The Forgotten Beatitude - Life of Christ Part 23

Have you ever sort of expected that things were going to go a certain way and then they didn't go that way?

Has that ever happened to you? Several years ago at Christmas time I decided I would take my whole family and we would go down into Washington to Union Station and they had a fantastic toy train exhibit there and we would go down and visit the exhibit so we crowded all the boys into the station wagon and we took off. And when we got down there there's a parking garage you know that's kind of right next to the station but I didn't want to pay eight or ten bucks to park. So we cruised around the front looking for some free parking and we cruised several times around and as it was getting a little dark all of a sudden as we were cruising around that circle there I saw a car pull right out and take off. Had a DC license plate and I thought oh this is great.

So I did the DC thing you know I turned my blinker on and I pulled up ready to pull into the space and he pulled on out and then I pulled up and I backed on into space and whatever. And I was so excited about getting some free parking there that it never even occurred to me to really look and see if there was any kind of restriction or any kind of you know limitation on what you could do. We just got everybody out and we said hey isn't this great free parking and we all went in.

We were in there a couple hours had a great time. When we came back out I had a Christmas present from the DC Police Department on my windshield. It was a parking ticket because I had parked in an illegal zone a no parking zone. Well I kind of took it and went you know what could a parking ticket be five bucks seven bucks. You know how much this parking ticket was friends $50 for a parking ticket. I mean I've gotten speeding tickets before that weren't $50. So I thought 50 bucks and my kids all went you're not going to pay this are you. I mean you know DC and Virginia don't reciprocate you don't have to pay this and I don't know how they knew that but anyway I said no no no we're Christians guys here I'm going to pay this ticket. But I said you know a number of years ago I went to Montgomery County Traffic Court when I got a ticket and I told him the whole story and I pleaded my case and the guy reduced my fine and he reduced my points and so I'm just going to go in and I'm going to tell the judge all about this and I'm sure he'll do the same thing.

So my court case came up and it was like the end of December and it was frigid outside I mean it was freezing. But we got up and I said to Brenda they said be there at nine and then whenever we call you you know how that works we call you. So I said to Brenda I said now you got to get up and get dressed and go with me because I think I got a better chance if you're there and really looking pretty and smiling at the judge I think I got a better chance. So she said hey this is not my show this is your show and I said no no no Brenda you got to go with me so she reluctantly agreed to go.

So we take off nine o'clock in the morning we're down there ten o'clock eleven o'clock twelve o'clock lunch one o'clock. Finally they called us and I went in Brenda with me and I went before the judge and I told him the story about how this poor law abiding Virginia tourist had brought his sweet wife and his precocious children into Washington D.C. at Christmas to make a Christmas memory and how accidentally I followed the bad example of a native D.C. driver parked in an illegal zone how it was almost dark. How I just didn't look because I was so excited about creating this great memory with my family but how if pardoned this Virginian would always look and never make this mistake again.

And I thought that you know about a B plus is what I would rate this I thought B plus. Well I waited expectantly for this guy to tell me how much he was going to reduce my fine you know and I just knew he was going to. So what happened. Well he fined me 50 bucks. He said well that was what the fine was before.

I know. He also fined me twenty five dollars for court costs which I wouldn't have had to pay if I had just sent the 50 bucks in. And you know what the kicker is on top of all of this. All the time we've been sitting there guess what I had to pay for. Parking. Remember that that's what started this whole thing down at Union Station the month before I didn't want to pay for parking. I think it was about a hundred dollar day to get out of a fifty dollar ticket which I didn't even get out of.

And on the ride home Brenda was very quiet. It's a very long ride home. You know not having things go the way you expect can really mess up your whole day. In fact I'll tell you not having things go the way you expect can really shake your faith even. And that's what's going to happen to a fellow named John the Baptist we're going to see this morning where when things didn't go the way he expected it really shook him up. And Jesus responds to him and teaches him a great spiritual lesson that not only is good for John but good for us.

And I hope you'll follow along and that what we're going to talk about will really change your life and your perspective on life as a result. Now let's look. Verse 18 Chapter 7. John's disciples told him about all these things. All what things? Well all the things that Jesus was doing. Healing and raising people from the dead and all this kind of stuff. And calling two of them he sent them to the Lord to ask are you the one who was coming or should we expect someone else?

Now let's stop there for a second. You understand John's question? His question is Jesus are you the Messiah or should we be looking for somebody else? Now of all people can you fathom that it's John the Baptist asking this question? I mean remember John the Baptist was the one who introduced Jesus Christ to the world. He was the one whose mission it was to proclaim the appearance of the Messiah to the world. He was the one who stood up and said John Chapter 1 behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So of all people how could John the Baptist be the one who's asking hey Jesus are you really the Messiah or did I miss something here?

Is there somebody else coming? The reason he asked that question is found in the fact that he had to send two of his disciples to ask Jesus. That's what verse 19 says. You see why didn't he go himself? The reason is that he was incarcerated. John is in jail.

That's why he didn't go himself. Look back in Luke Chapter 3. Turn back a couple of chapters and let me show this to you. Luke Chapter 3 verse 19. And when John rebuked Herod who was the king because of Herodias his brother's wife. See he was living with his brother's wife but he wasn't supposed to be she wasn't divorced and it just wasn't supposed to happen. And all the other evil things he had done Herod added to all those evil things by locking John up in prison.

See here's the point. When Jesus Christ first appeared John proclaimed him as the Messiah. Then John had some expectations, that is the key word, about what was going to happen next. Look here in Chapter 3 verse 16. He, meaning Jesus, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork will be in his hand to clear his threshing floor of all trash. And he will gather the wheat into his barn but he will burn up the chaff, the useless part of the wheat, with unquenchable fire. See John expected that when the Messiah came Jesus would clean house. He would winnow his threshing floor meaning he would sweep it clean of all trash.

He would gather the wheat in the barn and he would take the unusable part of the wheat and he'd burn it up with unquenchable fire. People like Herod would be out of there. People like Pontius Pilate would be kicked out. The Romans would be run out of Israel.

The kingdom of God would be set up and there would be a reign of righteousness and godliness that would happen. And so John's expectations based on some very good Old Testament teaching. John in response went out and began to rebuke Herod and say to him, You don't deserve to have your brother's wife. This is wrong. This is sin.

You shouldn't be doing this. And he expected Jesus to back him up. But what ended up happening was John ended up being thrown in jail and he was rotting in jail. The Jewish people were rejecting Jesus Christ as their Messiah.

The Romans were not thrown out of Israel or even close. And this day of vengeance that John the Baptist had been expecting wasn't anywhere on the horizon. So John begins to wonder if maybe he got something wrong here. I mean maybe the train came through and he missed it. So he sends to Jesus and says, Jesus, you know, are you really the Messiah?

Maybe there's somebody else coming. Did I miss something here in the translation? How could John of all people ask this question? Listen, the answer is because things were not going the way John expected.

Do you see that? Now that's the most important thing here because if you miss that you miss what makes the passage cook. John had a set of expectations and Jesus was not doing it the way John expected it to go. And as a result it shook John up and he began to wonder, gosh, maybe maybe I got this whole thing wrong. Now, what does Jesus say in response?

Let's turn back to Luke 7. What's the answer that he gives? Well, he gives two answers to John. The first one was, hey, John, not to worry. I really am the Messiah.

Relax. Verse 21. At that very time, Jesus cured many who had diseases and sicknesses and evil spirits and gave sight to many who were blind. And then he replied to John's messengers, please go back and report to John what you've seen and heard, that the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Now, why would Jesus answer John's question like this? Well, do you remember the rascal song that used to go, how can I be sure?

In a world that's constantly changing, how can I be sure? Want me to sing it? No, no, no. Okay.

Well, you know the song. Well, that's what John was asking about Jesus. How can I be sure you're really the Messiah? And the answer is that God had given a whole list in the Old Testament, a whole list of signs that would identify the Messiah really coming.

You can go back if you want. We don't have time this morning and read them. Isaiah 35 is the key passage. And in Isaiah 35, it says that the Messiah will do this. He will help the blind to see. He will cause the deaf to hear.

He will cause the lame to walk. And Isaiah 61 says he'll preach the gospel to the poor. Now, John knew the Old Testament. John knew his Bible. And by taking the disciples of John out and doing all of this in their sight and saying, now, you go back and tell John that I've done all six of these things. What Jesus was doing was sending a message to John big time. And his message was this. John, I'm the one, all right.

You can relax. The signs are here so you can be sure I really am the Messiah. Don't worry, John, you didn't get it wrong.

I really am the guy you were looking for. It's interesting that Jesus constantly pointed to his miracles when he was here on earth as proof that he was who he claimed to be, as proof that he was the Messiah, as proof that he was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Listen to what he said in John Chapter 10. He said, all right, you guys won't believe me what I'm saying.

All right, you guys won't believe what I'm telling you. He said, then the miracles that I do in my Father's name speak for me that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. In other words, if you won't believe what I'm telling you, just look at the miracles and believe me because of them. Any rational thinking person can realize and see that these kind of miracles can't be done by somebody that God's not operating with, right? In fact, Nicodemus, the great Jewish rabbi who came to see Jesus in John Chapter 3, he was not a Christian, not a believer when he came to see him, but he was a rational thinking man. He wasn't a man who let all of his cronies talk him into how to think. He thought for himself, and here's what he said when he came to Jesus.

He said, John Chapter 3, verse 2, Rabbi, we know that you are from God because nobody can perform the miracles that you perform unless God is with him. He was a rational man who looked at it and said, it only makes sense. If you're here this morning and you've never put your personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and your personal Savior, and maybe you've been to college and somebody talked you into believing that the Bible was wrong and Christianity was false and Jesus couldn't possibly be who he said he was and he may not even have really existed and all this kind of other stuff, I want to challenge you this morning to be a rational thinking person. Forget what some professor taught you. Forget what you read in some book. Think for yourself like Nicodemus.

Be a rational thinking person. If Jesus Christ did all these miracles and there's no reason in the world to suspect that he didn't, in fact, even Josephus, the historian, who's not a Christian, not even close, even he records that Jesus Christ existed and that he awed the land of Palestine with the miracles that he did. There's a secular reference to say that the Bible indeed is correct. If Jesus lived and he did these miracles, then who else could he be other than what he claimed to be? I mean, God's got to honor a person's life for them to do these kind of miracles. And if Jesus said, I am the Messiah, I am the Savior of the world, I am the one who's going to die on the cross for your sins and if you'll trust what I do for you on the cross, I'll pay for your sins, I'll grant you eternal life, I'll take you to heaven. Is God going to honor the life of a liar?

I don't think so, do you? So if he honored Jesus' life, then Jesus might have been telling the truth. In fact, I believe he was. Be a rational thinking person.

Think it through for yourself. Jesus said, even if you don't believe what I'm telling you, the miracles confirm that I'm who I say I am. And that's the message he sent to John.

You don't have to worry, I'm who I say I am. Now there was a second message he sent to John, and that's found in verse 23. He said, and John, by the way, blessed is the person who does not fall away on account of me.

The King James will say, blessed is the person who doesn't stumble on account of me. You say, Lon, I don't get it. What's he trying to say there? That verse doesn't make any sense to me. But what Jesus was saying was this, John, you know what's shaking you up, pal? What's shaking you up is that I'm not running the show exactly the way you expected me to run the show. But John, I'm running the show the way I want to run the show. John, I'm running the show the way I know it's best to run the show. And John, blessed is the person who lets me run my business my way.

You understand what he's saying? Blessed is the person, John, who lets me run my business my way. Vance Havner, the great southern preacher, calls this the forgotten beatitude. You remember all the beatitudes that begin blessed, blessed, blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are you when people, you know, persecute you. Blessed are those wrong. You know all those in Matthew chapter 5? Well, this is the only one that's not in that list. Vance Havner calls it the forgotten beatitude.

But this one is just as powerful and just as life-changing as the rest of them. And this is the message that Jesus sends back to John in prison. John, it's not going the way you expected.

That's all right. It's going the way I want it to go. And blessed is the person who lets me run my business my way. You know, John's going to need this beatitude, folks, because for John, things are going to go from bad to worse. You say, really?

How? I want you to turn back and let me show you. Matthew chapter 14. If you're using our copy of the Bible, it's page 692. Matthew chapter 14, verse 3. Matthew 14, verse 3, page 692.

Ready? Verse 3. Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison. Now we know that already, right?

We've already seen that. And he did it because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. For John had been saying to him, it's not lawful for you to have her. See, John had his expectations, went out, expected Jesus to back him up, boom, he's in jail. Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people because the people thought John was a prophet.

Now on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked for. If you're a parent, don't ever do this. Don't ever tell your kid they can have whatever they ask for. That's a big mistake because they'll take you up on it. Always say, we'll see. That's a classic answer.

Just stick with we'll see and you cannot go wrong. Okay, now prompted by her mother, this girl, prompted by her mother, she said, give me on a platter the head of John the Baptist. The king was distressed, but because he made an oath and because his dinner guests were there and he didn't want to embarrass himself, of course, he ordered that her request be granted. And they had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl who carried it to her mother.

This is not the kind of woman you wanted for an enemy. But can you imagine what the scene was in prison when they came to get John? They tied his hands behind his back, right?

And they forced him down onto his knees and they laid his head over sideways on the chopping block and then that guard stood over top of him and took that big old ax up like this and while he was up in the air getting ready to come down, what do you think John was saying to himself down on his knees with his head on that block? I have a feeling he was saying, blessed is the man who lets God run his business his way. Blessed is the man who lets God run his business. Lord, you're running your business your way. And Lord, I sure hope you know what you're doing. Blessed is the man who runs God's business. And it was over. John was going to need this beatitude.

But you know what? When you meet John the Baptist in heaven, I think John's going to say to you, blessed is the person who let God run his business his way. My job was done. It was time for me to go. Here I am up in heaven enjoying the rewards of having served God faithfully. It was okay they cut my head off. It was all part of the plan of God.

I have no regrets. That was the message Jesus wanted to get across to this man and it's the message he wants to get across to you and me. Now, that's the end of our passage, but it leads us to ask the question, So what? Very good.

So what? I wasn't back there. I'm not in jail. Nobody's going to cut my head off, I hope. Well, listen, let me talk to you about that.

Whether we realize it or not, friends, all of us have expectations about how God ought to run things in our life. You say, oh, no, I don't. Yes, you do. Yes, you do.

Usually they go something like this. I expect that God should keep me healthy and strong forever. I expect that God should keep my family healthy and strong forever. I have the expectation that God should make my career prosperous and that God should provide me with the financial wherewithal to do anything I want to do, when I want to do it and how I want to do it. That's my expectation. I expect God was going to make my car go 200,000 miles without ever needing a repair. I expect that. I expect God should rescue me from every stupid mistake I make and that God should extricate me from every cow pie I step in and help me come out smelling like polo if I'm a man or Chanel No.

5 if I'm a lady. I expect that God should never let anything bad happen to my children. I expect that God should always let the God-fearing politicians win. I expect that God should never let any of my appliances break. You ever been there with the washing machine on the fritz? And what do you say to God? You say, now, God, how could you let this happen to me? This is not a good time for my washing machine to break. Well, by the way, when is a good time?

Well, there's never a good time. That's why God should never let it happen. And I've had conversations like that about my disposal and my dishwasher and my microwave and my stove and you name it, my dryer, haven't you? See, if you're a Christian, our expectation is our appliances go on forever. The rest of the world's appliances break, but God somehow keeps ours going forever.

We never have to fix them. And maybe you expected to marry that girlfriend or that boyfriend and God didn't have it work out that way. Or maybe you expected that marriage to go on forever and it just didn't work out that way. Maybe you expected to have children by this time in your life, but you don't. Some of us expect that God should so fill us with the Spirit and so control our life that when we walk on the golf course, we shoot scratch.

Have you ever had that? I walk out on the course and I go, God, you can shoot 72. I know you can. So if you can shoot 72, why can't I shoot 72? I know it can be done. I always shoot 72.

By about hole 10 or 11, I always shoot 72. Hey, look, friends, did you notice that none of those expectations that I just named included anything bad happening to you? Did you pick that up? We always expect God's going to do all the great stuff for us. Nobody ever says, God, I have the expectation that today I'm going to wreck my car.

You should do that for me. Nobody does that. But you know, when something does happen, when God does fail to comply with our expectations, when things happen that upset our little apple cart, as they did with John the Baptist, isn't it true that we often struggle just like John did? I think so, if we're honest.

And you know what? Usually we respond in one of two ways. Either, number one, it shakes our faith. You remember Moses, who went out to deliver the children of Israel, went out and he killed that Egyptian and then presented himself to the Israelites and said, here I am, guys, I'm here to lead you out. What did he expect? He came to say, oh, Moses, it's so good to see you. Our bags are packed, let's go. And what they said is, who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

Who put you in charge? Jack, get out of here. So he went off and was a fugitive for 40 years in the wilderness. It shook his faith when God appeared to him in the burning bush.

You remember? Moses said, God, I can't do that. God, I can't do that. God said, but 40 years ago you thought you could do that. Moses said, oh, no, no, but that was 40 years ago, God. A lot of water's gone under the bridge since then.

I don't think I can do it anymore. It shook his faith. Or if God doesn't do things the way we expect, the other thing we tend to do is to take matters in our own hands and say, well, you know, God's not working it out the way he needs to, which by definition means the way I expect him to. Therefore, God needs my help.

Therefore, I need to get involved and manipulate this thing to get it to go the way that I know it ought to go anyway and maybe God doesn't agree, but God will once we work it out my way. Abraham's a great example of that. Remember God kept saying, Abraham, you're going to have a son, you're going to have a son, you're going to have a son, and meanwhile Abraham's not having a son. Finally Abraham said, well, you know, I don't know when God's going to come through on this, but I can't keep going.

I'm almost 100 years old. I've got to make a son here. So he went and got Hagar, Sarah's handmaiden, and he made a son named Ishmael. The son God had in mind at all. What God wanted Abraham to do was wait and wait and wait on the plan of God. God knew what he was doing. But, boy, Ishmael caused a lot of problems to Isaac. There was a lot of conflict between these children and between their races and all because Abraham took things into his own hands and regretted it, just like we always do when we take things in our own hands. And you know, friends, just think how much less complicated the world would be today if Abraham hadn't done that. Just think what the Middle East might look like today if Abraham hadn't done that.

In contrast to Abraham, who took matters in his own hand, and Moses, who let it completely shake his faith, I'd like to offer you the example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember those three fellows? You'll find them back in Daniel chapter 3. This is our last passage for this morning.

It's page 627, Daniel chapter 3. And I want you to turn there. And while you're turning, let me give you the story.

Remember King Nebuchadnezzar set up this huge statue of himself. And then he said, now, fellas, I brought in the brass band. And when the brass band starts, here's the deal. Everybody's going to get on their knees and they're going to bow down to my statue, you know. And if everybody does that, we're going to have a big party and everything's going to be great.

But just in case you don't do that, we got this fire over here about 1,000 degrees, and we're going to throw you in it and incinerate you. So here's the program, fellas. And so then he said, all right, maestro, hit it. And the band started with the zithers and the liars and all these other things that I don't have a clue what they are. And then everybody bowed down except for three people. Remember who they were?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So the king says, oh, wait a minute. Well, stop the music, stop the music. Come here, fellas. And so they come over and he says to them, cool hand Luke, what we have here is a failure to communicate, fellas.

Let me try this one more time with you. See the statue, hear the band, bow down. Okay, very simple, doesn't take a rocket scientist to get this. All right, you got it, right? Okay, now guys, hit it. And so the zither and the liar and all those other things start up.

Everybody bows down, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, still standing there looking at him. The king says, oh, wait a minute, stop, wait a minute. What's wrong with you guys? Do we have a learning disability here? What's wrong with you people?

Didn't you get this? Look what they say. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, verse 16, replied to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend ourselves before you about this. If we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it and he will rescue us from your hand, oh king. This was their expectation.

Here's what they were expecting. You throw us in there, God's going to save us. God's going to deliver us.

But now watch. But, they say, even if he doesn't, uh-oh, there's an interesting statement. Even if we fry up so bad that you can't even find any of us anymore.

You can't even find our teeth to do the dental records, king. Even if that happens, we want you to know that even if God doesn't do it the way we expect, we will not serve your gods, we will not worship the image of gold, and we will not bow down to you. You got that, king? In other words, what they were saying is, God can run his world any way he wants to run his world. We'd like to see him run his world by saving us from this fire. But if God decides not to run his world that way, that's perfectly okay with us. It's God's world, he can run it any way he wants, and either way, we're sticking with God. We're trusting God, we're obeying God, we'll let the chips fall where they may. Now this is the point that Jesus is trying to get across to John. John, it doesn't matter whether I do it the way you expect, you need to stick with me, I know what I'm doing.

And this is the point that God wants to get across to you and me if we're Christians today. You say, I get it, Lon, we're talking fatalism here, right? Fatalism, you know, ca sera, sera, whatever we'll be, we'll be... You know the song? Fatalism, what does fatalism say? We're not talking fatalism here, fatalism says nobody's running the world.

It's all random, it's all chance, nobody has any control over it so you might as well just take it as it comes because nobody can do anything about it anyway. That's fatalism. This is not what Jesus is trying to talk to John and you and me about. What Jesus is saying is that he's running the world. It's not that nobody's running the world, Jesus says I'm running the world. And I got it completely under control, I knew exactly what I'm doing, I'm doing exactly what's best for you, I'm doing exactly what's best for the plan of God in this world, even if it doesn't meet with your expectations. So I'm asking you to follow me and trust me and submit to me because I'm running the world and I'm doing it right. Friends, fatalism is not the issue here, the issue is the lordship of Jesus Christ over every area of our life, including our expectations. God wants to get you and me as Christians to the place where we have given God permission to run our lives any way he deems best, where we've decided that our job is not to dictate to God how he should run his business, but that our job is to obey him and be loyal to him and follow him regardless whether we agree with his choices or like his choices or whether we don't.

That's where God's trying to get you and me. You say, Lon, this is stupid. Nobody lives like this. No, this is impossible to live this way.

No, it isn't. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego live like this. Thousands of other Christians down through the centuries have lived like this. And friend, you can live like this, too. With God's help, so can I.

If you and I will make the lordship of Jesus Christ the central issue of our lives, we can live like this. My sister-in-law, my wife's youngest sister, died, it'll be eight years ago next month. Hard to believe it's been that long. She had cancer. She was 27, just turned 27 when she died. She got breast cancer while she was pregnant with her first baby. It's very unusual, hardly ever happens, but it happened to her. She delivered the baby and she died before the baby was a year old. Now, we knew she was very sick, but still, when I got the call September 1985 from New York from her husband, and he said to me, Lon, Sandy's dead.

Could you come up? You know, it still was just an unbelievable shock. I mean, people 27 years old just aren't supposed to die. I mean, I don't know, it just didn't seem right. Anyway, I got on a plane and I went up.

We flew the body back to Hagerstown, Maryland, where we buried the body. And it wasn't too very long after that that my father-in-law, her dad, and I had a conversation that I'll never forget. I tried not to bring the subject up very much, and I still try not to because, I mean, I'm not really a part of the family, really. I wasn't born into the family.

It wasn't my real sister, even though I loved her. And so it's not really my business, you know what I'm saying? And I try not to get into it very often, but he brought the subject up.

This was not too long after the funeral. And here's what he said. I'll never forget it. He said, you know, Lonnie, I kind of expect it.

There's our word. I expect it. That after you raise your kids up and you get them through high school and you get them through college and you pay for their education and then they marry somebody that loves the Lord like they do and then they get a real job and they buy off their first home and they start having their own family, that they're kind of, you know, off on their own. And after you get them all up and after you get them all out like that, you kind of go like this.

You go, whoo. And then you kick back and you relax. I mean, your job's done, sort of. And he said, that's kind of what I really thought. He said, but what this has taught me and I'll never forget as long as I live him saying this to me, he said, what this has taught me is that God never lets you get so old that you don't have to trust him for something.

Isn't that an incredible comment? God never lets you get so old that you don't have to trust him for something. And he said it didn't go the way I expected because God wanted me to trust him for something. And I have that same fantasy.

If you're a parent, don't you have that same fantasy? I mean, you raise these boys and girls up, you teach them good values, you send them to school, you pay for their education, you marry them to somebody that loves the Lord, you get them out, out, out, out, out, out, out on their own. Don't come back. Go, go, go, go, go. And they're out there on their own and they're doing fine and they're living for the Lord. And they're making their own way.

And you kind of go, gosh, this is great. Go, guys, come on. I'm rooting for you. Grow up.

Let's go out there. Then I can buy my Miata and I can kick back and I can have some fun. But you know what? Life's not going to work that way. That's the way I expect. But it's not going to work that way. Right now, all the kids come back home and live.

I don't know why, but they all come home and live. But the point is, my dear friends, whether it's your children or whatever it happens to be, life's not going to go the way you expect, because God's always going to want you to trust him for something. And if life always went the way you expected, look here, you wouldn't have to trust him for anything, because the way you've got it planned out is it's going to go perfect. So if it goes perfect, what do you need to trust God for? God's going to make sure you've always got to trust him for something.

And that means life's not always going to go the way you expect it. If you're here and you're a Christian, never forget that God's business is taking care of you. God's business is running your life and making it turn out right. That's God's business.

He's your father. And it may not always go the way you expect, but remember what Jesus told John. Blessed is the person who lets me run my business, my way. And dear friend, maybe you're here this morning and things aren't going exactly the way you expected in your life. Maybe you've had some tragedy or you've got some real heartache and pain in your life. And you said, I never expected it would be like this.

That's all right. God knew it all the time. Nothing has surprised God. Blessed is the person who lets God run his business, his way. And if you'll let God run your life, his way, believe me, there will never be a day that you'll live to regret it. It may be some short term pain and some short term loss, but it'll always be long term happiness and long term benefit. Let God run your life, his business, his way.

You'll be glad you did. Let's pray. Dear Father, thank you for the word of God this morning and thank you for not sanitizing it. So that the real people that we see in it never have a problem, never have a struggle, never have a failure. Lord, that would be no help to us.

Thank you for telling us about the real problems and the real struggles and failures of people. Even like John the Baptist, so that we can identify and so that we can benefit from what you taught him. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would take this great truth we've talked about this morning, the lordship of Christ, the forgotten beatitude.

Blessed is the person who lets you run your business, your way. And Lord Jesus, that we would appropriate that for our lives and we would imprint it in our brain. And Lord, that it would change the way we think about our lives. Lord Jesus, teach us that you never do anything except that it's for our good, that you love us so deeply. And Father, I pray that we would have what it takes from you to follow you and be loyal to you and obey you even when things don't go the way we expect.

Because we've given you permission to run our lives the way you deem best. Thank you for speaking to our hearts this morning. Lord, may it change our lives. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.