S1: You have to know that it's better to walk with
S1: God in the darkness than to walk alone in the light.
S1: That's what he wants us to know. Jesus always put
S1: God first, even and especially in his suffering.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
S2: junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
S2: I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us today as we
S2: continue a message called The Blessings in a beatdown. And
S2: for those of you who do feel like you have
S2: been beaten down in this life, and I think many
S2: of us may resonate with that, or at least at
S2: some point in our life. We certainly do. I hope
S2: that you've been able to hold on to that truth
S2: that Pastor Ford just shared with us. It's better to
S2: walk with God in darkness than walk alone in the light.
S2: But I think that all comes down to whether or
S2: not we truly believe God is sovereign. You know, if
S2: we're not convinced of that, it can be real easy
S2: for us to become frustrated, to give up hope, to
S2: think we're going to turn to another solution to our
S2: problems and our pain. But when we're convinced that God
S2: is sovereign, that he is in control, and that we
S2: can look to him in the midst of our pain,
S2: knowing that he's not letting anything impact us that doesn't
S2: pass through his hands. First, it helps us walk through
S2: that difficult situation. And there's also nothing wrong with asking
S2: God why he may not answer you. In fact, the
S2: answer may simply be what we've been talking about, that
S2: he is sovereign and that he is enough. Well, that's
S2: what we're looking at today from the book of Isaiah.
S2: We're in chapter 50, so I hope you'll open your
S2: Bible and join us there as we continue the message,
S2: the blessings in a beatdown. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: And so now this third song out of these five
S1: is the song of his tribulation. Now watch the song.
S1: Now what's the song? Imma get to it, Imma get
S1: to it. But I'm going to teach you a little
S1: bit if you don't mind. When I retire, I'm going
S1: back to college and teach. Teach probably at Moody Man
S1: or Trinity. That's what I like to do anyway. Yeah,
S1: I matter of fact I was at a convocation and
S1: it was a holiness convocation. I was I was their
S1: keynote speaker for the first night, and I and I
S1: and I told them, I said, now if you're looking
S1: for hooping, you won't get it. You'll get teaching. And
S1: when I came out, lady said, nice lecture, pastor. Yep.
S1: And the guy who invited me said, one day we're
S1: going to teach you how to preach, though, okay? I said, well. Yeah, yeah.
S1: And so here it is now, the song, this song
S1: we're studying has four stanzas. You know, what it stands
S1: is right. It was a verse. And then the refrain, uh,
S1: or the chorus. Now here's the difference. This one starts
S1: off with the refrain or the chorus first. See, we
S1: usually sing the stanza, then the chorus. Everybody still with me? Choir.
S1: I at least get an amen out of y'all. Anyway.
S1: So watch this. Now watch this. Come on, follow along.
S1: Follow along with me. Follow along. Watch this here. Here
S1: is the first chorus. The Lord God. Now the stanza.
S1: All the way down to verse five. Second refrain or chorus.
S1: The Lord God. Then all the way down to verse.
S1: You still with me. Verse seven. For the Lord God.
S1: And then down to verse nine. For behold the Lord God.
S1: See the chorus is the Lord God. The Lord God.
S1: The Lord God. Guess what he's trying to emphasize. The
S1: Lord God. So he gives the he gives the, the
S1: the stanza. And then he says, I want you to
S1: understand something. Let's start off with the Lord God. Why?
S1: Because we're always going to put the sovereignty of God first.
S1: That this song is about the suffering servant who obeys
S1: God despite the fact that he's going through hell. Yeah. Mm.
S1: And so I'm just going to tell you, uh, what
S1: our Lord did, and I trust that we will follow suit.
S1: You say? What do you mean? How do you get
S1: blessings in a beat down? Uh, notice it's the sovereignty
S1: of God over your life. When you're going through a
S1: beat down, the first thing you need is that chorus.
S1: The sovereignty of God over your life. Here's the second thing.
S1: The sovereignty of God in your learning. Here's the third thing.
S1: The sovereignty of God in your listening. Here's the fourth thing.
S1: The sovereignty of God in your lashings. Now y'all know
S1: why I said lashings instead of beating and suffering? Because
S1: it starts with L. I'm not going to, uh. I
S1: am not not going to alliterate. And then the sovereignty
S1: of God in your liberty. Let's walk through these real quick,
S1: and let me show you the example that Jesus leaves
S1: for you and I. He's on his way to die
S1: for our sins. And he had joy in the midst
S1: of his sorrow because, number one, the sovereignty of God
S1: over his life. So notice again, the Lord God hath
S1: given me the tongue of the learned, that I should
S1: know how to speak a word in season to him
S1: that is weary. Notice what happens. He says, you know,
S1: let me give you the bottom line of everybody who's suffering,
S1: who says, you know what, I don't want to do this.
S1: I don't want to do I don't want to go
S1: through this. And that would be all of us at
S1: one point or another. Here's what he's trying to teach us.
S1: You have to know that it's better to walk with
S1: God in the darkness than to walk alone in the light. Amen.
S1: That's what he wants us to know. Jesus always put
S1: God first, even and especially in his suffering. He obeyed
S1: God in everything. See, he wants us to know something.
S1: He obeyed God and everything, that God's purpose was more
S1: important than his pleasure, that God's purpose was more important
S1: than his pain. Alright. Yes. In the Garden of Gethsemane.
S1: What did he say? Not my will, but thy will
S1: be done. How many times did he say it? Three times. Jesus!
S1: What are you doing? I'm letting people know that as
S1: the suffering servant, if you're going to be obedient, first
S1: thing you gotta do is you gotta have the sovereign
S1: God over your entire life, your blessings and your beatings,
S1: but especially your beatings. Uh, why did my business have
S1: to go bankrupt? Why did my husband or wife have
S1: to break my heart? Uh, why did God allow me
S1: to have the sickness but heal that person on the
S1: other pew? I happen to see what they put in.
S1: They don't even tithe, I tithe. Why did God heal
S1: that person and not me? Why did Big Mama have
S1: to die? Why why why why why? There's nothing wrong
S1: with asking why. But here's what he wants to teach us.
S1: Sometimes the answer is because I am sovereign. Because I
S1: made you. And you didn't make me. Because I saved
S1: you and you didn't save me. We can't deal with that,
S1: can we? Now, now, now we'll do it with our children.
S1: We'll do it with our children. Mama! Daddy! Why do
S1: I have to do this? Everybody all together? Because I
S1: said so. I brought you into this world, and I'll
S1: take you out. And we can say. Because I said so.
S1: How many bosses on your job? Oh, we ain't got any.
S1: We gotta get some businesses in here, then. You know,
S1: how many business people do we have that own your
S1: own business? Nice and high. Amen. Do you go to
S1: your employees and say you know when you feel like it?
S1: I really would appreciate it. I hope I don't offend
S1: you by asking you this. No. Hey, this is what
S1: I want done. Get that done. Now, you may throw
S1: a please in there, but you want it done. On. Why?
S1: Because you are in charge. Jesus says, When God is
S1: in charge of your life, he can do whatever he
S1: wants to do now. Matthew 14. We studied it before,
S1: but here it is. Matthew 14. What happened in Matthew 14?
S1: It says, Jesus told the disciples, get in that boat
S1: and go to the other side. Here's what I love Jesus.
S1: Do you know there's a storm coming? Yes. Then why
S1: are you sending them into the storm? Because I already
S1: told them we're going to the other side. You see,
S1: I didn't say go to the middle of the Sea
S1: of Galilee and drown. I said, get in the boat
S1: and go to the other side. See, you need to
S1: understand that I sent them there because I'm sovereign over
S1: their lives. I can tell them what to do and
S1: get this. Here. Put this in your theological pipe and
S1: smoke it. They obeyed, yet they still suffered. Now I
S1: can I can go along with, you know, whenever I
S1: do something wrong and God, God is spanking me. I
S1: don't know if you like me. Sometimes I do wrong.
S1: I look up in the sky for the bolt of
S1: lightning when it don't hit me. I thank God for
S1: his mercy. Amen. Amen. But I tell you, I don't
S1: like it when I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do.
S1: Given like I should give. Serve like I should serve.
S1: Worshiping like I should worship. Witnessing like I should witness.
S1: And then something happens that tears me up. I'm tore
S1: up from the floor up. And I look up and
S1: I say, just like you. Why? Yes. And God says
S1: you're asking the wrong question. The question is not why.
S1: The question is what? Here's the question. Can you trust
S1: God's heart when you can't trace God's hand? Jesus did.
S1: What's going on here? Because and here's here's what I
S1: like about Matthew 14 two. Let me let me say this. I, I,
S1: I gotta come back to this. It says they were
S1: rowing and they had been rowing for nine hours, but
S1: it only takes six hours to get across the Sea
S1: of Galilee in good weather. So they're rowing nine hours
S1: against the wind, and it says they're only halfway. Now,
S1: I submit to you, most of would have said, let
S1: that wind blow us on back. I ain't fighting that.
S1: They wanted God's sovereignty in their life so much that
S1: they fought against the wind to keep going in the
S1: direction that God told them. And God told you to
S1: wait for a godly man or a godly woman, and
S1: instead of you waiting for Mr. Right or Miss Right,
S1: you settle for Mr. Right now. Then you find out
S1: you knew his last name was right. You didn't know
S1: his first name was always. God told you what he
S1: wanted you to do. He wanted you to have your
S1: own business, but it's so difficult. And now you want
S1: to go work for somebody else. It's a doctor filled moment.
S1: How some of this stuff working for you?
S2: It's a good question. Even if it's coming from Doctor Phil.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford and a
S2: message called The Blessings in a beatdown. And we're going
S2: to get back to this message in just one moment.
S2: You know, if you ever miss a broadcast or part
S2: of a broadcast or you just want to listen to
S2: it again, come to our website. It's treasure truth. Org.
S2: You can stream programs, download mp3's, or order copies of
S2: this broadcast on CD. Again our website address treasure truth radio.org.
S2: Back to the message. Once again here is Pastor Ford.
S1: See what's going on in this darkness. I was reading
S1: about the nightingale and and and the nightingale was a
S1: fantastic bird. It's one of the sweetest songs in nature.
S1: As a matter of fact. But it doesn't sing anything
S1: in the daylight. It only sings at night. Ergo, the
S1: name Nightingale. Listen to what, uh, Wikipedia said about Nightingale.
S1: The song of the Nightingale has been described as one
S1: of the most beautiful sounds in all of nature inspiring songs,
S1: fairy tales, opera books and a great deal of poetry. Look.
S1: Look at this, look at this. This bird waits till
S1: the blackness of night to give the sweetest song. Isn't
S1: that what Jesus is doing on Calvary? Jesus is doing
S1: his best work on Calvary when things are at their worst.
S1: And that should be our example. You say, hey man,
S1: come on, Pastor Ford. I like what Thomas Watson said.
S1: When reason cannot wade, faith swims. Look at the people
S1: who accomplish some things of which we are aware. Look
S1: at the fact that John Bunyan. It was not until
S1: John Bunyan was in Bedford Prison that his mind broke
S1: free to etch upon the pages of history A Pilgrim's Progress.
S1: Let me quote the Harvard Hooper. And it wasn't until J.S.
S1: Bach was stone blind that he was able to see
S1: how to write the B minor mass. It wasn't until
S1: Rembrandt was flat broke that he made the world rich
S1: with his art. It wasn't until Beethoven was deaf in
S1: both ears that he heard the Ninth Symphony and wrote
S1: it down. How bad? Anybody remember what he did? Come on,
S1: holler it out. What did he do? He couldn't hear.
S1: So how did he finish it? He cut the legs
S1: off the piano and played it on the floor and
S1: felt the vibrations. All right. Mm. Yeah. It wasn't until
S1: George Frideric Handel was paralyzed on the right side that
S1: he was able to pull up with his left hand
S1: and pull down the Hallelujah chorus. Out of the clouds.
S1: It wasn't until the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
S1: Was jailed in 1963 that he became eligible for the
S1: Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. It wasn't until Fanny Cosby
S1: was blind that she could see to write. Jesus, keep
S1: me near the cross. Savior. More than life to me.
S1: Blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
S1: And almost 3000 more gospel hymns that we sing. She
S1: wrote them while she was blind. See? Flowers must be
S1: crushed to yield the sweet fragrance of a perfume. Grain
S1: must be threshed. And then ground, and then kneaded and
S1: beat into flour. And then put in the oven before
S1: it can become toast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Metal must submit
S1: itself to the fire before it becomes bling bling. Blink. Yeah. Yeah.
S1: A diamond. You know what it is? It's just coal
S1: that yielded to, uh, 600 degrees of heat. £5,000 of
S1: pressure over a long period of time. You know what
S1: a pearl is? Irritation in an oyster. Oyster gets sands
S1: in it. Then it secretes sand, and the sand gets
S1: around it to ease the irritation. Then more sand gets
S1: in and more irritation and more sand gets in. And
S1: finally you got a pearl. Something that we value came
S1: out of the tribulation of an oyster. Amen. The sovereignty
S1: of Yahweh God. Over. Here's the second one. Notice the
S1: second one. What kind of blessing do we have in
S1: the beatdown? The first one is you learn the sovereignty
S1: of Yahweh God over your life. The second one is
S1: you learn the sovereignty of Yahweh God over your learning.
S1: Listen to verse four A the Lord hath given me
S1: the tongue of the. Learn that I should know how
S1: to speak a word in season to him that is weary.
S1: And so here it is. Jesus learns something in suffering. That's. Oh,
S1: I wish I could get us to understand that. That
S1: we learn. You going all off and and being tore
S1: up from the floor up. And you fail to realize.
S1: I just want to get out. Just get me out
S1: of it. I need know God is trying to do
S1: something in the midst of what you're going through. Jesus
S1: is the obedient servant. Here's what it says. Hebrews five eight.
S1: He learned from the things that he suffered. Alright, if
S1: Jesus needed to learn from his suffering, you don't think
S1: that we need to learn from our suffering? See, there's
S1: some things you learn in the dark. You don't learn
S1: in the light. I wish I could get some help,
S1: I wish I could get some help that you learned
S1: how to love Jesus in the dark when you had
S1: nobody else, and you was a gang enforcer, and you
S1: had hit rock bottom when you was in the light
S1: and everything was going well. You weren't looking for Jesus.
S1: But whenever you got down and out and you said, oh,
S1: what am I going to do? You begin to look
S1: up for your redemption draweth nigh, and you can let
S1: somebody know you can be gangbanging all you want, and
S1: God can take you from a gangbanger to an elder. Amen.
S1: Some of you know, see, Mother Teresa said it this way.
S1: You will never know that Jesus is all you need
S1: until Jesus is all you have. And what did Paul say?
S1: I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to
S1: be content. I won't keep you much longer. I'm going
S1: to hasten it. But. But it's getting exciting to me now.
S1: I I'm really I feel my help coming on. Oh, oh,
S1: oh it's a it's a TV moment. Uh, I'm getting
S1: ready to get in the flow. What does that mean? No, no.
S1: What are you talking about? I mean, it's like you
S1: don't know what God wants to do until you allow
S1: him to teach you something in the rough times. My brethren,
S1: count it all joy when you fall into divers temptation,
S1: knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
S1: But let patience have her perfect work, that you may
S1: be complete and entire, lacking nothing. Tribulation worketh patience in
S1: the world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer.
S1: I have overcome the world. Jesus teaching us, listen, I'm
S1: on my way to Calvary and you need to understand something.
S1: You can see things in the darkness that you can't
S1: see in the light. Guess what? The stars are out.
S1: If you could look through these windows up here, you
S1: don't see any. But how many people from the country.
S1: I mean, real country folk. Okay. We have 3 or
S1: 4 who are willing to admit it. I'm from the country.
S1: Let me tell you what I know. You can see
S1: the stars in the day. Now, how many of you
S1: know know how that can happen? I'm not going to
S1: call on you, but I just want to see how
S1: many know you from the country where I'm a country folk.
S1: Here's how you can see the stars in the daytime.
S1: Any day when you go back south to Big Mama's house.
S1: And that old whale that she used to have and
S1: get water from. But now she's got running water. Take
S1: a ladder. Put it down in that well, get on
S1: that ladder. Go down in that well and look up,
S1: and you will be able to see the stars in
S1: the daytime. You want to know why, say why? Because
S1: the well is pitch black so that it becomes the
S1: lens through which you are viewing and not the sun,
S1: so that you can see the stars in the daylight
S1: when you're in the depths of a dark well. I
S1: came to tell somebody, look, and this is what he says.
S1: Listen what he says. He said, well, no, I'm not.
S1: I can't pass it up. I can't pass it up.
S1: Because what did. What did Joseph say? You meant it
S1: for evil. God meant it for good. What was he saying?
S1: Now we talk about it all the time. He understood
S1: God had a purpose and that his purpose was greater
S1: than his need to have freedom from pain. He knew
S1: that his purpose was greater than his need to be
S1: free from the pit. He knew that his purpose was
S1: greater than him being free from Potiphar's. He knew his
S1: purpose was greater than his need to be free from prison.
S1: And it wasn't even about the palace, even though that's
S1: it was about Psalm 105 106. Here's what it says.
S1: He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who they
S1: bound in fetters, and they hurt him. His pain was
S1: for God's purpose.
S2: You know, if you're facing trials today, maybe experiencing a
S2: season of pain, then take hope in the fact that
S2: God does have a plan. You're listening to Treasure Truth
S2: with Pastor James Ford Jr. And today's message called the
S2: blessings in a beat down. You know, of course, some
S2: pain just seems too great. It threatens to even overwhelm
S2: our faith. And maybe that's what you're feeling today. And
S2: you're wondering, why does the Bible even true? Can I
S2: trust the promises that seem to be in there? Well,
S2: in the book Why Believe the Bible? Doctor John MacArthur
S2: provides compelling answers to questions like this and shows that
S2: the Bible is not only reliable, it's God's primary means
S2: of speaking to us, even in the midst of the
S2: most difficult situations. So when you give a gift of
S2: any amount to this ministry, we're going to send you
S2: a copy of doctor MacArthur's book. Again, it's called Why
S2: Believe the Bible? Just call us at 888644 7660 or
S2: go online to Treasure Truth radio.org. If you prefer to
S2: write and send a check in the mail, our address
S2: is Treasure Truth, 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten.
S2: You know why believe the Bible isn't just a book
S2: for people who are struggling. It's also a powerful tool
S2: that will equip you to explain your faith to friends
S2: or family members who ask why you trust such an
S2: old book like the Bible. So read doctor MacArthur's book
S2: for yourself and get a good grip on what you believe,
S2: and then pass this book on to another person and
S2: you can discuss what it says. Just give a donation
S2: to support, treasure, truth and request. Why believe the Bible again?
S2: Our phone number is 888644 7660. And our website is
S2: Treasure Truth radio.org. I'm Steve Hiller. Our producer is Amy Rios.
S2: Join us again tomorrow for the conclusion of the series.
S2: The blessings in the beatdown. Treasure truth with Pastor Ford
S2: is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody
S2: Bible Institute.