Well hello and welcome to the Speak Life Podcast. This is episode 406, and my name is Paul Feasley. No Thomas this week, but he'll be back next time and we'll hopefully be able to have a bit of a chat about whatever we talk about on next week's speakeasy. But we didn't have a speakeasy this week because it was a bank holiday, and uh so we hope you enjoyed your your bank holiday, enjoyed your time off and that extra day's rest. Um, although if it's anything like mine, uh being at home with the family the whole time is anything but restful, uh, but it was still a nice time. Um, so because we didn't have a speakeasy for you, we've dug down into the archives, and actually we've got a sermon for you from Glenn. This is a sermon that he gave back at All Souls Eastbourne in September of 2021.
SPEAKER_01Why don't we pray uh as we come to Luke chapter 6, that God would speak to us all personally and powerfully in the depths of our being. Let's pray now. Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray now that you would talk to us, that you would address us in the depths of our being, that would you would show us Jesus, so that in his face we might see what we are truly like, and in his face we might see what you are truly like. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. What do you call the southern tip of Africa? Did you know that up until about 1500, that was known as the Cape of Storms? Why was it known as the Cape of Storms? Well, if you were a European power, if you were a part of the Portuguese or Spanish or Dutch or British empires, you wanted to get to India. You wanted to get to the Orient, as they called it, to get the spices. And you wanted to bring them back. But if you go over land, well, it's a treacherous journey, it's a long journey, and how much can you bring back on foot? You really want to get there on sea. And if you get there by sea on ship, then you can laden the ships full of the spices of the Orient and bring them back to enrich not only yourself, but your whole kingdom. The one problem was the Cape of Storms. How do you get around that southern tip of Africa? And ship after ship after ship was broken apart in those storms, dashed upon the rocks, dozens and dozens of ships trying to reach the promised land and getting swallowed by the storms. Hundreds and hundreds of people died in the Cape of Storms. And it's a bit like life, isn't it? There are things in our lives that we want to reach, and we think if I just get that, that would enrich my life, and it might not just enrich my life, it might enrich my family's life, it might enrich the world. If only I could just get this thing, this person, this event, this opportunity, this achievement, this holiday, this house, this whatever it is, if I only just get this thing, but there are always storms in the way, aren't there? There's always frustration, there are always obstacles, there's always suffering. Some people get quite far to the promised land. Some people are dashed on the rocks very early, but everyone, everyone is swallowed by the storms. That's life. Bob Dylan in 1962, right after the Cuban Missile Crisis, he felt that the storms were particularly hitting, and very poetically, he wrote a song called It's a Hard Rain. You know the song, It's a Hard Rain? Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son? Where have you been, my darling one? I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains, walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways, stepped in the middle of seven sad forests, been out in front of a dozen dead oceans. I've been 10,000 miles in the mouth of a graveyard. It's a hard, and it's a hard, and it's a hard, and it's a hard, and it's a hard rain's gonna fall. What did you see, my blue-eyed son? What did you see, my darling young one? I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves around it. I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it. I saw a black branch with blood that kept dripping. I saw a room full of men with their hammers able, a white ladder all covered with water. I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken. I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children. And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard rain that's gonna fall. Life is hard. And throughout the scriptures and for the last 2,000 years, we've been speaking about suffering and obstacles as storms that hit in life. Storms will come. Storms always come. We don't tend to think like that in the affluent West. It's really interesting when you switch on the news and you see some event has happened, a bomb has gone off somewhere in the world, and the cameras train themselves on the onlookers to see how they're reacting. Depends on where the bomb goes up, the bomb goes off as to what the reaction is. See, if the bomb goes off in places that expect suffering, everybody knows what to do. They know the drill. This is sad, they are sad. This is an occasion for grieving. They will grieve and lament and wail. When the bomb goes off in the affluent West and the camera zeroes in on the onlookers, what is the look? You know what the look is, don't you? Shock. We don't know how to feel. We were not prepared for this. This kind of thing doesn't happen here. This kind of suffering doesn't happen to people like us. But it does. The hard rain falls on everyone. And if there was one message to be gained from Luke chapter 6, is that the rain always falls. It doesn't matter how wise you are in your life. It doesn't matter how clever you assemble the different parts of your life. The rain always falls. The storms always hit. Luke 6 from verse 46. Jesus says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house, but could not shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. Do you notice in both verse 48 and verse 49? How is this storm described? It's described violently. It is a torrent that strikes the house. And it doesn't matter whether you are on team, Jesus, or not. It doesn't matter how clever you are in life or not, a hard rain is always going to fall. And you think, why? Shouldn't it be that God's favored ones, his children, shouldn't they live in a part of the world that doesn't have storms? Shouldn't they avoid the hard rain? Shouldn't it be like that? It's never been like that in the Bible. On page one, do you know how God creates the worlds by water and out of water? That's how Peter reflects on it in 2 Peter 3. He notices the theme of waters in Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was out, was without form and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Do you remember that? Spirit of God hovering over these dark, chaotic waters. And then God says, Let there be light, and there is light, and God sees that the light is good, and he calls it good. Then day two, you know what happens? Out of water, God separates the waters from the waters. And so he clears a space vertically on day two of creation. And that's pretty much all he does on day two, just clears that space so that there is sky and there is sea. And then on day three, what does he do? He clears another space for the dry ground. And where do we live? Where does God place little old humanity? Right here. In the midst of dark, chaotic waters. That's where you live. That's where I live. That's where our home is. And the only thing that stops the chaos from inundating us from all sides is the powerful word of the Lord. In Job, the Lord says to the seas, This far and no further, here your proud waves must halt. And without the strong word of the Lord, chaos breaks in from all sides. This is where we live. Waters above, waters below, waters to the left, waters to the right. Life is surrounded by these chaotic waters. And then you'll know in Genesis chapter 6, what happens when the floodgates open? The Lord judges the world in its wickedness. But what does he do? He raises up one person, Noah. Noah, by the grace of God, is found to be a righteous man. And all who gather to Noah are kept safe in that strong, sturdy Ark. And the Ark is able to sail through the storm and out the other side. But that's the only way that you can get through. The way to salvation is a way through judgment. The way to life is a way through death. The way to blessing is a way through curse. The way to peace is a way through suffering. It's the only way there's ever been. You have to go through the waters. Think of Israel coming up out of Egypt. Pharaoh finally lets them go, and so they are on their way to the promised land. Hooray! Pharaoh changes his mind. And now the chariots are after them, and you can see the dust on the horizon. They're bearing down on the people of God, and there's no way out because there they are at the Red Sea. It's going to be a watery grave for the Israelites, isn't it? And then what does the Lord do? By the Spirit of God and the Almighty Word of God, a way through the waters is opened up, and they pass through the waters and out the other side. But there is no other way to salvation except through the waters. No other way to life except through death. No other way to peace except through suffering. It has always been the way. You must go through the waters. Everyone treads that path. Now, what do the storms represent? These storms represent, yes, painful times. They represent suffering. They represent death, and they represent judgment. The judgment of God against a world that is so out of kilter with him. A hard rain is going to fall. Are we ready? Are we building our lives with that in mind? That's what Jesus says is the essence of wisdom. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I'll show you what they're like. They're like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on a rock. He found a rock on which to build. He found the one thing that can survive the storms, like Noah, who can sail through the storms, like Moses, who at the head of God's people was able to lead them through those waters, he found one thing. The one thing that was necessary given the storm that was coming. He laid his foundation on the rock when the flood came and the torrent struck that house violently, could not shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. The natural state of you and I is to build on sand. The natural state for you and I is to build without our eyes on the storms, but to invest in this age and this world, in my resources, in my cleverness, in my ability to negotiate life, you and I live that kind of life naturally. And Jesus says, you need to switch. You need to switch to this totally different way of being. We need to, verse 47, come to Jesus, hear his words, and put them into practice. He's really spelling it out, isn't he? You know, in Hebrew, the word for hear is also the word for obey. In the Old Testament, this there's no thoughts that you would hear and not obey. To properly hear God is to obey him, but here Jesus, he is unpacking every element of what it means to follow him. Come to him, yes. And hear his words, yes. And put them into practice. That's what it is to truly build our house on the rock. And so, what are his words? Well, if you let your eyes on your Bibles run up to the rest of Luke chapter 6, you'll see lots of ways in which Jesus is teaching us how to live in the light of the storms that are coming. And essentially, I want to head the whole thing: a life in the light of those storms is a life of stooping and then being raised. Stooping, serving, self-giving, in the light of being raised up at the ends. That is Jesus's kind of life. If you let your eyes look at verses 20 to 23, you'll see Jesus basically saying, suffer well with hope. Blessed are you who are poor, verse 20. Blessed are you who hunger now, verse 21. Blessed are you when people hate you and insult you, verse 22. Take it on the chin with hope that you will be raised up. There are tremendous promises in these verses. But go the way of Jesus, suffer well with hope. Don't, verses 24 to 26, don't grasp and fall. All right, there are those who verse 24 are rich and invest in their comforts. There are those verse 25 who are well fed. There are those verse 26 who are famous of good reputation. And it's the idea of climb, climb, climb, climb, climb, fall. That's the cursed kind of a life. The blessed kind of a life is stoop, stoop, stoop, stoop, stoop, be raised. The cursed kind of life is grasp, grasp, grasp, grasp, and then splat because the hard rain is coming. From verses 27 to verse 36, he says, Love your enemies. Don't just love the lovely. Don't just love the lovable. Everyone can love the lovable. Expand yourself beyond yourself. Love even your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Bless those who curse you. Bless them. Do not revile them back. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn the other cheek to them. It's incredible counterconditional love. Love your enemies. This is what it means to live in the light of the storms coming. Verses 37 to verse 42. Give and forgive constantly. Don't cling to your rights, your riches, or your resentments. Give without boundaries, without bitterness, without bargaining. When it comes to forgiveness, we should offer free, unlimited downloads. Give and forgive. In the light of the fact that we're going to go through the Red Sea and out to the promised land, now is a time of trial and suffering. Expend yourself now in the light of the future promised land. That's what Jesus says. Suffer well with hope. Don't grasp and fall. Love your enemies. Give and forgive and be connected to true life. He speaks about the good tree producing good fruit. Be connected to true life. That is what it is. To build your house on the rock. It's not natural, is it? It's not natural. It's supernatural. This is Jesus' kind of life. None of us naturally live it. But could we? Could we come to Jesus like he's the Noah and say, Jesus, I want to hop on board. The good ship Jesus? Jesus, will you teach me? Could Jesus be like Moses? The one who, yeah, Moses can get through the Red Sea, but gather in behind Moses, and he'll see you through to the promised land. Could he be like Noah? Could he be like Moses? Of course he could. Of course he is. Because what Jesus tells us to do is a description of who he is. This is what Jesus' life is. Who is Jesus? Jesus' whole life was to stoop and be raised for you and for me. Foolish builders, though we are. Jesus' life was to suffer well with hope. Didn't he? When the storms hit, he was the last man standing. You read to the end of Luke's gospel, and all his followers have deserted him. It's not as though there are a whole coterie of disciples who are putting this all into practice and enduring the storm with Jesus. When Jesus endured the ultimate storm, he was all alone. Because there's only one rock. There's only truly one wise builder. Only Jesus. He suffered well with hope. He did not grasp at life and then fall. He loved his enemies. And in the midst of the greatest storm, he prayed, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. He is true life. He's the tree of life. He's the ark. He's the Moses figure. He's the rock on which we build. Do you remember the Cape of Storms? That was the great barrier for anyone. Who would care to get around the bottom of Africa and get to the spices of the Orient? They would have to go through the Cape of Storms, and dozens and dozens of ships broke apart on that Cape. But then there was one man, he was called Vasco da Gama, he was a Portuguese explorer, and he pioneered a path through the Cape of Storms. He felt the storms greater than anybody else had, and yet he survived. He came through out the other side and he went to India to enrich both himself and his whole kingdom. And from that time onwards, the Cape of Storms was then called the Cape of Good Hope. Perhaps that's how you know that Cape at the bottom of South Africa. It's the Cape of Good Hope now because one man had pioneered a path through the storms and out the other side. And that is who Jesus is. He is the great pioneer who's gone through the storms of this life, the storms of our death, the storms of God's judgment. He came through the other side into the promised land of God's good hope. And he has enriched not only himself but all of us. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I'll show you what they're like. They're like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid foundations on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but couldn't shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. What does Jesus want us to do at this stage? Having heard this story, surely he wants us to say, Lord Jesus, will you shelter me? Lord Jesus, I've been doing it wrong. Lord Jesus, I've been grasping. Grasping in a time when the hard rain is gonna fall. Lord Jesus, will you be a shelter for the storm? A shelter for the storm. Another great Bob Dylan song. It's called Shelter from the Storm. Did you know it? It was written before his born-again Bob days. It was written a few years before he came out as a Christian. But everybody has noticed how incredibly Christian his song is, Shelter from the Storm. In it, there are a couple of Christ figures. And so what I've done is just alter a few of the words. If you know the song, you'll know I haven't altered very many of the words. But just to bring out the ultimate Jesus focus of what we really need in this shelter from the storm. T'was in another lifetime he joined our race of mud. When blackness was our virtue, the road was paved with blood. He came into our wilderness, he took our broken form. Come in, he said. I'll give you shelter from the storm. When he passed this way, he said, You can rest assured, I've come to take your heavy load on that I give my word. In a world of steel-eyed death and men who are fighting to be warm. Come in, he said, I'll give you shelter from the storm. I had never paid him mind, never given heed. I took my life and fed it to my lust and hate and greed. Every day was dirty since the day that I was born. Come in, he said, I'll give you shelter from the storm. In a little hilltop gathering, they gambled for his clothes. He came to bring salvation, gave himself a lethal dose. He offered up his innocence and got repaid with scorn. Come in, he said, I'll give you shelter from the storm. Suddenly I turned around and he was hanging there, dressed in blood and nails and tears on every worldly care. He spread his arms to every soul and took their crown of thorns. Come in, he said, I'll give you shelter from the storm. But death could never hold him, he shook it off with ease, and preached to all us mortal men that deathly cares should cease. A whole new world of life and hope began that emerald morn. Come in, he said, I'll give you shelter from the storm. The future stretches hungry into the waking world where every tear is wiped away, eternity unfurled, and he will call the age to be on that exquisite dawn. Come in, he says, I'll give you shelter from the storm. Let's be quiet, let me pray first. A shelter for us all. Lord Jesus, we praise you that you went to that cross. We praise you that you endured the ultimate storm, that the hard rain fell on you, that you might shelter us. Lord Jesus, we praise you that you are like a sailor sailing through the Cape of Storms, like that first sailor who sailed through the Cape of Storms and made it to the promised land to enrich the kingdom. Lord Jesus, we praise you that you turned that Cape of Storms into the Cape of Good Hope. And we thank you that you can shelter us. Lord, we come to you now and we tell you that life is hard. But many of us here know how good you have been to us, how trustworthy you are in the midst of the hard rain. Many of us can testify to how you've sheltered us this week, this year, the last 50 years. But Lord, I pray that if there are any who have not yet taken shelter in you, right now, Lord Jesus, may they call on you and say, Jesus be my rock. Jesus be my shelter. Jesus be my captain. Lead me through. And we praise you, Jesus, that your way of salvation is through judgment, through suffering, but it is through. And you will raise us up to know you. And to know hope. To know sunrise, to know the world made new. So help us, Jesus, not to grasp and fall. Help us to cling to you and with you pour ourselves out in joy. That you might raise us up in time. Jesus, we cannot do this without you. We need to know you personally. So be with us. Fill us with your spirit and give us your resurrection hope. In your great name we pray.
unknownAmen.
SPEAKER_00Well, we hope you enjoyed that episode of the Speak Life Podcast, and we do hope that you'll tune in again next week. Of course, do give us a follow on uh whichever podcast capture you use. It's really helpful for us to know how many people are listening in. And if you can give us a review, particularly a positive one, that's always lovely as well. If you want to keep up with all the things that are going on at Speak Life, we are on all different social medias uh YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, um, and even TikTok. So please do go and find us there and you can keep up with what's going on with us uh as it happens. Um but until then, take care, we'll see you next time. All the best. Bye bye.