PREACHED BY KEN HUMPHRIES
COOKSTOWN BAPTIST CHURCH N.I.
INTRODUCTION:
As we begin this message today please allow me to remind
you of a text I have quoted to you on a number of occasions
in the past. Isa. ch.66v2b.
”To this man will I look, even to him that is poor
and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word”
‘To this man will I look!’
What man is God speaking to Isaiah about, why the man who
is poor! And the word means begging poor. He recognizes
like the beggar who sat at the gate of the temple beautiful
in Acts 3 that he is totally dependent on all those who
pass by to provide his every need.
So the man to whom the Lord
will look for service is the man who recognizes his absolute
poverty apart from God. He depends upon God completely for
every need he has and trusts God completely for every step
he must take.
He is “tocas” poor,
begging poor, totally dependent on his God!
”And of a contrite spirit”
God is saying, the man or woman I can use is to be a man
or woman with an attitude of contrition. One who daily will
lay himself prostrate in heart before me in humility of
spirit.
The problem with many of us
today is, we are in no mood to bow so low, and display a
heart of humility and contrition. We feel we must contribute
our own efforts to help God out. All the while our God is
saying no! no! the man I need is a man who is begging poor
and brutally contrite!
But there is a third attitude
God is looking for in those who will serve Him with profit.
“and trembles at my word” it’s the word “chared”
(khaw-rade) it means fearful, (a holy fear) “reverential”.
Our God says, the man I use will be a man who has a deep
respect and reverence for my Word.
The man I will use, says our
Holy God is, a man who is begging poor, brutally contrite
and believes my Word!
The hymn writer said it well.
When we walk with the Lord,
In the light of his word,
What a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will, he abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey!
INTRODUCTION:
God is looking for people who walk with him so that he may
use them as vessels unto honour in His Holy Work.
And immediately we say in our
hearts, well, how on earth can we be brought to such an
attitude of heart?
Well, let me remind you that
God uses four methods to bring his people to such an attitude
of heart, that is, if I may use another term, a heart attitude
of maturity and completeness.
1. God uses preaching to mature
and complete his people! Eph.4v11&12.
“And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and
some pastor-teachers for the perfecting (or maturing and
completing) of the saints for the work of their ministry
and the edifying of the body.”
There is a great emphasis upon
less preaching today. Anything else will do just as long
as we have less preaching. Well please listen carefully
to this from Dr. John MacArthur in Rediscovering Expository
Preaching chapter 5, opening comment.
”Behind the content of
his message is the character of the expositor. He must be
set apart from mundane matters, lifted above worldly aims
and ambitions, and devoted singularly to God’s service.
In 1 Tim.6v11-14, Paul lists four characteristics of such
a man of God: he is marked by what he flees from, follows
after, fights for, and is faithful to.” (End Quote)
You see dear people, the man
of God is called primarily to ‘Preach The Word.’
If he is going to a lost world Paul reminds us in Rom. 10v14-15
he must preach The Word of the Gospel of Peace. If he is
going to preach to the saints, again Paul reminds us 2 Tim.
4v2 he must preach the Word, why?
2 Tim.3v16-17.
”All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and
is profitable for doctrine, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all
good works.”
2. God uses prayer to mature
and complete his saints! Col.4v12.
“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ,
greeteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers,
that you may stand perfect (mature, complete) in all the
will of God.”
I just love that phrase, don’t
you? Epaphras, who is one of you! Who is this he is talking
about who labours fervently in prayer for us, in order that
we might be mature and complete? Why, it’s Epaphras,
and you know what, he is just one of you. He’s just
an ordinary brother in the Lord from the assembly who has
you on his heart continually in prayer that you grow up
in the Lord.
He labours fervently in prayer
for you to come to maturity and completeness!
Would that we had more like
him, because you see, through prayer we can be brought to
maturity and completeness. And my word, if ever there was
a time we needed people who were growing in maturity and
completeness it’s today.
3. God uses trial to mature
and complete his saints! James 1v2-4.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various
trials, knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh
patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you
may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.” (mature,complete)
Now, wait a minute James, you’ve
surely got that wrong! Count it all joy when falling into
trial, surely you mean to be joyful when getting out of
trial? No, when getting into, because trial can bring you
to maturity and completeness.
You see when growth stops, decay
begins.
4. God uses suffering to mature
and complete his saints! 1 Peter 5v10.
”But the God of all grace, who has called us unto his
eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered awhile,
make you perfect, (mature, complete) Establish, Strengthen,
Settle you.”
You might well be thinking in
your heart, oh, Pastor that’s incredible, surely God
would not allow any of his people to go through suffering
in order to mature and complete them! Well, that’s
the teaching of The Word!
Remember the example we have
of Job? God allowed Satan to do his worst in Job’s
life and on his body, why? Because through this dreadful
experience of suffering, Job would learn some very powerful
and poignant lessons. So much so, when we come to the final
chapter of the book of Job, we discover in v10 that Job
was released from his captivity. What does that mean?
Well, it simply means even though
in the first chapter we discover Job was a good man, a gracious
man, a gifted man, a generous man, and even a godly man
there was something in the life of this dear man of God
that God needed to deal with and this period of suffering
was the way to do it. Job was in bondage to something or
other and was in need of being released and set free to
enjoy even more of the blessing of God than before.
And that, dear people, is the
amazing lesson Paul is being taught.
How can I come to the kind of attitude of heart Isaiah is
talking about? Well, one of the ways is through suffering,
and that’s the way I want to single out today.
A. SUFFERING IS USED
TO PROCURE HUMILITY! V7.
”Lest I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations.”
You see, a number of very wonderful
and amazing things had happened in the life and times of
the Apostle Paul, and because, like the rest of us, he is
human, those happenings could easily make him proud. And
what good is a proud man to God? None at all!
There was that wonderful experience
on the Damascus road at his salvation Acts Ch. 9.
There were those times of trouble
and suffering in 2 Cor. 11v23-28 through which he was preserved.
There was three years in the
backside of the Arabian Desert alone with the Lord when
as Dr. Vance Havner said, he went out with the Prophets
in his nap-sack and came back with the Epistles on his heart.
Then there was this very time
we have been reading about in 2 Cor. 12 when he was transported
by the Holy Spirit into the third heaven.
Now, all of that could make
a man hard to live with, it could make a man proud.
Dear folks, don’t let the
gifts you have, the goods you have, the goodness you have,
the experiences you have make you proud! Without humility
we are of no value to the Lord and his service.
Listen to the Apostle Paul as
he writes to the Church at Rome. Ch.12v3.
”For I say, through the
grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not
to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but
to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man
the measure of faith.”
So Paul is saying in 2 Cor.
12 “Lest I should be exalted above measure through
the abundance of the revelations, there was given unto me
a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.”
”There was given unto me”
he says, it’s a gift, and it’s a gift from God!
Oh, I know it’s the messenger of Satan but God has
allowed this in my life as a gift. You say, what! What are
you saying Pastor? This is a messenger from Satan to buffet
him, how can you say it’s a gift from God?
Well Paul is saying it’s
a gift from God to keep some humility in his life, lest
he becomes over exalted, or exalted above measure! His words.
The unknown penman to the Hebrews
puts it like this! Heb.12v5.
”My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
Beloved, do not despise the
gift of suffering God brings into your life, whatever He
is doing with you and with me, be sure of this, it needs
doing however distasteful it may appear to us.
Not only does Paul call this
a gift, another interesting thing about it is, he says it’s
a thorn. In the original text it means a stake! It’s
the kind of stake you would place in a pit prepared to trap
a wild animal. The idea for that wild animal is to walk
onto the trap and be impaled on these very sharp stakes
rendering the animal totally harmless.
Paul says, that’s the kind
of stake that has been rammed through my otherwise proud
flesh. Thinking about all the Lord had been pleased to allow
in his life, he is saying, lest I would become proud he
has staked my flesh through rendering it totally harmless.
Thirdly he says, not only is
this a gift, not only is this a powerful stake but this
is the messenger of Satan to buffet me. And once again this
is so very interesting. The word messenger here is the word,
in the original, for angel.
It is used 188 times in the
New Testament. 187 times it is used as a human messenger
or as an angelic messenger.
Would it be used in a different
sense here? I think not! So if I am correct in my understanding
of this text, this could well be someone or body of people
in the assembly under the influence of Satan out to ruin
Paul’s ministry. But the wonder is, while some may
mean to ruin Paul’s ministry God is going to use it
to ripen Paul’s ministry.
Beloved, when suffering comes
your way, don’t be too quick to reject it.
Receive it in the Saviour’s name. You see, God uses
broken things and broken people. Broken soil and broken
clouds to produce grain, broken grain to produce bread,
broken bread to feed our bodies.
God wants our stubbornness broken
into humble obedience, then when the time is right he will
be able to use us in his harvest gathering in.
B. SUFFERING IS USED
TO PRODUCE PRAYER! V8.
The Kenneth Wuest translation in v 8 reads “Concerning
this three times I begged the Lord that he would depart
from me” Who is the “he” in the text? The
Lord? I think not. He is talking about the “he”
sent to buffet!
The point really is, this thing or person, depending on
your interpretation of the passage, drives Paul to constant
prayer. Like Daniel, he comes three times to the Lord. Whether
daily or not I don’t know but he is certainly driven
to the Lord in deadly earnest prayer. He means business
with God!
This is not simply a quick prayer
on the move as we leave home in the morning. This is not
a quick fix on the way to face some trouble that is brewing.
This is prayer with a deadly earnest heart behind it.
One way or another he was being
pulverized, and folks, that’s not pleasant in any man’s
language, that’s hard to take when all you want to
do is glorify the Lord in your ministry.
Paul’s prayer was that
this thorn, stake, would be removed! And I tell you what,
the answer is most interesting indeed. No! No! No! three
times he prayed earnestly and three times God said, No Paul,
No Paul, No.
Now, this of course, is not
the first time God has answered with a no. And dear friends
if there is anything that bewilders us in this Christian
life it’s those prayers answered with a very direct
no.
Do you recall Abraham praying,
“O God, that Ishmael may live before thee.” What
Abraham meant was, “let Ishmael be the inheritor of
the promises” But God said, “No Abraham, in Isaac
shall thy seed be blessed”
As Abraham looks today from his vantagepoint of heaven,
don’t you think he is glad God said no to his prayer?
Moses prayed, “O God, let
me go into the land” and God said, “don’t
talk to me about that anymore; you cannot go in,” God
said no. How do you think Moses views that answer of no
today from his vantage point in heaven as he sees the whole
picture? Don’t you think he’s glad God said no
in his wonderful wisdom.
Do you remember David’s
prayer for the child of Bath-Sheba? “Heal the child,
and let him live.” But God said, No; I won’t heal
him; I am going to take him home,” And at last David
bowed his head and said, “He cannot come to me but
I will go to him,” And David’s heart was drawn
toward Heaven in a way it would never have been otherwise.
How thankful David must be today that God said no to his
prayer, especially in the light of the fact that he lost
some of his own sons to the down-fall of evil.
Elijah went out into the wilderness
when an angry woman frightened him. This man who stood before
King Ahab and hundreds of prophets and spoke up for God
ran away and lay down under a juniper tree when Jezebel
was after him.He flings himself before God and prays, “I
am no better than my fathers” ‘did you really
think you were Elijah?’ He found out he was not! “Let
me die” Do you think in heaven today he’s glad
God said no Elijah, I think so, because Elijah is the only
man between the flood and the cross who went home to heaven
without dying.
And Paul prayed, “remove
the thorn” No Paul, No Paul, No! I won’t remove
it but I will do something that’s better than removing
the thorn!
C. SUFFERING IS USED
TO PROVE HIS GRACE!
“My grace is sufficient for thee”
Again listen to Kenneth Wuest’s
translation of v9.
”And he said to me, and his declaration still stands,
my grace is enough for you, for power is moment by moment
coming to its full energy and complete operation in the
sphere of weakness.”
You see Paul has been through
the test of the marvelous. Having risen to the third heaven
experience, he might well have been sustained by the wonderful
exaltation of that happening but God brings Paul down to
the mysterious depths of the thorn, which in turn drives
him to God in desperation to meet him in his extremities.
But then to have to live in the monotonous day to day battering
he would receive from the messenger of Satan and know that
God had barred his way from ever getting out of it, Ah,
that’s the test!
And listen, listen, it’s
into that situation God comes with “My grace is enough”
Its enough to keep you when you are on a high in the marvelous.
It’s enough to keep you when you are mystified by what’s
happening. It’s enough to keep you in the day to day
pounding this thorn is going to cause.
D. SUFFERING IS USED
TO POWER HIS PEOPLE! V10.
”For when I am weak, then am I strong”
What has God to do in you and
me to make us vessels unto honour, to make us servants for
his glory? Weaken us to the point we rely only upon his
strength. You say pastor, that sounds painful, yes it does,
but dear folk, it’s when we embrace the pain that this
is the beginning of God’s working in and through us.
He uses suffering to make us
powerful.
There burns a fire with sacred
heat, white hot with holy flame,
And all who dare pass through its blaze will not emerge
the same,
Some as bronze, some as silver, some as gold, then with
great skill,
All are hammered by their suffering on the anvil of his
will.
I’m learning now to trust
his touch, to crave the fires embrace,
For though my past with sin is etched, his mercies did embrace,
Each time his purging cleanses deeper, I’m not sure
that I’ll survive
Yet the strength in growing weaker, keeps my hungry soul
alive.
The refiners’ fire has now become my soul’s desire,
Purged and cleansed and purified
that the Lord be glorified,
He is consuming my soul, refining me, making me whole,
No matter what I lose, I chose the refiners fire.
Holy has the same root as wholly,
it means complete. A man is not complete in spiritual stature
if all his mind, heart, soul, and strength are not given
to God. R. J. Stewart.
A holy life is a voice; it speaks
when the tongue is silent and is either a constant attraction
or a perpetual reproof. Archbishop Robert Leighton.
