Telling the Truth

Guest (Female): The abundant life in Christ isn’t about following rules. It’s about opening your heart to God. Stuart today on Telling the Truth shares the second part of his message, "A Brighter Day Tomorrow." He talks about freedom, choices, and consequences, and he begins in just a moment.

Stuart Briscoe: When life’s storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God’s presence, questioning His concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God’s plan for your life and rest assured He cares for you and is in control of all things?

We want to help you trust in God’s care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe’s message, "Weathering the Storms of Life," as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times.

"Weathering the Storms of Life" and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today: 1-800-889-5388. That’s 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Here’s Stuart Briscoe with the second part of the message, "A Brighter Day Tomorrow."

One day, a shepherd boy lost one of his sheep. He was looking for it. Instead of going in all the caves, he was just throwing stones in them to frighten the sheep out. And one stone he threw in, he heard the sound come back of shattering pottery. So he climbed up, and that’s where they found these jars, 2,000 years old, with totally intact scrolls inside. That was what Jeremiah was using. He wanted to preserve these documents, and so the deed was done.

After the deed is done, Jeremiah turns to prayer. And you can read about this prayer in Jeremiah chapter 32, starting with verse 16. Now, you will notice how his prayer starts. It starts with this expression: "Ah!" Now, I draw attention to that because this happens on no fewer than four occasions in Jeremiah’s praying, which suggests to us that sometimes he wasn’t terribly happy about going to prayer.

This reminds me of something that we read in the Epistle to the Romans. You remember what it says in Romans, that sometimes we don’t know what to pray, and we pray with groanings. Well, that’s what Jeremiah does. He groans, "Oh! Oh! I’ve bought this land. I have hardly any money left. I’ve blown it all on this property. It’s worthless! It doesn’t make any sense at all. You told me to do this, God. Ah!"

Have you ever prayed like that? Don’t answer that. But the Bible tells us in Romans it’s absolutely wonderful, actually. The Bible tells us in Romans that God can even hear prayers like that. But don’t just be satisfied with that. And Jeremiah now gets on track, and it’s wonderful to see how he prays. Now, I’ll just give you a summary of it.

First of all, he talks about God as the great, powerful Creator. And he focuses his attention not on his own issue, but on who God is in His mighty power. Having spoken about God’s mighty power, he then talks about the fact that the God who is the Creator is also the Sustainer of that which He created. And he focuses on God: Creator and Sustainer.

Then he remembers that God is not just an impersonal force who created and, by some mysterious way, maintains what He has created. But he then says that God has made a covenant. And the covenant that He has made with people draws people into an intimate relationship with Himself. Now he ponders these things. "Oh God, You are the great Creator. Oh God, You are the great Sustainer. Oh God, You are the God of covenant and the utterly faithful one."

And as his mind focuses on who God is, it’s a very simple step for him to begin to see himself in correct perspective. You see, we get ourselves in the wrong perspective at times. We tend to think that we are the center of the universe, and God is revolving out there somewhere on the periphery. And God says, "No, no, no. I am the center of the universe, and your life revolves around Me."

And if you’re ever going to get it right, you don’t start with you; you start with Me. So concentrate on the great Creator. Concentrate on the great Sustainer. Concentrate on the faithful one. Concentrate on the one who makes and keeps covenants, and then think of yourself in that light. And guess what? You will see yourself in comparison to the Creator as the created, an infinitesimal fragment of a vast, intricate universe.

But you will see yourself as one who is utterly dependent upon the Sustainer. But in addition to that, you will see yourself as the one who has been drawn by God’s grace into a covenant with Himself. And when you think of His faithfulness, you will realize that you, an infinitesimal fragment of His creation, utterly dependent upon Himself, graciously drawn to Him, have been unfaithful.

And as you begin to think of yourself in that light, you’ve got yourself in proper perspective. And guess how you come before the Lord? You come before the Lord in praise for who He is and in deep repentance for who you are. And after you’ve done that, now you can start to ask Him things.

And as you begin to ask Him about the concerns of your heart—because you are concerned that His will might be done, that His name might be honored, that His kingdom might be extended—you’ve got a thousand and one things you want to ask Him about. And when you’re through with all that, guess what? Then you talk about yourself.

Now notice the order here: P—Praise, R—Repentance, A—Asking, Y—Yourself. There’s the order. That’s how you pray: Praise, Repentance, Asking, and then Yourself. Have you ever found yourself reversing the order? Starting with yourself and doing a lot of asking, and then not worrying too much about the repenting and just occasionally praising Him for what He’s done? Well, that’s not P-R-A-Y; that’s Y-A-R-P. And that is not praying; that is yapping.

And Jeremiah doesn’t yap. He prays. But notice after all this, he asks the question that is really relating to himself. It takes him quite a while to get there. And the question is this: "Oh great Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Covenant Keeper, and faithful one, who when I consider who You are shows me what a miserable wretch I and my compatriots are. Oh gracious, Holy Father, what in the world are You doing?"

It’s a bit of a letdown, isn’t it? But the nice thing about it is Jeremiah shows us how to pray. And when you’ve approached God the right way, you can talk to Him like that. And Jeremiah is saying, "God, I have no idea what this is all about, but for some inexplicable reason, You have now stuck me with this worthless property. Why?"

And God says, "I’m glad you asked. I’m glad you asked, Jeremiah. Now look around. Jeremiah, do you notice that around the walls of Jerusalem, the siege ramps have been built? Yes. Would you say that Jerusalem is under siege? Well, of course it does. Have you been telling the people for a long time this would happen? Yes, I have. Why did you tell them that? Because You said You’d do it. Right. Would you agree then that I’ve done what I said I would? Yes."

"All right. Now then, you just wrote a letter to the exiles, didn’t you? Yes. We sent the letter to the exiles. This letter to the exiles, we told them that they had to settle down, that the judgment that they were going to be under would take 70 years, that this would be a time of discipline, and that if they would turn to the Lord and return to the Lord, the blessing would come. You wrote that to them, Jeremiah, didn’t you? Yes."

"Well, what you’ve got to understand is this: You can see I’ve done what I said I would, right? Right. Now you’ve got to understand I will do what I say I will." "What’s that?" "What I say I will do is this: I’m going to bring those people back here in 70 years. And guess what? That worthless piece of property will go through the roof. This is a fantastic investment, Jeremiah."

And Jeremiah says, "Wow, that’s wonderful!" And then the smile fades from his face. He says, "70 years? Yeah. Well, I won’t be here." "No. This isn’t for you, Jeremiah." "Well, who’s it for?" "It’s for the people of Israel. Because 70 years from now, they’re going to come back, and somebody is going to go down to the security box, this clay pot of yours at the bank, and they’re going to open it and they’ll say, 'Isn’t this fantastic? 70 years ago, when the city was besieged and there was famine and plague, old Jeremiah was making plans for 70 years later.' And you know why? Because he believed God."

He believed God. And Jeremiah, what you’re doing is this: You’re putting your money where your mouth is. You have been preaching about the fact that the blessing will come, and it’s fallen on deaf ears. Well, let’s try this one. Let’s try and see if this will eventually get through to them. That they’re looking at a man making a demonstration of faith.

Guest (Female): More teaching from Stuart and Jill Briscoe is coming up, so stay with us. Did you know you can find more life-giving content from the Briscoes at tellingthetruth.org and on the Telling the Truth app? There, you can sign up for daily devotions, watch videos, read blogs, and access a variety of other resources to help you experience life.

And while you’re there, you can also request this month’s featured resource as thanks for your gift of support to help share the abundant life Jesus offers with more people around the world. Visit us online or download the app today and experience life with Telling the Truth. Let’s hear more now from Stuart.

I love the little verse: "I heard the voice behind me say, 'This is the way, walk you in it.'" That’s one of my favorite verses. "I heard the voice behind me say, 'This is the way, walk you in it.'" You know why? Because I have learned over many, many years of experience of God that He doesn’t stand in front of me and say, "Come on, Stuart. Come on, that’s okay. You’ll be all right. Don’t worry. Come on, that’s fine. We’ll come on, that’s fine."

He doesn’t do that. He says, "Hey Briscoe, do this." I say, "Why?" "Because I told you to." "Oh. All right. Now do this. Now do this." And then I hear a voice behind me saying, "That’s right. Go on." I heard a voice behind me saying, "This is the way, walk you in it." What’s it take? It takes obedience, faith. It takes obedience and faith.

And the interesting thing about it is this: As in faith you take steps of obedience, then He comes behind and He whispers in your ear and he says, "Oh by the way, if you’re interested, this is why you’re doing it." Now says God to Jeremiah, "You have made a contract, and in doing it, you put your money where your mouth is. Now I am going to cut a new covenant."

Now, I use the word "cut a covenant" because that’s the technical term that they used in those days for covenant. When they made a covenant in those days, it was a deadly serious business. We make contracts now that can be voided, renegotiated, or we get attorneys fighting and arguing over the whole thing. In those days, you made a contract, you made a contract. You made a covenant, you made a covenant.

And to show the seriousness of the event, something had to lay down its life as a seal of the covenant. That showed how serious it was. So they would cut the animal. And as they cut the animal, that expression spilled over into the idea of cutting a covenant. And underlying it is this idea: this is a deadly serious thing.

And God says, "I have cut a covenant with Israel. I did this quite a long time ago. This covenant that I cut with Israel, however, is obsolete, and I am going to make a new covenant with them. Now listen, Jeremiah, this is what’s going to happen. They are going to go into exile, 70 years. They’re already there, most of them. This place is going to be destroyed. They’re going to recognize the consequences of their rebellion and their covenant breaking."

"It will be plain for all to see. You live with the consequences of your action. But I’m going to be gracious to them. And in the exile, they will have the opportunity to turn back to Me and to return to Me. And this is why they’re in exile. This is why they’ve gone. It’s going to take them 70 years to get around to turning from what they’re doing and returning to the Lord and repenting and renewing."

And God says, "When they get around to doing that—it’ll take them 70 years—when they get around to doing that, I will make a new covenant with them." "Well, what was wrong with the old covenant?" In the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 8, it goes on to explain what was wrong with the old covenant and why it was necessary to have a new one. And I’ll preempt it for you, so you don’t need to read all that.

And this is what was wrong with the old covenant. The old covenant says all you need to do in response to God’s loving grace is to lovingly, trustingly obey Him. That’s all. Lovingly, trustingly obey Him. There’s one flaw with that covenant. Do you know what it was? They didn’t want to lovingly, trustingly obey Him. That was the problem. That was why it always kept coming unglued.

And God says, "You know, the real issue with the covenant is not that it’s a bad covenant. The real problem is that the covenant is applied to bad people. And it’s a heart problem. And we don’t need to give them more rules and regulations. What we need to do is give them new hearts."

And so God says in the new covenant, "They will come to repentance, and they will come before Me and they will turn from what they’ve been doing and they’ll return to the Lord. And when they return to the Lord, I will make a new covenant with them. And this new covenant that I’m going to make with them will not be sealed with the blood of animals. I won’t cut animals."

"This new covenant that I’ll make, I’ll show them how serious it is, for the life that will be laid down will be the life of My eternal Son, the source of all life. And this covenant will be sealed in the blood of the Lamb. Or this covenant will be sealed through the death on the cross of the Lord Jesus. But He won’t stay dead."

"And on the third day, He will be raised from the dead. And when He is raised from the dead, in the power of His resurrection, in the person of His Spirit, He will come into the heart of the deeply repentant and those who want to enter into a new covenant with Me. And those who are repentant and enter into a new covenant with Me will find that through the gracious work of Christ on the cross, forgiving their sins, and the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit, crediting His resurrection life to them, they will find that I’ve given them a new heart."

"I won’t be imposing laws on the outside; I’ll be writing My truth on the inside. And they will begin to discover new longings, new aspirations, new desires. They’ll discover the most amazing things going on inside them. They will begin to love what they used to hate. They’ll begin to hate what they used to love. They’ll be interested in pleasing God instead of always pleasing themselves. They will be new creations in Christ Jesus."

Ezekiel put it this way: God promises, "I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." A warm heart. A new covenant. That’s your message, Jeremiah. Tell them. Go on, tell them. He says, "But I’m still in this barracks. I’m still a prisoner. There’s nothing but plague and famine outside here. The siege all around."

"I know! That’s what I said I would do. But now, having seen that I did what I said, believe that I’ll do what I promised. Go on, tell them!" And so Jeremiah told them about the new covenant, and they still wouldn’t listen. Incredible, isn’t it? Isn’t it incredible how hard-hearted people can be?

Guest (Female): Thanks for joining us today here on Telling the Truth. We pray today’s message has helped you to experience life in all its fullness through Jesus Christ. When life’s storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God’s presence, questioning His concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God’s plan for your life and rest assured He cares for you and is in control of all things?

We want to help you trust in God’s care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe’s message, "Weathering the Storms of Life," as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times. In "Weathering the Storms of Life," Jill teaches from the Gospel of Mark, examining the disciples' experience in a sudden storm to address the issues of suffering and faith, challenging you to examine your belief in God in the midst of trouble.

Her teaching and the scripture cards will encourage you as you discover how you can be sure of God’s love for you and His control over every circumstance, no matter how sudden, severe, or unexpected. "Weathering the Storms of Life" and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today: 1-800-889-5388. That’s 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org.

Next time on Telling the Truth, it’s more from the Briscoes about how you can experience abundant life in Christ when you open your life to be changed by God. We hope you’ll listen then.