Unlimited Grace

Bryan Chapell: Those hearts who have turned to God, he says, "I will not let you go." What difference does it make? Verse 24 says, "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward, you will receive me to glory." God is not just saying, "Listen, there's grace now." He is saying, "Listen, from beastliness to glory, I am with you and every step in between."

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares the second half of a message from Psalm 73. Dr. Chapell shares how we can find hope in the fullness of God's plan, even when it seems in this life that sinful men are able to prosper.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Pastor Bryan's book, *The Promises of Grace*. Dr. Chapell offers a careful look at the beauty of grace and all it brings to believers. These blessings come with the understanding that because we cannot hang on to God, he hangs on to us. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the second half of the lesson titled "Why Do They Get The Window Seat?"

Bryan Chapell: Our psalm this morning, as we continue our summer psalms, is Psalm 73, page 485 in your Grace Bibles. As you turn there, you will see that this is a Psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a worship leader in ancient Israel. 12 of the 150 psalms that we have are written by Asaph, and all have a rather special character in that Asaph apparently was willing to be very honest about human struggle.

One of the things that we have welcomed here in recent months is striking testimonies of people saying, "Here's where I've struggled, here's how the Lord has helped." Asaph is very honest about his struggle. The struggle that he is facing is one that you will identify with. It's a common thing that we struggle with. Why do good things happen to bad people? And why not to me?

We envy the wicked. It starts early in life, whether you're on a ride in the family car to Grandma's house or you're on a jetliner to Timbuktu. You wonder why your stinky brother or an obnoxious tourist gets the window seat and you have to sit in the middle. And so you fume and envy the wicked and wonder where God went. All of that, Asaph is willing to talk about.

Let's read his response, Psalm 73. Would you stand as we honor God's word together? Psalm 73. "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind."

Well, I think you catch the drift. Go on to verse 11. "And they, that is the wicked, say, 'How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?' Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, 'I will speak thus,' I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward, you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me, it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works." Plain talk. Everything good the faithless will receive, they will get now and no more. That the span of life that they have right now is the only time at which they will experience good in all of eternity.

That yes, there may be good now, but there is judgment coming. And you cannot spend your money in hell and the achievements here will mean nothing then, and judgment will come. And so the psalmist speaks with clarity and says you face the real reality. You know enough even in the earthly moment to know those who pursue life without God do not know satisfaction and contentment.

And you should know that there are consequences far beyond this life. But what is your reality? If you are a person who is seeking God, what reality do you actually have? Number one, you have grace now. You have security now. Verse 21 and 23, do you recognize how honest these verses are? "When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you, God. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand."

All right, I ask hard, disrespectful, mean, beastly questions, and how does God deal with me? He holds me by my hand and will not let me fall. I said the worst about you, and what do you do? I hold on to you. When you can't hold on to me, I hold on to you. It's a wonderful message for the church in any generation.

Some of you remember when Francis Schaeffer, the Christian philosopher, established L'Abri Christian Fellowship in Switzerland with the express purpose that America's youth, who were so disenchanted with the pursuits of their parents and even the faith of their parents, were given the invitation to come to Switzerland and they would get honest answers to honest questions.

You ask the most beastly question you want. You challenge me and I'll do my very best to give you an honest answer to your honest question. And how that simple ministry of saying, "I won't let you go when you challenge me. I will answer as best I can when you treat me beastly," is actually a reflection of the gospel of grace. I will be here for you even when you challenge me.

I think of the generation of that time and the praise music of that time that meant so much to so many. The song "What Would You Do if I Were Untrue?" Would that mean that it is all over? God's response: "I will be with you, child, and I will leave you never." "But Lord, I can't hide that I'm foul inside. I am lost, and I am a sinner." "I will be with you, child, and I will leave you never."

I think of the song in terms of today's generation, a blog post of this past week. "I'm Christian, gay, and too angry even to read the Bible." "But I will be with you, my child, and I will leave you never." "I'm a Christian abandoned by my spouse and wondering why I bothered to trust Christ." "But I will be with you, my child, and I will leave you never."

"I believe, Lord, but help my unbelief." That's in the Bible. "I will be with you, my child, and I will leave you never." The psalmist: "If I ascend to heaven or make my place in the grave, even there will your hand hold me. Your right hand will guide me. I will be with you, my child, and I will leave you never."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. Have you thought about the fullness of God's grace and the role that it plays in your life? You can hear and understand that you are saved by grace, but what other spiritual benefits can an understanding of grace reveal? And what has God promised to believers that his grace will provide?

In the book *The Promises of Grace*, Pastor Bryan offers a careful look at the beauty of grace and all it brings to you as a believer. God's Word does not promise more money and fewer headaches, but his grace provides a confidence in our relationship with him. Pastor Bryan wants to help you focus on the promises that you can expect God to fulfill: promises of assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, and perseverance in trial.

You can request your copy of *The Promises of Grace* when you go online at unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

The psalmist: "If I ascend to heaven or make my place in the grave, even there will your hand hold me. Your right hand will guide me. I will be with you, my child, and I will leave you never." It is the grace of the moment that God's people claim with the recognition that he is saying, "I am for you." That is the greater reality. That's beyond your complaint. That's even beyond your rebellion.

Those hearts who have turned to God, he says, "I will not let you go." What difference does it make? Verse 24 says, "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory." God is not just saying, "Listen, there's grace now." He is saying, "Listen, from beastliness to glory, I am with you and every step in between." You rebel or you're near to glory, and I am with you. I will not let you go.

In fact, I will guide you all along the way. And the great God who shows us his care and his compassion in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us says, "By my law, by my ways, by my word, I will guide you. Follow me." It's a reflection of my character and my care. Here is my compassion for you. You wonder what you should do, you wonder if it will make sense. I will guide you.

And I will guide you all the way to glory. And some of you recognize that that word "glory" in the Old Testament is almost exclusively reserved for God. As he is saying, "I will guide you to myself, but now it will be your glory." So that all the greatness of who God is, all the wonder of who he is, is going to be provided for you.

And the consequence of that is verse 25: "So whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." I hear that and I think, could that really be? That you could have such a sweet relationship with the Lord that you would desire nothing else on earth. How do we interpret verse 26? "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

All of my preaching life, I think the verses that I have wrestled with the most in the psalms are the ones that say God is our portion. We just, by our humanity, want more portion. If that's my piece of pie, I want more portion. It's our inclination. Could God ever really just be sufficient? And yet that is what the psalmist is saying, that there is contentment, there is satisfaction that's possible.

How does that happen? Well, again, if we just put on reality glasses—the glasses of scripture, the things that are proclaimed in the sanctuary, the safe place even with hard questions—then we say: what would you give to be held by the most powerful being in the universe in such a way that you knew everything that happened in your life was being worked together for good?

That even when you sinned, he would not let you go, but had provided his own son to take the penalty for the worst of your life so that you could be free of its guilt and free of its shame. And him knowing the worst about you would secure you, not only now but forever, for eternity. So that what that means is that this momentary existence that we live is not the full picture of what we will face.

But the suffering of the moment, the trial of the moment, the difficulty of the moment is but a second in the eternity that God has for us. If that was your piece of the pie, that you knew that the God who loved you infinitely, eternally, would walk with you through any crisis, and it would have its end, but eternity would have no end.

And God would use your life for testimony and witness and good, and every second of it for an eternal purpose. You say, "That's a pretty good portion." I mean, if that's really what you're promising me, then that outweighs everything. I would give everything for that. That would be the pearl of great price. That would be the thing I would long for.

It's not that there's nothing else to disappoint us. It's not that there are other trials that we face. But the promises being made of the gospel are so overwhelming that the psalmist says, "This is my portion." This ultimately is what satisfies. This actually is what will make things right. And it's not just guidance forward; it is glory forever. Which means as I face reality, I recognize that yes, the evil gain things in this life.

But everything the evil gain exists only for this life. But all that troubles you will exist only in this life and then no more. No more tears, no more pain, no more darkness. The Lord is saying, "I will take you to glory, which is eternal, where you will share my own existence. You will share the glory with me."

And that reality that is to be ours is the great counterbalance of the realities here that are forcing the world to say there's got to be another alternative. That are even forcing us to say I've got to tell people that there's another alternative to the pain and the indignity and the injustice that's here. And it is what God is offering. And I put that on the other side of the scale, and I want to tell people because it even means so much to me.

Do you believe that? I mean, we sing "Amazing Grace," right? And we sing that last verse: "When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we've first begun." Ten thousand? Why, that's just like that in heaven. Ten billion. Ten billion times ten billion. Which means our entire existence here is a nanosecond in heavenly time.

And what God is promising to you and to me is the reality that we are not simply earthly beings with a heavenly future. We are heavenly beings in an earthly moment. And that heavenly existence is what God is promising our portion to be as we in this time and this place live faithfully to him with the recognition that all is being worked for good, that he is securing us, that he is holding us, that he will not let go until he takes us to glory.

And that reality is the reality that sobered and then made rejoice a psalmist who said, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." One of my present generation heroes is Cassie Bernall. Do you remember the name? The girl shot in the Columbine killings. She was the one that the initial news report said when one of the gunmen came to the library and found her under the table, he put the gun in her face and said, "Do you believe in God?"

Cassie said, "Yes." And that was her earthly end. The night before that, Cassie Bernall—who by her own account had lived a beastly teenage existence, had come to know faith and her God—the night before the shooting, she wrote in her journal, "Honestly, I now want to live completely for God. It's hard and it's scary, but it's worth it." Some of you know that. It's hard. It's scary. But if God is my portion forever, it's still worth it.

The day she was shot, she read a devotional that had these words: "We can only win, really win in our lives, when we remain faithful to the truth that every little part of us is completely safe in the divine embrace of our Lord. Every little part of us is safe in the divine eternal embrace of our Lord." So she was shot that day. And the news went around the world, "Cassie said yes."

Now, enough of you are informed that you know witnesses later wondered if Cassie had said that. In fact, others in the library said it was probably another. So did that make it worthless? Some weeks later, Cassie's mom—perhaps the one who had lost even more, Cassie's mom appeared on Oprah. And when she was questioned about her faith, she said on Oprah, "I keep thinking of things I should do for Cassie.

And then I catch myself. I don't need to do that. The Lord is doing the mom things now for Cassie." Hard things, yes. But even when my flesh and my heart may fail, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. May God be your refuge that the world may know, and little children too, of all his works. In his divine embrace, you are secure forever.

Friends, I'm so glad you decided to tune in today and listen, and I would consider it a privilege to pray for you right now. Let's go together before the throne of heaven and pray for the Lord's blessing. Father, thank you for being merciful to us. Help our hearts to grasp the greatness of that mercy that you provide so that we can offer our lives to Jesus as a sacrifice of praise that you have made holy and acceptable despite our many weaknesses and flaws. We thank you for this great grace and pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've been blessed by this message and would like to hear more from Dr. Chapell, I would encourage you to visit unlimitedgrace.com. In addition to messages from Pastor Bryan, you can explore the many sermons, podcasts, seminars, and more available to you.

Also, be sure to request a copy of the book from Dr. Bryan Chapell called *The Promises of Grace*. We'll send you a copy right away as our way of saying thank you for your most generous financial support. Once again, go to unlimitedgrace.com, or you can give by calling 844-41-GRACE.

Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.