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00:04 Okay. By the way, putting marshmallows in front of a fouryear-old American kid
00:10 is like putting cocaine in front of a drug addict. I say don't sniff it. You
00:16 know, it's it's this is an interesting video of course on temptation
00:22 uh and uh self-control and it has quite a lot to do with what the text we are
00:28 going to talk about today. Keep that in mind. Now, as you can see from the video, majority of kids who went through
00:36 it failed. You see this the what the test does is
00:41 that it tells the kid you wait and if you can wait there will be a reward. The
00:49 reward is very clearly spelt out. There's a promise but you wait. What they don't tell you is how long you have
00:55 to wait. And so the kids, some break at uh 5 minutes, 5 seconds. In fact, they
01:00 all come back at 20 minutes, some break at 15 uh minutes, some break at 18 minutes. And you saw the video, only one
01:06 boy made it through in this entire snippet here. So keep in mind what the video is saying is that majority of kids
01:13 who went through this failed, only a few succeed. Let me just get back to a
01:18 subject matter. Here's a song. Last month I spoke I I mentioned another
01:24 obscure song. I lost $10 in the first service. First service is very deadly, you know. So I thought I will do payback
01:33 uh this month and I did this other song which I thought nobody would know and I lost money again at the first service.
01:39 So first service people all know their music. So very tragic. I hope you second
01:44 service people are all gracious. I'm quite broke already from. So, anyone here knows this song? No. Oh, good.
01:51 You're very gracious people. All right. Anyone? Anyone who Oh. Oh, no. Ah, young youth.
01:58 I I hate to see. Tell me the name of the artist. Shane. Oh, thankfully, I did pick a bed. I
02:04 didn't have a lot. Yes, it's Shane and Shane. Okay, here's another one. It's Shane and Shane the artist. Who's the
02:09 feature artist? You know, music nowadays, everyone has feature artists. All you millionaires should know this, right? You know, you you have uh major
02:16 laser face featuring everyone's favorite singer, Justin Bieber. You know, the weekend facing death punk. I know my
02:22 music. Okay. So, who's the feature artist in this? No money.
02:28 It's John Piper. Pastor John Piper. You know, you see um
02:34 this is Shane Shane. Of course, the album is great. Bring your Nothing. Look at it. It's got uh excerpts of a sermon
02:41 from John Piper inserted as the bridge in the song. But here the lyrics there are three. Though you slay me, yet I
02:48 will praise you. Though you take from me, I will bless your name. Though you ruin me, still I will worship. Sing a
02:56 song to the one who all I need. I can't sing this. If I sing this, I'm a hypocrite. Because
03:03 I will tell you, even as a speaker, I wish to God none of those things happen to me.
03:09 And if you're honest with yourself, most of you will say the same. It takes a lot of uh real Christian maturity and
03:17 strength to arrive at this place where you can sing this meaningfully. And
03:22 that's what it is because he's come to point where he says, "Sing a song to the one who's all I need." And even though
03:29 all these things happen, he will still praise God's name. And I say it's crazy, man. You Christians are crazy. Thousand
03:36 years ago, another man sang, we also tree those. Though the fig tree does not but um there are no grapes in the vine.
03:43 And sister Shila just read it. Though the olive crops fail, the fields produce no food. Though there are no sheep in
03:49 the pen, no cattle on the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be
03:55 joyful in the God my savior. It's actually a paraphrasing. I mean that the song basically takes its
04:03 roots from this because what Habakok is singing is complete desolation.
04:08 It is about a time in Judah where starvation is imminent because there's
04:13 no cattle in the field where the economy has completely collapsed. He's talking
04:18 about a future where Judah is overrun by Babylon and it is so complete in
04:25 desolation yet he will praise God. Today I want to take us through a I think it's a it's a
04:32 meaningful topic I I I like to propose to all of us is about victory through difficult times. And while a lot of us
04:39 may not have uh u thankfully we are spared to go through that kind of
04:44 desolation that uh Habach went through. You could be having your own troubles.
04:51 You could have lost a loved one. You could have been struggling with,
04:57 I don't know, a sense of selfworth. You could have tensions in your family. You could have financial issues. You
05:04 could have medical issues. And we like to define victory as having our
05:10 circumstances changing. In the case of Habacok or the song by Shane or Chain is
05:16 about a time when your circumstances don't change and can you be victorious?
05:23 And so I think let's let's see whether where God leads us in this. And I pray that God's spirit really really reaches
05:29 out to us. So Lord, let's come before God in prayer. Lord, in humility, we
05:34 come before you. And in humility, we ask that you teach us and that we realize
05:40 that it is your will that we are victorious in our life. We are victorious through every circumstances
05:48 whether our circumstances change or not. We say this in Jesus name. Amen. Let me
05:54 give you a definition. And the definition is taken from the end
05:60 of chapter 3. And he says this, "The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes
06:05 my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to go on the heights." And
06:11 what he's basically giving you now is this image. Let me recap to you. He started at chapter one. Habach is
06:18 frightened, in doubt, and angry because Judah is in
06:24 disarray and God is telling him the Babylonians are coming. His faith is completely tested. He doubts God. He's
06:32 upset. He's frightened. All those emotions we we are used to when we go
06:37 through difficult times. In chapter 2, God tells him, reassures him that the
06:43 Babylonians will be judged. Proud and mighty Babylon will be judged. And now
06:48 we arrive at chapter three. By the time we arrive at chapter 3, something changes in her backup. He's no longer
06:55 that frightened person. He still has his doubts, but he's no longer that angry
07:00 person. At the end of chapter 3, he sings this. Now, let me just get you the imagery, especially the last line. He
07:07 enables me to go on the heights. The actual Hebrew rendering is mountain. He
07:14 means is like a deer who's prancing on top of a mountain. And Hebrew people
07:19 understand it because when you scale the top the mountain, this is where you have security
07:26 because the mountain is unassailable to enemies because you're right at there. And if you're a deer that can prance on
07:32 that, you're familiar with the ground. But what is he saying? Now here's the thing. Did anything change for Habac?
07:40 No. His circumstances in chapter one and chapter three are the
07:47 same. Same. It's like you and I going through a difficult time and we all pray when we
07:53 go through a difficult time that our circumstances change. Who doesn't want that? You know you have a illness you
07:59 pray it goes away. You have a financial difficulty you pray it goes away. You have problem with people want to hurt
08:05 you. You pray and sometimes it goes away. That's victory. But sometimes the
08:13 problems are just so large it won't go away. Imagine if you're a Christian in Syria or you know in some parts of the
08:20 world where it's so completely devastated. And here is saying despite all the devastation
08:27 he will rejoice. So what has happened here? The first definition of victory is
08:32 not so much changing your circumstances which is important by the way. Let's not
08:38 underestimate that. It's about changing us from the inside
08:44 is making us so strong as a person from the inside. You arrive at the point like
08:51 what Shane at chain can say though you slay me yet I will praise your name.
08:59 This is what it is. It's a difficult road. I have not arrived at that. It is
09:05 a journey that sometimes we might need to take if things are imposed on us.
09:10 Some of you going through difficult times may have that imposed on you. Some of you who don't have it, you may need
09:16 to be prepared for it. So, let's go through three points. First, focus on
09:22 God, not on your problems. Second, wait upon the Lord. Third, find godly
09:30 balance. Let me start off with this. Meditation,
09:36 yoga, mindfulness, all have very, you know, bad connotations in the Christian
09:41 church. If you you you tell someone you know I'm going for you know I'm going for yoga after uh service they will go
09:52 and then they start to lecture you about you know the link to new age and all of that and the link to and and there's
09:58 some truth in it because even mindfulness which is a technique used in science nowadays if you're not aware
10:04 mindfulness is a technique which is so popular now half of Silicon Valley is
10:09 using it because they're so stressed there. It is a technique which is taken from Buddhist teachings and a lot of
10:15 things the Buddhist teach are very useful which tells you to sit down control your breathing count your
10:22 breathing take every thought that comes in there don't judge it just hold on to the thought let it go and continue that
10:29 technique if you need they ask you focus on your breathing or focus on an object and they said that over time you learn
10:36 to be calmer it is so popular a lot of the CEOs of uh Silicon Valley practices
10:43 it. Singapore, they have now mindfulness classes for kids. Why? Because we in a very stressful
10:49 society. We are in a very anxious society. Here's a simple thing. Can you control your thinking? You're driving
10:56 halfway and suddenly you think about bad things. You you go home alone and you
11:02 recall back and you say, you know, my life has been very peing things halfway. You say, you know, what
11:08 what did I do? Why did my kids end up like that? It's a real issue. And here's
11:14 the thing. The church doesn't know how to respond to this because this is
11:19 meditation. Because meditation in essence is focus. This is also meditation.
11:25 And some people they their state of mind is so
11:30 so drawn into their problems that they cannot get out of it. And we met people
11:36 for years like this in church. And I I don't claim to be completely victorious
11:41 over that. But there are those in our midst who are just so bogged into it. Whenever we talk to them, they are just
11:47 unhappy. And and the church has to respond
11:52 because the world is responding. And how are we going to help those in our midst who struggle through all of
11:59 this and the real issues? And we tell them, well, you got to pray, you know, uh be still and know that's gone. got to
12:06 do more Bible study and you got to go out there and just do and they'll tell you, brother Anna, I've done it for
12:12 years and I'm still fearful. I I've been doing it for years and I'm
12:19 still insecure. I've been doing this for years and I'm scared. They're real issues and we very
12:27 often have not been able to respond to this and the world has responded by
12:33 techniques, positive thinking, cognitive things about all sorts of things. And so
12:40 how do we do it? And Habac gives us in many ways a demonstration of what to do
12:46 with this. And what does he tell you? He says this. Look at the first few verses. He says, "Lord, I have heard of your
12:53 fame." See, the language changes. Chapter 1 and two is a very frightened Habacook. He starts off by there three
13:01 Fs here. I've heard of your fame. The second verse, I stand in all your deeds,
13:06 oh Lord. The ESV and the New King James Version has I fear you, Lord. Godly
13:12 fear. Fear God over fearing the world and your problems. So from fame to fear.
13:19 Then he has fire. Renew them in our day, in our time. Make
13:25 them known. Renew them. Make them known.
13:30 Renew them. Make them known. And what is he meditating upon? And then from verse
13:37 three all the way down to verse 15 in a very long
13:43 poetic section he looks at one of Israel's most significant events the
13:50 deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt
13:55 past the great sea and onto a journey to the promised land. And he meditates on
14:02 it on so much detail. He starts off by looking at how God's glory covered the
14:08 heavens from the the immensity of the God. The song we sang just now, there is
14:14 no other God. Then he brings down to the plagues and all the plagues, the historical things that Pharaoh fought
14:20 against God and he goes right up to the waters at verse eight. Were you angry with the rivers? Was you rough against
14:27 the stream? And he immerses himself so much. is like he puts himself right back
14:33 at this occasion. It's not a two second thought.
14:39 It is a contemplation. This is a word quite lost in today's
14:46 church to contemplate. Meaning what he has done is that he's found a quiet place at home instead of
14:54 trying to empty his mind and count one to 10 or assuming a yogic position and
14:59 instead of sitting down and complaining to himself that my life is terrible, my
15:04 life is lonely, why can't I be like other people? Why is it other people can find a whole long list of things but I
15:11 can't seem to find you? I must be really not much of a person. Instead of dwelling all bad, he sinks his mind into
15:18 something very tangible, the great escape. And as he does that, things
15:24 change. This is very powerful because we have something better.
15:30 We have the risen savior. And what God is telling you today is to
15:36 contemplate on the gospel. how God saved you
15:42 from slavery and sin and crossed that slavery and you're on that journey now
15:48 to that promised land. And he's asking you to contemplate on the gospel the day
15:54 God saved you, how God changed you slowly and mold you. He's asking you to
16:00 contemplate on how the Savior took our sins. the magnificence of that, how God
16:07 who is so big became man and how he was
16:12 transformed. And that's why we do things like this. We are running out of place for Malcolm to do already. He's not going to carve every wall. We got to
16:18 find him a new wall. Is he? But it this is a reflection of being enamored by
16:24 God, of dreaming about the gospel, of grasping the gospel, of entrenching the
16:32 gospel, every facet of it from the crucifixion to the night before right
16:39 down to the risen savior. And if you make a practice of doing this
16:46 as Habach did on the Exodus, at the end of it, you would do what he
16:52 did because what did he do after this? He sang a song.
16:58 And when you do this daily, you would sing this because
17:04 he lives, I can face.
17:14 Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.
17:20 Because he lives all fear because I know who holds the
17:30 And life is worth And life is worth
17:35 And life is worth. Life is worth the living.
17:42 because he lives. Can you really really mean that?
17:48 And that's what he does. He does. He pers on it.
17:54 Well, then some of you say, you know, tried it, didn't work. This sounds like Christian mantra.
18:01 Try to brainwash me with all of this stuff. Doesn't work. Let me let me give you a psalm. You know, I'll read it to
18:07 you. You don't have the time to it. Psalm 55. We have a very depressed King David. And he says this in verse 16.
18:16 Just hear me in verse 16 of Psalm 55. I call to God and the Lord saves me. How?
18:24 Evening, morning, noon, I cry out in distress and
18:32 he hears my voice. And at the end of the Psalms, he says, "Cast your cares on the
18:40 Lord. He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall.
18:46 Evening, morning, noon." And what David is doing
18:52 and Herac is doing is teaching us something very simple. Christianity is not complicated faith. This is one thing
18:59 we don't do. It's called habit. You have bad habits is very hard to
19:05 break out and bad habits will impinge your life. What we don't realize is that spiritual habits also impinge your life
19:14 and he's developed a spiritual habit of daily absorbing God in his life and
19:21 meditating on the past goodness of God he finds in scripture. We call this
19:29 practicings the presence of God. And there is a very good book written by
19:34 this by a Catholic priest. By the way, FBC is not charismatic, evangelical,
19:41 Protestant, Orthodox, Armenian, Calvinist, dispensational. You
19:47 go to heaven. There are no labels. FBC is a gospel- centered church and we welcome anyone from that. There are
19:55 truths perhaps more in some traditions than not not for us to throw stones. And
20:00 this is a book u a Catholic book but it was so Christc centered Protestant
20:08 writers Henry Newan John New uh John Wesley Awtoer these are giants in the
20:17 evangelical world all commanded this book. And what was he? He was a cook of
20:23 all things. He was a cook. He was a soldier that got wounded. He joined a monastery called the the brotherhood of
20:30 resurrection. And he was so filled with peace, grace. He never yelled at anyone that he
20:36 irritated everybody. Everybody said, "What's what's with you? Why are you so happy? You're just a cook."
20:44 He was and he said when you read I read this book twice, you know, I read the the simplified version. He's not a
20:50 preacher. Never wanted to preach. He wasn't anybody. He was a cook
20:56 and when he died they discovered a few letters and the abbbert took the letters
21:01 compiled it and he became this book meaning he was not even even an author and let me read you excerpts from the
21:07 first letter he says this you know when we are faithful to keep ourselves in his
21:14 holy presence and set him always before us this hinders our offending him and
21:22 doing anything that may displace him. It also begets in us a holy freedom. And I
21:29 will tell you that freedom is from fear, anxiety, depression, insecurities, all
21:35 those things we struggle with. And if I may so speak, a familiarity with God
21:40 whom when we ask, he supplies the graces we need. And that's the gospel, a gospel
21:47 of grace. Over time, by often repeating this acts,
21:54 they become habitual and the presence of God becomes quite
21:60 natural to us. You and I are not going to get out of this bondage of
22:06 insecurities, unhappiness, depression. And I can I say in love I
22:12 met people in church who have been like this almost their whole life you know and
22:18 they come the point of telling me that's just the way it is. There are occasional
22:24 spurts of happiness but generally when you see them is a defeated life.
22:31 And here's a very simple truth. The truth is contemplation on God in
22:38 particularly the gospel and contemplate it as a habit.
22:45 Day, noon, night, make it daily. And as you do it over time, over months, over
22:54 years, you suddenly find you are happier.
22:59 This is the promise of God. And then you can tomorrow say this. A
23:06 new day has dawned. It's time to sing his song again. Here's again for all the
23:12 minionals who like to who know songs. What's this song? I shout it out. Whatever may pass me. You can't say it
23:19 since you're worship here. No worship leaders allowed say this. Actually, we shouldn't let any of the worship people say this. All worship people banned from
23:26 answering this. Whatever may pass and whatever may lie before me, let me be
23:36 singing when the evening comes. What song?
23:41 I said no. Okay. Well done, guys. But you see that the song is great because
23:49 Matt Raymond makes the pledge. Whatever may pass,
23:54 whatever lies before me. Here's Habacook again. Let me be singing when the
24:02 evening comes. And how does he do it? Habacook again. You're rich in love,
24:07 slow to anger, your name is great, your heart is kind. For all your goodness, I
24:15 will keep on singing. You see what he's doing? He's doing what brother Lawrence is doing. is meditating on God. 10,000
24:22 reasons for my heart to find. Matt Raymond found 10,000 reasons. Brother
24:30 Lawrence found 10,000. Habac found 10,000 reason. You know why it's called 10,000? Because 10 is a biblical number.
24:37 It means infinite. And here the first simple truth. Ground
24:42 yourself in that. What does that song says? Bless the Lord. Oh my what? Soul,
24:50 not your mind. You know this is not Christian koke. You know, but we treat
24:55 it like Christian Koke is my soul. And when the soul sings, whether you raise
25:01 your hands or not, those words that go out, they go to heaven and they come
25:07 back with power. This is what scripture teaches because the word of God is both logos
25:15 and it is Rama. It is God breath. And every praise that goes out comes back with blessings and
25:24 strengthens you. And I challenge you on this very very simple truth to do this.
25:30 Let me take you to the second part. Wait upon the Lord. And after singing this
25:35 song, after going through this entire part about contemplating on the Exodus,
25:41 he says this verse. He says, "I heard and my heart pounded. My lips quivered
25:46 at the sound. Decay crept into my bones and my legs tremble." Let's stop there
25:53 without going into the theology too much. It is a picture of a person who is
25:59 in pent up pain. His heart's pounding. His lips is quivering. He's decaying in
26:07 his bones. His legs are trembling. Have you ever gone through a
26:14 time where you had so much difficulty you it just it just sort of wraps you
26:19 in? I mean, don't think just because I'm a speaker, I didn't go through it. Have
26:24 you had, you know, open an email and suddenly the email says, "I'm sorry to tell you your services have been
26:30 terminated." Suddenly there's a cold spine goes up or you receive a phone call and says you
26:37 know what I'm sorry you say your son is in hospital you all know this right or to go home
26:43 one day and suddenly find your marriage has really broken down
26:50 and what happens after that the decay comes in you see scholars all say he's
26:56 feeling like this because he's anticipating the Babylonians you see Bible is very
27:02 And this is the real pain we all struggle with and all of us have our scars either that we won't be in church
27:10 and we have all these things that just grip us the fear that of maybe my child is like this or maybe my finances will
27:16 be like that and why after so many years has this happened to me and you feel very defeated and then let's see what he
27:23 says after that he says yet I will wait patiently
27:28 for the day of calamity to come on a nation invading us. And here's the second turning point. The first he
27:35 looked back at what God did and now he looks forward to the promise of a God of
27:41 justice. So let's go back to this. Let me couch this in biblical terms.
27:49 Come to the Lord as little children. And here a person tells a with authority
27:56 tells a kid, "Wait patiently and I will
28:02 reward you." It's a promise. How long you have to wait? I'm not going to tell
28:07 you. You see the analogy? And God tells us, "Wait,
28:13 and he will reward." And Habachok does this.
28:19 Now, let me tell you why this is so important. Because this has farreaching
28:25 ramifications because we are so far we've been looking at things like fear,
28:31 anger, depression, unhappiness. Let me see. I want to tell you where this linked to you know because what this is
28:38 really telling you this is not an experiment in fear. This is not an experiment in anger. This not an
28:45 experiment in all those bad feelings and negativity. What is this experiment about? It's about temptation.
28:53 is about the ability to resist temptation.
28:58 Now you see where you're going for that because this became so famous they put this in a book and what they did was
29:05 they track all these kids up to the age of middle school which is about 15.
29:12 Now let me ask you a simple question. It's not rocket science. Majority of
29:17 kids who went through this test failed. Only a handful succeeded. We look at it,
29:22 we say, "Oh, very cute and nice." Who do you think by a statistical
29:29 margin measurable did far better in school,
29:35 excelled overall, and developed the tenacity to take up challenges?
29:41 The kids who took the marshmallow or the kids who didn't?
29:46 The kids who didn't. There is a link between temptation
29:53 and tribulation. Or to put it simple to you, how you and
29:59 I deal with our sinful nature will impact
30:05 whether you feel you're depressed or fearful or anxious and all these bad
30:11 feelings. We just don't recognize that connection. is a very important truth
30:18 because besides the marshmallow test, there's another test which is called the cheeseburger test. And the cheeseburger
30:25 test was show a few weeks ago when an 8-year-old boy took his four-year-old kid sister got him got her into a car,
30:33 brought along his piggy bag and drove to McDonald's. And Ariel Re is so cute. He
30:39 learned how to drive in YouTube. 8-year-old boy going out there. So funny story.
30:45 You all don't understand the ramifications. No, because what happened, if you read the story, his dad
30:50 was asleep and the mom slept on the couch. He wanted a cheeseburger so
30:56 badly, he was willing to risk his life and the life of his sister by driving a
31:04 car to McDonald's. This is the opposite end, you know, of
31:09 the marshmallow test. I'll give you a simple example. At my age, I have
31:15 friends who want to keep mistresses because I'm in a construction line. And
31:20 the extent they would go to make sure that their wives don't find out about
31:26 it, the way they conceal it and the amount of money they put in there and then they boast upon it on social media.
31:33 And when you read it, you you want to go hug him because that little thing which
31:38 you go to such extents to do is going to put you into a fearful place.
31:44 Fear of exposure, fear of humiliation, fear of many
31:49 things. And you just probably blew $10,000 which you could spend on your kids education fund. We could multiply
31:55 this on anything. But there is a link between the two. Let
32:01 me just go in a little bit deeper. We looked at that just now, right? Now, why
32:06 can't you and I just switch this off? I mean, we all know it's in the mind.
32:13 You're fearful. People tell you try not to be fearful. Helps you don't try not to be depressed.
32:20 It's something you want to slap. The guy tells you that, you know, try try not to be so scared. It's all in the mind.
32:26 Not a Christian. I'll use four letter words on you. this from this sinful nature coming out because you and I know
32:32 it doesn't work that way. We are not in control of our minds.
32:38 We say we are, we are not. These things put you in bondage. Now, here is what
32:44 the marshmallow test is telling you and what Habac tree is telling you. This same thing is here. You can't switch
32:53 this off either. And here is the real incriminating thing. We don't want to switch this off,
33:00 but we want to switch this off. I want to keep my porn habit. I want to keep my
33:05 anger towards somebody. I want to keep my ego, but I don't want to be
33:11 depressed. But I don't want to be unhappy. You can't have the cake and eat it. And
33:18 Habachok is telling you, you wait on the promises of God. In the meantime, you
33:24 strengthen your legs and you walk in obedience. And as you do that, God
33:30 changes you. I want to show this in a very simple story. Years ago, there was
33:36 a very famous movie called The Shaw Shank Redemption. It won many Oscars
33:41 basically because of a side story. And the side story was this old man called Brooke.
33:47 Anyone here seen the movie? Oh, got a few of you movie buffs. And you know in the movie Brooke was a man was sentenced
33:55 to prison for many years probably for murder. Prison is not a nice place but
33:60 he's been there for so long he can navigate the terrain. Prison is a place of misery of pain. Nobody wants to go to
34:07 prison and he's in hardcore prison. One day he discovers because he's been there for so long his sentence is up and
34:16 he can now get out. He's a free man. He's no longer in bondage. He's out of
34:23 prison. He can now go out to the real world and do all the things that was
34:28 denied to him for 30 years. And here is how
34:33 he takes his freedom. And we are like that. God has said when
34:39 the son of man sets you free, you will be free indeed.
34:46 But we are all in bondage. Why? because he's so comfortable in his
34:52 prison life. Even though it's a horrible life, he cannot take the new free life
34:59 out there. He becomes lonely. He becomes unhappy.
35:04 Eventually, he hangs himself. You see, the prison for all of us is the
35:10 prison of our minds. And when we say we want to keep sin and
35:17 we try to tell ourselves and say we don't have the self-control to get past that, you will fall into a place of
35:25 depression and fear and anxiety and unhappiness.
35:30 Because self-control is waiting on the Lord, on the promises of God and as you
35:36 walk and wait, you fight sin. What was the first sin that entered the world?
35:43 Temptation. Because of an apple. Do you know what's the second sin? Fear. Because of that
35:50 temptation, Adam and Eve hid themselves because they feared God. You see where
35:56 the link is? So, here's something this morning. All of us struggle with sins.
36:02 In this group, there are just this congregation. There are three groups of people. the defeated Christian,
36:10 the double life Christian, and the denial Christian. You throw a stone,
36:15 we're in one of these categories. The denial Christian cannot see his sin. But when you pull it out and wait on the
36:23 Lord, you would slowly progress to a place where you be less fearful and more
36:31 happy. Because looking back teaches you to look forward and in doing both you
36:39 look inside of yourself or to put it in simpler words knowing God is knowing who
36:45 you are. So let me just give this in simple things. If I ask you to say I am
36:52 what will you fill it in? Some people will say I am not very
36:58 successful. I am mediocre.
37:04 I am not beautiful. I am
37:10 not successful as a mother. I am not very good in my work.
37:18 You see where we going with this? What you say after I am defines you. You
37:25 know, and this is all on a subconscious level. You can see the other things. I
37:31 am good at my work. You know what you're saying? You're saying I am good at work. My work defines me. I am good-looking.
37:39 Because I'm good-looking, guys will like me. That defines me. You see where we're going with this? That's the prison of the mind. You know
37:46 what Habach is saying? Habach is saying, even though everything's devastated,
37:53 I am blessed. Why don't you say that? Say I am
37:58 blessed. I am blessed. Say I am redeemed.
38:03 I am redeemed. Say I am forgiven.
38:09 If you can say that, the next word you must say is I can. And this what you going to say? You must
38:14 then say I can be happy. That is God's mandate. I will tell you
38:20 scripture teaches you. You're instructed to be happy. You know, I can be victorious.
38:26 I can fight sin. I can overcome this. It will take me my whole life. But by God,
38:32 I can and I will wait on the Lord. If a four-y old kid can tahan eating a
38:39 marshmallow, you adults jolly well can do this, you know. But too often we say I
38:47 can't and our lives are unhappy.
38:53 Think about this ponder. It was a very great truth on me when when when and we all on a journey on this and and and and
39:00 I I I ponder my own struggles with sin and and we all have bondages and and there were certain of life I just say I
39:05 can't I can't but by saying that alone I was defeated
39:11 and then I tracked myself I gave myself milestone right here's a bad habit I haven't been doing it for one week I'm
39:16 not going to do it for two weeks I'm not going to do it for three weeks and something changes in me I find when I
39:22 meet other people I'm much more fearless that there's There there is a matrix that connects it. You tell yourself, you
39:28 know, I hate this person. I hate this ex-husband of mine or this ex-wife of me who backstabbed me. But here's what
39:34 you're doing. You're welling in it. You're swimming in it. And you know why you're swimming in it? It's like Brooke.
39:41 You like that prison. So when you go out to work, you don't do well. You feel insecure. They're
39:46 connected. But when you tell yourself, I'm going to get on my knees and say, Lord, I'm going
39:52 to forgive this person who hurt me and took everything away from me. And by
39:57 God, I will say I can. Over time, as you contemplate on God,
40:03 you find if work doesn't go well, illnesses come, you are standing on the
40:08 hill. It's a very profound truth and a very simple truth. And so, let me end with
40:14 this. Find godly balance because at the end of the first few verses this is what
40:20 Habachuk says. He says something very strange. He tells God in wrath remember
40:26 mercy. He by now recognizes the character of God. That God is a God of
40:33 grace and love and forgiveness but God is a God of righteousness and wrath.
40:40 Some Christians put themselves so much in kindness and grace they think they
40:46 can sin and God's grace will forgive them. Some Christians put themselves so much into
40:53 wrath and righteousness they're just unhappy people. They they are terrible. They are just joy killers.
40:60 But scripture teaches us that victorious living is finding yourself in that
41:06 tension between the two. So here's a particular message to all of you who
41:12 don't have problems. Your kids are all doing well. Your marriage is fine. You got lots of money
41:19 in the bank. And this whole message up to you right now is irrelevant. The question to you is where is that
41:25 source of strength? Because if you say is the Lord and not all these things,
41:32 you must be prepared to take risks and push yourself. That's the evidence.
41:38 Either that you're unbalanced in your faith. I want to roll this out. First is
41:44 this in between balance. Here the second one. Look forward. And as you look
41:49 forward, what did you do? Habacook look forward to the promise. What did he do?
41:55 He looked backwards. Some of us look forward and we are fearful.
42:02 God says look back. look back and see what I've done for you. Some of us cannot look forward
42:09 because we're always looking back. We think of how we were abused emotionally
42:14 or physically and that traps you. And finding balance is doing both
42:21 looking back and looking forward. Here's the next one.
42:26 It's personal. Notice the entire chapter three is now corporate. He's asking
42:31 Israel to sing this. Never go through this alone. It's with everyone else. But
42:37 here the last one which really really strikes a chord. And by now you can see where I'm going, right? So you're going
42:42 to tell me the last one. Very profound. Here's the last tension.
42:48 Sorrow. What's the other tension? Come on guys.
42:56 How is it? Joy. Now you see you see this. You see
43:02 Habacook is at the same time unhappy
43:08 but happy. It's like I have God's grace but I must have God's wrath. I look forward at the
43:16 same time I look back. My faith is a personal disciplehip at the same time is corporate. And everywhere in scripture
43:23 where there is sorrow there is joy. James says this consider
43:29 pure joy. when you face tribulations any kind and here's one thing I want to tell all
43:35 of you if especially those of you who are going through difficult times especially prolong difficult misery
43:43 if you practice contemplation in God and sink yourself in God know the God of
43:51 the past and the future know yourself when you go through this deep storm it
43:58 will not collapse you because in the depth of it there will be that joy and
44:05 that joy says I'm a child of God and God will anchor me. I think lay shared with
44:10 this last week and I'm worthy to be victorious and that is God's challenge for you
44:17 today. So today in particular if you're going through difficult time or for many
44:23 years you've been leading a very defeated life I want to just say this. It is your birthright to be happy, to be
44:31 joyful, to be victorious, to lead life in the fullest and not let all this
44:38 negativity shackle you. And sometimes we see so much of this in our church. I
44:44 want to wrap up with a simple statement from one of my best uh authors, Martin Lloyd Jones. He wrote a book called
44:50 Spiritual Depression. It's really interesting. He said, "Christians are an oxymoron." And he's a doctor know
44:56 practic he said you look at the Bible everybody was happy Paul Peter whatever circumstances they're happy look at Paul
45:03 I learned to be contented whether I'm base or whether I'm in abundance he's happy but Christians nowadays are
45:09 completely unhappy it's a contradiction we are the poorest testimony to the world as a doctor you know and he said
45:17 this really interesting statement you know and I want to read it as an ending statement this is what he said he said
45:23 it's all English is great. The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to
45:29 know how to handle yourself. And it's actually wrapping up the whole book of Habacook. You have to take yourself in
45:35 hand. You have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.
45:41 You must say to your soul, why are you cast down? What business have you to be
45:47 unhappy? You must turn to yourself, unbreid yourself, condemn yourself,
45:53 praise yourself, and say to yourself, hope in God instead of muttering in this
45:59 depressed, unhappy life. That's not Christianity. That's not what that's not a life God has for you. And then you
46:06 must go on to remind yourself of God, who God is, and what God is, and what
46:11 God has done, and what has God pledged himself to do. That's Habach chapter 3.
46:18 And this is how he ends it. Then having done that and on this great note, I love that
46:26 great note, defy yourself. That's victorious living. Defy other
46:33 people, especially those who tear you down. Defy the devil who tells you you're worthless, useless, hopeless, not
46:40 much of a Christian, and everyone has a better life than you. defy the whole world and say with this man, this woman,
46:49 I shall yet praise him. Isn't that her
46:54 tree? He is the help of my continents. Who shall the health of the continents
47:01 and my God defy,
47:06 be happy, and live the life God has planned for you. Amen.
47:14 really not very convincing. Never mind.
