Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
We clearly live in a world where something has gone terribly wrong. Where do we find security when surrounded by so much uncertainty? Well, one whose life is built upon God, who banks it all on the truths of His Word, will find Himself anchored and secure. Let's listen to this message titled, Living by Faith, Security. This is part three of a message that was first preached on April 7th, 2019 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
To hear more messages from this series, visit www.delightingrace.com. We know better, so I'm going to manipulate my circumstances to get the outcomes I want. That's not waiting for the Lord and keeping His way. And notice that it says keep His way. That word keep has the sense to it to guard. Why does it need to be guarded?
Because as the hymn says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. It is a weakness that we have. We still have to battle the flesh, don't we?
And here's how it happens. These are the tactics of the adversary because we're studying this in the context of feeling the presence of evil in our world. Sometimes we have to acknowledge that that evil goes right through our own hearts, but sometimes we feel the physical or the emotional or the mental pushback of evil against our faith. And when that happens, what do we do if we are waiting for the Lord and keeping His way? What that does not mean is manipulating my circumstances for the outcome I desire.
So it looks something like this because we are prone to wander. First of all, a distraction can come along. What is a distraction? Something can happen in my world where somebody treats me or does something to me because of my faith.
It might be a jeer, it might getting fired from a job or being passed over for a promotion, or it could be getting slapped in the face, or it could be having a loved one put to death like Rashim. So that's a distraction, right? And when that distraction comes, what do you say? You say, Ouch!
That hurts! And you are recognizing that something has gone wrong. And if you focus on that distraction, then you get discouraged. And when you are discouraged, you are saying, I am not enjoying this.
I am not sure I signed up for this. And if you continue in that rut of discouragement and you become focused on it, then you become doubtful. And then you start saying, can I even trust God? God, do you know what you are doing?
Do you see the tactics of the adversary? This is what he wants you to do. This is what your flesh leads you to do. And if you continue focusing on that doubt and not finding the answers, then you will end up being despairing. You think, there is no hope. I can't get out of this. I am just going to throw in the towel. And when you throw in the towel, what you end up doing is demanding. God, I deserve this.
Why aren't you coming through for me? And when you start demanding from God, you know that you are absolutely not waiting on God and walking his ways. And that's why he says, keep his ways. It needs to be guarded. It needs to be protected because of the tactics of the adversary in the evil in this world. When you feel the pressure of that, you feel the ouch of that. The flesh lusting against the spirit, the flesh will want you to take the reins and you take control and manipulate circumstances so that you get the outcomes that you demand. But that's not waiting on the Lord.
That is insecure living. But it is not manipulating. Waiting on the Lord is not manipulating my circumstances for the outcome I deserve. It is mirroring his steps toward the outcome he has planned. Mirroring his steps for the outcome he has planned. Verse 31, the law of his God is in his heart.
His steps do not slip. I want you to note what Peter says in First Peter 4 6 that even when that ouch happens, Peter is referring to and by the way, if you are afraid of insecurity, if you are afraid of what is happening to our culture and you're afraid of what's going to happen to the church, what's going to happen to me, to my family and all of this, you need to read First Peter. You need to read First Peter. You need to know First Peter.
I encourage you to memorize as much of First Peter as you can because that's exactly the kind of people that Peter was writing to. People who were driven from their homes because of their faith. And what Rob read earlier this morning is how he begins that whole letter and it is a profoundly beautiful truth of our security in Christ. But he says to those, even of those who have died, he says the gospel was preached to those who are dead, people who have lost their lives for the sake of the gospel, though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.
Here's an example of that. Rasheen's father hanged by the Islamic authorities because he's a Christian leader. He was judged in the flesh the way people are, but he lives in the spirit the way God does. Rasheen's father is not dead.
He is more alive than he ever was before. This is the promise of Psalm 37, 33. This is our security.
Now, let's bring it closer to home, maybe in an arena that we might be able to identify with. Isabella Chow is a 20 year old junior at University of California in Berkeley. As a member of the Student Senate, she was met with a proposal that endorsed groups on campus whose primary mission is to promote lifestyles that are contrary to God's design. And she chose to abstain from the vote. She expected pushback from it, but it came in much greater fashion than she ever expected. And so with that pushback, she offered a written explanation as to why she abstained from the vote. This is her explanation in part. And I quote, As a Christian, I personally do believe that certain acts and lifestyles conflict with what is good, right and true.
I believe that God created male and female at the beginning of time and designed sex for marriage between one man and one woman. For me to love another person does not mean that I silently concur when at the bottom of my heart, I do not believe that your choices are right or the best for you as an individual. By the next morning, after she had abstained from that vote, by the next morning, the news had exploded at the school. Heads turned when Chow walked across the campus and her cell phone beeped with social media alerts, disaffiliation notices piled up in her email box. Online people compared her to the Ku Klux Klan and called her, quote, A terrible example of Christian hypocrisy. The next Senate meeting came a week later and during that Senate meeting, packed with dozens of students who were here, many of them protesting her and calling for her resignation, she endured a three hour verbal beating.
Here's the point. Isabella Chow did not want Christian groups counter protesting. She says that's not healing. I agree with her on that. But she had a group of Christians praying for her in a separate location while she was in that Senate meeting, enduring that three hour verbal abuse. Andrew Walker, representing the Southern Baptist Convention, and he wrote this about her. He says, and I quote, Chow is the very definition of class, dignity and civility. She has modeled. She's a model for what faithful Christian discipleship looks like in the public square. There is no foaming at the mouth hatred for anyone. Walker continues, be gracious, be winsome, be civil, be polite.
Of course, never be less than these things. But at the same time, realize that to be a Christian, more may be required of you, like sharing what's on your conscience and being willing to pay the price for it. You see, that's that's where many of us are drawing the line today, isn't it? We we want to shout out our and we want to get our conscience, but we don't do it with civility and we're not willing to pay the price for it. Because we don't believe Psalm 37 33. We take control of our own lives. We manipulate circumstances for our desired outcomes. Your kindness will still get you in trouble.
No amount of nicest civility or winsomeness will pacify those voices who will hate you and your Christian values. The Lord called us to share in his sufferings. He called us to walk in his steps. This is what he says in First Peter two versus 20 and 23. To this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps.
Here it is. Learn this, Christians, learn this, please. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
When he suffered, he did not threaten. And here it is. But continued in trusting himself to him who judges justly.
What's that? That's Psalm 37 33. God is the final judge.
His opinion is the one that counts. Now, having that security, know the security that you have in Christ. Having that security, I want you to understand as we close today. Now speak fast, so listen fast, please. He says in verse 34, wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land. You will look on when the wicked are cut off. This is God's justice. God's justice is coming. You will be an eyewitness to God's justice. Those who counter God will meet their just end. It is a grave and somber moment in the justice of God.
Listen to this, please. Christians, are you ready? He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
You ought not either. There is satisfaction in the justice of God, yes, but we do not take pleasure in the demise of the wicked. But his judgment is holy, it is necessary and it is just. Now, Rich, why do you say it's guaranteed? Because remember that second body, that body too that I was talking about before? Acts 17 31, the apostle Paul says that there was a man in history who had two bodies. You say, Rich, all this stuff, the inner man, the outer man and us having a body to last for eternity, that's just too fantastic for me to understand. Well, listen, understand this. There is a man in history who had two bodies.
What do you mean by that? The Lord Jesus Christ. He had a body, why? So he could be nailed to a cross and so that he could be buried in a grave. And that body, corruptible, was buried in the grave.
And three days later, body two walked out of the grave. Listen, folks, this is not fantasy, this is not mythology, this is history. This is history. And because of what has happened in the past, your security is anchored in history. It is guaranteed through an event that happened in history because a man walked out of the grave with a glorified body. That's our security. And banking on that is living by faith. You ready to do that? You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him. The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
