“In Love with Jesus” – Part 3 – Matthew 14:22-33

Okay, help me finish these sentences. “The people are obedient. God blesses.” Then what? “Satan attacks.” We have talked about that lots of times, right? It’s a cycle you see all through scripture and, if you look closely, you will see it in your own life as well. You may very well be in the process of that cycle right now.

You have been obedient and you look around and see how God has protected and provided and given wisdom. God has been generous and merciful. All of that is such a blessing. Do you think Satan is just going to sit back and let you enjoy that? Not on your life. He hates you and wants to kill you dead but if God won’t allow him to kill you, he will settle for making you miserable or, at the very least, distracting you from what you need to be doing.

It happened to Adam and Eve in the garden. It’s the story of Job. King David fell for it. Satan even tried it with Jesus but was unsuccessful. Today, I want us to see it happen in the lives of the disciples and we will also see the good that came from it. In Matthew 14 there is a lot going on. John the Baptist gets beheaded. Then Jesus feeds 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Then Jesus walks on water and after all that, He goes and heals a bunch more people. That’s all in one chapter and probably all happened in just a day or two. So, the disciples were busy and their learning process was probably like drinking from a fire hose.

But they are being obedient to what Jesus tells them to do and even though some of the things He said and did was blowing their minds, they continued to believe more and more. Their faith continued to grow every day and they were being blessed just being in the presence of Jesus…and Satan couldn’t stand it.

After Jesus had fed the five thousand, He sent the people home. That was probably just before dark sometime. Depending on the time of year, it was probably 6-9 pm. Then Jesus tells the disciples to get in the boat and row on across the northern part of the Sea of Galilee. It’s a pretty short trip. Jesus said He would meet them on the other side. We will read He needed to be alone so He could pray. He also knew what was about to happen out on that lake and He had something else to show them, especially Peter. Let’s read about it in Matthew chapter 14, verses 22-33.

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Billy and I went fishing a while back on my old pontoon boat and when we left, the wind was calm and nice and it was a pretty day. We went off into one of the thousands of little coves here on Lake Bridgeport and we fished for a while and then Billy said, “Uh oh. Look out there at the main lake. It looks like it’s getting a little windy.” And we agreed we better start heading back.

Well, in that cove, we were protected from the wind but once we got out on the main lake, it was seriously white-capping. We were heading straight into the wind and it felt like we were on the ocean. Big waves would send us way up and then the nose of the boat would head way down and we would hit the water with a crash, over and over again. We knew we would eventually get back but it was kind of spooky there for a while. That old boat is slow with the wind behind it, much less heading into a squall.

I can’t imagine what the disciples were going through. They didn’t even have a forty-horse outboard. They were trying to row across a short section of the lake and it should have taken them less than an hour but the wind was right in their face and it was blowing them backward. In fact, if you read the accounts in the other Gospels about this story, you realize they had probably been out there rowing for their lives for over nine hours. (MacArthur, Matthew 8-15, page 439)

Now, it’s between 3 and 6 in the morning and they have to be panicked. If this boat capsizes, they are probably going to drown in this storm. They have to be exhausted from rowing all night and even though most of these guys were fishermen and well acquainted with the water, this has to be scary.

That is right were Satan wants you to be. He wants you to be exhausted and panicked. He wants you to be scared. He wants you to be miserable and hurting and thinking of nothing but survival.

But then, guess who shows up. I love the way the Gospel of Mark words it. He says in Mark 6:48, “He was about to pass by them”! Can you imagine this scene? The disciples are rowing as hard as they can, scared for their very lives, crying, cold, wet, exhausted and here comes Jesus cool breezing across the water like he’s walking through the mall or something. “S’up guys?”

Now, we get to the good part. Now, we get to the part where Peter’s heart is revealed because it is at this point that nobody is trying to be anything that they aren’t. You see who a man really is when he is desperate for his life and everything is against him. Nobody is trying to show off or be cool. And Peter says something here that I think tells us a lot about him. Look at verse 28 again. “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”

Don’t you know all the other disciples looked at Peter like, “What? Peter sit down and be quiet!” It’s probably something they wanted to say pretty often with Peter because rarely does it seem that Peter ever really thought through what he was about to say. That’s why so many of us love Peter. I know this is Ben’s favorite Bible character and it might be yours too because who can’t relate to saying something stupid at an important time?

You remember when Peter, James and John were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus allows them to be with Him when He supernaturally meets with Moses and Elijah. Their clothes became white as snow and bright as the sun and what does ol’ Pete blurt out? "LORD, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters-one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." I’m pretty sure James and John both stuck an elbow into Peter’s ribs and told him to sit down and shut up.

I was in Lowe’s the other day going through the check out line and I made some small talk with the lady behind the register and she seemed nice. At the end of the transaction, she said, “And…here’s your receipt.” And I said, “You too!” I’m such a dork sometimes so I can relate to Peter who blurts out, “Lord, tell me to come to you!”

I don’t think he thought about it. It wasn’t a well-thought-out plan. All he knew was Jesus was over there and he wanted to be where Jesus was. His world was very likely about to come to an end real soon. He was exhausted mentally and physically. Everything was going wrong. Satan was attacking. The wind was blowing. They were going in the wrong direction and were miles from shore but He knew it would all be okay if he could just be with Jesus.

I guess I’ve read Philippians 4:7 a hundred times. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Everybody quotes it. Everybody knows it by heart. It’s on your decorative hand towel that is on the door under your sink. You may have a t-shirt with it printed on there or maybe it’s your Facebook picture or something.

But do you KNOW it? You know the verse but do you know the peace; the peace that is beyond understanding? If you do know it, it’s because you have been through the storm. It’s because you have had to deal with something horrible and tragic, maybe unspeakable…and found Jesus right in the middle of it. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. You didn’t ask for it or deserve it but God allowed or even caused it and part of the reason for it is so you will know that His presence is enough!

Jesus Himself said in John 16:33, “you will have trouble in this world. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” He has overcome the world and the storm. He has overcome and is greater than your cancer, your divorce, your brokenness, loneliness, guilt and shame. In all of that, we need to – in fact, we have to – learn to just be with Him. Abide in Him. We don’t have to understand Him. Peter couldn’t explain the science behind walking on the water. He didn’t have to. He trusted Jesus. He loved Jesus.

But here’s the thing. He had to get out of the boat. Jesus was right there walking alongside the boat but for Peter’s world to stop crashing and sinking, he had to get out of that boat. If you want to experience the peace of God that is unexplainable, then you have to get where Jesus is and get away from where the rest of this world is.

We have to live in this world for now but we don’t have to be of this world. What I mean is, this world has fun movies, exciting music, outrageous places to go and things to do. The people of this world are beautiful and rich and healthy and the TV commercials tell you that all you have to do to be like them is buy their product. And do you know what? Not all of that is bad and some of it is fun. In fact, there can be pleasure in even in sin…but it’s fleeting (Heb. 11:25). It doesn’t last. And where is all that stuff when you are going through unspeakable difficulty? It doesn’t bring peace or joy. Only God can do that.

Let me give you an illustration. Ladies, let’s pretend like you and your husband are going on vacation and you are taking a plane to go to Hawaii. Sounds good so far, right? So, you get on the plane, hauling your carry-on luggage and looking for your seat number. You find it and go to sit down but you realize that Brad Pitt is sitting on the aisle seat right next to you. Your seat is in the middle and your husband requested the window seat.

It’s really Brad Pitt! It’s the big movie star hunk and you are sitting right next to him for the whole trip to Hawaii. And when you sit down, ol’ Brad turns to you and says, “Hi there. How you doing?” and winks at you. Oh, my! Your heart and your eye lashes are just fluttering. He introduces himself and makes some small talk and then he puts his arm on the armrest but yours is already there. You try to move your arm but he grabs your hand and just holds it.

Your husband isn’t seeing any of this, by the way. He’s reading the SkyMall magazine or something and doesn’t see it. Suddenly you realize that Brad Pitt is coming on to you. He’s whispering sweet nothings in your ear and promising you crazy things if you will just go with him when you get to Hawaii. What do you do?

I know some of you ladies are already forgetting your husband’s name at this point. “Who him? Oh, no. He’s not with me. Never seen him before.” But let’s think about it for a second. At this point, you have a few options. You can ditch the pot-bellied dinosaur on the other side of you and spend the week with Brad Pitt but you know it’s not going to last, right? Or, you could just sit there and flirt with him and not really make any decisions and see where it goes. Or, you could thank him for the offer and plainly tell him you are happily married.

But what you don’t realize is your husband, who you thought was reading, has actually been listening to every word and he is waiting for you to make a decision. How do you feel now? Do you want some short-lived excitement for the week with Brad? Do you want a little bit of excitement flirting with him? Or do you want to please your husband and live happily ever after?

See, the world is just like Brad Pitt in my stupid little scenario. You can live your life trying to have some fun and give your whole self to it. Most people here today would never do that. But what almost all of us do is try to be a little flirty with the world. How much can I get away with? I’m not giving myself all the way to worldly things. I just want a taste. I just want to play around a little bit and have Jesus too.

Well, I’m hear to tell you that your level of peace in the difficult times directly corresponds with how close you are to Jesus. If the world is Brad Pitt, then you ought to be sitting in your husband’s lap. You need to push the world away with all it’s bright lights and promises of good times and fast living and crawl up into the lap of Jesus. Abide in Him. Read about Him. Sing about Him. Meditate on Him. Talk about Him and pretty soon you will start to truly understand what Philippians 4:7 means.

I see well-meaning Christians all the time who are stressed out, depressed, anxious and angry who can’t understand why. I mean they go to church maybe once a week if they don’t have anything else. Isn’t that enough? Their lives are almost exactly like everybody else in the world. They watch the same movies, go to the same places and listen to the same music and flirt with the world all week long and can’t understand why they don’t have peace when difficulties come. I guess Philippians 4:7 isn’t true for everybody.

Going back to Matthew 14. Peter did something pretty radical, didn’t he? All the other disciples just sat there but Peter knew where his help came from. Yes, it was radical and the world and even the other people in the boat probably thought he was crazy. But Peter had a relationship with the One who is charge of the storm and he knew he needed to be where Jesus was no matter what. Peter was impetuous. He was brash. He had no filter and we love him for that and Jesus loved him in spite of all that and so Peter loved Jesus.

How much do you love Him? How much do you want to have peace in this life? What’s that worth to you? How is working out for you the other way? I’m talking about doing something radical. It might mean selling your TV. I know that sounds radical but you don’t have to have a TV. If that is causing you to live OF THIS WORLD, then get rid of it.

Maybe it means deciding to get up a little early and have a quiet time where you can just read scripture and pray and sing. Maybe it means, and I know this sounds crazy, but maybe it means coming to church for Sunday night Bible study and Thursday night Bible study. Maybe it means listening to Christian music or Christian preaching. The radio is filled with good preachers. You’ll probably wonder why your preacher isn’t as good and that’s okay because it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s not about Brad Pitt or the world. Your life ought to revolve around Jesus!

I know you have jobs and families and responsibilities but if you want peace and joy in this world, invite Jesus into every aspect of your life. If you don’t, don’t expect peace and joy. It’s that simple. If you don’t, don’t be so surprised when there’s not peace in your house. Don’t be surprised when there’s not peace at your job. Don’t be surprised when there’s not peace in your neighborhood.

If you want revival in our church and in our country, it is going to take a radical change that starts in you. Are you willing to shun the world and all the temporary shiny things it offers and abide in Jesus? Make that commitment right now.

Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes and just start by praising God for who He is. Praise Him for His power and His sovereignty. Praise Him for His creativity. Praise Him for His power. Now thank Him for what He has done in your life. Thank Him for His grace and mercy and forgiveness that provides the peace and joy that is beyond all understanding.

Now ask Him what He wants you to do. Is there something He wants you to give up? Is there something He wants you to start? Is it your speech? Is it your attitude? Are you giving of your time, talents and treasures like you should? What part of your life are you still trying to control? What do you need to give to Him? Now just be quiet and let Him speak.

If you don’t have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus, then none of this is going to work or even make sense. There are benefits of being an adopted son or daughter of the King of kings. We can have peace and joy in this life plus the assurance of eternal life with Him in Heaven in the next life. Ask God to come into your life and take over today. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and then repent or turn away from those sins and that lifestyle. Do it right now. All you have to do is believe but that belief will manifest itself as a changed life. Has He changed yours? He will if you ask. Do it today.

“In Love with Jesus” – Part 2 – 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Life is all about balance. When we are growing children, we learn to walk by finding balance. Too far forward or too far back and we fall down. As we get a little older, we are given some freedom to make our own choices and we hopefully learn quickly that too much of doing what we want gets us in trouble, but counting on somebody else to make all your decisions isn’t healthy either.

When we mature and start a profession or a family, it’s easy to work too much and neglect our family and ourselves but it’s no good to be lazy and not work at all. Life is all about balance. It’s easy to eat or drink too much. It’s easy to get out of the habit of church, prayer and scripture. It’s easy to take some things for granted while concentrating too much on other things. It’s easy to think too much about somethings and not think enough about others.

My favorite scripture is Isaiah 43:18-19. Part of which says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” But I know I can’t nor should I forget completely everything that has ever happened to me. In fact, God says just a couple of chapters later in Isaiah 46:9, “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other.”

 

It’s about balance. We are constantly told by doctors and health experts to drink more water but did you know that you can drink too much water? It’s called “hyponatremia” and you can actually die from it. It’s rare but it’s possible if you drink too much too fast. Balance. Not too much. Not too little.

 

Our salvation stories are no different. We have all heard the guy stand up and tell all the bad things he has done, with graphic and gory details, going on and on how bad a person he was. He spends twenty minutes telling how bad he was and then tack on to the end, “But then I found Jesus…”

 

I love hearing Billy’s testimony. I love it because…well, Billy. But my favorite part is how he describes his past. His actual words are, “blah, blah, blah. I got in trouble. Now, let me tell you about Jesus who saved me and changed me.” I love that and I know God does too. Yes, Billy has a past. So do you. So do I. We haven’t completely forgotten that we have made mistakes. It’s just that we choose to forget and we choose to make God look good for what He has brought us out of. We don’t focus on what He brought us out of. We focus on Him. And when we do that, it reminds us of who He is and who we are and just how much we love Him.

 

Now, I don’t care how big and bad and mean and evil you used to be. I don’t care that you were the president of the Hell’s Angels. I don’t care how long you were in prison or how much drugs you did or how you punched puppies just for fun. Your testimony “ain’t got nothing” on the Apostle Paul’s. Paul started out Saul and he was a bully. I don’t mean he pulled little girls’ hair on the playground. I mean he had people either killed or imprisoned for believing differently than he did. He was in the business of persecuting Christians and busines was good…until Jesus came into Paul’s life.

 

Let’s read a short version of Paul’s testimony in 1 Timothy 1, verses 12-17. The two Timothys are between the Thessalonians and Titus, in the “T” section of the New Testament. First and Second Timothy were written by Paul to, you guessed it, Timothy who was Paul’s young preacher boy to give encouragement and instruction on how to live as a Christian and as a pastor or minister.

 

This was written towards the end of Paul’s life and ministry and is a personal letter to a dear friend. He wants what is best for Timothy and for his ministry and gives him some words of wisdom but here we see Paul sort of recapping his life with a focus on why he loved Jesus so much. But notice that while he recounts some of his past, he doesn’t dwell on it or spend too much time there. It’s all about how he loves Jesus because of what God brought him out of. Let’s read it in 1 Timothy 1:12-17.

 

I thank Christ Jesus our LORD, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. 13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14The grace of our LORD was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

A man had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. He could receive little company and was not to be excited. While in the hospital a rich uncle died and left him a million dollars. His family wondered how to break the news to him with the least amount of excitement. It was decided to ask the preacher if he would go and break the news quietly to the man. The preacher went, and gradually led up to the question. The preacher asked the patient what he would do if he inherited a million dollars. He said, "I think I would give half of it to the church." The preacher dropped dead right there.

Do you know what I would rather have than a million dollars? I would rather have the gifts that Paul says God had given to him in this passage. I’m serious. How much is strength, mercy, grace, faith, love, salvation, patience and eternal life worth? Those are the gifts that God gave Paul and He gives us the same gifts.

Look at verse 12. I thank Christ Jesus our LORD, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. When God appoints you to His service – and He does appoint all of us – He will give you the strength to endure and succeed in it. He will give you the strength to continue when everybody around you tells you to just stop. He will give you the strength to overcome whatever obstacles the enemy and even well-meaning people put in your way. Paul said as much in 2 Corinthians 4:1 where he said, “Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.”

Somebody tell me how God has given you strength to do what He has told you to do.

Look at verse 13 again. “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy…” What is mercy? Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Think of mercy as what a judge gives you even though you are found guilty. Paul admits that he was a bad guy. He admits that he used to be a bully but he was shown mercy. He deserved to be thumped of the planet and right into hell but God didn’t give him what he deserved.

I was going to ask how God had shown you mercy but I think most of us would only think of God not thumping us off the planet as well but remember, Paul said, “since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” So, I want you to think about your ministry. And we are all called to the ministry when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Part of Ben’s ministry is music. Part of Morris’ ministry is audio / visual. Part of Troy’s ministry is cutting the grass. Part of Linda’s ministry is the library. Those are just some of the people that minister around here.

Now, tell me. Who do you think you are? Troy, what makes you think you deserve to cut the grass around here? Linda, just because you are soft-spoken doesn’t make you worthy to work in the library. Ben, who said you deserve to lead music? The same could be asked of me and you. Why do we deserve to be in God’s ministry at all? We don’t! We have been shown mercy and because we have been shown mercy we do our ministries the best we can with the gifts that God has given us to show how much we love Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy!

Now, let’s move on to verse 14 where Paul talks about grace. “The grace of our LORD was poured out on me abundantly…” Grace. What is grace and how does it differ from mercy? Mercy is not getting what we deserve and grace is getting what we don’t deserve. If we get mercy from a judge, think of grace as what you get from a cop.

Let’s say your inspection sticker is out. A cop pulls you over and he sees that it is expired but it’s only been out a few days so maybe, hopefully he shows you grace and lets you go with a warning. It’s expired. You deserve a ticket. He has the legal authority but he chooses to let you go. That is grace. And Paul says it was poured out on him abundantly.

G.W. Knight wrote, “When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day's pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award--yet receives such a gift anyway--that is a good picture of God's unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.”

In Ephesians 1:8, Paul says that God “lavished His grace on us.” That word “lavish” means to be in abundance, to be excessive, superfluous, superior and advantageous. I was talking with my sister the other day about somebody that had been blessed and I called it “stupid grace.” I felt kind of bad but I wasn’t calling God stupid. It’s just that I sure wouldn’t have blessed that person like God did. This was crazy excessive grace that none of us deserve but we have all received. In Romans 5:20, Paul said, “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Thank you, Lord, for your grace.

Paul continues in verse 14 to say that not only was grace poured out abundantly but faith and love were as well. Jesus is the source of faith and love. That sounds real pretty but what does it mean? It means that Jesus gave you the faith that it took to believe in Him. Without His gift of faith, you would never feel the need to believe in Him, much less actually do it. But once you started on your journey of faith by taking that first step, He gave you a little more faith to believe that He will protect you and provide for you.

Your faith then grew to where you knew that even in the hard times and the dark times that He could be trusted. He made that faith grow by allowing you to be put in positions of difficulty so that you would prove your faith to yourself and others as you made wise choices. Pretty soon, you could say, like Paul, who learned all this the hard way like you have, that God was pouring out His faith and His love onto you and into you and out of you until it was spilling over and into the people around you abundantly and excessively. Thank you, Lord, for your faith and love!

Look at this next gift that Paul talks about in verse 16. Patience. In verse 15, he says he is the worst of all sinners but according to verse 16, it was “for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience.”

I love having the Gideons come here and speak to us every year. I love it because they give out free Bibles to so many people in so many places but I also love it because of their illustrations. I always tell them I’m probably going to steal at least one of your illustrations and so that’s what I’m doing today.

The man that spoke to us one day said he was handing out Bibles to the inmates in prison one time and a guy came up and asked for one but also said, “I gotta be honest. I only want that Bible because I want to use the paper inside to roll cigarettes.” The Gideon thought about it for a second and said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you this Bible if, before you smoke the page, you read it first.” And the inmate agreed so he gave him the Bible.

He said he went back a year or two later to give out more Bibles and a man walked up and reminded him who he was and why he had asked for the Bible back then and said, “I want you to know, I read and smoked all of Matthew, Mark , Luke and half of John before I finally came to realize that Jesus died for me and now I am a Christian because of that Bible you gave me!” I love that story.

But I’ll tell you if I’m God, I don’t have that kind of patience. You aren’t smoking up my word! I’ve given you enough faith to believe in me. I created the universe which is obvious and you are without excuse as it says in Romans 1:20. If that’s not enough, then too bad. See ya!

Aren’t you glad I’m not God? Aren’t you glad that God shows such patience with us? He lavishes His patience on us. Paul says it is “immense.” Somebody tell me how God was immensely patient with you. (If you are reading this as an inmate or on our website, I’d love to hear from you as well.)

One last gift Paul talks about here in 1 Timothy. He talks about the gift of eternal life. See that at the end of verse 16? Now, let’s be clear about something. I don’t care who you are or what you believe, you will have eternal life. Now, before you throw chairs at me and call me Todd Osteen, let me explain. Scripture is clear that there is a real Heaven and there is a real Hell. Jesus said in Matthew 25, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus believed in eternal Hell. So should you. But when Paul says eternal life, he obviously means eternal life in Heaven. And that’s kind of a big deal!

Eternal life in Heaven is a gift from God that shows off all the other gifts. We have eternal life because of God’s strength, mercy, grace, faith, love and patience. We can’t do anything to deserve it. We can’t be good enough. We can’t work hard enough. We can’t be pretty enough. (Sorry Troy. I know you’re trying.) We can’t be smart enough or tough enough. All we can do is throw ourselves at the mercy and grace of God and allow Him to pick us up and place us there.

In the meantime, we can have faith that He will protect and provide. We can have peace and joy in the difficult times because we know God is in control and He loves us. We can love other people and show them grace and mercy because we have been shown grace and mercy. We don’t have to worry about what tomorrow brings. We don’t even have to understand God. We just have to accept His gifts and then live like it.

Why do you think God shows so much grace, mercy, love and patience with humans? What’s in it for Him? I think Paul explains it in the last verse we read this morning, verse 17. Look at it one more time. “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Why does God do anything? He does it for His glory just like Paul says here. When we see who we are and what we have done and what we deserve, doesn’t God look even more beautiful? When you realize who He is and what He has done, don’t you want to just give Him glory and honor? You should. You should want to make Him known to everybody you know. You should want to share the Good News, the Gospel, with all your friends. You don’t have to know everything. You just have to learn from Jesus and then tell others what you have learned. Boom! Discipleship. Boom! Obedience. Boom! Blessings and gifts from God just like what Paul is saying here.

Let’s bow our heads and just spend a few minutes praising God for His lavish gifts. Thank Him for His strength, mercy, grace, faith, love, patience and mostly for His promise of eternal life in Him and with Him.

If you don’t have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus, then just know that you can. Paul was a seriously bad guy and God changed him and used him and God can do the same with you. Believe in Him today and allow Him to come into your life, forgive your sins and heal your brokenness and take away your guilt and shame. You have enough faith to do it (thanks to Him). Now, quit making excuses and turn your whole life over to God right now. We aren’t guaranteed another breath.

 

 

“In Love with Jesus” – Luke 7:36-50

I love the American flag. Any American flag. I respect it for all that it represents. I respect it for all the men and women who have fought and died for the freedom that we have. They fought against socialism and communism and against other countries or religions that hate us and our freedoms and so I hold the American flag in highest regard.

This flag is even more special to me. Some of you have similar flags folded into triangular wooden boxes and presented by two very serious uniformed men with the words, “On behalf of the president and a grateful nation…” I get choked up thinking about that scene being played out thousands and thousands of times over. I hate war but I appreciate the selflessness of those who fight and die in them.

This one represents my grandfather whom I never knew. This is his wallet that he carried all through the Second World War. This was the patch that was on his uniform and this is a .50 round similar to one he shot down an enemy plane with. It sits on a high spot in my living room and I’m especially proud of it. My dad gave it to me.

Now, imagine that you came to my place for a dinner party. Don’t worry. Even in this imaginary situation, I’m not going to cook. Since we are imagining, we’ll say I’m having it catered. It’s a big deal. Everybody is dressed very nice. But as you walk in you notice you stepped on something…nasty outside. Maybe it was from my dogs or some other dogs but it doesn’t matter. It’s gross and we have to get it off your expensive Italian loafers.

Now, suppose I look around and for whatever reason, all I can find to get that stuff off your shoes is this flag. I unbox it and put a little water on it and I begin to clean your shoes off with this flag that means so much to me. How would you feel? What do you think the other guests would think? You would probably insist that I didn’t, that you would rather take the shoes off and leave them outside. Shoot, throw them away before you do anything with that flag!

It would be a scandal, wouldn’t it? Everybody would be shocked and offended. That’s just not done. That’s an overreaction. But you would know that I thought highly of you if I did that, wouldn’t you? You might think I was crazy but you would know that I cared for you and wanted to make it right, no matter the cost.

If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Luke in the New Testament and let’s read about something just as scandalous in a similar situation. Jesus has been invited to a party. He was often invited to parties. I think Jesus was a fun guy to be around. He had a sense of humor and He loved people and I think people just naturally wanted to be around Him.

But sometimes He got invited to things for other reasons. The Pharisees and other religious teachers sometimes invited Him with ulterior motives. At best, they were curious. At worst, they wanted to trap Him so they could kill Him. We aren’t sure of the exact reason that Jesus was invited to this dinner party but it wasn’t because the host was a believer or follower of Jesus. He makes that plain as we read in Luke 7:36-50.

This was still pretty early in the ministry of Jesus but He had just raised a young boy from the dead and had done several other miracles and some were already calling Him the Messiah. Some were saying He was a great prophet but the Pharisees couldn’t get past their own pride to see that was even possible. The Pharisees were the most religious people. They knew the Law of Moses backward and forward. They were very pious and humble. Just ask them. It doesn’t sound like a very fun party but Jesus went anyway. Let’s read it in Luke 7:36-50.

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. ³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. ⁴¹ “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,^[a] and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

It may be hard for us to see with our culture being what it is but, in that culture, there is scandal on top of scandal on top of scandal going on here. People in that neighborhood were talking about this little soiree for years to come after this. But first, let’s clear up a few things that we know and then just accept what we don’t know.

Now, this woman is not to be confused with Mary Magdalene or any other woman. We don’t know this woman’s name nor do we know why she is called sinful or immoral or whatever else your version of the Bible might call her. If you have an idea why…you are probably right but the text doesn’t tell us so let’s just accept that we don’t know. Jesus didn’t say what it was. In fact, He treated her like a child of God so we will too.

But, I will say that what she did was scandalous. Now, you may wonder why she was there. That part is actually not that scandalous. In fact, the way the houses were set up back then – especially the swanky joints like this probably was – the dinner would have been served in the courtyard outside. It was just the way it was that if somebody was having a dinner party, the neighbors might show up and hang out just to see who came and would listen to their conversations. Only a few got to eat but everybody in town could show up.

Also, to get the picture, you have to understand that people didn’t sit at tables to eat like we do. They would lay down on pillows or low couches leaning on their left elbow and eating with their right hand with their heads toward the food in the middle. It doesn’t sound very comfy to me but that’s what they did. It is how the woman had access to the feet of Jesus. And that’s where the scandal comes in.

Let me first just say that a woman crying uncontrollably at your dinner party is going to be a distraction at the least. I was walking the dogs the other day out at Wise County Park going along a trail and I kept hearing what I thought was a child laughing. I turned the corner on this trail in a heavily wooded area and there high in a tree was a young lady bawling her eyes out.  When she saw me, she started climbing down from the tree, still crying, and ran over to me and hugged me. She had been attacked by a wild pig and had spent the last hour up in that tree crying her eyes out. It was not something I could ignore. She wasn’t hurt but she kept crying the whole time I walked her to her car. When you see and hear a woman crying, no matter the setting, it gets your attention.

Now, let me ask you a question. Why was this sinful woman at the dinner party crying? We aren’t really told. Was she crying because she wasn’t invited to the party? Did she stub her toe walking in? Had she been attacked by a hog? No. Obviously she was crying because she was moved just being around Jesus.

But that’s just part of the scandal. A woman in those times was to be seen and not heard but she was certainly not to let her hair down in front of anybody but her husband. That was something done in the bedroom, not in public and certainly not in front of a respected rabbi as they thought of Jesus. Then, to top it off, she pours this expensive perfume all over the feet of Jesus. Talk about distracting! The smell was wonderful, I’m sure, but everybody in the area could smell it. That was distracting. It was wasteful. It was scandalous and it was loved by Jesus because the person doing it loved Jesus.

For the next few weeks, we are going to be looking at people in scripture that had a passionate love for Jesus and we are doing this on our road to revival. No, we are not going to have a week-long tent revival with guest preachers and guest musicians. I mean our goal is to be as excited and passionate about our relationship with the Lord as we were when we first got saved.

Do you remember that time? If you don’t, that’s a red flag that maybe you never started a real relationship with God through His Son Jesus. Because if there was ever a time when the Spirit of God got hold of you and convicted you of your sins then you know it. You remember that. And you should probably remember what it was like after you asked God to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life to be Lord. You remember that moment of clarity when you realized how sinful you had been and you knew you needed a Savior and you realized that God had sent His own Son to die for your sins. Oh, glorious day!

Who can I tell? Who can I tell next? Look what God has done in my life! He has changed me and forgiven me and assured me of Heaven with Him when I die. It’s a miracle above all others. Thank you, Lord! That’s the reason this woman was crying. She was crying tears of joy mixed with thankfulness mixed with feelings of relief along with the regrets of a lifetime of bad choices all rolled into one and all those emotions wouldn’t stay bottled up. They were pouring out her eyes.

She was passionately in love with Jesus. Not in a weird way. She passionately wanted to show Him her gratefulness for her forgiveness and new life. She didn’t understand everything about how it worked. She was no scholar on the Trinity. She couldn’t preach a sermon on the attributes of the Holy Spirit or give a TED talk about sanctification. She didn’t know nothing bout nothing except her life had been changed since she met Jesus.

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. (Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, pp. 13.)

At some point in your life, you realize who you are and who God is and you realize the chasm between you. You realize that even if all your good deeds did outweigh your bad deeds that your bad deeds are horrible and offensive to God and make you unworthy to get to Heaven; unworthy of God’s grace; unworthy of His forgiveness and you realize that without His unmerited forgiveness, you deserve to spend eternity in Hell.

But hopefully, you, like the sinful woman in our passage, realize that Jesus died for you, a sinner, and now your life has changed and you understand the depth of love that it took to pay that price for you and so you, in return, love Jesus. But you have a real life. You have a job, chores, family, hobbies, problems. You have stuff to do and you can’t walk around like a Jesus freak all the time, right?

Have any of you ever read this book, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs? I haven’t read the whole thing. It’s pretty depressing. All it is is a history of Christians who have been killed for their faith. Each one gets just a couple of paragraphs. It starts with the disciples of Jesus and has been updated to include people all the way through the 90’s.

I turned to page 329 and it talks about a man who, in 1968, went into a Christian prisoner camp in the Soviet Union. The people there were in there only because they had professed to be Christians. The man said, “I saw the wife of a Christian martyr, who left many children behind. She looked amazingly young, although she had grown up children. I asked her for an explanation. She answered, ‘Suffering has renewed my youth.’ Another Christian told me, ‘We would like an easing of our conditions but not full ceasing of the oppression. We fear that liberty would make us lose the burning love of Christ.’”

When we talk about revival, I have to ask, “How bad do you want it?” Some of you might be thinking you wouldn’t mind having some youth renewed but do you want that enough to go through a prison camp for your beliefs? Do you have that strong of a belief? Is your love for Jesus enough to get you through something that horrific for His name? I’m not saying at all that I hope we start getting oppressed. I just wonder how many of us are in love with Jesus enough to ever face any kind of oppression.

So many of us want Jesus at our dinner party but not to really be Lord of our lives. We want Him in our church but not ruling over every aspect of our lives. That’s pretty extreme. We want Him to be part of our lives but just part. We don’t want to make a big deal out of it. There’s no sense in causing a scene, right?

Well, if we want this church to see revival and I mean really be revived with a passionate love for Jesus that starts to affect the neighbors and the rest of Wise County then it’s time to start making a scene. It’s time to start letting people know that Jesus is not just part of our lives but He IS our life and it revolves around Him. When people see us we ought to be singing hymns and spiritual songs as it says in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3.

We ought to be known as people of prayer, not just in our church and when we go to lunch after church but people that pray about everything as it says in Philippians 4:6. We ought to be known as people who have had their lives changed, not by religion but by our relationship with God through His Son Jesus. It’s time to start asking our kids and our grandkids what they believe about Jesus so we can then tell them the truth; the truth that will affect their eternities.

I’m tired of having a nice time at church and then watching as church members live just like the rest of the world the rest of the week. So many of us watch the same movies, listen to the same music, use the same foul language, eat, drink, look, sound, smell, drive and walk just like people out there whose eternities are destined to be in Hell. We are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). It’s time to act like it!

Jesus said about the sinful woman, “her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown.” It wasn’t her great love for Jesus that saved her. It wasn’t her emotions that got her to Heaven. It wasn’t her scandalous sacrifice that made her a Christian. But her actions – scandalous as they were – proved her faith and Jesus honored her faith and it was by her faith and God’s grace that she was and we are saved.

When my Uncle Bill was a young man, he was not a good person. He will tell you that although he doesn’t talk much nowadays about the details. But he has some stories that are pretty shocking. He was a drunk, a bully and a violent man. He was on his way to Hell and didn’t want to miss it by a little bit.

But then he heard the Gospel. He heard that sin was anything that displeased God and we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23). He heard that what he deserved for that sin was Hell (Rom. 6:23) but that Jesus had died in his place and had provided a way of forgiveness for all those mean and nasty things he had done (John 3:16). And one day, Uncle Bill believed it and allowed Jesus to be Lord of his life and to change his life and now at the age of 85 or 86, whatever he is, you can’t get him to shut up about the Lord.

I saw him the other day just for a minute. The first thing he did was make fun of the way I was dressed. That’s just how he is as well. But then he asked me what God was doing in my life. He asked and expected an answer. He wanted to know so he could give God glory for it and when I told him, he laughed and praised God in a voice the whole neighborhood could hear! He wanted everybody to know that God is good and that he had a passionate love for Jesus.

When people leave your house or when you leave somebody else’s house, what do you think they say about you? “He’s so nice.” “She’s so pretty.” “Well, bless their hearts!” That’s southern for, “What a weirdo!” And that’s okay if you are weird for Jesus. We are all weird but I want to be known as a Jesus freak weirdo and still be known as “He’s so nice” and “she’s so pretty.” Well, maybe not pretty. That may be too much to ask.

We don’t know anything else about this “sinful woman” but that’s okay. What a legacy she leaves. One of my favorite songs is “Loving My Jesus” by Casting Crowns. The third verse goes like this: When all is said and done
When my last song's been sung
I stand face to face with the One
Who gave all for me
May all I have to show
Be all that mattered most
Making Your great name known
Let this be my only legacy

What’s going to be your legacy? Money, fame, humor? Nothing wrong with that being a part of who you are. But I want to be known – I want my legacy to be – just like this sinful woman. Who cares if people know my name after I die? I want them to know the name of Jesus because I have been forgiven much and so I love much! Let’s pray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The Lord’s Prayer in the Psalms” – Protection – Psalm 140

I have some questions for you.  Is everything good that happens to you a gift from God? James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” 

Is everything bad that happens to you an attack of the Devil?  How do you know?  In Romans 7, Paul talks about doing what he doesn’t want to do and says he makes bad choices when he is in his flesh or when the old man comes out. And we know that bad choices have consequences. So, maybe not everything that happens to us is from Satan. Sometimes it’s because we make bad choices and sometimes it’s just because we live in a fallen world where the rain falls on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)

Do you believe in luck and if so, is there good luck and bad luck or are these good and bad spiritual forces?  I know, it’s getting pretty deep around here quickly, isn’t it? Is God sovereign – meaning, is God in charge of this world, this universe, this church, you?  If God is in charge, do we still have free will or are we puppets that just think we have free will because God wants us to think that?  Those are some deep questions, that’s for sure and I’m not going to answer most them because, partly, I want you to have something to talk about over lunch today, but mainly because I don’t know the answers to most of them.

When people ask me those kinds of questions, I’m usually pretty quick to quote Isaiah 55:8 that says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.  I’m fine not understanding all there is to know about how God works because if I could understand Him completely, He wouldn’t be much of a God, right?

I will say that I know that God is sovereign and while not everything that happens is His will, like sin, for instance, but His overall will is going to be done. Job 42:2 says, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” We know that God can do anything He wants.  He gives and He takes away and He doesn’t have to ask our permission, does He?

But there really is a devil and he is called the prince of this world so evidently he must be pretty powerful as well.  Would you agree to that?  I hope so. I don’t know about you individually but this church has been hammered on by the devil.  He has tried to kill us financially and relationally, by trying to disrupt our unity and our good name.  He has tried discouragement, pride, job-loss, job-change, sickness and even death.  He has tried storms.  He has tried to confuse us with lies that sound truthful.  We’ve had the cops disrupt our service.  We have had drunks disrupt our service and almost had a fistfight once or twice with some crazy women.  And when that doesn’t work, he gets the sound system to go on the fritz and when all else fails, he will lull you to sleep in the pew with a lullaby.

So, I guess we are doing what we are supposed to be doing but it’s hard.  It’s real hard.  It’s hard because Satan, while not as powerful as God, is more powerful than we are.  He’s stronger, bigger, faster, meaner, tougher and he has been doing this for a long time so he knows what works and what doesn’t.  He knows how to push our buttons.  He knows our weaknesses and our strengths and he hates us so the only thing that keeps him from prowling around and devouring us is the mighty right hand of God.

We are finishing up our look at the Lord’s Prayer in the Psalms and we come to the last line of the Lord’s Prayer that says something we have all said a hundred times but we might not really understand.  So, turn first to Matthew 6 and let’s read verses 9-13 but our focus will be on verse 13 and then we will go over to the Book of Psalms and get an illustration of what that part of the prayer should sound like.

As you turn there, let’s do a little review of what we have learned about the Lord’s Prayer. First, how should we start? “Hallowed be thy name.” We should start with praise, right? We should praise God just for who He is and what He has done. Secondly, when it says, “your Kingdom come, your will be done” what does that mean? It means that we want God’s will to be done in our lives. We want what He wants and we know that won’t ultimately be done on earth until Jesus comes back and so we wait and pray for that. Third, “Give us today our daily bread.” What does that entail? It is not just asking for God’s provision of everything we have and are. It is also acknowledging that He is the one that provides it. Fourth, we saw last week, “Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors” means that we HAVE to forgive others. We have to go to God for our own forgiveness and it may be the secret to life itself when we understand just who we are and who God is when we ask for that forgiveness.

We know that the Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer but not necessarily a prayer to be repeated over and over.  It is a skeleton that we are to flesh out with our own prayers so we get the model from Matthew and the examples from Psalms.  So, let’s read it from Matthew 6:9-13 right now and see how Jesus said we are to pray.

“This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

As I have studied the Lord’s Prayer for the last few weeks, every week I think, “Well, obviously this part of the prayer is the most important.” So, as we come to the last part, I have thought the same thing and I finally just concluded that Jesus just really knew how to pray! In just a few sentences He has summed up everything we need to pray for and how it should be done.

Now, lastly, Jesus tells us we should pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”  We know, though, that God doesn’t tempt us to sin.  James 1:13 makes that plain when it says, “When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.” The misunderstanding comes because, while the word “temptation” is correctly translated, the Greek word originally used could mean “temptation” or “trial”.

But while James also tells us to “consider it pure joy when we go through trials” the meaning of Jesus is, “Lord, protect me - lead me away from - anything that might lead to sin, even if it is a God-given trial.” Both lines of verse 13 have to do with avoiding sin, whether by our old sin nature or from Satan himself.  Yes, we need trials to grow and mature and prove God’s grace but our prayer should be that God would protect us from the very worst thing that could happen to us.

What do you think is the worst thing that can happen to us as Christians? Is it cancer? That’s pretty awful. Is it some form of dementia? That’s such a cruel disease. What about divorce? Malachi 2:15 says that God hates divorce. Is that the worst thing that can happen to us? Bankruptcy?  Starvation? Death of a loved one? Death of our own body? What is it?

When we ask God for protection, we usually mean for Him to protect us from sickness or car wrecks or Joe Biden being president but what Jesus says we should pray for is protection from sin.  Sin is the worst thing that can happen to us! It puts a barrier between us and God and keeps us from His ultimate protection in all those other cases. Not only that but it scorns and scoffs at the suffering of Jesus on the cross that provided our forgiveness for that sin. So, sin is the worst thing that can happen to us as Christians and should be avoided at all costs. So we ask God for His protection from it.

Last week we saw that King David understood how to go to God for forgiveness in Psalm 51 and this week we see that David also knew how to ask for protection.  Well…he kinda knew. Okay, he didn’t really know at all but it’s not his fault and we are going to use Psalm 140 as an example any way of how to ask God for protection. Turn to Psalm 140 and let’s read through it once just like David wrote it.

¹ Rescue me, Lord, from evil men; protect me from the violent,² who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. ³ They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;  the poison of vipers is on their lips.⁴ Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet.⁵ The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
    they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path.⁶ I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy. ⁷ Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle.⁸ Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;
    do not let their plans succeed.⁹ Those who surround me proudly rear their heads; may the mischief of their lips engulf them. ¹⁰ May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise. ¹¹ May slanderers not be established in the land;
    may disaster hunt down the violent.¹² I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
    and upholds the cause of the needy.¹³ Surely the righteous will praise your name,
    and the upright will live in your presence.

Now, does anybody see any problem with that prayer for us today? Should we pray similar prayers?  Should we pray that our enemies have burning coals fall on them and be thrown into Hell? Because that is what David is praying here.  This is what is called an imprecatory prayer.  David is famous for this kind of prayer and it is the kind of prayer almost all of us have wanted to pray at one time or another. 

The problem is that this is not exactly the prayer we are to pray. David, and everybody else in the Old Testament didn’t really have a good understanding of Satan like we do today.  The scriptures had not been written showing them that there was an evil spiritual being behind sinful man and they didn’t have Ephesians 6 that tells us that our battles are not against flesh and blood so David was doing the only thing he knew to do as he prayed for God’s protection.

That passage in Ephesians 6 (verse 12) tells us specifically that our battles are not against flesh and blood but they are against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Now if we substitute those satanic forces for what David calls evil men, then our prayer is powerful and effective…and biblical and that’s what we want.

But maybe you think it’s not all that important to pray for protection against satanic forces like that.  You’re not demon possessed.  Is it really necessary? Well, first, Jesus told us to pray this way and that should be good enough but He did so for a reason.  You may not be demon possessed but do you ever feel depressed?  Do you ever feel discouraged?  Do you ever have impure thoughts or bad thoughts against somebody else or even yourself?  Are you tempted to go back to that old habit that God has delivered you from?  The real question is, are you ever tempted to sin?

Well, some of that may happen because we are sinful and fallen mankind but that temptation doesn’t come from God so it ultimately and predominately comes from Satan and his minions, the authorities, powers and dark spiritual forces of the evil one.

So, let’s go back and re-read Psalm 140, substituting those names for what David calls evil men.  I’m not adding to or taking away from scripture.  I’m just using this as an example of how we should pray when Jesus tells us we should pray for protection from sin. Okay, let’s go.

Rescue me, Lord, from the powers of this dark world, protect me from the violent demons,
² who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day. ³ They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips.⁴ Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked spiritual forces;  protect me from the violent satanic authorities, who devise ways to trip my feet. ⁵ The arrogant evil rulers have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path. ⁶ I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy. ⁷ Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle. ⁸ Do not grant the wicked dark forces their desires, Lord; do not let their plans succeed. ⁹ Those satanic spiritual forces who surround me proudly rear their heads; may the mischief of their lips engulf them. ¹⁰ May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise. ¹¹ May slanderous devils and demons not be established in me or in Christ Fellowship; may disaster hunt down the violent and evil spiritual powers. ¹² I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated and upholds the cause of the needy. ¹³ Surely the righteous in our church will praise your name, and the upright in Wise County will live in your presence.

Amen and Amen! Now, that’s a powerful prayer and an example of how we should pray when we are asking God for His protection.  If you think that is over the top or being too dramatic by talking about devils and demons then why does Jesus tell us to pray “deliver us from the evil one”?  Why does it say in 1 Peter 5:8 that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking to see whom he may devour?  Ephesians 6 lays it out plainly that these are our enemies.

One of Satan’s favorite tricks is to put you in a position of temptation but make you think it’s not him doing it. Do you remember in first grade when the bully behind you in class would reach up and pull the little girl’s hair in front of you and then pull his hand back real quick? The girl would turn around and think you did it and you would get in trouble. That’s just what the bully Satan does when he tempts you and you think it is your spouse or your friend or a church member. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. Your spouse, your friend, your fellow church member is not your enemy. Don’t fall for that. Satan is the enemy.

All we can do is acknowledge that God is the Protector.  We can’t beat Satan and his minions on our own. This prayer is an example, like every aspect of the Lord’s prayer is an example, of simply acknowledging God’s omnipotence and infinity and of our impotence and finite-ness, if that’s a word.

We go to God with praise because He is God and we are not.  We ask for provision because He is the Provider and we are not.  We request pardon for our sins because He is the Savior and we are not and we ask for protection from sin and everything evil that would hurt us because He is the Protector and we are not.

That’s the Lord’s Prayer for us today so let’s do that right now. Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes and just spend some time praying as we have learned.  Praising God for his grace and His mercy, His love and forgiveness. 

Now, thinking about all that God has done in our lives, we ask Him for continued blessings of provision, making us content with what we have, acknowledging that He is the Provider of all good and perfect things. Also, as much as it might pain us to do it, we need to come before God humbly and ask Him for forgiveness of all our sins.  Name those sins to Him right now and turn from those sins, acknowledging that it was that sin that put Jesus on the cross.

We end our prayer as Jesus taught us by asking for His continued protection from Satan and all the evil forces of this world that surround us and hammer on us every day.  Lord, keep us strong in the power of your name and through the Holy Spirit keep us from sin.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, our Redeemer, Sustainer, Deliverer and King.  Amen.

If you don’t have a relationship with God, you can today through His Son Jesus. Ask God to forgive you of your sins and vow to turn away from those sins. Confess that He is now Lord of your life and you will do what He expects you to do. Based on your faith and His grace, you will be saved and you can now have peace and joy in this life even in the most difficult of times plus you now have the assurance of Heaven when you die. Thank you, Jesus! Do it right now.