Living with Hope pt. 2

Mark Finley: You can't rush God. Never give up hope, because things don't happen the way you want them to happen in your timetable. Jesus timetable and our timetable might be different.
Guest (Male): This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, Living with Hope, Part two. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: So what did Jesus say in John chapter 11? That is our second principle that burns its way into our hearts. God's greatest glory is revealed in the most challenging situations. It was for Mary and Martha at Lazarus's death. Jesus resurrected Lazarus. It was for Jesus on the cross. He revealed God's greatest glory. It is for you and it is for me because in John 11 verse 4 it says this sickness is not unto death. Let me paraphrase it. This challenge that you're going through is not unto death. This financial reversal that you're experiencing is not unto bankruptcy. This sickness is not unto to death eternally. This is not unto death. This challenge, this difficulty, this mountain. But for the glory of God that the son of God may be glorified through it. God is going to bring glory just as he brought glory at the deaths of Lazarus. This leads us to principle number three. You'll find it there in the next verse. Now Jesus loved Mary, Martha and her sister Lazarus. So when he heard that he Lazarus was sick verse six, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. That was craziness from a human perspective. Lazarus is sick. You don't want to wait there two days. You want to take the next united flight to Bethany and get there. Right? You don't want to wait two days. You want to find the fastest horse, the fastest chariot. The man is sick Jesus. You better get there. Isn't that what Mary and Martha thought? Jesus waited two days. Then he has to walk a day so he gets there on the fourth day. Now that incredible is perplexing. What's the principle? Never give up hope because things don't happen when you want them to happen. You can't rush God. Jesus timetable and our timetable might be different. Now all through the Bible it talks about timetables. Let's look at some texts. Mark chapter one verse 14 and 15. Mark chapter one. God has a divine timetable. That was true at the birth of Christ. It was true at the baptism of Christ. Christ is baptized. Mark chapter one verse 14 and 15. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom saying the time is fulfilled. Jesus was baptized on time. Galatians four verse four. God has a divine timetable. He doesn't rush that timetable. Galatians four verse four. When but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of a woman. So Christ was born on time. Christ was baptized on time. Jesus has a divine timetable. Romans five verse six. Jesus was born on time. Galatians four four. Jesus was baptized on time. Mark one verse 14 and 15. Romans five verse six. For when we were still without strength in due time. What's that mean in due time? What's that? At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Jesus was baptized born on time. Galatians four four. Jesus was baptized on time. Mark one verse 15 and 16. Jesus was crucified on time. Romans five verse six. Now note this statement in Desire of Ages page 32. But like the vast stars in their apparent path, the purposes of God knew no haste and no delay. The purposes of God know what? Know what? Haste or they don't know any what? Delay. Does God have a divine timetable? God, I think you're so slow. I mean God really now, really now. I need you today. Don't tell me your answer is going to be six months from now Lord that I'm going to get that job. I mean what am I going to do in the next six months? Lord, don't tell me that you're going to heal me in the resurrection Lord. I want to be healed right now. None of that resurrection stuff for me Lord. Does God have a divine timetable? Lord, I want my children to to accept Jesus right now Lord. Right now. I mean don't wait a month, don't wait a year. God, it has to be now. Keep this sentence in mind. God's delay is not God's denial. God's delay is not God's denial. Can you say that with me? God's delay is not God's denial. Does God's timetable have a purpose? Did God timetable have a purpose with Mary and Martha? Did they understand the purpose? Look here please at John chapter 11. Let your eyes drop down in John chapter 11. Notice the response of Mary and Martha. And then we'll probe why Jesus waited two days, traveled the third day and got there the fourth day. There's a reason for it. John chapter 11. And you're looking there at John chapter 11 verse 21. Martha comes out to meet Jesus on his way. John chapter 11 verse 21. Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Was Martha right when she said that? She was because if Jesus walks into the sick room, sickness would would be gone. What does Mary say? She says the same thing in verse 32. Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet saying to him, Lord if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. Why did Jesus delay? Here's why. The Jews had a very unusual belief. And their belief was that a person was not really dead until they had been dead at least four days. They had this idea from Greek philosophy that there was a spirit that hovered over the person's body and would come back into the body and bring them life. Every other miracle in the New Testament where Jesus raises somebody from the dead except Lazarus. The person dies and within 24 hours Jesus raises them from the dead. That's true of the widow of name's son. It's true of every instance in the New Testament. So the Pharisees are circulating this lie. And you remember when Jesus raised from the dead the little girl and what did he say? The damsel yet the little girl yet is sleeping. I erase her from dead. So what do the Pharisees do? They say she wasn't really dead. She was just sleeping. So Jesus is not some divine miracle worker. He can't raise the dead. He is a fraud. So what does Jesus do? To bring greater glory to God. He waits. He waits two days and walks there the third day. Because by the fourth day, Lazarus's body is going to be decomposing in the tomb. Nobody can argue now that Lazarus wasn't dead. Because the delay only magnified the power of the living God. Have you been praying for something? Has there been a delay? The delay will only magnify the power and the glory of God in your life. When God works now and does that miracle in your life, delay is not denial. But delay merely exalts the glory of the living God. Had Jesus come when Mary and Martha wanted him to come, Lazarus would have been healed of the disease, but he would not have been resurrected from the dead. And the resurrection of Lazarus was the crowning miracle in Jesus's life. It was the greatest evidence that he was the Messiah. He raised the dead before, but always right after they died. The Pharisees of course argued that they weren't dead. Live with the hope that you may not see an immediate answer to your prayers. You may not see the fulfillment of your dreams. There may be an apparent delay, but Jesus is preparing to reveal his glory in a miraculous way in your life. Three principles so far. What are they? Number one. We have a friend who knows our needs. Number two. Our Lord's greatest glory is revealed in the most challenging situations. Number three. We can live with hope because delay is not denial. Delay deepens our faith and it prepares us for a greater miracle. Number principle number four in the story. We can live with hope because resurrection power is available to us as it was to Lazarus. Take your Bible please and turn to John chapter 11 verse 25. John 11 verse 25. What is resurrection? It's new life where there is deadness. So where there is spiritual deadness in your life, Christ brings resurrection power. Where there is spiritual apathy, Christ brings new vitality. Where there is Laodicean complacency, Christ resurrects us from spiritual death. Where there is deadness in a relationship with a son, a daughter, a husband or a wife, somebody estranged from you. Christ can bring new life to that relationship. There is resurrection power. Where we have lost loved ones in death, trusting the resurrection, we know that we can see them again. John chapter 11 verse 25. Notice what it says. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me though he may die, he shall live. Notice what Jesus says. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the one that brings spiritual life out of deadness. When you think your spiritual life is waning, when you think it's gone, Jesus says I speak and I can resurrect in you just like in Ezekiel's valley. So when Jesus said I looked at Ezekiel looked out over the valley and there was all dead bones and Jesus could bring new life in those dead bones. Jesus Christ brings new life.
Guest (Male): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical relevant way to people around the world so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence his life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now back to Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: I love the phrase in Philippians chapter three verse 10. It's one of my favorite phrases in the New Testament. Philippians chapter three and we look there at Philippians three and verse 10. And it says in Philippians three 10 that I may know him, that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection to resurrect new life in us. My wife and I not long ago, a few years back now, we were sent by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to China. We visited the largest Adventist church in the world. It has about 6,000 members. But while we were there and I was to speak in that and it was very interesting to speak in that afternoon service, uh I applied to the Chinese government, the Communist government to speak. Sent them my sermon, my material ahead of time and you know it's rather disheartening for a preacher when they they send you a rejection slip. So the Chinese government said no, you can't speak. Pastor Finley, we don't have time enough to prepare an official visit for you and because at that time I was vice president of the General Conference, we want to prepare an official visit so you can speak. But you can give greetings. So I went to the pastor of the church. I said Pastor, they say I can't speak, but I can give greetings. How long should my greetings be? She said one hour. Give her one hour greetings. So I get up that day and I said I want to bring you greetings from a man who wishes he could be here, but he can't. His name is John. He lived 2,000 years ago on the island of Patmos and he died. Since he can't be here, I'm going to tell you what he would tell you if I he were here. Take your Bible please and turn to Revelation 14 for John's greetings and I'll explain what John's greetings meant. So I spoke for an hour and it went fine. In the morning, we were in another church in the same city. The one church in that city, Shenyang China has 6,000 members. The other church has 3,000. That's the small church in the city. Can you imagine one city two Adventist churches one 6,000 one 3,000? So in the 3,000 church after we were there in the morning, we came up and met in this little room of the pastor, the associate pastor. They have about two or three associate pastors wanted to meet privately with us. And so we went up to meet and we sat there in meeting them and I went around and I said to them, have you all been Adventist Seventh-day Adventists? Talked to the pastor, then I talked to the associate, then I talked to the second associate and the pastor said well no and they explained their conversion story. I came to the associate pastor sitting next to the first associate pastor. It was the second associate pastor. I came to her I said have you always been an Adventist? He said no. I said what was your first contact and that with Adventists? He said in prison. And I said well how did you how did you ever possibly you know come in contact with Adventists in prison? He said well this associate pastor was in prison. And I said now this is a story. You've got to tell me the story. The senior pastor spoke up and he said we had surreptitiously gotten some books called Desire of Ages on the Life of Christ. We have seven underground presses in China and they print thousands and thousands of books and it's a fascinating story which I am not at liberty to go into, but anyway. So the they print Desire of Ages and then secretly through an underground system they distribute them to our membership and our membership takes them and distributes them out. So the pastor and the elder had Desire of Ages on the Life of Christ and they were coming to a train to deliver the books. When they were, the police noticed the bags that they had and they often put these Desire of Ages in bags and then put potatoes on the top and you know you might have 20 Desire of Ages and cover it with potatoes and so forth. So they had the bags. The police stopped them and they arrested them. The pastor was detained, but the Adventist pastor but the Adventist assistant pastor was put in prison. When he was put in prison in the Chinese prisons it they're really rough. He was beaten terrible and the other prisoners would beat him up. And so they would take him and put him in a circle and hit him in the eyes and black his eyes and kick him in the stomach and mock his Christianity. He was considered to be a a ignoramus. They would just knock him down and trample on him and trample on him and trample on him. One of the most ruthless prisoners would not join in on that beating. And he sat there and watched the Adventist pastor get beaten two or three times. On one of those occasions when the other prisoners left, the this ruthless prisoner pulled him up and sat him down and bathed some of his wounds and he said look I can't understand this. These people are beating you. You have no revenge. There is no cursing and swearing at all. Why are you like that? And he said Jesus changed my life. And when Jesus was on the cross, he prayed Father forgive them for they don't know what they do. And these people just don't know what they're doing. That criminal sitting there said that got my attention. The elder studied with him and he was in prison for six months and he studied the Bible with this other man. When they both were released from prison, this ruthless gang leader changed by the power of God, changed by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, changed by the living Christ began attending the Adventist church. He was first he became a Sabbath school teacher eventually, then an elder in the church. Then they asked him to go through training school that they held in the church. He became an assistant pastor. I was sitting next to the man that was beaten and the prisoner who was changed by the power of the living God. What is Jesus saying in John chapter 11? He is saying the power of the resurrection can change your life. Whatever temptation you are facing, whatever Satan throws at you, what is John chapter 11 saying? It is saying that the power of the living Christ is stronger than the power of the evil one. Why can we hope? We can hope because Christ's power is greater than the power of the evil one. Principle number five. Jesus comes to the tomb. He has said to Mary and Martha he has said to Mary and Martha that I am the resurrection of in the life. He has said the power would flow to through him to bring new life. That same power that flowed through him to bring new life will flow through us to bring new life. But Jesus comes. Jesus comes here in John chapter 11 and John chapter 11 verse 38 and 39. Jesus comes to the tomb. There's a group of mourners there. Mary and Martha is there. They're crying. John chapter 11 verse 38 and 39. Then Jesus again groaning in himself came to the tomb. Why is Jesus groaning with himself? Because Mary and Martha were hurt and so he was hurt. He knew what he was going to do, but he sympathized with their weaknesses. He sympathized with their sorrows. Christ sympathizes with our sorrows as well. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said take away the stone. Take away the stone. Now here is the principle. We cooperate with Jesus and that is the key to seeing a miracle. Jesus could have called the angels to roll away the stone. Jesus could have spoken and the stone could have rolled away. But Jesus said to those next to him, you go and you roll away the stone. Now listen to this amazing statement in Desire of Ages page 35. Here it is. Christ and I'm quoting Desire of Ages page 35. Christ could have commanded the stone to move and it would have obeyed his voice. So could Christ have commanded the stone to move? Yeah and it would have obeyed his voice, right? He could have bid the angels who were close by his side to roll away the stone and his bidding invisible hands would have moved the stone. But it was to be taken away by human hands. Now here is the next two sentences. Thus Christ would show that humanity is to cooperate with divinity. What human power can do, divine power is not summoned to do. Let's say that together. That principle I want to be deeply embedded in your mind. What human power can do, divine power is not summoned to do. You ready? You got that one? What human power can do, divine power is not summoned to do. Oh Lord, I'm just praying the church will grow. Well bless your soul, but go out and give a Bible study. Go out and give out some literature. We ought to pray that the church will grow, but you can pray from now until the cows come home that the church will grow. But somebody's got to do something for Jesus, right? What human power can do, divine power is not summoned to do. I'm praying for my relationship with my work colleague. It's really soured. Well do something. Go over there and tell them you're sorry. You got to do more than pray about it, right? What human power can do, divine power is not summoned to do. I'm praying for better health, but I do eat 10 Twinkies a day. But I'm praying for better health, but I never exercise in my life. It takes too much effort. I'm praying for better health, but I eat four eggs every morning. Well bless your soul. Bless your soul, my dear sister, my dear brother. Get out there and take a walk, get some exercise because you can pray all you want, but those Twinkies are not going to be eaten by angels. I'll tell you that and the weight is not going to be gained by those angels. I'll tell you that. I'm praying to overcome. But I still keep watching those same television programs and I wonder why I have those evil thoughts that you're impure. Well tell your wife to come over and turn off the TV. Take away the stone. Take away the stone. Jesus says what human power can do, divine power will never do. I cannot do it without him, but he will never do it without me. Right? Jesus prompts every right action. The Holy Spirit guides every right decision. But I cannot do it without Jesus, but Jesus will not do it without me. My friend tells the story of his father who had a terrible terrible time with chewing tobacco many years ago. And he would be chewing you know outside of his mouth and he'd say oh God, I give up chewing tobacco. And in the morning he'd go out on the porch. They lived on a farm. He'd spit it in his hand, crunch it up and throw it way out in the field. And my friend says about noon, I saw my father walking among those cornstalks and he was looking for something. What do you think he was looking for? What do you think he was looking for? The chewing tobacco that he threw out in the morning. Now here's my question. Do you think God would let him find it? Sure. The same God that gave him the choice in the morning to throw it away gave him the choice in the afternoon to pick it up, right? God is not going to put you on some operating table and tie you down and take the cigarettes out of your mouth. God is going to give you strength, but you must take away what? The stone. Principle number five. Cooperation with Jesus is the key to seeing a miracle. Here's principle number six. Thank God before you see the miracle. Now many people miss this in the Lazarus story. Thank God that you see the miracle. Thank God for the miracle before the miracle comes. Anybody can thank God for the miracle after the miracle comes. Look at Jesus. John chapter 11 verse 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you've heard me. Lazarus is still in the tomb. Lazarus's body is still decaying. Lazarus is still dead. And what is Jesus saying? Jesus said Jesus is saying that thank you Father that you've heard me before he sees the miracle.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: Our thanksgiving and praise is the vehicle before we see the answer that God uses to work the miracle.