The God of Limitless Possibilities, Part 1

Let's start with a question. What's the one thing in your life that you've marked off as impossible, assuming it'll never change?

Is it a relationship? Maybe your occupation? Or some passion, like a ministry you'd like to start? Well, today on Insight for Living, and again tomorrow, Chuck Swindoll invites you to submit that issue to the only one who can help you. He's the one that Jeremiah the prophet quoted, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.

Is there anything too difficult for me? Chuck titled today's message, The God of Limitless Possibilities. Listen to four verses of scripture. Jeremiah 32 17.

Ah Lord God, behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you. Jeremiah 32 27.

Is anything too difficult for me? Luke 1 37. For nothing will be impossible with God.

Luke 18 27. The things that are impossible with people are possible with God. Because we have been raised to be so impressed with others, then being so impressed, it is easy for us to think of you as some distant deity, sort of out of touch, somehow involved in the elements above us.

Nothing really are the truth. And when we come to realize that you are the God of limitless possibilities, then the scales fall off, the obstacles are removed, the mountains are made low, and the rough places plain. Cause it to make a difference in how we think first, and then in what we do. We know that your son's coming is soon, could be at any moment, at the midnight hour, when we would least expect it. We will carry lives, break through all the barriers, so that for some, for the first time, really believe you are who you say you are, and you will do what you say you will do, before the midnight comes, and before we stand face to face with you. From our Father, we give because we love you. We believe that you will be honored in these gifts, and you will use them in our midst and beyond us for your greater purposes.

And so we ask you to set them apart a special way. In the Savior's name, we pray, and everybody said, amen. You're listening to Insight for Living.

To search the Scriptures with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures Studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. Chuck titled his message, The God of Limitless Possibilities. The most important thing about you is what you think about God. If you think about God as somewhat smaller than he is, you will pray smaller than you should. You will live smaller than you should. You will think smaller than you ought. If you think incorrectly about God, you will live erroneously.

You will live a faulty life and not even know it. If your idea of God is shaped by today's opinion, you will have a skewed understanding, not only of him, but of life itself. Swiss theologian Karl Barth once said, there are only two ways to attain a knowledge of God. The first is to start with man and reason upward. And the second is to begin with God and accept his revelation to us.

Most do the former, you know. And because we begin with man and reason our way upward, God becomes a God of my health and wealth. God becomes the God of my emotional needs, the therapeutic God who stands by to serve whatever may be my desire, to help me with my self-esteem. Or the God of impotence and indifference, sort of standing back in a gasp as calamities sweep across our world, sort of out of touch and without much care. And a big one of our day is the God of near death experience. Somehow I'll meet that white light hanging between life and death and that will be my own Jesus. And the better I study him and learn about him should I live, the better I will realize I am my own God.

And a half dozen other weird kind of things. Let's go back to Bart's comment. Let's stay with the idea of letting God reveal himself in his divine revelation called the Bible. I did that a number of years ago and found that not once, not twice, not three times, but four times God says the same thing about himself.

Four times. Jeremiah 32 17, nothing is too difficult for you. Jeremiah 32 27, is anything too difficult for me? Answers God.

Sort of the other side of the same coin. Jeremiah says this about him, God answers this back to Jeremiah saying that's right. Mary is standing there amazed to be told that she will bear the Christ child, that in fact the Messiah will be born through her and she says I don't even know a man. And the angel says to her, nothing will be impossible with God. The one who created us out of nothing will have no problem creating an embryo.

You'll be able to carry the child though you've never known a man intimately, Mary. Nothing is impossible with me. And then the last I found was in Luke chapter 18 where the Lord Jesus himself says the things that are impossible with people are possible with God. And you come to the conclusion if God said it not just twice or three times but four times, it is of paramount importance we understand, he is the God of limitless possibilities.

Stop and think what that means. Limitless possibilities. That means he is able to do or to accomplish anything he pleases. He has never once faced a challenge, he knows nothing of limitations, nothing of boundaries, nothing of restrictions, there is no stopping God. You say that's great theology but what about life? Well, think about it. Bring to the surface of your mind the things that you have marked off as impossible. It may be a situation, it may be a person, it may be a predicament and you have not come to the conclusion, you know this is beyond me, nobody I know would be able to work my way out of this, this just is not going to get done.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, you're reasoning for man upward. Is it too big for God? It depends on how you think about God. If you allow God to be God and to be as powerful as in fact he is, you will have no difficulty with either worry or praying as you should or thinking and living as he would be pleased for you to do. Luke 18 happens to be full of all kinds of impossibilities. I'd like you to turn there.

As a matter of fact, we haven't the time for all of them but four of them are worth our time and attention. Luke 18 begins with an impossible judge. There was a certain city in which there was a judge, verse 2, who did not fear God and did not respect man. Now, I've not spent much of my time in the courtroom but I'll tell you when I was in the courtroom, it would bring me great comfort to know that the judge not only feared God but respected people.

This man does neither. It's an impossible situation especially for a widow who is mentioned in verse 3. There was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying, give me legal protection from my opponent. We're not told the details but somehow she was being threatened or about to be violated or invaded or her dwelling was perhaps to be taken from her. She needed the help of an authority and she's meeting with one who doesn't fear God and has little care for people. She's in a tough spot. I'd call it impossible.

If you don't have a judge on your side, how are you possibly going to get the assistance you need officially? She's stuck. What does she do? Well, verse 4 tells us what happens. For a while he was unwilling, look carefully, but afterward he said to himself, even though I do not fear God nor respect man yet, because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection lest by continually coming she wear me out. This is a judge speaking, not a husband, but I know we understand.

We won't go there. We've got a judge who's got this woman coming day after day, week after week, the same situation, the same situation. Finally he says, don't you love the way it reads, she will wear me out. Here she is again, 8 o'clock in the morning. There she is again. She is constantly there. The result is he gave her the protection she needed.

Mission possible. Why? Because she kept coming and kept coming. This isn't about a judge and a widow. This isn't about legal protection in some part of Israel. Verse 1 tells us it's about prayer.

He was telling them a parable to show them that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. And this is about you. What is the need that you face?

Is it judicial? Is it a virtually impossible situation because of the people who are in authority and you can't seem to bend their ear or break their heart or get their attention? Is it some situation that you've tried and tried and tried to maneuver to get into and you can't stop? Stop all of that. Start to pray, if you will. Bother God with it. Bring it to his attention every morning when you get up.

Through the day, every lunchtime, every evening meal, before you go to bed, every night, stay on it, stay on it, stay on it. And guess what? The God of limitless possibilities, lest he be worn out by your frequent coming, will break through and do what no man can do. It either means that or it's mockery. And I have never known the scriptures to mock us.

In fact, he says, verse seven, shall not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night? Have you done that yet? Mission possible when you do. There's another impossible situation. It happens to be between two individuals and the first one is the one that would normally attract our attention. But it's the second one who was the hero of the story. Drop down to verse 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax gatherer.

Let's don't go any further. Back in those days, if you wanted to name a rotten sinner, you choose a tax gatherer. He was known for fraud, exploitation. He was one who was guilty of lying. He wore two hats, guilty of extortion, all forms of deceit, false representation. He worked for the Roman government, but he was Jewish often, and he told the Jews he was on their side. But really, he was greedy because he was overpaid for what he did because he scraped some of it off the top.

It was known and they couldn't stop it, so the tax gatherer became the most hated citizen in the country. So we've got a Pharisee who looks so righteous and sounds so righteous. And we've got a tax gatherer who is so sinful and his background is so wrong so the two could not be more opposite. And both of them come to the temple to pray.

Watch closely. The Pharisee stood, I like the way this reads, verse 11, he stood and was praying to himself. Pharisees pray to themselves.

Do you notice that? It doesn't connect with God, it connects with himself. I mean, he drones on with all the pious words, they're so religious, they make you want to vomit. Verse 11 says, God, I thank thee that I am not like other people.

Swindlers, careful how you pronounce it, unjust adulterers or even like this tax gatherer. Can you imagine somebody praying like that, this sinful, godless, lying, cheat, this greedy tax gatherer. His prayer was just loaded with self-righteousness. You know, the fact is, everything he said was true about that man.

Who is impossible? Well, the tax gatherer. I mean, he has done nothing to deserve God's time or attention.

He's standing there guilty as charged. So when it's his time to pray, watch closely. After the Pharisees tells God, I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I get, as if God needed to be informed. Oh God, you might not remember, but I fast and tithe.

That's Phariseeism at its worst. But the tax gatherer standing a distance away was unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven, but beating his breast, kept saying, God, just be merciful to me, a sinner. I don't deserve your favor. I have done all wrong that one could imagine, but I come humbly by faith to you.

I can't even look up into your face. Impossible for somebody that unrighteous, that deserving of punishment to get God's attention. No, this is mission possible.

This is possible. Look at verse 14. These are Jesus' words if you have a red letter edition.

These are in red. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. Why? Because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. That's the way God works. When you think like God, you see like God. You hear like God. You sniff out Phariseeism a block away.

And you are so impressed that this worthless sinner comes just like he is and hides nothing, saying, here I am, warts and all, be merciful, and God is. Before we go further, a few tax gatherers in this gathering today. Of course there are. Of course we are. We need the reminder of Psalm 103, verse 12, as far as east is from west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And aren't we grateful? Aren't we grateful?

He's buried them in the deepest sea, and he will never go fishing for them. If I could put on the screen behind me the life you have lived and the sins that you have committed or I have committed, the things that have marked our lives when we were in the flesh, walking away from, in fact, running from God, we would all have red faces. But as far as east is from west, when we come to him in humility, he removes them all from us. Mission possible. Not for the Pharisee, but for the worthless, humble sinner who comes just as he is.

Just as he is. The third group is one that you'll find interest in. Not one person, but several. It's a small group of little children. They're wonderful. They're busy. They're walking all over his sandals, jerking on his robe, picking their nose. They're all over the place, out of control. They're preoccupied with their little world.

It is terrific. It is children at their best, just innocent little busy kiddos. And notice what happens. Verse 15. They were bringing even their little ones, their babies to him in order that he might teach them or touch them.

And when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. Get those kids out of here. He's too busy. He's the king of kings. He's busy keeping the stars in space.

He's making major decisions about eternity. This is the Messiah. Get out of here. Eugene Peterson says they shooed them off. Jesus then called them back and said, let these children alone.

Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this. Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in.

Mission possible. These little inadequate small people with their little childlike ways, just as important to him as the most officious president or royal king in his court. Take heart. If he's got time for the little children and says the kingdom belongs to such as these, believe me, he's got room for those of us who struggle with feelings of inadequacy and disability, aging, mission possible. You see, with God, there are no little people. An impossible judge, an impossible tax gatherer, an impossible circle of little kiddos.

How about an impossible individual who was just too big for his britches? A rich ruler who appears before Jesus. Verse 18. Good teacher, what shall I do to obtain eternal life, he asked. Emphasis on do. What are you trying to do? Earn your way in. This is about belief, humility, trusting me.

In fact, he nails him with a number of things and the man even brags and says, well, I've done all of that. What else? And Jesus said, fine. Why don't you sell everything you have and give it away and then we'll see how we come out. Jesus is saying, stop trusting in the tangible things and just cling to me. You don't own them, they own you.

Release them. In many respects, today's message from Chuck Swindoll represents the culmination of our daily studies together in 2021. And there's much more Chuck wants to share on this topic. I'll urge you to join us again for Friday's edition of Insight for Living when we have another half hour to dig deeper into the God of limitless possibilities. And to learn more about this ministry, please visit us online at insightworld.org. Well, we sat down with Chuck Swindoll in our studios for a full length one-on-one conversation.

In addition to recording his voice, we had the video cameras rolling as well. And the 30-minute conversation has just been posted online so you can enjoy the entire exchange. If you'd like to watch this engaging conversation, simply follow the link at insight.org slash conversation. Well, Chuck, you've shown us that our view of God's competence, His capability, will determine the course of our lives.

That's right, Dave. I believe with all my heart that God is not only big, but He's the God of limitless possibilities. Think about that. My convictions are founded on biblical truth. I'm thinking, for example, of Luke 18, 27, where we read, The things that are impossible with people are possible with God. And the same thought is in Jeremiah. The weeping prophet wrote this, Nothing is too difficult for you, Jeremiah 32, 17. In addition to these biblical affirmations, I can also bear witness to the God of limitless possibilities.

I've seen His greatness at work in my own life again and again. For these reasons and so many more, I'm compelled to pursue what many people deem impossible. That is, to obey the great command of our Savior Jesus and make disciples of all the nations.

That's right, all the nations. Would you be willing to join us in this journey? In recent days and months, you've heard me talk about what we call Vision 195.

So this is not new to you. It's the passion of our hearts to bring insight for living to all 195 countries of our world. I confess it's an audacious dream. In my own strength, admittedly, it's impossible. But I base my confidence on the God of limitless impossibilities. In the last two years, God has accomplished the impossible. He's guided Insight for Living Ministries through a global pandemic, as well as a combative national election, and a season of isolation we've never experienced until now.

During this time period, we've kept every single radio station, and we have not missed a broadcast. And my friend, I believe our best days still lie before us. So, let's trust this God of impossibility, shall we? Let's pull together and let's offer our personal resources to tell of God's amazing grace in all the countries of the world.

That's 195 of them. Please follow God's prompting and give generously. Whatever God has placed on your heart, give that and do that today.

Thanks so much for standing alongside us. Well, getting in touch and responding to Chuck Swindoll is easy. Pick the method that's best for you. First, you can call us if you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Or it may be quickest and most efficient to give at our secure website. That's insight.org slash donate. Now, maybe you're looking to find a resource that will guide your spiritual walk this year.

Let me point you to one of the best resources available through Insight for Living. I'm referring to the Swindoll Study Bible. This Bible, offering the New Living Translation, contains practical insight from Chuck, ideas for application, and a wealth of background information that gives you historical context for what you're reading. And you can choose the font size and your favorite cover when you call us.

If you're listening in the U.S., call 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash offer. Join us again when Chuck Swindoll describes what he calls the God of Limitless Possibilities, Friday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, The God of Limitless Possibilities, was copyrighted in 2001 and 2019, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2019 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.