back to index2022-05-22 I Believe, Help My Unbelief
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 1. 00:00:25.720 |
Is he who will go as forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn 00:00:30.400 |
the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, 00:00:35.280 |
so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord? 00:00:38.320 |
Zachariah said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? 00:00:41.960 |
For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." 00:00:45.400 |
The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, 00:00:49.520 |
and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 00:00:53.040 |
And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take 00:00:56.680 |
place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time." 00:01:02.080 |
The people are waiting for Zacharias and were wondering at his delay in the temple, but 00:01:05.720 |
when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a 00:01:09.400 |
vision in the temple, and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 00:01:14.000 |
When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home. 00:01:17.760 |
After these days, Elizabeth, his wife, became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion 00:01:22.240 |
for five months, saying, "This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when 00:01:27.000 |
he looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men." 00:01:33.080 |
Gracious Father, we pray that your word would speak to us, revive us, renew us, help us 00:01:40.960 |
to have a clear vision of Christ, what he has done, who he is, what he has said. 00:01:48.480 |
May it all have a deep impression in our hearts, Lord God, in our lives, that we may continue 00:01:54.120 |
to be sanctified according to your will and purpose. 00:02:00.160 |
You know, one of the benefits of being at our church, I think, is that there's an emphasis 00:02:08.200 |
on the word of God, and I'm very encouraged to see so many of our church people who are 00:02:14.000 |
engaged in the study of God's word, who come to the Bible study prepared, ready to engage, 00:02:20.840 |
and so I believe if you're at our church, you are, again, not just at our church, but 00:02:26.720 |
you are growing in knowledge of the word of God, and so there's a benefit that you know 00:02:35.000 |
But the danger that also comes with being at a church where there's a heavy emphasis 00:02:40.120 |
on the word of God is that you gain a lot of knowledge, and if you're not careful, one 00:02:47.040 |
of the first things that happens to somebody where knowledge comes in is that you get puffed 00:02:52.400 |
up, that you tend to think that you are more mature than you really are because you have 00:03:00.680 |
The power of the Bible is not knowledge, it's not you have more information. 00:03:06.120 |
Now information is important because not knowing what the word of God says, you can have passions 00:03:14.540 |
You can have passionate feelings and opinions of things that's not based on what the word 00:03:20.120 |
of God says, but the power of the word is not knowledge. 00:03:24.000 |
Power of the word is your faith, that when you hear the word of God, when you study the 00:03:32.440 |
That's why Jesus says in John 11 when he was talking to Martha, he said, "For indeed we 00:03:39.280 |
have had good news preached to us just as," oh sorry, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection 00:03:44.400 |
He who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes 00:04:03.480 |
Because you know the hardest people to be around, the most difficult people to be around 00:04:08.760 |
are people who throw out theology without affection for Christ. 00:04:15.200 |
They can quote scripture without knowing who Jesus is. 00:04:20.480 |
And all it does is puff up and the word of God just becomes a tool to examine other people's 00:04:26.680 |
And it is a miserable person to be around when knowledge puffs up. 00:04:32.000 |
The power of the word is at the end of the study, do you believe that? 00:04:39.080 |
In Hebrews chapter 4, 2 it says, "For indeed we have had good news preached to us just 00:04:43.360 |
as they also, but the word that they heard did not profit them because it was not united 00:04:50.560 |
So the difference between a Christian and non-Christian are those people who heard the 00:04:53.920 |
word of God, who heard the gospel, and did they believe it? 00:05:02.840 |
Sanctification isn't simply behaving a certain way. 00:05:08.060 |
Every Sunday, every Bible study, you hear the word of God, but the next question after 00:05:12.240 |
you've heard, after you've studied, after you've memorized is do you believe that? 00:05:16.440 |
Because until you believe that, there is no change other than adding more knowledge. 00:05:25.760 |
Your life doesn't look any different than what other people value, except your peers 00:05:32.400 |
So because your peers are in the church, the pressure you feel is not from the world, but 00:05:39.440 |
So you try to compete with other Christians to be more knowledgeable, to be more godly, 00:05:47.220 |
And so you conform to all of this because you're trying to move up the recognition 00:06:07.280 |
In fact, it's a miserable place to be when we have a church filled with people who are 00:06:12.040 |
growing in knowledge without growing brokenness and affection for Christ. 00:06:17.640 |
Because the key to everything that we are learning is the question, do you believe it? 00:06:29.200 |
The text that we're looking at this morning in Zacharias' response and the angel Gabriel's 00:06:34.840 |
response to Zacharias' unbelief gives us some insight as to not only what God does with 00:06:43.680 |
It says in Luke 1 17, after he gives his prophesy, this old couple answer prayer for them and 00:06:51.240 |
through them answer prayer for the nation of Israel that their Messiah would come and 00:06:55.960 |
Zacharias said to the angel, how will I know this for certain for I am an old man and my 00:07:04.080 |
Now we can understand why Zacharias had a hard time believing this. 00:07:14.320 |
He's saying something supernatural is going to happen. 00:07:17.880 |
And on top of that God hasn't spoken through a prophet for over 400 years. 00:07:22.760 |
So this was not a regular occurrence in the nation of Israel. 00:07:26.400 |
Every priest that went in there to burn incense didn't come out speaking to the angel. 00:07:31.080 |
There are 400 years of dead silence and then finally when he speaks he says something supernatural 00:07:37.200 |
So we understand that other human beings, why he had a hard time believing this. 00:07:44.000 |
If you look at redemptive history we see men and women whom God has chosen because of their 00:07:50.480 |
faith to work mighty things and yet they themselves struggled with this. 00:07:58.940 |
He walks out to the desert risking his life, family's life, all because of the simple promise 00:08:03.380 |
that God made that if you follow me I will make you a great nation, I will bless you 00:08:08.080 |
and all the other nations will be blessed by you. 00:08:10.400 |
And yet if you look at Abraham's life as he was wandering and following God, remember 00:08:16.720 |
there are periods when he was so scared for his own life that he would lie about his wife 00:08:20.600 |
and say hey make sure that you say you're my sister. 00:08:23.440 |
And so we see a fragile man, even though there was a man of faith, he was a fragile man just 00:08:33.280 |
Finally when God says that they're going to give him a son just like he promised, remember 00:08:42.360 |
And as a result God says your child is going to be named laughter just to remind you how 00:08:50.380 |
How God raises up Gideon and that he was going to dwindle down his army to a few hundred 00:08:55.100 |
people to overcome tens of thousands Midianites and Gideon's response is like well how am 00:09:01.920 |
I going to know that you're really going to do this? 00:09:04.480 |
So he says send out a fleece and it's going to keep it dry and he's like to prove like 00:09:18.320 |
When they he was a prophet that came that he was going to die and then he pleaded with 00:09:22.600 |
the Lord and then he asked God like how am I going to know this is going to happen? 00:09:26.820 |
He said well can you make the sun stop or to move forward? 00:09:31.240 |
And so we see this pattern repeated through mighty men. 00:09:38.080 |
Men who are supposed to represent faith at certain periods of time they doubt. 00:09:44.980 |
If we're honest with ourselves we're no different. 00:09:50.800 |
I think the greatest struggle that we have is faith. 00:09:59.340 |
Even as we say we believe, even as we profess, even as we surrendered our life to Christ 00:10:04.240 |
from time to time we feel like our faith is no bigger than a mustard seed. 00:10:10.520 |
I mean just practically speaking when we see Matthew 7 7 it says ask and it will be given 00:10:19.880 |
I mean we memorize that passage and we teach that to Sunday school. 00:10:26.560 |
But the power of that passage is not that do you know this passage? 00:10:38.520 |
The power of that passage is do you believe it? 00:10:53.700 |
And the reason we struggle with that is because we hear it but it's not coupled with faith. 00:11:02.120 |
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. 00:11:08.120 |
If you grew up in Sunday school you may have memorized that passage. 00:11:12.440 |
But the power of that passage is not do you know it? 00:11:19.900 |
That if you seek his kingdom, if you put his kingdom first that God will take care 00:11:28.640 |
How much of our lives is flipped the other way? 00:11:31.400 |
If I take care of all the other stuff and I'll leave the stuff that I can't do in 00:11:37.900 |
The reason why we live like that is because we profess this, we teach this, we exegete 00:11:56.540 |
He who loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:11:59.780 |
We know that's the fundamental thing that Jesus taught. 00:12:03.080 |
And when he was going to the cross he said you must also pick up the cross and follow 00:12:08.200 |
This is the fundamental thing that is taught in discipleship. 00:12:12.080 |
But again the power of these words is not do you know it? 00:12:25.040 |
Do you believe that if you live your life to make something of yourself you will lose 00:12:32.640 |
Do you believe that all the pursuits of life so that you can have a better life here that 00:12:39.040 |
you're pursuing something that eventually is going to ruin your life? 00:12:43.800 |
Do you believe that forfeiting all the temptations of the world will actually lead to greater 00:12:59.500 |
Because if we believed it our life would change. 00:13:07.320 |
Finally in Romans 8.32 it says he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for 00:13:11.040 |
another soul how will he not along with this give us all things. 00:13:15.560 |
Think how inconsistent our faith is from week to week to sing songs about God himself took 00:13:24.320 |
on human form and he gave himself while we were yet sinners. 00:13:29.920 |
If you believe and we sing we memorize and we preach the gospel to other people that 00:13:34.080 |
this is what God has done for us and yet day to day we struggle with does God really care? 00:13:46.140 |
And so we work hard to take care of all this other stuff and then only the things that 00:13:52.520 |
we feel like we have no power over we just kind of hand it over to him. 00:13:58.340 |
So again the power of these words is not do you know it? 00:14:15.560 |
In response to Zacharias' doubting the angel says in verse 19 I am Gabriel who stands in 00:14:23.160 |
the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 00:14:28.320 |
Now for us we say oh I am Gabriel what does that mean? 00:14:32.000 |
A Jew would have immediately understood when he says I am Gabriel because the Bible actually 00:14:41.920 |
Number one Archangel Michael and again they're not everywhere but when you look him up Archangel 00:14:46.520 |
Michael is the chief angel and whenever you see Archangel Michael appear in the Bible 00:14:53.880 |
He's the one fighting with the dragon in the book of Revelations. 00:14:56.480 |
He's the one who is gathering the other angels and basically going to war, spiritual war. 00:15:01.160 |
That's Archangel Michael he's the chief of the angels. 00:15:04.400 |
The other angel that's mentioned in the Bible is Lucifer. 00:15:10.460 |
He was the chief worshiper in God's creation. 00:15:15.220 |
But instead of worshipping God in the context of worship he was trying to get worship himself. 00:15:21.600 |
Just like you know he was a great worshipper. 00:15:24.080 |
Imagine if you met the best worship leader that you've ever met in your life and he is 00:15:30.800 |
trying to get attention for himself as he is worshipping. 00:15:35.440 |
So he may be the most skilled but he's the least person that you want up there. 00:15:43.400 |
Lucifer's rebellion is that he wants worship for himself. 00:15:47.160 |
Isaiah 14, 12-14 it says, "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of morning, son of dawn. 00:15:54.660 |
You who have weakened the nation, but you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. 00:15:59.160 |
I will raise my throne above the stars of God and I will sit on the mount of assembly 00:16:04.400 |
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. 00:16:11.160 |
So you have the Archangel Michael who is in conflict with Lucifer. 00:16:16.480 |
Typically we think God is in conflict with Satan. 00:16:27.400 |
Every time Satan, Lucifer needs to do something, he has to get permission from God. 00:16:31.220 |
The conflict that the Bible describes is a conflict between Archangel Michael. 00:16:35.640 |
In fact in Jude chapter 9 it says, "But Michael the Archangel, when he disputed with the devil 00:16:40.200 |
and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment 00:16:48.360 |
So the two other angels that are mentioned in the Bible is Archangel Michael who is in 00:16:55.520 |
So the only other angel that is named in the Bible is Gabriel. 00:17:01.880 |
Gabriel appears in Daniel chapter 8, Daniel chapter 9, and he's the one who is sent as 00:17:06.720 |
a messenger to interpret the dreams that was coming through the people at that time. 00:17:13.560 |
And so Gabriel is widely understood in the Jewish community as the messenger of God. 00:17:22.340 |
So when Zachariah hears when he says, "I am Gabriel," I mean he would have known immediately. 00:17:30.940 |
My guess is he probably was floored, was to the ground, was like, "Oh my gosh. 00:17:39.060 |
That's what he means because the promise, the promise of the angel is only good as the 00:17:50.520 |
Like if your credit is like 500 or 400, you signing a name on something doesn't mean a 00:18:01.300 |
So when he says, "I am Gabriel," in other words he's saying, "I am the one who stands 00:18:07.100 |
In other words, what he's saying, what I am saying to you is from God himself. 00:18:20.260 |
Remember when Moses asked the Lord in Exodus chapter 3, "When you send me to Pharaoh and 00:18:26.300 |
to the Israelites, who are you to demand that my people be set free? 00:18:41.380 |
I didn't choose you because you are the most articulate. 00:18:43.780 |
I didn't choose you because you are the greatest leader. 00:18:50.140 |
The power comes from the sender, not the messenger. 00:18:53.320 |
So when Gabriel says, "I am Gabriel," the one who stands in the presence of God is speaking 00:18:59.240 |
to you, he says, "That should confirm for you." 00:19:07.220 |
You know, typically we ask ourselves in the end, when I said the power of everything that 00:19:12.460 |
we're studying is at the end, "Do you believe this?" 00:19:32.140 |
Nobody cares what you know if it fills you with pride. 00:19:39.700 |
If what you know doesn't lead you to point to a greater Christ, nobody not only cares 00:19:48.540 |
what you know, nobody wants to hear what you know. 00:20:07.560 |
You know, the typical way that somebody would dismiss the Word of God, if you've ever tried 00:20:12.220 |
to evangelize and say, "Oh, the Word of God." 00:20:13.860 |
They say, "I don't believe the Word of God because it was written by man." 00:20:18.620 |
That's a common argument against this being the Word of God. 00:20:27.700 |
And so if the church put it together, if man wrote it, it can't be divine. 00:20:32.220 |
That's usually the argument that you will hear. 00:20:35.820 |
Sproul says about this subject, and he says, "The reason we doubt the Word of God is not 00:20:39.340 |
because His Word is unbelievable or not credible, but because we project unto God the trustworthiness 00:20:47.460 |
Let every man be a liar, but God's Word is true." 00:20:51.140 |
The reason why they put forth that if it came through human hands, we don't trust it because 00:21:05.740 |
Second Peter 1, 16-21, Peter, James, and John sees the transfiguration, hears the audible 00:21:12.340 |
voice of God, and God appears and says, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased." 00:21:18.740 |
But God tells him, Jesus tells him, "Don't say anything yet because it's not time." 00:21:22.260 |
But this is how Peter describes that incident. 00:21:24.460 |
"For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming 00:21:29.200 |
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 00:21:32.680 |
For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this 00:21:39.980 |
This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased, and we ourselves heard this utterance 00:21:44.460 |
made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain." 00:21:50.140 |
Can you imagine that impact that it must have had on him? 00:21:53.180 |
He sees the transfiguration and he says, "Don't tell anything." 00:21:58.140 |
And then he finally gets to tell people, "Man, you know what I saw. 00:22:04.940 |
We've been walking with Jesus, but His glory was veiled. 00:22:08.820 |
But for the first time, that veil was lifted so we could see Him and God spoke to us physically. 00:22:18.620 |
So we have the prophetic word made more sure. 00:22:28.160 |
The prophetic word, "To which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a 00:22:33.180 |
dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart." 00:22:40.460 |
But know this, first of all, that no prophetic scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation 00:22:44.140 |
for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit 00:22:52.300 |
He's saying God has not ordained miracles to bring you to Christ. 00:22:59.420 |
God has not ordained supernatural audible hearings so that you can commune with God. 00:23:05.980 |
God has not ordained miracles so that you can hear Him. 00:23:10.220 |
He says God has ordained His very breath in the Word of God to make it sure. 00:23:17.500 |
So the question that we need to ask is, do you believe that this is the Word of God? 00:23:25.340 |
Not are you studying it, not are you meditating on it, not are you telling other people. 00:23:29.180 |
Not are you handling it accurately, but even before any of that, do you believe this? 00:23:35.540 |
Do you believe that Jesus is the only way, truly the only way, that there is judgment 00:23:41.820 |
coming, that the book of Revelation is not just some fairy tale, that hell is not just 00:23:51.060 |
something that was written just to tickle our imagination, but it's real, that heaven 00:24:01.100 |
is real, that Jesus Christ died for us, for me, is real, my sins have been washed away, 00:24:07.100 |
it's real, that if you seek His kingdom first that all these things shall be added unto 00:24:13.420 |
you is real, that He who did not spare His own Son but gave Himself up for us all, how 00:24:19.340 |
will He not along with Him give us everything else, is real, if you truly believe. 00:24:26.780 |
If you doubt, that's where your struggle needs to be. 00:24:33.220 |
Part of the reason why there is so little attention given to the diligent study of the 00:24:38.380 |
Word of God, I believe, is because we wrestle with faith. 00:24:43.620 |
We don't really believe, or we struggle with belief. 00:24:49.500 |
I mean, if I told you that you got a letter from your favorite basketball star and it 00:24:56.140 |
was seven page and it was written to you, my guess is you would take time to read it. 00:25:02.460 |
If you don't like sports, it's completely irrelevant, right? 00:25:14.020 |
That girl that you've been praying for so dearly has written in response, right? 00:25:26.300 |
Six pages, I've got time to read that, six pages? 00:25:30.300 |
If you responded like that, I would say, "Ah, you're not interested." 00:25:34.460 |
Your natural response would be, "Only six pages?" 00:25:53.420 |
And you would examine every part of that letter because every part of that letter is personal 00:26:01.460 |
If you believe that this is God's Word, that God wrote it to you, to talk to you, to bring 00:26:09.020 |
you to Him, to tell you how much He loves you, the warnings that He gives you, to tell 00:26:16.500 |
us what it's going to be like after we die, to tell us where the power lies, to tell us 00:26:36.780 |
You know, sometimes, because we are raised in a church, we just assume we believe. 00:26:40.900 |
Of course I believe it, and you just kind of give a knee-jerk reaction. 00:26:45.340 |
But look at the way you respond to that, right? 00:26:48.500 |
Because sometimes we can easily fool ourselves. 00:26:52.260 |
I remember when I first became a Christian, the first person that I was so excited to 00:26:59.620 |
share that I became a Christian was this co-worker. 00:27:02.980 |
My dad used to work at this medical supply company, and as he was pastor, that was his 00:27:08.940 |
side job, so during the summer, I went with him to work for about three months. 00:27:12.820 |
And there was this one guy, one of his co-workers, in my mind, he was like the most sincere Christian 00:27:21.060 |
Every opportunity he had, he was reading it in between, and then every opportunity he 00:27:25.720 |
So when I became a Christian, he's the first guy I wanted to tell. 00:27:29.500 |
So he came to my mom's dry cleaner store, and I took a break because I wanted to tell 00:27:35.100 |
Because every break, he was trying to share with me about God. 00:27:40.060 |
So I said, "Hey, he's going to be so excited that I became a Christian." 00:27:43.100 |
So I sat down, and we had probably about an hour worth of conversation. 00:27:47.920 |
And I can't even remember exactly what he said, because I didn't know a whole lot about 00:27:52.060 |
the Bible, other than the things that I learned in Sunday school. 00:27:55.100 |
But he said something that triggered, it's like something's weird. 00:28:00.180 |
And I asked him, "Are you a Jehovah Witness?" 00:28:04.180 |
And I could tell that just kind of like, boom, like he didn't want to tell me that, but he 00:28:08.020 |
admitted because I asked him, "Are you a Jehovah Witness?" 00:28:11.580 |
And obviously, boom, the walls went up, right? 00:28:15.660 |
Again, to this day, I have no idea what triggered that because I didn't know anything about 00:28:21.620 |
It must have been something that maybe my dad said that I kind of picked up subconsciously, 00:28:28.220 |
And then that encounter with him messed me up because this is the most strongest Christian 00:28:37.060 |
I mean, he takes his faith seriously than any other person that I've met. 00:28:53.820 |
Even as I was professing as a Christian, in the back of my mind, I needed to know for 00:28:58.540 |
What if I say I'm a Protestant because I was born in a Protestant home? 00:29:01.900 |
My dad's a pastor, so that was the only access that I had. 00:29:09.960 |
So every opportunity I got, I started to study different religions. 00:29:14.980 |
Every extra elective class I had, I would study Buddhism and different Muslims and different 00:29:24.060 |
And the conclusion was Christianity made the most sense. 00:29:27.180 |
But the next question was then which Christianity, which version of Christianity made more sense? 00:29:32.980 |
They say they have their Bible, and then Jehovah Witnesses, they say they have their Bible. 00:29:37.820 |
Well, obviously, at the conclusion of that, and it wasn't a specific day that that happened, 00:29:43.620 |
but after years of wrestling with this, my conclusion is not even close. 00:29:49.540 |
The Word of God, to me, without a doubt, proved itself that this is God's Word. 00:29:56.900 |
I could tell you all the extracurricular stuff, where archaeological finds fulfilled prophecies, 00:30:01.660 |
the copies of manuscripts and how it was handled, scrutinized for thousands of years, and to 00:30:05.900 |
this day, they couldn't destroy the credibility of the Word of God. 00:30:09.940 |
The other Bibles were just, you trust a guy who is discredited. 00:30:14.100 |
I mean, I can tell you about the stuff that I found, and it was almost impossible to believe 00:30:19.740 |
And even if you don't believe it, it's very difficult to dismiss. 00:30:24.740 |
But since then, I can tell you with full conviction, the greatest revelation of God's Word is the 00:30:36.180 |
All this extra stuff, those are good to have. 00:30:40.900 |
But when you dive into the Word of God, you see the roots underneath the Word of God. 00:30:49.020 |
On the surface, you read the words, and you see the connections, and you see how the themes 00:30:53.140 |
are connected, but the more you dive into the Word of God, you'll see the roots underneath 00:30:57.660 |
that connects thousands of years of authors and themes, like just connected, one theme 00:31:04.900 |
And I couldn't understand, it's like everything points to Christ. 00:31:07.660 |
You know, as a young Christian, it's like, okay, I guess it is, but it is amazing. 00:31:14.660 |
There is no way that a human being, no matter how wise, how smart, could have put this together 00:31:20.900 |
in 1,500 years, 45 different men to have brought this together. 00:31:27.720 |
And the more you see the roots underneath, you sense the breath of God in His Word. 00:31:34.180 |
I don't know how many times I'm doing quiet time, and just instinctively, I hear myself 00:31:47.180 |
Because I get to see a glimpse of God through the Word. 00:31:51.780 |
And many times, it's through the same thing I'm looking at. 00:31:55.240 |
I've preached through almost every part of the Bible, did quiet time numerous times, 00:32:02.140 |
But even now, as I'm going through it, it's like, "Wow." 00:32:11.740 |
The words that it says now, as a 54-year-old, in the stage of life, my perspective is completely 00:32:18.460 |
different, and it looks very different than when I was 16 or 20 or 30 or 40. 00:32:29.460 |
It's hard for me to explain to you, other than to invite you yourself to come, take 00:32:37.300 |
The power of the Word of God is not your knowledge, is not to be able to connect the dots to have 00:32:43.260 |
the best and the most perfect systematic theology. 00:32:48.020 |
And I'm not saying that doesn't matter, but that has no power to change anybody, other 00:32:58.260 |
You know how when somebody, when you see pride in people, the natural instinct is to humble 00:33:05.220 |
And somebody comes on the basketball court and they start speaking trash, and everybody 00:33:10.140 |
That's what happens when you get filled with knowledge. 00:33:21.300 |
The power of the Word of God is that question. 00:33:32.540 |
You know what's amazing about this is, after this encounter, he says, "Because of your 00:33:42.620 |
And in his punishment, in this discipline, basically he doesn't get to speak during 00:33:53.740 |
Whenever God disciplines, there's always two sides. 00:33:56.700 |
Just like if you were to discipline your children, you're disciplining them, but you're not 00:34:06.420 |
Most parents will know that you're disciplining them, but you're hoping that the discipline 00:34:09.620 |
would lead to something positive, and that's why discipline happens. 00:34:12.380 |
And in the same way, God brings discipline, and there's a negative side to this discipline. 00:34:21.260 |
But the privilege that he had to represent Israel and go and then pray, that at the end 00:34:29.780 |
of that, he would declare the priestly blessing upon Israel. 00:34:35.500 |
So typically what would happen, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime privilege, that he would 00:34:47.220 |
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. 00:34:50.000 |
The Lord lift up His counseling on you and give you peace." 00:34:56.980 |
That's like winning the lottery, to stand before God's people and God, and to come out 00:35:03.140 |
of that room saying, "The Lord bless you and keep you." 00:35:12.580 |
Not only that, the whole reason why John was coming to be a forerunner, to tell people 00:35:19.220 |
And so that privilege was taken away from him, so he could not. 00:35:24.760 |
And I'm sure that kind of grieved his heart, that one time he was looking forward to, when 00:35:27.940 |
he won the lottery, to go in there and he was looking forward to, like after he's done, 00:35:32.500 |
"I'm going to come there, represent God, the Lord bless you, and keep you, make His face 00:35:37.980 |
And he comes out and he's like, because he couldn't speak, so he's making sign language. 00:35:46.680 |
But just like everything negative, there's always a positive to his discipline. 00:35:54.760 |
They go to Canaan, they come back and they said, "They're too big for us. 00:36:01.160 |
And as a result of that, Israel wanders in the desert for 40 years. 00:36:06.320 |
So the punishment was they couldn't go into the Promised Land. 00:36:09.260 |
But the 40 years in the desert was the best time Israel had in their history. 00:36:16.340 |
Forty years, where God spoke to them, God moved, His fire would move. 00:36:22.940 |
God was in the tabernacle, was in the middle, people were worshiping God. 00:36:28.140 |
They told them to sit down, they would sit down. 00:36:29.780 |
And as long as the Lord was with them, they were protected for 40 years. 00:36:34.720 |
So even though they were being punished, the 40 years was the best time in Israel's life. 00:36:39.780 |
Like Moses, 40 years is wandering in the desert and he's about to go in and he strikes the 00:36:45.060 |
rock and God says, "Because you do not show me as holy, you cannot go in." 00:36:50.220 |
And Moses wanted to go in so bad, "Look at that beautiful land." 00:36:57.020 |
If you look at Israel's history, as soon as they enter Canaan, everything fell apart. 00:37:04.340 |
They started following the idols and you think Israel was frustrated during the 40 years 00:37:12.300 |
So even though he was being disciplined, he was actually being spared as well. 00:37:18.220 |
The positive of being mute, one, it was a sign that God was actually going to do what 00:37:28.140 |
But the greatest time of knowing God, hearing God is when God isolates us and oftentimes 00:37:41.820 |
You ever hear in the middle of the night the clock ticking? 00:37:47.340 |
Or you wake up in the middle of the night and you hear the water dripping from the faucet? 00:37:53.180 |
You try to hear it, you can't hear it, right? 00:37:55.540 |
But in the middle of the night when it's dead silence, something that you don't even know 00:38:13.300 |
That's what it sounds like in the middle of the night. 00:38:20.820 |
It's not all of a sudden that thing gets like the volume, they turn off the volume three 00:38:27.940 |
It's because all the other noise disappeared. 00:38:35.580 |
And so all of a sudden that noise is amplified. 00:38:40.420 |
And I remember thinking in the middle of the night, how much of God's voice is being drowned 00:38:45.980 |
out by the noise of our life, the busyness, trying to present ourselves a certain way, 00:38:54.620 |
being concerned about our paycheck, about relationships, about how people view us. 00:39:02.060 |
How much of God's voice is drowned out because of that? 00:39:09.260 |
Sometimes God will isolate us in order for him to speak to us. 00:39:15.500 |
I remember back when I was 19 and 20, I had a job, I shared with you, where I was a janitor 00:39:25.620 |
It doesn't exist there anymore, but it was a large piece of land where if you were in 00:39:29.580 |
the middle of the company, you couldn't hear anything outside. 00:39:32.520 |
And so my job was from five to two in the morning to clean up trash cans and vacuum 00:39:36.380 |
and tidy things up in about 10, 15 bungalows. 00:39:40.220 |
And I remember the sun would go down around 5.30, 6 o'clock during the wintertime. 00:39:46.860 |
And I remember being so isolated during that time because one, I was trying to break away 00:40:04.940 |
So I was working from five to two and then I would go to sleep around 2.30, get home, 00:40:08.940 |
and then I'd have to wake up around seven because I have to go to school. 00:40:12.700 |
And then I tried, I tried to take full time and I would go to school till about two in 00:40:19.780 |
the afternoon and I'd have to take a short nap and then go back to work. 00:40:23.100 |
And this was my schedule from Monday through Friday. 00:40:26.500 |
And then because I didn't have any time during the day, because I was working and going to 00:40:30.740 |
school, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, I would hang out at Biola by myself, just 00:40:40.200 |
So part of it was because I was trying to study. 00:40:43.220 |
And part of it was because I had nowhere else to go, to be honest with you, because I wasn't 00:40:50.620 |
And so, you know, Friday night I was at Biola, you know, at some, because back then they 00:40:58.060 |
I don't know how many guys are Biola students and now they don't because they don't trust 00:41:05.540 |
So I would go there Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, you know, whenever I 00:41:17.700 |
And I remember my birthday would come and go and having no contact with anybody that 00:41:23.540 |
But man, that period, Jesus was so real to me. 00:41:35.760 |
And as painful as that period was, I often think about, I wish I was back there. 00:41:49.780 |
My circumstance, and because I got into so much trouble, I was trying to break away from 00:41:55.300 |
And I forced myself into that position because I needed to, I needed to pay the bills and 00:42:02.500 |
And I remember everything God said was so loud and clear to me, everything that I read. 00:42:13.220 |
And I remember going to the chapel at Biola, not because I had an agenda, like, oh, I got 00:42:19.540 |
to pray for this and I need to pray for my family and to pray with, because just being 00:42:25.220 |
in his presence was, was where I wanted to be more than anywhere else. 00:42:31.680 |
So sometimes I would just go to the chapel and just sit there and say, God, I'm here. 00:42:37.340 |
And I'd rather be here with you than anywhere else. 00:42:42.860 |
And I remember thinking to myself, if I can maintain this relationship with Jesus, I don't 00:42:54.380 |
But I remember thinking, I don't need to get married. 00:43:07.860 |
Sometimes God will, it may seem like discipline and it is sometimes because God's trying to 00:43:25.420 |
And you will always meet a gentle and caring Jesus. 00:43:34.580 |
Sometimes our faith feels smaller than a mustard seed. 00:43:42.640 |
And our honest prayer is, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. 00:43:53.620 |
Jesus waited for the perfect time because the perfect time was when Israel's faith was 00:44:00.180 |
like a burning wick that should have been snuffed out. 00:44:04.740 |
It was a burning wick that should have been snuffed out. 00:44:10.280 |
It was a bruised reed that would have been useful for nothing. 00:44:19.180 |
And yet Jesus promised a battered reed he will not break off and a smoldering wick he 00:44:24.020 |
will not put out until he leads justice to victory. 00:44:30.340 |
I pray that you would come to know this Jesus. 00:44:41.500 |
Not just a Jesus to be worshipped from a distance or something to be looked forward to when 00:44:48.380 |
But this Jesus, this sympathetic high priest, that even as we struggle, even as we recognize 00:44:57.860 |
more and more each day that we are undeserving, that you would come to know this sympathetic 00:45:05.420 |
So when they ask you, do you believe, that you would resoundingly say, yes, I believe. 00:45:21.100 |
I pray that as we continue to wrestle through his word, that this is the Jesus that you 00:45:27.820 |
come to know, to grow, to love, to follow, and to proclaim. 00:45:44.460 |
Lord, you truly are beautiful beyond comprehension. 00:45:54.660 |
I pray, Father God, that you would open our eyes, that we may enter the throne of grace 00:46:02.060 |
with confidence, that we may find help, grace, mercy, and love when we are weak, when we 00:46:14.380 |
are discouraged, when we have failed, when we are isolated, when we are alone. 00:46:24.260 |
Lord God, help us, Lord, as you've drawn near to us, that you would draw your children to