Last week, we were encouraged to no longer take for granted the opportunity that we have to enter into the pānîm El pānîm; the face-to-face presence of God. God’s Presence is a shield and refuge that we can run into at any time and in any place. It is the source of strength and peace and courage and anything else that we could ever need.
This morning, we begin there, but are also reminded why God’s Presence is so important and precious for us. It’ essentially this three-fold truth. God is good, our sin is bad, and life is hard.
I really wish that I could tell you that once you receive Jesus’ salvation that life will be an easy road from that point on. I wish that I could tell you that it’s just all sunshine and roses and rainbows and unicorns. Trust me, life is very good with Jesus. However, that doesn’t mean that it is easy. The truth is that it usually gets harder. Hang in here with me, though!
God is good, our sin is bad, and life is hard. It doesn’t end there, though!!!
Hebrews 10:19-39
First, God is good!
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Second, sin is bad!
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[Deut. 32:35] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[Deut. 32:36; Psalm 135:14] 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Third, life is hard!
32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
God is good, sin is bad, life is hard. However, if we patiently and confidently persevere through the rough stuff, we get to experience the best that God has to offer! It’s worth it!!! God’s goodness and blessing is surely on its way so long as we don’t lose heart and don’t give up part way through the process!!! Tough it out and keep pressing into the Lord. It’s going to end in His goodness and His glory!!!
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”[Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3]
38 And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”[Hab. 2:4]
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Are we going to be ones who shrink back just because life gets hard?
Are we going to be ones who give up in doubt just because things don’t look or feel good?
That will most certainly end in destruction!
Do we want destroyed or saved?
God is working this out.
He is on His way and He will not delay!
In the waiting season, will we live by faith and not by sight?
Will we let God down by shrinking back in doubt?
NO! We don’t belong to people like that!
We belong to a tribe of people who live by faith and will surely see God’s salvation and His goodness here in the land of the living! We are ones to press in and stand firm! We are ones who believe in God and what He has said and not in what is happening around us!
We know our God who is mighty to save and for whom nothing is too hard for. He never gave up on us, so we won’t give up on Him! We will patiently persevere and press in confidently! We will not be moved! We will not be shaken! We agree with the sons of Korah who declared:
Psalm 46:1-7
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
God is with us! God is for us! He is an ever-present help in our time of trouble! Therefore, we will not fear! We will find our joy in the Presence of God! We will receive refreshing for our souls in the living streams of water that flow into our lives sourced by the river of God through the Holy Spirit within! We will not fear! We will not fail! We stand on God’s word He is our refuge and strength! We cannot fail!
The key to doing all of this is patient perseverance!
1 Timothy 4:12-16
12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
James 1:12
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
James 5:7-20
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Be patient. God is aware of what you’re going through. It may not feel like it or look like it, but God is absolutely for you! Only good and perfect things come from Him! He is going to work all of this together for your good and His glory, so don’t give up!
He is certainly coming and His word is certainly going to come to pass! It might be midnight or mid-day, but God’s never early and He’s never late. He will stand by what He says!
While you’re patiently persevering, watch your heart, your thoughts, and your attitude. I don’t know about you all, but when I’m forced to walk through hardships and when I’m forced to wait, I get irritable and grumbly. I know that I shouldn’t be, but I’m still a work in progress.
I’m well aware of what choosing to grumble and complain did for God’s people in the desert place between their deliverance from Egypt and entering into their promised land. I’m well aware of the fact that it will cause the same thing to happen to me. Nothing good comes from it. All that it does is delay and prolong the waiting season. It prevents me from stepping into God’s promise.
It’s the praises of hell and proclamations of doubt.
Instead of getting irritable and grumbly, we should get joyful and hope-filled! We should be prophesying and proclaiming God’s truth. We should be talking about how good and great our God is in eager anticipation of the miracle that He’s going to do on our behalf to bring His word to pass.
That’s what Joshua and Caleb did and they alone were able to move on from the desert to the oasis of plenty!
Like a farmer watching his field, wait patiently for God’s word to bear fruit and stand firmly upon it. James then goes on:
9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear – not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
OK, so we’re well aware that we need to patiently persevere. We need to stand on God’s truth and be careful not to grumble, but to replace our grumbling with praise. If you’re like me, I still feel like I need to do something while I’m waiting on God. I’m not good at just sitting on my hands and waiting.
If you’re like me, God has given us busy-bodies something to do while we wait:
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
While we’re waiting, we pray, we praise, we evangelize. If you’re an elder, you anoint, too. These are all ways to outwardly express our inward faith of standing on God’s truth despite whatever we’re going through otherwise. Pray, praise, and evangelize!
God is good, sin is bad, life is hard.
Pray, praise, evangelize.
We’ll end today with an account of someone who called on Jesus in their time of need. They were waiting on Jesus. They were believing in Jesus to bring healing. However, He didn’t come in time and that person died. What do you say to Jesus after He allows that to happen? How do we respond to Him when He doesn’t seem to act in time and when it seems that He has let us down?
Well, why question it when we can read the answers?
Now this is a familiar account to most of us. This morning, however, try to place yourself in this real-life series of events as if though you do not know how it ended. Imagine what everyone was thinking and how they were feeling and how you might respond in their places.
There are a lot of people mentioned here all with very different perspectives. It seems that only Jesus had a Heavenly one. There is sickness, death, sorrow, struggle, and the real risk and threat of being killed. You know, all of the good things in life, right? All of the things that you wouldn’t think accompany those close to Jesus, but that those closest to Him absolutely did experience.
John 11:1-44
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Wherever you may be at in life right now, no matter how bad things may be looking, no matter how impossible things might be; God still has the final say!
Patiently persevere!
Wait on the Lord and keep pressing into Him!
Stand firmly upon His truth!
Praise Him instead of grumbling to others!
Confidently walk by faith that God can do and will do what He says!
Your breakthrough is certainly coming!
It’s going to be good, it’s going to be perfect, and it’s going to be at exactly the right time!