When in Need, Remember - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, August 11th. The apostle Paul wrote, My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Let's learn about the power of the promises of God during difficult times. All through our life, we have needs. There are different needs at different times. And sometimes the older we get, our needs change. Sometimes our environment determines what our needs are. But all of us have needs. And usually, one of the reasons we struggle with some needs that God's so willing to provide is because we either forget or we don't realize that herein lies a guide whereby, if I will follow its leadership, I will understand about my need and I will be able to find that need well met. So I want to ask you to be sure to jot down these three things I want to share with you. And then I want you to listen to this, not only with your own needs in mind, but I want you to listen to this with somebody else in mind whom you know is in need right now.

So I want you to think for just a moment. Who do I know who is in real need? Somebody who may be desperate, somebody who's confused, someone who's frustrated, someone who has needs that you know about and they don't know what to do about them. And they desperately need what I want to share with you this morning. But I want you to think about this and listen to it from two perspectives.

Number one, because of your own personal need. And secondly, what about the other fellow who doesn't know what you know and who would be greatly blessed because you took the time to share with them this message. So I want you to picture yourself today as you listen to this as being prepared to preach this message to somebody else who is in need. So I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter four, Hebrews chapter four. And this passage deals in the beginning with the promise of God's rest and illustrates that with the nation of Israel. And then he comes down to the 13th verse and I want us to read verses 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the fourth chapter. Verse 13 says, And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.

Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but rather one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

Now, the first thing I want you to jot down is this. God knows all about our needs. God knows all about our needs. Listen to what he says in this 13th verse. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The scripture says in Second Chronicles chapter 16, verse 9, that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.

In the 139th Psalm, you'll recall this wonderful promise of our Lord. He says in this particular passage, Where can I go from thy spirit? Where can I flee from thy presence? Even the darkness is not dark to thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to thee. There is no darkness. There is no place that can cover us.

There's no place to hide. The Bible says that everything has been laid bare, everything has been made open to him. And when he uses the term laid bare, the term really in essence says everything is open and naked to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Now, the Bible teaches us that God is omniscient. That is, he knows everything. There is not anything that he does not know. He knows all things about all of us so that every single one of us, every moment of our life are in God's sight. That is, he is not in heaven looking down upon us as a judge to see what he can find that's wrong, but rather he's looking down upon us as a protective father, as a protective shepherd who is always looking out on his flock, making sure that they're all being well-grazed and that they're all there. So is it that our Heavenly Father is always looking.

He never looks to find out where we are. You say, but now wait a minute, what about what God said in the Garden of Eden when he came looking for Adam? No, he wasn't looking for Adam. The Bible says he came into the garden. God knew exactly where Adam was. So why did God say, Adam, where are they? Because God wanted Adam to confess his own whereabouts.

And that's exactly what he did. God always knows where we are. Think about how comforting that is that you could never get in a situation. You can never be in a dilemma.

You can never be in an environment. You can never be in a place of helplessness that God the Father does not know exactly where you are and sees in perfect detail everything that you see and more than your eyes could ever behold because he's omniscient. That is, there is nothing beyond his knowledge and understanding. So what he's saying in this passage here is when he says, and there is no creature hidden from his sight.

Everything and everybody is always in sight. Listen, the omniscient, loving eyes of our Lord. Nothing hidden, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. That is, there is only one know-it-all, and that one know-it-all is God. He knows it all, and aren't we glad that there isn't anything that he does not know.

He knows everything there is to know about us. And so he says here that God knows all about all of our needs. Now, he has every one of us in his sight, and then also everything about us is known to him. I want you to turn, if you will, to, first of all, Psalm 33. Look in Psalm 33, and I want to give you several passages of Scripture here. First of all, Psalm 33, and look, if you will, at the 13th verse. The Bible says, the Lord looks from heaven and sees all the sons of men. From his dwelling place he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth.

He who fashions the hearts of them all, he who understands all their works. So he's looking from a different perspective than you and I look. For example, when I lived in Miami, I used to always look forward to the Orange Bowl parade, and so my family and I, we'd sort of get down the side of the curb early and carry our sandwiches and picnic and so forth. And so when the parade came by, we'd always be able to see it the way most people saw it, and that is one section at a time. But one year, we had the privilege of going up high into a building almost on the top floor and looking down. And what a whole different perspective. It's like you could almost see it from one end to the other.

You could almost see the whole parade. Well, that's exactly what he's saying in this passage, that when God looks down upon us, he looks down on this earth and he sees every single one of us and all there is that omniscience can know about us all at one time, from the moment you were conceived until the moment you take your last breath and God calls you home. He sees it all just like he's looking at it right now, and everything to him is in his presence. Everything is present with him. He says, I am the great I am, not the great I was, not the great I shall be, but the great I am.

Everything is present before him. That's wonderful to know that we're always in his sight and everything there is to know about us, he already knows. And that's good because I want you to turn to Matthew chapter six for a moment. And in this passage, as our Lord begins to share with his disciples how to pray, it's interesting what he says in this eighth verse, because following that is the prayer that he gives us, our Father, which art in heaven. But verse eight says about us, Therefore, do not be like them.

That is like the Gentiles, the unbeliever who make many meaningless repetitions. But he says, Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows what you need when before you ask. He knows all there is to know about us. He knows what we need before we ask.

And that's what this message is all about. And that is when in need, remember, remember what? First of all, that our Lord knows all about our needs. So if your need today is emotional, he knows it perfectly. If it is physical, some form of healing, he knows all about it. If it is a financial need, he knows about that.

If you need a job, he knows all about that. If you just feel that you're just low at this time and you're going through some period of discouragement, disillusionment and depression and things aren't going to suit you, you think, God, where in the world are you? Listen, you and I may ask God, where in the world are you?

But God never asked, where in the world are you? He knows exactly where you are, what's going on in your life, and he knows specifically what every single need is. You see, he knows your hurts. He knows your hang-ups. He knows what makes you happy. He knows what you desire. He knows what you feel like you need when oftentimes you don't even know what it is. You see, God knows that we have needs and sometimes he will burden us to cry out before him when he hasn't necessarily told us what it is. He knows perfectly.

And you see, sometimes we think we know what our needs are. We come to him and we say, Lord, here's what I need and we have it all perfectly designed. And God, I'm sure, listens. Sometimes he must smile. You see, God isn't this old grandfather sitting up in heaven grouchy. God must have a sense of humor or we wouldn't have one.

Who created a sense of humor? Would you say that God is more gloomy than he is glad? I'm not my God.

He's not somebody who's hung up and has got to be always serious. God, while he has the whole world and its whole burden upon him, God must likewise have a sense of humor. And sometimes we come to him and say, Lord, we want to tell you about this need. And I mean, when we get there, we built up this tremendous case and he must say, I've heard that so many times. God isn't impressed that, you see, we don't bargain with him. We just come to him and tell him our need.

And he knows exactly what it is. Now, notice, first of all, there is no creature hidden from his sight. All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The second thing I want you to notice is this, and that is God is ready, willing, and able to help us with our needs.

Not only does God know all about our needs, but he's ready, willing, and able to help us meet our needs. Now, listen to what he says in verse 14. Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. He says that you and I have a great high priest, not just a high priest, but a great high priest, great in his love, great in his power, great in his mercy, great in his goodness toward us. And if you want to see him described another way, look back, if you will, in Hebrews chapter 1, because the rite of Hebrews begins this whole epistle showing us how superior Jesus is to prophets and angels and everyone. And he begins by saying in verse 1, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets, in many portions and in many ways in these last days, has spoken to us and his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. And he is, that is Christ the great high priest, is the radiance of his glory, the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact representation of his nature.

To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know God the Father, and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they. You and I have, listen, not a high priest, but the great high priest. Listen, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Now, it's one thing for us to know a great high priest. He didn't say all of us know a great high priest. He says, you and I have a great high priest. What is he saying to us? Simply that there is a relationship that you and I have.

And that relationship is this. When you and I confessed our sins and repented of them, and received the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior, the Lord Jesus Christ of the Holy Spirit came to indwell us, so that now we are possessed by and possess the Lord Jesus Christ through the minister of the Holy Spirit. He says, we have been sealed by him under the day of redemption.

That is, Jesus put it this way. He says, I am abiding in you, and you are abiding in me. I am in you, and you are in me.

What does that mean? That you and I are in a union with him, whereby the two of us have now become one. And you recall in the 17th chapter of John, when Jesus was praying, listen to what he says in the 17th chapter. This is his prayer. I in them, and thou in me. Verse 26. And I have made thy name known to them, and will make it known that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

So that you and I can say, I have. You and I can say personally, I have the great high priest, who is the son of God, sitting at the father's right hand, making intercession for me. That is, we have someone who is personally interested in us, and God says we can claim him as our own. We have a great high priest.

Now, this great high priest has already done many things for us. And what does he mean when he says, in verse 14, who is passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. When the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross, he went to the cross for this primary reason. He went in order to bear upon himself all of our sins, past, present, and future. That is, he took upon himself our sins that you and I would not have to bear them. That is, he acted as a mediator, as a sin bearer in our behalf, that you and I may be able to stand in the presence of Almighty God with perfect assurance and perfect confidence that we are the forgiven children of God. Somebody paid our debt, and that somebody is Jesus Christ. So when he died on the cross, it wasn't enough for him to simply die for our sins, but as the Old Testament priest had to do, once a sacrifice was offered, let's say, for example, the Day of Atonement, the sacrifice was offered, the blood was shed, the priest must take that blood into the Holy of Holies, into the mercy seat, and present that blood as sacrifice and atonement and the payment of the debt of the nation of Israel.

All through the years, the priests were offering sacrifices as payment for sin. Indications, symbolical, of the great high priest who was to come, whom John the Baptist identified at the Jordan as, Behold, the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. So when Jesus died, he did exactly what this passage says. The Bible says when he died, he passed through the heavens.

What heavens? Those heavens that surround us. Those heavens in whom, or in which, demon powers, satanic powers, Satan and all of his hosts reside, he passed right through that great multitude into the throne room of God to present, listen, in his bloodless body, the blood of his own body as atonement for your sin and my sin. He says, therefore, he says, with great confidence, he says, let us hold fast our confession. That is, with great confidence, you and I know that our relationship to him is based not on our performance, but is based on his performance that he shed his blood for our sins at Calvary and he passed through the heavens to present himself as the ultimate Lamb of God to atone for your sin and my sin. This God who knows all about our needs, this God who is ready, willing and able to meet our needs is none other than the Son of God who sits at the Father's right hand having atoned for my sin. Listen, if he could make payment for your sins and mine, there is no need that you and I will ever be able to experience for which he does not have adequate provision to meet fully that need based on who he is and what he's already done.

Now, here's the interesting thing. He says, we have this great high priest. We have a relationship with him whereby we can call him our Savior, our Lord, our life, our great high priest. And he says, we have this great high priest. That is, this is who he is and therefore, he says, don't be discouraged. He says, let us hold fast our confession. That is your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, hold fast to that.

Hang on to that. Believe that, never waver from that because there is one seated at the Father's right hand who is on your side, who is on your team, who has his eternal grip on your life and you will never be lost now that you're the Son of God and no need will ever be too great for his omnipotence as well as his omniscience and his omnipresence. Guarantee you that every time you have a need, you have that need in his presence, under his all-seeing eye and within the what? Within the power of his almighty eternal grip. Nothing you will ever need is beyond his omnipotence to provide it. Thank you for listening to When in Need, Remember. 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, in Atlanta, Georgia.