©2004 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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12/26/04 |
A Time For Truth |
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12-26-04 A Time For Truth
This is our final time together in 2004.
Before we meet together again
this year will have ended
and a new one will have begun.
Having made it through all of the chaos that comes with Christmas,
we now find ourselves
in that brief time of the year
when we give ourselves permission
to become a little more introspective than we normally are.
We look back over the year we’ve just completed,
and look forward to what this new year may bring.
For some of you 2004 brought few surprises,
while for others
there were things that have entered your lives during the past 12 months that you did not anticipate,
things you would not have chosen but could not avoid,
things that will alter your life dramatically.
Unexpected or unwanted health issues,
career changes or the anticipation of career changes,
the birth of a child or possibly coping with the death of someone you love -
any of these can shake the foundations of our lives profoundly.
At any given point in our lives
we have three possible directions we can look -
we can look to the past,
remembering what has happened
and try to understand what it means to us now,
we can look the present,
to what’s taking place right now,
and try to understand how best to deal with the immediate issues in our lives,
and we can look to the future,
and try to anticipate what will come
and then try to understand what it will mean to us and to those we love.
The problem is
that most of the time
we’re really not very good at doing any of those things well.
We have an amazing ability to selectively filter through the past, the present, and the future,
and see things in a way that causes us tremendous turmoil, or fear, or regret or anxiety.
So, for our time together this morning
I though it might we helpful
if we see what our Lord has to say to us about these three.
When we look to the past, the present, or the future,
what is it He wants us to see?
And how can we interpret what we see correctly?
And let’s start with the one that, for many of us, is the most difficult -
let’s start with the past.
And before we look at the specifics,
we need to start with a clear understanding
of what’s really going on in this whole area of our relationship to the past.
Everyone of us here this morning
bring with us an entire lifetime of personal history.
For some of you
that history stretches back only 11, or 12, or 13 years.
For others
it reaches back 50, or 60 years, or more.
But however many years we have,
with each of us there is a whole spectrum of events
that make up our history.
There are points at which we were deeply wounded by the sins of others,
times when we felt intense pain.
There were also times
when someone entered our lives who gave us hope,
or someone who was used to bring deep healing to our souls.
We all have in our past
both people who hated us
and people who loved us,
we have times when we stumbled,
times when we failed,
times when we sinned against our God,
and we also have times
when we succeeded in ways that surprised even us,
and times when we were used to meet needs in the lives of others.
We have times when no one around us seemed to understand, or to care, or even to notice our existence,
and times when another person saw something good in us that we didn’t even know was there,
and they told us what they saw
and it helped tremendously.
Simply put,
we each have a whole world of potential memories
on which our minds could focus when we look to the past.
But our memories are in no way random or without purpose.
The truth is
I believe our memories
form the center of the most intense
and the most critical daily warfare we ever enter into as Christians.
And I also believe
that the most powerful weapon Satan has against us
comes in the form of his highly selective use of our past experiences,
and then his interpretation of the meaning of those experiences
in his efforts to defeat us in our Christian walk.
Each one of us are involved in a daily warfare for the discovery of the truth -
the truth about our God
and the truth about ourselves -
who He is and who we are.
And most of the artillery being used on both sides in that warfare
comes from our interpretation of things that have happened in the past.
Simply put,
what Satan seeks to do
is to take carefully selected and edited events from our past,
bring them to mind,
and then use them as his “proofs” of lies he wants us to believe about ourselves or about our God.
And my point is simply this -
our memories and our interpretation of them
are not just meaningless random clips moving across our mental screen,
they are vital ingredients in our constant battle for the discovery of the truth in our lives.
And if we ever fail to loose sight of the true nature of this warfare we are involved in each day,
we can easily become overcome by the attacks against us
and yet never even realize what’s happening or why.
If you have some reservations about what I’m saying,
if you think maybe I’m just creating imaginary battles where none exist,
let me ask you a question.
What percent of your memories from the past
have a negative emotional impact on you when you recall them?
Huh?
Could you run that by me again, Larry. I don’t understand your question.
All I want to do here
is to help us become more aware of the battles really going on in our lives.
Now look at this -
as you’re going through your day
and some memory from the past pops into your mind -
something that happened yesterday,
or a few days ago,
or a few years ago,
or something from your childhood,
how often do those memories trigger negative emotional responses-
anger,
or fear,
or loneliness,
or bitterness,
or shame,
or guilt,
or a sense of failure or inadequacy,
and how often do they flood you
with a strong sense of security,
or hope for the future,
or a deep sense of inner peace,
or a clear emotional awareness of God’s grace, and lovingkindness, and personal love for you?
So often
the memories that come into our minds from the past,
rather than triggering warm, encouraging, hopeful feelings within us,
bring with them strong negative emotions,
emotions that we then have to deal with,
emotions that, unless we understand what’s happening and why,
we will frequently simply accept and believe as truth.
Now, I’m not saying the memories themselves are not true,
but I am saying that the emotions they come wrapped in
are then used by Satan to communicate to us powerful lies
about our life in Christ now
and about what we can expect from Him in the future.
They are, in fact, really attack lies
that have been wrapped in memories
that have been carefully selected and edited by the enemy
in such a way as to create within us an emotional response
that will make us vulnerable to believing the lie he wants us to believe.
Accurately and correctly remembering the past
is not an easy thing for us.
We so often find it so much easier to recall the evil that has touched us
than to recall the good.
Do you take many pictures?
I’m talking about snapshots of the good times,
those simple, ordinary good times of life?
I am a strong believer
in anything that helps us disarm the memory lies of Satan,
and I have, for many years now, been an avid picture-taker
of the people I love
and the times I spend with them
because those pictures help us to remember the past more correctly.
They can provide us with a visual history
of God’s kindness poured out on us,
and of the goodness of this life He’s given us.
Do you remember that point in Israel’s history
when, after forty years of exile in the wilderness
following their departure from slavery in Egypt,
God brought the nation to the bank of the Jordan River.
On the other side of that river was the land of Israel,
the land given by God to Abraham and his descendants.
Do you remember that crossing
and what God told Joshua to do?
It’s recorded for us in the 3rd and 4th chapters of the book of Joshua.
God told Joshua to take the Ark of the Covenant,
the visual symbol of the presence of God with the nation,
and have the Levites carry the Ark before the people.
And when the soles of the feet of the Levites carrying the Ark touched the waters of the Jordan,
the river stopped flowing and began to pile up in a massive heap,
leaving dry ground down stream on which the Nation could then cross.
The Levites stood in the middle of the Jordan
as all the people filed by,
and then, when everyone had crossed over,
Joshua had twelve men,
one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel,
go back into the river bed,
hoist one stone each onto their shoulders,
carry it out onto the dry land in Israel,
and then form those 12 stones into a pile.
And in verses 4:6-7 he explained why.
JOS 4:6-7
"Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask
later, saying, 'What do these stones mean to you?' then you shall say to them, 'Because
the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the
Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.' So
these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever."
Do you know what that is?
That’s a photograph of the faithfulness of God,
a permanent reminder of the truth.
And I share all of this with you today
because I want us to be properly equipped
for the kind of battles we will face when we look to the past,
and I want us armed with the weapons we need for fighting them.
So let me give it to you first in a single statement,
and then I’ll try to make it practical.
When it comes to the past,
Satan will attempt to convince us
that our past determines our future,
and also that our past proves the inadequacy, or disinterest, or disapproval of our God,
but the truth is
that in Christ it is not our past that determines our future,
it is our God and His grace poured out on us
that determines our true future in Christ.
So here’s where I would recommend you start.
First, never loose sight of the battle we are in.
To be in Christ
is to live in active warfare every day of our lives.
Paul said it with such clarity in his second letter to the Corinthians.
2CO 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying
speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and
we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ...
In the flesh,
in our external, physical, everyday lives
we appear to be just going through the routines of life like everyone else.
But in the unseen world of the spirit
every child of God
lives each day at war.
And the mental picture Paul creates for us is vivid.
He says we are warring against fortresses raised up against us,
and we destroy those fortresses
by taking every thought captive
by bringing it into obedient submission to the truth given to us in Christ.
Then, with that warfare mentality in place,
whenever a memory from the past comes to mind,
and you feel the emotional response it brings with it,
ask yourself what message that feeling is communicating to you.
If, for example, you recall a time when you were all alone,
and you feel the loneliness that memory brings with it,
recognize the lie that feeling brings.
“You were all alone then,
and you are all alone now.”
Then take that lie
and bring it the source of all truth,
to your Lord Jesus Christ
and ask Him for the truth.
JOH 14:18 "I
will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you...
MAT 28:20 ...I am with you always, even to the end of the
age.
HEB 13:5...I will never desert you, nor will I ever
forsake you..."
Or, if you remember a time when you were afraid,
and the memory floods you once again with an emotional fear of the future,
listen for the voice of the enemy imbedded in the feelings,
a voice that says,
“There are forces in your life that can and will destroy you.
You are the victim of chance,
powerless against those things that will destroy you.”
Then take the lie
and bring it into the light of the truth.
2CO 3:5-6 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to
consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who
also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of
the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
JOH 10:27-29
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I
give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch
them out of My hand. My Father, who has
given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of
the Father's hand.
And if a memory comes to mind of some past sin,
and the memory floods you with feelings of shame, and guilt, and failure,
find the lie imbedded in those feelings,
the lie that says,
“You might as well face it! This is who you really are.
This is who you were then,
and this is who you will always be.
You are a failure,
an unworthy creature,
despised by your Creator,
beyond His grace and His love.”
Then bring the lies,
and the feelings they bring into the truth.
EPH 2:4-7 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His
great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the
surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
COL 2:13-14 When you were dead in your transgressions and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having
forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt
consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it
out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
ROM 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have
obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand...
And I do pray that you will not misunderstand what I’m saying here.
I’m not suggesting
that we should hide from the past
behind a wall of Bible verses.
I am suggesting
that we can only really know the truth about our past
when we see it in the light
of the living reality of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for us.
And whenever any memory from the past
brings with it feelings that tell us
that we are alone,
or that our sins have caused our God to turn His back on us,
or that who we once were will determine who will always be,
or that there are forces in this world that have the power to rob us of the security we have in Christ,
we know those feelings are lies
sent by Satan to rob us of the truth that has the power to set us free.
There are other types of lies that come at us from the past as well.
Feelings of bitterness
and a longing for revenge is a common one.
It begins with our recalling some evil committed against us by someone in our past.
And with the memory
comes a feeling -
the feeling of bitterness against them
and a longing to get even.
But do you know what happens when we allow bitterness toward another person to take root within us?
What we actually do is to choose to give them power over us.
We allow them to take control of our thinking,
to consume our mental and emotional energies,
to dominate our lives.
Some time ago now
I received a letter,
in fact several letters from a person I’ve known for years,
but who had never written to me before.
The first letter started out casually enough,
but then, within a few paragraphs,
turned into the most brutal series of accusations and personal attacks I’ve ever received.
It poured out a poison and a hatred I’d never encountered before,
and as I kept reading
I discovered that it all traced back to comment I’d made many years before,
a comment that I didn’t even realize had offended them at the time.
When I finally recognized my offense against them
and tried to offer an apology
it only made them more angry
and brought another letter as brutal as the first.
Without realizing it,
for a number of years
that person had chosen to give me tremendous power in their life,
a power I certainly didn’t want
and would never have sought,
but a power they gave to me through their bitterness against me.
Well,
my point here is simply this -
correctly handling memories from the past
can only happen when we recognize that those memories frequently bring with them emotional lies,
lies that can only be disarmed and defeated
when brought into the light of the truth given to us by our God.
And, since I’ve taken all of my allotted time on the past,
I now have nothing left for the present and the future,
but it doesn’t really matter
because the basic principle with both of them
is the same as with the past.
Both the events taking place in our lives right now,
and those we anticipate in the future
have the same ability to wrap themselves in emotional lies,
lies that cause us fear,
or cause us to doubt the love and the kindness of our God toward us.
And the only way to defeat those lies as well
is for us to bring them into the light of the truth.
And let me close by offering you just a little taste of what I mean.
Here are just two verses of truth from the 84th Psalm.
PSA 84:11-12 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The
Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk
uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Now place that next to what you’re currently feeling
about your present and your future.
Our God is our sun,
bathing us in the warmth of Himself,
and giving us the light we need to see all things clearly.
And He is our shield -
the great protector of our lives
who stands between us
and all those forces that seek to destroy us.
And then look at what He gives -
grace and glory.
He doesn’t just pour out His kindness on us,
but He honors us in the process,
covering our shame forever with His blood,
and replacing it with a respect and a dignity we did not earn.
And then the Psalmist states with wonderful clarity
what he wants most for us to understand.
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!
That is the truth about our future,
and that is what awaits all those
who place their trust in Him.
And that’s a truly Happy New Year!