Beyond Ourselves - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, January 10th. Let's begin a series of messages reminding us that our ability to live differently is made possible only by Jesus Christ. Learn to lean on the Savior as the source of your strength. It is in the love and the wisdom of God that He has chosen not to tell us many things in life. One of those aspects of life He does not reveal. Those things that are going to take place in the future of our life that are difficult, trials, hardships, tribulations, persecution, whatever it might be, He has chosen not to tell us ahead of time about these things. Now once in a while, He may give us some signal in our life about something that is going to take place.

But most of the time, He doesn't. This is why it is so very important that you and I are continually growing in our Christian life so that whenever these things take place in our life, we'll be ready for them. There are some people who face difficulty and hardship, and the end result is they lose their faith. They become angry, hostile, sometimes angry toward God, begin to be cynical about life, grow old, isolate themselves, and die in a cynical attitude.

On the other hand, here's someone else who can go through the same circumstance in life and hear the end results. They are richer in their understanding of the ways of God. They are stronger in their faith in the power of God. And they're overwhelmed in their heart by the love of God. Now, what is the difference in the way these two people respond?

Here's the difference. One of them knows the source of their strength and the other one does not. And that is the title of this message today, The Source of Our Strength. And I want you to turn to a passage of scripture written by a man who understood so very, very well what it meant to be pushed to the limits of his strength and how to go beyond our human limits and endure and survive and triumph over the most difficult circumstances in life. Second Corinthians chapter one, verse eight. For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves and order that we should not trust in ourselves. But in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death and will deliver us. He on whom we've set our hope and he will yet deliver us.

You also joining in helping us through your prayers that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many. Now, the apostle Paul wasn't a man who was a stranger to difficulty, hardship and trial, but a man who was very, very aware, knowledgeable and knew not only what it felt like, but who learned how to respond to the most difficult and trying of circumstances. So I simply want to begin by saying that there are circumstances in life that require strength beyond what we have humanly.

There are those circumstances in life that require strength beyond what you and I have humanly. And let's look at the apostle Paul for a moment. And I want you to notice the words he uses to describe this for this reason. It may be that you're one of those persons who's going through one of those trials and you say, but wait a minute, don't tell me about the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul lived about two thousand years ago and he didn't live in our society. And he doesn't know what I'm facing and how could he have a solution to me two thousand years later? Well, I want you to listen to these words, because even though the apostle Paul did not experience exactly what you're experiencing in some ways, in many ways he did, but the end result and the effect upon him was indeed the same.

Now listen to these words that he uses. He says, if you'll notice in verse eight, he says, brethren of our affliction, which means a crushing pressure. This wasn't a bad cold of the flu or somebody hurt his feelings. He was in a situation where he was feeling crushed by the pressure of this circumstance. He says, which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively. Burdened excessively means he was way down beyond his capacity, he thought.

It was used in terms of a slow sinking ship, a ship that was gradually sinking. He said, that's what I felt. We were so burdened excessively, we were just sinking under it. He says, beyond our strength. That is, when he examined his own limitations and looked to see what was happening to him, he said, this is going beyond my endurance, beyond my strength. He says, beyond our strength to the fact that he says we even despaired of life and what he's saying there is this. From the looks of things where he was at the moment, the sentence of death had already been passed upon him.

He was expecting to die in this particular situation. Here is a man who experienced every single facet of difficulty, trial and hardship that you and I could possibly think of or experience ourselves. So we're not talking about a man who relaxed on the beach in the Mediterranean and just prayed and talked to God.

He was a man out there who was carrying out the work that God had called him to do. But he was in a constant season of conflict. Now, I say all that to say this, that sometimes when we pick up the word, we say, well, but you know, that was 2000 years ago and things have changed. Let me tell you what has not changed. Sin hadn't changed. The devil hasn't changed. Temptation hasn't changed. Hardships, trial, suffering, difficulty, attacks.

None of that's changed. It's just a different day in which it is going on. And so the apostle Paul knew what he was speaking of here. And all of us face those circumstances in which we feel we are pushed to the limits. And we have to go beyond our human energy and strength, whether it is intellectual, moral, spiritual, physical, emotional, whatever it might be.

So as you think about it in your own life, let's look at it this way. You may be one of those persons who says, you know, I have been so wronged and so wronged by the same person for so long. I don't have the strength.

I don't have the power to keep on forgiving someone who keeps on wronging me. Or you may be in the kind of environment or atmosphere in which the temptation is so strong, so prevailing, so overwhelming. You just think, I absolutely just don't have the strength to endure this. Or you may be facing some circumstance that just demands endurance. There seems to be no way out and you don't have any way of escape.

And that's what Paul said in this passage when he talked about being burdened and even to despair. There seems to be no way out. You say, I don't seem to have the strength to just keep on enduring these kinds of things.

This sense of rejection and the anger or the hostility that you feel towards someone or towards some group of people. You just you say, I just don't have the strength to do it. Well, I think all of us can understand that there are times when we face those kind of situations.

But what we have to ask is this. Would God allow us or place us in a situation in which we absolutely cannot endure? And I'm not saying that a person should stay in every single solitary situation, especially if a person is being physically abused to the point of danger and the destruction of their life.

That's something entirely different. But the difficulties and hardships and people's criticism of the contention, the things that go on. Should we just check out, run and leave because we don't have the strength to do it? Or is there a solution?

Is there an answer? The apostle Paul could have said, hey, God, you called me to preach. You struck me down the Damascus road. You gave me an absolutely unquestionable call to preach the gospel of the Gentiles. And now look, everywhere I go, the Judaizers are there when I get there to persecute me.

If I beat them there, they are there soon thereafter. Everywhere I turn, there is conflict. There is war going on. I'm in constant danger continually. God, if you want me to preach the gospel, either you correct this mess.

I'm checking out. Lord, what about lifting the load? What about just giving me a break? Will you? Have you ever told God that? Give me a break. I mean, just lift the pressure. Do something. When I read the book of Acts, which is the account so much of it is of the life of the apostle Paul, you know what I discover? At no point did God say to him, well, Paul, you've had enough. I'm going to give you about six months of just pure rest. You just take it easy for six months and just forget this whole crowd.

He never did. And there are many people who live in situations, work in situations, have to dwell in circumstances that there seems to be no way out. And it is crushing pressure. And it is there constantly.

It may be physical pain that they experience because of some illness, or as we said, in their job and their home or whatever it might be. Is there a strength genuinely, practically available? Or is this just some religious talk? It's just something that God's promised, but isn't practical.

If it isn't real, then we shouldn't be talking about it. And so the apostle Paul in this passage gives us the solution. He says, I was pushed not just to my limit, but beyond my limit.

He said, I had nothing left in absolute total despairing, knowing that death was imminent. Now, there are many people who live in those circumstances every day. And how do they survive? God's people.

How do they survive? Well, when you look at this passage of Scripture, you have to also conclude this. And that is that the strength required to enable us to endure those circumstances beyond our human power and strength is available in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, I know that may be a simplified statement. That the power, the energy required to enable us to face these things triumphantly and victoriously is to be found in Christ.

But it is. It is to be found in Him. And the apostle Paul understood that. He understood that, well, that's why he says in this passage here, he says, indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.

Now, listen carefully. Here is a basic foundational principle for teaching us how to walk in the most difficult trying circumstance of life. I want you to notice, first of all, when he says beyond our strength and he talks about the strength of God. What is this strength that he's speaking of? We talk about when Paul said, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.

What kind of strength is this? Well, there is a certain amount of human strength morally, physically, emotionally. There's a certain amount of strength that people have. Then there is a strength beyond that which is human.

That is, human nature only goes so far. But there is a supernatural divine energy that expresses itself intellectually, morally, physically, spiritually in the life of the believer. And it expresses itself at the point and the moment in time that it is needed. That is, the expression of that divine supernatural strength is an expression of strength that makes it possible for us to meet and to face and to overcome and to be triumphant and victorious in what we are facing at that moment.

It doesn't make any difference what it is. Here's what he's saying. He says, the source of our strength is in the person of Jesus Christ.

What did he mean by that? Simply this, that when you and I received by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, the Bible says that Jesus Christ came to live on the inside of us in our spirit, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside every single believer.

And what is he doing? Living out through us the life of Christ. Now, who Jesus Christ was is who he is today, the same yesterday, today and forever.

What he did in those days, he's doing today. And the same power and strength that prevailed in his life in those days still prevails in him today and he's living on the inside of us. So that, listen, all the strength and all the power to endure, survive and keep our joy and keep our peace is not only available to us today, it is already abiding in us in the very presence of Jesus Christ. You see, God doesn't have to send down from heaven something to enable me to face anything.

It is already my possession and your possession. So God has indwelt in every single believer enough strength and enough power that you and I can face every single circumstance of life no matter what it is. Now, listen to what Paul said. He said in Ephesians chapter 1, he said, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. He said to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2, he said, be strong in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then the Apostle Paul made a statement that all of us have quoted many times. He said, here's what I've learned. He said, by this principle that I want to show you, he said, I've learned that I can do all things.

Listen to that. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He didn't say I can do anything and all things and everything. He said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Did Paul always know that?

No. You know how Paul learned that lesson? He learned it the same way you and I have to learn it. And the way we learn that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us is to get thrown into those impossible situations where we feel the crushing pressure and the absolute total inability and totally incapacitated to change our circumstances and learn, learn the lesson that when our limits have been exhausted, we can go beyond our limits because of a strength and supernatural divine power given to and available to every single believer.

We learn it by getting thrown into it. We learn it only in that way because if you only listen to it from someone else or read it in a book, you will never know and have a conviction about the adequacy of Christ in your life until you have to experience that. And so the Apostle Paul, knowing exactly what was happening, and as he looked at his own life and shared how God had worked in his life, what is he saying? He is saying there is a power, there is a strength. He said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now, once in a while, somebody will misinterpret that passage. There is a limitation on what you and I can do. That limitation is clearly defined in that passage when he says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Where does the strength come from?

It comes from the person of Christ, our relationship with him. What is the limitation? Here's the limitation. God is not going to strengthen you and me to do anything that is not the will of the Father. So he's not going to empower us and strengthen us to do something. It's not his will to do.

And so what does he do? Whatever God calls you to do, if it's in your occupation, if he's called you to a certain occupation and a certain type of work, that may be very difficult. If he's placed you there, he is going to enable you, strengthen you and equip you to do every single thing required of you. God will enable you to do it.

Now listen carefully. That's why running out on a difficult situation is never, never, never legitimate for the child of God. It is a confession to the world that our Savior is inadequate. Now let me qualify that by saying I would never say that a person who is living in a situation where their life has been threatened by someone because of some kind of horrible physical abuse, that is a situation that is an exception.

There may have to be an exception there. But I'm talking about difficulty, hardships, trials, tribulations. We don't like the way folks treat us.

We don't like the way things happen. And sometimes here's a person, for example, in a job and you've been working there a long time for the same company and you get passed over in raise and promotion and the job is given to someone else over here who's far less qualified, does not make as much money as you do, hasn't been there as long as you've been there and they just pass over you and you say, well, why should I hang in here? How do I have the strength and the power to be just as enthusiastic about my job when I am so ill treated? That is the kind of situation you don't run out on because you've been ill treated. If the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't deal with where I have to live in a practical way, there's something wrong with the book.

Shut the thing up and walk out. But it is the adequacy and the sufficiency of the person of Jesus Christ to endure hardship and to face difficulty and hardship and trials and criticism and rejection and all the rest. This is the living Christ. He's not a dead savior in a tomb somewhere.

We have a living Christ and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, adequate and sufficient 2000 years ago is the same adequate living Christ that is available to you and me to face any trial situation, difficulty, hardship, persecution and keep moving in our progress and in our growth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening to part one of Beyond Ourselves. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.