Telling the Truth

Host (Male): Today Jill Briscoe shares with you an invitation to know God and experience an intimate relationship with the Almighty. But first, building a consistent prayer life can be a challenge. That's why we want to let you know about a special opportunity to soak in Stuart and Jill's wisdom on prayer through a newly curated collection of their messages called "Powerful and Effective Prayer."

This resource is our thanks for your gift today to help others experience life in Christ through the global ministry of Telling the Truth. So call today to request your copy of this special collection: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now let's hear from Jill for today's message, "Knowing God."

Jill Briscoe: If we're going to know God, we've got to be introduced to him. And he gives us that invitation in the book of Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 18: "Come and let's reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. They are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Come, let's reason together. That really means come, let's agree together to do something about this distance that's come between you and me.

Because God is speaking to his people. So the first thing that happens is an invitation is issued to these people, and it's up to them whether they receive it or not. This is from the King of kings through the prophet Isaiah. God is issuing a very, very important invitation, and it's up to each of them individually and collectively as a nation to respond. Introductions initiate relationships. Relationships need nurturing, however. Nurturing takes time and effort, and it's the same with God.

Many of us here have been introduced to him. There has come a time where we have actually met him—not that we have shaken his hand, but we have knelt down at his feet, right? And we have said, "Jesus, come into my heart." We have said some words that have initiated a relationship. We have been introduced. But how well do we know him? How well do we really know him? Knowing God means knowing what he is like, knowing who he is.

In this passage of scripture in Isaiah 1, we learn first of all that God is like a father. Now, we learn that God is like a father because he says in verse 2, "I reared children and brought them up, but they've rebelled against me." But it's over in Hosea chapter 11 that we get a little glimpse of the fatherhood of God. Many of the prophets talked about God as a father, about the fatherhood of God, inviting his children to come to him.

"When Israel was a child, I loved him. Out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to Baals, they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking him by the arms, but they didn't realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them." You see those images of the father and the child? They're absolutely beautiful.

Here we have the picture of a loving father. What is he doing? Well, the Bible says that this loving father is raising and caring for children, that he is bending down to feed them, that he is taking them by the arms and teaching them to walk, that he called them from trouble, from out of Egypt, and he cared for them and he protected them. God is like a loving father. What is God like? He is a loving, loving father. He's also a hurt father, however.

Back in Isaiah chapter 1, we read, "I reared children, I brought them up, but they've rebelled against me." And those of us that have reared children and brought them up, if you've ever had the experience of a child who is in rebellion, then you know a little bit of the heart of God. You know a little, little bit of the heart of God. Because he has a world full of children that he has reared and brought up who have rebelled against him.

I'm not talking about the world in general. I'm talking about the church. I'm talking about his people—Israel in the Old Testament, Christians in the New Testament. He has taken us by the arms, he's taught us to walk, he's bent down to feed us. He has cared for us. And then he says in Isaiah, "The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel doesn't know. My people do not understand." He says, "I get more respect from my dog and cat than I do from you. I get no respect from my children, no respect at all."

What God is saying is, "That hurts me, especially when you treat me like that continually, when you have no respect for me and you don't call me sir." In fact, you treat me worse than my dog and my cat, my ox and my donkey. And so God is like a father, but he is like a hurt father. He's grieved, he's broken-hearted. But he's a wise father. Now, if you remember, Jesus taught us to say "Abba Father," to treat God as a wise, loving Heavenly Father.

He told parables and stories about God as father, didn't he? And of course, the most famous story that he told is about the prodigal son. The prodigal son that said to his father, "Give me, give me, give me, give me," and his father gave him and gave him. And off he went and took his inheritance before his time and wasted it all with rebellious living and ended up in a pigsty. Remember?

The father in the story was wise. Why was the father wise? Because he didn't chase him down the road, because he didn't go after him. He waited for him. He waited for him. He gave him the dignity of choosing his own actions. He gives us the choice of our actions, but he does not give us the choice of the consequences of them. Yes, you can choose what you want to do, he says, but you cannot choose the consequences of your actions. They're set.

Host (Male): You're enjoying the teaching of Jill Briscoe on Telling the Truth. She'll be back in a moment with more on how you can come to know God personally. But before we get back to today's message, let's be honest. Prayer can sometimes feel like a bit of a mystery. Some people feel so confused by how prayer works that they'll just forget it all together. But scripture paints an exciting picture of what a life of prayer can be and how you can experience it yourself.

That's why we want to send you a newly curated collection of messages from Stuart and Jill called "Powerful and Effective Prayer." These five eye-opening messages will help you push past today's commonplace platitudes on prayer and develop the rich and vibrant prayer life you're longing for. We're excited to send you this one-of-a-kind resource as thanks for your gift today to help keep sharing the life-changing truth of God's love with people around the world through Telling the Truth.

So call today to request "Powerful and Effective Prayer" when you give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. For many, our smartphones have become our social connection. But we want to help you make a spiritual connection with the Telling the Truth mobile app. You can listen to daily programs, engage in Bible reading plans, journal, and share your thoughts and prayers on the community wall. Get the Telling the Truth app through your app store or log off to tellingthetruth.org/mobile-app. Now let's return to Jill with today's message from her series "Shelter from the Storm."

Jill Briscoe: If we rebel and if we do not live as God wants us to live and if we make bad choices, we cannot choose the consequences of them. All of us know this. There are consequences to bad choices. And so he's a wise father. He's wise because he lets us live with the consequences of our actions. He gives us over. In Romans 1, over and over again, it says God gave them over to their own choice, their own bad choices.

That's what a wise father does. It doesn't mean he does not stand on the rooftop in a forgiving mode waiting for the son to come running down the road. It doesn't mean that as soon as he sees the son coming, he takes off—which the father did in the story—and meets him that last lap of the way. But he waits. He waits until the son says, "I'm a fool. I've got to go back to the father. I've got to get myself right with God," and starts that long, long walk home.

Those of you that have read Ruth Graham's book on prodigals will remember the story. And those of you that haven't, do. Put it in your library. Please God, you'll never need it, but it's a great book. Great book for parents who have a Franklin Graham in the family, who have a prodigal. And Ruth's tender wisdom as a parent, Billy's tender wisdom as a parent, is an incredible story. They let him go, but they stood on the rooftop in prayer and they watched and they prayed.

One day, Franklin Graham appeared on that long road home and he said, "I'm a fool. I'm sick of being sick of myself. I'm coming home." And that's what wise fathers do. Sometimes he lets us go into the dark tunnel. Sometimes he lets the storm envelop us in order to drive us into our father's arms. Sometimes he allows the storms of life to drive us into the arms of God. He allows us to choose, and then he allows us to endure or to experience the consequences of those choices.

You see, this little girl was looking for a shelter from the wind. This small child needed her father's arms around her. This dependent one knew the reassurance of her father, the sense of his presence. It didn't stop the storm, but it stopped the storm in her heart. To know I had a place of refuge and hear my father's voice calmed me down and fortified me. From this safe vantage point, I could not only face the world in its mess but take it on.

So we have a loving Heavenly Father. He's loving, he's hurting, but he's wise. And we are like children. We're rebellious and we're rude, quite honestly. We're just rude. I don't know where respect went for God, but when there is respect for God, there is holy living. When there is respect for God, we mind him. My father raised me in the war, fought for me in England and the world. After 1945, he rebuilt the business, worked all hours, rebuilt the country with everybody else to provide for me and educate me.

He raised me, he cared for me, he fed me. He bent down to feed me. He took me by the arms. He was a wonderful, wonderful father. At the age of 14, however, I began to go absolutely wild as a teenager. I got into the wrong company, and I started going to the park at night where all the kids congregated, just to have fun. I had my feet on the edge of everything that kids can have their feet on the edge of. I wasn't over the line, but I had my toes ready to go.

It was this huge respect that I had for my dad, even though I wasn't a believer, even though I didn't come from a Christian home. This right fear—I didn't want to dishonor him or hurt him because I loved him. Now, that's the secret of the Christian life, folks. Don't say you love God if you're living like the devil. If you love him, you'll be afraid that what you do will dishonor him and hurt him.

I learned that God is like a father and we are like children. Secondly, God is like a doctor. Isaiah 1: "Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption." This is verse 4. "They've forsaken the Lord, they've spurned the Holy One of Israel, they've turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart's afflicted. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there's no soundness, only wounds and welts and open sores."

God is like a doctor. Now the diagnosis, we've already read it. I've just read it to you. What is the prognosis? Well, why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? This is disaster. You can't get cleansed, you can't get bandaged, you can't get soothed with oil. And the whole chapter goes on to say that if you don't get medicine, you're going to die. You're sick. The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint.

So God is like a doctor. And when we get soul-sick as a believer, he's the divine doctor. He makes the diagnosis, realizes we're pretty beaten up, perhaps with the consequences of bad choices that, as Christians still free to choose, we've made a mess. We haven't got ointment, we haven't got bandages. We can't patch things up ourselves. Nobody else can do it for us. And the prognosis is, why invite punishment? Will you rebel forever? Disaster in the end, verses 27 through 31.

But it says in this same chapter that the Lord Jehovah is the redeemer, and the repentant people of Judea will be redeemed. He refers us. Good doctors make referrals. They say what you need is this. And what is the referral that he makes? To the clinic of the cross, to Dr. Jesus. Redemption alone, the blood of Christ can heal us. With his stripes, we are healed.

Then the third picture is the husband. God is like a husband. Let's read some of these verses, Isaiah 1:21: "See how the faithful city," that's Jerusalem, "has become a harlot." That's the problem. It says in another translation, "See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute." In the Old Testament, the picture is of God as the husband and Israel as the wife. In the New Testament, it is Christ as the husband and the church as the bride.

It's a picture that God uses because of the word "covenant," promise—promises that are made in the youth of the couple to each other. And God uses this picture over and over again because Israel, his bride, has broken the covenant over and over and over again and has broken the heart of God. There is an agony of unfaithfulness. God is like a faithful husband. There is nothing as painful, I believe, as the rejection of a once-loving partner. That is a pain that nothing can touch. It's agony.

I was talking to someone not long ago, and they said, "I can hardly breathe, the emotional pain is so intense." And I thought to myself, that's how God feels. That's how he feels. He can hardly breathe because the emotional pain is so intense. God is like a husband. He is faithful.

It's in the book of Hosea that we see the picture, and the whole story of Hosea, of course, is so beautifully portrayed back in chapter 3 and 4. The story in Hosea is that Hosea is married to a woman who cannot stay in her own bed. She is unfaithful. She commits adultery. And he's the prophet. He's the prophet in town. That doesn't stop Hosea's wife, Gomer.

Some people think she was unfaithful before he married her, that she was a prostitute before he married her and that she had a couple of kids before he married her because children of unfaithfulness are talked about. When he married her, she had three children with him, and then she began playing up again, playing around. And off she went. God says in chapter 3, "The Lord said to me," Hosea speaking, "Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."

Hosea goes, and by now she has become a slave to the man that she went off with because he has to buy her, and you only buy slaves. And the price of a slave is 30 pieces of silver. He pays 15 shekels of silver, not 30, and a homer of barley. In other words, he's probably too poor to pay it all in cash. So he pays in kind and in cash, and he redeems Gomer.

She comes back, and he says, "Now I want you to live with me," and the word is, let's live together, separated for a while, let's have a period of purification. I don't want you running around again. And apparently she comes back to him and they begin again. And God uses what has happened in Hosea's life as a picture of what he wants to happen with his people: the faithful husband and the unfaithful wife. What a fantastic, fantastic picture this is.

Host (Male): You're listening to Jill Briscoe on Telling the Truth, and she'll be right back to wrap up today's message. But first, you probably hear people talk about prayer all the time. But aside from knowing that you ought to do it, how much do you truly know about prayer? For example, how does God want to use prayer in our lives? Is he listening to every single request? And can prayer really make a difference?

We'd love to help shine some much-needed light on the subject of prayer by sending you Stuart and Jill's new five-message collection "Powerful and Effective Prayer." This specially curated set of messages is our thanks for your gift to share the life-changing truth of God's word around the world through Telling the Truth. It's only thanks to the support of generous friends like you that broadcasts like this one can keep going out, reaching others with God's love so they can experience life in Christ.

So if you haven't given before, please consider a gift today and remember to request "Powerful and Effective Prayer" when you call and give. Just call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Now let's return to Jill for the conclusion of today's message.

Jill Briscoe: So what do we have to do? Well, we have to come. And we look now as God offers the renewal of the covenant. He offers in this story of Hosea a new betrothal. Look in verse 14 of chapter 2: "I'm now going to allure her, the unfaithful wife, Israel," the picture of the whole nation having been unfaithful. "I will lead her into the desert, I will speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope."

"There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt." The place of their greatest failure, the place of the greatest sin, he opens a door. And you know what the Valley of Achor means? The Vale of Tears. Vale of Tears. In your Vale of Tears, I'll open a door of hope. And if we know what it is to agree with God about the sin in our lives and the things that have hurt him as we have treated God with no respect, as we have sinned in whatever way, as we have hurt our father or our husband as it were.

Then we can agree that our sins are red like crimson. And even if we have drastically sinned, however guilty we are, whatever we have done, there is a door of hope. A door of hope—it's shaped as a cross, you see. Shaped in the shape of a cross. "Come now, let's reason together, let's agree together that this is a bad scene," says God. "But though your sins be as scarlet, double-dyed, they shall be as white as wool."

Deal with the guilt, take away the shame. You and I will be together again. We'll start nurturing our relationship together. That's what the invitation is: to wash us white as snow. White as snow, though my sins were as scarlet. Lord, I know that I'm clean and forgiven. Through the power of your blood, through the wonder of your love, through faith in you, I know that I can be white as snow.

"Come now," says God. Pray with me. Let's reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be double-dyed, they shall be as white as snow. God is like a father. Climb up into his arms, lean against his shoulder. This is a grand place to be. Feel the beat of his heart—his broken heart because he loves you so. And God is like a doctor. He's the only one. He is the balm in Gilead that heals the sin-sick soul.

Ask him to heal the hurts, the internal bleeding of your soul. God is like a husband. He opens a door of hope in the Vale of Tears.

Host (Male): Thanks, Jill. Before you go, we want to remind you to request Stuart and Jill's newly curated five-message collection "Powerful and Effective Prayer." It's our thanks for your gift today to continue sharing God's word through Telling the Truth broadcasts and resources.

Please request yours when you call and give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Thanks so much for listening today. Join us next time as the Briscoes share more powerful truth from God's word. Come back and experience abundant life in Christ next time on Telling the Truth.