When You Feel Abandoned by God

This is the edited version of my June 21 message titled, “When Feeling Abandoned by God.”  You can find my recorded message here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eom9xwGOU10 

When Feeling Abandoned by God

I wrote about little Berea several years ago, and as I reflected on the Scriptures for my message today about feeling abandoned by God, the memory resurfaced. Let me tell you what happened.

As our home Bible study wound to a close, a young mother ran out to her car for a package she’d forgotten. She left her two-year-old daughter with half a dozen adults and children in the living room. But when Berea saw Mommy leave, her face froze with panic. She raced as fast as her little legs could carry her and stretched in vain for the doorknob. Her screams were laden with terror, as if she believed Mommy would never to return.

One of the other women lifted the child into her arms and tried to calm her. But it was no use. The toddler only wanted Mommy. And mommy was gone.  

A few moments later mommy returned. She lifted Berea into her arms, rubbed her back and spoke softly into her ear. In moments, Berea quieted down. Mommy had returned. All was well.

The next morning as I spent time with the Lord in prayer, my thoughts drifted back to that pitiable image of Berea screaming for her mother. And this thought spread through my meditation: What must it be like for those who rejected Christ all their lives and then find themselves on the other side of eternity’s door – knowing with horrifying certainty – Father has left and is never coming back?

I cannot imagine the unending and inconsolable grief of those who know they will remain FOREVER on the other side of that door. THAT is what every man and woman on this planet who has rejected Christ has to look forward to: Total, absolute, and unending abandonment by God with no hope of change.

That brings us then to our text for today. The context is Christ’s crucifixion. “And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words. Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Dropping now to verse fifty: And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.”

The other gospel writers record the last two statements Jesus made after His cry of abandonment and before He yielded up His spirit. They are vital to the point of my message today about when we feel God has abandoned us. 

John tells us Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” (John 19:30). Luke tells us Jesus also said to the Father, “Into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

Some believe Jesus’ last temptation occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane in which He begged the Father to let the cup pass from Him. His sweat became like drops of blood as He agonized over what was about to happen to Him on Golgotha’s hill. But, as you will recall, despite His agony and fear, He resolutely acquiesced to the Father’s will and said, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

I do not believe for a moment that that moment in the Garden was Satan’s last attempt to pull Jesus off track. The devil’s last temptation occurred while Jesus hung on that cross.

With the exception of John, all His disciples had left Him. And then there were the sarcastic, spiteful comments from the mob at the foot of the cross. “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Others mocked, “Hey look-y here. He saved others; He can’t save Himself. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if God really cares about Him.’”

THIS was Jesus’ final temptation.  An orchestrated attack and attempted seduction by the devil for Jesus to despair, to wonder to Himself, “Why should I go on?”

Have you ever gone through a Dark Night of the Soul? That’s what some call a period lasting days, or months – maybe longer – during which they felt God had abandoned them. Mother Teresa of Calcutta may be the most extensive case on record. According to her letters read after her death she endured her dark night for nearly 50 years, from 1948 until 1997, with only brief interludes of relief.

And during your own dark night, the devil is always quick to mock you, “If you are really a child of God, if God REALLY cares about you, then why are these things happening to you?”

Now before I continue, let me assure everyone who has been born again through their baptismal faith in Jesus’ blood atonement for their sins – let me assure you on the basis of Scripture – not my opinion, but on the basis of Scripture: God NEVER abandons you.

At times it might seem like or feel like He has left you, but God, who cannot lie, has said it over and over, He will never leave any of His born-again children. One of my favorite passages illustrating this truth is in Isaiah 49:

“But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. (Isaiah 49:14-16a) And in Hebrews in which the writer quotes Jesus: “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

There are scores of other passages like this one, but I hope you get the point that God never forsakes His children brought to Himself through the blood of Jesus.

St. Padre Pio wrote this in 1914 (he was only 27 at the time): “Jesus is always with you, even when it seems you do not feel him. He is never closer to you then when you are in spiritual battle . . . . For the sake of love, I implore you, by all that you hold most sacred, do not wrong him by suspecting, even slightly, that you have been abandoned by him, not even for a single instant. This is precisely one of the most satanic temptations and you need to thrust it far from you as soon as you become aware of it.”

And let me tell you WHY God will never forsake any of His children. It’s because He abandoned His own Son when Jesus substituted Himself for you, when Jesus took your sins and my sins on Himself on Calvary’s tree. Paul tells us Jesus BECAME SIN for us (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

When Jesus the Man – (remember, Jesus from His conception in the virgin womb of Mary, was fully God and fully Man at the same time) – when Jesus the SINLESS Man became sin for us, the Father turned away from Him because God cannot look on sin for even a nanosecond.

Go back for a moment to my story about Berea. If Jesus had not done what He did, if He had not BECOME our sin, then when we die and stand before the judgment seat of God, God would have no choice but to reject us, to turn away from us, to abandon us to our sins in an eternal lake of fire.  We would be forever on the other side – the wrong side – of that eternal door.

THAT is why the cross of Christ was so necessary for our eternal salvation. God will not abandon you or me at the judgment – because God the Father abandoned Jesus instead!  In OUR PLACE.

OH!  Think on that for a while!

But there is much more to this lesson of when the Father abandoned His Son because of our sin.

Despite the devil’s final temptation for Jesus to despair, even in the midst of His own dark night of the soul – Jesus did what you and I must also do to follow in His steps: That is, to continue to entrust ourselves to the Father to do what is right.

Here is what the apostle Peter tells us about this event on the cross: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.(1 Peter 2:21-23)

I hope you caught that last phrase. In His Dark Night of the Soul, Jesus kept on entrusting Himself to His Father who, Jesus knew, judges righteously.

Here is another example, this one from Psalm 44. Here is the context starting at verse 10. The psalmist says to God: You cause us to turn back from the adversary; And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You give us as sheep to be eaten and have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people cheaply and have not profited by their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those around us. You make us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. . . .

Now to verses 17 and 18. Please listen closely to what he writes: “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, and we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way.”

And finally, for the sake of our point, let’s turn to Job chapter 13.  You know the context of Job’s story. In one fell swoop, Job lost his children, his wealth, and then his health. One soul-rending tragedy after the other. Even his beloved wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast [to] your integrity?  Curse God and die” (Job 2:9)

And to compound his misery,  Job’s so-called friends pontificated that he surely must have been guilty of all manner of sins, otherwise God would not be letting him suffer as he was.

But we must respect the man’s spiritual maturity and his confidence in a God who judges and does righteously. A few chapters later, despite all he was enduring, Job cries out, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.” (13:15, AKJV)

What’s the point? Jesus the man – a human being with the same emotions as you and I have – Jesus knew the Father had abandoned Him because as our substitute, He was bearing on Himself all our sins. That is why God NEVER abandons His children who have been born again into His family – because He abandoned Jesus in our place.

So, when you are in your own Dark Night of the Soul – whether for a day, a month, or longer – and you remain unaware of any unconfessed sins – then keep doing as Jesus did – who kept entrusting Himself to the Father who judges righteously.

Keep doing as the psalmist did, who said, “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You . . . Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way.”

Keep doing as Job did, who proclaimed and affirmed from the midst of his sackcloth and ashes, “Even if You kill me, I will still TRUST in You.”

Oh God the Holy Spirit, make it always so in our lives. Amen.

Message June 14 Open Doors

Title: Open Doors, Clean Temples

This is an edited version of the message I preached for June 14. You can find the YouTube recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qksy55mU-Q&t=2s 

Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ² He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

1. Doing Right

Scripture records for us that Hezekiah, the king of Judah, did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his great, great-grandfather had done. But when the Holy Spirit makes this reference to King David, it is not to suggest David was perfect.

We know of his wicked sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah and other soldiers who died with him in battle. We also know he certainly was not the perfect parent, most notably in his relationship with one of his sons, Amnon (2 Samuel 13) and his other son, Absalom, especially in the aftermath of Amnon’s rape of Tamar. (2 Samuel 13-19).

Nonetheless, for all his failures, David was a humble man before God. We see evidence of that most clearly in Psalm 51 which records his confession and repentance before God for his sins in the Bathsheba incident. (See this link).

Psalm 32, likely written after Psalm 51, is a testament to David’s confidence in God’s forgiveness of the penitent, regardless of his sins. It reads in part this way. (See this link).

G. Campbell Morgan says of Psalm 32 says of this psalm, “It is a Psalm of penitence, but it is also the song of a ransomed soul rejoicing in the wonders of the grace of God.”

It was of because of David’s humility and soft heart toward God, that Scripture tells us he a man after God’s own heart, and Hezekiah proved himself to also be man of God.

Are You a woman or man after God’s own heart?  Do you have a soft and humble heart toward God? When you sin, do you confess those sins to God, and do you turn away from those sins as David turned away?

2. Getting Access

The text in 2 Chronicles continues in verse 3: In the first year of [Hezekiah’s] reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east.

We find in the preceding chapter, chapter 28 of 2 Chronicles, the Temple doors had been locked by Hezekiah’s father, the evil King Ahaz. It was Ahaz who led Israel deeper into the horrific sins of idolatries, child sacrifice, and officially sanctioned religious prostitution and other sexual perversions – not too unlike today, if you think about it.

But Hezekiah changed all that. He opened the doors of the Temple and called the priests whose lineage traced back to Aaron and the sons of the Levitical tribe of Israel.

You will remember that under the old covenant – better known as the Old Testament – God established a separate caste of men to lead Israel in its worship. You’ll find that history in especially in Exodus and Leviticus.

It was only men from that special group of Levites who could offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. It was only that special group who had access to the holy place inside the Temple.

And it was only one person of that special caste – the High Priest– who could access the holiest place of the Temple, where the Ark of the Covenant rested. He alone had access only once a year, during the Day of Atonement. The laity, however – the regular people in the pew – were forbidden by Mosaic Law to enter the holy areas.

In an analogous fashion, under the New Covenant inaugurated by God and promised 600 years earlier through the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus opened the doors of true worship – no longer in a Temple or on a mountain, but – as He told the woman at the well in Samaria: “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  (John 4:23)

Under the new covenant, all those who follow Jesus – men, women, young, old, of every race, nation, language and culture – everyone born again through their faith in the blood of Jesus can enter boldly and with confidence into the holiest of holies.

Here is what the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews tells us as he quotes from the Old Covenant prophet, Jeremiah: “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.” (Hebrews 8, quoting Jeremiah 31)

It is the New Covenant Jesus promised at the Last Supper when He said “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” (Luke 22:20)

Through the first ten chapters of Hebrews, the writer repeatedly refers the readers back to the Old Testament Scriptures to make it clear that everything associated with the Old Covenant worship – the sacrifices, the priesthood, the Temple, the rituals, and regulations – all of it was deleted when Jesus took our sins to that cross, died as our substitutionary sacrifice, resurrected on the third day, and ascended back to His Father.

We who follow Christ are under that New Covenant of promise. And as a result of following Christ, the doors of worship have been thrown open and we each have personal access to God’s very throne room.  Oh! Think what that means!

Again, as the writer to the Hebrews says: “Therefore let us draw near with confidence (Greek: ‘boldly, freely’) to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

Please recall what happened to that huge curtain in the Temple, the curtain  that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of God rested, and into which only the High Priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement.

St. Matthew tells us that while Jesus hung on the cross, He “cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Matthew 27:50-51

Listen again, please. There is no longer a veil that separates any child of God who has been adopted into His family through his or her baptismal faith in Christ. We have direct access to our Father who art in heaven.

3. Being Consecrated

Hezekiah continues in verse five of 2 Chronicles 29: Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord and have turned their backs . . . .”  (verse 5-6)

Hezekiah told the priests to consecrate themselves, to set themselves apart for God’s work. And that is exactly what the Holy Spirit tells each of us who call Christ our Lord: to set ourselves apart for the work God calls EACH of us to do.

Here is St. Paul to the Christians at Rome: “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:12-14)

 

And to those in Corinth: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)

 

I want us to also notice when the priests began cleaning the temple, they started from the inside out. Here is verse 16: “So the priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the Lord they brought out to the court of the house of the Lord. Then the Levites received it to carry out to the Kidron valley.” 

 

Likewise, when we consecrate ourselves, we start with the heart. It is utterly useless to dress ourselves up with good works and religious activities and rituals if our hearts remain defiled, full of envy, anger, lusts, and self-centeredness, and jealousies.

 

That’s why St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae, If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” . . . . according to human precepts and teachings?  These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:20-23, English Standard Version) 

 

What is it the Holy Spirit wants you and me to cast away to our own Kidron Valley? That’s something we need to ask God: What, Oh, Lord, in my life displeases you?

4. Being Named

We saw a few minutes ago that the priests cleaned out the house of God. But there is one more point I want to make about this record of Hezekiah’s instruction. It begins at verse 12.

“Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah; and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; and from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. They assembled their brothers, consecrated themselves, and went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord.” 

The Holy Spirit considered their names important enough to record them in Scripture for multiple generations upon generations to know about. It was those men with names nearly unpronounceable by non-Hebrew speaking people who took it upon themselves to clean out the dirt, the defilement, the garbage that was in the house of God so it would be purified and ready for worship.

God tells us our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). And so, will the Holy Spirit record your name in God’s book for all the angels to read for all eternity? Will He annotate in His book that we wanted a purified temple of the Holy Spirit – AND we made diligent effort to cleans our temples of everything which defiled it?

That is a serious question, isn't it? Please consider it carefully.

I Should Have Been Crucified

I always listen to a hymn or song of worship as I enter my quiet time with the Lord each morning. Today it was this one:

I was guilty with nothing to say,

And they were coming to take me away.

But then a voice from heaven was heard, which said,

“Turn him loose, and take me instead!”

And I should have been crucified,

I should have suffered and died.

I should have hung on the cross in disgrace,

But Jesus, God’s Son, took my place.

Crown of thorns, the spear in His side,

And all the pain that should have been mine.

Those rusty nails were meant for me,

But Jesus took them – and let me go free!

And I should have been crucified,

I should have suffered and died.

I should have hung on the cross in disgrace,

But Jesus, God’s Son, took my place.

We all as adults find Christ differently. I was alone in my navy barracks, on my knees by my bunk, when I told Jesus I would follow Him the rest of my life. My sister, Andrea, met Jesus at the altar in Central Assembly of God church in Springfield, Missouri. My wife was alone in her apartment, watching a Billy Graham crusade on television, when she told Christ she now belonged only to Him. My mother and I were in my car a block from my house when I led her in a prayer of repentance and commitment to Jesus as her only Lord and Savior.

The places and times and circumstances are as varied as the individuals vary. But the message proclaimed and which must then believed and acted upon is the same: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.

Have you as an adult come to Christ? Are you saved from eternal judgment?

You are if you believe in your heart that Jesus died in your place, that He paid once for all the penalty for your sins – and you are living for Him and following in His steps.

You and I should have been crucified. You and I should have suffered and died. We should have hung on that cross in disgrace; But Jesus, God’s Son took our place.

Oh, thank you Lord for your immeasurable gift!

Peace in Distress

I listened this morning to this portion of Handel’s Messiah:

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. . . . Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (from Isaiah 40:11 and Matthew 11:28-29)

The words came to me in the middle of my unrest over what is happening all around me. Fear. And hatred. Unquenchable, murderous hatred. And demonic laced lies about it all from the tongues of those in politics, the media, the churches, the educational institutions, from our neighbors, and even in families.  

It is in that context that I sat in my regular chair to spend time with Jesus and listened to those comforting words of Scripture.

And they reminded me, Jesus is not dead. He is alive, radiant, powerful, majestic, omnipotent. And by His Holy Spirit is with me. And He is with you who love Him.

Right now. Wherever it is that you are reading this, if you love Him, He is with you. And like a gentle shepherd, He will feed you. And me.

He will feed us and nourish us from His holy Scriptures. He will provide us water to satisfy our thirst, milk and meat to satisfy our hunger. Calm and confidence to soothe our unrest.

He gathers us – all of us who belong to Him – and He carries us close to His chest. He embraces us and – as we carefully listen and obey – He leads us through this cold, bitter, and very dangerous world.

But we must come to Him like needy sheep if we want calm for our roiling souls. We must come every day. Several times a day, as often as we need to come. We must take His yoke – it is an easy one, but a yoke, nonetheless. And we must take His burden – it is an easy one, but a burden, nonetheless. There is no other way in this angry, agitated, and mean-spirited world to find rest.

St. Augustine said it well: God has made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him.

When Life is Unfair, and God Seems Silent

SERMON JUNE 7

PSALM 73

What do we do when life is unfair and God seems silent? https://youtu.be/ls6zTqC1TAshttps://youtu.be/ls6zTqC1TAs

(This is an edited message I preached on June 7 2020 and uploaded to YouTube.)

My text comes from Psalm 73 and covers these five points: KNOWING, SLIPPING, BETRAYING, SEEKING, and once again, KNOWING.

“Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart!” (verse 1).

Yes, we know God is good. Of course, He is good. He cannot be anything else but good. And kind. And merciful. He is LOVE itself.

But knowing God is good is not good enough for some people to keep them on the right path when hell breaks loose against them. That path to the Celestial City is a narrow one. It is a rocky and arduous path punctuated by steep hills and deep valleys and treacherous detours. That road is not dissimilar from John Bunyan’s analogy in Pilgrim’s Progress.

Pilgrim is on his way to the Celestial City. But he encounters the same obstacles every determined Christian faces on the journey to heaven, such as The Slough of Despond, the Vanity Fair, the Doubting Castle, the Giant Despair.

Bunyan’s tale answers the question why so many people -- although they know God is good, they choose to remain immature babes in Christ – or to even turn away from what they once knew. It’s difficult to journey to that celestial city when it is so much easier to stay home.

Of course, they are not alone in their contentment to stay stuck where they are on their journey. The writer to the Hebrews wrote to those who faced the same temptation to be happy where they were in their journey of faith. He wrote this to his audience in Hebrews 5:12-3  “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.”

If we are happy with where we are in Christ, THAT is a problem. God is infinite. His call to us to be conformed to the image of Christ takes a LIFETIME of sitting at His feet, and also walking with Him.

As I said, knowing God is good is not good enough for many who slog decade after decade with the inevitable ups and downs, the joys and the sorrows of this life – the unfairness of life. But let me give you a news flash if you don’t already know this: LIFE IS NOT FAIR.

Which brings me to the second point of my message: SLIPPING. Slipping in our walk. Here is what the psalmist wrote in verses two and following:

“But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued [with problems] like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression . . . They have set their mouth against the heavens . . . They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” . . . . Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.

Before we go on, let me give you some important insight into the man who wrote this psalm. His name was Asaph. Bible scholars identify him as one of the musicians charged with the music and singing in the Temple during Solomon’s reign. He was a religious man. A holy man. A righteous man of the tribe of Levi.

He knew God is good, but this righteous man began to slip. He’d lost his balance. Just like so many other righteous and holy men and women of God through the centuries have known God and have slipped in their journey – even down to this very moment as I am speaking.

Have you ever been jealous of others – especially non-Christians whose lives seem to float along without so much as mild cross-current? Their families are united – while yours might be divided. Their children visit, they enjoy weekends with the grandkids while you rarely get a phone call. Their health is so good they don’t take more than an occasional aspirin while you have struggled for years with significant health problems. They drive Mercedes, while you can barely keep up on the repairs to your ten-year-old Chevy.

And worse, they make no secret of their disdain for your God. They boast of their atheism and humanism. And you wonder sometimes like the psalmist: Why does God treat me, His child, so badly while He blesses those who curse Him to His face?

If you have been jealous, even angry because of the easy and successful lives of the godless – you are in good company. Asaph the religious, righteous, God-fearing man was jealous. And if you remember the story of Job – another Godly and righteous man had the same questions as Asaph. And they had the same questions that I, myself, have had.

Let me say something that might sound surprising to many who sit each week in the pews: Those questions are good. They are good because they are real and honest and straight from the heart. They’re questions that slice through the false teaching that Christians never get angry with God.

God knows our thoughts before we give them words. And He wants from us honesty, and realness. He’s big enough – and He loves us enough – to handle our see-sawing emotions.

Not many people know that, and so they gunnysack their true thoughts. They try to bury their negative emotions. Many marriages have failed because one or both parties continued to gunnysack their annoyances with their spouse. And so, things fester until the root of bitterness grows up and destroys the marriage.

That’s what can easily happen to our relationship with Christ. We gunnysack our anger and frustrations with God. But we don’t tell Him we are angry because we foolishly and erroneously believe ‘good’ Christians don’t get angry with God. I will speak more about that in a moment, but for now let me simply give you this warning: If we gunnysack our anger and frustration, they will fester. Before we know it, the root of bitterness will have sprung up and poisoned our relationship with our most merciful and loving Father.

Before I come back to anger with God, let’s examine the third point of this message: The first was knowing, then slipping, and now BETRAYING.

If we do not wise up to God’s love for us and that He does NOT want us to gunnysack our anger, then we can easily slip and fall into betrayal.

Now please hear me. This is really, really important. When we betray Christ, when we throw off our faith in Christ, WE ARE NOT THE ONLY CASUALTY.

Asaph tells us this in verse 15: If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.

As I prepared this message, I thought of two high-profile Christians who, in recent months, turned their backs on Jesus: Joshua Harris, who was a megachurch pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, proudly proclaimed his freedom from Christianity. He then promptly divorced his wife and shortly thereafter marched in a Gay Pride parade. 

In May of last year, David Gass, the pastor of a large church in Missouri, renounced Christianity, calling it caused him mental and emotional trauma. But before his renouncement of Christ, Gass was involved in a year-long adulterous relationship from which he refused to leave. 

It’s nothing short of tragic for them, their families, and for those who looked up to them that Satan can now do a victory dance at their fall. 

I am certain neither Harris nor Gass woke up one day and suddenly decided they no longer believed what they said they had once believed about Jesus. Their rejection of Christ started slowly and continued incrementally until they made their break from the One whom they once called their Lord and Savior. 

In the nearly 50 years I have followed Jesus, I have seen many turn away from their faith. And while their reasons for turning their backs on Christ might vary, I think there is most often only one of two fundamental reasons a person leaves Christ:

Either they tire of doing what Jesus wants them to do, or they grow angry, or disillusioned when Jesus doesn’t do what they want Him to do. In either case, they bristle at the idea that He is God – and they are not. They stumble at the realization that God is not a cosmic Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy. 

What do we do when we don’t like God’s answer to our prayers? What do WE do when the wicked prosper and we struggle?

Which brings us to out next point: SEEKING. The psalmist tells us in verses 16 and 17: “When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight, until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. . . .”

You and I can NEVER fully understand why God does as He does – or does not do what He does not do. But – if we truly want to know Him and receive some insight into our lives and circumstances; if we TRULY and honestly are willing to walk with Christ wherever He leads and through whatever valleys He brings us, then the Holy Spirit WILL open our understanding sufficiently that we can walk faithfully and PATIENTLY with Christ through our circumstances. 

Seek Him! Get alone with God. Open His word and read it every day. And pray – not only rote prayers, but prayers born in a heart hungry for God, prayers that come from deep within your soul. Talk with Him – not AT Him, but WITH Him. He not only listens to you, but if you are quiet enough you will hear Him whispering back His responses.

Keep seeking Him like that, and you will not end up like the two men I mentioned a few moments ago.

Which brings me to my final point in this message, and I see I am out of time. The first point was knowing. The second, slipping. The third, betraying. The fourth, seeking. And finally, accepting.

Here is what Asaph wrote at the end of his psalm of complaint: When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.

First, recognize that when our heart is embittered, we cannot think clearly. Our emotions take over our higher brain function and we give the devil an open door to insinuate his demonic lies. That’s one reason St. Paul commands us in his 2nd letter to the church at Corinth to take every thought captive to Christ: (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

And here is where I circle back to my earlier comment about anger with God.

When we recognize we have become embittered against God – REPENT. Our anger against God is never justified. God is God, and we are not. And God is GOOD. Always Good. His love for us is His ONLY motivation for bringing or allowing anything to come into our lives.

It is not possible for Him to be anything less than good, and for us to be angry with God is to be angry with Goodness and Love itself. That makes no sense on any level.

While a prisoner of the Giant Despair, it is common to doubt He loves us. But listen! We do not have all the pieces of the puzzle of our lives. God, who cannot lie, tells us again and again He is simply orchestrating circumstances for our good.

So, yes, repent of your anger – which will be much easier to do if we have first taken the preceding step of honestly SEEKING HIM.

And speaking of God’s love and patience with us, even when we are angry with Him – notice  what the psalmist says next in verses 23-26: Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

The psalmist Asaph was godly and righteous man – just as so many of you listening to me are godly and righteous. But life tossed him some curve balls that hit him so hard they knocked him to the ground – just like you and I sometimes get knocked to the ground.

Learn to mature in your faith. Keep seeking Him as if He is the most important thing in your life. Read His word consistently and persistently. Pray from your heart as if He is sitting in the room with you – because He is.

And you will understand, as the psalmist finally understood: But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. Amen.

Do Black Lives REALLY Matter?

Yes, the cops who killed Mr. Floyd are probably guilty of at least manslaughter. And yes, Justice must be served. But if Black Lives REALLY Matter, then tell me WHY the daily slaughter of black children in the womb is not violently protested in the streets near every abortion clinic across the nation?

Do BLM folk know how many black babies are killed EVERY DAY in American abortion clinics? I doubt it. So, I will tell them.

America killed some 850,000 babies of all races in the womb last year. That tallies to more than 2,300 aborted babies every day, 365 days a year.

Now here is the point: According to the CDC, fully 1/3 of all abortions in America are black babies.

Do the math. That means more than seven hundred and sixty black babies are killed in abortion clinics EVERY DAY in America. Every day.

Did you catch that number? Seven hundred and sixty black babies today. Seven hundred and sixty black babies tomorrow. Seven hundred and sixty the next day. Day after day.

We want justice?

No, we do not. Not really. Not when we are decimating the black population by nearly 300,000 EVERY YEAR and hardly anyone raises an eyebrow.

We want justice? Then stop the butchery that goes on in our neighborhood abortion clinics. Only THEN we will have the right to cry out for justice.

Crazy Man. Crazy Talk.

The ‘Real Presence of Christ’ is a Christian theological phrase used to communicate the doctrine that Jesus is “really and literally” present in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. His presence is not merely symbolic or figurative. You will find the basis for the doctrine in the literal interpretation of John 6:47-69.

I’m copying the text from the New American Standard Bible (a so-called 'Protestant' Bible). Every other translation of the Bible says the same thing. I know the quote is kind of long, but it’s necessary for context.
---------------
(Verses 47ff) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

“Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

“These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
--------
Verse 66(above) tells us, “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” And why was that? They thought Jesus was a crazy man, talking crazy talk.

But was He crazy, and was it crazy talk?

The 12 disciples didn’t think so. They took Jesus literally. And so did many of the early Church Fathers – all of whom are all well-respected among Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic theologians today. For the sake of space and time, I quote only two:

St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 A.D.) “I desire the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible.”

St. Justin the Martyr (c. 100 - 165 A.D.) “For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.”

An easy internet search will pull up many other Church Fathers who believed in the “Real and Literal Presence” of Jesus in the bread and wine, such as:

Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 140 - 202 A.D.)
Tertullian (c. 155 - 250 A.D.)
Origen (c. 185 - 254 A.D.)
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 - 216 A.D.)
Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200 - 258 A.D.)
Athanasius (c. 295 - 373 A.D.)
Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 350 A.D.)
Basil the Great (c. 330 - 379 A.D.)
Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 330 - 389 A.D.)
John Chrysostom (c. 344 - 407 A.D.)
Ambrose of Milan (c. 333 - 397 A.D.)
Jerome (c. 347 - 420 A.D.)
Augustine (c. 354 - 430 A.D.)

And, finally (if there could be a final comment about the Eucharist and the Real Presence), Martin Luther also believed in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic Celebration -- that Jesus was physically -- not symbolically -- present in the bread and wine.

So what is my point? Simply this: Jesus was not a crazy man talking crazy stuff. He was speaking words of serious truth and supernatural reality.

And neither are we today crazy who take Jesus’ words literally. We believe nothing more than what apostles and the great theologians of the early Church believed: When they receive Holy Communion, they are really and literally receiving the very Body and Blood of the Savior.

And I thank God for His indescribable gift.