This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Hope in the Morning. turning tragedies and tears into testimonies of hope. Welcome to Hope in the Morning. We are talking about a very important topic today, actually, and it's a four-letter word that we should all have on the forefront of our minds as believers, and the word is able.
The word is how much more able is God To do things that we could not even fathom, he can do things far more abundant than we even could anticipate. And so, joining us today is Phil Johnson. He's one of our shepherds in the valleys. And we are talking about this important concept of not underestimating the Lord and what He is able to accomplish both in us and through us.
So, Phil, thank you so much for joining us today. Hey, thanks for having me. It's a great subject. Yeah, I mean, I wanted to talk a little bit about how First of all, not only is God not, He's not limited by our weaknesses. And so, can you kind of talk to us a little bit about how that can be?
That can be a temptation for us to feel like Moses did: like, God, you can't use me because I have all of these things that are wrong with me. How could I possibly do what I feel you're calling me to do? Yeah, and I think there's a sense in which every faithful servant of the Lord has a a sort of similar Perspective, the Apostle Paul wrote about it in 2 Corinthians, and he's talking about the call and commission that he had from the Lord to preach the gospel. Which he begins to say, to some people who hear it, it's an aroma of death unto death. And to other people, it's the aroma of life unto life.
And then he says this: Who is sufficient for these things? He's actually. amazed at the the The breadth of his calling and the profound importance of what God has given him to do. And then a chapter later, he says, not that we are sufficient. In ourselves, to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but then he says, our sufficiency is from God.
who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. That's the way he describes it. And that's a common theme, actually, with the Apostle Paul. When he compares himself to the other apostles, he says, I worked harder than all of them. And then he immediately says, Yet not I.
but Christ within me. And that's how we're supposed to see it, I think. We are not, in and of ourselves, really able to do anything that would advance the kingdom or please God. I mean, there's that famous scripture in Romans 8 that says, Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
So that's talking about the unregenerate people in our native. unredeemed state. We are in the flesh. And it says they cannot please God. We're not able to.
And we need to recognize that. There's that scene, I think, in the In the Gospels, where Jesus says to the disciples, They're asking him. I think for positions of prominence in heaven or whatever. And he says, You don't know what you're asking for. And then he says, Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism?
With which I'm able, I'm baptized. And they immediately say to him, We are able. And I I think they are Clearly, misjudging their own capacity. They haven't yet come to grips with the reality of their own. inability And so the New Testament in particular, but actually all of Scripture, is full of this twin theme.
On the one hand, our inability. That's the doctrine we sometimes call total depravity. But John MacArthur used to refer to it as total inability. We're not able. We're not able to do what God commands us to do.
And it's surprising to me how many people don't really grasp that. that be just because God gives us a commandment doesn't mean that we are that we have the native ability to obey it, and we're supposed to recognize that. The law that God gives us is to is to bring us face to face with our sinfulness, our fallenness, and our inability.
So that when the first and great commandment says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, Our honest response ought to be I don't I can't do that in and of myself. I need the grace of God. And so the law drives us to our need for grace. And then scripture is full of promises where we're told God is able. He is able to do exceeding abundantly.
above all that we ask or think. That's I think Ephesians 3.20. And it's again a recurring theme. In the Apostle Paul, the ability of God. And what he's talking about there is God's omnipotence.
You mentioned it, that there is absolutely no limit. To what God can do. Jesus said that explicitly when they asked him, Who then can be saved? He said, Well, with men, it's impossible. With God, all things are possible.
He's able to do Whatever. Yeah, you know, what you just said actually gives us so much hope because when you talk about who's able to be saved, and God says, well, with men, It's hopeless. But with God, nothing is hopeless. And that's something that should really cause us to get excited, but also be deeply humbled because it's nothing of ourselves. As Romans reminds us, it's nothing that we do.
Although I think every single Christian that's out there, we all get tempted to. Kind of do some of those good works and feel like, well, I contributed a little bit, or you know, even sometimes it causes us to doubt our salvation when we're not consistent in those good works because we feel like, oh, I didn't read my Bible the last week, or maybe I maybe I really don't know, don't know the Lord and don't love the Lord. Um, but I love the fact that it's not of ourselves, it's the Lord, it's the Lord that brings us to that salvation, and it's the Lord that keeps us there. And you know, I've talked about this song in a couple episodes, but I love the song, He Will Hold Me Fast. Because our faith is so frail.
And you see it even in men that we describe as heroes of the faith. Their faith was frail during seasons, especially seasons of hardship and You know, as we pivot a little bit to talk about the fact that Sometimes we limit God because all we're focusing on is what our human abilities are. And so we put God in our own image instead of remembering that we are created in His. And when we go through Deep sufferings, do you think that it's a temptation for people to forget just how able our God is? It's a strong temptation to all of us.
You know, even if our theology is sound, you know, we believe in the sovereignty of God, we believe in the omnipotence of God, we know he is able, and we know that salvation is all his work. It's it's as if we're In our fallen state, hardwired to want credit for what we do or what happens to us. And so we tend to think of ourselves as, you know. the the get deserving the credit for what good things happened to us. And then in times of suffering, as you said, we we tend to Become weak and wonder if God really is able to pull us out of this.
dark hole that we're in, or whatever. And that's where scripture comes in. We have to constantly remind ourselves. And as I keep saying, the New Testament's full of it. It's again and again.
In fact, if you do a word study on this, I think you'll be surprised at how many times the word, that four-letter word, able, is used to speak of God and his his uh Omnipotence and more specifically, how his omnipotence benefits us through his grace. He's able to do all of these things for us and through us. If we just recognize his power and our need for his grace. The Apostle Paul used to sort of build that into almost every one of his. benedictions, when he would be closing a letter or writing a benediction, sometimes in the middle of a letter.
Like that verse in Ephesians is actually a Pauline benediction that he puts in the middle of the epistle, where he says, Now unto him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works in us, he's making a benediction, and he reminds his readers that God is able to do Exceeding abundantly. He does it at the end of the book of Romans, Romans 16:25.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. He did it in a speech that he gave to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, where he says, I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them who are sanctified. And then he's not the only one. Jude in his small epistle. Closes with a benediction that says, Now unto him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy.
I love that verse. And it's probably the basis of that song you mentioned: He Will Hold Me Fast. He's able to keep me from stumbling and. and to guarantee that I will eventually stand in his presence In the presence of his glory, blameless, with great joy. I look look forward to that day.
Yeah, absolutely. Phil, we are such a forgetful people. And it's not just our generation, it goes all the way back to the Old Testament people. And so. you look at the mighty wonders that God did even in delivering the Israelites from the captivity that they were in in Egypt and I mean walking them through water on dry land and yet We forget, we forget that we serve the same God.
He hasn't changed, his power has not diminished. And I know one of the things that was kind of a common theme in the Old Testament is when God would deliver his people, he would often have them set up some form of remembrance for that and make sure that they were diligent to tell their children of how they had been delivered. How do you think we can do that in modern day times of like setting up remembrances of sorts so that we? Remember how faithful God has been and preach truth to ourselves and to others that He will continue to be.
Well, you asked me that question on a good day because I'm preparing a message for Sunday on Psalm 103, which is that famous psalm that starts out: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. And in the entire psalm, it's one of One of a pair of psalms that begin with those same words: bless the Lord.
Well my soul. Um And in Psalm 103, David is sort of reminding himself. In fact, I would say he's actually preaching the gospel to himself. Which is what we have to do in order to To sort of fight against that tendency that we have to fall back into either trusting ourselves or doubting God. Uh Mm-hmm.
The way to fight that is basically to preach the gospel to yourself because the whole basis of faith, the very definition of faith. is trust That God is able to fulfill his promises. Paul says that, I think, in Romans 4, he's talking about Abraham, and he says he was fully assured that what God had promised, he was able to do. That's the essence of his faith, belief that. whatever God promised, he is able to do.
And in Abraham's case, that was pretty remarkable because both he and Sarah were well past childbearing years and she'd been barren and he had no children and And God was promising him that he would be the father of many nations. And he hung on to that promise, believing that, regardless of circumstances, no matter how hopeless it looked from an earthly perspective. God is able to do what he's promised. And that's the. Very essence of faith.
And when scripture talks about children of Abraham and those who have Abraham's faith, that's what it's saying. We have. That definition of faith, the absolute assurance that what God has promised, He is able to do. You're going back to the story of Abraham, in my mind, it made me think of the fact that. Abraham Walked in even deeper faith, believing that God was able.
Because not only were he and Sarah far beyond. What the human capabilities are of conceiving a child, but then he was asked to sacrifice this child as an act of faith, exactly, yet he was willing to obey, and I think. We struggle with that. If we're honest, we all struggle with obedience from time to time, especially with things that we hold dear. And I can't imagine how dear Isaac must have been to him, and yet he He was obedient to God to say, God, I know that you promised me, you promised.
you know, all this an inheritance of nations. But I'm going to trust you. I believe that you are able to do what you promised to do. And he didn't even have the fullness of scriptures like we do to see where God had been faithful in all of those ways. And when we come back from the break, we're going to talk about how he can also, he's able to sustain us through suffering.
And sometimes that doesn't feel. It doesn't feel like he is, but he absolutely is. And we can look back through scripture and see that. And so we've seen how he is able to fulfill his promises and how he's able to do what seems humanly impossible. And now we're going to see how he's also able to sustain us through our suffering.
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Welcome back to Hope in the Morning. I am joined today with Phil Johnson. He is one of our shepherds in the valleys. And this is a group of men that we have formulated because these men know God's word, they love God's word, and they have a heart of compassion. And so they have this unique ability to convey truth in love.
And we are so thrilled to have you be a part of that group.
So welcome back to the show, Phil. Thank you. Let me pick up where you left off just before the break because you were talking about Abraham and how he was willing to sacrifice. His son, and that was the evidence that you know, his he had the faith that God would fulfill his promise no matter what. The New Testament tells us a little bit about what he was thinking because it's kind of a mystery in the Old Testament.
But in Hebrews 11, where the writer of Hebrews is dealing with the subject of faith, and of course, he focuses quite a bit on Abraham, and he says in Hebrews 11 that Abraham considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead.
So that was his thinking when he was prepared to sacrifice Isaac. Knowing that in Isaac, all the promises God had made to him existed.
So if he killed Isaac, then. God had to have a way to still fulfill those promises. And in his mind, Abraham worked out that the only possibility there is God, who is omnipotent, he can do anything, he is able. to raise people even from the dead. And and Now just think about that for a minute, because that's really the heart of gospel truth, isn't it?
Christ's resurrection from the dead. And Abraham had none of the benefit of seeing that. No one had ever raised anyone from the dead prior to that. There were a couple of incidents with Elijah and Elisha. Were they Raised boys from the dead, but this wasn't a common belief that God could raise the dead.
Uh and yet Abraham trusted the promise of God so much. That he had worked out the plan in his mind to the point where he believed God was going to raise Isaac from the dead. I was going to say, he says, in a figure, he did, right? God gave him back to him alive. Yeah, I was going to ask you that because a lot of the instances that we have in scripture where people were raised from the dead, those were in the New Testament.
And so that's not something that Abraham obviously would have been privy to because he lived before the time of Christ. And so he didn't have the benefit of seeing the little girl that was raised from the dead or Lazarus raised from the dead or Jesus himself. And yet. He had such a big faith, a faith that. that dare I say supersedes most of ours.
Um How do we develop that kind of faith in our own lives?
Well, notice it's linked to your belief in God, your doctrine of theology proper. What do you believe about God? Do you genuinely believe he is omnipotent, that he can do anything? And that he is good, he will do everything good, or he will make everything work together for good. and that he he uh he is He will fulfill his promises, basically.
And so those are. Those are theological points, actually, about theology proper, your perspective on God. If you see God as Vacillating or weak or indecisive in any way. And In fact, there's a whole Branch of theology, quasi-Christian theology, known as. Um what's it known as?
Uh Anyway. I forget, it slipped my mind. But they believe that God doesn't know the future. And therefore, he doesn't know everything, and therefore, we can't really have the guarantee that he will fulfill his promises or do everything. If you believe that, then it undermines the very essence of faith itself.
Yeah. So, what you believe about God is vital. There's no hope. If that's how you view things, there's no hope in your dark circumstances. In 2 Timothy 1.12, I had written this down because I love this verse.
It says, For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him. And again, that just reminds me not only of Abraham, but Anything within our lives, whether it's, you know, Phil, I know that you've had health issues. You currently, you have health issues that are, ongoing that will be ongoing for the rest of the life that god gives you here on earth And trusting your health, and trusting your children, and trusting your spouse or your career. Those Those can feel like scary things. to entrust to the Lord and yet Again, in 2 Timothy, it reminds us that we He is able to guard what we have entrusted.
To him.
So, even, you know, to make this even a little bit more personal, how have you wrestled with that to entrust your very health? and your future. to to God. You know, people ask me that, and I don't know if you've been watching online. Former Senator Ben Sass has also contracted a I think it's in his case pancreatic cancer.
It's incurable kind of cancer. It will take his life. What I have is multiple myeloma. It's slower than pancreatic cancer, but it's also incurable. And if I live long enough, it'll It'll take my life as well.
Though I'm old enough, there's still a chance I'll die of old age.
So I don't know. I'm not as worried about it, I think, as a lot of people would be. Maybe because I am older, I'm thinking more about heaven than I am about earth these days. I'm ready. Ben Sass says the same thing.
You really ought to look up his His testimony online, it's remarkable and incredibly uplifting. And the treatment he's getting is. is destroying his body. And you look at this man. And you think just from the way he looks, Yeah, it did.
It's hopeless. There's no hope in that whatsoever. And yet, he's full of hope and expectation because he knows the Lord and he knows he's going to go to heaven. He's, by the way, a strong Christian. I think he has a degree from Westminster Seminary.
But he served as a senator, and now he's contracted a fatal disease. His testimony may be his best legacy out of all the things he's accomplished with his life. the way he's faced death, so full of hope. In a situation that, from an earthly perspective, looks hopeless. And he keeps quoting things like that, that God is able to make every grace abound to us so that in everything and every time, having every sufficiency, we have an abundance for every good deed.
That's Second Corinthians 9. And again, scripture says these things over and over and over again, reminding us that God is able to do everything we need. And he's sufficient. His grace is sufficient. I mean that that was That's an interesting thread of uh Um How a word is used in 2 Corinthians, the word sufficient, you know, where Paul says, Who is sufficient for these things?
And I'm not sufficient of myself, but my sufficiency is from God. And then the very next time he uses that word is in chapter 12. It's a few chapters later, but he brings it up in the context where he talks about the thorn in his flesh and how he'd prayed for that to be removed. And the answer he got was from God, saying, My grace is. Sufficient.
Same word. And um And he goes on to say, for power is perfected in And that's a promise I think that that certainly applies to every Believer. God's grace is sufficient for whatever He puts us through. 1 Corinthians 10, 13 says, You know, he won't subject us to any test or temptation that's too great for us to handle. But with the temptation, he gives a way of escape so that we can be able to bear it.
That's a promise to all of us collectively that his grace is always sufficient and he is always able. And I don't know anything that could possibly give you more hope than that, no matter what your circumstances are. Yeah. So sometimes I think we confuse God's faithfulness and his goodness with God is able, therefore he will rescue me from my circumstances.
So what. Can you speak a little bit to the difference between God delivering us from our circumstances and sustaining us within them? Yeah, I might say it like there's sometimes he delivers us from our circumstances.
Sometimes he delivers us through our circumstances. Either way, he delivers us. And uh sometimes it's his will for us to walk through the The darkness and trust him in the midst of that, and in the end, we know that he will. He will deliver us. Psalm 23, the most familiar passage of From the Psalms anyway, I think Uh, that most people can recite, it's all about that, yay.
Though I walk through the The Valley of the Shadow of Death. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Um And he's able to sustain us no matter how dark the valley we're in. Yeah, you know, my husband reminded me the other day, we were talking, you know, oftentimes because of just the nature of this ministry, there are some heavy things that we deal with, some heavy things that come my way. And I'm very thankful for a husband that actually went to the master's seminary.
And I can go to him and say, Hey, what do you think about this? Or how should I respond to this? Or what do you think of XYZ? And I'll admit, sometimes there are circumstances that come my way. And in my flesh, I feel like that's not fair.
That doesn't seem like how it should be going. And my husband, in his wisdom, reminded me the other day, he said, Emily, We're not called to easy lives. As Christians. And so sometimes God asks us to walk through things that seem to be an earthly injustice. And oftentimes they are earthly injustices.
And yet, God will redeem it. God will sustain you in it. But it does not mean that God will always take you out of that circumstance. And that was a very humbling thing for me to hear from my husband and something that I think we need to remind each other of sometimes because God is still good. God is still faithful.
He is still able. He's still the one that can part the sea. But sometimes we have to remind ourselves, in fact, dare I say, not just sometimes, often. We have to remind ourselves that Okay. What the Lord puts us through.
Often becomes a part of our testimony, just like you were talking about a minute ago. That becomes a part of her testimony. You see, wow. How can this man who is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is a very painful cancer that is not? It's not an easy thing to go through by any means, and it can shorten your life quite quickly.
How can you go through that and still declare that God is good? And I think it comes back to what you mentioned earlier, which was Jude 24, saying that He's able to keep you. from stumbling. It's God alone that can keep us. With our eyes focused where they ought to be, and not just looking at our circumstances, but able to look beyond them, able to look toward heaven, toward our reward.
And so I was going to ask you, too. You had mentioned that you feel like you are. becoming more and more eager for heaven and that you feel ready for that. How can those of us that are listening today, how can we be ready? How can we increase our excitement for heaven and decrease our attachment to this world?
Well, a word of encouragement about that. It does get easier the older you get. It's one of those things that. does get easier. I often tell people that that resisting temptation doesn't necessarily get easier the older you get.
Uh but Trust in God, I think, does because you have a track record of. Incidents and circumstances that you've been in where you thought things were hopeless. I remember vividly a time in my life when I was just 27 years old. And everything fell apart. I mean, everything.
I was dismissed from the job I had and. things just looked hopeless. And I remember saying I I I know the Lord uses works all things together for good. And I trust that, but I don't see how that can possibly happen with these circumstances. My life is ruined.
I'm at the end. It was only 27 years old. And as it turned out, though the Lord doesn't always deliver us as speedily as we think we wish, you know? His timing is perfect and his plan is perfect. And it was that situation when I was twenty seven years old that sort of set the direction for the rest of my life And pointed me towards John MacArthur, Grace Community Church.
And I've spent the last 45 years doing what I'm doing here. Thinking I'm I'm I'm so glad the Lord put me through those difficult circumstances. which I hated at the time. But if you could give me the choice now and say, would you go through that again, knowing all the good that came out of it, as painful as it was. Would you willingly submit to it again?
My answer would be emphatically yes. Because the Lord knows what he's doing when he says he will work all things together for good. Yeah. And ultimately that's the case. When we come back for the podcast portion of this, we're going to talk more about that.
We're going to talk about how God is also able to redeem what seems to be ruined.
So if you're listening on the radio, I suggest that you follow us and listen to us either on YouTube at Hope in the Morning Backstage or find our podcast, Hope in the Morning, wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Thank you for joining us today on Hope in the Morning. That time just flies by. I feel like, especially when we get into such an important topic. those those first moments fly by.
Yeah, so okay, so how did you see the Lord redeem what at just 27 years old you thought was ruined? How did you see him? How did you see him redeem that? That's a pretty big thing. And I think it's incredible because you're not the only person that has suffered, that has come on this program and said exactly what you just said, which is.
That hurt more than I ever thought it could hurt, whatever it is I went through. But I wouldn't change what the Lord taught me through it, and I wouldn't change the nearness that He took me to because. Oftentimes, it takes our suffering to really draw us and knit us together to the heart of God. How was that the reality for you?
Well, in a lot of ways, actually. You know, if you ask me, when is my prayer life? most active and most v you know prominent I would say it's during those times when I'm troubled or going through some difficulty. That I'm motivated to pray in a way that I'm not when it seems like everything's going well. And it's a shame that it's that way.
We ought to be. You know, in everything, give thanks. And that entails prayer. But we easily forget that until we're in dire straits and then. Immediately remember the importance of prayer.
And so that is one of the good things, one of many good things that the Lord. uses our suffering for. to draw us back closer to him. Do you think that maybe one reason why We are not as faithful and as vigilant in our prayer life or in giving homage to the Lord and understanding our frailty and our position before God when things are going well. We tend to be less apt to give God the full attention and dependence that we should always have.
Do you think that there's any element of that? that stems from us almost feeling like we are owed Good things, like I had a guest on here, and I'll never forget what she said. She said that. There's a part of us that if we really dig down deep, We all have to fight against the prosperity gospel because we all kind of feel like we're owed this basic bag of blessings, as she put it. And I've never forgotten that because as I examined my own heart and my own life, I found that to be true.
So, do you think that a lot of times it's not until the proverbial rug is. taken out from underneath us that we realize, oh, I'm actually not in control here. And I wasn't owed X, Y, or Z. Yeah, no question about it. I think we don't.
typically realize how sinful we are and how how unworthy we are. Uh you know the grace by definition is a f favor that we're not worthy of. We don't deserve. But we don't always feel that. I used to read Romans 7, where Paul calls himself a wretched man, and think, how could this prominent disciple mature in his faith enough to?
Write a book like Romans full of rich theology and Wise understanding, and he's just done a chapter, Romans six. On the triumph that we experience over the bondage of sin and then. In Romans 7, he talks about how frustrated he is. With his own war against covetousness. And how he he just has not been able to un To overcome that.
And he ends up calling himself a wretched man and says, Who will deliver me from the body of this death? I used to I have a hard time understanding that until I have a lifetime of my own experience and realize. Yeah, I we don't I don't think we ponder How sinful and unworthy we are, and if we got what we actually deserved. it would be so horrific that it I You know, I would hesitate to describe it to you. At this year's Shepherds Conference, they asked me to do a seminar on.
The doctrine of hell. I had never really preached on hell as a subject before and looked into the biblical descriptions of God's wrath and. And hell, and what people say about it, you know, because it sounds so horrific, and it is. Uh and yet You have to step back from that and say, why? Why would a loving God who is righteous and just and holy?
uh punish sinners To the degree that hell, the descriptions of hell give us. And the answer is because that's what we deserve. That's the sinfulness of our sin. And in fact, the law is given to us, Scripture says, so that sin. Will appear exceedingly sinful because it is.
I think we just don't have a. a thorough understanding of how bad our sin is, and therefore, we don't really grasp how amazing God's grace is. The fact that He has saved us doesn't mean we deserve it. Yeah, you know, I mean, we live in a culture of self-love, right? Of you got to love yourself, you got to fill your own cup first, and speaking, speaking, I mean, it's a silliest thing, but I literally see people where they speak affirmations to themselves in the mirror, and it's like, oh man, we should, as Christians, not that we want to.
Degradate ourselves, but we want to have a right view of ourselves before a holy God. And I don't think if we're being honest with ourselves, I don't think many of us do. I think that that's not our, it's not our go-to position for ourselves. You know, we tend to elevate ourselves to positions where we ought not to. And instead of continuously looking at who are we before a righteous God, what is the true character of God?
And then when we can come to that understanding, Man, talk about Abel. What an incredible thing that God is then able to. make us right. With him again through the sacrifice of his son, that Jesus said. I'm willing I'm willing to lower myself.
How often are we willing to do that? Almost never. And yet Jesus, God himself, said, I am willing to Lower myself. to make you right with the father i'm able And I'm willing. And I hope for those that are listening today that that That fills your heart with this humble.
Inexpressible gratitude. because it's something that we are completely unable to do. And yet, God loved us enough to sacrifice His Son and make a way for us to be right with the Father, and that's how we. we then are able to be sustained. Through our suffering.
And I wanted to read a poem that I have here in our book, Hope in the Morning, because I think that sometimes we do forget. Our place before God, and this poem is called Who is Like God? And it says this. Who has known the mind of God, or numbered his own days? Who can question any of his judgments or give counsel to his ways?
He formed the beasts of earth and feeds him from his hand. He told the waters of their boundaries and his numbered grains of sand. His mighty voice was all it took to make the moon and stars.
So how can we, merely dust, think control is ours? Is not He the source of wisdom, and the Giver of all things? He has intricately painted sunsets and given flight to wings. He formed each man while he was yet hidden in the womb. He alone can give the breath of life and raise the dead up from the tomb.
Who are we to offer anything but praise, and humbly bow before him, submitting to his ways? And one of the things that I wanted to have you speak on a little bit is The privilege that it is to worship. And I think that that poem points to that a little bit. Can you speak to us a little bit about? What a privilege it is that we actually can not only come to the Lord in prayer, but worship itself.
What kind of privilege is that? Yeah, and not only come to the Lord in prayer, but come boldly before the throne of grace. That's a breathtaking idea. And you you get a sense of that if as you uh just sort of Trace The images in scripture of people who confront God and realize that they're standing in the presence of God suddenly. The response is uniform.
Every single time they fall on their face. Because it's a frightening Reality to realize that you're standing before a perfectly holy God. Once you really see that, it it should make us fall on our faces. And and yet, He invites us to worship and stand in his presence and Um Yeah. you know, enjoy all the benefits of his grace, which we don't deserve at all.
It's really an amazing concept. And I none of us appreciates it the way we should. Yeah. One of the deficiencies of our sinful fallenness, I think, that we just have this. This tendency not to look at it realistically and see what it is, how sinful we are.
How great God is, and yet how How wondrously amazing his grace towards us is. The only response to that would be worship.
So it's not only a privilege and an obligation. It should be the natural response once we really understand what it means when it says God is able to do all things. Yeah. What would you say are some reflections of what we have learned today in light of all that God is able to do. What do you think are some ways that we can offer our worship and even in our prayers?
Like we can thank God What are some ways that we can do that in light of what we've learned today?
Well, again, my mind this week is fixed on Psalm 103. Uh, bless the Lord, O my soul. That's talking about worship. And forget not all his benefits. That's talking about God's grace and what it's done for me.
And like I said, I think what David is saying in that psalm basically is. that he needs to preach the gospel to himself. to remind himself what God has done for him. I just read a thing about somebody who was complaining about the church they were in because the preacher preaches the gospel every week. And I'm thinking, what a privilege you have, you know, to hear the gospel.
What do you want to hear? Moralism, you know, movie reviews, what do you want to hear? Because the gospel is what we need to hear. And I say this as someone who's been a Christian for 55 years. I need to hear the gospel on a regular basis because my mind does tend to wander from the reality that.
Uh God is not only uh Abel, he is, he is actually, scripture says, I think in James 4, that there's one lawgiver, one judge. The one who is able to save and to destroy. And that's one of the reasons Scripture gives, too, that we shouldn't be judging one another. We should be very cautious about passing judgment. on our fellow believers.
There are times when we do have to judge righteously. It's not like we never, ever. judge anything. Discernment is a virtue, but we have to be very careful about it. and judge righteously But also remember that the only true judge, the ultimate judge, the one who actually can see.
Into the hearts and motives of people is God. And he is able. ultimately even to redeem the worst of humanity, Uh and that's just a remarkable idea, I think. Yeah, and going back to what you were saying just now about how careful we have to be to judge one another. Absolutely, we have to have discernment, and even more so in today's world, for those of us that are parents, you have to have discernment for your children.
And saying that you don't want your children in the company of certain individuals, or that you want to be mindful not to go certain places. Does it's not always an act of hate, as people that are not believers think that we, as believers, are. It can be an act of love because they. They, you know, going back to the standing of that Christ has given us before God, it's the difference between being in the presence of an almighty king. And you're his enemy.
versus being the child who can come and say, Daddy, I have a question. Daddy, can you help me with this? It's very different. It's a different relationship. But I think when we're talking about within the church, within believer to believer, I think As far as judging goes, like it's really rooted in the heart.
Like, are you showing love and compassion to that person? Are you, is your desire to see restoration? That's what it should be for one another. We should not be gossiping about one another. And I don't know if that's a struggle for men as much as it tends to be for women.
And we have to be careful even with, you know, the prayer requests because prayer requests, I think, can sometimes become gossipy. And we want to protect one another. We want to show love to one another. And understanding again, like, but for the grace of God, go I. We all are weak and fallen and.
What what would we want done for us if we were in A state of sin or confusion, we would want restoration. We would want our brothers and sisters to come to us, which is what, I mean, that's how Matthew 18 starts. It's not how it finishes, but that's how it starts, is that you want to. You want to first go to them privately. And restore that relationship, restore them to the Lord.
Part of that, I think, is reminding them. Who they are before God in a gentle way, understanding that you also are that before God. But reminding them who God is and that He's able to forgive. two, which I think is is such a Not only a humbling thing, but such an encouraging thing because I don't know about all of our listeners, but I know how often I fail. in in a day and I'm so thankful.
for for forgiveness. And I I want to grow in offering that same forgiveness and grace to others. How would you say that we can practically serve others in that way. If we see somebody that maybe does need um Maybe they do need some admonishment. How can we lovingly go to them and Offer what is biblically needed between a brother or sister.
while still reminding them that God is able to forgive and restore. Yeah, it's a balance you have to keep because you have to be very careful not to be hyper-judgmental, you know, not to be. Picky about lot of little things and all. Paul deals with that in Romans 14, and he where he says, Who are you to judge another, the servant of another? He stands or falls to his own master, and he says, Then he says, The Lord is able to make him stand.
It's one of the one of the able's there, that the Lord is able to make him stand.
So sometimes the best thing to do is pray for that person and trust that the Lord is able to make him stand.
Sometimes they might need a word of encouragement or admonishment. And those are all appropriate in the right context, but you do have to bathe it in prayer and make sure it's done in love. Yeah. Yeah, I think that Again, being reminded that God is not, He is not made in our image. He is not limited to.
are human Our human limitations. And so You know, as we conclude this program for today, I hope that you will walk away remembering that the Lord is able to fulfill his promises. He is able to sustain you in your suffering. He is able to do what is humanly impossible. And he's able to forgive you and restore you to a righteous and holy God.
So, as we close this episode, Phil, would you mind closing us in prayer today? Sure. Lord, we're grateful that you are able to make us stand. You are able to do. whatever needs to be done to fulfill your perfect will.
And We recognize our own inabilities. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to remember those things. And help us to trust as Abraham did that you are able to fulfill that which you have promised. Give us that faith. Strengthen our faith by your grace.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. As you go forward this week, I hope that you will keep this four-letter word on repeat in your mind and remember that God is able. Thank you for joining us today on Hope in the Morning.
Hope in the Morning is a non-profit ministry that seeks to encourage the hurting. Equip those who walk beside them, and evangelize the lost with the hope of Jesus Christ. To partner with our ministry or to make a donation in your loved one's honor, please visit hopeinthemorning.org. Your donation helps keep these stories of hope on the air and helps tangibly meet the needs of the hurting.
