The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, Thou the resolve by God and King, Thou triumphs of his grace. This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Lord, in the morning Thou shalt hear my voice ascending high. To Thee will I, to Thee will I, to Thee will I, to Thee will I, To Thee will I, Far though I write, To Thee lift up mine arm, To Thee will I direct my prayer, To Thee lift up mine arm, To Thee will I direct my prayer, To Thee lift up mine arm.
Up to the hills, Where Christ is gone, To be for all his saints, Presenting at peace, Presenting at peace, Our songs and our complaints, Presenting at peace, Presenting at peace, Our songs and our complaints. We're thankful for this opportunity to continue preaching messages from God's Word. We know the need is greater than ever in this day, and we pray that the Lord will use the truth of His Word to be a comfort and help, and that many will come to appreciate what it means to believe in Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior. I encourage you to write us and let us know that you're listening.
We need your help, especially during these difficult summer months. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Or you can go to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org.
There you can make a donation, you can read The Baptist Witness, and find articles and messages that we believe will be a blessing to you. How did my heart rejoice to hear, My friends, devoutly say, If Zion let the soul appear, And keep the solemn day? I love her gates, I love the road, The church adored with praise, Stands like a palace built for God, To show His wonder face. My soul shall pray, for Zion still, While life for breath remains, They're my best friends, my kindred well, They're God, my Savior reigns. Today we bring you the second part of a message entitled, Trusting God When We Don't Understand.
The text is Isaiah chapter 26 verse 4. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. We're responding to one who wrote on our website, Dear friends, how do you put your trust in God when everything's going wrong?
So first we pointed out that there are assumptions being made that everything is going wrong. Well, the fact is a lot of things are going right. God is sovereign. God is on the throne. God is ruling and reigning. And it's doubtful that everything is going wrong in the writer's life. If we knew all of the details, I'm sure there are some daily blessings that may be overlooked at the present when the assumption is everything is going wrong.
And then we noted that everything which appears wrong is not necessarily wrong. If we are suffering the consequences of sinful actions, God has arranged it that way. That we might be convicted of our sin and be brought to repentance. It may be an individual is ignoring the very goodness of God, though the times are difficult and troublesome. For God's children, good comes from adversity.
And so after reviewing the fact that assumptions were made, we come to truth considered. God is good, so everything can't be bad. God has promised to be merciful to those who call upon him, and that is good. And so we begin today by considering the fact that God has promised to be with us. Truth must be considered. God has promised to be merciful to those that call upon him, and that is good.
So if you say, nothing is good, nothing is going right, this truth is being overlooked. The fact that the God who is the creator of heaven and earth, the God who rules upon the throne today, has agreed to hear us. He invites us to call upon him. Who are we as little, weak, poor creatures of the earth to think that we can have an audience with God?
Why would he even pay the attention to us? We're so insignificant. He said back in that 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah that all the nations of the earth are as a drop of a bucket. Well if all of the teeming multitudes that make up the population of the world are as a drop of a bucket, where does that put one of us?
Not so significant are we? Yet he has agreed to hear us. Psalm 86 verse 5, For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Now here we begin to get some insight into one of the problems that often prevails. Somebody complains and says, well God is not good, or God has not been good to me. And then we ask the question, have you called on him?
Well, no I didn't call on him because I didn't think I could trust him. I called on him one time and he didn't do what I asked him, revealing that they know little about all of the ramifications of prayer as laid out in scripture. That we're to begin, hallowed be thy name. My first and primary concern is that thy name be honored, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. And then the truth needs to be considered that God has promised not only to hear us but to be with us. Hebrews 13 5 says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper. Think of that. It seems enough that the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth would hear us, would hear our cry when we call on him. But it's more than that. It says I'll be with you.
You're going through dark times, you're not going to go by yourself. You're carrying a heavy load, casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. And then the truth is explicitly clear in scripture that God has promised to work good for those that love him.
Here again is insight into part of the problem. Somebody may say, well no I don't love God. I can't trust him. I don't love God, I'm not sure that he's good. I don't love God because I don't like the way he operates his business. But here's a promise to those that do love God.
Romans 8 28, for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. Those that are called according to his purpose love God. We love him because he first loved us.
The fact that we love him is evidence of his grace and his work in our life. It tells us in the following verses. That whom he did foreknow, them he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Whom he called, them he also justified. Whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Here's the foundation of it all. Here's the basis of salvation. It's by the grace of God. It's what God has done for us. It's according to his purpose. It's that which is given us in Christ Jesus. So who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Now somebody will object to this and say, well I can't possibly see how anything good is going to come out of this situation. I'm not telling how many times I've had somebody raise that kind of an objection.
I would talk to them in a counseling situation or come out of the pulpit and somebody approached me and said, well you quoted that text from Romans 8.28. I don't think it means the way you read it. I think they're just talking about the five things in the immediate context. You can't say it's all things. Let me tell you about this and they'll tell me about some tragedy that they've heard about.
You tell me what good's coming out of that. I can't. I don't know all the ways and works of God. I don't know what he has in view. This isn't a question of you being able to see it, explain it, and understand it.
This is a question of believing God. Some of the darkest scenes of our life turn out to be experiences of the greatest, deepest spiritual growth. Learning. Learning our own weakness. Learning the greatness of God. Learning to depend upon Him.
So the third thing we would consider is change needed. This person needs to change. To change their outlook. Change their attitude. We're told very explicitly in scripture that we are to trust the Lord. This person says, I can't do it.
I'm justified in my refusal because things are not going well. Isaiah chapter 26 verse 3. Thy will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Here is a command in the Word of God. Trust in the Lord Jehovah, the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth.
Trust Him. Change is needed to see that there is reason to trust Him and part of that is coming to recognize that God is sovereign. God is upon the throne of the universe. He is working His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. None can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? Who is it among the fallen inhabitants of the earth to stand up in the face of God and say, I challenge your acts. I don't understand what you're doing and therefore I don't trust you. Isaiah chapter 46 verse 9.
Remember the former things of old. For I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. God is going to execute His will. Whatever God does, He does on purpose. If it's something that He executes, He plans it, He purposes it, He causes it, it's according to His design. If it's something that He suffers to happen, He withdraws His defenses for a moment.
And there are things that we define as tragedies that come into our life. God has a purpose in it. And we have to know that because He is sovereign, we are to bow before Him. Change is needed, not only to recognize that God is sovereign, but to admit, I am undeserving. God is not obligated to me. God doesn't owe me anything.
The tone of the statement that we read in the beginning from this lady that responded on our website, indicates, I feel like I'm entitled to better treatment than what I'm getting. Nothing's going right, so how can I trust God? So if you get to the place, you feel like, God's indebted to me.
May indicate several things. First of all, you don't have the right view of God because you haven't seen His absolute sovereignty. And to know that He's the Potter, we're the clay, and He has the right to do with us as He will. Secondly, there's a bit of pride because you feel like somehow you've done such a noble job, and you've been superior to others that you ought not to have the same trials and afflictions and troubles that others have. I'm entitled to something better. In Genesis chapter 32 verse 10, the patriarch Jacob said, I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant.
That's the spirit and attitude that all of us should maintain. I am not worthy. I don't know how you weigh it out and decide what mercies are the least of the mercies and what truth is the least of the truth, but if you're not worthy of the least, you're not worthy of anything bigger than that.
So, you're unworthy, I'm unworthy, we're all undeserving. We can't approach God and say, because of my conduct record, because of the tenderness of my heart, because of, well, look at my family tree, Lord. I've come from a long line of Christians and looked like anybody that was as active as we've been in church ought to be getting something better. Now that may seem preposterous, but it just comes to mind that somebody actually said that to me one time in a counseling situation.
Said, our family have been Christians and church members for six generations. Like, don't you get it? Anybody that's been that committed and that diligent will not to have these kinds of troubles. Failure to see at no point can I say, Lord, I'm entitled to something. Every good thing, every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights and it's a gift of grace. Grace means I'm not entitled to it, but He gives it to me anyway. Isn't grace wonderful? When you once really see your unworthiness, you're not about to believe anything else.
You know you would be ruined, sure enough, if it was on any other basis. And then, thinking of change, consider how can I honor and praise God in the darkest of times. We may appear for a moment and we say that there were those who penned the Psalms that went through dark times like this.
Lord, is that mercy clean gone forever? But if it's one of those dark times, if we're passing through the valley, how can I honor and praise God? Think of the words of David in Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Lord, if I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, it's as dark as the night gets. The burdens are heavy.
I don't see any positive outcome in the immediate future. But I'm trusting You. Thou art my shepherd. Thou art my God.
Thou art my hope. I trust You. I don't trust myself. That's dangerous when you begin to trust in yourself. I was in a counseling situation one time with a person that had a little problem spending too much money. Came in one day and said, I cut up all my credit cards because I don't trust myself.
I said, that was a good move. Don't trust yourself, because old self will fail you. Now, in conclusion, there are some biblical examples of those who were perplexed, who might have said on a given day, nothing's going right. But they came through it, trusting God. Job, we think of him as being the man of faith, such a great example. And he was, but he had some very difficult days. Job 23 verse 2, Even today is my complaint bitter.
My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat. I would order my calls before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. On this day, Job was saying, I'd like an audience with the Lord. I'd like a few things I'd like to discuss with Him.
I'd lay out my arguments, I'd defend my case. And then God came on the scene and for five chapters He did all the talking. And finally in chapter 42 verse 5, Job said, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.
A little perturbed at one point, he was wanting some answers that he didn't have. But when God spoke to him, He said, Where was thou, Job? When the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy, Where are you?
You weren't around to give advice or counsel. Job began to see himself in the proper light. Think about Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet, but in chapter 20 verses 14 and 18, listen to how low he got. Curse be the day wherein I was born. Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame. Here's the prophet of God saying, It would have been better if I'd never been born. I don't even know why I'm here. I am so miserable. Life is so out of sorts.
I just don't know why. I wasn't put to death in the day of my birth. But then that same man said in Lamentations 3 verse 22, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion's failed not.
They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. You see, you can sink down in the deep places.
You can walk in the darkness of the night. But by the grace of God, when there's a change, when there's repentance, repenting of your incorrect assumptions and wrong conclusions, coming back to rest in the promises of God, and trust Him no matter what. Say, Lord, I admit there are things that are disturbing. There are things that grieve me. There are things that break my heart. There are things I can't understand what you're doing or why. But I trust Him. Job ultimately said, Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. There's no one else to trust. No where else to go.
Think of another example. Habakkuk said in chapter 1 verse 2 of the book of Habakkuk, O Lord, how long shall I cry and thou shalt not hear? Lord, how long is this going to go on?
I'm crying. I'm seeking you and it appears that you're not hearing me. Even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save. Lord, there's violence all around me. There's corruption. This whole society has gone downhill. Lord, we're in deep trouble. Why dost thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention?
Pretty miserable plight. But it took a little time off. One apart to meditate. And in chapter 2 verse 20 he said, The Lord is in His holy temple. All the earth keeps silence before Him. He came back with the understanding God's in charge. I may not understand what He's doing. I may make the incorrect assumption that at times He's doing nothing when in fact He is always at work. The Lord is in His holy temple.
One more. God's people in the book of Malachi chapter 3 verse 14 made this statement. It is vain to serve God. They decided there's no use in it.
It's getting us nowhere. Why do we try to serve God? What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? Pretty bleak, pretty dark.
Looks like nothing's going right. And then two verses later it says, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and thought on His name. It appears sometimes the Lord has forgotten, but God not only was hearing the conversation of those that feared Him, He was writing it down in a book. Not that God had to write it down to be able to remember it, but for our benefit, He's telling us it's written down.
And it says then, the next chapter, The Son of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. How easy it is in our human nature to draw the wrong conclusion. Make some false assumptions. And for this poor soul who wrote to say, How can I trust God when everything's going wrong? Everything's not going wrong.
Even if you're in one of the most troubled times of your life, everything's not going wrong. God is still on the throne. And I will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on Thee because He trusteth in Thee. And I will trust Ye in the Lord forever, for the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. I want you to know that in spite of the fact we may go through dark times and face many trials that we do not understand, our confidence though can be in God because God is good.
He is faithful to the promises that He has made and He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us, that we might boldly say, The Lord is our Helper. I hope that you will write us and until next week at this same time, the Lord richly bless you all. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45 1917
