Crucial Texts for Our Hardest Battles

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - And we are back, good Monday morning.

00:00:07.000 | We enter this new week with a great topic on the table.

00:00:10.360 | I mentioned it on Friday.

00:00:11.600 | I love episodes where we just walk through several texts

00:00:14.600 | that have proved most helpful to you

00:00:16.300 | over the decades, Pastor John.

00:00:18.060 | And we're doing that today,

00:00:19.080 | prompted by this question from a listener named Greg.

00:00:22.220 | Pastor John, hello to you.

00:00:23.360 | I'm so thankful for Desiring God and for you

00:00:25.120 | and for this podcast.

00:00:26.020 | Here is my question.

00:00:27.760 | What are your favorite verses

00:00:28.980 | for when you fight the enemy the hardest?

00:00:31.600 | What are your go-to verses?

00:00:33.920 | I love it when the verses are just there for us,

00:00:35.720 | but we also have to go looking for them also at times.

00:00:38.520 | So Pastor John, what text would you give Greg

00:00:40.560 | and to all of us?

00:00:42.180 | - Well, the first thing is thank you very much.

00:00:45.000 | There's nothing I'd rather do

00:00:46.080 | than go looking for my favorite verses

00:00:48.000 | because I need rehearsal just like everybody else does.

00:00:52.780 | And so just giving some thought to this

00:00:54.880 | was simply wonderful.

00:00:56.800 | It's wonderful not only because I enjoy so much,

00:01:01.540 | but also because I think this is just big,

00:01:04.140 | good for our listeners.

00:01:05.020 | I hope they tune in now for the next 10 minutes or so

00:01:07.160 | and just soak in the glorious parts of scripture

00:01:12.160 | that are so wonderfully tailor-made

00:01:15.020 | for living the Christian life

00:01:16.340 | through all of its ups and downs.

00:01:19.280 | I don't think God wants us to live our lives

00:01:23.340 | in a kind of vague sense of trust.

00:01:27.520 | Like God is good, vaguely.

00:01:29.800 | I have trust, vaguely.

00:01:31.780 | I enter my day, vaguely.

00:01:34.480 | I think he wants us to have specific promises.

00:01:39.480 | Now, since there are hundreds of them in the Bible,

00:01:42.600 | you have to make choices about which one you're gonna use

00:01:46.180 | like a lozenge in your mouth today.

00:01:49.520 | Like I picture my heart as a mouth with a tongue

00:01:52.440 | and I put a lozenge in it of some juicy promise

00:01:55.760 | and I suck on it all day long.

00:01:58.120 | And that means I don't suck on 50 others

00:02:01.240 | 'cause my brain at least will not hold 50 things

00:02:04.360 | in consciousness at one time.

00:02:06.160 | So here are some of my most common go-to lozenges

00:02:10.840 | or passages that I find help in

00:02:14.920 | through all kinds of situations.

00:02:17.320 | And I'm gonna just pose a question

00:02:19.920 | about a situation that I face

00:02:23.040 | and then give you the go-to promises.

00:02:26.760 | Number one, I think I might have 11 of these,

00:02:29.360 | so I'll try to go quick.

00:02:31.200 | Number one, I'll start with lust, the sin of lust.

00:02:35.400 | So here I am searching Google or I'm on some news site

00:02:40.280 | and there's this sexually titillating link,

00:02:43.700 | not to pornography, that's really not a big temptation

00:02:46.140 | for me, I've never been to a pornographic site,

00:02:48.760 | but just this sexually titillating picture over here

00:02:53.240 | that you can go and see more of what that might be about.

00:02:58.240 | Will you click through?

00:03:00.800 | And here are my three go-to passages

00:03:04.560 | that persuade me, don't do that.

00:03:06.940 | That's not going to be good for you.

00:03:09.080 | One is a warning, which is a negative promise,

00:03:13.780 | one is a positive promise and one is a provision.

00:03:16.180 | So first, the warning.

00:03:18.480 | If your right eye causes you to sin,

00:03:20.320 | tear it out and throw it away,

00:03:21.900 | for it's better for you to lose one of your members

00:03:24.200 | than for your whole body to go into hell.

00:03:26.440 | I'll tell you, that's a very powerful disincentive

00:03:29.600 | from clicking through to sexually titillating stuff.

00:03:33.840 | And then there's this positive promise,

00:03:36.320 | and this is even more powerful.

00:03:38.280 | Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

00:03:42.300 | I want to see God.

00:03:45.600 | And I know if I linger over some presumably innocent

00:03:50.560 | sexual stimulation, the defilement of my mind

00:03:55.520 | will obscure the sight of the living God.

00:03:59.520 | I know it will.

00:04:00.660 | And then the third thing is the provision.

00:04:04.000 | He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree

00:04:08.600 | that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

00:04:14.320 | And I say to myself, Christ suffered horribly on the cross

00:04:19.320 | so that I would not click on sexually stimulating material

00:04:25.360 | and I don't want to hammer another nail into his hand.

00:04:30.460 | Number two, I am facing some affliction, say.

00:04:36.280 | It's sickness, maybe small, maybe big, or some loss.

00:04:40.600 | And oh, how precious has Psalm 34, 19 been to me.

00:04:45.520 | Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

00:04:48.700 | but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

00:04:51.960 | Now, the reason that's especially encouraging

00:04:54.120 | is because it says that the righteous are in affliction.

00:04:57.720 | In other words, it's not necessarily owing to my sin

00:05:01.840 | that I'm in this affliction.

00:05:03.880 | And it says I'm coming out in God's good time.

00:05:08.080 | Number three, revenge.

00:05:10.240 | Anger at the way I've been mistreated by somebody.

00:05:14.520 | Somebody said something false about me.

00:05:17.480 | How can I have peace while injustice against me

00:05:21.400 | has been done?

00:05:22.800 | Answer, the promise that God will be the avenger.

00:05:28.100 | John Piper, love your enemies.

00:05:31.040 | You do not need to get the last word here.

00:05:33.740 | God will settle things in due time.

00:05:35.260 | So here's Romans 12, 19.

00:05:37.400 | Beloved, never avenge yourselves.

00:05:41.160 | Leave it to the wrath of God,

00:05:43.840 | for it is written, "Vengeance is mine.

00:05:46.880 | I will repay."

00:05:48.200 | That's a promise.

00:05:49.840 | I will repay, says the Lord.

00:05:52.360 | To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry,

00:05:54.420 | you feed him, John Piper.

00:05:56.520 | Leave the repayment to God.

00:05:59.300 | Oh, how many times I have been set free

00:06:03.240 | from bitterness that way.

00:06:04.680 | Number four, I feel weak.

00:06:07.640 | I feel inadequate.

00:06:08.800 | I'm facing a situation and I'm just not up to it.

00:06:12.760 | Isaiah 64, four.

00:06:16.640 | From of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear.

00:06:21.200 | No eye has seen a God besides you.

00:06:24.640 | Well, what's so unique about him?

00:06:26.640 | Here's what it says.

00:06:27.840 | Who works for those who wait for him.

00:06:31.080 | That's absolutely amazing.

00:06:32.600 | Glorious, the glorious uniqueness of our God

00:06:36.320 | is that he works for us instead of recruiting slave labor

00:06:40.120 | to work for him.

00:06:41.480 | Amazing.

00:06:42.320 | And listen to how 2 Chronicles 16, nine says it.

00:06:47.020 | The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout

00:06:49.960 | the whole earth to show himself strong

00:06:53.920 | for those whose heart is whole toward him.

00:06:56.560 | God is looking for people for whom with omnipotence

00:07:01.400 | he can work today.

00:07:03.400 | Can I work for you today?

00:07:05.320 | Like I'll sign up God to work for me today.

00:07:08.520 | So I wanna be strong for you today.

00:07:10.680 | Will you trust me?

00:07:12.760 | I'll tell you, that's amazing.

00:07:14.720 | Number five, what about when I don't have

00:07:18.640 | what I think I need?

00:07:20.300 | Enough money, enough time, enough help.

00:07:24.520 | What if I lead a ministry and they look to me for hope?

00:07:29.800 | Now there are two go-to verses I've used hundreds of times.

00:07:34.800 | Philippians 4, 19, my God will supply every need of yours

00:07:40.120 | according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

00:07:43.880 | That's mind blowing.

00:07:44.960 | Both the promise and the resources are mind blowing.

00:07:50.360 | The riches of glory is how much he has

00:07:55.360 | with which to help me.

00:07:57.740 | Every need will be met.

00:07:59.520 | How many times did I say to our leaders at Bethlehem

00:08:03.920 | while I was a pastor coming to the end of a year

00:08:06.840 | with finances almost always falling short,

00:08:10.000 | and I say to them, guys,

00:08:12.360 | God will give us everything we need.

00:08:15.920 | He will, it says so, period.

00:08:18.840 | Let's go home and sleep.

00:08:20.600 | And then there's Hebrews 13, five and six.

00:08:23.620 | Keep your life free from the love of money.

00:08:26.400 | Be content with what you have.

00:08:28.480 | He has said, I will never leave you.

00:08:31.440 | I will never forsake you.

00:08:33.400 | So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper.

00:08:36.680 | I will not fear what can man do to me.

00:08:39.200 | I mean, that's as sweet as it gets.

00:08:41.360 | Number six, does he care?

00:08:44.300 | You come into moments where you say,

00:08:46.800 | yeah, I know all the big promises.

00:08:48.160 | He's powerful, he's wise, but does he care?

00:08:50.660 | Does he care about me personally?

00:08:52.060 | I'm such a little teeny weeny weeny,

00:08:54.300 | little human being in the universe is big.

00:08:56.840 | How could God possibly care for me?

00:09:00.320 | First Peter, five, seven.

00:09:02.280 | Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.

00:09:05.680 | Yes, yes, of course, we know that.

00:09:07.360 | That's our theology.

00:09:08.320 | So that at the proper time, he may exalt you,

00:09:11.540 | casting all your anxieties on him

00:09:14.680 | because he cares for you.

00:09:18.920 | I've said that little phrase, walking into situations.

00:09:22.240 | So many times, he cares for you.

00:09:24.280 | He cares for you.

00:09:25.800 | He's God and he cares for you.

00:09:28.040 | So there is a mighty hand and there is a caring heart.

00:09:33.540 | So he says, don't shrink back from humility,

00:09:36.840 | thinking that you're gonna be too vulnerable

00:09:38.940 | if you're humble, but rather remind yourself,

00:09:42.600 | no, every single anxiety goes onto his broad shoulders

00:09:47.100 | because he cares, he cares for you.

00:09:50.100 | Number seven, how much does he care?

00:09:53.800 | Like, is this a mild care?

00:09:56.760 | Is this kind of a begrudging care?

00:09:59.360 | Yeah, God's a God of love and therefore Jesus died,

00:10:02.620 | so he has to care for me.

00:10:03.920 | Oh my goodness, how horrible can our minds talk to us?

00:10:07.880 | How much does he care?

00:10:09.160 | Luke 12, 32.

00:10:10.760 | Fear not, little flock.

00:10:14.080 | It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

00:10:19.080 | It's his good pleasure.

00:10:21.800 | He loves to care for you.

00:10:24.560 | Or better than this is Jeremiah 32, 41.

00:10:27.720 | This is God talking.

00:10:30.120 | I will rejoice in doing good to them

00:10:32.680 | with all my heart and with all my soul.

00:10:38.040 | I mean, what more can God say than that he loves,

00:10:43.040 | he rejoices to do good to us with all his heart

00:10:48.600 | and all his soul?

00:10:51.240 | I mean, there isn't anything conceivably bigger

00:10:55.720 | than all of God's heart and all of God's soul,

00:10:59.320 | and that's what he says is behind his doing good for us.

00:11:03.060 | Number eight, will he help me in this crisis

00:11:09.760 | that I am feeling very afraid in right now?

00:11:14.760 | This is probably the verse that I have gone to, Tony,

00:11:20.200 | more than any other verse in all my 76 years of life.

00:11:25.200 | And I'll bet lots of people who've listened over the years

00:11:31.040 | would already know what verse it is.

00:11:32.680 | It's Isaiah 41, 10.

00:11:35.320 | Fear not, for I am with you.

00:11:38.520 | Be not dismayed.

00:11:40.600 | I am your God.

00:11:42.160 | I will strengthen you.

00:11:44.320 | I will help you.

00:11:46.560 | I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

00:11:51.000 | The reason that is number one

00:11:55.160 | for the struggle with fear, which is almost every day,

00:12:01.040 | something fearful happens every day,

00:12:03.060 | little fears, big fears, is because it's not general.

00:12:07.720 | It's the voice of God himself speaking with a direct,

00:12:12.720 | I will, I will, I will.

00:12:16.040 | Spurgeon said, "I love the I wills and I shalls of God."

00:12:21.040 | Me too, me too.

00:12:23.120 | I mean, they are, I mean, the he wills,

00:12:26.480 | the he wills, he will help you, those are good.

00:12:29.680 | But I will, I mean, when I step into the pulpit

00:12:33.000 | anxious that God act in spite of my inadequacies,

00:12:38.000 | and I hear him say, because I'm preaching it to myself,

00:12:42.760 | by his authority from his word, I will help you.

00:12:46.080 | I mean, that's just glorious,

00:12:49.200 | because you actually hear God by his word say it to you.

00:12:54.200 | Number nine, what about depression?

00:12:57.560 | What about melancholy?

00:12:58.840 | Times of deep, deep discouragement, countless times.

00:13:03.000 | We used to have a sign on the side of the building

00:13:05.560 | because I quoted this so often back in the days

00:13:08.400 | when people thought, "That's the Hope in God church

00:13:10.600 | because of the sign, there it is on the side of the wall."

00:13:13.000 | Why'd they put that up there?

00:13:14.240 | They put it up there because they have a depressed pastor

00:13:16.960 | who needs encouragement as he walks to church.

00:13:19.360 | Here's what I go to, "Why are you downcast, O my soul?"

00:13:25.600 | You're preaching to yourself, right?

00:13:27.000 | John Piper's preaching to himself.

00:13:28.640 | "Why are you downcast, O my soul?

00:13:31.320 | And why are you in turmoil within me, hoping God,

00:13:35.040 | for I shall again praise him, my help and my God."

00:13:38.240 | Oh my goodness, I have preached that to myself

00:13:41.160 | in low times, hundreds and hundreds of times.

00:13:44.320 | Number 10, we're almost done, just two more quick ones.

00:13:47.720 | Death, okay, I'm old, right?

00:13:49.840 | 76 is old, I think I just read,

00:13:52.020 | somebody died yesterday at 76.

00:13:53.680 | Every time I read that or 74 or 63 or 42,

00:13:58.560 | I say, "Wow, I'm living on borrowed time."

00:14:01.720 | Could be any night, right?

00:14:03.040 | So what do you say to yourself

00:14:05.160 | when that fact overwhelms you?

00:14:09.000 | And here is, I mean, for months,

00:14:12.020 | I have recited this to myself

00:14:15.160 | before I go to sleep every night.

00:14:17.440 | Maybe one or two exceptions.

00:14:19.120 | First Thessalonians 5, 9,

00:14:22.400 | "God has not destined you, John Piper, for wrath,

00:14:27.260 | but to obtain salvation through your Lord, Jesus Christ,

00:14:33.760 | who died for you, so that whether you wake or sleep,

00:14:38.760 | you will live with him."

00:14:41.440 | Tony, that's going on to my gravestone,

00:14:45.520 | unless I change my mind.

00:14:46.760 | Number 11, the last one.

00:14:49.960 | And this, I've saved for last

00:14:52.640 | because it's the all-encompassing,

00:14:56.440 | in other words, it provides both foundation

00:14:58.720 | for all the promises,

00:15:00.580 | and it is the Vesuvius of all the promises,

00:15:05.420 | explosion, and you probably know what it is.

00:15:09.220 | Romans 8, 32, "He who did not spare his own son,"

00:15:14.220 | think of it, "but gave him up for us all,

00:15:19.540 | how will he not also with him

00:15:22.860 | graciously give us all things?"

00:15:27.860 | In other words, because Christ died for us,

00:15:31.620 | God will give his children everything,

00:15:35.020 | absolutely everything we need to be supremely holy

00:15:39.720 | and happy forever.

00:15:41.780 | So thank you, Greg, for the question.

00:15:46.220 | May the Lord grant to all of us the faith

00:15:48.940 | to live joyfully, boldly, lovingly

00:15:53.260 | by these amazing treasures.

00:15:56.300 | - Yeah, Greg, that was a great lead-in

00:15:57.900 | to this wonderful episode.

00:15:58.940 | Thank you for instigating it,

00:16:01.140 | and thank you for joining us today.

00:16:02.340 | You can ask a question of your own like Greg did,

00:16:04.780 | search our growing archive,

00:16:06.340 | or subscribe to the podcast,

00:16:07.860 | all at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:16:11.140 | Well, next time we look at God's love to us,

00:16:15.100 | and we are gonna look at his love to us

00:16:17.340 | even when life hurts.

00:16:18.700 | This is one of those areas

00:16:20.580 | that proves especially challenging for us to grasp

00:16:22.340 | because it's relatively easy to see and feel God's love

00:16:24.620 | to us when things are going well in life.

00:16:26.860 | But what about when sickness hits?

00:16:28.660 | What about when we come to the end of our resources?

00:16:30.780 | Even as we approach the end of life,

00:16:32.820 | how do we feel God's love and his purposes in our pain?

00:16:37.700 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:16:38.540 | We'll see you back here on Wednesday

00:16:40.260 | for that answer from John chapter 11.

00:16:42.580 | We'll see you then.

00:16:43.540 | (upbeat music)

00:16:46.120 | (upbeat music)

00:16:48.700 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Crucial Texts for Our Hardest Battles

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