You Did Not Lack Anything, Did You?

Have you ever built anything? And the exciting part of building is when the supplies start to show up and you start to see the piles of what you need getting on site. Before I was a full-time pastor, I used to work in construction, and so you used to be able to tell when things were going to happen, when the walls were going to go up, when the windows were going in, when the roof was going on. Those were exciting things going on. And that's what's going on in this passage of Scripture. Last week we read how Moses... called out to the people and asked for freewill offerings of gold and silver and all kinds of cloth and all of the materials they needed to build this tabernacle. And then the people started giving them. And in this passage of scripture today, what we're going to read is that they gave so much that Moses had to say, enough, enough, enough. You've given enough.

And what I want you to see in your mind is that means there were huge piles of gold and silver and fine linen and porpoise skin and all the building materials were laying around. And this would have been a super exciting time for the people of God to see the house of the Lord being built in their presence. They would have been ecstatic about this. And it's not something that we should pass over and just go, yeah, I don't know what Acacia Wood is and I don't know what hammered works of gold and filigree and all that stuff are. Just think, when you've seen something built that you cared about, that was the...

the place where God was going to dwell with you, think of how excited you would have been and share with their excitement as we read this passage of scripture. It says Exodus chapter 36. Now Bezalel and Aholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work, to perform it. They received from Moses all the contributions which the sons of Israel had brought to perform the work in the construction of the sanctuary, and they still continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning.

And all the skillful men who were performing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work which he was performing. And they said to Moses, The people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which the Lord commanded us to perform. So Moses issued a command, and a proclamation was circulated throughout the camp, saying, Let no man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary. Thus the people were restrained from bringing any more. For the material they had was sufficient, and more than enough for all the work. to perform it. All the skillful men among those who were performing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. Bezalel made them. The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits and the width of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had the same measurements. He joined five curtains to one another and the other five curtains he joined to one another. He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set.

He did likewise on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set. He made 50 loops in the one curtain and he made 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite each other. He made 50 clasps of gold and joined the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the tabernacle was a unit. These were the walls. Then he made curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made 11 curtains in all. The length of each curtain was 30 cubits and 4 cubits the width of each curtain, and 11 curtains had the same measurements. He joined five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves. Moreover, he made 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost of the first set, and he made 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set. He made 50 clasps of bronze to join the tent together so that it would be a unit. He made a covering for the tent of ram skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above. This is the roof.

Then he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood standing upright. Ten cubits was the length of each board and one and a half cubits the width of each board. There were two tenons for each board fitted to one another. Thus he did for all the boards of the tabernacle. He made the boards for the tabernacle, 20 boards for the south side, and he made 40 sockets for silver under the 20 boards, two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. For then the second side of the tabernacle on the north side, he made 20 boards, and there are 40 sockets of silver, two sockets under one board and two sockets under another board. For the rear of the tabernacle to the west, he made six boards. He made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the rear. They were double beneath, and together they were complete to its top, to the first ring. Thus he did with both of them for the two corners. There were eight boards with their sockets of silver, 16 sockets, two under every board.

Then he made bars of acacia wood, five for the boards on the one side of the tabernacle and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the rear side to the west. He made the middle bar to pass through in the center of the boards from end to end. He overlaid the boards with gold and made their rings of gold as holders for the bars and overlaid the bars with gold. Moreover, he made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. He made it with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.

He made four pillars of acacia for it and overlaid them with gold, with their hooks of gold, and he cast four sockets of silver for them. He made a screen for the doorway of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver. And he made its five pillars with their hooks, and he overlaid their tops and their bands with gold, but their sockets were of bronze. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. In our announcements earlier, I made a mistake. failed to remember that this Wednesday is the fifth Wednesday of the month. And so we will not be having men's group this Wednesday. It's a week off. Whenever we have a fifth Wednesday, we don't have men's or women's group. And so men's group will not be this Wednesday, but the following Wednesday, first Wednesday of February. Now, would you please join me in prayer before we come to the word of the Lord? Father in heaven, we thank you for giving us life and breath and every good thing. We thank you for giving us your word, your son.

and your spirit to guide us into all truth, to save us from our sins, to instruct us in the way in which we ought to go. Father, we are like sheep and would be lost without your son, our Lord Jesus, to be our shepherd, to care for us, and to make us to lie down in green pastures. Father, each one of us has wanton desires in our own hearts. We're each prone to wander away and do what's right in our own eyes, but you've called us out of darkness and into light and given us A hope and a calling and a name and a future. And so, Father, as we've gathered together this morning to worship you and to hear from you and your word, we pray that you would give us soft hearts, that you would make us attentive to your word, that you would instruct us in the way of truth, that you would increase our faith and that you would bring us to repentance where we're deficient and where we've sinned. Father, we ask above all of this that you would glorify yourself in our midst.

that your word would go forth in power, that it would accomplish the purpose for which you have sent it, and that you would be shaping us and molding us and changing us into the men and the women and the children that you've created us to be. Father, give us eyes of faith to see, to understand spiritual things and to not despise them. Father, glorify yourself now as we study your word. Give us understanding and give us joy and give us faith. Glorify yourself in us and through us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, this morning, I was, well, not this morning, but in preparation for this morning, I was questioning what I ought to preach on. And we've been going through Luke. We're coming toward the end of it. But there's been a number of difficult things that have gone on this last week in our church. There have been a number of funerals. And so I considered changing our sermon from Luke to something different.

And as I studied our text that would normally come up in Luke 22, I thought this has application sufficient for those of us who are dealing with the grief and the loss of loved ones. And so I want you to know, those of you especially who are suffering and who've buried loved ones this last week, that I prepared the sermon with you in mind, praying for you. And I want you to take comfort from it, but I don't think that's the only application to those who are suffering that sort of loss. The context of our passage this morning is right between the Last Supper, where Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples, where Judas leaves to betray him, and where he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, where ultimately the Pharisees come to arrest him. And so Jesus is giving his very final instructions to his disciples before he's to be carried off, arrested, and then put to death. That's the text that we're studying this morning.

And Jesus' words to his disciples are as true today as the day he spoke them. And we need to hear them so that we can carry on by faith in the hope of the gospel the same way that he calls his disciples to do. And that's what our text is this morning. In a nutshell, if we were just going to give you one sentence, what's this passage do? Jesus is saying, things are going to get a lot harder for you in the future. And what I want is for you to press on, trusting me to provide for you the way I have in the past.

That's the message of the sermon in a nutshell. And so we're gonna spend our time this morning opening up what was his provision? What was the difficulty they were gonna face? How were they supposed to proceed? But the message is a very simple one, that we would persevere by faith through the trials and through the difficulties that God allows into our life. Would you please stand now for the reading of God's word from Luke chapter 22, verses 35 through 38. This is the word of the Lord and it is eternally true. And he said to them, When I sent you out without money belt and bags and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you? They said, No, nothing. And he said to them, But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag. And whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in me. And he was numbered with the transgressors. For that which refers to me has its fulfillment.

They said, Lord, look, here are two swords. And he said to them, it is enough. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Jesus begins this instruction by asking them a question. And he says, when I sent you out without money or a bag or sandals, when I sent you out with nothing but the clothes on your back, he asks them, did you lack anything? You didn't lack anything, did you? And so for us to understand this question, we have to know what Jesus is talking about. Now, some of us may remember, some of us may not, but I want to read to you and explain to you what he's referring to, what he's calling to mind for them. A few chapters previous to this, in Luke chapter 10, Jesus sends out 70 of his disciples into the cities that he was coming to. And what they were supposed to do is go and prepare the cities for him to come. They were supposed to go.

pretty much and preach the gospel. That was their job. And Jesus gave them instructions about how to conduct themselves, how they were supposed to eat, where they were supposed to say, what they were supposed to say if people welcomed them, how they were supposed to handle themselves if people refused them. And so I want to read to you just a little bit of that from Luke chapter 10, verses one through four. It says, now after this, the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them in pairs ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come. And he was saying to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. Go, behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money bag, no belt, no shoes, and greet no one on the way. And so as I said, Jesus sent out a number of his disciples to prepare his way.

And they're to go out with no provision. Now, if you were being sent out, you have to realize this last part where he says, don't take money or a bag or anything like that would be contrary to what they want to do. It's as if you were being sent on, you know, told you're going to go on a trip out of town and you go, okay, well, you know, you would just assume I need to pack for that. I need to take what my, you know, my stuff with me. And Jesus says, no, don't take anything. Just go. And if we were in that position, we would have said, that's a bit of a strange command. You're telling me to go out to leave and go do this work, but not to take any provisions for myself along the way. And this was a difficult mission that he sent them out on. He tells them, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. He tells them, this is going to be hard work. This is not a vacation I'm sending you on. And you're to go out to do this difficult work without provision. Later on in Luke chapter 10,

it says that they came back and that they rejoiced with joy. And what they said to Jesus was, even the demons listened to us. And so their trip had been successful. Not only had they been provided with food and shelter and the things that they needed along the way, but the message that they'd gone out to proclaim had found favor with the people. And so they were encouraged. But you have to consider the difficulty of being told to go do what they were told to go do. Go out as a lamb in the midst of wolves and take no provision, no protection for yourself as you go. And you realize that if you were going to go do this work, it would require faith. You would have to trust that Jesus, who's sending you out, wasn't sending you out as a lamb amidst wolves to be slaughtered, but that he was going to protect you. He was going to provide for you. He was going to see to it that you weren't lost for no end, for no reason.

And so these disciples did this very thing by faith. These 70, they went out and they did this work and they come back and they're amazed at the reception that they received. And this is what Jesus is referring to when he says to them, when I sent you out without these things, you didn't lack anything, did you? And they say, no, nothing. We had all that we needed, not because we took it with us, mind you, but because you provided it for us. And so I want us to see is right as we get into our text this morning, that this is This is not abnormal for God to call us to do things that seem to be beyond our capability, that are way outside of what we would call our comfort zone. When you get told, well, you need to go out with no money, no provisions, no nothing, and you need to bring the message of the gospel out. And he tells them when they go out, he says, if they receive you, make yourself content with what they give you and bless them. But if they don't receive you, you're to curse them. And so this is very intense work that he sends them out to do.

And they come back saying, we lacked nothing, even we found success in it. And so this work at that point in Luke 10 was meant to grow their faith. But it wasn't just meant to grow their faith for no end. It was meant to grow their faith for what they're going to go into now. And so that excursion in Luke 10 is meant to prepare them for what Jesus is saying to them in this context. It was meant to teach them, you can trust me. When I sent you out into the cities and surrounding areas with no provision, I provided for you. You were cared for. Now things are going to get more difficult for you. And in the same way that you trusted me then, you'll need to trust me now. This was a very necessary lesson for them to learn. You see this in the parable of the talents. That God's way with us is to give us a portion.

And when we're faithful with a portion, what does he do? He does a couple of things. He says, well done, good job. Here's more. Here's more to be responsible with. Here's more to take care of. Here's more to manage. And you can see that happening here in this passage. They went out, they were given a little to be faithful with. They were to go out as lambs in the midst of wolves, which was difficult enough. But in this context, it was the small thing and they were faithful. And they learned to trust God through that. And now they're given more. And we know that they're given more because of what Jesus' instructions to them are. He tells them they need to take their money, they need to take their bags, they need to buy swords, which we're going to get into. And so this work in Luke 10 was preparatory, was preliminary for what was coming. Jesus was preparing his disciples even then for when he was going to die, when he was going to be numbered among the transgressors, when they weren't going to have him as a shield against the animosity and the hatred that they were going to face.

And so we see that Jesus' way with us is to prepare us for greater faithfulness, to stretch us. And if you've seen this in your own life, you know that it's difficult. It's hard. It's not an easy thing. You want to cry uncle and you want to say, I can't take anymore. What more do you expect of me? And yet Jesus is a faithful provider. Our Father is good to us and he cares for us in the midst of our trials. And part of the way he provides for us is he doesn't remove those trials. He allows them in our lives to teach us things. And so as you have trials in your life, burdens to carry, one of the questions you have to ask is why did this good God put this difficulty in my life? What is his purpose in it? And what is he teaching me? What is he preparing me for? And what do I need to learn? And that's a very different approach to the trials we have in our lives.

than what our flesh wants to do. Our flesh wants to just rebel against it, stiffen our necks, and do everything we can to get out of the difficulty. And yet when God brings difficulty into our lives, it's for the purpose of us growing in godliness, to become more like his son. And so we ought not to stiffen our necks and our backs against it, but rather submit to it and seek his face and draw near to him. That is what he's teaching his disciples to do in this passage. And so to Jesus' question, did you lack anything? They respond, no, we lacked nothing. They had had a successful trip. They hadn't lacked anything. They were provided for. And it was in that way that Jesus taught them to rely on him in a small thing. So that now when there's the big thing, they have some point of reference to say, this is possible in the strength that God provides. Now, as I've already said, this first excursion was preparatory in Luke 10. Jesus was preparing them for what was coming. And now he gives them different instructions.

Where in Luke 10, he told them, don't take your money bag, don't take your sandals, don't take any provisions with you. Now he tells them something different. He tells them, take your money bag, take your money. And if you don't have a sword, go buy one. And I want to ask you a question here. It may seem like a strange question, but bear with me. Is Jesus being literal when he says to them, take your money, take your money bag, go buy a sword? We want to say, yeah, I mean, yeah, it seems like it would make sense. And I want you to consider for a minute.

They didn't have any money, first of all, okay? These were the disciples. Judas was stealing the money. When he was wanting to feed the 5,000, you realize they didn't say, we've got 80 loaves of bread and 70 fish. We've got enough to feed ourselves for two months, but these 5,000, we can't feed them. No, what did they have? We've got two loaves and we've got five fish. These were not the type of men who had an abundance of anything. They'd left everything that they had to follow Jesus. You remember when he called the fishermen? They come in, they haven't caught anything all night, and they're tired, and they're worn out. And Jesus says, go out there and put the net on the other side. And they do, and they go out there, and they drop their net on the other side, and they pull up this huge catch, all these fish, such that the boat is about to sink. And they bring it into shore, and what do they do? They walk away from it. They leave it there with their father to follow Jesus. These men didn't have money. Go get your money and your money bag and your sword and all that you have, and they're like, okay.

Now what? They didn't have a bunch of wealth to rely on. They didn't have those protections and those comforts. Whatever they did have, they were to bring. But it wasn't going to provide for them and care for them such as we might think it would. And further, if we look at this passage, there's a really strange thing that happens in here. Jesus tells them, bring your money bag, bring your belt, and if you don't have a sword, sell your coat to get one. Now, was a coat an essential thing to them? The answer is, oh, yes. And so we can reasonably say, well, Jesus is telling them a sword is more essential to you than even a coat to keep warm. That's how important a sword is, right? Right at the top of the list, you need a sword. Well, what's a sword for? A sword's for protecting yourself against being attacked. And then at the end of our text, they respond and they say, Lord, look, we have two swords. Now, what would you expect Jesus to say if swords were the absolute number one thing that they needed to have? Go get some more.

You know, do something. And what he says to them is it's enough. And if you're like, and if you're reading this and you're paying attention, you should be like, I don't understand this. You told them they should sell their coats to go get swords. And when they say to you, we've got two, you said it was enough swords, two swords, 10 men, things are going to get harder. How's that work? And you're not crazy for thinking it doesn't. Something else must be going on here. Jesus isn't simply telling them to arm themselves so they can defend themselves against whatever attacks they faced. Consider this. Right after this, when they come to arrest Jesus, what does Peter do? He grabs one of those two swords and he lops off one of the guy's ears. And what's Jesus' response? Put the sword away. He picks up the guy's ear, puts it back on, looks at Peter and says, Do you not think that if I wanted to, I could have 20 legions of angels come and deliver me from this? And that's when Peter flees. Peter was the kind of man who had faith to do whatever it was he was told to do, but he didn't think about it. And so when Jesus tells him, put the sword away, which is Jesus telling him, that's not our way. That's not how it's going to happen. Let's say that he was allowed to keep the sword out. Do you think those two swords would have beat that crowd of men with clubs and torches? No.

I mean, not unless it was miraculous, but two swords against a crowd that's intent on killing Jesus that's come out in the middle of the night with clubs and torches. You aren't going to win with two swords. Consider also that in the book of Acts, where we've got the record of the apostles' work, the growing of the early church, the spreading of the gospel, do you ever read of them using swords to defend themselves against the attacks that come their way? You never read of them using swords. They're never in fights. People are trying to kill them. People are arresting them. They're getting beaten. They're getting flogged. They're getting thrown in jail. Never do you hear of them fighting. You hear them get thrown in prison. You see them get told, don't you teach in that name. And then they get freed from prison. And what do they do? They go right back to the temple where they were at before, where they got arrested. They kept right on preaching the word. And so you have to understand that Jesus isn't saying, you're going to fight your way out of this with swords and be protected. That's what's going to be your covering.

When I leave you. And so to answer the question, are Jesus' instructions literal? The answer is no, they're not. He's not telling them to trust in swords and the money that they've got in their money bags. Jesus' instructions here are metaphorical. They're meant to show his disciples what their future is going to be like. He's saying to them actually the very same thing he said to them when he sent them out in Luke 10. I'm going to send you out as lambs amongst the wolves. Except this time it's going to be worse. Because they don't have the money and the protections to buffer themselves from their attacks. It's going to be more difficult this time. And yet all he's doing is doubling down on the lesson that they were taught in Luke 10, which is you have to trust me in the midst of your trials and your difficulties. It will be different from the first time in that they're going to face greater opposition and danger. It will be similar or the same as the first time in that they're going to have to trust God to provide for all of their needs.

just like they did the first time. They lacked nothing the first time. And that will remain the same, even though they'll have a much harder time once Jesus is numbered with the transgressors, as he tells them he has to be. If you were one of the disciples, you would have considered this news to be bad news. I would have considered it to be bad news. It would have been intimidating. It would have been scary to hear this. And you have to consider then, if Jesus is not telling them, I'm going to leave, but you're going to have swords and money and all the things you need to provide for you. Don't worry about it. You have to ask, why is he then telling them this? Is it just to scare them and to intimidate them? Is his purpose just to discourage them? And the answer is, of course, no, that's not the purpose. So we have to discern then, what is the purpose behind Jesus telling his disciples these things? It's meant to prepare them. And you say, okay, how are you supposed to prepare?

If you knew that some sort of difficulty was coming into your life and someone could tell you, in three days, this is what's going to happen. There is going to be a hurricane and it's going to completely wipe out this area. What are you supposed to do with that knowledge? You're supposed to take that knowledge and it's meant to prepare you and equip you to respond to the danger before it comes. You're not supposed to sit there and go, well, we'll just enjoy the next two and a half days and when the storm comes, well. That'll be that. No, they're supposed to take this knowledge and it's supposed to prepare them for what's ahead. How is it supposed to prepare them for what's ahead? Well, first, when Jesus begins by referencing his instruction in Luke 10, his whole purpose is to remind them of the past. And one of the things that we're supposed to learn, just like the disciples were supposed to learn, is that when we face difficulties in our present and out into our future, one of the ways that we're to find strength is to look

to God's past faithfulness to us and his past provision to us. We're to see his kindness and his mercy and his care and his tender love for us in the past. And the purpose of that is to strengthen us so that when we face this new dirt burden, we're not going, oh no, no, what's going to happen? We can look at it and we can say, I don't know how because I'm not God. But I do trust that God who is faithful who provided for me in the past, who has always provided for me, will continue to provide for me. He's promised that he will never leave nor forsake us. And so in the midst of our trials and our burdens, whatever they may be, we can have sure hope that God will not abandon us in the midst of them. That is the first thing that he's teaching them to prepare them for what's ahead. Remember that I was faithful to you in the past, that when you thought, this is crazy, I was with you.

Now, when I say this, I'm not so dense as to realize that some of you are sitting there thinking, no, he wasn't faithful to me in the past. Which is a temptation that all of us are faced with, is the question, was God faithful? You tell me that I'm supposed to look into my past and I'm supposed to see God's faithfulness. But when I look into my past, I feel like he's abandoned me. I feel like he has forsaken me. I feel like he has hung me out to dry. I feel like his whole purpose in my life is simply to grind me into the ground. But you tell me that I'm supposed to...

see his faithfulness to me in the past. And so we've now disengaged, disconnected, and what are we to do? This is a question that I, you know, these are temptations that I deal with. These are temptations that you deal with. I don't believe for a second there's a person in this room who hasn't faced this temptation. And the way that we end up reconciling this, unless we dig into it, is to say, yeah, God's faithful, but we don't believe it. We don't live like it's true. We're not helped. And we end up further and further in the gall of bitterness because of it. And so when you face that temptation, as I have, you can't blink and you can't go soft at this point. You have to look at what God has done in your life because every one of us is want to remember all of the hard things and to take for granted the good things. It's very easy to do, to say the good things were mine. I was owed them. I deserve them. I worked for them. They're mine.

And Scripture tells us that every good and perfect gift that you have comes down from the Father of lights. That every good thing that you have and that you take for granted is a mercy of God to you. And the fact that you take it for granted doesn't remove God's agency in providing it for you. It only takes away your joy and your gratefulness. It's very difficult as Americans living in this late day in our country to be thankful for the things that God has provided for us, that he has given to us. We take so much of what we have for granted and cry out that we need more, which is not to say that there are no legitimate needs, that none of you have legitimate needs. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is God has been good to you. He has provided for you.

And even if we could go far enough to say, you know what? Everything in your life stinks. Everything's bad. Everything's hard. Even if that were true, and it's not. But for the sake of argument, let's say that is true. What then do you have to say to him sending his son to die for you? Is that not enough? That you would live in this world with all of its burdens and all of its trials and all of its hardships and all of its pain? And all of the suffering that you endure, being a sinner, living in a fallen world, is it not enough that it won't get worse when you die, but be made right? That all of the suffering and all of the pain and all that stuff that you live with on a day-to-day basis, that you can't, most of it you can't do anything about because it's in your past. Is it not enough to know that God who made you has provided for you his son?

And that all the things you endure will be made right. Those who sinned against you will be held to account. The things that you've gone without will not have been in vain. The things that you've suffered will not have been to no avail. Is it not enough that he sent his son? Whatever it is that happens in your life, whatever it is that comes your way, that is difficult and does stretch you and is painful. will be outweighed by the glory of seeing God as he is in his presence, where there'll be no more weeping and there'll be no more pain and there'll be no more tears. There'll be no more sin. Is it not enough? Has God not been faithful to you? If you'll start from that place where you see that God has provided for you salvation through his son, it will change the way you view the rest of your life. When you look at your past and you see hurt, pain,

Bad decisions. You won't see abandonment from God. You'll see, yeah, I did that. I did part of it anyway. Other people did other parts. But some of the pain, some of the difficulty that I've had in my past is a result of me doing things I ought not to have done. Some of it's self-inflicted. Not all of it. There are wicked people in this world who force you into situations that you didn't choose and you wouldn't have chosen. But that's not the sum of all the bad stuff in your life. And that doesn't take into account your response to it. And so I don't mean to be hard. I don't mean to be mean or insensitive, but simply to say, if you can't see God's faithfulness to you, you've blinded yourself, and I don't want you to be blind. Every one of us has things that have gone on, and we don't understand why or how or what in the world the good is in it. And we need to see the good in it.

We need to believe when we don't see the good in it right now, we need to believe that there is good in it because God is good. And so if you're tempted to say, God hasn't been good to me, then I say, brother, sister, you're blind. You're blinded to his mercy in your life, and it's only going to do you more harm. Turn from that way before it's too late. Turn from that way. And so the first way Jesus prepares his disciples for the battle ahead is to say, remember my faithfulness. And that is a universal. reminder to all of us. Each one of us is to look into our lives. Each one of us who calls ourselves Christians is to look and say, God has been faithful to me. He has been good and he will be good. The second way that Jesus' instructions are supposed to prepare his disciples is to draw their attention to the nature of their battle. This has to do with the swords. We've already mentioned the swords and said, well, it's kind of a, what in the world's going on? Sell your coat and go get a sword.

We got two swords. It's enough. What in the world's going on here? As we've seen when we looked in the book of Acts, as we've seen when we looked at, you know, Peter taking off the man's ear with the sword, we understand Jesus isn't calling them to physical battle. He is calling them to battle, but not physical battle. They weren't supposed to go get weapons to fight and defend themselves. That was a joke. So what were they supposed to do? Paul elaborates on this in Ephesians chapter six. Regarding this struggle, he says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, meaning Swords aren't going to do you much good because our battle is not with flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. This is what the disciples were preparing to face. And this is what you and I face. And steel swords aren't going to fix it. Paul carries on. He says, therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, having done everything to stand firm.

Now, as I've already drawn out in the book of Acts, never did they fight with metal swords. Did they fight with the word of God? That's all they did. That's all they did. They preached, they taught, they instructed, they encouraged, they warned, they admonished. All of this according to the word of God. This is the sword that they were to take up. This is the sword that Jesus is calling them to take up. Their fight was not against men, but against Satan and against his minions, against those that were under his power to attack and to destroy. Those were their enemies and they were to fight against them with the word, with the sword of the spirit. Now I want to close the circle. I want to tie this all together. When we started this sermon, we began by talking about the burdens that we all carry. And we set out to see how God provides for us to bear those burdens, which easily become temptations and the basis for our sins if we're not careful. Jesus prepares his disciples to rely on him in whatever trials they faced, no matter how difficult.

But this reliance, this dependence, this faith was not blind. It wasn't, trust me, it'll all be fine. Don't worry about it. That's not Jesus' message to his disciples. Don't worry about it. That's not it. And that's not his message to us. It's not, don't worry about it. It's all going to work out. That's not his message to us. He actually prepares them to fight, to resist, to stand firm, to oppose, to win. They're to fight with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. Now, how do we fight in this way? How do you fight with the word of God? Well, first, you have to know what it says. We're moving into application here. What does this mean for you? You have to know what God says if you're to stand against Satan's attacks. If you don't know what God has said, you're on a battlefield without a weapon. And what happens to those on a battlefield without a weapon? They're the easiest prey of all.

And so much of the decline in the American church today can simply be described as a departure from trusting what God has said. Trying to reconcile what God has said with what the world has said. How can we find that sweet spot, middle ground, where we can say we believe the Bible, but don't raise any of the eyebrows of the unbelievers? You first have to know what God says. You have to know who he is. And if you read God's word and you study it and you engage your mind and you go, whoa, he just said what? That's not, I can't say that. I'll get in trouble. Then you've begun the work of figuring out what it means to be a Christian. We're to be people of the word. We're to be people of the book. We're to know who God is. And the way we know who he is primarily is through reading and being taught what he has said and what he has done. If we neglect that work, we will not find God. And we will not be able to stand against Satan's onslaught. Have you guys ever

driven down switchback roads in the mountains. You know what I'm talking about? Mountains too steep to drive straight down, so the road goes like this across it, and there's these hairpin turns, and then it's down, and there's a hairpin turn, and it's down. It's really dicey if you're afraid of heights. And there's no guardrails, because a guardrail wouldn't do you any good. It just wouldn't. I've driven them a number of times in Colorado, and it's like, why isn't there a guardrail for that 10,000-foot fall? And it's like, because it's not going to help. It's just dangerous. And so if you've driven down those roads, if you're like me, there's some element of like, this is kind of fun. I kind of get a little bit of a rush out of it. But the reason I get a rush out of it is because my brakes work, my headlight works, my GPS works. I know what's coming. I can see it. I can see the warning signs. I can slow down. If I were to take away my headlights and I were to not be able to see the warning signs, would my brakes do me any good?

No, because I wouldn't know when to slow down and what would be my end. I'd careen off of the side of the mountain. If you're ignorant of what God says, it's as if you're driving down that icy mountain in the dark with no headlights. You have no guidance for how to conduct yourself, how to avoid death. You're freewheeling it. We're just cruising and hoping for the best. This is not how Christians ought to live. We have to know what God says. The other thing I'll tell you about knowing what God says is you will not learn overnight what God says. You'll spend your life learning who God is. And that's as it should be. And you'll find that if you give yourself to it, it's the most delightful pursuit you can have. Finding new mercies and new kindnesses in his word when you read it each time. How many times have I heard people say, I've read that passage my whole life and I don't ever remember it saying that. And it's because God's awakening them to more and more of who he is and what he's done.

And so you have to be a student of God's word if you're to be prepared to fight with it. You leave a sword in its sheath long enough out in the weather and it's going to rust to the inside of it and it isn't going to be worth a plug nickel when you need it. And the same is true of the word of God. As you study it, as you seek to understand who God is, as you ask questions, you'll find that your fight against sin and the devil isn't so scared. Well, in some senses, it becomes more scary. And in other senses, you feel more equipped to handle it. It's a weird paradox.

You have to know what God says. Your mind and your thoughts have to be disciplined by what he says. You know, you have feelings that aren't godly and you feel with every fiber of your being that something's true and it's not, it's wicked. But the only way you'd know that is if you were a student of God's word. And if you won't be taught by God's word, you're going to be taught by something. Something will tell you how to process. Something will tell you how to respond, but it won't be trustworthy. The left turn sign will have lost the top screw and it'll be turned around and it'll be a right turn sign. And off the mountain you'll go. There are thoughts that you have, there are feelings that you have that you want with every bit of you to believe is true. And if God's word says nope, then you have to tell your feelings, nope. The other way that you're to fight with the sword of the spirit, the word of God, when you read it, one of the things that you're going to see is time and again, God delivering his people. Time and again, delivering them.

Insurmountable odds. No other way out. Nothing but destruction ahead of them. Deliverance. And it doesn't make any sense. You couldn't have thought it up. If it was your job to write an adventure story, you couldn't have put that twist in there, that plot twist. But it's God's way to deliver his people. And he's most glorified when the odds are most stacked against you. And when you read scripture, that's what you'll see time and again, is that he's been faithful to his people yesterday, today, and will be forever. And that is in there. to remind you and to instruct you not to lose heart and not to go, oh, I'm all alone. No one's ever been in such dire straits as me. Maybe your particulars are particular, but you're not the first one of God's children to enter into these sorts of trials. And you won't be the first one to be faced with the temptations to turn away from God. And so when you read scripture, you need to pay particular attention to his provision for his people and the way he cares for them, the way he delivers them.

and be strengthened by it. Identify yourself as one of his people and claim and own his mercies for yourself. They're for all of his children. The last thing I'll say is this. When you see someone else struggling to believe that God will care for them, you have an obligation as a Christian to tell them that he will. You're meant to strengthen and to encourage one another with the mercy of God when others are too weak to take hold of it themselves. It's not our place as Christians to watch people writhe around in their misery and go, well, too bad, that's awful. Hope that works out. No, by faith, you're to tell them to trust God, that he is faithful, that he is merciful, that he will care for them. But you only do it if you believe it first for yourself. If you say it to them and you don't believe it, it'll ring hollow. But if you believe it, they'll find strength in it.

And so we're to encourage one another with these words. This is what Jesus is preparing his disciples for as he's about to leave. Next week, he's going to be in the garden praying. And then after that, he's arrested and gone. And so these are his final words to his disciples. You've trusted me in the past. Trust me in the future. You will not be sorry. Let's pray.