Wait On The Lord

Introduction

I appreciate so much Daniel’s efforts in leading us in that song. I’ve been planning this sermon for several weeks since we studied the man in John 5, and we’re going to be looking at that text in just a moment. Actually, I think it was Sherry who gave me this idea to explore this further, and it’s taken me a while to put all of my thoughts together from those initial thoughts. But as I thought about my topic and the title of this lesson, I thought of that song. I don’t know all the places I’ve sung it. I know I have at least one C D that has that song on it. And I think I’ve sung it maybe at Highway 65 in Conway with the brethren there.

But I haven’t sung it that many times, but it’s a beautiful song, and C. E. Couchman wrote a number of songs that we sing. But I really love that song. It’s very well written. And I love the sentiment of the song. So this sermon is born out of the intriguing example of John chapter 5. We had a lengthy discussion about the stirring up of the waters and the conversation that Jesus has with this man. A certain man was there, verse 5, who had been 38 years in his sickness. Jesus sees him lying there and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, and he says to him, Do you wish to get well? And the sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.

But while I’m coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Arise, take up your pallet, and walk. And immediately the man became well and took up his palate and began to walk. Now it was on the Sabbath that day. Therefore the Jews were saying to him who was cured, it is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet. But he answered them, He who made me well was the one who said to me, Take up your palate and walk. Well, there’s more to this story, and we only read a section of it because there are so many verses in this lesson. I’m not going to be able to read all of them to you. You may have to take notes and look at them later.

But the interesting thing that I find in the story is that this man had been like this for 38 years.

That is hard for us to imagine. And considering the stirring of the waters, and the first one that would go down into the waters to receive healing. Imagine the desperation and the frustration that had to be setting in because he was never able to get into the waters first. So many failed and desperate attempts, so many frustrations. But what I want you to notice, this man who had been 38 years in this condition, while getting down into those waters would have been spectacular, and he would have had his health long sooner than he did. Look at what he gets from God himself, who’s come in human flesh. Arise, take up your pallet and walk to be healed personally by the Lord in his visit to the world.

And furthermore, to have a discussion with him. A further discussion, Jesus finds him afterwards in verse 14 and says, You have become well, do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse may befall you. And then to be afforded a place in Scripture. If he had just been put down in the waters as others had, he would not have found his place, perhaps, in the biblical record. And we’re still reading about his healing by the hand of the Lord two thousand years later. And so as I thought about this man’s fortune to be there as Jesus comes to this place and heals him as he does, I thought about other occasions in Scripture where people waited. There are the older people we read about in Luke chapter 2, Simeon, who was told that he would not pass from this life until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

And utters the pronouncement regarding Jesus and also Anna in Luke chapter 2, an older woman who had been widowed for many years, and yet she was praying and fasting in the temple continually, and she was blessed to see that day as well. And so as I thought about these incidents of Scripture and those who waited on the Lord, that waiting on the Lord was not a new thing. In fact, we studied this important verse in Isaiah, encouraging us not to grow weary or tired, but to keep running. And God will give us new strength, though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly. In this familiar text, yet those who wait, who wait for the Lord, will gain new strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

The hopes Isaiah was speaking of, anticipated the days of Simeon and Anna and the man of John 5. And so many examples are given of those who had to wait a significant amount of time before receiving God’s promise of blessing. One of the first that popped into my mind as I considered those long 38 years of that man in John 5 is the case of Abraham, way back in Genesis chapter 12. All of our young people know the threefold promise made to Abraham. Land, a nation, and seed. Martha’s going like you’ve drilled it into them, haven’t you, Mark? Our young people know that promise. But what a lot of people don’t know is that Abraham, who was Abram at the time, was 75 years old. And at the age of 86, they try to help the promise along a little bit because they’re unable, Abraham and Sarah unable to have children, at least to this point.

And so he goes into his handmaid, Hagar, and Ishmael is born, and God says he’s not the one. And so they wait a lot longer. And at the age of 99, 24 years after the promise is uttered, and he leaves Ur of the Chaldees, he is told this time next year, your son will be born at the age of 100. And I pointed at this out many times. It’s hard for us to appreciate two and a half decades. From the time the promise is given till that descendant through whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, finally arrives. And then the whole business of Mount Moriah, where God tells him to go sacrifice his son. The long awaited son of the promise. Go sacrifice him on the mountain.

How difficult that must have been. But Abraham had already learned in that 25 period, the 25 year period, the need to wait on the Lord. But then there’s Moses. And we’re not given all of this information in Exodus where this story unfolds, but actually in Stephen’s sermon in Acts chapter 7, where he talks about at the age of 40, Moses thought Israel understood that God was going to deliver them through him. They did not understand that. You know the whole incident of the Israelites fighting after the Egyptians had been fighting and the Egyptians were killed by Moses. And so then he has to flee for his life. The land of Midian. Boy, that was that was not a great place to spend 40 years of your life, but that’s where Moses was after he spent 40 years.

As F. B. Meyer says, all the cream of Egypt was being poured into his hand. And now he spends 40 years. 40 years, four decades in the land of Midian. And when God appears to him through the angel of the burning bush, Moses says, I don’t think I’m ready now. Surely not. I’m an old man now. And of course, he is still able to be the leader. And there are so many other examples. The woman with the hemorrhage that Jesus heals in Matthew chapter 9. That’s the condensed version. It’s also found in Mark and Luke. The woman who touches his garment and the power goes out of him, and then he turns to have a discussion with this woman who had such great faith. And like the blind man of the lame man of John chapter 5, there’s the blind man that we’re about to study in John chapter 9, who was blind since birth.

And so the list could go on. Time would fail me to talk about others like Joseph, who waited many years for his fortunes to change after being sold into slavery. And then even David, I mean, when we think of David, we think of David the king. Oh, we might think of the incident involving Absalom, where he has to flee more on that in just a second. But remember, David is anointed to be the next king by Samuel the prophet. All does not go well from that moment forward. As he has that great incident where he kills the giant Goliath and thinks things are on an upturn for David, but Saul is trying to kill him. And he ends up running for his life for a good period of time, writing psalms from caves.

And at one point the despair is so great. In Psalm 142, he says, No one cares for my soul. No one regards me. Here’s the anointed of God. Finally, his fortunes change, and David becomes the king. But he has to wait for the right time to ascend as he does. And even in the case of Absalom, as I mentioned, again, David has to flee from the city, flee for his own life. He was that close to death. If he had followed, Absalom had followed the counsel of Ahithophel. Oh boy. But of course, God’s providential hand was in that as well. But what do we learn from all of these cases of waiting on the Lord? How does that relate to our circumstances now? And as I thought about the waiting of these people, I thought perhaps one of our bigger problems is the problem of impatience.

We live in a time and a culture where we get a lot of things that we want right now. Sometimes we have to wait a little while. I remember when Sherry and I got our iPhones, it was just maybe a 15 months ago. For the first time, I think in Brett’s whole life, we had some technology that he didn’t have. Oh, he had a smartphone. He had a smartphone before we did, but we had an iPhone. And so his contract renewal date was not until October of this year. Oh man, you would have thought, again, like the camping thing, that we were punishing him because all he had was a smartphone. He did not have an iPhone. So he had to wait what seemed to him like forever.

And it was funny that his contract renewal date just happened to be his birthday. And that works out well for me. And thus he got finally his iPhone 5. And that’s just one example. We have so much. I mean, if our TV breaks down, most of us would go, well, we’re going to replace that this week. Somehow, some way. Because that’s a part of our everyday life and routine. And we can do that. We don’t wait. Our car gets broken. We get it fixed. We’re not good at waiting. But these stories tell us that sometimes we need to wait, and waiting on the Lord, especially in the midst of life’s troubles, is important. I want to make three major points here. All of them incidentally begin with F.

1. The Foolish Ultimatum

Sometimes you have to work hard to pull that off. First of all, I want to talk about the foolish ultimatum. And that is this. God, I want you to fix it. And I want you to fix it right now. Again, the problem of impatience. And a lot of times in our difficulties, in our moments of trouble, we want God to fix it, and we want God to fix it absolutely. ASAP. I want it right now. Here this man waited 38 years. But look at what he got. And sometimes we struggle to wait. Jesus tells an interesting story in Luke chapter 18. And he tells this parable, Luke tells us, because he wanted to show that at all times, at all times, they ought to pray and not lose heart.

And I want you to underscore, if not in your Bible, but although I recommend that, at least in your mind, where he says, and not lose heart, because that’s what happens to folks. In the midst of difficulties and upset and hurts and pains, they lose heart. And that’s why Paul says, Do not grow weary, do not lose heart. In due time we shall reap if we do not faint, or if we do not grow weary. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 9. And so he tells this parable about a woman who went to a judge. This judge did not fear God in this story, and yet she just wears the guy out by her continual coming to him. And then Jesus makes this application. Hear what the unrighteous judge said, verse 6.

Now shall not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night, and will he delay long over them? I tell you that he will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? I’ll tell you, this parable is telling us something important. Things may not get fixed on our timetable. We need to wait on the Lord. She warn him out by her continual coming. Now, God, of course, is much more invested in our circumstances, then this judge was in hers. So certainly the judge of all the earth is going to act on our behalf ultimately. And the key is will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when he comes.

More on that in a moment. And so we need to have persistence in prayer in regard to our circumstances that are less than ideal, or we would like something to be fixed in regard to them. And then there’s the example of Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. When he mentions, I’m so glad he had to do this when he mentions his thorn in the flesh. Isn’t it amazing that the only time Paul mentions that in the New Testament is when he is proving his apostleship to his detractors in Corinth as an evidence of his apostleship? He tells us about this significant problem that he encountered, his thorn in the flesh, which he styles a messenger of Satan that was given to buffet him. And again, we speculate as to what that might have been and the eye problem and all of that.

We’re not really sure what it was, but I’m going to tell you, whatever it was, when he uses the word buffet, this wasn’t real pleasant. And he prayed three times, this text says that this thorn in the flesh might be removed or that it might depart. And apparently it was upon the third time that he made the request. Notice God doesn’t respond to him after the first time. And notice in John 5 that he asked that man, do you wish to get well? How bad do you want it? And so, Paul, three times, and upon the third time, you know, Paul could have gone on with this many more times than that, but he received an answer directly from the Lord. My grace is sufficient for you.

Power is perfected in weakness. This thorn is not going to be removed. And so what we learn from the example of Paul is that grace is sufficient in our circumstances, even if no temporal fit is ever supplied. Even if the pain continues indefinitely.

Some of you know who he is, not to be confused with that fellow at Penn State. That’s Jerry. This is the guy who preaches, Gary Sandusky, who preaches in Madison, Indiana. He’s been there for years and years and years. I’ve known Gary for a long time. Great gospel preacher. His son, Scott Sandusky, who is also a member of the body of Christ. He’s one of my friends on Facebook, and some of you all have him as your friend. Scott had a very undesirable thing happen to him not very long ago in a work-related accident. Something fell on his leg, and his leg had to be removed. And we have been following, of course, his friends, following his situation on Facebook and how that he has now been given a prosthetic leg.

And he’s always upbeat and optimistic about his circumstances and trying to make this new prosthetic limb. Isn’t he fortunate to live in a time when we have things like a prosthetic limb? I mean, remember that guy in the Olympics that ran the 400? One of those limbs. That’s amazing. Some of the other competitors say, hey, this isn’t fair. He has an advantage. There’s a spring in that thing. But I’ll tell you, if you would ask either that guy or Scott Sandusky, would you trade it for the real leg? Of course they absolutely would. And I’ll tell you something like that happens. You’re not going to grow a new one. You’re going to live without that limb the rest of your life. Perhaps it’s a debilitating illness.

2. Fortunes Restored and Fortunes Future

A bucket full of disappointments. A mountain of pain that you never anticipated. A changing marriage partner. And not for the better. A spouse, perhaps, who does not grow spiritually and fails to become a better servant of the spouse, like we should all strive to do. What is the circumstance that causes us pain and heartache? The second observation that I want to make in this sermon about waiting on the Lord has to do with fortunes restored and fortunes future. I want you to turn over to James chapter 5 and read a text with me quickly. James chapter 5 and verse 7. Again, this is the concept waiting on the Lord. Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and late rains.

You too be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door as an example, brethren, of suffering and patience. Take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. Well, I want to focus first on the end of that text and the mention of Job. You know, Job gets his fortunes restored. That’s the word that’s used in Job 42 and verse 10. He is given more children, he is given more of this world’s goods, and nobody was as fair as the daughters of Job.

And so we look at the ending of that story that involves such great suffering. The loss of all family members except a wife, who said, curse God and die. The council of three friends who think that Job’s suffering, that his circumstances are bad because he’s a bad man. And I’ll tell you if the story of Job doesn’t tell us anything else, and Alan Turner, another gospel preacher, actually posted on this week. If it doesn’t tell us anything else, it should tell us that bad circumstances are not a reflection on the character of a person. It’s not because of Job’s evil that he’s suffering, and that’s one of the mistakes that his friends make in their conclusion. And so Job finally had some kind of recovery.

Now, he didn’t get all of the kids that he lost previously, the same ones. He still experienced that loss. He still went through a time where he felt isolated and alone and felt like perhaps God was unfairly punishing him and boils all over his whole body. I can’t imagine the kind of excruciating pain that went with all of that. He still had that suffering experience that I can’t begin to fathom. But yes, at the end of the story, Job’s fortunes are restored. But while I may never know the extent to which Job suffered, I’m not guaranteed in this life that my fortunes will be restored. Or that my circumstances, less than ideal, that bring me pain and hurt, that they’re going to improve. And I would argue that from also James chapter 5 and the prophets that are mentioned.

They did not all have their fortunes restored in this life. Some of them lost their lives because of their devotion to the Lord. But whatever the case, we need to focus on the outcome of the situation. And that’s the point in James chapter 5, to be patient for the coming of the Lord, because at that time, certainly all situations will be rectified for the better, for the Lord’s people. In Romans chapter 6. I did a whole sermon on this word outcome not very long ago, so I won’t belabor it here. But in Romans 6 and verse 21, he talks about the lifestyle of the past for the Christian. And he says, Therefore, what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed?

Don’t go back to that way of lifestyle. Those things that you are now ashamed, what benefit did you get out of those things? For the outcome of those things is death.

He didn’t say as a result of that perfect circumstance. He said, resulting in sanctification and the outcome. Await the coming of the Lord. And the outcome, eternal life. I think one of the bigger problems that we face, especially in regard to temptation, is that temptation’s offer to us is better things now. A better feeling now. An escape for now. Fun for now. And so because of our impatience, because we don’t want to wait on the Lord, we gobble it up. And the devil knows just what to give us. Just what floats our boat. And he puts it out there tantalizingly, telling us you can get a fix now. And yet, it’s the future. We need to constantly keep in consideration the outcome of things. Don’t fall for the devil’s faulty fix.

3. Be Faithful Regardless

When he offers us immediate release and immediate treasure, when the ultimate treasure and glory will be worth the patience that it required to receive it, everything we ever thought we wanted will be surpassed exceedingly. And that’s why I use the word fortunes. Because all true fortune emanates from the Lord. And ultimately, maybe not in this life, as Job’s fortunes turned in this life, ultimately, all real fortune provided in the future is that which must help us in the midst of life’s trials and troubles to wait on the Lord. And that leads me to the third and final point in regard to life’s circumstances and the things that are dealt us in life, and that is that we need to be faithful regardless. Remember what Jesus said as he told that parable when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

And I want to share just a few things with you in conclusion about this. Number one, we need to be bad circumstance ready. I do not recommend a blind optimism for life. Did you hear about the guy who was the world’s biggest optimist who fell from a 79th story window? He could be overheard as he passed floor twenty. Doing okay so far.

Life may not turn out as you dreamed it. Or as you imagined it. Young people, I think this is an important thought for you. You have big dreams and big plans. You map out a course for your life, and it’s going to involve some significant other that hopefully we’re going to marry and have the most storied romance in the perfect life, living in the perfect neighborhood with the perfect income and the perfect retirement and the perfect kids, and there aren’t any of those, the perfect kids and the perfect grandkids. Now there are some of those. Again, the illness besets the promising career life fizzles.

Eventuates in a marriage with a horror story ending. The bucket full of disappointments. The mountain of pain that you never anticipated. And too often we are blindsided by life’s ills and unprepared. Carl Sandberg said, Life is like an onion. You peel it away one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. Be bad circumstance ready. And secondly, before that circumstance ever unfolds, develop dependence. You see, when the crisis comes, it is absolutely essential, as Job and the prophets teach us that you already need to have in place a right relationship and dependence upon the Lord. The one who is prepared, has the battle half fought. Your response in any crisis should be like that of Hezekiah. When he is informed in Isaiah’s record of that account, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos comes to him and says, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, you shall die and not live.

That was not the news Hezekiah was expecting when he woke up that day. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. Hezekiah had his problems, but I’ve got to tell you, that says what Hezekiah was all about. He got news that he didn’t expect. It was not the best kind of news in his estimation. What was his first response in crisis? He turned to the wall and prayed to the Lord. Thirdly, and when those times come, you have to choose to do right when I hurt. And it doesn’t matter what other people do or don’t do. Or if they’ve hurt you. And you know, that’s really what Jesus is saying in Luke 17. When he warns about being a stumbling block to others, and he says in verse 3, be on your guard.

If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. That’s really not the hard part of this. The hard part’s the next verse. And if he sins against you, oh, he’s just inserted the U here. If he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times, saying, I repent. Forgive him. You see, your response is not dictated by the evil that’s done to you. Someone sinned against you seven times in a day. You don’t sin against him. Vengeance is mine. You don’t sin against him. If he comes to you and asks for forgiveness, you forgive him. Seven times wronged in a day. And the disciples understood how difficult that was. They said, increase our faith. It may not feel like the natural thing to do, and it may not seem fair.

But how many times has God done this to us? And aren’t you glad for his mercy to you?

And finally, as this relates to point number two, when those circumstances do come, drive yourself to dependence, not despair. Be anxious for nothing. Cast all your cares on him, the New Testament tells us. And I conclude tonight with Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, which ought to be a powerful passage for us in the midst of our less than ideal circumstances, when he says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And we want to stop there, perhaps, or skip on down to where it says, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But I want you to look again at verse 35. Here’s the part we want to be removed or excised from the verse, if not from the verse, our circumstances.

Tribulation. Okay, it could have just had tribulation, and that would have encompassed a lot of negative things for us. But he says, tribulation, distress, persecution, or famine, or heaven forbid, nakedness, or peril, or sword. Just as it is written, for thy sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to the slaughter. An old testament concept from Psalm 44. But in all these things, he says, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. Look, if this passage isn’t telling believers anything else, it is saying your plate might be that of tribulation. What you are served might be distress. There might be days that you go hungry, have nothing. Everything taken away. I don’t know what your circumstances will be in life.

But you better be, as we said in point number one, bad circumstance ready. And I know this from this text.

Conclusion

Young people, you may not realize it now. Things may be rocking along just fine. But you need to be faithful, even when earthly relationships disappoint, when sadness grips your soul, when bad things happen to good people, when you become acutely aware of the futility of life, when you feel isolated and all alone, and finally, when you face your mortality, nothing’s going to see you through like an unyielding confidence in the Lord and waiting on him. Be strong and take courage. Perhaps there’s someone in our audience tonight who needs to be strong and take courage and obeying the Lord. We urge you to respond while we stand in sight.