or die, not trying to play any games, 33:35 not trying to trick you. 33:36 It's going to be real real simple, 33:38 real real direct, the results will be real real important, 33:42 and real real clear. 33:44 And that's what we're going to do Sabbath morning. 33:45 I'm going to give you a test. 33:47 You can evaluate yourself, pressure test, 33:51 to see how you do under pressure. 33:52 Amen? 33:53 It's coming. 33:59 Anybody can smile during peace time. 34:05 mm-hmm 34:07 But what do you do when the winds of war blow? 34:10 You know, I've got a story I've got to tell, a cute story. 34:12 I heard this in the seminary. 34:14 It's about a little fellow. 34:15 I think I've told it once before for children's story. 34:17 About a little fellow going to church on Sabbath morning. 34:20 A little fellow. 34:21 He's got a big part to say in the Sabbath School program. 34:24 Just one line, but he's so nervous he's afraid 34:27 he's going to forget it. 34:29 Just one line, "Trust in God." 34:32 "Trust in God." 34:34 You know, for those people who have stood up front, 34:36 nervousness will make you forget almost anything. 34:41 I've sung songs and right in the middle of the song... 34:47 It happens. 34:48 You just forget. 34:51 And this little boy didn't want to forget. 34:54 So he's in the back seat of the car with those three words 34:56 on his little piece of paper. 34:57 "Trust in God. Trust in God. Trust in God." 35:02 And it was a warm summer day. 35:04 And so the dad just opened the front window. 35:06 You know, he pushed the button. 35:07 And he opened the back window to let a little air 35:09 come into the car. 35:10 And the wind blew into the car and snatched that 35:13 little piece of paper and blew it out the window. 35:16 And the little boy screamed, "Daddy, Daddy, stop the car. 35:20 My 'trust in God' just flew out the window." 35:26 And when I heard that story, I thought about us as Christians. 35:31 How many of us, when the winds of war begin to blow 35:35 in our lives, our trust in God flies out the window? 35:42 Anybody can smile during the good times. 35:46 Anybody can smile during the happy times. 35:50 How do you behave, how do you equip yourself, 35:54 when the winds of war begin to blow during the rough times? 35:59 Has God moved? Has God changed? 36:02 Is God far away? 36:04 He's right there where you left Him. 36:06 So you've got to trust Him in the dark 36:08 just like you trust Him in the sunshine. 36:10 You've got to trust Him during the darkest storm. 36:13 What's that song, Pastor, you sing? 36:15 Trust His Heart, or It Only Takes a Storm? 36:18 It Always Takes a Storm? 36:19 Even in the storm, you've got to trust Him. 36:21 And let me say this parenthetically. 36:23 The time to find God is during the sun shiny days. 36:27 Not during the storm. 36:29 You don't go looking for God in the storm. 36:32 Find the path in the sunshine so that when the storm comes, 36:36 you already know where to walk. 36:38 You know where to step. 36:39 You know where the land mines are. 36:41 Because you've walked that path everyday in the sunshine. 36:44 So you can find them in the storm. 36:46 Because the storm is coming. 36:50 And the sad truth is that when the winds of war begin to blow, 36:55 so many Christians have their faith fly out the window. 37:04 Luke 21:19 37:05 Interesting little text. 37:09 "In your faith possess ye your souls." 37:11 I like the NIV reading here. 37:13 It says, "By standing firm, you will gain life." 37:19 Amen? 37:20 "By standing firm, you will gain life." 37:24 In other words, when the battle wages hot, stay cool. 37:32 Amen? 37:33 When the battles wages hot, just stay cool. 37:37 Someone told me years ago when I was going through 37:40 some things in my life, and this is so true, 37:44 five words, "Every body gets a turn." 37:50 Amen? 37:52 If yours hasn't come yet, keep living, it's on the way. 37:59 Amen? 38:01 Everybody gets a turn. 38:02 Nobody is going to skate into heaven on beds of ease. 38:05 Everybody gets a turn. 38:06 My turn this year, your turn next year. 38:10 We're all going to suffer for Jesus. 38:12 Everybody gets a turn. 38:15 And everybody can have Jesus. 38:17 And everybody can have success, 38:19 and everybody can have victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. 38:24 The old axiom says, "The curse causeless does not come." 38:29 So when you're in a war, you've got to ask "what," 38:33 and you've got to ask "why." 38:38 I must admit that when I first read 2 Kings chapter 13 38:44 verses 14 through 18, I got a little upset 38:52 when I read it. 38:53 I got a little mad at God. 38:56 I read my Bible, try to read it through once every year. 38:59 Don't always succeed. 39:01 Some years catch me and it's not done. 39:02 But I've read this text several times. 39:04 And I must admit, every time I hit it, Pastor, 39:07 I got a little ticked off. 39:11 Just irritated me, it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. 39:14 My thinking was this. 39:17 My reasoning was, if you're going to test somebody, 39:22 and this was a test, 39:27 let them know the test is coming. 39:34 You know, if you're going to test me, 39:36 tell me a test is coming. 39:39 I'll study for the test and then I'll pass. 39:43 Doesn't that make sense? 39:45 Don't sneak a test in on me and expect me to pass 39:51 when I'm not prepared. 39:54 Now let's go to 2 Kings again. 39:56 2 Kings chapter 13. 39:59 And I'll tell you why I thought like this. 40:02 We're in 2 Kings. 40:06 2 Kings 13. 40:15 Alright, let's pick it up at verse 18. 40:17 The Bible says, "Then he said, 'Take the arrows.' 40:20 And so he took them. 40:21 And he said to the king, 'Strike the ground.' 40:24 So he struck three times, and stopped. 40:26 And the man of God was angry with him and said, 40:30 'You should have struck five or six times; 40:32 then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it. 40:36 But now you will strike Syria only three times.'" 40:41 So he was being tested, and he failed the test. 40:44 But he didn't know that he was being tested. 40:48 And when I read that, I said, "Why didn't Elisha 40:52 tell him that this is a test so he could pass the test?" 40:58 You know, you don't sneak stuff in on people. 41:00 When I was pastoring, I was a visiting pastor. 41:05 And I told my churches the first Sabbath, "I am coming 41:09 to your house, so prepare. 41:12 You don't have to clean up anything, 41:14 you don't have to prepare any food. 41:16 Because I'm not coming to assess your cleanliness, 41:18 I'm not coming to eat your food. 41:20 I'm coming to pay a pastoral visit to pray with you. 41:24 But I am coming." 41:26 And I said, "If you've got any problem with that, 41:28 too bad; I'm a visiting pastor, I'm on the way." 41:32 And one member said, "Don't come to my house." 41:36 And I said, "Why?" 41:38 And she said, "Because I've never had a pastor visit me, 41:41 and I wouldn't know how to act." 41:43 "Well," I said, "you're going to learn this time, 41:45 because I'm coming." 41:47 And I visited every member in every one of my churches 41:50 within the first year. 41:52 Except for Ephesus because I had 2000 members 41:54 and I had a sick list of 65 people. 41:56 Just couldn't get to everybody. 41:58 But all of my churches; Springfield Gardens, Bethel, 42:01 Amityville, Ebenezer Freeport, all of them the first year, 42:05 every members house. 42:07 But I told them I was coming. 42:10 Amen. 42:11 I didn't sneak in. 42:12 Well, I didn't announce my coming. 42:14 I told them I was coming, I just knocked on the door, 42:15 "I'm here." 42:18 So I said, why would they give this poor king a test, 42:23 not let him know the test was coming, 42:26 and then get mad at him for failing the test. 42:28 That was my reason. 42:31 Elisha tested him, Joash failed. 42:33 But you know, when you read the Word of God with an open heart 42:36 and an open mind, God will explain things to you 42:39 and make it very very clear. 42:40 And you will realize that everything God does is fair. 42:44 God is never unfair. 42:47 And so the Lord spoke to my heart. 42:51 And I realized first of all, life doesn't always warn you 42:57 when a test is coming. 42:59 You don't always get a heads up when a test is coming. 43:01 That's why Christ said, "Abide in Me, stay in Me, stay with Me, 43:05 so that whenever the test comes you will be ready 43:07 for the test." 43:09 Life doesn't always give you a sign, 43:10 "Test on the way." 43:12 That's why Christ says, "Be ye also ready. 43:14 Stay in Me, bear this in mind, abide in Me, 43:17 and you will bear much fruit." 43:18 Abiding in Christ, by the way ladies and gentlemen, 43:21 is a peace keeper. 43:23 Amen? 43:24 It keeps you in peace with the Lord Jesus Christ. 43:26 Okay, so the reason Israel was in this horrible spiritual fix 43:32 was because they had strayed from the hand of God. 43:36 Not just strayed, they had turned their backs on God. 43:41 Ellen White says that Satan was doing all in his power 43:44 to complete the ruin that he had wrought during the 43:47 reign of Ahab and Jezebel. 43:50 Israel was in the wrong spiritual place. 43:52 Active apostasy had given way to open rebellion. 43:57 And it had to be addressed and redressed by God. 44:02 Ellen Whit says in Prophets And Kings that years of 44:06 backsliding and idolatry had done its work. 44:10 The face of God had almost been erased from His people. 44:14 And the Syrians were now at the gate. 44:17 Joash, this king, Ellen White says was a young upstart 44:23 idolater with little respect for God or man. 44:27 He was a young godless youth called to be king. 44:30 He didn't respect God, he didn't respect his people. 44:33 But he had enough sense to know when he was in trouble 44:36 and over his head. 44:38 And so he goes running now to the sick bed of Elisha; 44:42 Elisha, in the last years and months of life. 44:47 And there are so many lessons to be learned. 44:48 One, I say again, when you come to God, 44:52 I'm so very very glad that God never says, "I told you so." 44:57 And He never turns His back on you. 44:59 You come to God after giving the devil all of your youth, 45:04 all of your strength, all of your life, and your service, 45:08 and you come to God in a broken-down weary state 45:12 in your old age, and the Bible says angels rejoice. 45:20 And God rejoices. 45:22 Such is His love for us. 45:27 John chapter 6 verse 37. 45:30 "He that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." 45:36 That's a comforting text. 45:40 They say that there are no atheists in the fox hole. 45:44 They say when the bullets begin to fly, 45:45 everybody finds God from somewhere. 45:48 So when this godless king looked around, 45:51 he looked out his window and saw Syrians on the eastern front, 45:55 Syrians on the flank, Syrians occupying Jewish land, 46:02 he found God. 46:05 He found the God that he had spurned. 46:08 And praise God, He didn't turn His back on this 46:11 young upstart king. 46:14 The greatest truth, I think, in the Bible may be the fact 46:20 that if you've got enough sense to call on Him, 46:24 He's got enough love to answer. 46:28 You got enough sense to call, He's got enough love to answer. 46:33 So Elisha is dying, in 2 Kings 13:14. 46:36 And when the king comes crying, he stops dying long enough to 46:41 minister to him. 46:43 And you know the story. 46:44 Elisha had the king go get a bow and arrow. 46:51 And the prophet put his hand on the hand of the king. 46:58 That, itself, was a great statement. 47:01 I don't have time to go into all the ramifications and the 47:04 historicity of that particular act. 47:06 But his putting of his hand, Elisha's hand, 47:10 on top of the hand of a king signaled to that king 47:13 that God, not only supports what's going to happen, 47:17 it has got His hearty endorsement. 47:19 He's telling the king, "God is with you. 47:23 He's standing by you. 47:25 What you're going to go through, you are not 47:28 going to go through alone." 47:31 And that promise, ladies and gentlemen, ought to just 47:34 make our hearts melt with love. 47:37 Whatever you're going through. 47:38 And it doesn't matter. 47:39 First of all, there's nothing you've done that surprises God. 47:43 There's nothing you've done that takes God unaware. 47:46 There's nothing you've done or going to do 47:49 that God is not prepared for. 47:51 And so when He says, "I will never leave you 47:54 nor forsake you," He knows everything that you're 47:58 going to go through and has already determined, 48:00 "I can handle it." 48:03 So he put his hand on the hand of the prophet 48:06 to let him know, "We're in this together." 48:11 Ellen White says, all God's bidding are enabling. 48:15 And so he tells now, the prophet, "Draw and shoot." 48:22 And the prophet helps the king to shoot. 48:25 And as the arrow is flying, the prophet says to the king, 48:31 "The arrow of God's deliverance and deliverance from Syria." 48:40 So God is predicting something. 48:42 You remember I told you yesterday that when God is 48:45 in the fight, when the chastisement or the war 48:48 comes from God, He's going to tell you when it's going to end 48:52 and how it's going to end. 48:54 Here's a prediction right here. 48:56 He said, "That arrow is symbolic of your deliverance from Syria. 49:02 This thing is going to end." 49:09 And He promised him, he would not be fighting alone. 49:13 Jeremiah chapter 15:20. I truly love this text. 49:18 A part of God's promise. 49:21 "'I will make you a wall to this people, 49:24 a fortified wall of bronze; that they will fight against you 49:30 but they will not overcome you. 49:31 For I am with you to rescue you and save you,' 49:35 declares the Lord." 49:36 That's the NIV. 49:37 When you're in a battle, you've got the promise that you're 49:40 not fighting alone. 49:42 You will not be overcome. 49:44 Romans chapter 8:37 says, "We are more than conquerors 49:48 through Him." 49:51 So he was told to open the window and shoot. 49:54 And as the arrow was flying, he says, "This is the arrow 49:58 of God's deliverance." 50:00 He shot it to the east. 50:03 Then he said, "Take some arrows and strike the ground." 50:10 And this is where he failed. 50:12 He struck it three times and stopped. 50:18 The prophet was upset. 50:20 And he said, "You should have struck it more. 50:22 Now you're not going to have the delivery 50:24 that you should have had." 50:27 Why shouldn't he have known? 50:31 Or, why should he have known? 50:36 Number one, he knew the times in which he was living. 50:42 He knew that the country was in spiritual hot water. 50:46 Number two, he knew that he was far away from God. 50:52 Number three, he knew that the prophet was promising him 50:57 that God was going to be with him. 51:00 And so he should have struck. 51:03 And if he didn't know the time, he should have known the time 51:07 because he knew the spiritual shape of his country. 51:11 He should have known. 51:14 Now our time is getting away from me, so I want to jump over 51:17 and do a couple of things real quick. 51:22 In Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 1, the Lord says a couple of things 51:29 that I want to highlight. 51:31 And we'll close with this. 51:33 "The Lord answered me, 'Even if Moses and Samuel 51:37 were standing here pleading with Me, I would not have 51:41 mercy on these people. 51:42 Tell them to leave My presence and go elsewhere for help.'" 51:50 Those are the statements of an angry and disappointed God. 51:55 He's saying, "Captivity is coming. 51:59 And even if Moses and Samuel were pleading your case, 52:03 I'm not going to change My mind. 52:05 You have sinned too much and too often. 52:08 Go away, look for help elsewhere." 52:11 And if you continue to read that passage, you will find 52:14 God saying, "If they ask you where we should go, 52:19 and what's going to happen, tell them this for Me: 52:23 'Some are going to die by the sword, 52:26 some are going to die by disease, 52:29 some are going to die by famine, 52:32 some are going to go into captivity." 52:35 Now that's the benediction, the malediction, 52:38 of an angry God. 52:41 He tells Jeremiah in chapter 16, "Listen Jeremiah, 52:44 don't get married and don't have any children. 52:47 Because what is coming on this country 52:50 is not going to be pretty. 52:51 So stay single so you don't have a wife to worry about, 52:54 and you don't have any children to worry about. 52:56 Because I'm going to destroy this nation." 53:00 That's a God who's upset and disgusted 53:04 at a people who have turned their backs on Him. 53:10 But in the very same chapter, in the same chapter where 53:14 Jeremiah says, where God says through Jeremiah; 53:18 captivity, death, famine, sword, verse 14 He says this, 53:25 Jeremiah 16:14. 53:40 "...but they will say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, 53:44 who brought Israelites up out of the land of the North...'" 53:47 Now depending on what translation you have, 53:50 it may say, "out of Babylon." 53:54 "'...where He had banished them.' 53:56 For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers." 54:02 Seven chapters later, He says it again almost word for word. 54:08 And then in chapter 24, He compares His people 54:11 to two baskets of figs; one bad, one good. 54:15 He says, "I know you're bad, but I choose to see you as good." 54:20 If you want a window on the God that we serve, 54:28 ladies and gentlemen, it's right here. 54:31 In chapter 15, He says, "Get out of my sight. 54:35 Find some other god. 54:37 I'm tired of you, go away. 54:39 Find some other god to pray to. 54:41 You're going to die; famine, sword, captivity, disease." 54:51 And before the chapter is over, the same wounded God 54:57 is saying to Jeremiah, "By the way, 54:59 tell them that they're Mine." 55:05 Can you imagine that kind of love? 55:08 "Tell them I love them. 55:11 Tell them that they're Mine." 55:14 When I read that the other night at two o'clock in the morning... 55:16 You know, you're up in the middle of 55:17 the night writing stuff. 55:18 And I'm sitting there crying, feeling like a big dummy. 55:24 Tears running down. 55:26 This is a God who's offended. 55:28 This is a God who's had people turn their backs on Him. 55:31 This is a God who is so agitated that He says, 55:34 "Jeremiah, tell them to get out of My sight." 55:38 And before the chapter is over, 55:42 He's saying, "Tell them they're Mine. 55:47 Tell them, one day they're not going to just say, 55:49 'The God who brought them out of Egypt.' 55:52 Tell them they're going to say, 'The God who brought them back 55:54 from Babylon too.'" 55:57 Can you see the kind of God we serve? 56:01 Can you see the love of the God we serve? 56:04 No matter who you are or what you've done, 56:08 God may be angry, God may give you a slap on the wrist, 56:14 but in the next verse He's saying, "He that cometh unto Me, 56:21 I will in no wise case out." 56:25 One of my favorite texts in the entire Bible, 56:28 Paul's letter to the Romans; in this God commended 56:33 His love to us. 56:35 "In that while we were yet sinners, 56:42 Christ died for us." 56:45 He's going to allow a little war in your life, 56:48 a little turmoil in your life. 56:50 But in that war, in that turmoil, 56:52 He's right there with you. 56:55 Amen? 56:57 Never leave you, nor forsake you. 57:00 And so the Bible says, be content with all you have. 57:04 Be content where you are. 57:05 Hebrews 13:5-6. 57:08 Be content where God has placed you. 57:11 Be bold to say, "God is my helper." 57:14 Because He has said, "I will never leave you, 57:18 nor forsake you." 57:20 What can man do to me? 57:25 It's really a rhetorical question. 57:28 Because man can't do anything when you're in the hands of God. |
Revised 2014-12-17