Ron Dunn Podcast - Strange Ministers - Bellevue

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

Guilt and shame have put our lives in bondage. The truth is seeing things as God sees them, and that sets us free from that bondage. Deuteronomy 8:1-3, 15-16. Preached at Bellevue Baptist Church.

Thank you, Pastor. It is always a joy to be with you and with the Bellevue Baptist Church. And as we were driving over this morning, I told Kay one of the things I was looking forward to was the music. Jim and the choir and the orchestra, I tell you, they just always put together such great music. And I don't think he heard me because everybody was applauding, but I turned to Bob, and I said, you get to hear stuff like this every Sunday. And my goodness, what a blessing. I'm in a different church every Sunday, 40 to 45 different churches every year, and some of the churches I'm in, I feel like I ought to get combat pay having to listen to some of the music that I have to listen to. I want you to know, folks, there is some pitiful stuff out there. And one of the reasons I love to come to this church is not because just of the fellowship with the pastor and with the people, but also to share with Brother Jim and hear his music,

and I thank God for it. So thank you for letting me come and be with you this day. A few years ago, Kay and I were driving out to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to attend the Glorietta Conference, and we stopped in Amarillo to eat and the Denny's that we stopped in was quite crowded, but after a while they seated us. As we sat down, I was only dimly aware that there was a young man and a young woman sitting in the booth behind us.

But as I sat down, I became very much aware that they were there, because as I sat, I heard this young man behind me say, well, I'll be glad when the day comes that I can walk into a restaurant and everybody won't look at me as though I'm some strange and weird person. Well, I wish I'd have gotten a look at him before I sat down. I had a temptation and urge to twist around, you know, and take a gander at him, but I didn't feel like that would be proper. At first I thought he was referring to me, but then I realized, no, he was already here when I came in.

He just must have this thing that when he walks into a public place, he has the idea that everybody looks at him as though he's some strange and weird person. Well, he talked like that all through the meal. And I didn't have to work to eavesdrop, you know. I mean, he was talking loudly enough for me to hear. And all the way through the meal, he talked like that. He said, oh, everybody thinks I'm strange and weird. My mom and dad think that I'm strange and weird. My brother's always calling me strange and weird. I figured this was a young man on his first date

with this girl. I couldn't imagine anybody going out with him twice. And he kept talking like that all the way through the meal and I said to Kay, let's kind of hurry up and eat. I want to finish before he does. I want to get up and get a look at this strange and weird young man. And so we finished first and I jumped up and whirled around to take a look at this strange and weird young man and, well, he wasn't all that strange and weird looking at all. He looked pretty normal. The only thing I noticed really was the t-shirt he was wearing that proclaimed in big black bold letters, I really feel good about myself. I don't know if he's aware of it or not, but that young man needs help. He has some real problems. Well, Kay and I laughed about that

all the way to Santa Fe. I thought, my goodness, how about that? All the time he's talking about how strange and weird everybody thinks he is, while he's wearing a t-shirt saying, I really feel good about myself. But the more I have thought of that, the more I realize that that young man is not all that that unusual, that there are many people who go around wearing t-shirts that proclaim, I really feel good about myself. But on the inside, the opposite is true. Oh, it may not be a t-shirt that they wear. It may be a smile. It may be an expression. It may be some kind of mannerism. It may be the way they act when they come to church or when they're around other people.

But they act in such a way that conveys to other people, yes, sir, everything is copacetic with me. Man, I really feel good about myself. Yes, sir, everything is copacetic with me. Man, I really feel good about myself. Yes, sir, everything is right. But on the inside, they are filled with misery and guilt and shame and a sense of failure. I have discovered as I began watching this

in the last several years that there are a great many Christians, saved to be sure, but who still, even though they are saved, carry around a load of guilt and shame. Usually it's because of some past failure in their life or some sense of inadequacy and they can't shake it. And it expresses itself within them by this feeling of guilt and shame. I know of people who literally define themselves by some failure in their life. It's as if I would say to you, I'll meet you in the lobby after the service and we'll go to lunch together. I'll be wearing a blue suit and a red tie, and by the way, I'm divorced.

I'm not really, but I just, you know. But the fact that I'm divorced doesn't have anything to do with it. But you see, that bothers me to such an extent, I feel such a sense of failure that I do not feel that I've really introduced myself or defined myself or identified myself without also telling you what a failure I am. Now with guilt, the issue is wickedness. With shame, the issue is worthlessness. Guilt says I made a mistake.

Shame says I made a mistake. Shame says I am a mistake. Guilt says I can't do anything right. Shame says everything I do is wrong. And if guilt is not dealt with, of course, it turns into shame. And shame becomes a way of life. There is a flaw in our character. There is a defect in our life. And it can never be changed. And so we go through life feeling this total sense of failure, burdened down by this guilt and shame. And like I say, I notice it in Christians as well as in unsaved people.

Well, you know, Jesus said on one occasion, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Now, I like to think of truth as seeing things as God sees them. To look at my life and to look at things and see them as they really are, to see them as they are in God's sight. And I believe that there are many things that you and I are held in bondage by today, that if we could see those things from God's point of view, see the truth about those things, we could be set free from that bondage.

Let me share with you today a passage of Scripture that helped me a great deal. Because, you see, I'm one of those who carries with him a load of failure. There have been many failures in my life. And don't look at me as though I'm some strange and weird person. I do, though, by the way, have a t-shirt that says, I really feel good about myself. But I don't wear it out. I sleep in it. But don't look at me as though I'm some strange and weird person, because you are filled with failure also. There's not a one of us this morning that could stand up and say, well, I know there's no failure in my life. All of us, and some of us, actually define our lives by that sense of failure and keeps us from living a life that God wants us to live. Sometimes I ask congregations,

how many people believe that God wants us to go around feeling guilty? It's amazing how many people will raise their hand and say, yes, God wants us to feel guilty. Well, that makes sense. Why? Because we are guilty. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And, you know, there's just something about human nature that, well, it's easy to feel guilty. Have you noticed how many times people play on your guilt and manipulate you by playing on guilt? I don't know. We thrive on guilt. I don't know about you, but I feel guilty when I don't feel guilty.

Now, I'm not a morning person. I'm just going to be up front with you on that. I think getting up is a terrible way to start the day. And I'm not a morning person. But I remember Kay and I were flying back from some meeting, and I woke up for some inexplicable reason feeling good. I mean, I felt great. I just really did. I felt great. And I went to the airport and I was speaking to everybody, you know, and got on the airplane and I spoke to the stewardess and the flight

attendants and everything. I helped little old women get their luggage up in the overhead carrier. I was feeling so expansive, you know, and all of that, and I just felt great. And I sat down, and as I was fastening my seatbelt, a thought occurred to me. Why do you feel this good? Are you on something? And I couldn't think of any reason why I ought to feel this good.

And I got to feeling worse. And that made me feel better. And oh, you know what I mean? You just, you know, you just... Well, anyway. Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8. I want to read the first three verses and then skip

over and read verses 15 and 16. And we're going to read about the great failure in the life of Israel, the wilderness experience. God had promised the people that when they left Egypt, they could cross over and conquer Canaan, and that God would deliver it into their hands. But when they came to Kadesh Barnea, they sent 12 spies over into the land, and the spies came back. And you remember what the spies said? They said, well, everything God told us about that land is true.

It is a land flowing with milk and honey, and the grapes over there are big as watermelons. But I want to tell you something. God didn't tell us everything there was to know about that land. I felt that way sometimes about the ministry. You know, everything God said about it is true. He just didn't tell me the whole truth. Have you ever felt that way about the Christian life?

Everything God said is true, but He didn't say everything there was to say. And along the way you discover what these people discovered. They said, there are giants over there. We hadn't heard about those giants and in their eyes we're just grasshoppers. We cannot cross over. And so Israel that day by deliberate choice of their will, they disobeyed and disbelieved God and spent the next 40 years walking in circles. A time of failure, of disgrace, wasted time and wasted experience. And so ever after that, the wilderness or the desert experience has been synonymous with the time when we walked without God

or we rebelled against God or we're living in disobedience or disbelief. And Paul picks it up and the writer of Hebrews picks it up and we've picked it up. The wilderness experience, we say, we've all had our wilderness experiences. And this is what Moses is writing about. So let's begin reading verse 1, chapter 8, Deuteronomy. This entire commandment that I command you today, you must diligently observe so that you may live and increase and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness

in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments, He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna with which neither you nor your fathers were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. And then in verses 15 and 16, excuse me, again God, He's talking about God,

who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know to humble you and to test you and in the end to do you good. Now, as I've read that passage of Scripture hundreds of times,

one day a little word leaped out at me that, well, I know it's always been there, but to me it was as though God had just put it in overnight while I was asleep. It's that little word in verse 2 that says, L-E-D, He led you these 40 years in the wilderness. And he says it again in verses 15 and 16. He led you. He led you. I don't know. I guess you just assume some things without really thinking them through, but I just sort of had the idea that when – excuse me, I'm in Memphis, that's where I am, and I've got the Memphis whatever you

get up here. But I just assumed that when they turned their back on God, God turned their back on them. And that God, in a sense sense sort of said, well, that's the way you want it. You buttered your bread, eat it, go ahead and I'll see you again in 40 years when most of you are dead and the rest of you have come to your senses. But the fact of the matter is, God does not abandon His people in the wilderness. Even when they turn away from him, he does not turn away from them.

He says, I led you. I didn't forsake you. I led you. And then notice, I did this in order to do some things that I could not have otherwise done, in order to humble you, to test you, to make you understand that man does not live by bread alone. But notice the last phrase of that 16th verse. Boy, that is the kicker. And in the end, to do you good.

Now wait just a minute. You mean to tell me that God is going to take these 40 years, that God is going to take the people's disobedience, He's going to take their fearfulness when they quaked and quivered because they were afraid of the giants and they whimpered off and they lived for the next 40 years in defeat? Do you mean to tell me God is somehow going to take that and do some things in their lives so that in the end they would be better than they were in the beginning?

Well, if I understand the Word, that's exactly what He's saying. So I want to talk to you this morning on how God uses our failure. Now, I want to make it clear, I'm not talking about God excusing our failure. God never excuses our failure to obey and believe Him. Please don't go out of here and say, oh, that preacher said it's all right to disobey God. No, God never excuses that kind of failure. What I'm saying is that even though we do fail in that way, He still uses it. You see, as far as God is concerned and my experience with Him,

there is no such thing as wasted time and wasted experience. For God is using it all for a purpose. So let's look at these. Just mention two or three. Number one, He says that God uses our failure in order to humble us, to empty us of our pride. That's what he says. He did this in order to humble you, to empty you of your pride. Now, I like to think of being humbled as having the arrogance knocked out of you.

It's God kind of giving you a blow to the solar plexus and whoosh, there goes all of your pride. You say, did these folks need to be humble? Oh, they did. I mean, they certainly did. They were God's people. Hallelujah. They were God's people. Hallelujah. They were God's people, God's chosen people out of the smallest peoples of the earth. God chose them, and he delivered them out of Egypt in one fell swoop. Well, you better not celebrate too soon.

I see the Egyptians are coming after you. Not to worry. Our God is a great God. Look, he's parting the waters of the Red Sea. We'll just walk across on dry land. My, our God is a great God. Look, He's parting the waters of the Red Sea. We'll just walk across on dry land. My, our God is a great God. We're a great people. I wouldn't celebrate too quick if I were you. I think the Egyptians are walking across on the same dry land. Not to worry. Our God will show them that you can't walk on somebody else's miracle. And He releases the waters, and they come to, and they drown the armies of Egypt. And if you want to read about a holy hootenanny, you turn over there to Exodus chapter 14, and you'll find the people begin to dance.

Oh my goodness, Mary, Moses' daughter, began to dance, and they praised the Lord and everything. Oh, they had a wonderful time. You read Exodus chapter 14. I mean, they are a great people, and their God is a great God. And I can imagine, you know, those bodies of those dead soldiers, you know, begin to wash up to the shore. I imagine they sort of went, you know, looking at them. Bodies bobbing around up there in the water. I imagine they recognized one or two. Yeah, I recognize that one, see. That one right there.

Kick him, turn him over, you can see his face. Good. Yeah, see, he's the one that used to beat me when I was slow making bricks. Nice to see you. Have a nice day. Boy, our God is a great God. Our God is a great God. Hey, Moses, when we get to Sinai, no problem. You go up on

the mountain and find out what God wants us to do, and we'll do it all. Proud, arrogant, self-confident. And I want to tell you something, folks, that happens to all of us when God does some great things in our lives. You know, we get to thinking we've got God all figured out. By the way, you notice how he humbled them? It says he humbled them by making them hungry and then feeding them with manna that they didn't know anything about. And neither did their fathers. Now watch it.

You see, they thought they knew every way that God could feed them. And they thought that no matter what situation, they had manna that would fit that situation. They knew all the formulas. They knew all the recipes. They knew all the recipes. They knew all the secrets. I mean, they've got it made, I mean, after all. It's like one pastor told me, and I chilled when I heard the words, and I chill every time I repeat them. He said to me, well, I've got all this God stuff down. But I must confess to you, there was a time in my Christian life when I really thought

I did have it all down. I mean, really, I'd had some spiritual experiences. I thought I'd learned to walk in the Spirit. I thought I'd learned how to pray. I thought I'd learned how to believe God. And I had some formulas, you know. I mean, really, you know, no matter what happened, I mean, you know, I mean, rebuke the devil, plead the blood, station angels, do it, you know, do mean really, you know, no matter what happened. I mean, you know, I mean rebuke the devil, plead the blood, station angels, you know, do all that push, pull, click, click, get delivered that quick. And I knew. And you sort of get to feeling sorry for those that don't know what you know, you know. I just figured that anybody who didn't join my church wasn't spiritual.

That's the reason they didn't join it. They joined the other church down, well, sure they joined that. They're carnal. And you sort of feel sorry and look down your nose at people who haven't been to the conferences and don't have the notebooks, you know. And I really thought, well, I've got it all figured out. I mean, you know, and I really, and I'm embarrassed to say this, but I really did believe that I had learned a way that I could rise above all of the adversities and difficulties of life. And you know what? For a long day, nothing worked. I found myself in situations I couldn't pray my way out of. I couldn't praise my way out of. None of the stuff I read in books helped. None of the formulas I worked, worked for me. And I discovered something. I discovered that God often colors outside the lines that I've drawn for Him.

And boy, I didn't know what to do. And that's a humbling experience when you've been as proud and arrogant as I was. But as God began to feed me you see he fed me in ways oh I never dreamed that was possible oh I never heard that seminar before no that's not in anybody's seminar that just comes from me

see God uses our failure to knock the arrogance out of us to show us friend you don't ever have God all figured out to knock the arrogance out of us, to show us, friend, you don't ever have God all figured out. But there's a second thing that God uses failure for, and that is to expose to us what is in our hearts. Notice he says in that verse, second verse,

he said that he did this in order to humble you and to test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. Now, it is not God who needs to know what is in their hearts. God already knows what's in their hearts. They need to know what is in their hearts, you see. The word test or prove means to expose. It means to lay open. It's like a surgeon who may lay open the chest cavity to see what's in there, to expose what disease may be there with a view to examine, with a view to approve or disapprove. And so God said,

I use failure. I let you fall flat on your face so that you'll be exposed to your own heart. You'll see what's in your heart, you see, so that you'll know. You say, well, I already know what's in my heart. No, you don't. You think you do, but you don't really. Now, you may know of something that's in your heart, but you don't know of everything that's in your heart. Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

And Jesus said, it's not what a man takes into himself that defiles him, but it's what comes out, out of the heart are the issues of life. You see, every one of us has a jungle in our heart, all kinds of wild animals running around there. Potential for all kind of evil, but we don't know it. We're not aware that it's there. I think about Simon Peter on the night Jesus was betrayed. Jesus said, Peter, before the rooster crows in the morning, you'll deny that you know me three times. That'd be pretty convincing for the normal guy.

Not Peter. He said, oh no, Lord, not me. No, sir, not me, Lord. I can understand you thinking that way about some of these other boys. I've never been too sure about Matthew, you know, particularly. I don't want to name names, but just some of them seem kind of wimpy to me. But I want you to know something, Lord. I am with you. I'm ready to go with you to prison. I'm ready to go with you to death. Now, I want to tell you something, folks. A fellow that will stand eye to eye, toe to toe to Jesus Christ and tell him he's wrong.

That boy has problems. Jesus said, Peter, there is Christ denial in your heart. No. Okay. There's some things you can't tell anybody. Your pastor can stand up here Sunday after Sunday after Sunday warning you that if you don't deal with certain things in your heart, tragedy is going to come.

Oh, that's not in my heart. That's not in my heart. But I want you to notice something, folks. What the Word of God could not convince Peter of, his own failure did. And failure exposes to us what's in my heart. And friends, sometimes I'm surprised to find what's in my heart. I didn't know there could be such hatred in my heart.

I didn't know there could be such anger in my heart. I didn't know there could be such hatred in my heart. I didn't know there could be such anger in my heart. I didn't know there could be such envy in my heart. But sometimes I find myself in a situation and the way I respond to it, it scares me because, my goodness, I thought I had this long settled. You need to know what's in your heart so you can deal with it.

I went to a mall the other day. It was the first time I'd ever been to that mall. And so, you know, when you go into a mall, they have a directory there. And so I was looking for a particular kind of shop, and I looked at that mall, that directory. And down at the bottom, I noticed a little red arrow, and I looked down there, and here were the words, You are here. And I thought to myself,

how did they know that? I mean, I hadn't told anybody I was coming to this mall. Oh, I don't know who it is that's tracking me, but boy, they're doing a good job. I'll tell you how good a job they're doing. About 30 minutes later, I was at the other end of the mall, and I looked at that directory and looked down there and it said, You are here. And I was. That's exactly where I was.

I couldn't deny it. Actually, I was glad to know where I was. It's always good to know where you are. Now, why do you think they do that? Well, friend, you can't get to where you want to go if you don't know where you are. A road map is of no value in helping you reach your destination if you don't know your point of origin.

And I think the beginning of growth and maturing in the Christian life is self-knowledge. You've got to know what's in your heart. You've got to know where you are and who and what you are. But there's one final word. God uses failure to educate us as to the true values of life. You'll notice he says in verse 3, that you may know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every

word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Man does not live by bread alone. Now that is physically, literally true. That's the first thing we need to understand. That is literally, physically true. You say, well, preacher, if I don't have bread, I'm going to starve to death. Well, more than likely you will. But you can eat all the bread in the world and that won't keep you alive. Now right now, in this age, God is pleased to sustain our life by bread and food and air and all of that. But I want to tell you something.

You can eat a low-fat diet, jog six miles a day, live in a nuclear-free zone, and get hit by a truck on the way home to church. You see, those things don't keep you alive. But if you believe they do, if they are the essence of life, then you see, life revolves around that bread. I'll sacrifice whatever I have to. I'll sacrifice my health, my family, my relationship to God.

I'll sacrifice whatever is necessary. Why? Because man lives by bread. God says, here's something you need to understand. Man doesn't live by bread alone it's not bread that makes life worth living and then you can substitute bread anything you want to there for bread you see i believe that today we live in a society of manufactured values.

Probably this present generation, this present day society, probably doesn't understand the true values of things as no other generation before it has. We really don't know what's really important in life anymore. Why? Because all our values are manufactured.

They're manufactured by the television, by media, by advertising. So we don't know what's really important anymore. Manufactured by the television, by media, by advertising. So we don't know what's really important anymore. Oh, if I could just get that new car, if I could just get that new house, if I could just get that new job and get that financial, you know, status right there. That's what life is all about, having all of those good things. I want to tell you something, folks. You can shed a lot of tears in a brand new house. Next time your heart is broken,

why don't you go out and get in your Mercedes and sit there and run your hand over that leather and wood and say, oh, Mercedes, comfort me. Your teenage daughter comes home pregnant. Why don't you get out your stock portfolio and get on your knees before and say, Oh, what a blessing all this is. How it comforts me. You see, God sometimes has to take away our own bread before we discover that it's not that

that makes life really important. I've been a minister for 40 years, preached a lot of funerals. Stood beside the bed of many a businessman when he's got the bad news. It's just a short time to live. I've never yet heard one businessman say to me on that occasion, Oh preacher, I wish I'd spent more time at the office.

They never say that. You know what they say? You know what they say. Wish I'd spent more time with my family. Wish I'd spent more time with the kids. My wife and I never did get to take that trip.

Grand Canyon, always meant to. Guess whenever will. Whenever did get to plant that garden. Never will. See, God uses failure to teach us, folks, that it's not bread that makes life worth living. That we live by the Word of God. That's where our values come from. And that's how God uses failure.

And if we learn those lessons, you know something? He will do us good in the end. Would you pray with me now for just a moment now father in these few moments we ask that your holy spirit would take your word and bless it to our hearts