All right. Yesterday, I sat down
to work on a message out of Matthew, chapter 9, and it just wasn't
there. It wasn't there. It was just
like trying to pull a wagon with square wheels on it, is what
it felt like. And I just began to do some reading. And I came across Luke 13 here,
chapter 13. And it just struck me. And so
I sketched out a few notes. And I want to bring a message
this morning on misunderstanding trouble, misunderstanding trouble. And I read this portion of Scripture
1 through 5, and I thought of this. I thought
the year 2001 will be forever etched in our minds as 9-11. This was the year the Twin Towers
in New York City came down. A plane crashed in a field in
Pennsylvania. And the Pentagon was struck by
a plane, all due to terrorism. A lot of people, thousands of
people died. Do you think that all those who
died were greater sinners than anyone else? That's the same thing they're
asking our Lord. They were talking about the Galileans. They were
present at that season, some that told him of the Galileans. They're telling this story to
our Lord, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Evidently, from my reading, the Passover was taking place. And
usually when the Passover was taking place, there was always
trouble and controversy with the Roman government. And because of that and this
trouble, whatever was going on, Pilate murdered them. He had several of them killed
while they were offering the Passover. And it says their blood
was mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, he knows their heart, he knows their thinking, he knows
why they are talking about this. And he uses this opportunity.
Here's the wisdom of our Lord. and it would do us good to take
opportunities like he has taken here to preach the gospel. Suppose ye, do you think that
these Galileans were sinners, debtors, greater sinners above
all the Galileans? Because they suffered such things?
Because this happened to them? You think they were great sinners
more than anybody else? More than any of the other Galileans? I tell you, no, no, no, no, no,
no. But except you repent, you will
perish too. You will likewise perish in the
same manner. Or those 18, upon whom the tower in Siloam
fell." You know that went through town. You know how news, what
we call a tragedy happens, it gets in the paper, it goes throughout
town. He said, you think those 18 on
whom the tower fell slew them? You think they were sinners above
all that dwelt in Jerusalem, above all the men that dwelt
in Jerusalem? You think they were The worst of the worst? Is that what you think? I tell you, no, they're not.
They were not. But except you repent, you'll
perish the same way. You will likewise perish. Let
me just give you some of the things I sketched out. First
of all, avoid judging people by what happens to them. Aren't
we guilty of that? Avoid passing judgment on people
because of things that happen to them. The providence of God
is a great mystery. It's a great mystery. Why God
does what He does, with whom He does it, is known only to
Him. It's written in the book of Job,
Find out God. Can you, by searching, find out
why God does what He does with whomever He does it with? Can
you find out the Almighty unto perfection? You and I cannot
know anything of God unless He reveals it. Unless He makes it
known, we cannot know anything. He has to make Himself known. Why he does what he does. He
has to make it known if we are to know it. But other than that,
we can't know it. I don't know why God takes a
maybe a young man like he did, was it Brainerd? Died at 29?
Is he 29? David Brainerd? Right in the
strength of his ministry, God took him out. God took him out. and yet he'll let a wicked man
live for a long time? I can't explain that. But I do know this, we need to
avoid judging people by what happens to them. And I know this
kind of thinking reveals a spirit of self-righteousness. The Lord,
when he addressed this conversation, he knew their hearts, he knew
their hearts. And I know this kind of thinking
reveals a spirit of self-righteousness. It's saying because something
bad has happened to someone, they must have done something
bad. And since nothing bad has happened to me, I must be doing
all right. I must be living right. I lost my job one time and a
man told me, he said, you must not be living right. Right or
wrong, I lost my job. I'm gonna try to judge why, I
did, it happened. One of the things I've learned
about the providence of God is just, it's like being in a boat
floating down a river, just go along with it. Just go along
with it. In his time, his will will be
revealed. Trying to just sit around, figure
things out, you're gonna blow a gasket. You can't think on that level.
You cannot enter into God's secret will and mind and purpose. We can't go there. But it reveals a spirit of self-righteousness. Job's three friends, they thought,
Job, you've done something bad. God wouldn't do this to someone
that was righteous. God wouldn't do this to someone
who's so-called living right. They thought Job had done something
terrible, didn't they? Job called them miserable comforters. He said, you're physicians of
no value. They misjudged the whole situation. They completely misjudged what
was going on. YOU AND I HAVE THE WORD OF GOD,
AND WE CAN TURN TO JOB CHAPTER 1, AND WE CAN SEE AND HEAR AND
READ OF THE CONVERSATION THAT WENT ON BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN
OVER JOB. BUT THOSE THREE FRIENDS WASN'T
PRIVY TO THAT. AND YOU AND I ARE NOT PRIVY TO
WHY GOD DOES WHAT HE DOES WITH WHOM HE DOES IT WITH. Paul said this, comparing yourselves
among yourselves is not wise. It's not wise. Turn over to John
chapter nine. John chapter nine. This kind of thinking is just
ingrained in us by nature now, by nature. Grace helps us to
think differently. But in John chapter 9, read verse 1, look at verse 1. And
as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, here it is, who
did sin? this man or his parents that
he was born blind? What did they do? What act of
sin did they do that caused this man to be born blind? Jesus answered,
Neither hath this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works
of God should be made manifest in him. You see how we are prone, when
something goes wrong with somebody, or some tragedy hits a home,
we say, hey, something must be wrong in that house. And our Lord is saying, don't
do that. Don't think like that. Don't think like that. Now, I
do know this. I know there's a time when God
does bring judgment, maybe on a person or a nation, for their
sins. Example, Egypt. He drowned Pharaoh's
army. Korah, the sons of Korah, God
opened the earth and swallowed them up. But you know judgment
now. Real judgment does not happen
until after this is over. When God cast the wicked into
the lake of fire, which is the second death, now that's judgment.
That's when real judgment happens. But don't make the mistake of
judging someone's life by what happens to them. And listen,
don't make the mistake of looking at prosperity as God's favor. We're prone to do that, too.
Prone to do that. Look over in Psalm 73. Psalm 73, verse 1, Truly God
is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But
as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no
bans in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not
in trouble. They are not trouble over men,
that's what it says over my margin, in the trouble of other men.
There just don't seem to be trouble follow them. Neither are they
plagued like other men. Don't mistake prosperity as a
blessing from God. Now, it's God who makes rich
and make poor. We know that. Scripture says
so. But prosperity can be a disaster for some. It can be a disaster. It can give a person a false
sense of God's favor. It can give a person a false
sense of their self-worth. Without Christ, now I'm telling
you the truth, without Christ, you're not worth nothing. Without
Christ, Jesus Christ is my worth. He's my worth. But the purpose, listen, the
purpose of trials for God's people, the things that come on God's
people, are for the good of God's people, not judgment. It's not
judgment. God never brings His people into
judgment. Chastening? Yes. like a father
would chase his son, chasing his son. But every believer's
judgment fell on Christ. Our judgment fell on the Lord
Jesus Christ. But trials, the things that come our way, it's for our good. It's for our
good. Our Lord said, in this life you
shall have tribulation. You'll have tribulation. Let
me ask you a question. Was the trial that God brought
on Job, was it for his good or was it for judgment? Did not Job see God in a better
light at the end of it? Look over in Job chapter 42. In Job chapter 42. Let me get
there. In Job chapter 42, verse 5, now
listen to Job's response to this heavy trial that God put him
through. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, But now, mine eye seeth thee. I see you. I see who God is. It's one thing to hear. It's
another thing to see. I seeth thee. Wherefore, because
of this, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. I don't believe Job would have
went back and changed anything after it was over. I believe
he understood what God put him through, what he learned out
of it, and at the end of it, I have no doubt he had a closer
relationship, a better understanding of who God is and his need of
the Redeemer. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth. What confidence it brought out
of him. What faith was exercised in him through this trial that
God sent on him? Not Satan. You'll notice when
you read through the book of Job, Job never attributes any
of that to Satan. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away. whatever means he uses, whomever he may use, but he's
the first cause. He's the first cause. Trials
are sent to wean us from our sins. We love our sins like lollipops. We do. By nature now, we still
have a nature in us. We still have this old Adamic
nature in us. And we still struggle with sin.
We still struggle with it. And God sends us these trials
to wean us from this world. We still have that in us. We
still are attracted to the little trinkets. We're still attracted. I told Vicki the other day, I
said, I might have to buy a lottery ticket. It's up to about a billion
dollars. I said, I might have to buy a
lottery ticket. Still attracted, still a thought goes through
your mind. What would I do with that? Actually, it's what would
it do with me. It's not what I'd do with it,
it's what it would do with me. It would work me over like a
bad habit. I guarantee you. It weans us from sin, it weans
us from this world, and it runs us. Trials will always run a
child of God to Christ. You look who Job was always talking to
and speaking to, and it was God. Look at the conversation. When
you read the book of Job, look at the conversation. And he had
him prayer constantly with Almighty God. He learned some things. Boy, did he learn some things.
He learned how to pray, probably. One of the things he learned,
how to bow down before God. Trials are nothing more than
a chastening hand of God. And trials are used as teachers. There is no better teacher like
experience. It can be a brutal teacher, but
it's a teacher. And God sends trials and he uses
them as teachers, like the furnace is used to remove dross from
the gold. If you're a child of God, he's
going to put you in the furnace of affliction. It's going to
happen if you're his. Could you turn over to Ecclesiastes
chapter 7? We naturally like to be entertained. We naturally like laughing. being excited and, you know,
going to like a party or something. But when God saves a man, a woman,
he gives them some understanding. He gives them a new heart. And
in that new heart, that new heart understands something of who
God is, who Christ is, and who they are. And you understand this, a good
name is better than precious ointment in the day of death
than the day of one's birth. Now listen, it's better to go
to the house of mourning. Now, does that sound natural?
You and I would not naturally choose that. But God says it's
better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house
of feasting, for that's the end of all men. Now listen, and the
living will lay it to his heart. You will consider, you will consider
first and foremost your end. You will consider, and I know
Every believer in here has done this. You've gone to funerals,
and you know sooner or later that's going to be you. You know
that. You know that. You consider that.
You consider your end. You consider that someday you
are no different than that person, whether he believed or not believed.
It doesn't matter. You're going to have the same
end. You're going to go the way of all flesh, unless the Lord
comes back and puts an end to this right now. You consider
that. But most people that go to the
house of mourning, they're like cattle out in the field. When
the farmer goes out and gets one, takes it to the slaughter,
the others will look at it for a second or two, then they go
back to eating, and they forget it. They don't even know what's
going on. But if God's given you life,
you consider, you understand. You understand. Sorrow is better
than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart's
made better. The heart of the wise, listen,
is in the house of mourning. That doesn't mean that you're
going around morbid, that doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean you
live a morbid life, you're going around mourning, you can't enjoy
anything, it doesn't mean that. But it does mean this, that with
soberness of mind, you live out your life before God, and you know in a
little while you're going to leave. You know that. And you're
not afraid of that. It's not something that's just
worrying you to death. It's something you know and you
deal with. Most people won't deal with it.
Most people will not deal with it. They don't want to talk about
it. They don't want to deal with it. But you and I deal with it
all the time, don't we? We deal with it every time we
hear the gospel. We deal with it every time we
hear the gospel. Christ and him crucified, put to death. Trials are used as teachers. And don't think this, don't think
because someone died young that they must have been a great sinner. No more than you and me, no more
than you and me. Listen again to Job. I'll read
this. Man that's born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble,
as in Job 14. He cometh forth like a flower,
and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and
continues not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Now listen. Seeing his days are determined
The number of his months are with thee. Thou hast appointed
his bounds that he cannot pass." A child is born, come to this
world, at the appointed time. There's also an appointed time
for that person to leave. It may be 80, it may be a year
old, But God has appointed that time.
Our times are in His hands. And just because God takes a
young person doesn't mean that person must have been... No. It was His time. It was that
person's time. God had appointed it. Now there are four things that
we're going to look at here. Well, we're not going to look
at four, we're going to look at one of them. But there are four things that Scripture
teaches us that has no exception, there's no exception, is written
in John 3.3, you must be born again. For you to see the kingdom
of God, for you to enter the kingdom of God, you must be born
again, you must be born into it. In order for you to be in
this world, on this earth, you have to be born in here, don't
you? You have to be born into it. That's how you got here. And
for us to enjoy the kingdom of God, to understand it, to see
it, our Lord says you must be born again, born of the Spirit. Here's a second exception in
Matthew 5 20. Except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll not enter
the kingdom of God. You and I have to have a righteousness that
far exceeds any And we use the Pharisees because they were at
the top as far as outward morality. They were immoral in their hearts,
but outwardly they were moral. They were just outstanding in
the community. And the Lord said, except your
righteousness exceed theirs. Well, the only righteousness
that exceeds Their righteousness is Christ's righteousness. Their righteousness was nothing
but self-righteousness anyway. But accept your righteousness,
your best deeds, the best you've ever done. If it doesn't exceed theirs, He said, you'll not enter the
kingdom of heaven where there's only one righteousness that exceeds,
and that's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And then he
says in Matthew 18, except you be converted and become as little
children, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven. And then right here, he said
this twice, except you repent. you're gonna perish just like
they perished. You're gonna die just like they died. Except you
repent, you'll perish, he said, like them. Well, here's my question. I have two questions and I'll
close. What is repentance and do I have
it? Well, repentance is, first of
all, the gift of God. It's the gift of God. It's the
work of God in the heart. Turn over to Acts chapter 11. In Acts chapter 11, in verse 18. When they heard these things,
they held their peace. and glorified God, saying, Then
hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." No one, absolutely no one, will
ever repent without God granting it to them, without God giving
a new heart, without God doing a mighty work in that person. Repentance is, first of all,
the gift of God. And then repentance is a turning
from self-righteousness to His righteousness. Repentance is
turning from and it's turning to. It's turning from my self-righteousness
to His righteousness. It's turning from my sins to
Christ. His atoning blood, His atoning
sacrifice. I look to Him. It's a change
of the way I think of God to the way God really is. He said in the Psalms, you thought
I was altogether like yourselves. That's exactly how we think of
God. We think God is like ourselves. It's to think of God as he really
is. It's to change the way I think
of myself. You see, they was talking to
the Lord, and they was talking about these Galileans that Pilate
had mingled their blood with the sacrifice, and then the ones
that the wall fell on, they were talking about them as though
they must have been terrible people. At the end of Job's trial, I
read it to you, he didn't talk about anybody but himself. I abhor myself. I abhor myself. I'm just as sinful as everyone
else. Do you really believe that? Do
you really believe that? I'm just as wretched by nature
and sinful as everyone else. The believer always applies the
scripture to himself or herself first. before you apply it to
anyone else. The Lord said, one of you is
going to deny me. And one by one, they said, Lord,
is it I? Is it I? Not one of them said,
I bet it's Judas. I bet it's Judas. I told you. When Judas betrayed him, not
one of them said, I told you, I knew it was him. They all said, is it I? If the Lord said here this morning,
one of you is going to leave, one of you is going to leave,
who would you think of first? Huh? Would you think of yourself
first? And then it's true repentance
is to be in full agreement with God against myself. Look in Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Psalm 51 verse 4, David
said, Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. It's to be in full agreement
with God against myself. And then it's to mourn over what,
listen now, this is important, it's to mourn over what I am
more than what I've ever done. You say, well, you don't know what
I've done. God does, but do you know what you are? That's the
question. It's to mourn over what I am
because what I am is what Christ was made to be, sin. And that's why he died. And then it's to leave all others
and cling to Jesus Christ alone. The Lord said, will you also
go away? And they said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. We have no one else to go to.
You're it. You're it. Now, last of all,
do I have it? Do I have it? Have I repented? If a sinner has repented, there'll
be fruits or evidence. John the Baptist, in his preaching,
he said, bring forth fruit, meat for repentance. What is it? What's the evidence
of it? The evidence of it is faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is faith, it is confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a complete reliance on
Him for all I need to stand in God's presence. All I need. Repentance without faith is no
repentance at all. Look over in Acts chapter 20.
In Acts chapter 20, in verse 21. This is Paul speaking, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. Repentance toward
God, change the way you think of God, and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith go together.
It's like this sheet of paper. You got this side and this side.
You can't have one without the other. You do not have one without
the other. They go together. Someone told
me one time, well my aunt, it was my aunt, she said, John, she called me Johnny. Everybody
in the family called me Johnny. She said, Johnny, I, she goes,
I repent, but I can't get anywhere. She said, I just, I repent, I
ask the Lord to forgive me, but I just, she said, I just don't,
I can't get anywhere. And what she's talking about
feeling, I know what she's talking about. I just don't feel like it. I've been
forgiven or, I said, well, the scripture says repentance toward
God and faith. faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're asking God to forgive
you of this and this and this and this, and you're completely
missing the one through whom He forgives. In Him we have forgiveness
of sins. I don't have forgiveness of sins
apart from Jesus Christ. I have it in Him. Repentance is useless apart from
Christ, and it's evident God's not in it. Somebody just made
you feel bad, or just your conscience. Your conscience has made you
feel bad, and you're just, you know, I shouldn't have done that. Well, repentance is far more
than that. Repentance is far more than you just shouldn't
have done some things. they shall mourn when they look on him whom
they have pierced." Repentance always has to do with Christ. And then true repentance is evidence
by faith, it's evidence by hope. It's an expectation of salvation
in Christ. And it's evidence by love. Peter
Do you love me? Remember when Peter denied the
Lord and the Lord looked at him and he went out wet bitterly?
Bitter, broke his heart. Peter realized, I have no doubt,
he realized he wasn't one ounce better than Judas. He wasn't
one ounce better than Judas. And yet the Lord, the Lord had
mercy on him. And he said, Peter, do you love
me? Peter said, Lord, you know I love you. If God grants repentance, he'll
grant faith, hope, and love. Except you repent, you will likewise
perish. No exceptions. What do I say to this? Lord,
enable me to repent. You said accept, you repent,
you perish. Enable me to do it. Enable me to do it.