Ron Dunn Podcast - Defense Against Discouragement

Episode Date: May 8, 2019

From the sermon series on Exodus

Thank you so much for joining us. and can't say something to you. And it has been a time of spiritual refreshing for me just to be with these others on the program, always ministers to me. And as inadequate as I know it is, I want to say thank you for making this such a good week in the fact that you have cooperated with the Lord, you've come with open hearts, ready to receive what God has to say.

And that is so essential. And we just praise God for the privilege of being here this week. And thank you so much for your prayers and your attention. And thank the Lord for the special music. I just don't know what to say about the special music. It has just blessed me personally so much. And this particular song that they just sung is one of my favorites. It means something very special to me.

And it also just fits right in with the message that I want to bring to you tonight. So if you'll open your Bibles to the Old Testament, to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 15, and I want to begin reading with verse 22 and read through the end of the chapter, verse 27. Exodus chapter 15, verses 22 through 27. You know the context. They have just had a marvelous deliverance from Egypt. And then the Red Sea episode, they've just come through that. And the first 21 verses, you have a song of Moses and the children of Israel as they praise the Lord for all he has done.

And then in verse 22, we pick it up and read it. Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,

and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elam, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters. Mention has already been made this week of one of the alarming statistics among Southern Baptists, and that is that each year 1,000 of our ministers leave the ministry. I read a report of a preliminary study a few weeks ago as to the causes of this defection from the ministry among our ranks. One of the primary contributing factors, especially among younger ministers, was discouragement and disillusionment.

And I believe that one of the most effective weapons that the devil has ever forged against a believer is the weapon of discouragement. Jack and I were in a northwest city a few weeks ago in a conference where several churches had come together to sponsor it. And as we talked to pastor after pastor, this is what we heard. Our greatest problem here is discouragement. Our pastors are discouraged. Our people are discouraged. We need somehow to be lifted out of this mire of discouragement. This week here in New Orleans, I've talked to several,

and I've had more than one pastor mention to me, you know, the greatest thing that I have to fight here in my particular location in this city is discouragement. It's so difficult. We're in the minority where we are, and it's so easy to get discouraged. And this is not something that simply afflicts preachers and music directors and other staff workers. It's something that afflicts every Christian.

And I believe that my greatest battles with the enemy is at the point of discouragement. My greatest times of weakness have come through discouragement. My greatest times of unbelief and panic and fretfulness have come through discouragement. And when the devil seeks to try to thwart the purpose and work of God in the lives of believers, I think his number one priority weapon is the weapon of discouragement, of disillusionment. I think I have felt constrained to talk about this tonight because a meeting like this, a conference like this, in a very real way, paves the way for discouragement. Because the source of

discouragement, I believe, the source of discouragement is the fact that we don't really know things are going to turn out as they are. We sometimes have an inadequate view of the Christian life, and we don't know what to expect, and when something happens, it knocks us off balance, it destroys our spiritual equilibrium, and we find ourselves plunged into despair and discouragement. And this week has been a time of victory for a great many folks. Not only those of you who come in response to the invitation and dawn of the prayer room, but others who have not made that particular open response, God has ministered to your life. I guess you might say we're sort of tonight on a spiritual high.

God has met us and God has blessed and many of us have had some difficulties resolved and some problems solved and some sins forgiven. Many of us come to this place tonight with a new commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if we don't know what to expect out yonder next week after this conference is over, we will find ourselves the helpless victims of discouragement. As I read through the Israelites' experiences, Moses takes them to the wilderness, I find there a classic record of discouragement. If there was ever a man that had a right to be discouraged, it was Moses. I get a lot of comfort from Moses. I've never pastored that large a

congregation, and any time I had anybody murmuring and griping and complaining, and I began to feel sorry for myself, I just thought about Moses, who had upwards of three million people griping at him all at once. And you know, that encourages me. And Moses was a man who lived on the edge of discouragement and disillusionment. And these stories and incidents

are rich in their instruction because the Bible makes it very clear that the things that happened to them have happened to us as examples, and they are meant for our instruction and edification. What I want to talk to you tonight about is defending against discouragement, defending against discouragement. And as I've already intimated, I think the defense against discouragement is to sort of know what's going to happen. If you know there's going to be a joke, you can brace yourself for it and not be knocked off balance. You can learn to roll with the punches. And most Christians find themselves wallowing in self-pitying discouragement

because they didn't know what to expect. They didn't know the route that God takes them in accomplishing his purpose and leading them to the land of promise and fullness. And so I want us to look at this strange little incident as Moses brings the people to the waters of Marah and see their reaction and see God's reaction. And we're going to learn some things on how to defend against discouragement. And I believe the defense is to know what to expect.

Moses was a man that had completely committed his life to God. The Bible makes it clear that he had given up the riches of Pharaoh. He had given up the palace. He had given up the riches of Pharaoh, he had given up the palace, he had given up all that would go along with that for the reproaches of Christ, to suffer for Christ. Now, here was a man who had had a tremendous spiritual experience and had started out with the glow of victory on his face, and yet immediately he met one difficulty after another and was, as I said, always living at the point of discouragement. And so we're going to look at this. I have

three things that I want to say to you tonight. Number one, if you're going to defend against discouragement, you must understand that the greatest successes of life are often followed by failure. The greatest successes of life are often followed by failure. Now, you'll miss the impact of this little story if you ignore its context. They had just passed through the Red Sea. They had seen the Red Sea come together again and drown the Egyptian army that was pursuing them. And the people stand on the shore

and they watch as the waves wash the dead bodies of their Egyptian taskmasters up on the shore. And they look at them. And I can imagine they walked around. They said, ah, I recognize that. Yes, sir, he was the one that whipped me. He was the one that made me make bricks the hard way. I recognize him. He's dead. I've been liberated from that old Egyptian taskmaster. And as they surveyed

the scene, and all those dead Egyptians, they felt that liberation surge through their soul, and Moses began to sing. and Israel began to sing. I wish we had time tonight just read those first 21 verses of chapter 15. It is absolutely amazing. Listen to just one or two of the things they say. In verse 11, who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Thou stretchest out thy hand, and the earth swallows them up. Verse 13, Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy strength under thy holy habitation. Look at verse 17. Thou shalt bring them in and plant

them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary of the Lord, which thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever. Boy, if you'd have walked in on that service, heard that singing and shouting and praising, you'd have thought, here are a folk who are fixed for life. They have arrived. They have it made. All their trials are behind them. With faith like that, with confidence like that, nothing can stop them. And in three days, in three days, they're wallowing in failure. Three days later, they find themselves in a place of bitter waters and they immediately, they immediately forget everything they said. I thought the Lord was going to reign forever

and ever. I thought there was no God like your God. I thought he was going to lead you into the land and establish you in inheritance. And here you are now murmuring and grumbling and griping to Moses because you're afraid you're going to die first. Now, folks, one of the greatest spiritual principles of life is this, that the greatest successes of life are often followed by failure. And if you don't realize that, you're going to be plunged into despondency and discouragement. I think about Elijah on Mount Carmel. Has ever a man experienced a greater victory than that?

When he sees the heads of those 450 prophets of Baal roll like crushed eggs down the hillside and the heavens open and God baptizes the earth in water. No, Elijah standing on Mount Carmel. What a great success. And yet, a short time later, you find him running from Jezebel and whining like a whipped pup under a juniper tree, wishing God would kill him. I think about the Israelites as they entered into Canaan, going to Jericho, marched around the cities once a day for seven days,

and then on the seventh day seven times. You know, it was so easy. Oh, victory was so easy. All they had to do was just have a little pre-celebration parade and do a little shouting and blow a few trumpets, and the walls came tumbling down. And then the next chapter we find Ai, where they flee before the people.

I think about Simon Peter in Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus says, who do men say that I am? And everybody gives their own opinion. And then Simon Peter opens his mouth and something right comes out. And he's as surprised as everybody else. He says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus says, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood hath not revealed unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. You have been the recipient of divine revelation. What a moment. What a moment. What success. Simon has been singled out by God to receive a revelation that none of the other disciples had really accurately and thoroughly received. And what so often happens is when you have one great spiritual experience,

you get to thinking that makes you an expert in all things spiritual. And the very next moment, Jesus is saying to the same man, get thee behind me, Satan, you don't understand the things of God at all. Success followed by failure. Success followed by failure. Now, what happens when this occurs? You know, when I left the pastorate a year ago to get into this work, I thought I was doing what God wanted me to do. I had been at that church for nine years, and God had blessed in a marvelous way. I've never had a pastorate in which I loved the people so much and felt they loved me and we were as one and there was sweetness and harmony. People saved, the church growing, and God just manifesting himself.

And yet, for the past two or three years, I've felt God gradually easing me out of that position into this kind of ministry. And so, I just naturally knew if a man is willing to give up that kind of situation, that kind of pastorate, and do God's will, that everything is going to be roses and lights. And so I left that church. And the first two or three months

were the worst I've ever had in my life. The first church I went to after that meeting was the deadest church I'd ever been in in all my years. And the next church was just as dead. And the next one was just as dead. And you know what I begin to think? I begin to think, well, I wonder where I missed God. Perhaps I miscalculated.

Perhaps I misread the will of God. I must have sinned somewhere along the way, or else I wouldn't be experiencing this. And I think the first thing that happens when we find ourselves in bitter waters is we begin to check out and say, well, I wonder where I got off track. I wonder where I missed God. Surely this is not in the will of God, but it is. The interesting thing about this is that Mara was on the map that God was leading them by. God led them right to that place. The Bible says Moses led them, but if you read on, you'll find that God was leading them by. God led them right to that place. The Bible says Moses led them, but if you read on, you'll find that God was leading them through Moses. God led them to

that place. I want you to understand tonight that when you arrive at a situation, it may be your next pastorate. It may be your next Sunday school position. It may be the next day when you arrive at the place of bitter water. Friends, I want you to know that does not mean you're out of the will of God. It probably means you're right smack dab in the middle of God's will. You know why? Well, because he uses this failure to prove us. It says he proved them there. I was thinking about this, and I couldn't quite understand how in the world could God prove them here. I thought they had been proved at the Red Sea. Now, I want you to follow this very carefully.

He proved them there. Now, they had just had a marvelous demonstration of the omnipotence of God at the Red Sea. But folks, I want you to understand tonight, you do not grow and learn to trust God at Red Sea's sensational miracles. You learn to trust God in the daily necessities of life. And God doesn't test his people and prove his people in miraculous happenings like the Red Sea. He tests them and proves them when you're up against the daily necessities of life. And what so often happens is this,

that if we have a marvelous, cataclysmic, ecstatic experience walking about three feet off the ground it seems, we think now we're well equipped for anything that comes along. Listen, I want to tell you something. Miracles never produce faith. Miracles do not produce faith. And you can have one Red Sea experience after another, but that's not the training ground,

friend, for living for Jesus Christ. The training ground is when you come to the daily necessities of life, when you wonder where your next drink of water is going to come from. That's the testing. That's the testing. And God led them to the bitter waters to see if they'd learn anything by the Red Sea, and sure enough, they hadn't learned much. And God is going to test you. If this week you've had a great experience, I don't mean to assume a pessimistic attitude. I'm not pessimistic at all. But I just want you to know what to expect. Now listen, if you have had a great experience with the Lord this week, then get ready. He's going to test you at the point of that experience. And sometimes, often, the greatest successes of your life

will be followed by failure. He led them there, not only to prove them, but it says, it teaches us that he also leads us to these places to purify us, to purify us. You see, he made a statue and an ornament and a commandment. And he said, all right, I don't want you to get the idea that you're spiritual superior to the Egyptians. He said, the same pledge, the same disease that I put on the Egyptians I'll put on you unless,

unless you come to the place where you hearken to my word, where you obey my word, and where you do everything I say to do. The experience of failure was to purify those people of their spiritual satisfaction and superiority and to reveal to them the murmuring and distrust and disbelief that was in their hearts.

I find that there are times when it's easy to praise the Lord, easy to trust God, and then I find God leading me to some bitter waters, and it's not so easy to praise him, not so easy to trust him. And God is purifying me, but he's doing something else. He's also preparing me. He's preparing me, because if you read over the next chapter,

you'll find they come to another situation in which they don't have any food. And the wording now about hunger. I want to tell you something. Every time God leads you through one of these experiences, it is in order that he might prepare you for more intense struggles, for greater battles, and equip you for winning greater victories. The first thing to remember is this. The greatest successes of life are often followed by failure. The second thing you need to expect is this. The greatest services of life are often followed by forgetfulness.

Oh, I tell you, it's so hard to believe this. Here was Moses who led them out of Egypt under the mighty hand of God, who when they were stuck at the Red Sea, obeyed God. And it was Moses, it was Moses, the man of God, who raised his hand and wielded the rod of God and parted the waters and delivered the people. You'd think they'd remember that. But the very moment they get into a tight situation, what do they do? They forget. And they begin to accuse Moses and blame Moses

and murmur against Moses. The greatest services of life are often followed by forgetfulness. Now, friend, I want to tell you something. You need to get ready to be unappreciated. There is nothing that will discourage you any more than being unappreciated and having people forget. I don't know what it is, but there's something about human nature that can in a moment forget a record of faithful service. Friend, you're going to be unappreciated many a time in your Christian life. And regardless of how faithful you are in serving God, there are going to be periods when all of your services are followed by forgetfulness. Now, what do you do in a situation like that?

Well, let me offer two or three suggestions. Number one, don't take it personally. Don't take it personally. If you'll check over in chapter 16, you'll find that God says in verse 8, I believe it is, and Moses said, This shall be when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him. And what are we? Moses and Aaron. What are we?

Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. And it is to the eternal credit of Moses he never took those murmurings personally. Now, friend, I want to tell you, you're going to be in deep trouble if you take things personally. You need to remember the word of the Lord to his servants.

They have not rejected you. They have rejected me. I am an ambassador for Christ. And God beseeches us in Christ's name. I stand in Christ's place. I am his representative. And when people reject me, I must not take it personally. It'll make me bitter and resentful. And I'll start whining and self-hitting. Don't take it

personally. Number two, don't take it out on the people. Now, I don't understand Moses at all. I don't understand him at all. I want you to know he exercised great self-control. You'll never find Moses turning against the people and saying, all this is your fault and you don't appreciate me. He never took it out on the people. Well, what do you do? Well, I'll tell you what you do. You take it to the Lord.

You take it to the Lord. He cried unto the Lord. He cried unto the Lord. And there are two kinds of people in this building tonight. There are those who complain and there are those who cry to the Lord. He cried unto the Lord. And there are two kinds of people in this building tonight. There are those who complain, and there are those who cry to the Lord. And the Bible says that when he cried to the Lord, now listen carefully, when he cried to the Lord, the Lord showed him a tree, showed him a tree, and told him to throw it in the waters, and when he threw it in the waters, those bitter waters were made sweet.

Now, the thing that I want you to notice is that tree was there all the while. But Moses didn't recognize it. God had to show it to him. And friend, I want to tell you something. In the midst of your worst times, in the midst of your most bitter experiences, if you will, instead of complaining and griping and taking it personally, if you'll cry to the Lord, he'll show you something that'll make it sweet. And he will move into your life in an unexplainable, mysterious way,

and he'll show you how to make that experience sweet. Now the thing that really struck me, though, is not so much they forgot Moses, but they forgot God. They forgot God. You read back through that hymn in the first verses of chapter 15, and they talked about God's power to deliver. And yet now they are whining and worrying about a loss of water.

Bitter water. The greatest services of life are often followed by forgetfulness one last word and then we're through the greatest shortages of life are always followed by fullness the greatest shortages of life are always followed by fullness

look at verse 27 and they came to Elam where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. The greatest shortages of life are always followed by fullness. I want you to notice the Bible says they kept going. They kept going. And want you to notice the Bible says they kept going. They kept going. And they came to Elam. Now listen, friends.

You're going to meet obstacles and opposition, and the devil is going to wage spiritual war against you, and is going to threaten you with disillusionment and discouragement. But if in the midst of that, you'll just keep going. Just keep going. Trust God. Obey God. Regardless of how dismal it looks, just obey God.

You say, what if I don't feel like obeying God? Obey God. What if I don't feel like praying? Pray. What if I don't feel like studying the Word? Study the Word. Just keep on obeying God, keeping His statutes, doing everything God says. Just keep on following Him, folks.

Just keep on moving. For right over the hill, there's Elam. And when a man or a woman keeps on moving and keeps on trusting God in the midst of bitterness, He'll always bring you to Elam. Where there were twelve wells, that's one for every tribe. And seventy palm trees, that's one for every tribe, and 70 palm trees, that's one for every elder. Listen, a while back they didn't have any water at all except that it was bitter,

and now each tribe has its own artesian spring bubbling up out of the ground. And every elder has his own palm tree. And you know, all they needed was water, but God gave them shade. The Lord always gives you more than you expect. They didn't need to say that. God said, listen, I'm going to throw in something extra. I found that the Lord always gives

me more than I'm expecting, always gives me more than I'm looking for. Faith on the cross said, Lord, one day when you come into your kingdom, way off yonder in the future when you come into your kingdom, if you just, you know, sort of remember me. And Jesus gave me more than he expected. He said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He always gives him more. One of my favorite verses is Revelation 3 and 20 where Jesus says, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and I will sup with him and he with me.

The thing that I like most about that is this. Jesus says, when I come in, first of all, I'll sit at your table and eat what you have. Then he says, I want you to sit at my table and let me feed you for a while. I'll sup with you and then you sup with me. I'll come in as guests and I'll become the host and I'll feed you for a while. And folks, God always gives us more than we can give him. They came to Elam where there were 12 waters. You remember in John chapter 6, have you ever noticed how many times the people of God are always running out of necessity?

Have you noticed that? John chapter 6, they were having an outdoor meeting. They didn't have any food. People began to pass out from hunger. One little boy had a little lunch. His mother evidently had passed him that day. And the disciples began to moan and groan, wondering what in the world we were going to do. And Jesus distributed that bread and those fishes after he blessed them. And when

they finished, they took up, let's see, how many baskets full was it? Twelve baskets full. That's one for each apostle. Even Jesus had his own basket full of bread. For a while they had nothing. They were at the porn of fainting from hunger, but they obeyed the Lord Jesus. They just obeyed as ridiculous as it may have seemed. They obeyed and they ended up each one with his own basket drunkard. I've tried to imagine what Moses must have felt like when God told him to throw that tree in the water. That seemed like a foolish thing to do. The water's already bad enough without throwing tree in it.

I can imagine the Israelites saying, now look at that, look at that, Moses, here we are dying of thirst and go there throwing trees in water. I want to tell you something, folks, the ways of God are past finding out. Ways of God are past finding out. I stand absolutely amazed tonight at the pathway that God leads us. I have to tell you that when I started out giving my life to the Lord and to preach and to try to do His will,

I never in my wildest nightmares imagined some of the bitter waters He was going to lead me to. And there have been many a time, folks, when I've been discouraged and despondent. There have been two periods in my life when I've tried my best to leave the ministry. I've tried to quit.

You know, I've never doubted my call to preach. There have been times in my younger life when I wondered if I was saved and doubted my salvation. I've never doubted that God called me to preach. And I knew there were times in my life, two particular periods, when I did everything I knew to get out of the ministry and knew when I was doing it,

I was going against God's will. I'd take second best in life. But God locked me in. He shut every door. Folks, you know, I have no choice but to preach. I can't do anything else. It's preach to starve. You know why?

Because when I started out, I didn't know what to expect. I thought somehow surrendering to God and being filled with the Spirit was a vaccination that God gave me that made me immune to problems and difficulties and troubles. And that if I just stayed faithful and clean and pure, everything would be rosy and white.

And God would lead me to bitter waters. And I want to tell you something. There he would prove me. And I'd fail the test. You know what would happen? They fail the test. They fail the test. And in chapter 16, he leads them to a place where there's no food.

And they fail the test. They fail the test. And in chapter 16, he leads them to a place where there's no food, and they fail the test again. And 40 years in the wilderness is simply God giving those folks the examination over and over again until they pass it. And I thank God tonight that he never abandons his purpose, and he can never be frustrated in his will. And God has a plan for my life, and he's not going to abandon it, he'll keep on giving me the examination until I pass. You never flunk out. He just keeps giving you the test over and over and over again.

Listen, I want to pass it the first time I save myself a lot of trouble. And I want you to see the cycle that this goes through. There was success followed by failure. There was service followed by forgetfulness. There was shortage followed by fullness. All right, everything's all right again.

They come to Elam, and they camp there. They camp there. Man plenty of water. Each tribe has its own well. Each elder has his own palm tree to sit under. But friends, they didn't stay at Elam, and they never stayed at Elam. They moved on, and in chapter 16, it says, once again, they murmured against the Lord. Success followed by failure because they came to a place where they had no food, no bread. Service was followed by forgetfulness. They murmured against the Lord again. And

shortage was followed by forgetfulness because God fed them abundantly. And that's the cycle. If you'll read the history of Israel, dear friend, you'll find that's the cycle again and again and again. Why? Because God is leading us. God is leading us to keep us to trust.

And all those days and months and even years I spent discouraged and disillusioned and despondent if I'd just known that I was in the way and God was leading me. And so when you leave here this week, I have an idea that some of you wish this thing to go on because you don't want to have to face what you're afraid you're going to meet out there. Some of you even dread going home tonight because things aren't right at home. And you may feel the presence of the Lord here, and the moment you step over the threshold, it'll all dissipate and die on you. You dread even going home. You dread not having a service like this to come through tomorrow night because you don't know if you can make it without it.

That's why you're so discouraged. Listen, God leads you that way in order that he might teach you to trust him. And the greatest testing of faith, friends, comes in just the daily needs of life. God is not going to mold and make you and finish you into that finished product this week. And if you think that he is,

and if you think that he has, oh, friends, you're in for a one big shot. And the devil is going to defeat you with a weapon of discouragement. This is not the test this week. This is not the proving this week. Tomorrow is the test. Next week is the test.

When God leads you to the waters of Mala and the so bitter that you can't stand it. That's the test. That's the test. What you have to say then is, now, here is my golden opportunity to demonstrate that what God did last week in that conference was real in my life.

The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. Thank you.