WEBVTT 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:08.400 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Adventure. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.480 Helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:18.239 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParquay.org. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:23.120 Mother God, you have made us want to know you. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:35.520 If we have any desire at all to exchange treasure for you, exchange uh shiny trinkets for you, you've done that, not us. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:38.000 That's also noble act by us. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:49.759 What you're bringing forth from the inside of us is to want to know you in the power of your resurrection and in the fellowship of your sufferings. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:56.000 This morning, Lord, we just say we're open to your instruction. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:05.040 And from this very text this morning, you want to say to us, This is my good purpose in suffering. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:08.560 You're really gonna get to know me. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:12.319 So we say thank you in advance. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:13.840 Amen. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:16.000 Please be seated. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:21.040 I want to uh thank you for being here this morning and thank you, those who are joining online. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:30.799 Uh as I said in the prayer this morning's text, uh, we're taking a break from Daniel, in case you surprise. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:41.120 But it's it's a break from Daniel, but in some ways it's not, in that uh God is the author of Daniel, God is the author of our text morning, 2nd Corinthians. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:44.480 And he has these themes he repeats pretty often. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:49.519 And one of which is how do we make sense of discouragement, of suffering? 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:53.280 Now, I do want to start also with an announcement. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:54.400 So listen to this one. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:55.840 The announcement here it is. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:01.200 Um, there is gonna be an end to masks in our service. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:14.639 There's gonna be an end to masks at the grocery store, there's gonna be an end to masks at the gym, uh, there's gonna be an end to holding in your cough in public so people don't think you have corona leprosy and scatter and call you. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:17.599 There's gonna be an end to online school for kids. 00:02:17.759 --> 00:02:21.520 There's gonna be an end to not being able to visit someone in a nursing home or a hospital. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:23.199 I'm not telling you when. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.599 I'm telling you there's gonna be an end to that. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:39.039 And when that ends, one of the questions today's text is asking is are you gonna be just as you were before, or are you gonna be changed? 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:53.360 Because God's design for all the suffering that we experience, and I'll say it's not random, it's all designed by him, is that we would trust less in ourselves and we would trust more in him. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:06.000 That we would lose this vice grip on our strength, our power, our wisdom, and we would cling ever so tightly to him as the true and better fulfillment of all those in our treasure. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:16.719 Will you still be relying on all your former ways of coping? 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:20.000 It's kind of what the Old Testament talks about. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:22.000 Uh, and the people forgot God. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:30.319 And he was merciful and did a miracle and rescued him, and they were thankful and they praised him, and then some time went on and they forgot him again. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:39.360 The Apostle Paul is going to tell us is what God has designed in suffering is to finally change us. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.000 So let's dive into the text here. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:44.240 And let me also say, I'm not belittling suffering. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:49.120 I know some of it is extremely acute and intense and ongoing. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:52.479 And some of it just low grade. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.319 And so don't hear me say, hey, just get over it. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:58.159 That's not what God's doing. 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:06.479 Hear me saying, God is up to something good, even in long-term, persistent, intense suffering. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:09.520 Five observations. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:10.800 Here's the first one this morning. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:13.840 We're in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:22.000 If you have a Bible, first observation is Christians suffer too. 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:23.120 That's right. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:25.120 I went to seminary to be able to tell you that. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:27.120 Uh, Christians suffer too. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:32.959 And I'm saying this because we tend to have some amnesia. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:52.319 Even though the Bible never tells us this, somehow we we get this idea that creeps in, or maybe it's just me, that because I follow Christ, life should be pretty smooth, always moving in a kind of upward trajectory. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:55.439 Shouldn't be a whole lot of backtracking. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:07.199 And when I compare what I'm experiencing to someone who's a non-believer, and it seems like not just is there smooth, theirs are going great. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.439 And mine's not going great. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:14.399 That's what this thought begins to creep in, God, are you punishing me? 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:17.439 You seem to be blessing them and cursing me. 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:19.439 It's not about punishment. 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:20.800 That's not ever what he's doing. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:22.800 If it was about punishment, then yeah, you're right. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.639 The one who hates God would be punished, not the one who loves God. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:28.160 It's about an invitation. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:36.240 In fact, what Paul's going to say in the one more verse, it's about him really doing a work in you and the inside. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:37.839 So Christians suffer too. 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:40.000 Here's what Paul says to them, verse 8. 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:45.360 He says, We don't want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:51.600 We were utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:59.199 Now we don't have any for sure information on what exactly is Paul referring to. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:04.480 Is it some dust up in Ephesus that got kind of crazy and then some people wanted to kill him? 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:07.040 We don't know for sure that that's what it is. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:16.720 But this is this is not a uh a middle schooler taking something that's the biggest thing they face, but relatively trivial, and making it life and death. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:18.160 This is life and death. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:23.120 And he's saying, look, Corinthians, you didn't get the full story. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:25.759 In fact, you wouldn't begin any of the story had we not made it. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.680 I don't want you to be unaware of what happened. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.600 So we are burdened beyond our strength. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:42.399 These these phrase, this phrase in the original language has this idea of like a like an animal's foot or leg caught in a trap. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.800 Where, okay, you got caught and you're yanking. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:48.240 That's can't get free. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:51.519 Let me try and chew through the cord, can't chew through that. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:55.600 And at some point, you just give up. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:57.759 You give up trying to get free. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.000 You've run out of strength, run out of energy, run out of hope. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:04.959 Paul says, that's how we felt. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.040 We felt like this is it. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:08.240 It's over. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.519 We were burdened beyond our strength. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.199 We're broken. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:18.480 Despairing. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:21.519 He says, we despaired of life itself. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.560 Doesn't that sound like someone who's depressed? 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:26.480 Someone who's defeated? 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:28.720 Someone who's suffering. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:36.959 Being a believer is of the promise that you know suffered haphazardly. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:39.199 Always has a design. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:44.800 He said, look, we we were not immune to experiencing life as a human. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:49.439 And and Paul says for us, it was as bad as it's ever gotten. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:51.759 It was the lowest of the low. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:59.040 Really thought God had turned his face from us and left us for dead. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:01.360 But he's abandoned us. 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:09.839 Second observation: God is working in your difficulty on you. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:16.399 So in your suffering, in your difficulty, God's primarily working on you. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:21.839 Now, the main thing I want, and my immediate ask is okay, work on the difficulty. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:23.759 No, no, no, no, don't work on me. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.319 Work on the difficulty, work on the circumstances. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:28.240 Oh, no, no, no, no, it's not work on me. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:29.839 Let's just work on the stuff. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:31.839 Get this yes to be a no. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:33.840 Get this later to be a now. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:36.879 Get this closed door to be opened. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.360 In your suffering, in your difficulty, God is always working on you. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:52.320 Now, in his mercy, he also works in our circumstances, but he's definitely working on you. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:09:03.360 Verse 9, Paul says, Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:06.879 This is the center point of this four-verse text. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:15.679 What God is doing is trying to kind of free your vice grip on relying on yourself to relying on Him. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:18.639 So we received the sentence of death. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:23.360 He said, Look, uh, I'm writing this to you because we lived. 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.480 And had we not, you would not be getting this letter. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:28.799 We made it out of this one alive. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:33.360 This was to make us not rely on ourselves. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:38.240 This wasn't just to free us, Corinthians, to be a blessing to you. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:40.080 This was to change something about us. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:41.919 Paul and his little group here. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:10:09.840 And if you got some skill, some ability, some experience, in fact, if you're just wired as a human, you're gonna be tempted by it come very naturally to rely on your ability, your skill, your experience. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:25.039 And it seems like the only way where Paul says for sure this was happening to him is God had to show him that this is just gonna fail you utterly before you'll rely on me. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:27.679 This is Paul, Apostle Paul, we're talking about. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:30.639 This is not like the below average Christian club clubs, you know. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:35.840 So we think that this is a guy who wrote a good part of the New Testament. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.200 So we shouldn't expect you something to be different. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.000 Charles Hodge, a theologian, he he looks at it this way. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:51.679 He says, When Paul was convinced that no wisdom or efforts of his own could deliver him from death, then he was forced to rely on the power of God. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:58.639 He had to come to the very, that's it, nothing left, very end of what he's got. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:02.080 God, if you're gonna rescue, it's gonna have to be you. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:08.639 This word, but this was to make us. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:16.320 God is working on you in your difficulty, He's actually remaking some part of you. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:24.799 Paul Tripp frames it this way: he says, God intends for the disappointments of this present world to make us long for the next. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.960 This world is not a safe place to look for a sense of well-being. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:32.639 And so we groan and wait eagerly for the paradise to come. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:44.399 And here's the thing: in this life, the good things we experience, and there's plenty of them, they're like just a little like a blink, a flash of what will be in the life to come. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:12:01.519 And these little, these little flashes, these little blinks of God's goodness in the life to come, they're altogether compelling and meaningful to where, without hardly any effort, we we can exchange those for what we put our hope in. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:07.200 You know, Tripp's right that uh these things are not a safe place to put our well-being. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:11.039 In some ways, they're designed to fail us for our own good. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:18.320 So this was to make us rely upon God who raises the dead. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.360 Now you would think by this point Paul would have that pretty clear. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.480 He's preached no less than that. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:35.039 Said, how did God convince Paul, convince his companions, trust in me the one who raised the dead? 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:36.960 This is the third observation. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:42.000 God makes us rely upon him by exposing misplaced trust. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:55.120 So when we trust in something other than him, using something about us, when this fails us, this is God's opportunity. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:59.759 This is when I make you see rightly to rely upon me. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:02.639 Let me give you several examples. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:05.039 Uh, someone could have job trust. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:11.200 By that I mean uh, look, I'm a hard worker, therefore, God needs to reward me. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:14.720 Therefore, God needs to give me a job. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:26.159 And that work sounds great until things change and the job changes, or the compensation changes, or the terms change, or the insurance changes. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:34.480 Until sometimes you're forced to, I cannot trust. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:42.000 Even though you've made me to work, made me as a worker, you're forcing me to trust in you. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:51.039 Someone can have family trust that uh because I did all the right things as a parent, I must be more godly than parents who let's let their kids do whatever they want. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:55.039 And that seems like a great plan before you have kids. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:00.879 And before you realize I have very, very, very little control over them. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:09.039 And God, my only hope of this child loving you is you making him love you. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.639 I mean, I can do my role, the comparison is pretty small. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:25.519 I can just kind of, as one theologian says, I can take take logs of truth and I'm stacking them up, but you have got to bring the fire and ignite it and make them say you're their treasure. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:34.480 One can have theological trust that I have good theology, and so God must prefer me over those who've got some warped, wonky views. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:36.559 Or you could have intellectual trust. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:38.480 I'm better read, more articulate. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:39.600 I read the source material. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:43.360 I don't, I don't, I don't trust on social media for my information. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:46.159 Obviously, God would favor me. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:48.000 You could have scheduled trust. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:52.960 I'm more self-disciplined and rigorous with my time, and and that makes me more mature than others. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:55.440 Or even flexibility trust. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:58.480 In a world that's busy, I'm flexible and relaxed. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:02.960 I don't schedule to the 99%, I leave a good margin in my life. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:06.879 So when life gets bumpy, I've got some place to absorb it. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:09.039 Mercy trust. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:14.559 I care about the poor and the disadvantaged, just like everyone should do, but I'm actually doing. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:16.000 Or legalistic trust. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:21.840 Look, I follow the rules, and far too many Christians these days aren't concerned about holiness. 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:23.600 A couple more. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.440 You have leak, you have financial trust. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:33.279 I manage my money wisely, I stay out of debt, and I'm not like those uh materialistic Christians who can't control their spending. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.279 Or political trust. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:40.960 If you love God, you will exercise your right to vote, to represent Him and your government. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:44.320 Or if you love God, you'll vote for the right candidates. 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:45.519 One more. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:47.200 Tolerance trust. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.960 I'm so open-minded and charitable towards those who disagree with me. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:53.759 In fact, I'm I'm a lot like Jesus that way. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:07.360 And we can list a thousand more little parts of this world where we have some capacity, some ability, and we be in the lean our weight on that. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:14.000 And when it breaks, it never breaks gentle, breaks in a sharp point and stabs us. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:15.360 Hurts. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.559 God said the design in that is always for you to put your trust in me. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:24.480 See, all these things I listed are all admirable. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:39.600 It's when we rely upon them too much that we commit a very, very ancient sin, the sin of idolatry, where we've taken something, even something that's good, and we've exchanged it for the best. 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:46.159 Last week, Neil had a question at the end of the sermon. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:50.080 And the question was this uh, what does God enjoy about you? 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:52.080 I'm just curious. 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:53.840 This is a rhetorical question. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.000 Did you have trouble answering that? 00:16:58.320 --> 00:16:59.919 Was it difficult to answer? 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.480 What does God enjoy about me? 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:13.359 Is what you thought of maybe um God enjoys about me, and then after that, insert a verb of obedience. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:19.200 God enjoys about me that I pray and meet with him. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:23.599 God enjoys about me that I use my gifts to serve others. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:30.400 God enjoys about me that I um don't cut people off in traffic, that I always let them in first. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:35.519 Some act of obedience, some act of you doing something. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:52.400 If that was your default, I'm gonna suggest that you may have unknowingly kind of put yourself in a performance mentality where my approach to God is one where I need to perform. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:57.119 Now, others of you may have said, that's hard. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.440 I don't want to think about that. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:07.519 And uh, I'm gonna suggest you kind of put yourself in a pretending mentality. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:09.119 Let me show you an image. 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:16.240 This is from a Bible study that we teach every couple years here, um, called the gospel-centered life. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:20.880 And this image is uh depicts someone coming to faith in Christ. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:30.960 So you know you're dead in Christ, and then and then when you come to faith and trust Jesus for salvation, that there's an awareness that God is holy and in your flesh you are not. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:36.000 And Jesus bridge the whole gap, bridge the whole thing, make up for everything I don't got. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:40.000 And then people tend to flatten that. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.799 And okay, I'm just trusting Jesus for salvation. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:57.519 And then as God, as He is, appears more and more holy, and as you as you are, uh you see greater and greater depth and intricacy of your flesh and your sinfulness. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:18:59.920 How do we span that gap? 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:05.039 How do we think about God saying, here's what I enjoy about you? 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:13.839 And if we're a performer, it is, I enjoy that you basically do something to make up for the gap. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:21.759 And if we're a pretender, it is that I'm just not gonna think about it. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:25.039 I'm just gonna assume it's not a problem. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:35.680 What God is doing in this text and what he's doing in you, is look at the second image, is he wants your trust in the cross to span the whole thing. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:43.680 And that your trust in the work of Christ would increase hardship by hardship, difficulty by difficulty. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:51.200 Again and again, you'd be learning and relearning and expanding and trusting less in yourself and more upon him. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:58.160 Now, right now, I'm gonna play along. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:05.440 And uh, I want you to think about God the Father looking at you directly. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:13.680 And as he looks at you, what's the emotion on his face? 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:22.079 As he just turns and looks at you, is it frustration? 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:24.640 Is it indifference? 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:26.799 Is it anger? 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:30.640 Is it disappointment? 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:45.440 The scriptures are very clear that when God looks upon you for the believer, he doesn't see you apart from the life and death and work of Christ. 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:49.680 And so when he looks upon you, he's overjoyed. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:53.920 That's his emotion. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:21:01.279 If we're to assign him an emotion, when he looks at you, the believer who's trusted the work of Christ, he's overjoyed. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:06.240 Not because of stuff you've done, because the stuff you've done doesn't make up that gap anyway. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:14.079 Through the work of Jesus, he is completely accepting of you. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:19.200 And he's utterly committed to changing you. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:31.039 And in fact, the difficulties you experience are designed for him to change you ever so much bit by bit into what you're gonna become in Christ. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:42.079 The fourth observation God makes us rely upon him by delivering us from peril. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:43.359 And this is my favorite. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:44.720 Yes, here's my problem. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:45.680 Deliver me. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:46.960 Now I want to love you. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:50.000 Now I want to obey you, now I want to trust you. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:52.079 It's not that he never does that. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:54.559 It's just that's not what he's always doing. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:59.680 But in fact, it does seem his spiritual pattern is for what I'm trusting. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.599 In that's an idol to fail me. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:08.559 And meet in his mercy, brother the Spirit, turn to him for help and hope. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.559 And he moves and delivers. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:18.559 It's not a formula where I'm twisting God's arm to now do something I want, but his mercy, he moves. 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:20.079 Look at verse 10. 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:25.279 He did, he delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:29.519 On him, we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:31.519 So Paul said, look, he delivered us. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:32.960 You're getting this letter. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:36.559 If he didn't, you would not be getting any writing from me. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:38.960 He delivered us. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:40.079 We're not dead. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.039 And in fact, we're putting our hope that he will deliver us. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:50.400 In fact, it's given us courage to now face every face the next thing he's leading us to. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:56.319 We have courage to face it because we we we are remembering how he just rescued us. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:05.759 A very common way that you might experience this is when you return thanks at a meal. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:09.200 A meal and you pray and offer thanks. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:16.160 You know, what what you're not doing is um you know saying a prayer to protect you from all um food poisoning. 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:18.079 That's not what you're doing. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:26.720 Umforting if you're on a mission trip in India like we were last year and you're praying, okay, I'm gonna put it down. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:29.920 God, you keep it down, and um amen. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.960 But what we are doing is we're we're doing verse 10. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:41.759 I'm I'm remembering that you have fed me in the past, you're feeding me now. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.240 I can trust you to feed me in the future. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:48.640 This little framework. 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:58.319 In fact, we have this thing built in in our Christian practice where you have delivered, you're delivering right now, and you will deliver. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:04.720 He says, on him, because of the blood of Christ, we've set our hope and hope in what? 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:06.079 That he will deliver again. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:08.160 He will deliver ultimately. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:12.720 And I want you to listen, listen to this, don't miss this part. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:15.279 If you write something down, write down this part. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:28.640 When it appears or when it feels like, or when it looks like God has abandoned you in some crisis, some difficulty, some suffering, when it looks like he's abandoned you. 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:36.640 Remember, tell yourself, God actually abandoned Jesus so that he would never have to abandon you. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:42.559 When it looks like God has turned his face against you and left you for dead. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:44.000 That's what Paul's saying. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:45.680 We want you guys to know how bad it was. 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:52.640 We were like, side of the road, barely hanging on the life. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:54.799 Roadkill. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:57.759 That's what we were just and we thought this is it, this is over. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:04.640 When it feels like God, you you let me get crushed by some circumstances of life. 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:10.319 I'm just you've turned your face against me, and I'm I'm just gonna bleed out. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.720 Remember that that God actually did to Jesus. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:20.640 He actually turned his face against him and let him die so that he would never have to do that to you. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:22.720 That's already been done. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:25.440 You'd be thinking, yeah, but I deserve it. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:26.960 Yeah, you do deserve it. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:31.920 And God has punished every sin that man commits on Christ. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:35.359 And so, because he did that to Jesus, he never has to do that to you. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:43.920 Because of what Jesus has done, God has to be up to something good. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:50.000 And he says, the good thing he's up to in your suffering is making you rely upon him. 00:25:52.400 --> 00:26:04.880 He said, I'm actually inviting you to a very freeing, enjoyable, and somewhat relaxing in life as you move from trusting in yourself to trusting in me. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:12.000 Fifth observation: God makes us rely on himself or him through prayer. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:13.680 Verse 11. 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:14.960 It's our last verse here. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:24.240 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.880 So you must help us through prayer. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:29.200 It's a little unclear. 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:30.559 Is this a strong expectation? 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.079 Is this a command? 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:35.119 Whatever it is, it's not to be ignored. 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:38.319 And this is not kind of the here comes the prayer guilt trip. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:40.240 You guys aren't praying like you're supposed to. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:42.079 That's not what this is. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:47.759 Paul's saying, if you want to be helpful to us, be praying. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:50.319 In fact, you want to be helpful to anyone, be praying. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:59.279 Prayer is saying, prayer is saying, I'm done depending on me. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:00.720 I'm depending on you. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:02.319 God, I need your help. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:03.680 I need you to rescue. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:04.960 I need you to come. 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:10.000 Paul Miller in his book called A Praying Life. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:13.839 He has this little paragraph talking about parenting. 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:22.000 And this little golden line, he says, Um, I come to realize I did my best parenting through prayer. 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:24.319 I did my best parenting through prayer. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.640 He said it actually was quite relaxing. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:31.680 And I'm gonna offer, we do our best anything through prayer. 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:38.559 Now, what I mean by that is not simply your head and your hands, all right, God, give it to me. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:41.599 You know, you do your best sermon preparation in prayer. 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:44.880 And that doesn't, okay, head and hands, all right, give me the next four words. 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:45.519 I'm ready. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:28:00.079 I got my pencil, I got I got my the Bible out, I got some other books out, I got the computer open, and I'm saying, okay, help help me absorb, help me see the connections, help me understand, help me help me speech to myself first. 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:06.319 We do our best anything by prayer. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:12.640 You do your best working by prayer. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:15.599 And that's just not head in the hands, all right, Lord. 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:19.039 Fill out the Excel street, or just zap me with the spirit. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:19.839 I'm ready. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:21.119 Let's do it. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:25.759 So prayerfully depending on the spirit. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.839 Not on yourself, but on the spirit. 00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:34.960 So this this is what is a context for praise. 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:38.720 So that what many will give thanks for blessing granted through prayer. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:53.039 A couple weeks weeks ago, I had a privilege of having a meal with a couple who they uh they have a ministry towards for um people of Islamic faith in the U.S. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:57.440 And this this couple, in particular, her name's Rachel, his name's Juniad. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:59.440 Um, it just struck me. 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:08.480 She kept saying this phrase, and and it struck me, this phrase is unhealthy, unhealthily absent from my life. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:11.039 And here's the phrase she kept saying. 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:13.680 The phrase she kept saying was, praise the Lord. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:22.960 And she was tell uh telling the story of and every time she recognized it's gonna be God did, let's give him praise. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:27.279 And it wasn't awkward, it was weird, it was more why am I talking like this? 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:42.400 And so her story is that she grew up in Pakistan and was pretty much on the edge of being a radical radicalized jihadist in the in the in the queue of a training camp. 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:57.200 And God in his mercy connected her with a person who said, Here's the claims of Islam, here's the claims of of the God of the Bible. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:01.839 And she began to see this is true and this is a fallacy. 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:03.920 Praise God. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.079 Praise the Lord, he did that to me. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:17.200 Said, and then I'm in Pakistan, only people I know are pretty radicalized people, and he led me to a Christian, and we got married. 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:25.920 Praise the Lord, and we had children, and so my brother and sister came to faith. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:33.359 Somehow they were convinced the God of the Bible is a true God, the scripture, scripture is true, Jesus is a rescuer. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:35.680 And what I believed before was a fallacy. 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:46.960 And then we were under persecution, we were going to be going to jail because we were beginning to share the gospel, and or we might have been killed, and God made a way for us to flee as refugees. 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:48.240 Praise the Lord. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:59.519 And then we're in a city, in a city where there's lots of people who've come from an Islamic country, and they're relocating in the U.S. 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:12.079 And we have a presence with them in a job and in the marketplace, and we're our words, we're practicing apologetics with them, and we're seeing fruit conversion. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:13.599 Praise the Lord. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:27.680 We have a poll saying here that prayer is the way we rely upon God, and when he comes through, it is not, ooh, man, I'm good at prayer. 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:30.400 The prayers of a righteous man availeth much. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:32.960 No, it is God, you are praise you. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.640 You're good and merciful. 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:39.920 The close with these three questions, I guess. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:43.680 The first one is answer questions, maybe you're thinking. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:46.480 Like, what if I'm not really suffering real strong right now? 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:52.400 I got some low-grade coronavirus stuff, but for the most part, it's super strong. 00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:54.400 I would say this. 00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:57.279 Then this is a time for you to be aware of others. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:08.480 For you to say to God, open my eyes and let me see who you want to bring me close to and be your voice and be your hands. 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:12.240 Who do you want me to be a blessing to? 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:20.160 Who do you want me to pray regularly for them to move from relying upon themselves to rely upon you? 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:25.200 For those who you say, oh no, I'm in it. 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:26.240 Oh yeah. 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:27.680 I'm right there with you, Paul. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:28.880 I'm in part of your tribe. 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:30.079 I'm suffering. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:32.319 I'm gonna say this to you. 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:42.400 Uh, what what's most normal, natural when we're hurt and we're in suffering is we we kind of, for all kinds of reasons, embarrassment and shame, not least of them. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:48.000 We build kind of a wall and a moat, and we keep a distance. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:54.480 And you can know enough that's kind of polished and respectable, but you can't really know no. 00:32:54.559 --> 00:33:00.960 And I'm just saying to you let down this drawbridge and let a few people in. 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:07.680 Let a few people in because you're you're not built to suffer alone. 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:11.200 It didn't make you or make the world that way. 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:18.000 We're we're built to be changed by him in the context of the community. 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:21.279 It doesn't have to be hundreds, it can be a few. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:23.839 It has to be some. 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:29.039 Some who will speak the truth to you, some who will pray diligently for you. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:40.720 Last thing I want to say is uh how will I know if I'm trusting God? 00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:44.000 How I know if I've shifted from trusting myself to trusting him? 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:46.240 I'll give you a couple examples. 00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:59.680 One is if if you treat sin more seriously than you did before, if you just revert to treating it as casually as before, then you really haven't been shifted from trusting yourself to trusting God. 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:19.840 If um if you have a new destination in mind, see, Paul, just a few chapters over in chapter four, when he was talking about this intense, we were left for dead on the side of the road, this is how he spoke about it. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:26.559 Chapter 4, verse 17, he said, For this light momentary affliction, okay, now he's not downplaying it. 00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:34.480 What he's doing now, he's saying, This is horrible, and I'm looking at it through the lens of my future destination. 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:39.679 You see, where Paul's headed and where every believer is headed is to a throne room. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:48.960