Having a Godly View of Circumstances - Life of Christ Part 94

Now, when I say the word betrayal, who pops into your mind? You know, what person comes up on the screen? I don't know who comes up on your screen, but I can tell you this. If you're from Cleveland, if you love the Browns, I can tell you who pops up on the screen front and center. It's Art Modell. You guys know who he is, the owner of the Browns?

All right. Well, back in November, Art Modell announced that he was moving the Browns to Baltimore, and he did not anticipate the reaction he was going to get in Cleveland. You know, Cleveland is one of the original NFL franchises. It's 50 years old in Cleveland.

And man, was he surprised at what happened when he announced that. Did you know the Cleveland Browns have the largest fan club of any professional sports team in the world? 63,000 plus members of the Browns backers. They have chapters in Japan, in Europe, in Africa. Who roots for the Browns in Africa?

But anyway, they do. Just to show you how deep this thing runs, I read an article in Sports Illustrated about a guy. He's 38 years old, lives in Ohio. He's formerly in the Air Force, formerly a foreign missionary. And you know what his name is? Cleveland Brown.

That's his name. You know what his dad's name was? Cleveland Brown. You know what his grandfather's name was? Cleveland Brown. You know what his great grandfather's name was?

This is true. Cleveland Brown. He has a 13-year-old son.

You want to guess what his name is? Cleveland Brown. And he said the most commonly asked question he gets now is are you going to change your kid's name to Baltimore?

To which he says no. But the fans are just up in absolute arms. One caller to a radio station, for example, said Art Modell murdered a friend of mine, meaning the Browns. The Browns mascot, a guy named Seth Taft, said I feel like my heart's been ripped out of me.

And the mayor of Cleveland, Michael White, said this. He said this community has been betrayed. We have loved and supported this franchise for 50 years. Our fans are the most loyal fans in the NFL. And what we got for 50 years of loyalty was a swift kick in the teeth. We've been betrayed. It got so bad, folks, that do you realize since November Art Modell can't even live in Cleveland? He lives in West Palm Beach in his condo because people have warned him it would not be safe for him to be seen in Cleveland.

That's how bad it is. A betrayer. Now, I'm not a big Cleveland Browns fan, so his name is not the first one that would pop to my mind.

I've got some others that might pop to mind. How about Brutus? You say Brutus. Yeah, you know, not the guy on Popeye, but the guy with Julius Caesar. That Brutus. Okay. How about Benedict Arnold?

There's a betrayer. Hugh Grant. What do you think? Yeah. How about Jane Fonda? You know, remember, she's the lowlife that went to North Vietnam while we had guys dying for their country in South Vietnam. You remember her? Yeah.

And I use that word advisedly. She's a lowlife for doing that. I'll take my stand by that. I love the Atlanta Braves. I have trouble rooting for them every time they show her picture on television.

So the game she doesn't show up at, I root better. But anyway, I don't know who you might think of when you think of betrayer, but I'll tell you, today we're going to talk about probably the greatest betrayer of all time. I don't think anybody would argue with that. His name has almost become synonymous with the word betrayal. And of course, you know, I'm talking about Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ.

So this is the story, but it's not just a story. There's some great spiritual truths that we want to look at in this passage. So here in Matthew 26, I want us to start at verse 47 together. Verse 47, while he was still speaking, Jesus is that was in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas, one of the 12 arrived and with him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people of Israel. Now, remember Judas's job was to try to find a place where the authorities could arrest Jesus privately, where there was no crowd around. If you read the Bible, you know that, for example, in John chapter 7, we're told that this was not the first time that the Jewish authorities had tried to capture Jesus Christ.

But every time they tried, the crowd got in the way and wouldn't let them. And so they actually engaged the services of Judas to help them find a place where Jesus was isolated with no crowd where they could arrest him secretly. And Judas knew the place was a little place called Gethsemane up on the Mount of Olives where Jesus often went. And so this is where he brings them. And sure enough, Jesus and the disciples are there. And along with the Jewish leaders, the Bible says, were some authorities who had swords and clubs. Now who were those folks? You know, if you talk to a Jewish person about Jesus Christ and about his death and his crucifixion, they will tell you that it was not the Jewish people at all that did it, it was the Romans. That the Jewish people had nothing to do with it, they've gotten a bad rap all these years. Well, did the Romans have anything to do with this really?

The answer is yes. In fact, in John's Gospel chapter 18, it tells us that this group that came to arrest Jesus was led by a Achilles. Achilles, it's a Greek word Achilles and Achilles was a Roman military officer. A Roman Legion had 6000 soldiers when it was fully staffed. A centurion was in charge of 100, Achilles was in charge of 1000. So there were six of them per Roman Legion.

Now this person would correspond today to what we might call a colonel, or a lieutenant colonel. I mean, he was a very high ranking military officer. And there was one of them here, John 18 says, with the group. So therefore, there was a Roman presence here. Pontius Pilate had known about this before it happened.

He had given tacit approval, because there's no way you'd find some colonel being part of this unless the authorities above him knew about it. Besides, the Romans were not about to let the Jewish people all by themselves with clubs and spears go wandering through the city, believe me. So was this a strictly Jewish effort? No. Was it a strictly Roman effort?

No. It was a cooperative effort between the two of them. Well, here's what we find and Judas had given a signal whereby they could identify who Jesus was. Remember, the disciples were all a bunch of ragtag people from Galilee.

Nobody dressed in coats and ties and Jesus didn't wear insignia or purple robe. So you know, there'd have been a little trouble picking him out from the rest of these rough and tumble folks from Galilee. And so Judas said, I'll point him out to you. And here's what he said, look at the next verse. Now the betrayer verse 48 had arranged a signal with them. And he said this, the one that I kiss is the man, arrest him. And going at once to Jesus, Judas said, Greetings, Rabbi, he kissed him. And Jesus replied, Friend, do what you came for.

And the men stepped forward and seized Jesus and arrested him. Now if you watch Arafat go from country to country over in the Middle East today, you'll see the same thing happens. When he goes to Egypt, he kisses President Mubarak. When he goes to Jordan, he kisses King Hussein. Now he doesn't kiss the Prime Minister of Israel, but that's a different deal. But when he goes to any Arab country, he kisses whoever it is that's the ruler there.

Why? Because this is a Middle Eastern custom. And it was in Jesus's day. So it would have been very natural for Judas to kiss Jesus, except that by doing so, it was like the ultimate irony betraying him with something as personal as a kiss. Verse 51. And at that moment with that one of Jesus's companions reached for his sword. Which one do you think it was? Well, you're actually right. John's gospel tells us it was Peter.

I mean, who else? Right. And he drew it out and he struck the servant of the high priest. How do we know that the Jewish authorities were very deeply involved in this along with the Romans? Because the high priest had sent his own personal servant to be here and make sure everything went okay.

And this fellow's name we know from John's gospel, we know his name. His name was Malchus. And so Peter, in those days, you didn't take a sword and try to cut people this way.

It's not how you did it. You took swords and you tried to slash them in the middle of the head, split their helmet open. So Peter took his sword and came down. Malchus ducked like this. And the Bible says the sword missed his head and sliced his ear.

Look what it says here. He drew his sword and he struck the servant of the high priest cutting off part of his ear. Jesus said, put your sword back in its place.

For all who draw the sword will die for the sword. And then Luke's gospel tells us that he reached out and he touched Malchus's ear and he healed him. Interestingly enough, this is the last miracle the Bible records Jesus ever doing, the last healing he ever performed before he went to the cross. And isn't it fascinating that he didn't heal a friend and he didn't heal a compatriot. He healed an enemy, a guy who had come to arrest him. This guy was not a follower of Christ. He was not a disciple of Jesus. He didn't believe in Jesus. He was there to arrest him and kill him.

And this is who Jesus healed with his last healing. He said, what impression did this make? I mean, the people standing around, they must have gone, whoa. Well, as far as we know, it didn't make any impression.

They arrested him and they took him away. But you know, I was thinking this week when I read this, don't you wonder if over the years that followed old Malchus didn't think back on this? I mean, don't you wonder if he didn't sometimes reach up and kind of finger that ear and go, golly, you know. Remembering what Jesus did for him, remembering that Jesus healed him even though he was there as his enemy, remembering the grace and the kindness that Jesus showed him there in the garden and that's why he still had an ear. Don't you wonder if he ever thought in the years that followed maybe whether Jesus really did rise from the dead and maybe he really was the Messiah and wondered if maybe he should, you know, feeling his ear give his life to Christ?

I bet you he thought about that. And it seems to me, I got to think in this week that there are a lot of Malchuses around today. By that I mean people who are not disciples of Christ, they're not followers of Jesus, they haven't believed in Jesus, they don't pretend they have, but nonetheless, people for whom God has done a lot of kind and gracious things and they know it. I'll tell you, before I was a Christian, there were times that things should have gone differently in my life. There were times really I should have been dead, some of the stuff I was doing.

There's times I should have been in jail. There are times I knew even back then that God, I just knew God had stepped in and saved me from what should have been a horrible situation. Now I didn't believe in Jesus or anything else, but even back then, I mean, I could sense God had been kind to me. And you know what, dear friends, God's kind to everybody. There's not a person alive who can't reach up and finger their ear and see that God's not been kind to them.

If you're here, maybe you're a Malchus today, maybe you're not a follower of Christ, you've never committed your life to Jesus, you don't pretend like you have, you're just kind of checking it out. But maybe you can reach up and finger that ear and go, well, you know, God's done some pretty kind things for me, I know He has. See, why did God do that for you?

Well, the simple answer is that He loves you. And that He wants to use that kindness as a way of convincing you to make a decision for Jesus Christ in your life. That's what He wanted from Malchus. That's why He healed that ear. We don't know whether Malchus came to Christ or not, maybe he did, that'd be fun to end up in heaven and see him there. But whether he did or not, doesn't matter right now, the point is Christ wants you to feel your ear, realize His kindness and His mercy to you, give your life to Him.

If you've never done that, I hope you'll think about that. Well, we want to go on with the story. Let's go on with the story. Verse 52. Jesus said, Put your sword back in its place. Do you not think he says to Peter, Don't you realize that I can call on my father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? How many men did we say were in a legion? 6000. So how many angels is 12 legions of angels?

Come on, guys, I know you went to high school. All right. 72,000 angels. Say, Lon, how many angels are there? Well, I don't know, the Bible doesn't give an exact count. But it does say in the book of Hebrews, there's thousands upon thousands upon thousands. So there's at least 72,000 of them. Can you imagine what would have happened if 72,000 angels had showed up in the Garden of Gethsemane that night? Think now, Sodom and Gomorrah, you remember the cities in the Old Testament, the Bible says two angels, that's all to destroy the entire city, wiped them out, leveled them completely burned them to the ground to 72,000 of these guys.

What's the point? Friends, the point is, Jesus wasn't being arrested, because he lacked the power to escape. You understand that Jesus wasn't being arrested, because he didn't have the necessary resources to get out of it. He did. You say, well, then why in the world would he let himself get arrested and killed?

Well, he's going to tell you right now. Look at verse 54. But he says, how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way? See, for 20 centuries, God has been telling the people of Israel and anybody else who would listen right here in the Bible, that this is the way it was going to happen. You see, the reason that Jesus Christ let himself be arrested is because this was God's plan not only for his life, but this was God's plan for the ages. For 20 centuries, God had been telling us about it. And Jesus said, I can't call 72,000 angels to come save me because it would ruin God's plan for the ages.

This is all part of God's plan. He said, well, what are some of these scriptures in the Old Testament? Well, how about Zechariah 13 seven, where it says, strike the shepherd, Jesus Christ, and the sheep will be scattered. Look at the last verse here. It says, but all this has taken place verse 56. But all this has taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled, then all the disciples deserted him and fled. Did they strike the shepherd in the sheep scatter?

Yeah. How about Isaiah 53 verse seven, where it says he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Now, if he'd have called 72,000 angels in, he wouldn't have been led anywhere.

And if he'd have let Peter draw the sword and have a big old fight, he wouldn't have been led like a lamb, because lambs don't fight back. How about the verse in the Old Testament Isaiah 53 verse six, all of us like sheep have gone astray, we've all turned to our own way. Yet the Lord took him the Messiah and laid on him the sin of us all. Friends, Jesus Christ allowed himself to be arrested because this was all part of the God's plan for the ages and for his life, not because he couldn't get out of it. And so the disciples head for the hills and he goes off in custody. And as Luke 22 says, Jesus turned to the crowd and said, Now this is your hour, when darkness is in control. This is your moment.

You've got me. That's the end of our passage. But I want us to ask the most important question. And y'all know what that question is. What's the question? So what? Right. So what, Lon?

I mean, what difference does this make to my life today? There's nothing in here for me. Oh, yes, there is. Oh, yes, there is. You know, as a Christian, the hardest two situations in life for me to cope with, and I'll bet you you're the same way.

Here they are. Number one, when it looks like the bad guys are winning. I have a hard time with that as a Christian when it looks like the bad guys are winning.

Just like it looked like here in Gethsemane. It looks like the bad guys are winning. And here's the other hard one I have, is when it looks like bad stuff's happening to me and I can't figure out the reason. I mean, you know, if it's a simple thing, you know, I run a stop sign, I get a ticket, no problem. I can figure out why that happened to me. The policeman stopped me. But when bad stuff happens and I can't figure it out, boy, that's a problem.

And I'll bet you those two things are problems for you. So what's the answer? How do we explain it when it looks like the bad guys are winning and when bad stuff's happening to us as Christians, we're following God, all this bad stuff happens and we have no explanation for why. Well, there's a book out that purports to explain it.

It's called When Bad Things Happen to Good People. You know the book? Rabbi Harold Kushner. Okay.

Well, I read the book. Let me tell you what Rabbi Kushner says. Rabbi Kushner says, and I quote, God wants people to live peaceful, happy lives, but he cannot always arrange it. What we have here is a good God, but one who is not totally powerful.

Now, let me go on. God does not want you to be sick or crippled. He didn't make you to have this problem and he doesn't want you to go on having it, but he can't make it go away. There are some things that are too hard even for God, fate and not God sends us our problems, end of quote, Rabbi Kushner. Well, I'd like to say that I think Rabbi Kushner gives an answer that's an insult to the sovereign omnipotent living God of the Bible. That is an insult, that answer. And I don't know if that answer helps him, but I'll tell you, I feel worse after I read his answer than I do with the answer of the Bible.

What kind of answer is this? In fact, he even admits in the book. Now, after saying that, you might wonder, well, then why do I need God? And I would wonder exactly that.

And the answer is, if God can't do anything about it, I don't need him at all. And I can't believe people pay money. Don't waste your money on this book. I'll lend you my copy if you absolutely have to read it. Don't put money in this guy's pocket.

He's totally wrong. You say, well, Lon, what is the answer? Let me show you. Turn back to Acts chapter two and I'll show you. If you're using our copy of the Bible, it's page 770, Acts chapter two. Now, in the Garden of Gethsemane, it looked like the bad guys were winning, right? In the Garden of Gethsemane, there were some bad things happening to Jesus and he hadn't done anything wrong, right? So the answer for why all this happened that worked for Jesus ought to work for us. Make sense?

Well, let's look and see. Acts chapter two, look at verse 23. Peter's preaching and here's what he said. Verse 22, he says, men of Israel, you know Jesus was attested among you with miracles and whatever. Verse 23, this man, Jesus, was handed over to you, watch now, by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. And you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death on the cross.

I love the way the New American Standard translates it. It says, but this man was delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. What's this telling us? This is telling us that Jesus Christ being delivered into their hands was all part and parcel of the perfect plan of God. It was not an accident. It was not fate that did it. It was not that God couldn't stop it. It was not that it was out of control. None of that's true, but this was done by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.

Everything was ticking away right on schedule. Look over at chapter three, verse 17. Chapter three, verse 17. Now brothers, Peter said, I know you acted in ignorance as did your leaders. Verse 18, but this by the arrest and the crucifixion of Christ, this is how God fulfilled his plan, what he had foretold through the prophets saying his Messiah would suffer. You understand what Peter is saying here? Peter is saying, look, I know you guys didn't realize that you were all part and parcel of working out the plan of God for the ages.

You didn't know that, but in spite of the fact you didn't know it, you were. You were doing exactly what God wanted you to do, exactly when God wanted you to do it. Look at chapter four, verse 27. One more, chapter four, verse 27.

It says indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to conspire against Jesus. Now verse 28, they did what your power, God, and what your will had decided beforehand should happen. They did what you, God, in your power and your wisdom decided beforehand should happen.

Do you understand the answer that the Bible gives, my friends? The Bible says that God was bigger than the Jews, bigger than the Romans, bigger than Pontius Pilate, bigger than Herod, bigger than everybody and everything going on, bigger than Satan himself, and that even though they thought they were acting independently, they weren't. Even though they thought they were working out their plan, they weren't. They were working out God's preordained plan.

Everything was right on schedule. Things weren't out of control. Do you understand the answer the Bible gives? And folks, Jesus was able to go to the cross because he had a godly view of circumstances. He could see that God was working his plan out, that these people weren't in charge. God was in charge. And he could submit to even uncomfortable and painful circumstances because he knew God was in charge and God was working a plan. That's a godly view of circumstances. That's what the Bible says is true in your life and in my life if we're Christians. And we, if we're going to face life successfully, my dear friends, we have to force ourselves into having that same view of our circumstances as Jesus had or we're going to end up bitter, angry, miserable people.

What's a godly view of circumstances? Well, it's perfectly illustrated in the life of Joseph. You remember Joseph, don't you, in the Old Testament?

You know he had a little coat. His dad loved him. All his brothers hated him.

You know who I'm talking about, right? And remember his brothers sold him into slavery down into Egypt. He went down into Egypt and he became the property of a guy named Potiphar and Potiphar's wife got what we used to call in the south a hankering for Joseph. But he wouldn't commit this affair with her and he said, I can't do this thing and sin against God. And remember she betrayed him and blamed it all on him and had him thrown in jail in Egypt. Do you not realize he was in jail 13 years? Do you realize from age 17 to age 30 this guy was in jail that in his 20s he never saw daylight outside of jail? And he was an innocent man. And all he tried to do was honor God and not have an affair with this woman. He ends up in jail for 13 years.

Tough deal. And I got news for you, jail then is not like jail now. They didn't have VCRs and workout rooms and basketball courts and saunas and whirlpools. You know, they had jail more like they want to do out in Utah and New Mexico now. You know, make it real jail, not play jail. And this was real jail.

This was bad jail with rats and vermin and all this other nasty stuff. But then if you remember, all of a sudden Pharaoh had a dream and they brought Joseph out of jail to interpret the dream. And before you know it, he's prime minister of Egypt.

You remember the story. And when the famine that he had predicted because of Pharaoh's dream happened, his brothers came down to Egypt to buy grain and they ran into him. And when he revealed who he was, they were terrified. They said, oh man, oh man, he's the prime minister of Egypt.

Man, he's gonna slam dunk us now and he's gonna kill us. And that's when Joseph's godly view of circumstances comes out. Listen to what he said. Genesis 45 verse eight. Listen to this marvelous statement that he made to his brothers. He said to his brothers, he said, now listen, it was not you who sent me to Egypt.

It was God. You say, but Lon, it was them that sent him to Egypt. They were the ones that hated him. They were the ones who sold him. They were the ones that betrayed him.

They were the ones that got rid of him and could care less about him. It was his brothers who sold him into Egypt. No sir, not in Joseph's mind. In Joseph's mind, his brothers were just players. They were just pawns in the plan of God. God was the one that sent him to Egypt as he said to bring about this good result as it is today.

That's how he could go through 13 years in jail and not get bitter. That's how he could face 13 years in awful imprisonment as an innocent man and not get angry at God because he had a view of God that said, God is bigger. God's bigger than my brothers. He's bigger than Potiphar. He's bigger than Potiphar's wife. He's bigger than the baker, the butler, the Pharaoh.

He's bigger than everybody and everything. And if I just trust God and hang on long enough, God is gonna turn this situation around and use it for my good. I believe that. This is a godly view of circumstances, my friend. Seeing God as being bigger than anything that comes into our life. Seeing God as being above and in absolute control of every circumstance in our life and knowing that he's working out his perfect plan even through the hatred and the mistreatment and the bad things and that that plan is for our good.

It means that we see God as bigger than the meanest, cruelest thing people ever do to us and that we believe God's gonna take that and he's gonna turn it around and turn it into good. And you say, well, Lon, how do you get one of these godly views of circumstances? Can you buy one at CVS? No.

Can your doctor write you a prescription for one? No. But you can get it because a godly view of circumstances is a result. Listen, it's not a cause. It's a result of something else and it's a result of believing the promise of God. You believe the promise of God about your circumstances, you can have a godly view of them. And here's the promise.

Romans chapter 8 verse 28. And God works all things, not just the good things, not just the nice things, not even just the medium things. God works all things together for good to those who love him. That's his promise.

That's his promise. Now, folks, listen, God is not trying to tell us that all things are good. That's not what God's saying. There are a lot of things in this world that are not good. Bankruptcy, sickness, car accidents, family problems, the death of a loved one, bad treatment by other people, losing your job, cancer, these are not good things. God's not saying everything's good. What God is saying is that if we as Christians will trust him, he loves us so much and he does have a plan for our life that is so real that if we will just trust him, he will take the good things and the medium things and yes, even the tragic things and he will work them together and turn them around so that the end result is good and a blessing if we'll just trust him. Now, it may take months.

It may take years. I hate to tell you this, sometimes it may take decades but God did not lie to Joseph. God did not lie to Jesus and he's not gonna lie to you.

It's gonna happen if you'll trust him. You know, there's some great examples of this in the Bible. We've already talked about Joseph.

How about a couple more real quick? What about old Naomi? Remember Naomi? You know, she had two boys.

You remember her story, Naomi and Ruth? She had two boys named Melon and Chilion. You know those two boys? You know what their names stand for?

I think I've told you before, weekly and sickly. That was the name of her two boys. I don't know why you name them weekly and sickly but anyway, that's what she named them and you remember the story, weekly and sickly died. You remember that and her husband died and so it was just her and Ruth and Ruth says, I'll go back with you to your homeland and she did and when she arrived back in her hometown which by the way was Bethlehem, everybody said, oh, Naomi's back. Naomi said, don't call me Naomi.

Call me Mara which in Hebrew means bitter because the Lord has dealt bitterly with me. Now it looked pretty bad right then, didn't it? No husband, both her sons dead, no livelihood.

I mean, it looked pretty bad but give God time, okay? Remember the story? Ruth went out in the fields picking up the grain that you were supposed to, if you were a godly farmer you left behind for poor people to come pick up. It was called gleaning the field and she ran into Boaz. Remember Boaz? Oh yeah, old Boaz. Boaz had a lot going for him. Boaz was rich. Boaz was handsome. Boaz was godly and Boaz, best thing of all ladies, he was available.

You understand what I'm saying? And they got married and all of a sudden Naomi married into this rich family. Her daughter marries this rich guy and hey, was God true to what he said to Naomi? And the best part of all was Ruth married into the line and became the great, great grandmother of King David and because of that became one of the descendants from whom Jesus Christ came.

Look at the blessing God gave. Was God untrue to his promise to Naomi? No, he wasn't. He just needed time. And we could talk about Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea, couldn't we? I mean, there was a pretty bleak looking situation. Yul Brenner thought he had them, right?

I mean, that's pretty bleak looking thing but give God a moment to finish the story, right? By the end of the story, Yul Brenner didn't have much of an army left. I don't know why but somehow when I get to heaven and I see a real picture of Pharaoh, he's just got to look like Yul Brenner. That's all.

I mean, I can't imagine the Pharaoh being anybody but Yul Brenner. Can you? But the point is that God do for those Israelites exactly what he said?

Yes. And I can give you example after example, I wish I had the time of where God was true, absolutely true to his promise. I could tell you about Adoniram Judson. And if you don't know who he was, he was the first American by faith foreign missionary left America in 1815 to go to India. The problem is he couldn't get into India. So he went to Burma instead dirty little squally town called Rangoon.

And if you've never read his life story, you talk about bad things happening to good people. Man, his first wife died in Burma, his second wife died in Burma, all the kids from his first marriage died in Burma, almost all the kids from his second marriage died in Burma. He was arrested, put in jail for years at a time. One time he was kept in jail two years hanging by his feet from chains with only his shoulders and his head touching the ground for two years.

You know what he did on his back? He translated the Bible into Burmese and he'd hide it under his pillow at night when the jailer came in. In fact, the translation of the Bible used today in Burma is the one Adoniram Judson translated 270 years ago laying on his back.

But in 1836, there was a tribesman from the Karen tribe, K-A-R-E-N, that was visiting Rangoon. And in 1836, he went seven years without anybody ever coming to Christ. And this man was one of the first men that ever came to Christ, this man from this Karen tribe. And folks, by the time Adoniram Judson died, he'd established 53 churches in Burma. He had thousands of people that had come to Christ in Burma when he died 50 years later. And today, if you go to Burma, there are hundreds of thousands of people from the Karen tribe who live up in the mountains of Burma who worship Jesus Christ today. They have Christian schools. They have churches, self-supporting churches. They send out missionaries to surrounding peoples.

And it all started with Adoniram Judson leading one of them to Christ in Rangoon in 1836. Now, if you were to look at this guy hanging in prison by his feet, you would say, God hadn't been true to his promise to this guy. Look at this poor schmo. But by the time it was all over, had God been true to his promise to Adoniram Judson?

You bet he had. And friend, all I'm trying to tell you is if God was true to his promise to all these other people, God's going to be true to his promise to you. God's not going to start by lying to you. I know there's some of us here who are really struggling with this issue this morning, really hurting, accusing God, angry with God, telling God he's let us down, bitter. And I'm here to tell you, friends, you got it all wrong.

You got it all wrong if you're a Christian. God hasn't let you down. God hasn't failed you. But you got to give him time.

You got to trust him. And the issue is not whether you and I can figure out what God's up to. Most of the time we can't. The issue is whether or not you're willing to take the promise of God and whether you're willing to believe it. That's the issue. And give God the space to be true to his promise.

Friend, God is bigger than your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your boss, your neighbor, your teacher, your failures, your defeats, your pain, your heartache, and he'll do what he said with them if you'll just give him the chance. Fanny Crosby was born blind. Well, she actually wasn't born that way.

She went blind at six months old. And Fanny Crosby could have very easily gotten bitter and angry. But she had a grandmother. And her grandmother was a very strong Christian. And as a little girl, she used to sit Fanny Crosby on her knee and say, now, Fanny, God lets you go blind for a reason. And one of these days you'll understand it.

But in the meantime, you've got to trust him. Fanny Crosby went on to live to be 92 years old and to be the greatest American hymn writer in the history of the church. Over 8,000 hymns, this woman wrote. And at the end of her life, she made the comment that if given the chance, she would ask God to do exactly for her what he did the first time and make her blind because it was the greatest blessing of her life. And friend, she wrote a song that said this, and I hope that this will be kind of a summation of what I've said. All the way my Savior leads me.

What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy who through life has been my guide? When my spirit clothed immortal wings its flight to realms of day. When I get there, this will be my song through the endless ages.

Jesus led me all, not part, all the way. And I hope you'll make that your song. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the word of God and for its assurances about our circumstances. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would take the word of God and you would change our perspective and change our thinking and change our life. Forgive me, Lord, for the times we get angry and bitter and frustrated about our circumstances. We blame you.

We impugn you. Lord, help us to trust you and to know that you didn't lie to Naomi, you didn't lie to Moses, you didn't lie to Adoniram Judson, you didn't lie to Joseph, you didn't lie to Fanny Crosby, and you're not going to lie to us. All things will work together for good to those who love you and trust you. Give us that kind of godly view of circumstances. I pray, God, change our lives because of the word of God this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.