— Brother Phil Enlow: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew…” (NIV). I’m not gonna get into a long discussion about, you know, God’s sovereignty and man’s will. But I’ll tell you, we have a choice to make, when God calls, when God deals with the heart and God knows those who will surrender.
But what a picture is painted here, because when we’re in the middle of something, it’s awful easy for the Devil to sow all kinds of questions and doubts and sense of weakness, sense of need, all the things that would militate, that would fight against our restful confidence in God’s love and His purpose.
But listen to the language that we’ve used so many times, and those he predestined…oh yeah, “For those God foreknew he also predestined….” See there’s this sense that, I’m gonna take charge and I’ve got a purpose that’s gonna work out and it will happen! There’s not a devil in hell that can stop what I have purposed when somebody commits their life into my hands, it is in a safe place. I will bring them to that place where one day they will walk in a brand-new world and Jesus will walk among us as our elder brother.
What an incredible picture! Praise God! And the certainty that God is communicating in this scripture. If God predestines something, is there anybody that can say, no you can’t do that? No!
“And those…” in verse 30, “…he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified….” And that’s a simple word. It means He makes you righteous in God’s eyes, takes away…just removes sin from the equation. Praise God!
“…Those he justified, he also glorified.” What a way to put that! To say something like that, that hasn’t happened yet as though it has happened, that’s the certainty God wants His children to have, once they surrender their lives unto His hands and He comes in to stay and to seal the heart.
Folks, we have every reason, no matter what we experience, Covid or otherwise, to just say, Lord, I’m in Your hands, my life is in your hands…we sing the song. What a blessed place that is. And I feel like many of the things that we have experienced, in these last few weeks, have been to move us along in that direction.
( congregational amens ).
You know, God knows what’s ahead. We’ve said it many times. We’ve had it easy here in America. He talks later in this passage about, you know, persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword and a whole lot of things that are worse than any of us have ever experienced. And I’ll tell you, we’ve got a God who will bring His people through, and will be with us.
But the only way to get there is to experience Him in real things, where we can look back and say, you know, that was tough, but God was with me! In the darkest time, He spoke His word to my heart, gave me the strength to believe it and it carried me through! It brought me through that dark time, and I am better for it and God has given me a real, living experience of His faithfulness. Praise God! Praise God!
I’m gonna move from this scripture just for a moment to another one that we read periodically that we really love. And that’s in James, the beginning of James. But I had this come to me, I don’t know how many different times. And I’ll read it in this NIV translation. But that’s not how it came to me because I grew up with the King James.
But…verse 2, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds….” Now of course, we don’t consider it pure joy, but the Lord wants us to see it…if we could see it through His eyes, see it through His heart, and really believe that it is His heart toward us, doesn’t that make a difference?
( congregational response ).
My God! Can’t we say, thank You, Lord. I know where this is headed. I’m just anticipating that, and Your strength is with me right now to help me through this.
All right, why are we able to do that? “…Because you know…” Here’s again, is something we know, and this is the kind of knowledge again that is cumulative. You go through something, you gain some knowledge, it’s more than just theory. Then you go through something else, and you go through something else, and knowledge increases. And God wants us to come to the place where we could have the knowledge that would enable us to say, Praise God, in the midst of something that wouldn’t naturally bring forth that response.
“…You know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Now this kept coming to me over and over through these last few weeks. And it was King James language: “…Let patience have her perfect work….”
And patience and perseverance are two senses of the meaning of the original. Because it conveys perseverance as in not giving up, continuing to put forth an effort to resist. But it also conveys the idea of time, that this is not a push-button deal, that this is gonna take some time in order to accomplish what has to be accomplished.
You know, and the obvious example that we’ve used many times is, suppose you want to be a weight lifter, and you’ve read every book that you could about weight lifting, you understood the science of it, you’ve looked at videos, you went to seminars. Would any of that make you a weightlifter? No.
Weightlifting…the very essence of weightlifting is exerting your strength against resistance. There simply is no way for muscles to grow and to become stronger unless they are literally exercised against resistance. And if they’re gonna grow really strong, the resistance is gonna have to get stronger, isn’t it? I mean, that’s what weightlifting is all about. How much can I lift?
Is it any different in spiritual matters? We’d like it to be. Every one of us would probably like to come to a place where we could come down to an altar, have someone lay their hands on your head, and just put in there whatever it is you need.
But it doesn’t work that way, and the Lord has used this particular period in a unique way, to cause us to have to face things and patience is that word that kept coming to me, this is something that’s gonna take time. You need be…you need to stand in your spirit against this thing. You need to have a constant confidence and trust in Me, but you need…the devil’s gonna be talking to you. Has the devil been talking to anybody?
( congregational response ).
Yeah. But there needs to be a stand that you take in your spirit when the devil starts saying…this is a time for self-pity, it’s time for self-indulgence, because of your self-pity…you deserve that. Nobody ever experiences anything like that I know! But whatever it is, that would cause us to draw back, or let go, or be tired, or give into something when it comes to the simple stand of faith and saying, no, God is faithful! I am trusting in Him!
( congregational amens ).
I will not give in. I’m gonna stand in the face of whatever the devil tells me is going on. I am His and that’s the end of it.
( congregational amens ).
Folks, how many of you got that in you to do that? Zero. Man, we need the Lord, don’t we? We need the Lord.
But do you see how this dovetails with what Paul had said over in Romans 8, that there is something that God is gonna…I mean, we’re here for a reason. Part of the reason is to let our light shine. But obviously, God’s purpose is to change us from people who fit in with this world, to people who fit into the one to come. And every single one of us needs a lot more change than we think we do.
( congregational amens ).
And so, when these things are allowed by God to work in our lives, what He’s looking for is simple faith that puts their trust in Him and says, God, I am one with You in this. I thank you for it, I understand what’s going on. My flesh doesn’t like it, my flesh gets weary, all these things that I have to battle, but Lord, I’m on Your side in this thing. I want to let this have its complete work.
Lord, help me not to cut it short. Help me not to bail on You. Help me not to accuse You of doing wrong because I don’t like it! All of the things that the Devil tries to bring about in our minds and hearts. But, oh what a faithful God we have!
( congregational amens ).
What a merciful God we have! You know, when you stand back from it and you’re not sitting there feeling the immediate effects, doesn’t it make sense to say, yes, God, I want this…I want the full deal. I don’t want to stop short. I want perseverance to have its full effect.
Let me go back to read this, “Let perseverance finish its work…” (NIV). There’s the time element. There’s where things aren’t gonna be… there’s no push-button solution. There’s no way to get to God’s goal in this thing except by submitting ourselves and trusting in Him and looking to Him, and keeping on doing that, because there’s a work that’s happening that cannot happen any other way. How many of you want to be what the Lord wants you to be?
( congregational response ).
Yeah, that’s a dangerous desire, isn’t it? Because it means there’s parts of us that… it means we’re gonna have to die. And we’re gonna have to learn His ways and be willing to let go and let God have His wonderful way. That’s what all this is about. So over and over again, I kept having that, “…let patience have her perfect work…” (KJV). Let patience have her perfect work.
( laughing ).
And then you get up, and a couple of days later, and you’re weak and wobbly and hanging in there. “…Let patience have her perfect work….” Over and over and over again that scripture came. But, do you think maybe, just maybe, there was a good reason for that? Anybody else have the same need?
( congregational response ).
Yeah, sure, we all do, don’t we? Another scripture that came to me, that we’ve heard many, many times. You know, it’s not a matter of just hearing new stuff, but it’s a matter of God making the old stuff real, so that it becomes something that we can stand on, and know it’s real, and know…and just be able to stand when somebody else is struggling, maybe even be able to help somebody who’s struggling, because we’ve been there.
( congregational response ).
And we know God is faithful! We know that this scripture, whatever scripture it is, it’s real, because we’ve experienced it in our lives. There is no substitute for that.
Another scripture the Lord brought to me a number of times was in 1st Peter 5, very familiar scripture, where it says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (NIV). In verse 6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
And of course, in the process, us being human, we’re gonna be anxious about things. So, he says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
But I can’t tell you the number of times that that scripture came to me. And again, is that not, does that not dovetail with the other things we’ve said? Because if God is at work, in all things, He’s at work. He has a purpose. He’s working it out. And, I’m to let perseverance, patience, have its complete work so that I’ll be what He wants me to be.
Isn’t it appropriate that he says, “Humble yourselves…under God’s mighty hand…”? That’s not natural. But oh, what a peace and what a rest there is when we’re just able to say, yes Lord, whatever. I just want You. I just want Your will for my heart, for my life, your purpose for my life. There’s nothing else worth living for.
But you know, the Lord has to let you experience stuff before you get that. If it’s just theory, that’s all it is. But I’m so thankful for God’s goodness in everything that has happened.
I think I’ll just go back briefly. Well, another scripture, I’ll quote a couple of scriptures. There’s one in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 5, I think, that talks about…that’s giving a whole of instructions, a whole lot of words of exhortation, I guess, is the word I’m trying to reach for. And he says, “In every thing give thanks.” (KJV).
That’s another thing that is a good exercise. When we’re in some of these ‘all things,’ and we’d rather they didn’t happen, and they’re not pleasant, and we’re in that place where the devil is beating on us and whispering in our ears, one of the things that God calls on us to do is to say, thank You, Lord. In all things. And, of course, I’ve had people actually express this. Yeah, I’m supposed to give thanks ‘in’ all things but not ‘for’ all things.
( laughter ).
Anybody ever heard that? Unfortunately, if you will go over to Ephesians, chapter 5, it says specifically, “…giving thanks…for everything…” in Christ Jesus. (NIV). You see, it takes, it takes faith.
You think of what Jesus went through in His life, to accomplish the Father’s purpose. Now, the Father’s purpose in Him, I mean He was like Jesus. I mean, He was Jesus, He never sinned. But yet He had to experience all of the things that we experience. And yet, facing the cross, I thank You, Father.
There was this sense of praise, of thanks, of confidence, of rest, of being willing to push forward, willing to wait on God and to receive the strength even to do it, to pray for three hours when it was necessary. All the things He went through and yet there was this sense, God, I know You’ve got this! I know what Your purpose it. I want to be part of that, come what may, Lord, whatever it costs.
That’s what God is seeking to bring about in our lives. And so, I don’t care what it is that you and I experience, that’s at the heart of it. And I want to listen, and I want to learn the reality of these scriptures, because again, what carries us through things in the future is what we’ve already learned and what we know because we’ve been there, and done that.
But anyway, one point probably needs to be made, because the reality is, all of these things, giving thanks, humbling ourselves, trusting Him, you know, rejoicing, being glad, all these things that we’re exhorted to do, again, not one of us here has the natural ability to do any of that! And so, one of the deep lessons that I see the Lord trying to teach me…I hope I’m learning in a measure, is the simple reality that every need is meant to draw me to Him because the unsearchable riches of Christ are there!
Listen to what he says back in Romans, chapter 8. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
See, that’s one of the lessons that it’s not easy for us to learn. We are by nature self-reliant. Every time we feel a need, I’ve got to do something, I got to, I got to. Instead of saying, Lord, I have no resource for this, but You have promised. Everything I need is in You.
Again, going back to the unsearchable riches of Christ. Anybody here have needs that the Lord would draw your mind away from your ability, and your sense of need, and all your sense of self-pity, if that’s there? To say, I have what you need. I know you don’t have the ability to humble yourself. I can give that to you if you’ll just ask.
See, you don’t have because you’re not asking. And a whole lot of your asking is self-centered. And the Lord wants us to have a confidence.
And you know, when we feel those needs, many times, that’s when the devil tries to paint a picture that would cause us to say, well, I can’t go to Him now, I don’t deserve it. This is happening because I did something. That’s a lie from the pit of hell! And God wants us to wake up and realize that. Now, if there is something that we’re conscious of, that we need to confess, praise God! But we’ve got a place to go!
( congregational amens ).
“He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (KJV). We confess our sins, there’s a sense of agreement with God about it. God has made provision for that! No devil in hell could ever rightly accuse you and me of anything that would ever separate us. That’s what this whole passage is about. Praise God!
But do we get this? Do we really live as if this is true? Or do we just say, yay, Jesus, that’s wonderful! And then go on as though it’s not true. See, we’re in the process, aren’t we? We’re in school. But the Lord is so loving and so patient with us. Thank God!
But the reality is, and this again, is something that came to me many times…it’s come to me many times these past few weeks. “…How will he not also, along with him graciously give us…” How many things?
( congregational response ).
“…All things.” What is your need today? Is it for strength against temptation? Is it for courage? Is it for the strength to just stand in faith? Whatever it is, He is the answer!
( congregational response ).
That’s why He gave us the parable of the…praise God…the vine and the branches. Where does the vine…the branch get its ability to do anything? It gets it from the branch…the vine. Anyway, you know what I’m trying to say. There is a source outside of ourselves that we need to…that God wants us to learn to tap into. To let go of self in every form, whether it’s self-effort, pride, no matter what it is, we just need the Lord!
( congregational amens ).
And He is faithful and loving and ready to step into every life. I appreciate God’s faithfulness. I appreciate the opportunity to get to know Him in deeper ways.
( congregational response ).
You know, we need to be able to rejoice and look at things through His eyes, don’t we? I appreciate His faithfulness!
