Lecture 2 | Surrender & Live

In this episode, Chakari shows that God often works through weakness, suffering, and humility rather than self-reliance. He emphasizes that resisting God’s word leads to ruin, while surrendering, trusting God, and accepting His discipline leads to life, grace, and eventual restoration. Chakari also connects personal struggles, temptation, and even self-inflicted trouble to God’s purpose of breaking pride and teaching believers to depend fully on Christ.

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Grace and peace, brothers and sisters. Welcome to the Gospel of 420 Podcast. This is your host, Cush Chakari, aka the Cushman. If you're tuning in from YouTube, Spotify, Apple, IHOT Radio, any listening platform, don't forget to like, subscribe, share, comment, follow the page, turn on notifications for a new message, and leave a rate and review. Let's get into the word. Surrender and live. The reading comes from Jeremiah chapter 27, verse 17, Jeremiah 27, verse 17. And it reads, Hearken not unto them, serve the king of Babylon and live. Wherefore should this city be laid waste? Now, Jeremiah is speaking to King Zedekiah. And if you read 2 Chronicles 36, verse 12, also 15 and 16, it talks about how Zedekiah was evil. He was evil in the sight of the Lord, and it said he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet. See, Jeremiah is speaking from the voice of God, but yet Zedekiah refused to humble himself. And in those times, when you're bending the knee, was the physical expression of surrender and awe before King. So Zedekiah not humbling himself, he stiffly refused to bow, submit, or let himself be brought low to the words of Jeremiah, who was speaking by the word of God. So technically, Zedekiah was rebelling against God himself. And God showed so much love to them that the Bible talks about how he sent them messengers, rising up be times and sending. So technically, that word rising up be times literally means to incline the shoulder to a burden. So literally it's like looking, like loading up uh like a laborer or a beast of burden at daybreak. So we see God, he's leaning his shoulder into the heavy weight of his people's crisis, staring at the crack of dawn. And he sent his message by his messengers. And he literally, his open hand, he's showing grace through bringing in these deputies, ambassadors, prophets, priests. And that's the same way Paul talks about Christ's gifts to the church. He gave apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the ministry, for the evocation of the body, and stuff like that. So we see God's love is being shown by sending in these prophets and priests to warn the people. But yet, you see their reaction. The Bible says they mock them. They mock the messages of God, they despise them, meaning they treat them as vile, common. They think, oh, what God is saying is trash. So not only they despise the words, but they misused the prophets. They misused the prophets God sent. That word misused is literally they're twisting the prophets' words, cheated them of safety, physically, systematically abusing them to the point that was like, there's no point to help them out. Like it's over. They refused help. There was no remedy. It was over with. So you see the heart posture of the people in those times. That God is sending them, showing grace by his love, by bringing in these prophets and priests like Jeremiah and others. But instead of humbling themselves before God, nah, they want to rebel, they want to be like, nah, nah, God, what he's saying is not true. They just spat on him. They mocked, despised, they twisted their words, saying things that is just automatic, just persecution, to the point they met their end. And literally, if you read, and we read Jeremiah 27, verse 17, about Jeremiah speaking to King Zedekiah, do not surrender, serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. But yeah, when you read verses above that in 14 and 15 of Jeremiah 27, Jeremiah clearly tells Zedekiah, do not listen to the prophets, don't hearken unto the prophets that's saying, Oh, you're not going to serve the king of Babylon because they're lying to you. They're prophesying lies. God did not send them. They're prophesying a lie in his name. And those prophets that are prophesying to you, they're trying to drive you out so that you can die. You and the prophets that prophesy unto you. And Jeremiah has said this many times. When you read Jeremiah 21, verse 9, he literally says, Fall to the Chaldeans that beseech you, and you shall live. Jeremiah 27, verse 12, bring your neck under the yoke of Babylon, serve them and live. Jeremiah 38, verse 2, 17 and 18, same thing. Go forth unto the Babylonians. You will live and the city won't be burned. So literally, we see the common pattern. Surrender. Go to Babylon. Bow yourself to Babylon, that pagan nation. Just give up, surrender to them, and everything will be smooth with you. But you see, when God speaks, there's always another voice speaking to us. There's always something that, you know, a familiar spirit, which is saying he'll like God speaks to you something, but yet our conscience will be like, say something else. And that's what's going on in Zedekiah's case. When you read verse 19 to 23 of Jeremiah 38, he literally says, He Zedekiah's worried that, oh, the Jews, you know, he's afraid that the Jews that are fallen to the Babylonians, they're good when they deliver me into their hand, they mock me. Literally, those Jews that like sold out to Babylon, they're gonna deliver me into their hand. They're gonna mock me, laugh at me, and do this. Jeremiah told them, they're not gonna do that. They won't deliver you. Obey, I beseech ye, the voice of the Lord. Obey ye the voice of the Lord. Don't hearken to the all these all these other prophets that are lying to you. Hearken unto the voice of God. He's literally saying, Surrender to them. It will be well with you. Your soul will live. But if you refuse, if you refuse to surrender to Babylon, this is what's gonna happen. All the women, they're gonna be brought to Babylon's princes. They'll be, oh man. He says, Thy friends have set thee on and have prevailed against thee, thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back. So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause the city to be burned with fire. So literally, simple message Surrender to Babylon, bring yourself, humble yourself to this pagan city. Just take the L, take the L. But you would think, oh, Zedekiah will listen to the voice of God. No, no, no, no, no. It got to the point that even the prophet Ezekiel prophesied. When you read chapter 12 of Ezekiel, it literally talks about how Zedekiah will try to make a quiet escape route. He'll take a strange route to escape the Babylonians. And literally, he's gonna dig through the wall to carry out thereby. Literally, he's gonna he's gonna try to escape. But guess what? He got caught. If you read Jeremiah 52, verse 8 to 11, it says the the Chaldean army, they pursued after Zedekiah, they overtook him in the plains of Jericho, all his army scattered from him, and they took him up, they carried him up into the king of Babylon in Riblah and the land of Hamath. They gave judgment upon him, they killed his sons, he slew all the princes of Judah, and Zedekiah's eyes got gouged out, and he was in chains. Nebuchadnezzar bound Zedekiah in chains, carried him to Babylon. He was in prison till he died. He died a shameful death. All because he didn't do one thing. Surrender. God literally told him, Surrender to Babylon, this pagan nation, surrender to them. You will live, the city won't be burned, it'll be well with you, your soul will live. But yeah, he choose not to humble himself. A heart of unbelief. He refused to hearken to the voice of God. He trusted his thoughts, worried that, oh, what if the Jews they mock me? What do they deliver? What do they sell me out? And Jeremiah speaking by the word of God, it will not happen. Obey only the voice of God, and it'll be well with you. If you refused, this will happen. But instead of Zedekiah having faith in God, no, he followed his own thoughts, he followed, he made his own way, escaping through a secret route, thinking he won't he have escaped, he won't be found, but he was found. See what God says, is it's it happens. But it's a matter of do you trust him at that moment? It could have been well with him. It could have been well with him, but nah. It was well with the other king. Look at look at 2 Kings 24, verse 12. King Jehoiachin, that's the name. Let's go to 2 Kings 24, 12. 2 Kings 24, 12. And we see here, we see here in verse 12, now Jehoiachin, yes, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as all the other kings of Judah, right? But look at the difference here. When you read verse 12, actually, when you read verse 10, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, he came up against Jerusalem, the city was besieged. Nebuchadnezzar came up against the city. The same Nebuchadnezzar that took Zedekiah, took over Jerusalem when Jehoiachin was king. But look at verse 12, look at the difference of the heart posture. It says Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon. He, his mother, his servants, and his princes and his officers, the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. He went out to the king of Babylon. He surrendered. He didn't try to fight, he didn't try to rebel, he voluntarily walked. He surrendered. He took his L. And look at the result when he surrendered to them. Look at 2 Kings 25 and verse 27 to 30. It says, in the seventh, seventh and 30th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, in the 12th month, on the seventh and twentieth day of the month, that the king, look, look, it's a different name. Evil Merodok. Evil Merodoch, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison. So the angel Jehoiachin that surrendered and went to prison. Evil Meradoch, king of Babylon, took him out of prison, spake kindly to him, set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. His garments was changed. He ate bread continually before him all the days of his life. And his allowance was a continual allowance, giving him of the king a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. So you see right here, when you surrender, surrender to what God has said. Yes, you'll be in prison. It'll be difficult, but guess what? Like the king of Babylon, kind he was kindly spoken to. He set him up the throne above the throne of kings that were with him in Babylon, changed his prison garments. He ate bread continually before him all the days of his life. Allowance was continual. And we see Christ when we surrender, when we surrender to salvation, when we understand the gospel, we see right here, he lifts us up. We were brought low, we're buried with him in his death, and we are resurrected. And the kindness, let me let me let me read something real quick. Let me let me I'm gonna transition back. Look at Ephesians 2. Let's see, let's see. Uh okay, verse 7. We see we see the picture, right? That in the eight, oh, right here. But God, verse 4, Ephesians 2, verse 4, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sin, had quickened us together with Christ. By grace are he saved. So Jehoiachin, dead in prison, stuck in a situation, but now quickened together with the king of Babylon. He raised him up, and it says he raised him up, you know, over the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. And yet we see right here, he Christ does the same thing with us. He hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. Look at that, verse 7, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches. Then you see right here in 2 Kings 25, we see a perfect parallel, right? He kindly, he spoke kindly to him, set him above the kings, changed his prison garments, his garments are changed. We're clothed, we're the filthy rags of our righteousness thrown away. Now we're clothed with the righteousness of God. He became sinned for us that we might be made the righteousness of God. And we eat bread with him. We are now suppling with him. We eat in his flesh, drank his blood. We have life in him. We eat his flesh, his body, which was broken for us, which was sanctified, which sanctified us. And the blood of Jesus Christ that sanctified us and washed away our sins. And we see right here, he eat bread continually before him. We dine with Christ. We are one with him. And it says his allowance was a continual, the exceeding riches of his grace is shown. Riches, he got an allowance, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. We experience the exceeding riches of God's grace every day. Our salvation, not with not with per not with perishable things like gold and silver, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, hallelujah. That's that's an example of grace. All because he surrendered, denying his thoughts. Joiajin just didn't think about, oh, he didn't try to escape. He didn't try to think of it. No, no, no. He surrendered his will. He denied everything. He threw away his thoughts, his heart, what he wanted to do, and just accepted what God had put. Because we'll see soon about Babylon and why they were sent. And we actually talked about it in the couple episodes ago, about man's way and the hand of the way. You should listen to that. So we see King Jehoiach, he surrendered to the enemy and he lived, right? And yeah, I say enemy, but guess what? God appointed them. God appointed them. Jehoshaphat, when you see 2 Chronicles 20, 12, he didn't try it to the point that he knew he was gonna lose. When you see his prayer, he literally says in verse 12, Oh our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know what we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. See, Jehoshaphat, he knew he was gonna lose. He knew they knew they were gonna lose against the nation. The children of Moab, the children of Ammon, the Ammonites, wanted to fight Jehoshaphat. He feared them, he was scared, he knew he was gonna lose. But he turned to God in prayer. He took all his problems, all his things, he took it to God in prayer. He says, God, we can't do it. Our team is weak. This great company, they we can't beat them. We don't know what to do. We have no game plan, we have no strategy, but guess what? Our eyes are upon you. And guess what? They went to battle, they didn't go, they didn't bring weapons. The Bible says they just sung to sung, they began to sing, praising the Lord. Once they singing and praising God, his mercy endures forever. Putting singers in the front, in the battlefront, the Bible says the Lord sent ambushs against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir. They they slayed and destroyed each other. They were dead, bodies fallen to the earth, none escaped. Why? Because they put it in the hands of God. Surrender, and you will live. You see 2 Kings 7. The lepers, the four leprous men at the gate. They said to themselves, why sit here till we die? Why? See, there's famine in the city and we're sick, we're gonna die there. But if we sit here, we're gonna die as well. So you know what let's do? Let's just fall into the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we'll live. If they kill us, we have no, we're gonna die regardless. But they didn't try to, but the Bible says when they went, by the time they when they rose up in the twilight to go to the Syrian camp, it was empty. Because the Bible says, when they were walking, the Lord made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots. So the four leprosed men walking, God made it seem like, oh, that there's a noisy chariot coming to attack them. And the Syrians thought to themselves, uh-oh, the king of Israel hired against us against us the king of the Hittites, the king of the Egyptians, to come upon us. They fled their tents, they left their tents, horses, asses, the camp, they fled for their life. And you see the you see what the what was left at the camp? Food, drink, silver, gold, raiment, everything. Think about it. Good news. The good news came from four sick men. Four sick men delivering the good news, all because they surrendered.

Speaker 2 18:51

They surrendered. Surrender to the enemy.

Speaker 18:57

Now that sounds, that sounds evil. That sounds how? How can you surrender to enemy? That's what Paul did. If you read 2 Corinthians 12, verse 7 and 10, we see how Paul talks about how he's exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations. He was being exalted, you know. But guess what? There was given to him something: a thorn in the flesh. The messenger of Satan debuffed him. Unless he should be exalted above measure. Now you see that word, it says a thorn in the flesh. So the thorn in the Greek is called the scallops. So it's a sharpened wooden stake used for impaling criminals or building defensive military trenches. So when we see Paul is saying, look, this is not a splinter. He's been violent, he's violently been skewered. And this satanic and the messenger of Satan came to buffet him. That word buffet is literally calafizo, colafizo. And it comes from combat sports of the Mediterranean in Paul's time. So it's an athletic term. So technically, boxers back then, when they had boxing, they don't have like, it's not like modern boxing where they wear padded gloves and headwear and all that. No, no, no, no, no, no. They literally wrap their hands in this thing called leather castis. I don't know how to pronounce it. It's C-A-E-S-T-U-S. And this wrap, the leather castis that wrapped in, is studded with metals and rocks. And literally, that word buffet is to strike with the fist or strike the face. So when we see Paul talking about a messenger of Satan, the thorn, the thorn of his thorn in his flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him. Literally, God is allowing a demonic entity to act as a heavyweight boxer, to act like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, George Foreman, relentlessly throwing blows at Paul's face for the purpose of what? To intentionally keep his ego completely bruised and broken. And Paul does what we do in churches and throughout specifically the African circles. And Paul besought the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And that's important. That word depart is not like a, you know, please leave. No, no, no, no. It's like it's a word deeply rooted in military or political rebellion. Literally, this demonic entity, break ranks, abandon your post, stage a retreat. Same thing, come out, come out, fire, fire, fire. Hold on, fire, pop, pop, pop, yeah, you know, and you know, them African Nigerian prayers. Come out, come out, come out, time, all these repetitive, repetitive incantations. All of that. Break ranks, retreat, get out of here, abandon your post, get out of here, retreat, move, move, move. See? Paul is viewing, see, he's looking at the situation as a army, occupying army, occupying his body. And he's begging the Lord to issue a retreat order. Tell him, release. It's like have fire. Get out of here. Get out of here. Bite, fire, bite. That type of prayer. And we always like these types of prayers. But yet, how does God respond? He literally says, My grace is sufficient for you. Simple as that. My grace is sufficient for you. So simple. So subtle. My grace is sufficient for you. And that word sufficient is a powerful. Sufficient is literally a barrier to raise a barrier, ward off an enemy. So God always who's promised who cannot lie. He promises that his grace will act as a fortress wall, neutralizing the blows of the boxer. Grace is sufficient for you. Why? Strength is made perfect in weakness. God's strength is made perfect in weakness. Not when things go good, but when when situations, when bad things happen, yes, God works. God is there in the center. That's why we take glory in our infirmities. Why? That the power of Christ may rest upon me. That word rest is a powerful word. That word rest is not like a simple rest. This is the same, this is literally the imagery of the Old Testament Shekinah glory cloud descending upon the wilderness. Literally. What is Paul telling the church at Corinth? My body that is broken up, beaten up, is literally like a ragged canvas tent in the Old Testament tabernacle during Moses' time. But since it is torn by open by weakness, the brilliant, explosive glory of Christ can camp out inside of me. Right? So we so the tabernacle is not just a tent, it's literally the designated intersection of heaven and earth. And it's for one specific purpose. And it's in Exodus 25, verse 8. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. That Greek word rest epischino. This is literally talking about the spectacular scene found at the end of the tabernacle's construction. When you read Exodus 40, verse 34 to 35, then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon. The Septuagint Greek episazon. It's a close linguistic cousin meaning overshadowed. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So we see the tangible, this tangible, visible, manifest presence of God is known as what? The Shekinah. And the Shekinah derived from the Hebrew word shakan, meaning to dwell or tabernacle. So when the Shekinah glory descended, it tented over the tabernacle. An explosive, unapproachable density of God's power that rested upon this physical earthly structure. Now look at this see the Old Testament tabernacle and Paul's New Testament reality. See the Old Testament tabernacle, flawless, expensive materials, built, gold, fine linen, acacia wood. Paul's New Testament body, the reality, our bodies, imperfect, fragile, broken. The Old Testament tabernacle, the dwelling place of the Shekinah glory of God. But yet in the New Testament, Paul's New Testament truth, the dwelling place of the miraculous power of Christ. And in the Old Testament tabernacle, what did it require? Perfect, unstained ritual purity to host the presence of God. But in the New Testament, paradoxically, hosts God's presence right in the middle of human weakness. This is the opposite. That Greek word epischino. What my body is torn open by the storm, bleeding, exhausted, broken down like a ripped tent in the wilderness. But through those tears and the fabric, that the heavy blinding thunder, Shekinah glory of Christ drops down, pitches its tent over me, and used my hollowed-out weakness at his dwelling place. So the thorn did not disqualify Paul from experiencing God. What did it do? It cleared out his self-reliance so that the tabernacle of Christ's power could move in. That's deep. See, what what was the problem? What was the thorn in flesh? Pride, self-reliance, trusting in himself. John Bunyan made a quote: It is my duty to distrust mine own ability, that I may have reliance on him that's stronger than all. Like John the Baptist says, I'm decreased. I must decrease that he may increase. That's what it is. Bringing yourself low so that God may be exalted. Distrusting our own ability, because we can't do it. We think we can do it, but we can't. We don't rely on ourselves. And that was the problem. So that thorn in the flesh, this Satan, this demonic entity, was allowed by God. So Babylon coming against Jerusalem was allowed by God. When you read uh in Ezekiel 21 about Nebuchadnezzar, you know, creating like doing this ritual on which country to attack, he was using pagan rituals and all that. The people of Israel thought, oh, you know, we we got it, we're cool. God is not gonna help. Nah. Guess what? God directed the arrow, says, point at Jerusalem. Because they broke their covenant. Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah swear to God. But guess what? Zedekiah, instead of putting his trust in God, he put his trust in Egypt. And guess what? Egypt was already falling into Babylon's hands, so it was literally a bad result. It was literally, it was literally like he was he was bound, he was in trouble. There was nothing he could do. So God allowed that. If you read Habakkuk, it talks about how they were like fierce wolves, the Chaldeans are like fierce wolves of the evenings. Piercing. But guess what? God sent them. If you read verse 12 of Habakkuk 1, it says, art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy one, we shall not die, O Lord. Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. So we see here, God established them. See, the prophet Habakkuk starts to realize like Babylon is not acting out of its own wild impulses. God legally deputiz them. He allowed that. They're executing God's lawsuit against Judah, which corrupt themselves. And this Babylonian army floods and sweeps through the land. Habakkuk sees God as a massive towering rock formation that the enemy cannot scale or break. And literally, this invasion by Babylon was literally disciplinary. God is using Babylon as a harsh physical argument to shock Judah out of its moral complacency, to chastise them. Not only to chastise them, but ultimately the end goal to bring them back to the foundation of the covenant. So think about it. Despite Babylon's invasion, Habakkuk makes it clear. He makes a bold declaration of corporate survival based on God's covenant loyalty. See, they're gonna face severe discipline, but since God is eternal, they're not gonna face total destruction. They're not gonna face total annihilation because God does not kill. Ultimate destruction is way out of God's character. It's incompatible with the promise of God. Absolutely not. This is not an Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, this is not annihilation, this is not punitive annihilation. This is literally corrective discipline. Literally, God is using a wicked instrument to argue his case and restore order to his people, his chosen people, a holy nation, kings and priests, all while remaining as their immovable rock. So we see God is using the terrifying judgments not to destroy, but to correct, refine, and ground them upon his eternal foundation. Why? Because God loves them. It says whom the Lord loves, he chastises. This is an act of chastisement. God loves them. The pain they're going through, but guess what? All the slaughters and deaths, why is that? God didn't allow that, but because they did it themselves. Because they trusted in themselves. Instead of surrendering, as God said, surrender to Babylon. Humble yourself, bring your neck, bring yourself low to him, and you will live. Nah, they'll try to fight, they'll try to escape, they'll try to find a way, knowing they have no way, knowing they can't do it, knowing it's literally God said it, He can't change His mind. No matter you try to bring it, make a make it sound perfect to lie and be like, oh, God didn't send him, God's word stands. His word will never return unto him void.

Speaker 2 31:40

The word of God stands forever.

Speaker 31:48

Don't think you literally. And you know, we when it comes to real life, we have that issue. That's why Paul tells us, look at 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12 to 13. Wherefore, let him that thinketh, that's important, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. That's deep right there. Look about, look at that. Thinketh he standeth. See, in that time, he's using something that deeply resonated with the Isth Mian games. I-S-T-H-M-I-A-N games. So this is an athletic festival that was held right outside of Corinth. That word standeth isn't standing around. It's literally an athlete, you know, you're setting your stance, like, you know, the starting group, like your stance firmly on the stone, starting grooves of a racetrack, or a foot a lineman lining up, or a wrestler establishing a low, immovable center of gravity. So it's like positioning yourself, preparing yourself, like tip-off. And this says, thinketh he standeth. This is literally a subjective illusion of strength. So we see it's the pride, it's the pride of a runner who assumes their footing is flawless. And guess what? Paul juxtaposed this with fall, lest he fall. Which is a crash, a violent crash, like an arrogant runner and he trips over his own feet on the track. Or like a wrestler, he gets lifted and slammed to a dust. Or like defensive linemen slamming down the O line. See? What we see right here. What do we see right here? What is Paul saying here? When we assume, the second we assume that our spiritual stance is flawless, we have no issue, everything is good, our spiritual life is this and that. Guess what? We are already mid-air on our way to a face plan. We're gonna go down. We're gonna trip ourselves, we're gonna slam ourselves, we're gonna lose, we're gonna fall.

Speaker 2 34:08

Simple as that.

Speaker 34:13

And then he says, There hath no temptation taken you. Now, in the original, it literally is like an ancient military skirmish. Temptation in that time is a term used for what? Testing purity of metals in a superheated forge, or a general putting a platoon through a brutal discipline drill to discover their breaking point. Those in the military, you probably know what that is. And it says, no have temptation taken you, which is an aggressive capture, ambushed, pinned down, overtaken by a hostile force. So what does Paul say? Our struggles is not an elite supernatural monster designed to break us. That is literally, that is literally the attitude of some of us Christians. Some of us are sick, some of us have no money, some of us are in a terrible situation. We blame it on the demonic entity. It's the spirit of this, it's the spirit of that, the spirit of Jezebel, the spirit of Deliah, it's the spirit of brokenness, it's the spirit of this and that. We blame always, always a demonic entity. We always blame something. We also blame on something that is spiritual. The reason because uh, you know, a lot of conspiracies because, you know, the reason the sports team lose because there's a demon, they did something and are struggled, the reason that because no, no, no, no, no, no. It's human life. That's every human goes to struggle. It's literally standard human warfare. Trials that ambushed believers, it's the same one every single human soldier has to have to fight off. So this is normal. This is regular.

Speaker 2 35:49

This is life itself. It's common.

Speaker 36:00

Even our struggle sometimes is literally every human has that drug addiction, porn addiction, alcohol addiction those who are hypersexual, those who have like certain struggles. Everybody has that. Paul says we are men of like passions, no different. We all have phobias of something.

Speaker 2 36:24

Every we had to all had that moment. It's standard, it's human, every human this earth went through that. We're no different than them. Simple. That's the truth.

Speaker 36:43

Then you see right here, in the phrase right here, God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. So we see God is paying here as a structural engineer. He is faithful. That's a legal and structural term. Literally, a guarantee, a rock solid foundation, something that will never buckle or crack under immense weight. And that's why I tell people you can't lose salvation because God is faithful. His promises are sure and everlasting. They stand, it's the solid rock. Christ, the solid rock on which he stands. We're built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Christ, the chief cornerstone, immovable. He stands forever. The word of God stands forever. And he says he does not, he will not suffer us to be tempted above that what we are able. So God draws a boundary line. He's literally the checkpoint, a quality control checkpoint. He monitors the heat of the crucible and calculates it strictly against our ability. What? The raw power and structural capacity he built into us. So we see here, he refuses to allow the pressure to exceed the engineering specs of our faith. God knows the limits. And you see the climax here. It's a beautiful, beautiful way of explaining it. Make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Make a way to escape. See, in that time, in Arnold's military accounts, is literally a hidden, narrow mountain pass or escape route used by an army that found themselves trapped at the bottom of a steep, dead-end canyon surrounded by enemies. That ye may be able to bear it. With with will with the temptation. That word with in the Greek is sun, S-U-N, meaning in tight companionship with. So literally the moment the enemy pins us in the canyon, there's an escape tunnel already carved right next to it. It's already carved. There's an escape route. That we may be able to bear it. Look at that word. It's the Greek word hoopo pharaoh. Hoopo is the word which means underneath pharaoh to carry heavy weight. It's a compound verb. So picture a strong porter bending down, getting directly beneath a massive crushing boulder, lifting with their heads, with their legs to hoist it onto their back and walking out of the canyon under their weight. So what do we see? How what how can how can we see what Paul says? The way God rescues us is not magic escapism. It's not like like that automatically, like magic. No, no, no, no, no. He doesn't automatically zap this canyon away or you know the enemy voices become, you know, banished and vaporizing. No, no, no, no, no, no. You know what he does? In our situations, whether in our in our struggle with lust, drunkenness, pornography, homosexuality, any type of struggle, anything, anything that holds us down, he reveals a hidden exit route and gives us the supernatural physical resilience to lift the heavy burden, stay on our feet, and carry it all the way out to safety. And it's not by might, it's not by our power, it's only by the Spirit of God. God always knows how to make the way, how to make the way.

Speaker 2 40:19

And not only that, he is the way.

Speaker 40:27

That's why we have to understand that we cannot trust ourselves. Our hearts are deceitful and wicked. Out of the evil hearts, guess what? Who comes pride, evil thoughts? These things hinder us. It literally messes up our spiritual life. When we try to do things our way and we try to come up with our strategy, instead of surrendering to the word of God, everything is bad. Even those that think they can't handle it on their own, that I can earn my way to heaven, that I have to do certain things you know to earn it. No, no, no, no, no, no. You know what God says? Simple. Don't try to fight it, be still. Simple. Psalm 46 verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. Be still. Don't try to fight it. God's grace is sufficient for you. Decrease yourself. Surrender. David said, be still. That word is important. The Hebrew meaning waxing feeble. Fainting. Like white knuckling a situation, trying to control it. You know what God says? Let it go slack. Let alone abate. Let your hands hang down. Cease from the slothful efforts of the flesh. Forsake this frantic anxiety of self-preservation. Become weak. Weaken yourself. So you can experience divine strength. Weaken your flesh. Don't break it. Don't try to fight. Don't try to deal with it. No, no, no. Soften it. Tap out. Surrender. Become slothful. Idle in our own strength. Our busyness is a form of feebleness compared to the power of God. He's saying, let alone the situation. Allow our own efforts to consume away. And he says, be still and know that I am God. See, that's important. And know. There's a difference between knowing a person's name and being their familiar friend. This is not, you know, this is not a call to believe that God exists. When he says, be still and know that I am God. No, no, no, no. See? Like that example of yes, thou believes that there's one God that's good. Even the devils believe and they tremble. See, anybody, everybody, anybody can know God exists. This is not saying believe God exists. You know what he's saying? Mark. Perceive and acknowledge God. Acknowledge his work as a certainty. Once after you sl after you do the slackening, it's the knowledge, knowledge comes after that. You can't see what he's doing until you stop trying to do it yourself. And that's the problem. That's why I say the gospel is not about trying, trying harder, doing better, improve yourself, this and that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like, stop trying to stop trying to drink, stop trying to smoke, stop trying to watch pornography, stop trying to lust, stop doing no, no, no, no, no. Surrender. Weaken yourself. Tap out. Bow down. Admit it. Take the L. Surrender to the king of Babylon. Lay down your arms. You're bound for death.

Speaker 2 44:07

Might as well surrender. Surrender to the enemy. Be still and know that I am God.

Speaker 44:24

Once you slap once you literally lay your lay it out, lay it down, your mind and heart and repent. Change your mind. Re-intellectual orientation. Redirecting your way of thinking and heart. Literally know that he is God. It's literally it's not intellectual agreement. This is an experiential knowledge to ascertain by seeing, perception, discernment, understanding. Staying our own restless activity. We are instructed and endued with a certainty of who is in control. And we know who's in control. God. See, we don't just know about God, we acknowledge his presence through observation and care. Literally, surrender. It's a commandment. Surrender the feebleness of human effort so that the lofty and mighty reality of God can be clearly seen across the entire world, that he may be exalted among the heathen upon all the earth. The problem is we have we don't have this urge to surrender. We have this urge to fight and tell us, oh, we need to deal, we need to deal with our flesh aggressively, deal with our sins, do this and that. Fight, fight, fight, fight enemy, fight Satan. We need to fight. When God just says, be still. That's like trying to, literally, that's like trying to like fight law enforcement. When you just when you know you did not, like, let's say, like, you know, you're driving and you know law enforcement, they put their lights on. See, aren't you know what? The flesh is like, man, I ain't do nothing wrong. Boom, I'm still going. To the point that it's a car chase, something happens, they shoot at you, things happen, doesn't go your way. But when you just surrender, just pull over, you know, pull out your ID, everything, hands out the vehicle, comply, prepare a license and registration. Whatever happens, happens. Surrender yourself. Surrender, and you will live. Joseph, imagine the struggle he had to go through when his brother sold him. He didn't try to fight, he didn't be like, no, no, no, no, let me go, this and that. No, no, no, no, no. You know what he did? Surrender. Surrender to the Ishmaelites, surrender to Potiphar, surrender to the prison sentence that his wife put him in. And guess what? You will live. And guess what? Became second ruler, saved the nation from famine.

Speaker 2 47:04

God allowed it, forgave his brothers. When God speaks, we stand still. God gives the word. Don't even try to fight.

Speaker 47:18

Don't even try to just loosen yourself and believe. Repent and believe the gospel. Look at Amos 3, verse 8. The lion hath roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy? When you see a lion, what the first initiation? You don't try to run. You don't try to fight it. Because the lion's gonna kill you. You're gonna be eaten. It's gonna chase you. It's gonna hunt you down. Stand still. Stand in fear. See, literally, the Lord speaking is similar to the lion roaring. When lions, look, when lions roar, what's the natural reaction? Fear. The Lord speaks, what's the natural reaction? Prophesying. See, when God speaks, it's not a speech. It's literally a rearranging the order of reality, appointing a new state of affairs. The word of God is to feel the weight of a decree that has already begun to subdue the future. What is it? Repent, for the kingdom is at hand. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt save, thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believes on me has eternal life. Whosoever eateth my flesh, drinketh my blood, you have life in you. He shall save his people from their sins. I have come that ye may have life, and life is through his name. That's the reality.

Speaker 2 48:46

He appointed a new order. He's already planned in advance before the world began.

Speaker 48:57

God promised eternal life before the world began, and he cannot lie. See, when the roar, same way lying roaring causes fear, God's speech causes prophecy. See, how's a prophet made? By the sheer voice of the message.

Speaker 2 49:12

You are a vessel under pressure. So what do we see?

Speaker 49:23

The prophecy, what is the what is the prophecy? The testimony of Jesus Christ. It's the spirit of prophecy. It's not, you know, declare, you know, you know, looking into the future, predicting that. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's about Jesus Christ. The moment God speaks the word, Paul, in that moment, he had no other choice. Who art thou, Lord? He stood still. He was blinded by the light. It was hard for him to run away. To the point he got blinded, got healed. Now he's now pre the greatest gospel preacher in the world. We see Amos 3.8 right here, that the prophetic calling is not a matter of human will, but it's a reaction of God's initiative. Because why? We are subdued by the word of God, and we have no other choice but to what?

Speaker 2 50:16

Utter what we have heard. That's how God works. God works through our weakness, through our fears, to our struggles, to our pain, to our addictions.

Speaker 50:28

God is not afraid of that. God is not afraid of idols. You do realize when God called Abraham, that man was probably idol. Him and his family, all of them were idol worshippers. Yeah, God called them. See, idols, shrines, all these things, they're made of God's creation.

Speaker 2 50:47

All of them are created by God. So we we have no reason to fear.

Speaker 50:56

Why should we have worry about anything when we have God with us? Look at 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3 to 7. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which aren't in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. So we see here when Paul mentions trouble or affliction, it's literally the same thing, physically crushed under a massive, suffocating weight, placed inside a narrow closing space where movement is impossible. But yet, God, you know, the divine calling close. It matches the pressure pound for pound through this Greek word peresuo, which is a word depicting a river bursting over its banks and a flood. See, we see right here, the hardship is heavy, but the grace overflow is vastly disproportionate and superior. Where sin abounds, grace abounds. And literally, we see in verse 5, the greater the depth of trial, the greater the overflow of God's encouragement. So we see that whether the apostles face affliction or comfort, it is literally the purpose of it, is directed towards the believer's salvation and steadfast endurance. Because we see suffering, the believer's suffering is an effective instrument for what? Communal edification and shared resilience. Our mutual participation in the sufferings of Christ, what does it guarantee us? An equal share in his ultimate comfort and victory. So we see here, 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3 to 7, it shows human suffering through a lens of God's purpose and relational grace. And we trace comfort back to God, the blessed God of our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. We have an assurance in this word of God that we as believers, that no trial is experienced in isolation, but every affliction handled through the grace of God transforms into a ministry of comfort for the whole body of Christ. Hallelujah. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. Look at that. We have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead. All these things happen so that we cannot trust in ourselves, distrust our thoughts, but to trust in the living God who raiseth from the dead. So literally, Paul is describing his ordeal in Asia. That how they were weighed down like a beast of burden, carrying a collapsing land, and thrown far beyond the boundary line, and pushed completely over and above human strength. They hit a dead end, complete intellectual, physical dead end. They're in a state of absolute dizzying disorientation, zero exit strategies. They even have the sentence of death in their own minds. They're already condemned men walking to the gallows. So we ask ourselves, this is a breakdown of our ego. Why does God allow these things to happen? A crisis of an execution style level of proportions. Why? So that we can stop relying, leaning our weight on, placing false confidence of our human endurance, of ourselves. But guess what? Fall backward into the hands of God who raises people up from the dead. All these things happen, the thorn in the flesh, Babylon coming, all the struggles, everything. This is an intentional demolition of what? Self-reliance.

Speaker 2 55:49

Putting our ego down, telling us to weaken ourselves, so God may strengthen his purpose.

Speaker 56:00

We decrease, he increases. And then look at verse 10 and 11. Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us, ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. So we see Paul's confidence in verse 10 shows three active forms of this type of deliverance. Like a rushing torrent or a warrior violently snatching someone out of the jaws of a rushing monster. So now we see God did rescue them from that specific massive death. God is currently rescuing them. And they have set their absolute anchor, trust that he will yet violently rescue them again. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They have assurance. You know, God will deliver us from this. Even if he doesn't, no way.

Speaker 2 57:10

But he will deliver us from this. And then look at verse 11. So we see in verse 11, Paul describes the prayers of the church at Corinth, how they're praying for them.

Speaker 57:29

He used this word, this compound word, sunoporgio, which means stepping under a heavy load together as structural co-assistance. So when the church, when the church at Corinth prayed, they're not saying a passive nightly prayer. What are they doing? They're grabbing structural beams to help lift the weight off Paul's shoulders. That's the important thing of the body of Christ. People say, oh, we don't need church. I have online church. No, no. You take a community of brothers and sisters in the Lord. And we see right here a multiplied chain reaction of gratitude. See, because the danger involved a vast network of people, guess what? The resulting deliverance, which is the grace, the gift of grace. Charisma, it will cause an eruption of collective thanksgiving. So we see here the trial was shared, the prayers were shared, the rescue was experienced, and now the erupting wave of praise will bounce back to God from a unified, multi-voiced choir. So all these things happen through God. All the trials, the struggles, the tribulations, the things we go through in spiritual life, things we go through as human beings, God allowed it so that the glory can come back to him, so that we may put our trust in him and put away trust in ourselves, but trust in him who raised us from the dead. How? But yet we were poor. But yet He became, He literally became poor for our sake.

Speaker 2 59:38

He experienced poverty so that we may be enriched, so that we may trust in Him only.

Speaker 59:48

And God works perfectly in weakness, in your struggles, in your addiction, in a situation that you can't do it. So you know you can trust God. See, what was the crucifixion? It was really the symbol of Roman state power, public humiliation, absolute powerlessness. So think about it. Christ didn't just die, he was subjected to a brutalized, immobilized execution. He was crucified through weakness. That crucifixion came out of a total absence of strength, a condition of feebleness that affected both his body and mind, moral frailty, human vulnerability. Christ willingly stepped into the deepest trench of human poverty, limitation, struggle. He came in there weaponless, defenseless, naked. But through that weakness, he liveth. He continually lives by the power of God. The resurrection, power of Christ, the life resurrection was an eruption of raw, supreme, heavenly, divine energy, breaking through the dead end of human mortality. And he says, We also are weak. So we see how Paul aligns himself and his ministry directly with Christ's trajectory. And he refuses to project a facade of self-made apostolic invincibility. So in his day-to-day lifestyle and preaching, he's visibly frail, pressed down by persecution, stripped of human leverage, weak in him. See, our frailty is a living participation in his cross. It's not meaningless suffering. It's enclosed within Jesus Christ. It's fixed. Our positional state is in Christ Jesus. And we shall live with him. We see a deep companionship, a shared process of life. Same way Christ broke out of death. We are guaranteed an active existence, intimately locked together with him. Towards you. See, there's like a vector now. Right? So God's power and resurrection life is not locked, it's not locked up in heaven. It's explicitly, explicitly aimed at us, toward the church. So we see Paul's weakness and subsequent divine renewal is for the purpose of what? Benefit. For our benefit. Designed to impact, rescue, build up the church. That's why we see all the persecutions going on in China, the underground churches in Nigeria and even the Middle East, all these things happen with the building up of the church. Let me tell you, when person, the more persecutions, the more power. The more communism comes in, more Christ is exalted.

Speaker 2 1:03:07

The more ideologies that are ungodly, the more powerful the Word of God grows. See, the Word of God stands forever.

Speaker 1:03:18

See, think about it, it has survived years, decades, centuries of persecution, of murder, of humiliation, of mockery, of despising. Think about it. The church went through hell, but guess what? The word of God still stands. The scriptures still remain. The word of God stands forever. Everything in this earth will fade away, but God's word doesn't fail. The power of God remains always. It says God is faithful, He's immovable. He's not moved by idolatry, He's not moved by witchcraft, He's not moved by voodoo or any of these wicked things. He's not moved by that. He's not scared of religion. He's not scared of idol worship. He's not scared of astrology. He's powerful in all of that. Even Nebuchadnezzar using pagan rituals. Guess what? God still worked with him. God still worked through him. Regardless. Financial debt, relationship problems, marriage problems, all the addictions, the struggles we have. Even the ones that are criminal, even the things that are evil, evil beyond speaking.

Speaker 2 1:04:44

God made a way to escape.

Speaker 1:04:52

Look at first Peter 4, verse 12 to 16. Beloved, think it not strange. It is not don't think of it surprising, concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye. For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this on his behalf. Peter said, Think it not strange. He said, Don't literally, what is Peter, what does Peter say? Don't treat stop treating persecution like an uninvited, terrifying intruder that has broken into our house and that shouldn't be there. See? How can we view persecution? It's a normal resident. In the in the spiritual life, we should expect it. We shouldn't be surprised by it. And when he says a fiery trial, it is literally considered a fiery trial that tries us. That word fiery trial, that the Greek word porosis, is literally the term for smelting, liquefying metal to extract dross. So picturing. Peter's audience will picture this like a silversmith blowing into a blistering furnace, heating precious metal until the impurities rose to the top and could be scraped away, leaving a reflection of the smith in the purified metal. It wasn't an image of destruction, but of deliberate controlled transformation. That's what Babylon was to Jerusalem.

Speaker 2 1:06:50

Why? So that believers will be glad with what exceeding joy.

Speaker 1:06:58

Untamed, ecstatic external reaction. See, the heavy weight of our trials is contrasted with a future joy so intense that it causes a physical eruption of movement. So like a pregnant lady, it hurts for a while, but when that bundle of joy comes, that's happy, there's joy. You don't remember the pain. So then Peter starts to isolate this now with a specific type of suffering, verbal malice, and reveals its hidden spiritual reality. It literally says, if ye be reproached, meaning if you are we are defamed. So literally, we we see here the type of life we go through as believers. If we are reproached, we are defamed, taunted, reviled for the name of Christ is the exact trigger for a blessing. Happy, blessed, fortunate, we're spiritually well off in the midst of social hostility. Why? The Spirit of Glory and God rests upon us. So when we face persecution, when we face these struggles, the Holy Spirit doesn't flee. He doesn't leave you at a moment of like quote unquote habitual sin. But what does he do? He settles down to refresh, take ease. He remains as a protective weight upon us. See, there's two halves of the verdict. On those who are persecuting us, Christ is evil spoken of. He's blasphemed. But on our part, he's glorified, he's rendered and esteemed as visibly magnificent. Now, when it comes to suffering, let's understand here. When it comes to suffering, not all suffering is counted as holy, right? Not all suffering is counted as holy. Because there are four categories of behaviors that there's no spiritual honor if punished. Because these four things, they it just literally, the cause of the distress determines the spiritual value, right? So these things deserve no spiritual honor, right? A murderer, which we know. A thief, we know, an evildoer, we know. And then he says this one thing right here a busybody in other men's matters. Look at that word. A busybody. A busybody. Now, a busybody, you might think of it as someone who gossips or gets into people's business. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. A busybody in those times, it literally is com it's a Greek word, it's allo triopiscopos. Allo Triopiscopos, right? It's a rare compound word combining alotrios belonging to another and episcopals overseer slash bishop. That's what the word bishop is, right? So, what do we divide? What does this mean? So, in a Roman context, it means someone, and let me tell you, this is for all these street preachers and those who carry bullhorns and all this stuff. This is what it is. Someone who intrusively tried to police or judge the cultural customs of their pagan neighbors. So, what is so what do we see Peter saying here? He's telling believers not to provoke unneeded persecution by being obnoxious, self-righteous, and politically meddlesome in matters that are none of their business. Suffering, let me tell you, Christian suffering is pure. That's not the problem. But suffering as a result of being an arrogant nuisance, that's a problem. And we see, you know, when they go to areas and they think they're doing the right thing, they're talking trash, they're causing problems, they're saying things, they're saying controversial things. And I was one of those. When, for example, there's a if you see a Muslim post and you say, Oh, Jesus is king. And then they dislike it. And then they say something that that goes evil against God. And then literally, that's that's a busybody. They play victim. They go to areas cause trouble. Then when someone reacts in a way, oh, you know, and then they always say, Blessed are those who are persecuted. You know what, you know what Peter said? That's not honorable. That's not no honorable persecution. God does not, there's no honor behind that. God does not respect that type of suffering. Every go in there to cause trouble, and then it gets to the point that, you know, now again, look, assault, being beat up, all that, getting spent on, wrong. But the thing is, you you caused it. You caused it. You're so that the gospel is comforting. It's supposed to, the goodness of God leads to repentance. Like I seen this video of a dude, like, he's in the magic kingdom, and they talk about, oh, this is a false kingdom. The kingdom of there's only one kingdom, the kingdom of God, in literally in the middle of a theme park where kids are having fun. In a bullhorn, thinking, oh, he's doing the work of God. And you know, some ignorant believers will be like, oh wow, you know, he's he's he's so bold. They want to be like the Old Testament prophets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nah, God has no honor in that. And and the thing is they like, they like they want to live the Old Testament life. They want to live the Old Testament life. They don't want, they don't like to live the new reality of the testimony of Christ. Even the Old Testament prophets, they wanted to see Christ. Let me tell you something. We are literally, as a pastor put it, we are literally better than the Old Testament prophets. You know why? Because we heard of Christ. We have Christ. We have experienced the grace of God. Yet they want to go cause trouble, be a social disrupt, and then when someone reacts a certain way, we want to be like, oh, we're being persecuted, we're being hated on, this is the life. You know, we get arrested, we get spat on, we get beat up, and you know, we think, oh, yeah, wow. And then people say, Wow, this is this is this is true Christian, you know, the the church is in trouble. We're we're at war. Nah. That ain't nothing. You're the one doing it.

Speaker 2 1:13:15

A busybody, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Don't be no busybody.

Speaker 1:13:26

It says if any man suffers as a Christian, now that word Christian is only used three times in the Bible. The first time was used in Antioch. That word Christian, if you like, if you actually, the Greek word for that word Christian is Christianos. It's literally an imperial slur. Now it's turning to a badge of honor. The best way to describe what the word Christian is is the N-word. See, the N-word was used as a slur against us. Now we use it so freely and loosely. See, in the first century, think about it, that word ianos, Christian, Christianos, the word ianos was a Latinized suffix meaning belonging to the slave household of. The term Christianos, remember, it was originally coined in Antioch as a mocking political taunt used by outsiders to debate the crazy slaves of Jesus Christ. See, it carried deep social stigma, implying treason against Caesar. See, that word was not, that word was a slur, that word is a slur. The word Christian is a slur. That's a derogatory term, especially in those days, in that context. So what we that's why Peter says, when they hurl that slur at us, see, now it's not a slur, it's a badge of honor now. But now, you see, he says it right here. When they hurl that slur at us to make us feel public disgrace, don't take the bait. Turn their insult into a title of ultimate honor. See, when people talk trash about the message, grace preachers that say, oh, you know, we give people license to sin, we're heretics, false doctrine. Take it. Accept it. Don't try to fight it. Don't try to I had to learn that myself, bruh. Accept it. Yeah, I am a heretic. Yeah. Uh-huh. Amen. Glory to God. Yeah, I'll take the L. Uh-huh. I had to learn that. Yep. Amen to that. Amen. And that's the life. That's that's spiritual life, bro. We're gonna struggle. We're gonna fall. All of us fall. We all know the same, we all know this famous verse. The righteous falls seven times and gets back up, but the wicked falls. You know what's crazy? The word fall is different for the two. See, like when it says the fall, the righteous fall, it's the Hebrew word nefall. This is literally an external blow. Meaning, we as righteous people, we get knocked down. We get cast out, we get hit by storms, right? Like a strong tree. Remember, we're called the planet, we're planted by the Lord. We're trees of righteousness, right? See, like a strong tree, we're flattened by a fierce wind. We're warriors, we're knocked to the dirt by an unexpected strike. It happens to us. See, falling can be physical. Adversity, poverty, sickness, it could be spiritual itself. Stumbling into temptation, failing in judgment. See? So we literally see Solomon is saying being righteous does not make us immune to gravity. And that's what all the people that talk about the sinless perfection and all that. Nah, you're not immune to that. See, the the scripture uses hyperbole to say, look, even if our collapse is totally complete, even if it hits rock's bottom in every conceivable way, the story's not finished. That's why it falls seven times. It's indefinite, overflowing number of trials. Righteous falls seven times. That's life. But it says the fall of the wicked. That word. See, like the think about it before I go. See the righteous man build his house upon the rock. Storms. That's that's the same, the righteous fall. Storms knocked it out. But guess what? It still stood. But the foolish man built his house on the sand, everything collapsed. That's literally the example of the fall of the wicked. The fall of the wicked, guess what? Falls into mischief. That word fall in this portion is the word cashal. K-A-S-H-A-L. This is literally internal failure. Weak ankles, tottering knees, staggering steps. The wicked man isn't necessarily he's not the wicked man is not knocked down by an outside force. No, no, no. You know what he does? He collapses from the inside out. Why? Because he has weak joints. He has no spiritual bone density. His ankles give away. He's wavering. He trips over his own crooked lifestyle. But yet that word mischief mischief is not a right translation for this word. It's the Hebrew word ra, the crash. It's literally a crushing word meaning what? Calamity, distress, total brokenness. See, when a wicked man's ankles give out, not only isn't that's not tripping, it's not only he trips, but he plummets into a pit of his own making. Which is what? A place of misery and ruin from which there is no internal strength to climb out of. That's like a man who hasn't received Christ. They're already in condemnation because he doesn't believe in them. They're grits already.

Speaker 2 1:18:23

They're bound, they're they're destined, they're doomed. They're in trouble. But it's a matter of we have a God who delivers us out of trouble.

Speaker 1:18:39

Because why? We have a solid foundation, Christ. The wicked man tried to build his foundation on things that are the flesh. Sand. Remember, ooh, see, sand, the foolish man built his house on the sand. Our flesh turns into dust, sand. He built it upon his own works, his own thoughts, his own ways. And guess what? It collapsed. Why? The wicked puts trust in himself instead of God who raises from the dead. Instead of receiving the corrective discipline of God, the chastisement of God, which is painful, which brings pain for a little bit, but yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Instead of accepting the word of God, expecting the pain and surrendering to it, try to run away, build your own thoughts, build your own type of, you know, way. And guess what? It fails. Matthew Henry made this quote. It is a great comfort in a day of trouble that we have a God to go to. In a day of trouble, we have a God to go to. And one thing great about, and we think trouble, and let's let's, you know, before I'm out, I'm almost done. Trouble does not always mean persecution or, you know, struggles. I mean, even though those things, persecution or suffering, or you know, things of that nature. It even comes from our stupidness in the day of trouble. It's a great comfort because since we have Christ, so let me tell you something. When it comes to our spiritual life, when it comes to growing in knowledge of Christ, when it comes to that, we're gonna make some stupid decisions. We're gonna make some foolish, idiotic things that does not fit the character of a believer. But things we have Jesus. Look at Psalm 107, verse 17 to 20. Look at that. Look how he describes trouble. Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted. So look, fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Their soul abhoreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then what do they do? They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. What does this verse mean? So think about it. We who suffer, we're not just making, we don't make just isolated mistakes. We act, and let me tell you, this calls down all this quote unquote sinless perfectionist. And yes, we have been perfected. Yes, we have no sin because Jesus took away our sin, cleansed, but we are in our flesh. Even I saw this interview of a brother, he interviewed this pastor, and he was like, He asked him, Are you a sinner or righteous? He answered, I'm 100% righteous. And he was like, Do you sin? And he said a powerful verse. He talked about, see, we are meant to sin over and over. These things are meant to happen. See, and he read Ecclesiastes 7, verse 20, which cap which, you know, makes sense. Verse 2 Ecclesiastes 7, verse 20. For there is not a just man, a righteous man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. No righteous, none of us righteous people will never say we have never sinned. If we say we don't have no sin, we deceive ourselves, because that's why Christ came to save us from sin. To say we have no sin or we never we know we don't sin, that's that's a lie. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But the difference is we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and that applies to those who believe in that truth.

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When you believe in that truth, boom. To say?

Speaker 1:22:39

Literally, so we see how David is describing, right? Us what a truce what suffering is, trouble. Because it literally says they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. He saves them from their distresses, he sent his word, he healed them, delivered them from their destructions. So we see fools because of their transgression, because their iniquities are afflicted. Our soul abhores all manner of meat and draw near unto the gates of death, right? So those we who are suffering, and I was I will show you proof that who is this we. See, we don't make isolated mistakes. What do we do? We actively walk, we we are actively walking a path we have packed down with our own feet. There are times we take what was straight and twist it until the consequences of our lifestyle bent back around to crush us. See, there are things we do that it backfires against us. And we can't take it back. And literally, the psalmist says, our soul aborth food, meaning our throats violently closes up, meaning that we are sickened. We are so sickened by the fruit of our own lifestyle that the very act of swallowing food, it causes some visceral nausea. See, we lose the will and ability to take in life. And how sickness and despair has driven us to the outer threshold of death. See, not only are we near death, we are physically banging against the heavy iron gate of the grave. We're helpless. But guess what? In our panic, in our fear, what happens? We cry out to God in our fears. And see how, and what does God do, how does God do it? Does he he not only he feels bad for us, you know he does? He forcibly expands his environment. He pulls us out of a suffocating vice grip into boundless open space. See, we are stuck in a pit, in a deep, deep pit we dug for ourselves. But guess what? That's why we have the word of God. Hallelujah. That's why we have pastors to chastise us. See, God sends his word down into the pit like a royal doctor. And what is the word, what does the word of God does? It stitches our torn lives back together and it greases our limbs. So why? We can smoothly slip out of the pit traps of death. See, God, God always has a way. So what do we see? What can we learn? Sin is self-destructive. And this judgment, and this judgment presented is not like an arbitrary external penalty. What is it? It's time, it's the natural fruition of a perverse lifestyle. But how powerful grace is. Grace overrides our deservings. Despite our crisis being self-inflicted through folly and foolishness, and guess what? God does not ignore our anguish. Because why? We genuinely call upon him. And we see the word redeems us. God, we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. So God restores us through the sending forth of his word. The ultimate, incarnate word who heals and rescues us from total destruction. So think about it. These fools who we foolishly make these mistakes, foolishly lust, smoke, drink, do all these things. But they say they cry out to the Lord. And we do this willingly. People be like, oh, there's a difference between sinning willfully and you know struggling with sin. No, no, there's no difference. The same thing. Accidentally murdering someone, and nah, you murdered someone, you're a murderer, regardless. Whether it's purpose on accident, you're still a murderer, it's still on your rap sheet. But it says they cry unto the Lord. Who was the one that cries to the Lord? Psalms 34, verse 17. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and deliver them out of all their troubles. So who we see Psalm 107, verse 17 to 20 describing? Righteous people. Because the righteous are the ones who cry. The Lord hears the prayers of the righteous, and he delivers them out of all their troubles. Cussing, going to a party, getting drunk, fornicating, doing crazy things, doing things you're not supposed to do. We do those things.

Speaker 2 1:27:06

And it gets to the point that we get sickened by it. But guess what? We call onto God.

Speaker 1:27:15

We have a God to answer, we have a God to cry out to. See, our crisis is self-inflicted through folly, and we have fear and worries and doubts. But guess what? We have God who saves us. And we see how God loves us so much. And we see in this new cup, this is a new covenant, the blood of the new covenant. And we see how God, we see how we see the heart of God, that He is merciful to our unrighteousness, and our sins, iniquities will he remember no more. God has made the choice that he exists in a state of cheerful favor towards our crookedness, our unrighteousness. The unrighteous things that will not inherit the kingdom of God. All unrighteousness is sin. All these things that don't inherit the kingdom of God, he says he'll be in a state of cheerful favor. Think about it, he favors us in our unrighteousness? What?

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What? He's merciful in this context.

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He does not overlook sin. He does not only overlook sin, but he chooses to remove it from his mental grasp through the new covenant. That what the weight of our unrighteousness in our iniquities is replaced by a new, by his mercy that is legally binding, eternally certain. Our sins and iniquities will I remember no more. He's no longer accounted because we have his righteousness.

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God is gracious.

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He leans towards us with the disposition of rescue rather than distance. He's not afraid of the things we do wrong. In those areas, that's when God works. God works through our sufferings, through our addictions, through our troubles. And the best response is to not fight it, to not try to find a way to beat it on our own through self-discipline and self-help and all these different types of methods to help ourselves. No, no, no, no, no. Surrendering ourselves. Bow down. Take the L. No, you can't do it. Admit you fail. Surrender yourself.

Speaker 2 1:29:39

Surrender, and you will live. Deny your thoughts.

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Deny your ways. Financially, spiritually, everything you're going through and our addictions and all the stuff we do and consume. Don't try to fight it. Surrender to it. Bow down. Bow down to the enemy. Bow down to those addictions.

Speaker 2 1:30:05

And look to God.

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Surrender. Those who struggle with pornography. Those who struggle with drunkenness. Those who struggle with smoking. Those who struggle with certain things. Don't try to fight it. Don't try to find a way to stop it. Surrender to it.

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Surrender to it. Look towards God. Trust the word.

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Cry out to God. The righteous cry. And he literally saves them. He literally calls us fools because of our transgressions. We do foolish things. And it's not something we do accidentally or struggle with. We're foolish. We chose that. But since we have Christ as our firm foundation, we have God to go to. We have brothers and sisters of Christ that keeps us accountable. We have our pastors that helps us and elders and bishops and prophets, apostles, whoever. We have those that will help us.

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God is a rest, He rescues us.

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Rescues us from the most the pits of something that nobody can deem possible. Because anything impossible with us, nothing is impossible with God. All things are possible with God. Trust in God. Deny yourself. Surrender. Surrender, you will live. You try to fight it, you're gonna fail. You're gonna die. It's gonna be a struggle. Trust in exceeding riches of God's grace. Trust in Him only. Amen. Thank you for listening to this message. I pray that his word enlightens both you viewers and listeners. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. God bless.