1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:04,400 I very much look forward to the beginning of our new series on the subject of faith 2 00:00:04,400 –> 00:00:07,580 with questions dealing with the darkness of doubt. 3 00:00:07,580 –> 00:00:13,800 Doubt can grow when a believer suffers from any one of the following conditions. 4 00:00:13,800 –> 00:00:19,139 Defective memory, which we’ll consider today, or sometimes because a person has a distorted 5 00:00:19,139 –> 00:00:25,860 picture of God, or a deficient foundation, they’ve never really grasped what the faith 6 00:00:25,860 –> 00:00:31,680 is or a divided commitment, where a person wants really to have the best of both worlds 7 00:00:31,680 –> 00:00:38,299 of faith in Jesus Christ and living for their own pleasure, or diminished growth where faith 8 00:00:38,299 –> 00:00:46,259 is atrophied for a lack of use, or disappointed hopes where we simply cannot understand why 9 00:00:46,259 –> 00:00:51,520 it is that God has allowed a certain thing to happen or destructive fears where fear 10 00:00:51,520 –> 00:00:54,900 just seems to overwhelm for us faith in God. 11 00:00:54,900 –> 00:01:00,540 We are so pressed by the circumstances that are around us. 12 00:01:00,540 –> 00:01:04,919 In our last week, we looked at situations where we’d like to believe but we didn’t, 13 00:01:04,919 –> 00:01:10,980 we are just so afraid that we will be disappointed one more time. 14 00:01:10,980 –> 00:01:14,459 Now I expect as we look at this very quick overview of where we’re going in the next 15 00:01:14,459 –> 00:01:20,959 two months, that some of us will immediately have decided already where our problem lies. 16 00:01:20,959 –> 00:01:24,800 We’ve determined that we need to be here in the third Sunday in October or whatever it 17 00:01:24,800 –> 00:01:27,599 is, and that the rest doesn’t apply to us. 18 00:01:27,599 –> 00:01:29,940 Let me make two comments. 19 00:01:29,940 –> 00:01:38,239 First, doubt is often fed by a combination of circumstances, and while you may immediately 20 00:01:38,239 –> 00:01:44,519 and instinctively, even in these last moments, have identified part of your problem, you 21 00:01:44,519 –> 00:01:47,879 may not have identified the whole of your problem. 22 00:01:47,940 –> 00:01:52,779 If you only identify part of your problem, you will only thereby be able to identify 23 00:01:52,779 –> 00:01:54,839 part of the solution. 24 00:01:54,839 –> 00:02:00,680 Secondly, there may be some aspects of this subject that are not directly applicable to 25 00:02:00,680 –> 00:02:08,119 you, but it may be, and never forget this, that God wants to use you to help somebody 26 00:02:08,119 –> 00:02:10,160 else who does have this problem. 27 00:02:10,160 –> 00:02:16,679 Don’t ever come before the word of God simply asking the question, oh, what’s in it for 28 00:02:17,240 –> 00:02:18,759 me? 29 00:02:18,759 –> 00:02:25,000 God’s purpose for what happens here on Sunday mornings is that we should be built up so 30 00:02:25,000 –> 00:02:31,520 that you can do the work of ministry that He has prepared for you, and it may be that 31 00:02:31,520 –> 00:02:37,520 God wants to use you to help somebody who suffers from precisely the issue that we’re 32 00:02:37,520 –> 00:02:41,240 speaking about this week or, indeed, any other. 33 00:02:42,240 –> 00:02:48,139 Now, our aim over these next weeks is not just to diagnose problems, but also to identify 34 00:02:48,139 –> 00:02:54,800 some very practical steps for treating these conditions, and so each week we’re going 35 00:02:54,800 –> 00:02:58,100 to offer three very practical tools. 36 00:02:58,100 –> 00:03:03,960 As we diagnose each of the varieties of doubt that may afflict a Christian believer, we’re 37 00:03:03,960 –> 00:03:10,960 going to offer within the message a spiritual disipline that you can cultivate, which will 38 00:03:11,080 –> 00:03:14,059 be like a prescription for this condition. 39 00:03:14,059 –> 00:03:18,160 Now, before we read from Deuteronomy in chapter eight and look at the first root cause of 40 00:03:18,160 –> 00:03:24,880 doubt, I want to make three introductory observations that will be important for the whole of our 41 00:03:24,880 –> 00:03:26,520 series. 42 00:03:26,520 –> 00:03:33,520 The first of these is simply that you cannot have faith without questions, and that is 43 00:03:34,399 –> 00:03:40,960 for the very simple reason that God has chosen to keep many things secret. 44 00:03:40,960 –> 00:03:47,960 Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29 tells us that the secret things belong to the Lord our God, 45 00:03:48,960 –> 00:03:54,619 but the things that He has revealed belong to us and to our children. 46 00:03:54,619 –> 00:04:00,440 In other words, there are certain things that God has revealed, and because God has revealed 47 00:04:00,440 –> 00:04:07,440 them, that makes faith possible. But there are other things that God has kept secret, 48 00:04:08,119 –> 00:04:12,960 and because God has kept them secret, that makes faith necessary. 49 00:04:12,960 –> 00:04:19,040 That’s why the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 12, 50 00:04:19,040 –> 00:04:24,660 “…now I know in part.” You see, some of us Christians want to say, 51 00:04:24,899 –> 00:04:31,899 Now I know. Paul didn’t say that, he said, now I know in part. We know in part. That’s 52 00:04:32,579 –> 00:04:39,579 why we have to walk by faith, and not by sight. So, faith lives with unanswered questions 53 00:04:40,959 –> 00:04:45,739 in this world. That is simply it’s very nature. You cannot live in this world without asking 54 00:04:45,739 –> 00:04:52,239 why. We live with the mystery of evil. We live with the mystery of suffering. 55 00:04:52,299 –> 00:04:59,299 And just as it is part of Christian faith to say we know about what God has revealed, 56 00:04:59,299 –> 00:05:06,100 it is also part of Christian humility to say we do not know, with regard to the things 57 00:05:06,100 –> 00:05:13,100 that God has kept secret. So when, for example, massive suffering comes close to home, as 58 00:05:15,079 –> 00:05:21,019 it did on September the 11th, the world will very quickly say to Christian believers, how 59 00:05:21,359 –> 00:05:28,359 do you explain this? As if faith depended on you having all the answers. Well, of course, 60 00:05:30,779 –> 00:05:37,779 if you had all the answers, you would not need faith. The day will come when we will 61 00:05:39,140 –> 00:05:46,140 know fully, even as we are fully known, Paul says. But on that day when we know fully, 62 00:05:46,320 –> 00:05:52,260 when we know fully we will not need faith because faith will be turned to sight. It 63 00:05:52,260 –> 00:05:58,959 will not longer be necessary. We will behold him, and every question will be answered. 64 00:05:58,959 –> 00:06:05,859 But until then, what we have is faith with questions, and that will be a normal part 65 00:06:05,859 –> 00:06:10,119 of the experience of the Christian life. That’s the first thing. 66 00:06:10,839 –> 00:06:18,339 You can only doubt what you already believe. See, doubt isn’t a kind of absence 67 00:06:18,339 –> 00:06:23,220 of faith it is rather a questioning of faith. It is questions about that which 68 00:06:23,220 –> 00:06:29,920 we believe. You can only doubt what you already believe. So for example, when a 69 00:06:29,920 –> 00:06:36,420 Christian doubts he has some questions in his mind about whether God really 70 00:06:36,500 –> 00:06:43,260 exists or whether God is really good. The Christian believes that there is a God. 71 00:06:43,260 –> 00:06:50,040 The Christian believes that God is good and so doubt for him is to question that 72 00:06:50,040 –> 00:06:56,100 belief that he holds. Now think about an atheist for a moment. What would it be 73 00:06:56,100 –> 00:07:04,320 like for an atheist to doubt? Think about it when an atheist doubts he fears that 74 00:07:04,399 –> 00:07:11,399 maybe God exists after all. He’s doubting the premise that he believes. What’s it 75 00:07:11,399 –> 00:07:16,459 like when a communist doubts? When a communist doubts, a communist saying 76 00:07:16,459 –> 00:07:21,839 maybe, Karl Marx’s vision of the Utopian society isn’t everything that it’s 77 00:07:21,839 –> 00:07:30,359 cracked up to be. You can by definition only doubt what you believe. Doubt 78 00:07:30,700 –> 00:07:35,059 presupposes some kind of faith and therefore when we talk in this context 79 00:07:35,059 –> 00:07:40,000 about the doubts that Christians may have we are presupposing some kind of 80 00:07:40,000 –> 00:07:43,880 faith and that is why our working definition of doubt is spelled out in 81 00:07:43,880 –> 00:07:49,920 the title it is, faith with questions. That’s what doubt is and it is one of 82 00:07:49,920 –> 00:07:53,880 the most common struggles of the Christian life. So number one, you cannot 83 00:07:53,880 –> 00:07:59,140 have faith without questions. Number two, you can only doubt what you already 84 00:07:59,200 –> 00:08:06,160 believe. Number three follows. Number three is that doubt and unbelief are 85 00:08:06,160 –> 00:08:13,380 therefore very different. Now it is important for us to grasp the very big 86 00:08:13,380 –> 00:08:22,320 difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is questioning what you believe. 87 00:08:22,720 –> 00:08:30,440 Unbelief is a determined refusal to believe. In other words, what we’re 88 00:08:30,440 –> 00:08:38,260 saying is that doubt is, in its nature, a struggle faced by believers, whereas 89 00:08:38,260 –> 00:08:46,280 unbelief is a condition of the soul of unbelievers. Unbelief involves a 90 00:08:46,280 –> 00:08:51,419 spiritual blindness and a determined resistance towards God so that when Paul 91 00:08:51,460 –> 00:08:56,679 was persecuting Christians before he came to the knowledge of Christ, he says 92 00:08:56,679 –> 00:09:04,140 looking back on that experience, I acted in ignorance and unbelief. What he’s 93 00:09:04,140 –> 00:09:08,380 saying is I was ignorant, I didn’t understand the truth but my problem was 94 00:09:08,380 –> 00:09:15,539 deeper than that. It was unbelief. I was inwardly resistant towards the truth. 95 00:09:15,539 –> 00:09:20,619 That was his spiritual condition, and of course the only cure for that condition 96 00:09:21,340 –> 00:09:25,260 was what happened on the Damascus Road when the Apostle Paul was wonderfully 97 00:09:25,260 –> 00:09:31,140 converted. He discovered that Jesus is Lord, and making that life-changing 98 00:09:31,140 –> 00:09:37,179 discovery his whole disposition of soul was changed by the power of the Holy 99 00:09:37,179 –> 00:09:41,659 Spirit, and that’s what moved him from a position of unbelief to a position of 100 00:09:41,659 –> 00:09:47,380 faith. Now there may be some among us, and you’ve come here this morning 101 00:09:47,380 –> 00:09:56,539 thinking, now my problem is doubt. It may be for some that your problem actually 102 00:09:56,539 –> 00:10:03,619 is unbelief. The issue isn’t so much that you doubt your faith, but that you do 103 00:10:03,619 –> 00:10:13,599 not have a faith to doubt. The issue is that you need to believe that which God 104 00:10:13,940 –> 00:10:17,400 has revealed. Let me just tell you some of the things God has revealed, and you 105 00:10:17,400 –> 00:10:23,219 can check off in your mind whether you deeply believe them. But God has sent his 106 00:10:23,219 –> 00:10:30,119 son into the world. That the Son of God loved you and gave himself for you. 107 00:10:30,119 –> 00:10:36,840 You believe that? That He’s risen from the dead and that he’s ascended to heaven. 108 00:10:36,840 –> 00:10:42,900 May check off a couple of things that God says about you. You’re more wicked 109 00:10:43,479 –> 00:10:50,960 than you ever thought, and at the same time, you’re more loved than you ever 110 00:10:50,960 –> 00:10:59,039 imagined. Do you believe these things? And you need to act on what God calls you to 111 00:10:59,039 –> 00:11:03,960 to repent of a self-centered life as he offers you mercy and pardon and 112 00:11:03,960 –> 00:11:08,419 forgiveness through his son Jesus Christ. He offers to you the presence and the 113 00:11:08,419 –> 00:11:12,599 power of His Holy Spirit so that you may be able to pursue life on His plan. 114 00:11:12,719 –> 00:11:22,000 Now, are these things that you believe? Very, very important is we consider our 115 00:11:22,000 –> 00:11:27,119 own position or indeed, when we’re trying to help someone else, to discern the 116 00:11:27,119 –> 00:11:31,179 difference between doubt and unbelief. They’re two entirely different spiritual 117 00:11:31,179 –> 00:11:36,119 positions. When Paul saw the risen Christ on the Damascus Road, he was so 118 00:11:36,119 –> 00:11:40,119 overwhelmed by the glory of the Lord that he fell to the ground, and he said, 119 00:11:40,159 –> 00:11:46,840 Lord what will you have me to do? There’s a whole world in that. Lord. You 120 00:11:46,840 –> 00:11:51,239 see, this man’s been humbled. He’s no longer the captain of his own 121 00:11:51,239 –> 00:11:58,119 life. What do you want me to do? That’s more than signing off on a creed. This is 122 00:11:58,119 –> 00:12:01,099 a man who has discovered that all that he has and is and ever hopes to be 123 00:12:01,099 –> 00:12:05,400 belongs to God, and he’s placing his whole life at the disposal of God. Now, 124 00:12:05,760 –> 00:12:12,960 that’s faith. It’s faith. So, a very foundational question is, is my 125 00:12:12,960 –> 00:12:19,840 difficulty right here and now that I am doubting my faith, or is it that I do 126 00:12:19,840 –> 00:12:25,219 not yet have a faith to doubt? There’s a big difference between doubt and 127 00:12:25,219 –> 00:12:32,900 unbelief, and I want to encourage you by saying that Paul moved from unbelief to 128 00:12:32,979 –> 00:12:38,239 faith through a miracle that God worked in his life and there may be some among 129 00:12:38,239 –> 00:12:41,960 us right at the beginning of this series and that is precisely what needs to 130 00:12:41,960 –> 00:12:47,159 happen in your soul. And God will do the same for you. He will work that same 131 00:12:47,159 –> 00:12:54,659 inner miracle if you will ask him through His son, Jesus Christ. Doubt 132 00:12:54,659 –> 00:13:00,979 and unbelief, very different. And so my prayer is that God will use this series 133 00:13:01,020 –> 00:13:06,320 to help those who struggle with doubt to understand what it is and to find 134 00:13:06,320 –> 00:13:12,719 their way through darkness. Secondly, that those who struggle with unbelief will 135 00:13:12,719 –> 00:13:18,179 be led to a miracle of new birth and the thirdly, God will equip all of us to 136 00:13:18,179 –> 00:13:24,659 minister to others who have faith with questions. Now will you have your 137 00:13:24,659 –> 00:13:28,239 Bibles open please at Deuteronomy in Chapter 8 as we get into the 138 00:13:28,739 –> 00:13:33,340 root causes this morning. We’re going to follow a very simple outline for the rest 139 00:13:33,340 –> 00:13:36,599 of our time and indeed throughout this series. We’re going to look first at 140 00:13:36,599 –> 00:13:43,299 symptoms, second at diagnosis and thirdly at prescription. Now there is a sense in 141 00:13:43,299 –> 00:13:48,039 which the whole of the Old Testament is the story of how a group of people lost 142 00:13:48,039 –> 00:13:53,460 and then rediscovered their faith. God had brought His people Israel out of 143 00:13:53,460 –> 00:13:56,859 slavery in the land of Egypt, He’d made Himself known to Moses, He’d made a 144 00:13:56,859 –> 00:14:01,219 covenant with these people, He provided for them miraculously over a period of 145 00:14:01,219 –> 00:14:06,700 40 years as they had lived in the desert. Now after 40 years, when the book of 146 00:14:06,700 –> 00:14:11,760 Deuteronomy was being written, the generation who had been slaves in Egypt 147 00:14:11,760 –> 00:14:16,820 had died and a new generation was ready to enter the land of Canaan. Think 148 00:14:16,820 –> 00:14:22,659 about this new generation. They’d been born in the desert, they’d seen a miracle 149 00:14:22,799 –> 00:14:28,719 every day. Now some of you say, oh if I could only see a miracle once. These folks 150 00:14:28,719 –> 00:14:36,340 saw a miracle every day as God provided manna, their food, and quail in the 151 00:14:36,340 –> 00:14:41,299 evening. They had more faith than their parents. 152 00:14:41,299 –> 00:14:44,859 Remember, their parents had been the generation that had doubted and had 153 00:14:44,859 –> 00:14:49,520 retreated from Canaan. This generation, now standing on the verge of Canaan when 154 00:14:49,599 –> 00:14:53,880 the book of Deuteronomy was written, they were ready to lay down their lives so 155 00:14:53,880 –> 00:15:00,479 that God’s promise and his purpose would be fulfilled. And Moses is now an old man 156 00:15:00,479 –> 00:15:05,520 as he speaks the words that are recorded in Deuteronomy. And Moses must 157 00:15:05,520 –> 00:15:10,960 have had great joy in addressing these, this rising generation who are living 158 00:15:10,960 –> 00:15:18,760 on the cutting edge of faith. But Moses was a prophet and God had shown him how 159 00:15:18,760 –> 00:15:25,359 the radical faith of the new generation would be seriously tested in the future. 160 00:15:25,359 –> 00:15:31,500 So Moses is an old man, gets up to speak for the last time. And before this new 161 00:15:31,500 –> 00:15:37,520 generation, born and raised in the desert, he gives his last message. Let me tell 162 00:15:37,520 –> 00:15:44,880 you what’s going to happen, he says. First God is going to give you the land 163 00:15:44,880 –> 00:15:50,900 everything that He promised is going to be yours in all its abundance and in all 164 00:15:50,900 –> 00:15:56,520 its goodness. Verse is 79. The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a 165 00:15:56,520 –> 00:16:00,419 land with streams and pools of water, springs flowing in the valley’s the 166 00:16:00,419 –> 00:16:04,760 hills, a land with wheat and barley, a land where bread will not be scarce, who 167 00:16:04,760 –> 00:16:08,599 will lack nothing. God is going to give you everything you’ve always wanted in 168 00:16:08,719 –> 00:16:19,940 life. And when that happens, Moses says, you’d better watch your soul. Look at 169 00:16:19,940 –> 00:16:25,440 verse 12, please look at it because I’m going to read from the radically revised 170 00:16:25,440 –> 00:16:29,640 version which was written last Friday. 171 00:16:29,960 –> 00:16:38,400 Verse 12. When you get used to eating out with your family, and when you have that 172 00:16:38,679 –> 00:16:43,919 two level house with two cars in the garage, and you finally land the job 173 00:16:43,919 –> 00:16:53,919 that you hoped for, and finally your stocks do go up, then your heart will 174 00:16:53,919 –> 00:17:00,859 become proud. And you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of 175 00:17:00,859 –> 00:17:07,300 slavery, out of the land of Egypt. I don’t know what it is that you’ve 176 00:17:07,420 –> 00:17:12,979 always wanted, but Moses is saying that when you get it your faith will be tested, 177 00:17:12,979 –> 00:17:21,260 and that might be for some of us to be on that sports team. It might be for 178 00:17:21,260 –> 00:17:27,540 others of us to get straight As, you get it your faith will be tested. 179 00:17:27,540 –> 00:17:37,040 It might be that relationship, watch what happens. Might be family, might be a new 180 00:17:37,079 –> 00:17:44,140 home, it may be that position, it may be simply in terms of money, but whatever it 181 00:17:44,140 –> 00:17:50,239 is Moses is telling us understand that success is a far more subtle test of 182 00:17:50,239 –> 00:17:56,359 your faith than suffering. It’s far more erosive, it’s far more subversive to 183 00:17:56,359 –> 00:18:00,599 faith, and the reason it is is because we don’t think about it. It’s 184 00:18:00,599 –> 00:18:05,439 counterintuitive, you see we assume that pain and poverty is dangerous to faith 185 00:18:05,800 –> 00:18:09,780 but Moses is making it clear that pleasure and prosperity are much greater 186 00:18:09,780 –> 00:18:15,260 threats. You who are on the cutting edge of faith, ready to lay down your lives 187 00:18:15,260 –> 00:18:21,339 and entering the land of Canaan, you just watch what happens when God gives you 188 00:18:21,339 –> 00:18:26,959 every good and perfect gift. Now it is right for us to rejoice in the good 189 00:18:26,959 –> 00:18:31,420 gifts of God, but if you think about this and apply it practically what it means 190 00:18:32,239 –> 00:18:36,260 that there may be more danger to your spiritual health on the day that you 191 00:18:36,260 –> 00:18:45,780 land the new job than on the day you were fired from the old one. For parents 192 00:18:45,780 –> 00:18:52,319 you should be as concerned for your children’s spiritual health when they 193 00:18:52,319 –> 00:18:57,339 succeed as you are when they fail. 194 00:18:57,959 –> 00:19:01,939 Pain brings its own tests. We’ll look at that another time. But the fact is that 195 00:19:01,939 –> 00:19:07,859 pain often throws us back on God, where prosperity breeds in us a confidence 196 00:19:07,859 –> 00:19:16,000 that makes us feel that we need God less. So as C.S. Lewis puts it we feel that we 197 00:19:16,000 –> 00:19:20,959 are making our way in the world when all the time the truth is that the world is 198 00:19:20,959 –> 00:19:29,560 making its way in us. That’s where faith is lost. Osginis quite brilliantly puts 199 00:19:29,560 –> 00:19:34,599 it this way, rebellion against God, he says, does not begin with the clenched 200 00:19:34,599 –> 00:19:40,859 fist of atheism but with the self-satisfied heart of the one for whom 201 00:19:40,859 –> 00:19:47,719 the word thank you is redundant. Rebellion against God does not begin 202 00:19:47,760 –> 00:19:52,959 with the clenched fist of atheism but with the self-satisfied heart of the one 203 00:19:52,959 –> 00:20:02,000 for whom thank you is redundant. Let’s look at the symptoms of this condition. 204 00:20:02,000 –> 00:20:09,479 Notice first of all, verse 14, pride. Moses is telling them what to look for in 205 00:20:09,479 –> 00:20:13,619 their own hearts so we should look for this in our own hearts this morning. Your 206 00:20:13,680 –> 00:20:18,920 heart will become proud, and you will forget the Lord. You say, does that matter? 207 00:20:18,920 –> 00:20:22,979 is that that much of big deal? Well remember, pride was the root of the 208 00:20:22,979 –> 00:20:28,959 first sin and the root of all evil. It is the very spirit that leads a man or a 209 00:20:28,959 –> 00:20:33,880 woman to think I don’t need God as much as I used to. 210 00:20:33,880 –> 00:20:39,979 There wasn’t a lot of pride in the desert, but there was a great deal of 211 00:20:40,119 –> 00:20:50,079 pride in Canaan. It is the besetting sin of gifted and successful people, of whom 212 00:20:50,079 –> 00:20:56,319 there are many among us. I’m asking you therefore this morning, as it’s the 213 00:20:56,319 –> 00:21:05,420 besetting sin of gifted and successful people, can you see any evidence of pride 214 00:21:06,140 –> 00:21:10,880 in your own heart? Because in as much as that takes 215 00:21:10,880 –> 00:21:20,400 root, it will be erosive of your faith in God. Secondly, verse 17, presumption. 216 00:21:20,400 –> 00:21:26,280 Here’s a second symptom to look for, for this spiritual condition. Verse 17, 217 00:21:26,280 –> 00:21:33,020 you may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this 218 00:21:33,020 –> 00:21:38,800 wealth. Now notice Moses says, you will say to yourself, he’s talking about a 219 00:21:38,800 –> 00:21:42,040 pattern of thought, this is not the sort of thing that you would go around. I mean 220 00:21:42,040 –> 00:21:45,260 no one’s gonna stand out there in the foyer and say, oh hello nice to see you 221 00:21:45,260 –> 00:21:47,780 this morning you’ve had a good week, yes I’ve had a good week, how are things 222 00:21:47,780 –> 00:21:51,619 going? Oh well, you know, the strength of my hands has produced great wealth. No 223 00:21:51,619 –> 00:21:58,400 one’s gonna say that out there. It’s not in your words, Moses says, but it’s in 224 00:21:58,520 –> 00:22:08,660 your eyes, it’s in your body language, because it’s in your heart. Now I wonder 225 00:22:08,660 –> 00:22:13,160 as we look within ourselves is there a spirit within us that says, you know, I 226 00:22:13,160 –> 00:22:21,619 deserve a lot of credit for what I’ve done. And somehow God, who is the giver 227 00:22:21,619 –> 00:22:26,000 of every good and perfect gift, is pushed to the margins. You feel that your 228 00:22:26,079 –> 00:22:31,500 success was more down to you than it was down to Him. He becomes increasingly 229 00:22:31,500 –> 00:22:38,020 remote and distant, and guess what’s going to happen next in your faith. 230 00:22:38,239 –> 00:22:46,219 Third symptom. Pride, presumption, and thirdly, self involvement, verse 17. You 231 00:22:46,219 –> 00:22:50,260 may say to yourself, my power and my strength of my hands have produced this 232 00:22:50,300 –> 00:23:00,260 wealth, notice the last two words, see it, for me, for me. Now remember Moses is 233 00:23:00,260 –> 00:23:03,560 speaking to these folks who are on the radical cutting edge of faith, they’re 234 00:23:03,560 –> 00:23:05,859 standing on the verge of the land of Canaan and they’re ready to give 235 00:23:05,859 –> 00:23:11,140 everything for the Lord. But he says you watch out when you prosper a little bit 236 00:23:11,140 –> 00:23:15,020 you’ll find that there’s a new battle that you’re facing because you will 237 00:23:15,020 –> 00:23:18,699 find a spirit that begins to emerge within you that says this is for me. 238 00:23:19,560 –> 00:23:23,719 You’ll quickly move from a position in which you deeply felt that your life was 239 00:23:23,719 –> 00:23:29,040 for God and you’ll find yourself in that place where you begin to think that 240 00:23:29,040 –> 00:23:33,939 everything that you have is simply for you. Now do you see any of these symptoms 241 00:23:33,939 –> 00:23:39,040 in yourself? I asked these questions of my own heart this week and they’re 242 00:23:39,040 –> 00:23:45,000 penetrating questions aren’t they? Well if you see these symptoms here’s the 243 00:23:45,000 –> 00:23:53,199 diagnosis defective memory. Defective memory and it’s the first 244 00:23:53,199 –> 00:23:59,180 condition in which the seeds of doubt will grow and therefore we need to deal 245 00:23:59,180 –> 00:24:04,359 with it radically. When the doctor makes a diagnosis of your condition he may 246 00:24:04,359 –> 00:24:08,380 write out a prescription, you know it’s familiar experience he looks over the 247 00:24:08,380 –> 00:24:14,560 caricatured half-moon spectacles and earnestly says to you take this three 248 00:24:14,560 –> 00:24:20,560 times a day for four weeks and you have a choice as to whether to do that or not. 249 00:24:20,560 –> 00:24:27,540 Now if you do it will not make you better instantly, it will take time for 250 00:24:27,540 –> 00:24:33,900 what has been lacking in your system to build up in your body but if you take 251 00:24:33,900 –> 00:24:39,640 what he prescribes regularly, you will begin gradually to notice some changes. 252 00:24:40,319 –> 00:24:45,339 The symptoms will gradually diminish and eventually the condition itself will be 253 00:24:45,339 –> 00:24:50,880 healed. So having looked at some symptoms and having made a diagnosis we want now 254 00:24:50,880 –> 00:24:56,439 thirdly to look at the prescription that has offered to us in the scripture for 255 00:24:56,439 –> 00:25:04,420 dealing with this condition. What’s the prescription? That we cultivate the 256 00:25:04,680 –> 00:25:11,060 spiritual discipline of thanksgiving. Cultivate the spiritual discipline of 257 00:25:11,060 –> 00:25:15,619 thanksgiving. It’s the only way to deal with the sinister root of pride and 258 00:25:15,619 –> 00:25:20,099 presumption and self-involvement that otherwise will begin to take over our 259 00:25:20,099 –> 00:25:26,819 souls as God grants us success in a prosperous land. Cultivate the spirit of 260 00:25:26,819 –> 00:25:31,400 thanksgiving. And notice how Moses sets that out really in three very simple 261 00:25:31,420 –> 00:25:36,900 dimensions. First of all he refers to the past, what you have experienced, verse 15 262 00:25:36,900 –> 00:25:41,060 and 16, you see there, he led you through the vast and dreadful deserts the 263 00:25:41,060 –> 00:25:45,319 thirsty waterless land was venomous snakes and its scorpions. He brought you 264 00:25:45,319 –> 00:25:50,439 water out of a hard rock he gave you manna, all this is past. And he’s saying 265 00:25:50,439 –> 00:25:55,520 think of what God has done for you, look back over your life and call to mind 266 00:25:55,640 –> 00:26:04,239 recollect the goodness of God. Now you may not have been lead through a desert 267 00:26:04,239 –> 00:26:09,760 but the same principle applies, take time to cultivate the discipline of looking 268 00:26:09,760 –> 00:26:16,020 back of your life and recollecting the goodness of God to you personally. 269 00:26:16,020 –> 00:26:22,800 The lovely old hymn, some of you may know it, count your blessings. Name them one by 270 00:26:22,920 –> 00:26:30,000 one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. 271 00:26:30,000 –> 00:26:35,699 Recollection will have a humbling effect on your soul. See how God has given you 272 00:26:35,699 –> 00:26:40,260 life, preserved your life, He’s given you gifts and talents, He’s 273 00:26:40,260 –> 00:26:44,160 blessed you with freedom, He has prospered you, don’t spend your time 274 00:26:44,160 –> 00:26:49,719 looking at what He did for someone else. Focus your mind, discipline your mind on 275 00:26:49,780 –> 00:26:57,339 what he has done for me. Choose to bring that to mind. For if you can see the 276 00:26:57,359 –> 00:27:01,000 thousand things that God has done for you, then that one thing that you do not 277 00:27:01,000 –> 00:27:05,959 understand will take on a different perspective. Take time to do that, at 278 00:27:05,959 –> 00:27:12,560 least once this week, make a list in your mind or on paper and spend 10 minutes 279 00:27:12,560 –> 00:27:19,599 reflecting on Thanksgiving for the blessings of God throughout your life, it 280 00:27:19,760 –> 00:27:25,420 will surprise you what the Lord has done. And it will cultivate a spirit of 281 00:27:25,420 –> 00:27:29,500 gratitude and thanksgiving within you, that’s the first thing, it’s a good 282 00:27:29,520 –> 00:27:34,400 regular discipline, recollection, thinking of what God has done for me in the 283 00:27:34,400 –> 00:27:39,839 past and thanking him for it. Number two, what you’re experiencing now. I find it 284 00:27:39,839 –> 00:27:44,239 very fascinating that Moses challenges God’s people to take the most ordinary 285 00:27:44,239 –> 00:27:50,780 events of life and to turn them into acts of worship. Now notice the two most 286 00:27:50,780 –> 00:27:58,719 ordinary events of life that are identified here, food and finance. Number 287 00:27:58,719 –> 00:28:03,760 one food, I can’t go long without food and I can’t get far without my wallet. So 288 00:28:03,760 –> 00:28:09,780 if I can make a strong connection between God, food, and finance, then I will 289 00:28:09,780 –> 00:28:13,479 bring God from the margins of my life into the very center. This is very very 290 00:28:13,479 –> 00:28:22,339 practical. Food, verse 10, when you have eaten and are satisfied praise God for 291 00:28:22,339 –> 00:28:26,500 the good land he’s given you. In other words make your dinner table a place of 292 00:28:26,500 –> 00:28:32,260 worship. Don’t let the television ever replace the table. Whether it is the 293 00:28:32,260 –> 00:28:37,359 beginning or the end of the meal use the most common event of eating as an 294 00:28:37,359 –> 00:28:41,420 opportunity to give thanks. We talk about seeing Grace it’s a good thing it’s a 295 00:28:41,599 –> 00:28:46,380 good habit that needs to be kept fresh and meaningful. But Moses had even more 296 00:28:46,380 –> 00:28:52,500 in mind. Let the table be a place of family worship. Let every meal be a holy 297 00:28:52,500 –> 00:28:58,219 reminder of the goodness of God to you personally. Don’t let the table be a 298 00:28:58,219 –> 00:29:03,739 place of complaining and grumbling and mourning. Learn to eat and drink to the 299 00:29:03,739 –> 00:29:09,280 glory of God for if you do this you will bring God to the very center of your 300 00:29:09,280 –> 00:29:15,479 life and it will help you to cultivate the art of thanksgiving. And secondly 301 00:29:15,479 –> 00:29:20,640 verse 18, finance, do you see it there? Remember the Lord your God for it is He 302 00:29:20,640 –> 00:29:27,079 who gives you the ability to produce wealth. So when I get my pay packet I am 303 00:29:27,079 –> 00:29:33,180 to remember that this is what God has given to me. In the Old Testament God 304 00:29:33,180 –> 00:29:37,880 gave his people a wonderful way of remembering this. They brought a tenth of 305 00:29:38,140 –> 00:29:43,339 what they had and they gave it to the Lord. When God invited his people to come 306 00:29:43,339 –> 00:29:48,000 to worship He said to the many times in the Old Testament do not come before the 307 00:29:48,000 –> 00:29:54,859 Lord empty-handed. The problem of course with money is that however much you 308 00:29:54,859 –> 00:30:00,359 have you never think it’s enough. It’s simply instinctive to us but here’s a 309 00:30:00,359 –> 00:30:04,699 great way of making money an act of worship and completely transforming your 310 00:30:04,699 –> 00:30:10,219 view of it at the same time. Take a tenth of all that God gives you 311 00:30:10,219 –> 00:30:14,819 and put it into a separate account for giving put it there on a standing order 312 00:30:14,819 –> 00:30:20,219 because it’s a principle that you’ve chosen to adopt and use that 313 00:30:20,219 –> 00:30:26,660 account of giving for the advance of his kingdom. You will find first that it’s a 314 00:30:26,660 –> 00:30:30,099 source of great joy because when you look at that account you’ll say my 315 00:30:30,140 –> 00:30:40,160 goodness for every dollar I’ve given God gave to me ten. That’s a whole different 316 00:30:40,160 –> 00:30:48,660 view. Ten times that amount. It will alter your view of money and it will foster a 317 00:30:48,660 –> 00:30:55,140 spirit of thanksgiving that is vital to your spiritual health. As some of you are 318 00:30:55,140 –> 00:30:57,699 saying this is like being at the doctors where I get a prescription I don’t want 319 00:30:57,739 –> 00:31:02,339 to take. Well if that is what you feel just ask yourself this question 320 00:31:02,339 –> 00:31:08,439 honestly. Could it be then that you have fallen into the trap that Moses 321 00:31:08,439 –> 00:31:17,520 identifies here of saying that my wealth is for me. You’ve got to break that power 322 00:31:17,520 –> 00:31:24,180 if we’re going to have a spirit of thanksgiving. Now someone is going to say 323 00:31:24,180 –> 00:31:27,459 as we come towards the end here haven’t we come a long way from the subject of 324 00:31:27,479 –> 00:31:36,199 doubt. No we’ve not. You see there are many people for whom faith is nothing 325 00:31:36,199 –> 00:31:40,540 more than a remote belief that is scarcely connected to the realities of 326 00:31:40,540 –> 00:31:47,500 life. God is little more than a place to complain where things go wrong. If you 327 00:31:47,500 –> 00:31:52,839 want to know a lively faith Moses is saying, you must especially in a 328 00:31:53,680 –> 00:31:57,000 materialistic culture cultivate the art of Thanksgiving. 329 00:31:57,000 –> 00:32:02,300 Number one, make it your regular practice to review the blessings of God in your 330 00:32:02,300 –> 00:32:08,300 life. Two, make the most ordinary things in your life acts of worship like the 331 00:32:08,300 –> 00:32:14,359 table and the checkbook. Cultivate the art of Thanksgiving as you think of what 332 00:32:14,359 –> 00:32:19,500 you have experienced and as you receive what God is giving you in his abundant 333 00:32:19,780 –> 00:32:28,619 goodness now, and finally, what you’ve never experienced. Look at verse 14, very 334 00:32:28,619 –> 00:32:33,800 briefly. Moses speaks about the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt out of 335 00:32:33,800 –> 00:32:39,839 the land of slavery. Who brought you out of the land of Egypt? Remember most of 336 00:32:39,839 –> 00:32:45,459 these folks were born in the desert, they were never in Egypt, what does he mean? 337 00:32:45,680 –> 00:32:49,819 Moses is saying to them, the Lord brought you out the land of Egypt, what he’s 338 00:32:49,819 –> 00:32:55,859 reminding them off is, think of where you would have been if it were not for 339 00:32:55,859 –> 00:33:01,420 the mercy and the grace of God, and that’s the whole point of this table 340 00:33:01,420 –> 00:33:04,939 that we’re going to come to right now, and it’s why we have this on a regular 341 00:33:04,939 –> 00:33:09,520 basis and we need this in our spiritual lives, because what this table says to us 342 00:33:09,520 –> 00:33:18,819 is think where you would have been if it was not for the mercy and the grace of 343 00:33:18,819 –> 00:33:29,920 God, for this table tells you that Jesus died under the wrath of God, that Jesus 344 00:33:29,920 –> 00:33:38,800 entered the experience of Hell itself so that you should never know what that is 345 00:33:38,979 –> 00:33:47,079 like. And if you will feed your soul on that knowledge that God has revealed you, 346 00:33:47,079 –> 00:33:55,640 you will be helped to cultivate the art and the discipline of thanksgiving and 347 00:33:55,640 –> 00:34:06,540 it will be the very foundation of health in your spiritual life. I’m going to ask that 348 00:34:06,540 –> 00:34:12,500 we turn to the prayer that’s at the back, that we stand together and we’re going 349 00:34:12,500 –> 00:34:15,300 to read this from the page, as you prepare to worship, and then we’re going 350 00:34:15,300 –> 00:34:19,500 to sing as we gather around the table. 351 00:34:20,580 –> 00:34:24,379 Reading aloud together from the as you prepare to worship, beginning with the 352 00:34:24,379 –> 00:34:30,760 words Almighty God. Almighty God, Father of all mercies. 353 00:34:30,879 –> 00:34:34,639 We your unworthy servants, to give you most 354 00:34:34,639 –> 00:34:41,239 humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and 355 00:34:41,239 –> 00:34:47,959 to all people. We bless you for our creation preservation and all the 356 00:34:47,959 –> 00:34:54,679 blessings of this life, but above all for your inestimable love in the redemption 357 00:34:55,379 –> 00:35:02,159 by our Lord Jesus Christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory and 358 00:35:02,159 –> 00:35:09,959 we beseech you give us that sense of all your mercies that our hearts may 359 00:35:09,959 –> 00:35:17,139 be unfeignedly thankful and that we show forth your praise not only with our lips 360 00:35:17,699 –> 00:35:24,879 but in our lives by giving upourselves to your service and walking before you 361 00:35:24,879 –> 00:35:32,820 in holiness and righteousness all our days through Jesus Christ our Lord to 362 00:35:32,820 –> 00:35:41,739 whom with you and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory world without end. Amen.