Sermon Notes and Outline 12/27/09

Hope in spite of our circumstances…

Story: My son on Christmas Eve…
The Father knows that his child has something great coming soon and he has told the child as much. The child just needs to trust the father and have patience…does this sound familiar at all?

I. “For I know the plans I have for you…” (Jeremiah 29:11)
It’s God’s plan. When we are obedient to Him, we will think of something or have an idea and start to move in that direction, as we are guided by the Holy Spirit. How do you know if a path or direction is of the Lord?
The Word—“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105)
Prayer—“The fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful and avails much” (James 5:16)
Counsel—“Wisdom is found in a multitude of counsel” (Proverbs 11:14, 15:22, 24:6)
As believers, we are in the loving hands of a loving God. The very hairs of our heads are numbered (Luke 12:7) and all things are working for our good (Romans 8:28, Phil 1:21).

II. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Mark Twain once famously said: “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” And while Twain was not a believer, there is some truth to his words. We spend so much time taking the Bible and making it understandable, coming up with different versions, trying to reach out to different demographics that we lose one very important thing: The mysterious aspect of God, the fact that He is like no other thing in all existence. He had to make Himself into a man (Jesus) so we could have a representation of what God is. Remember what Jesus said to Phillip “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) Jesus is not a nice man in a dress, who might faint if He in all His piety and beauty heard of all your sins. A “nice” Jesus is powerless to save you; he would be disgusted with you.

I preach a bloody Christ, ragged and torn, scourged, crucified and pierced though He was innocent…though I was guilty. One who experienced every disgusting and vile act, every atrocity ever committed and traded Himself as a perfect, sinless sacrifice for all of them, that He might offer forgiveness, healing, and eternal life and to make all who would believe the Children of God.

And yet we read that it pleased God to send Jesus to the cross (Isaiah 53:10). Martin Luther once stared at one of the Gospel accounts of the Crucifixion (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34) for so long that people began to think he had had a stroke. When he finally lifted his head he stated "God forsaking God who can understand that?” His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.

All through the Bible, we see examples of bad things happening to good people. All through our life we see examples of bad things happening to good people. Sin came into this world through Adam and Eve and corrupted it. Only through the Cross does anything in this life have any meaning, any sense. From the foot of the cross we can see that God is working a plan, one that comes from His mind and is thus by definition one that we can only partially understand on this side of eternity. These first two points give us insight as to the nature of God. The next two will show us what our response should be…

III. “Trust in the Lord with your Heart…” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
God calls us to trust in Him with all our heart. Not all someone else’s heart or all of Billy Graham or Chuck Smith’s heart, but all of your heart. I think of the man who cried out to Jesus in tears (Mark Chapter 9): "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" We all trust and believe to varying degrees based on our own maturity and capacity. None of my children would let me walk them up a mountain to make a sacrifice without bringing a lamb or bull or something to kill besides them. And neither would you. You trust me but if I told you I was taking you up Mt. Baldy to make a sacrifice and only you and I were in the car, I would hope you would jump out at the first red light and call the police. And yes, we are not under the sacrificial system anymore but the analogy remains. We are ever in the position of needing to trust God more than we do right now, we are ever heading in the direction of placing our final trust and hope in Him, when we take our final breath here on Earth and our first in Heaven, in His presence.

IV. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7)
Easy to say, easy to rattle off for someone who is going through some sort of trouble. Tough to live out in the real world, even with these three key elements:

The Word— “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Col 3:16)
The Holy Spirit—“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26)
Prayer—“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)

Conclusion: His Plans-His Ways/Our Trust-Our Faith.