MCLEAN BIBLE CHURCH APRIL 10, 2011 PASTOR LON SOLOMON

Transcription

1 MCLEAN BIBLE CHURCH APRIL 10, 2011 PASTOR LON SOLOMON >> LON SOLOMON: You know, not too long ago I was sitting in a doctor's office and I was waiting to go back. You know how that works. And so I was just picking up magazines and thumbing through them. Not really paying all that much attention; when I came across a very intriguing article by a young lady that caught my attention. The title of the article is: Lonely Sundays. And I'd like to read to you a tiny bit of this article. And I quote: She says, Sunday morning, sunlight streams through the window, a bird trills, and time stretches before me in an unstructured obligationfree day. For many people this is joy: the light of leisure at the end of the work day tunnel. For me this is a terrifying thing. I wake on such days full of disquiet and longing. I lie in bed and stare at the sealing and I think: I am lonely. Now, there are many brands of loneliness, she says, but the kind of loneliness I know best is the Sunday morning variety. A feeling that seems to bubble up from deep inside, often without warning or good cause. And when it hits, it feels big and permanent and insurmountable. This is more than a scary feeling, she -- than a sad feeling, she says, it's a scary feeling. The fear is that if a bout of loneliness persists for too long, it will fester and grow, mutating into a paralyzing despair. For this reason I have spent most of my adult life trying to outrun the feeling. Busying myself, filling up my schedule, holding on to bad relationships. I've tried drinking the loneliness away, exercising and shopping it away, scouring it away in fits of house cleaning. But no amount of obsessing or drinking or shopping, or vacuuming seems to eradicate the feeling, the loneliness always returns. End of quote. Loneliness. The feeling like we're facing our toughest struggles all by ourself. Friends, it's one of the worst feelings that any human being can have. And this is what we want to talk about today as we continue in our series, people Jesus met. We saw last week that Jesus had a conversation with his 11 disciples, that is 12 minus Judas, who had deserted him. And in that conversation we talked about the fact that the Lord Jesus gave the great commission to the disciples. Let me remind you what the great commission was. He said in Matthew 28:18, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations. And as we saw, this doesn't mean political nations, it means ethnic people groups, go and make disciples of all people groups, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Holy Spirit. And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And we talked last week about the impact that the great commission should have, not only on us as a church family, but on us as individual followers of Christ. Now, if you missed our message last week, I urge you to get the CD from our book store or to go on line and download it or get the pod cast and catch up with us. But today what we want to do is we want to go on in this conversation, because there was one other thing Jesus said in his talk with his 11 disciples that we didn't cover last week, but we want to cover this week.

2 So we're going to go back 2,000 years and let's see what Jesus said. And then we're going to bring all of that forward and we're going to talk about, well, how should that affect me as a follower of Christ today. Our passage again, Matthew 28. And we're going to pick up in Matthew 28 at verse 19. Remember we already read part of it. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and Son, on Holy Spirit. And teaching them to obey everything I commanded you. We read that. But Jesus didn't stop there. No. He said, and behold. The word here literally means: And remember. And always be certain of this. And never forget. Jesus says, and never forget that I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Now, folks, this is not just a promise that Jesus made to the 11 disciples standing there. It's a promise that he makes to every single follower of Christ in every age, in every nation, in every situation. And in every crisis. Jesus said, John 14:18, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you, which is why the Bible says Hebrews 13:5, for he himself -- that is the Lord Jesus -- has said, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you. Folks, this is the promise of the risen Christ. And this therefore is the birth right of every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, namely, the continuous, never-ending, unceasing, unfailing, unflagging, unbroken, uninterruptible presence of the living Christ with us, wherever we go and whenever we go there, and however we get there, and whatever we do there. He promises: I am with you. When I read this article for this young lady in that office, I felt so bad for her. Because I felt like if I could just get the chance to talk to her, I -- or somebody else that knew Christ could talk to her, we could fix her problem. We really could. We could take away that loneliness. We could resolve lonely Sundays for her. We could bring her here to church. She wouldn't be lonely here. Or we could let her have -- send her to another good Bible-believing, gospel-preaching church. Or wherever she went she'd never be lonely again. Because friends, being a follower of Jesus Christ and feeling a loan are mutually exclusive commodities. And so I don't know who she is, but I hope somebody talks to her. Because there's a solution to her problem. It's knowing the living, risen Christ. Amen? All right. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage because we're going to stop now and we're going to ask our most important question. And I know it's a little early. So I caught you by surprise, didn't I? I know that. Make the recovery. Here we go. Make the adjustment. Here we go. And all of you at Prince William and all of you at Loudoun and Bethesda and Internet campus, are we ready? Okay. Here we go. Come on now. 1, 2, 3: >> ALL: So what? >> LON SOLOMON: You say, Lon, so what? You say, you know what I would really like to know, I would really like to know what magazine you were reading that that was in. Well, I'm not going to tell ya. So there you go. The important thing is we're talking about loneliness and about the Lord's solution to it. So let's talk about how that affects our life. You know, several weeks ago I conducted a funeral service, and at that service the 23rd

3 Psalm was read. And I think all of us know verse 4 of the 23rd Psalm, yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death -- and as we all know, the valley of the shadow of death here in Psalm 23 means more than just facing death, it means walking through any scary situation. But I love the fact that David goes on to tell us about God's solution to our fear when we're in that kind of situation. Listen to the verse: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. We all know the rest of the verse. Come on, say it with me -- for thou art with me. Isn't it interesting when David had these fears in his life, that in order to assuage and relieve these fears, that God didn't offer David the removal of all the valleys in life. He didn't say, all right, David, so that you won't be afraid, I'll see to it you never go through the valley of shadow of death. That isn't what God did. And that is not his solution. Instead God said, no, you're going to go through some valleys, but the solution to your fear is my assurance that I'm going to be with you in the valley. I don't care how deep it is or how wide it is or how long it looks, I'm going to be right in there with you. And friends, as followers of Jesus Christ here in the 21st century, this is still true for us today. When it comes to facing our toughest crises in life, it's the presence of the living Christ, right alongside of us. Right down in the valley with us that changes everything. In fact, I believe the six most powerful words in the Bible, the six most powerful words in the universe are found in Jesus' promise: Certainly I will be with you. And you know, the best part of all? Is that Jesus can back this up. I mean, what if Buddha had said to me, don't worry, Lon, because when you go through your toughest times in life, certainly I'm going to be with you. That's no good to me. Buddha is dead. What if Confucius had said to me, don't worry, I'm going to be with you. Well, that's no good to me either. He's dead too. And if Mohammed had said that to me or Joseph Smith or Mary baker Eddy or L. Ron Hubbard had said it to me, it's no good. No good. They're all dead. If the greatest Jewish rabbi of all time said don't worry, I'll be with you, all of them are dead too. But friends, Jesus is not dead. Friends, Jesus is risen from the dead. Jesus is alive and living forever more. And when he says don't worry, I will be with you, now, I can count on that, because I have a living savior, a risen savior. Praise God, in the darkest situations. (Applause.) >> LON SOLOMON: In the darkest situations of life, in the deepest black holes of life, in the worst valleys of the shadow of death in life, Jesus, the living Christ says, you got nothing to worry about. I'm with you. Now, I want to go into the Bible with you and take a look. And I want you to see this truth throughout the Bible. This truth that whenever people were afraid, and whenever God led them into a deep valley, and whenever they needed reassurance and courage and confidence and hope, I want you to see what God offered them. I want you to see what God said to them in every case. So are you ready?

4 Can we take a little tour of the Bible? Okay. We're going to do it anyway. Let's do it. Okay. Here we go. You remember Moses, right? Okay. God appeared to Moses on the back side of the desert in the burning bush and he said I want you to go back and I want you to face pharaoh, and I want you to tell him to let the Israelites go. Friends, we need to remember this Pharaoh that he was going back to face was not some minor little potentate somewhere. This was Amenhotep the second, the most powerful ruler on the face of the earth in Moses' day. And Moses was a little scared. And what did God say to him to reassure him? He said Exodus 3:12, Moses, certainly I will be with you. And when Joshua was offered the opportunity to take over the armies of Israel from Moses -- you remember -- and to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, and he was a little uncertain about whether or not he could really do this, what did God say to him? Joshua 1:5, God said as I was with Moses, so I will be with you, fear not. For the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. And when Isaac was feeling a little insecure and alone in the land of Canaan after his dad Abraham had passed away, God appeared to him and said to him Genesis 26:24, fear not, Isaac, for I am with you. You remember our friend Jacob? You remember him, he was quite a character. He stole his brother's birth right and blessing. And Esau his brother, was so mad at him that he was going to kill him. So Jay Cobb had to leave town, flee for his life. He was gone for 20 years. And then God appeared to him and said Jacob, I want you to go back home. But Jacob said, there's one problem. Esau is still there. And he's still out to kill me. What did God say to Jacob? He said Jacob, Genesis 31:3, return, and I will be with you. And when Jacob was told by God a little later in his life that he should leave the promised land and go down to Egypt with his son Joseph, and he wasn't so sure he should do that, what did God say then? He said, Genesis 46:3, fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will go down with you. I love the story of Gideon, who God called to attack a huge Midianite army. With only 300 men. If you remember the story, 30,000 men showed up at first. And God said, send them all home, send them all home, send them all home. Until they got down to 300 men. God said, okay, Gideon, that's your army. And Gideon goes, are you serious? 300 member? Are you serious? I'm going to go out there and fight this huge army with an army of 300 men? You can't be serious, God. What did God say to Gideon, Judges 6:16, fear not, for surely I will be with you. It will be you plus 300 men plus me, Gideon. You got nothing to worry about. And how about king Jehoshaphat, who God told to leave the safety of Jerusalem when they were being besieged by an army three times the side of his army. And God said I want you to leave tomorrow morning, go out the front door of the city and go attack them. And Jehoshaphat said really? And God said yes, second chronicles, 20:17, fear not nor be dismayed, tomorrow go out and face them, for the Lord will be with you.

5 Only a couple more. Jeremiah, the prophet. God called him to be a prophet with a very unpopular message. And he knew Jeremiah did, if he goes out there and preaches the message God gave him he's going to make a lot of enemies. He expressed some concern to God about this. And God said to him, Jeremiah, 1:8, fear them not, for I will be with you to deliver you. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail, for I am with you to deliver you. And finally the Apostle Powell, who in the city of Corinth had people trying to kill him because he was preaching the gospel. God appeared to him and said, Acts 18:9, fear not, Paul, keep on preaching and do not be silent, for I am with you. And no one is going to harm you. Friends, the point is that down through the age, whenever God took a person into the valley of the shadow of death and they were nervous, and they were anxious, and they were afraid, God said the exact same thing to every one of them. God offered every one of them the identical solution for their fear and their anxiety, he simply said to them, no matter what happens in the valley, no matter how big the dangers are in the valley, I am bigger than any danger in that valley. And you have nothing to fear, for I will be with you. And they true to his word, God backed it up in every single case, just like he said he would do. Now, as followers of Christ today in the 21st century, folks, I think that all of this should have a mammoth impact on our lives. The fact that in the good times and in the tough times, the fact that in the successes and in the failures that we have, the fact that when the going is easy for us and when the going is tough for us, either way the fact that we have God's promise that never, ever does he forsake us, never, ever, does he leave us as orphans, never, ever are we alone or unprotected or exposed or vulnerable or unguarded, because Jesus said and is with us until the end of the age. And when we let this truth really sink in and permeate our heart and our mind and our spirit, wow, look what happens. Hebrews 13:5. We read the beginning, which says, for he himself has said, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you; therefore -- you say therefore what? Well, therefore, since we have the Lord's promise, he'll never leave or forsake us, therefore, watch, we can say with confidence the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Friends, do you hear the confidence here? The certainty here? The courage here? The boldness here? The fearlessness here? The stability of life that's here? The inner piece that's here? Do you hear it? I'm not afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is my helper. And he's with me always. You say, well, Lon, I understand what you're saying. I do. But you know, sometimes it doesn't feel like the Lord Jesus is really with me. Sometimes the way things unfold in my life, honestly, I look around and I -- I say, you know, things are not working out like I think they should if the Lord was with me. So my question is, how can I be sure God's really with me when my feelings don't seem to confirm it?

6 Well, to answer that question, I'll tell you about teaching my children to ride a 2-Wheeler. I have three boy, and I taught all three of them how to ride a 2-wheeler. What I would say to them is I would say, listen, here's what daddy is going to do, we'll take the training wheels off. And here's what daddy is going to do. You're going to start riding, I'll give you a push, and daddy is going to run behind you. If you start wobbling, daddy is going to catch you. Those were in the old days when daddy could run behind the bicycle. Thank God they all know how today and I don't have to do it anymore. The worst son I had a problem with was my oldest son James. Let me tell you why I had a material problem teaching him. Because every time he would start to ride the bike, evidence' keep looking back to see if I was there. And every time he looked back, he'd twist the front wheel and every time he twisted the front wheel, he'd go over. So I kept saying to him, Jamie, you cannot ride the bicycle looking backwards. You've got to look forward. And he said to me, daddy, if I don't look backwards, how do I know you're really there? Good question. I said, Jamie, you know I'm there because I promised you. And daddy wouldn't lie to you. And so you don't need to see me to know that I'm there. If I told you I'm there, James, I'm there. Now, you just ride the bicycle and believe me, that if you need me, I'm right there. Well, I'm happy to announce at 35, my son James can ride a 2- Wheeler. We did it. We did it. But friends, the point is we're just like that when it comes to God. We're riding our little bicycle, and God says, you have nothing to worry about, I'm right here with yeah. If you start to wobble, you start to fall, I'm keeping you up. I'm right here. So friends, we have the same two choices my son James had. We can either trust, or we can doubt. And what I was trying to teach my son is he can trust me. Whether you see me or not, you don't need to see me, you can trust me. That's what God is trying to teach us. If God makes us a solemn promise, the Bible tells us that he is the God, Titus, chapter 1:2. If he makes us a solemn promise, if he guarantees us that he's there, whether we feel it or not, he is there with us. God is not going to lie if. If he lied, he'd have to stop being God. And he's not going to stop being God for you or me. Believe me. He says he's there, he's there. Friends, our choices are we can trust Him and move forward in our life, or we can doubt Him and keep looking backwards and we keep falling over. God wants us to trust him. He's not going to lie to us. You say, so, Lon, do you always get this right? I mean, be honest with us now. I mean, in some -- in tough times, you never, ever doubt God? Well, friends, no, I can't tell you that. Hey, I have my bad days. Just like everybody. I have days when my faith struggles and I have days when I doubt God. But here's the beautiful thing. Really great thing. The really great thing, my friends, is that even when I'm having a struggling day, even when I'm having a tough day, Jesus is still just as much with me as when I'm having a good day. You know why? Because Jesus being with me doesn't depend what kind of day I'm having. It depends on his unbreakable promise. This is why second Timothy 2:13 says even if we are faithless, even if we're having a bad day, God remains faithful. He cannot deny himself.

7 How great is that news? Huh? Praise God for that. So let me just close by saying this: That in an audience like this, I know many of us here today are going through valleys of the shadow of death in our own lives. Even as we speak today. For some of us maybe we're going through a horrible, painful divorce. Some of us perhaps are facing the serious illness of a child. Or maybe watching our own health deteriorate. Some of us here are going through the valley of having a child with disabilities. Or the valley of having an aging and infirmed parent. Some of us, our valley is that we've got a deep financial crisis or maybe we've lost our job and we can't seem to find another one. For some of us the valley is that we've kissed our child or our husband or our wife good-bye as they headed off to Afghanistan or Iraq or some other faraway place and we have months and months to look ahead to without them being here to help us. That's our valley. For some of us our valley is carrying the emotional and physical and financial burdens of being a single parent mom. Or fighting the pain of fertility or we're having a difficult pregnancy or we've got the pain of having a child who's not walking with the Lord. Some of us are struggling with depression or substance abuse. Listen, friends, there are all kinds of valleys of the shadow of death that this life can throw at us. But -- but God's solemn promise to us -- I don't care what valley we may be in -- is that we are not alone. You are not alone. You and I have the living risen, sovereign, omnipotent savior in Christ of the universe. Right there with us. With his arm around our shoulder. Saying to us, come on. You and me. Together. We're going to get through this. Together. We're going to do this. It's not just you. But you and me. And we're going to make it. Folks, this is the birth right of every follower of Christ. That every valley -- I don't care what's in it -- if the Lord Jesus goes in with us, just like with Moses, just like with Joshua, just like with Jacob, just like with Gideon, just like with Paul, it doesn't matter. Any valley he sends us in and goes with us is a valley we come out of safe. And so if you're going through a tough time in your life, I want to reassure you, picture yourself with the Lord Jesus walking with you every day. You and me, Lord. You and me, Lord. You and me Lord. We can do this. You and me, Lord. Because friends, that's the way it really is. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we need to hear what you said to us today. All of us do. We live in a lonely world. We live in a world with fickle friends, who when we hit the hard times and we go deep into the valley of the shadow of death, so many of these so-called friends, they just disappear. And so often we find ourselves facing that valley and feeling like it's just us. And how are we ever going to make it? But Lord, I'm so grateful for the promise of God today, the unbreakable promise of God, that you will be with us. You will not leave us as orphans, you will come to us and together we will walk through this. Lord, that was the solution you offered every great man or woman of God in the Bible. Certainly I will be with you.

8 You didn't take the valley away, but you said I'll go in it with you. And so, Lord, for those of us today in the valleys, and if we're not now, we will be -- because that's the way life is -- remind us that there's no fear in the valley as long as the living Christ is with us. Lord, encourage our hearts today in the word of God. And thank you that we were here and sat under its teaching. Change our life. Because of it. And we pray these things in Jesus' name -- what did God's people say? >> ALL: Amen. >> LON SOLOMON: Amen. Have a great day. God bless you guys. (Music.) * * * This transcript is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) or captioning are provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. * * *