True or False, God can do anything but fail?

One more time, True or False, God can do anything but fail?

The answer is “False.” There is a long list of things that God cannot do. Generally, the things that God cannot do all fit into one category; God cannot do anything that is untrue to himself.

Understand, no one or nothing outside of God limits God. But, God is limited by His own character. For instance, God cannot be unholy because God is Holy. God cannot lie, because God is truth and to lie. God cannot be unloving, because God is love.

And, get this. God is just. And, He cannot be unjust. This is very important to understand because the Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And, because God is just, he cannot and will not overlook sin – - not even one sin.

This means that when we stand before God, he will not allow any to come into Heaven based on their own merit.

So, the most important question for human beings becomes, how can we ever hope to go to be right with God? And, the answer to that question is only through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is found only in Him.

How about reading John 3 really carefully today?

Think about these verses about Esau. The author of Hebrews says:

"See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears (Hebrews 12:16-17)."

Esau was an angry man. As far as he was concerned, life had dealt him a bad hand. His mother favored his twin brother and his twin was a con artist. In fact, he no doubt reasoned that Jacob never should have taken advantage of his hunger, and he probably shouldn’t have.

So, faced with tough circumstances, Esau made bad choices. In his pouting anger he gave up his birthright and married someone out of spite.

Later on, Scripture tells us that he tried to reverse his decision about his inheritance but it was too late.

Friends, you cannot afford to be bitter and angry one more day. You may have been treated unfairly. You may have been dealt some tough circumstances. But, do not use that as an excuse to make bad choices now. If you do, it may be too late much sooner than you think. And, then, no amount of tears will undo what you have thrown away.

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Reflect on the picture that God is a “sun” and “shield.” The idea of God being the sun symbolizes power. To even look at the sun hurts our eyes. God is an atomic explosion. All power, light inaccessible hid from our eyes.

And, yet, the sun also brings the idea that God is not simply power in isolation. He shines into the lives of His people and as the verse says, offers us favor, or a better translation would be “grace,” and “honor,” or “glory.” The light of his goodness shines into every corner of His creation.

Not only is God a sun, but he is also a “shield.” So many different things can threaten our well-being. Many of you will hear this radio spot while you are in your cars. And, we know that over 40,000 people will probably die in car related accidents this year. Think about that. 40,000 people. Yet, God is a shield for those who know Him and trust in Him. As Psalm 91 says, “a thousand may fall at our side, ten thousand at our right hand, but it will not come near us,” and God commands his angels concerning those who fear Him.

Even when we do meet with tragedy or disaster, we can be sure that God is a sun and a shield for those whose walk is blameless.

No wonder the Psalmist says in the same Psalm, 10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Americans can surely sing the same song. We celebrate the birth of our nation this week and, from the warm gulf waters to the North Atlantic, to the desert of the southwest, to San Francisco harbor, to the greatest farm ground in the world here in the Midwest, our lines have fallen in pleasant places.

But, even as we celebrate the blessings we enjoy as a country, we should thank God for those who went before us. We think of the year 1776 as a wonderful beginning. But, by the end of that first year, the Continental army was ready to quit. The ground was frozen and wherever the army marched shoeless leaving a bloody trail. Enlistments were running out and, by any realistic assessment, the end was near.

But, on Christmas Day of 1776 General Washington rolled the dice and crossed the icy Delaware. It was an awful night to position troops. Two men froze to death. Powder was wet and Washington told the soldiers to use their bayonets. Washington himself led the attack on Hessian troops in Trenton. It was a gruesome battle, a horrific scene of suffering and agony. Even the commander of the Hessians was mortally wounded.

I am Pastor Chris Brauns from the Red Brick Church. . . We are Americans. Our boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. When you feel the warm sunshine on your shoulders while grilling out, remember that a group of men, some of them only 17 years old and younger, marched across frozen ground, forded an icy river, and fought with bayonets so that we could grill hamburgers and watch fireworks in our small towns.

Wherever, Psalm 139 tells us that God knows exactly where we are at. The Psalm says:

2 [Lord] You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.  5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.  6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Wherever you at this moment, God knows and he is aware of your precise location. He knows the make and model of your car, how close your license plate is to expiration, and how many French fries your kids dropped in the back seat of your mini-van. He numbers the hairs on your head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. Almighty God is an all knowing God. We say He is omniscient. Nothing is outside His awareness.

Why not look to Him for help? The God who knows about the guy who just cut you off (or the person you just cut off) is aware of what is going on in your world. He loves you. Pray today, in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus, and ask for His help. He knows all things.

Choose an afternoon when the summer sun is burning down, get a magnifying glass and a pile of some dry combustible material. Dried leaves will work just fine. Gun powder will be more exciting.

Put the burning material down on the sidewalk and then use the magnifying glass to focus a beam of sunlight onto the material. You will be amazed at how quickly smoke begins to curl away. My boys and I do this and we think it great. Jamie rolls her eyes.

You know: the magnifying glass does not provide any power of its own. It serves only to direct the power of the sun. But, when it does, it brings light to a burning focus and things ignite.

That is what the local church is supposed to do. By itself, the church, God’s people, do not offer any power. But, a church is like a magnifying glass that God uses to focus and direct His power. Paul says in Ephesians 3:10 that God is pleased to make declaration of Himself both to people and the Heavenly realms by means of the church.

Maybe in your life, the presence of Christ does not seem powerful. You keep waiting for change and power to ignite in your life but it’s just not happening. If that is the case, then try another experiment this summer. Look for a church that centers on the Lord Jesus and His Word. Put yourself right underneath the magnifying glass on a warm Sunday and wait for Spirit and Truth to ignite in your heart.

Before you answer too quickly, think about Proverbs 16:2.

“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD (Proverbs 16:2).”

According to this Proverb, knowing yourself is not as easy as you might think. There are times when we don’t even know our own motives.

Dietrich Bonehoeffer stood up against Hitler and was eventually executed. But, even shortly before his execution he struggled to know himself. From prison he wrote,

Who am I? . . .

Am I really all that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I know of myself,

Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

So, how can we get to know ourselves? The Proverb gives us the answer. “Motives are weighed by the Lord.” It is only as we see ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word – - only as we are sharpened and strengthened in the community of God’s people – - -It is then that we begin to understand ourselves more truly, and it is then that we can grow and flourish and know the joy and peace of following Christ.

Get to know yourself in the mirror of God’s Word and the community of the redeemed.

Most people believe that God is real and that there is right and wrong.

Most accept that there is a Heaven and Hell.

People know that as a matter of right and wrong, they should honor their marriage vows.

Or, that they should not look at pornography.

Most people know it is wrong to gamble.

So, why do we sometimes sin even when we know that it is wrong?

The struggle is that while people believe that following Christ is “right,” they are not sure that it is best. Somehow they become convinced in their mind that they will be happier if they choose a different path – - that serving Christ is a lesser choice.

If you struggle with that being motivated to do what you know is the right thing, think about the words to Hebrews 11:6.

⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

God’s Word is true. God rewards those who seek Him. The path of the person who follows His Word is a blessed path – - a joyous path – - rest, and salvation, joy and peace are found in loving Christ with all your heart, soul and strength.

I remember an Easter morning when I must have been about 10 years old. We were waiting upstairs in our farm house for the Easter Bunny to finish hiding candy when my sister Shelley spotted a robin in the back yard. The Brauns crew erupted. We yelled down to my parents, “We saw a robin.”

Why the excitement over a common bird? It wasn’t like we were great nature lovers. To be honest, if my brothers and I had been outside with a 410 we might have even take a shot at it.

For that matter, a robin isn’t a particularly incredible bird. A pheasant is bigger and brighter. A cardinal is more vivid, bald eagles are more spectacular. But, you know why we were excited. A robin in the Upper Midwest is one of the first signs of Spring.

I still smile when I see the first robin of the year. I know if Spring doesn’t show up with the robins, it won’t be far behind.

No robins yet. In fact, they’re a few weeks out and it’s about an ugly a time of year as we have in the Midwest. The snow that remains is gray slush. But, it will only be a few weeks and the first brave robins will fly north and freeze for their tail feathers off for a few days before the warm spring rains arrive.

Life is seasons. There are warm summer days in July, and, flaming maples in October. There are tulips and geraniums. But, there is also late February. And, on those gray days, spring seems decades away.

It may be that your life is in the month of February. If you look out the window of your circumstances, all you see is gray slush and icy rain. But, be assured of this. If you know Christ, Spring is not far away.

Go to your window right now. Open up your Bible and read the Psalms. Listen to Christian music. You may be surprised to see a robin. And, even though Spring may not come at exactly the same time as the robin, it won’t be far behind.

Look to Christ for Spring.

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul (Psalm 143:8)."

I don’t suppose that there is anyone who has not experienced yearnings or longings of the soul – Augustine said that he experienced them when he read Plato – -  he felt as though he was looking at a peaceful valley from a wooded ridge – -  a nostalgic feeling — that there was a beautiful place that he couldn’t quite access.

Lewis wrote a great deal about these longings and and called them “joy’ – -but, he didn’t mean simple happiness, but rather a yearning.

“The experience is one of intense longing. It is distinguished from other longings by two things. In the first place, though the sense of want is acute and even painful, yet the mere wanting is felt to be somehow a delight.” See Pilgrim’s Regress, page 7.

The Germans call this longing Sehnsucht (ZANE-zoocht): yearnings and searchings of the soul (Plantinga, Engaging God’s World, 4).

I haven’t heard Bono talk about it recently, but at least in the 80’s U2, “Still hadn’t found what they were looking for.”  That was a song about “sehnsucht.”

Plantinga (page 3) gave this example of sehnsucht, “certain people feel a kind of delicious sadness on what seems to be the last day of summer.”

The Stones called it “satisfaction” and from the sounds of things were very angry they couldn’t get it.

Most feel it at Christmas time, and my point here is that the reason so many are inconsolably depressed is because they don’t know what to do with Sehnsucht: the longings of the soul. 

Borrowing from Lewis, if you don’t know what I am talking about here – – move on to a different blog – – because this one isn’t going to make any sense.

But, if you do know what I mean by these intense longings – – then you will probably agree that more than any other season, at Christmas time we have a yearning for something wonderful that seems just beyond our reach – -

And, it is imperative that these yearnings be properly interpreted.   We must realize that these longings of our soul are a longing for God and they will be ultimately fulfilled only on the New Earth.

So many get in trouble at this time of the year, because they convince themselves that these can be fulfilled now – – and when the yearnings of their soul are not satisfied, then they find themselves mired in depression.

You want to see someone depressed (or sometimes mad)?  Find someone who thought that the longings of their soul would be satisfied by having Christmas done in a particular way – – then when they couldn’t get “any satisfaction,” they looked for someone or some circumstance to blame.

Here is what we must do.  Recognize the longings of the soul for what they are. . . they are not needs that can be met in Christmas 2007 by circumstances or relationships within Creation – – rather, they are signs pointing us to Christ – – as Yancey said, they are “Rumors of Another World.”

Lewis’ testimony is all about how he finally figured out sensucht. . . not that he ever got over it.

“I believe (if the thing were at all worth recording) that the stab, the old bittersweet, has come to me as often and as sharply since my conversion as at any time of my life whatever. But I now know that the experience, considered as a state of my own mind, had never had the kind of importance I once gave it. It was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer. While that other was in doubt, the pointer naturally loomed large in my thoughts. When we are lost in the woods the sight of a signpost is a great matter. He who first sees it cries, “look!” The whole party gathers round and stares. But when we have found the road and are passing signposts every few miles, we shall not stop and stare. They will encourage us and we shall be grateful to the authority that sets them up. But we shall not stop and stare, or not much; not on this road, though their pillars are of silver and their lettering of gold. ‘We should be at Jerusalem.’ Not, of course, that I don’t catch myself stopping to stare at roadside objects of less importance.” C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy.

Know this at Christmas: Your soul will only find rest in Christ (Psalm 62); what you are longing for is God.  Savor him now – – and be excited on that morning when we will open the present of a New Creation and eternity in his presence (Revelation 21:3-5).

Reposted.