What Man Can and Can't Do for Himself!

SPEAKER A You once to every time in the sight of the good or evil sky don't break on you that I choice of life forever with that darkness. And. SPEAKER B The Bible assures us in Ephesians two, verses eight to ten, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Welcome to faith to faith Here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Braedan Entermann. SPEAKER C Dear listener, greetings and a warm welcome. Thank you for tuning into the program again today. We're delighted to have your company. Braedan and myself are going to talk to you a little bit further about the topic we just touched on at our last program, which was the realm of man and the realm of God. What we can do for ourselves and what we can't do for ourselves, what we need God to do for us, which we're incapable of doing ourselves, and then the aspects that we are by what God has given us, naturally able to do for ourselves. But just before we do that, we invite you just to be our heads for a word of prayer, to ask God to bless our study again today. Gracious Father in heaven, it is our privilege to spend time in Your presence, to spend time in Your Word, and to have the Holy Spirit guide and lead us into all truth as you have promised. Father, we just commit our lives into Your care this time and we just ask for Your blessing upon our study. May as we spend time together, Father, we be blessed, drawn closer to you and see more of this wonderful plan of salvation, how you've come to redeem fallen human beings such as ourselves. And these things we pray in Jesus name. Amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C So we are discussing what we can do for ourselves. We're not talking about righteousness by works now, because when it comes to righteousness, that is a realm that we are incapable of producing the righteous requirements that the law needs from us. We need something external. But God has given us natural abilities, natural endowments where we can make decisions and choices and do things for ourselves which we don't need any help from. Because God's already given us the energy and the ability to do that. SPEAKER D That's right. And a lot of depression and discouragement comes when we get those wires crossed. We try to do what God said that he would do and we neglect to do what he has already given us the strength to do. SPEAKER C Sure. SPEAKER D And when I've presented on this topic, before I ask people are there things that you can do? Yes, there are. We can brush our teeth. We can floss our teeth, we can drink water, we can refuse to drink water. God has endowed us naturally, and we have to, of course, remember that even this endowment we're completely dependent on Him for, we wouldn't even have physical life without God. But the choice of what to wear, the choice of what to eat, the choice of where to drive, how fast to drive, those are things that we get to make a decision on. God never designed us in such a way that he would micromanage and just control us like robots. He's given us this thing called free will. But it's also very important to notice, as you pointed out, that righteousness being like God. Paul says in Romans, chapter eight, that our natural carnal hearts are in hostility to God's law. SPEAKER C That's right, romans eight, seven. SPEAKER D And we cannot be subject to it, or indeed can be. So there are certain things that we can't do. We leave that for God. But it's important for us to recognize what God has asked us to do and not make excuses and be lazy. SPEAKER C Sure. Because there are sometimes people out there who've criticized Christians, and they look for opportunities to do that and say that Christians are weak world people. Now, sometimes I think that statement is justified if we want to rely on God to do the things he's already given us the ability to do. You spoke about brushing your teeth, for example. There's no use praying, Lord, please stop my teeth from having cavities. When you never brush your teeth, your teeth start decaying and rotting because you have poor oral hygiene. That's true. God has given you the ability to choose. He's given you the ability to go and buy your toothbrush and your toothpaste and do whatever you require and floss, keep your teeth nice and clean, so in that realm, you can do all those things for yourself. But if you don't do anything and then you just say, Lord, please stop my teeth from rotting. Well, you're actually counterproductive, aren't you? SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Yeah. So do we have examples in the Bible of people where God has given them instructions, say, listen, you go and do this. And it was in their realm to do those things. However, there were elements that was in God's realm. He said, look, you take care of that, I will take care of this. SPEAKER D We do right back to the very beginning. In fact, right throughout Scripture, we see this theme. I think of Noah as a really prime example. God says, because of the depravity and the abuse and the pain on this planet, that he's going to have to wash it away and start again. And he's going to make a special covenant with Noah to fulfill his covenant blessing to the world. And he says to Noah, build an ark. Now, this boat was massive and it was in building for about 120 years. This is a big project a massive undertaking to make a boat that could house all of those animals. And it's a really big boat. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D It's made out of wood, a really high quality wood. SPEAKER C Gopher wood, I think it's called. SPEAKER D Gopher wood. And so God asks Him to make that, but he doesn't ask Noah to cause a flood, and God doesn't ask Him to cause a flood because he can't. SPEAKER C That did. Right? Yeah. SPEAKER D So God says, I'm bringing a flood. You build an ark. SPEAKER C Yeah. And this boat is going to be very structurally sound. I mean, so sound that I will actually give you the plans for it. I'll give you the measurements for it, so you can go and cut down the tree. You can go measure it out, you can chisel it, you can shape it, you can plane it and do all those things, put it together. Those are the things that Noah could do. But all the other things in regards to the plan, so the boat would be nice and sturdy for the storm. It had to survive. That came from God. SPEAKER D That's exactly right. And once we realize this, we realize, like, wow, God could the Bible says in Genesis, chapters, chapter one, that God spoke and there was light. He spoke, and the dry land and the sea and the atmosphere appeared. So God can make an ark. That's very much in his realm of ability. God could speak and trees would transform into a boat, but he asks Noah to do that. He entrusts Noah with that responsibility. And the way that Noah responds to that command tells a lot about how he trusts God. For example, God says, I'm bringing a flood on this planet. I want you to build an ark, and Noah does nothing. What does that suggest about how he relates to God? What does he think about what God has said? It reveals that he actually doesn't believe that God will do it. And so his trust in God is revealed through the fact that he starts chopping down trees and making something that is completely useless. If God doesn't bring a flood, it's just a big motel for animals, really, if God doesn't come through, but he goes, no, I believe that God is going to bring this flood. And that was evidenced through the fact that he started chopping down trees and building this thing and preaching for 120 years. And it's amazing. That boat, that was a big storm going on. That was a big flood, and God held it together. God gave Him the designs, and he simply did what he could do. Chopping down trees, that's something that we can do. SPEAKER C That's true. SPEAKER D You think about the great ships. I recently was over in Finland, where they have a massive, massive production place where they build the biggest cruise ships in the world. As human beings, we've demonstrated over and over again that we can make boats, but we can't cause floods. In that proportion. So recognizing that there's things that we can do and there's things that God alone can do, and having it very, very clear in our minds. SPEAKER C Okay, so we see that in the story of Noah, and of course, Noah's works, the things that he could do demonstrated his faith in God. That was very simple. I mean, anybody could build a boat, anybody could choose to do that that was humanly capable of doing it using. SPEAKER D Our brains, using their brains and following the measurements, that's something they could do. SPEAKER C So we have another person who's very prominent in the Old Testament, which is Abraham. And before he was called Abraham, he was called Abram, and Abram was called by God. Now, can we read or learn anything from the story of Abraham in regards to the things that he can do, the choices he could make, and then what God would do in regards to the things that he couldn't do for himself? Absolutely. SPEAKER D If we look in Genesis, chapter twelve and verse one, it says, now the Lord said to Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. SPEAKER C Okay, so there's some things that God's asking Abraham to do, and there's some things that God says he would do for Abraham. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C So there's a distinction between these two things. SPEAKER D And the first thing, it's a very, very clear distinction. He says basically, leave your homeland and. SPEAKER C Leave your family behind too. Basically. Yeah, basically leave the extended family. SPEAKER D The extended family. Leave your homeland, leave your extended family, leave the place of your birth and go to a place that I will show you. Now, if we take that alone, is that something that Abram could do? SPEAKER C Yes, absolutely. SPEAKER D And I've asked people, what would that consist of? Back in those days, it would probably consist of walking around your tent and start pulling out tent pegs, rolling up the canvas or whatever they used for their accommodation, herding the sheep, having a meeting with all the servants and saying, okay guys, we're leaving, pack your gear. That's what it would consist of. And it's something that Abraham could do. SPEAKER C And that is, in the human realm, fairly capable of doing that sort of thing, making the decision when we're going to do it, how we're going to do it. But God's put in the call, basically. SPEAKER D God'S put in the call. And then following this command, we have a promise. And so this is what we have right throughout the Bible. We have a command followed by a promise. Build an ark. I'm making a covenant with your family and through you, all the nations of the Earth will be blessed. I'm going to bring a flood and I'm going to save your family, and all that kind of stuff. He calls Abraham, leave your homeland. And then he makes a promise straight after that. SPEAKER C Yes. So I'll make you a great nation. SPEAKER D Interesting. SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER D And we find out later on that he can't even have this is this is outside of the realm of his him and his wife can't have children. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D But he says, I'm going to bless you in you. All the families of the Earth are going to be blessed. He makes this massive, big promise. Abraham can't do any of that. In fact, if you look at his life, every time he tries to do anything, he just stuffs up. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D He lies about who his wife says, oh, you know, she's my sister, and withholding the truth. And then he isn't really a source of blessing. So God says, I will bless you. I'm going to do a special work through your family to bless the world. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Pack up your tent and walk. And once we realize that distinction, we'll start pulling out tent pegs a little faster. Sometimes we sit there and we're like, oh, God's not doing anything. But the thing is, we're not doing anything. And the fact is, when we start pulling out ten pegs as abram leant down and pulled out that ten peg, what was that demonstrating? Hugely. I believe God. I believe what he said, and I'm going to step out. I'm going to obey him. I trust him. That's why I obey him. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D Starts walking. And now he's in God's domain while he keeps moving his feet. That's what he can do. He's now in God's domain, and God's going to use Him to be a blessing to the world. SPEAKER C And it's interesting that both the story of Noah and the story of Abraham, there is an element of the unknown. Now, we know that Noah was given the blueprint, he was given measurements where the window was to go, etc, etc. And how many rooms and so forth, so that he knew. But as far as a flood, he'd never seen a flood. He didn't even know what rain was. So there was an element of the unknown here with Abraham. God calls him out. He says to a land that I will show you. He still had not seen the land at that time. So he had to step out by faith, not knowing where he was going, but trusting God. So we have that element. Okay, you do this. Abraham and I will do the rest. But if Abraham never moved, could those blessings that God had promised him, could they have come upon him? SPEAKER D No. SPEAKER C Would Noah have saved his household? If he had never built the ark within the realm that he was capable of performing, actions couldn't have happened. SPEAKER D Wouldn't have happened. SPEAKER C So we also have some stories in the New Testament that sort of demonstrate that a little bit. And we think of the story of Peter, peter and the apostles. They're in the little boat, they're rowing, and out in the distance there they see a silhouette of a person on the water walking. And they think it's a ghost. SPEAKER D They're terrified. SPEAKER C They are scared to death because they think they're seeing an apparition on the water. And then Jesus says to them, fear not, it is I. And then we have Peter saying, Lord, if it's you, call me to walk on the water. So all of a sudden he said, well, if it's Jesus, I have confidence. I know him. I know that he's able to do these supernatural things. Call me to walk on the water. Now, can Peter walk on water? SPEAKER D Look, Eddie and I've tried to walk on know it's a bit shameful to admit it, but I remember when I was younger, just running as fast as I possibly could towards the water, seeing if I get a few steps on the water, and I didn't even get one right. Just straight to the bottom in every way. It's physically impossible to walk on top of the water. And he calls out across the stormy sea and he says, Lord, if it's you, command me. Does that word again, command me to come to you on the water? And what we have is we're in Matthew chapter 14. In Matthew chapter 14, verse 20, it says and Peter answered him and said, lord, if it is you, come, command me to come to you on the water. Verse 29. So Jesus said, come. One word, he said come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. SPEAKER C Wow. Okay. So we by nature cannot walk on the water. We don't have that ability. SPEAKER D No, not at all. SPEAKER C Peter had the ability to get out of the boat. SPEAKER D That's about typically would say get out. SPEAKER C Of the boat and jump into the water. But here now, he is jumping on the water, so to speak. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C And walking to Jesus. So this is something supernatural. Peter couldn't do it for himself, but on the command of Jesus, jesus gave Him the word come. And based on the Word, he steps out on the water and walks to Jesus. SPEAKER D And this is where we're finding the secret of this whole. We're looking at righteousness by faith. We're looking at becoming like Jesus. We're looking at reflecting his character to the world. We're finding in here a real foundation, as it were, that helps us to understand this whole thing about Christianity. Jesus says one word come. If we evaluate it scientifically, what he's asking Him to do is, you know, apart from swimming, but the storm's so bad you're going to drown, there's no way he could walk on the water. It's just impossible. But he trusts Jesus and he engages his leg muscles. He engages his arm muscles to lift himself up. And then with the strength that God has naturally endowed him with, he steps out of the boat. And now he's in the realm of God and his promises. And now it's up to God to keep him on top of the water. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D He's done the hopping out, and God does the keeping up. SPEAKER C Right. Okay, I like that. SPEAKER D And then God doesn't just drag him there. He has to engage his leg muscles again and start walking. But the bit that's keeping above the water is not him. That's God. And so he's walking by faith. He's walking on top of the water, and it's never done it before. He's walking to Jesus, and the impossible has become possible because he has trusted that Jesus, when he says, come, will make every provision to make it possible. SPEAKER C Yes. So his bidding was Peter's enabling, basically. SPEAKER D Absolutely. And we see this over and over again. The man by the pool of Bethesda, also in the Book of John, he's laying there. He's been how many years was it? 38 years. SPEAKER C Just 38 years. SPEAKER D He was laying there. A cripple can't get up every time he tries to help himself. It just fails. And even the help of people around him is failing as well. Jesus one day comes into that pool, and there's all these sick people all around the pool, and he walks up to the one who has the worst case of suffering, and he walks up to this man and leans over him and says, would you like to be made whole? Would you like to be made well? And the smile of Jesus just was so encouraging and faith building that this guy realized that this is someone I can trust. He looked up into the eyes of his Creator. He didn't realize that, but he's looking into the eyes of his Creator. And then Jesus says, well, the guy first said, I've got no one to help me. And he's really sad. SPEAKER C And this is not just one that's acting helpless. He's genuinely helpless. SPEAKER D He can't do anything. He can't get up. Even if he tries to, he can't do it. And then Jesus says to him, I say to you, arise, take up your bed and walk. Now, let's evaluate that. Which of those things is he able to do? Get up, arise. SPEAKER C We can't. SPEAKER D He can't do that. Take up your bed. No, can't do that either. SPEAKER C And walk. Can't do that. Otherwise he wouldn't have been at the pool. SPEAKER D That's right. He wasn't there by choice. It wasn't just a leisurely visit by the pool. He was stuck here, and people had to drag him or carry him everywhere. And so Jesus asked him to do something, which is impossible. Now, if I was to walk up to someone who is a cripple and say, hey, run over there and kick that soccer ball back to me it'd almost be seen as disrespectful, a bit of a mockery. But Jesus looks at Him and says, get up, pick up your bed and walk. These are things that he wants to do, but he just cannot do in his own strength. And he looks at Jesus, he thinks this guy means it. And something inside of him trust awakens. SPEAKER C And trusts the word of. SPEAKER D He trusts what Jesus has just said. And he engages this thing that God has given to every single one of us in our engages. He chooses it's like when I choose to lift up my arm, I have to make a decision, and then it lifts. Unfortunately for this man, whenever he tried to do that, nothing happened. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D He chose to do it, but nothing would happen. SPEAKER C Communication between the muscles and the brain just wasn't there. SPEAKER D It just wasn't there. But he sets his will to obey, and next thing, he finds himself on his feet. He picks up his bed and he finds himself walking for the first time in 38 years. 38 years. And so what we have here is a very similar analogy and a very similar story. Jesus calls Peter, come. And in stepping out in obedience to Jesus, it becomes possible. This man laying beside the pool, jesus says, Get up. Take up your bed, walk. That's impossible. But he sets his mind to obey Jesus, and God gives the power. SPEAKER C I love that. So there's some things that we can do for ourselves in obedience to faith believing. So Noah, he could go and cut down those trees, he could shape them, he could measure them, he could get the right length, he could plane know, put them together, fit this whole thing together, this boat, as the plan dictates, he can put pitch on the inside, pitch on the outside. All those things he had the ability to do. But in regards to all the other aspects of saving him through the flood and through that great storm, that's what God did. SPEAKER D That's god's business. SPEAKER C Yeah. So here with Peter, he sees Jesus walk on the water. Now, he said, Well, Jesus, you can perform miracles. I've seen you heal the sick. I've seen you do all kinds of wonderful things, and now I wonder if I can do the same. Now, he needs faith in this matter, because there's no way that any person is humanly capable of actually walking on the water. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Changing the molecular structure of the water or changing I don't know how the dynamics work. I don't know what changed, but it was a miracle. And that we could do the impossible by faith is just absolutely incredible. SPEAKER D And once we realize know, often we read what you know, if you just had faith as the grain of mustard seed mustard seed is a very little seed. It's the smallest little seed. Jesus was saying, if you have faith as the grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, be moved and it will be cast into the midst of the sea. SPEAKER C Wow. SPEAKER D Nothing will be impossible for you. And so basically, it's a recipe for depression. When we define God by our human frailties and all the impossibilities of life, yes, we put God in a box and we say, god, no, that's not possible. I can't do that. For example, if we have a bad habit, if we have some addiction, something that's just tearing us down and it's been plaguing us our whole life, we hear someone saying, it can be different. God can give you victory. No, that's no. We try to keep God in a box, but God is saying, no, wait a second, wait a second. I can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ever ask or think. Nothing will be impossible to you. Only put your trust in me. Put your trust in me. SPEAKER C Wow. Yeah. That is so true. So we look at the way Peter was able to do something that he was incapable of doing himself, and it was all based on the command of Jesus. He said, if there's you, Jesus, call me to you. So I could also walk on the water. And then Jesus says, Come. So if we understand what faith is, faith comes by hearing the word of God. When he heard the word of God, just like that man at the pool of Bethesda, when he heard the word of God through the words of Jesus Christ, he responded to those words and he was able to do something that he couldn't do for himself. And I just wanted to separate, distinguish here between presumption and faith. Now, if Peter saw Jesus and he recognized him go, oh, it's Jesus, I'll jump out of the boat and walk to Him. But there was no command to come that presumption. He would have ended up in the water. Not on the water. SPEAKER D Like a wet rat, drowned rat. SPEAKER C That's right. And the fact remains is when he started doubting, he started getting fearful. When he started looking away from Jesus, he did end up sinking. But Jesus was right there straight away with his hand out to help him up out of the water and then put him back in the boat. SPEAKER D Isn't that so interesting? When he took his eyes off Jesus, he could have turned back and looked at his friends, feeling quite stoked that he's doing something like walking on water. And then after that, his feelings of pride quickly disappear because waves start crashing around him and now he's experiencing fear. So what we have is three things trust, pride and fear. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And basically what Jesus makes very clear is that when we're wanting to live the Christian life, if that's based on motives of pride, trying to get attention from other people, we're just going to sink. SPEAKER C That's true. SPEAKER D If our experience is built upon fear, I'm afraid not to be a christian, we're going to sink. The only way that we can walk on top of water is by looking to Jesus and putting trust and confidence in him, not in ourselves. And that's where the source of our victory comes. SPEAKER C You know, I think there's one thing in the Scriptures that we read about fear. It tells us that there is no fear in love. And that perfect love casts out all fear. So we are to be filled, and God wants us to be filled with his love, with Christ dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit, so that we can have that love of God in our hearts. And that love, according to the Bible, is the only way by which the law, that law of righteousness of God, the law of his kingdom can be fulfilled. Love is the fulfilling of the law. So, dear listener, thank you for joining us today here On Faith to Faith. We pray that God will bless you as we just share our contact details with you and we look forward to catching up with you next time. SPEAKER B Thank you for joining us on Faith. To Faith. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning. 02 4973 3456. Or you can send an email to [email protected] You can also contact us on our 3ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you.