Turning Back or Taking the Limits Off God

Thomas Edison is known as a genius, right? And he said something that really marked me one day. He said that the more about anything, the more you realize what you don't know. And I thought about my life that as somebody who's read the Bible a lot, the more that I've learned about theology, the more I've realized how much smarter God is than I am. Or as somebody who took natural sciences in college, you know, God encoded himself in creation. And it really is true that the more that you know, the more you realize that you don't know as a person. And it's important because of that, we learn to live with a heart that's hungry and a heart that's humble and a heart that learns from the right people in life. I heard a story recently about a guy who was going to go somewhere with his wife and they'd never been there, but it was just an hour and a half away. So the guy thought, I know I can get there. And his wife said to him, honey, please use the GPS. And he said, no, honey, I know where I'm going. And 2 hours later, she asked him, honey, do you know where we are? no, but I can tell you where we aren't right now. And that happens in life, right? We make decisions and we feel confident, but somehow we end up off track. And that's what Psalm 78's about. It talks to us about how people can get off track and families can get off track and societies can get off track. And Psalm 78 is not written about bad people, but it's written about people who limited God's blessing because they turned away from God instead of trusting God's leadership. And there's one verse that tells us very clearly what we do whenever we don't trust God's leadership. And then the rest of the Psalm, which is 71 other verses, they tell us what causes our problem, but more importantly, it tells us how to get back on track, not just for our sake, but so that love for God begins to multiply throughout our family line. So here's the scripture. Psalm 78, verse 41 says, they turned back and they tempted God, and when they did, they limited the Holy One of Israel. Now, I read that from the King James Version this morning, and this is the reason. I can remember as a first generation Christ follower hearing my pastor preach on that verse in 1980. And he preached from the King James Version because there was no new King James Version. There was no new International Version at the time. So if you're thinking that pastor's really old, just go ahead and think it, but I'm going to keep on preaching in spite of that wrong thought that you may have in your mind. But here's the reality. I sat there that day and I thought, my goodness, If I don't change my approach to God, I am limiting Him from doing all these amazing things that He has the capability of doing. And here's the reason the Psalms gives us for why we do this. Number one, we limit God's blessing when we forget God's promises and what He did in the past. We limit God's blessing when we believe our difficult situations are unsolvable. We limit God's blessing whenever we choose disobedience over depending on God. And we limit His blessing whenever we love Him without being loyal in our hearts to Him. And then the Psalm also addresses we limit God when we serve God without serving the next generation like we should. And this is what life has taught me, and I'm sure it's taught you this as well, that we don't mean to do it, but sometimes whenever circumstances are hard and you feel like maybe you've done all you can or maybe you feel like other people aren't trying around you, what happens is you don't even always do this consciously, but you settle for things like they are because you feel like I'd rather settle and be disappointed than believe and be more disappointed in my life. The second thing people do, and it's really sad to me because you know I've been doing this for a long time now and I've seen people who are fired up for God and then they begin to go through hard times and they'll go back to sources of pleasure and sources of stress relief that they found before they got saved and pretty soon they're really off track and their life is a tremendous mess. And I want to encourage you that that's what this psalm addresses. And it starts in verse 1 by saying this, that God calls us to give ear as His people to His laws and to incline our ears to the words of His mouth. Now, we all know it's one thing to hear something, but it's another thing to listen to something, right? It's why when I was a kid, I don't know why my parents did this, but they would pull on my left ear sometime and they would say, now Jimmy, I really need you to listen to this. For instance, my mom would pull on my ear and she'd say, Jimmy, you think if God made a girl pretty, you can make her holy, but I need you to hear this. That's not the way it works in the world, right? And I thought it was cute they would do that. This ear might be longer than the other ear, I don't know. But I know that they would say things because they knew that I could but I wasn't really listening to my parents. And then verse 2 says, I'll open my mouth in a parable. And a parable is a story we tell because there's a significant truth that is a hidden truth. And so Jesus told many parables to help people learn significant things they needed to think deeper about. Now what is the deeper thing that God wants us to think about today? He said, I want you to think about the story of the gospel that your fathers told you. I don't want you to hide the power of the gospel from your children, but I want you to show to the generations who are going to come the praises of God and His strength and His wonderful works that this generation might come to know Him. In other words, God is saying, this is the reason that belief in me is declining among your family and among your country. It's because people need to see the praises of God more. Thank God we're in a church this morning where people that had drug backgrounds aren't being judged. They're walking into freedom. Thank God this morning I'm preaching to people who aren't here to see through people. We're here to see people through. Can you say amen? It's not our goal to scold people. It's our goal to show people the praises of God and His strength. And the Bible says where children see how good God is, He said what happens naturally is more and more of them serve Him, but when it doesn't happen, you can lose the generations. Now, especially the traditional kind of churches I grew up in have lost the generations that used to go there, and that's a big challenge in our society today. Did you know that 63% of kids who went to church who are adults today no longer take their kids to church in America? And God wants to help us to do something about that. God wants us to do something that captivates a generation with how good God is. You say, pastor, how do we do that? Four things this Psalm calls us to do. Number one, if we want to take the limits off God's ability to bless us and turn people back to God, God says, remember my promises and remember my faithfulness to you. Psalm 78 begins, the men of Ephraim though armed with bows turned back on the day of battle, they didn't keep God's covenant, but they refused to live by his law. They forgot what he'd done and the wonders that he showed to them. Here's what he's talking about, and that is something we've all done, and that is it's one thing to be armed with Bible truth. It's another thing to align our hearts with the truth that can save our life. And it's a battle when you're, you know, believing for your marriage, believing for your kids, it's one thing to shout hallelujah on Sunday morning. It's another thing to submit my heart to all the truth I have to submit it to, to live blessed by God. And so he says the first reason is we come to church and we're armed with scripture, we're armed with stories. It's interesting that when they did research on why this 63% is no longer bringing their kids to church here's the number one reason they found out is they said well I learned some cool Bible stories like David beating Goliath and I learned a few things in church but I feel like I can do a better job of managing my life than than doing what they tell me to do in church and here's something to think about do you really think that you're wiser than God do you really think you love yourself more than God loves you because if you believe that, I can promise you that what you believe doesn't line up with the Word of God. The Word of God says God loves you no matter what you've ever done. The Word of God says that He sent His Word to heal you and to deliver you from destruction that sin brings into people's lives. And when we come to church, it's one thing to be armed with the truth. It's another thing to align our hearts so God can begin to do more in our lives. That's why in the Bible that the psalmist talked about covenant. Covenant's an agreement. When you read your Bible, the New Testament means this is the new agreement. that God made with you. And in a covenant, what it does is it calls people to do their part, and if they do their part, the covenants go on to work. So Jesus did His part. He died on the cross. If you receive His forgiveness, the covenant works and your past is behind you. Amen? And even in a marriage, so many times people want to justify their bad behavior based on somebody else's part, but they don't want to talk to you about the part that they're messing up in their life. And God says, do you see that's the problem, that I'm arming you with what could bring blessing to your life, but you're not about aligning your heart with what I've armed you with. And partnerships are one of the most important thing that we manage in our lives in this regard. If you have godly people speaking into your life, if you listen when godly friends try to help you out in life, listen, your life's going to be so good. But if you rebel against godly people and if you rebel against godly friends, God said, listen, you better turn because you can take the limits off of me and I can bless you if you get your heart right. But if you're aware but you're not aligned with me, listen, things aren't going to work out in your life. I don't know if you ever heard the story about this businessman, very successful. He was driving to the 40th high school anniversary with his wife or graduation party. And as they were getting there, they were almost there. He looked down and the gas tank was kind of empty. So he looked at his wife. He said, I got to get some gas. He pulled over. And when he pulled over, he saw this guy who was kind of down on his luck. Well, his wife jumped out of the car and she started talking to him in a familiar way. And he thought, well, she must know him. So when she got back in the car, he said, honey, do you know that guy? And she said, a little bit. I went to the problem with him. And this businessman got kind of smug and he smiled and he said, just think about it. You could have married somebody who's down on their luck. And she looked back at him and said, no, honey, you don't understand. If I married him, he'd be successful. And you may be the one who is down on your luck. And that's what God's saying to us. God is saying, are you valuing covenant? Are you valuing the ability that I have to fulfill my promises in your life? Because here's the truth. If our life isn't consistently getting better because of God's influence, the problem isn't that God isn't keeping his word. The problem isn't that God isn't faithful. The problem is that God is working with me and He's helping me develop a more faithful heart. Amen. Here's the second thing the psalmist talks about and that is is that we end up turning away and we end up limiting God's blessing until we realize our circumstances are solvable. They're not unsolvable. Next, the psalmist said that God did miracles in the sight of the ancestors in the land of Egypt in the region of Zoan. Now, Zoan is the region that's just east of the Nile River and God's going to talk about how, listen, I split the Red Sea and I did all these miracles for you. But you know what? You're still living as if I'm not gonna bless your life if you listen to me. And there are people who are that way. There are people who are seeking miracles from God more than they're seeking obedience to God. Can somebody say amen? And here's the truth, that if you want God to bless your life, what you have to do is not cry out for miracles. You have to commit your heart to obeying the God who did the miracles in the Bible. So God said, listen, I led you through the Red Sea, and I made the water stand up like a wall, and I guided you with the cloud by day and with fire by night. I split rocks in the wilderness, and I gave them water that's as abundant as the sea. And God says, what have you done about the fact that I not only did that, but I sent you prophets who gave you 300 detailed pictures of what the Savior of the world would look like before I sent my Son the earth. What did you do about the fact that the whole earth turned dark at 3 in the afternoon when he was crucified? What did you do about the fact that I raised him from the dead on the third day, just like I promised you that I would do? Well, he said, here's what Israel did after they heard about my miracles. He said, they continued to sin against me, rebelling in the wilderness against the most high God. They willfully put God to the test, demanding certain things. And it's amazing that people will look at God who promises that he loves us more than we love ourself and that his word will make our life better than we could ever make life on our own. And instead of saying to God, thank you for being a father who will bless me if I honor you in my heart, instead of doing that, we know 'cause we've done it, we start making demands on God about what God wants us to do. And the truth is that just doesn't work. And here's what I want to encourage you in this morning, and that is your small faith doesn't make God any smaller. He's just as big as he was when he made you the promise and just as capable of blessing you in every way that he promised. But this is true. Smaller faith will make God's blessing on your life much smaller, right? And here's something that helped me so much because I tell you guys this a lot. And the reason I tell you this is the same reason I tell my kids this. I want you to know my starting point. I was 19, 20 years old, given my blood for plasma without any money to pay for my college. And listen, life looks so overwhelming and I would hear the Bible preached just like you're hearing the Bible preached today. And I'll tell you when it changed is when I went back to my dorm room and I said, You know what? I cannot live as if the truth of the Bible isn't real. So I'm going to commit the rest of my life and at least this next season of my life to obey God. And I'm going to see what obedience to God starts bringing forth in my life. Hey, can I tell you what it started bringing forth? Just what the Bible says, that the path of the righteous is like the first gleaming of dawn. It just keeps getting brighter and brighter and brighter. If you're tired of bad stuff happening and you're ready for the brighter to happen, aren't you glad God showed you the path to go down the path of the righteous, amen? And God's saying, I did all this for you, but listen, you still chose to sin instead of believing that I could bless you. But listen, if you'll go the other route and you'll make a decision, you know what? God's real. He's made a covenant with me. And not only did he make a covenant with me, but listen, if I see this challenge in front of me as solvable, God's going to solve it. And then there's a third thing that the psalmist talks about when he said, we to choose dependence over disobedience in life. He said in verse 32, and he talks about more stuff that God did, and I hope you'll read all 72 verses of this Psalm later to read all that God did. But it says, in spite of it, they kept on sinning in spite of his wonders. They didn't believe. So they ended their days in futility and their years in terror. And I think this is one of the saddest parts that I've seen about this Psalm. But not only the saddest thing I've seen about this Psalm, but honestly one of the saddest things I've seen as a pastor is God is so good to keep his covenant and God is so capable of solving problems, but people start playing the blame game and people start, you know, getting down wrong paths in their life. And God's like up in heaven saying, will you just depend on me instead of living in disobedience? Because whenever we quit living in disobedience, God begins to change everything in our life. And God speaks about all these amazing things that he did. And listen, this really helped me when I was in college was I would buy autobiographies if I could. They were books written by the person who actually lived a life. And I would take time every single night And I would find the story of somebody who was just like me. They were a first generation Christian. And God did in their life what I was hoping He would do in my life. And I'll never forget sitting and reading a book by T.L. Osborne, who preached face to face to more people than anybody outside of Billy Graham in his lifetime. And he wrote a book because he wanted to help other young people who were struggling with the inadequacies and the fears and the difficulties I was wrestling with in my soul. And I remember sitting and reading that book, Young in Faith, and I thought, you know what, if God could do it for T.L. Osborne, God can do it for me, hallelujah. Listen, when God's word gets in you, when you start having the right testimonies and examples speaking into your life, And when you start following God, with a heart more submitted, more hungry, more humble, you're going to be amazed at the things that God does in your life. And here's the power of it. So many people are concerned about their children We're living in a culture where kids are canceling their parents because their parents aren't perfect. We're living in a culture where families are so divided and they're so toxic. And here's what solves it, obey God with your life. And you may not be able to get everybody to honor the God that you choose to honor, but can I tell you, you'll have a trail of people who honor God with you because how many of you know God's goodness is attractive, amen? And the psalmist says to us, okay, Do you want to have God begin to save your family? Give me your ear. Everybody say give me your ear. Just pull on your ear a little bit so you know, just like my parents, I'm talking to you this morning. I want you to give me your ear. God's a covenant keeping God, number one. Number two, the problems in front of us are solvable. They're not unsolvable. Number three, we just have to choose dependence over disobedience in our life. And then number four, we have to remain loyal to God. Verse 34 says, whenever God slew them, they would seek him and they would eagerly turn to him again. I'm sorry I'm laughing at that verse, but let me ask you a question. Do you know anybody who every time they're in a jam, they call out to God? And then they'll come back to church and they'll sing and they'll praise and they'll lift their hands and they'll do things. And then you think, where in the world did they go? I'll tell you where they went. They got some money in their pocket and they didn't think they needed God anymore, right? Or maybe this will help. Do you know, do you have a friend who calls you and they get in trouble? I had a cousin who was an alcoholic. He was the bullpen coach for the Milwaukee Brewers back in the day. He's a friend of mine. And we got in touch. And when he was drunk, I mean, we had so much fellowship. He was calling me times. He didn't even know he was calling me whenever he was drunk. And you know, finally I made a friend and I got his mom and his sisters together and we did a little intervention with him and he's now been sober 6,666 days, y'all. Listen, God's done a great work in his life. But he doesn't call me much anymore 'cause he doesn't need me like he did back then. And here's what God's saying, Don't just come by the house when you need me. Don't just come to church when you need me. I hope my kids are listening to this. I'm like, don't just call your dad when you need money. Just call him because you love him. Can you say amen? And he said, there's these people that when they go through hard times, they turn to God. And they remember that God's their rock and that God can be their redeemer. But then once things are good, they flatter him with their lips, they lie with their tongues, and their hearts aren't loyal to him. and they're not faithful to His covenant. In other words, God would have been faithful. The problem is never that God doesn't love me, that God doesn't have the answers, that God won't be faithful to me. The problem is our hearts come to the place where we're not faithful to God. And because of that, we end up getting off track instead of taking the limits off of God and seeing how much he can bless us. I just declare in this message this morning that listen, ears are listening. Truth is getting to hearts. And because of that, family legacies are starting where God's gonna bless more and more people in the families of this church in the days ahead. Can you all believe for that? Amen? See, that's the purpose of this Psalm. God knows the battle we have. He knows how hard it can be. Parents, He knows what makes you cry at night when you go to bed. God isn't up in heaven unaware of any of that. And He wants to help you. You say how? Remember His covenant. Remember your problem is solvable, not unsolvable. choose dependence over disobedience. And you keep your heart loyal to God for the long haul. And you watch what God does in your life. And listen, the battle's real. I remember when my wonderful son, Michael, who leads worship here, was just not two years old yet because he had his second birthday here when I was pastoring this church. But he finally got beyond Gerber food. Man, I was so happy for him. Because I'm telling you, that Gerber food is gross, isn't it? I mean, you look at those green beans, you think, I'm not eating them. I can't believe I'm even giving these things to my kids. So I was happy he was eating real food. And Tameron put a little bit of everything we were eating on his little high chair. And so he took the potatoes. And from the time Mike was a little boy, we were always throwing balls and playing with balls together. Well, he just decided that those potatoes would make a good ball. And he took those potatoes, and in my mind's eye, I can still see it. He threw it, and it stuck to the wall, started sliding down a little bit. He started snickering, he thought it was so funny. I looked at him and I thought, Dygone it, my boy's got a good arm. He might play for the Astros one day. And I had no idea what was coming. While I was rejoicing in his arm, his mama came by, whack. She wasn't going to let him do that again. And I'll never forget, he picked up another bit of potatoes, he held up his arm, and he looked her in the eye as if to say, The battle is on. Aren't you glad Miss Tamara raised her husband? Aren't you glad Miss Tamara raised her son? She had to raise both of us, y'all. Mamas, you're probably going to have to raise raised more than just your kids too, but how many of you are glad? When we look up and it looks like the Red Sea, God, how am I gonna get through this with my kids? How many of you are glad God's given us a promise? And if we do what He says, we'll see God do what He promised in our lives. Amen? Come on, let's give Him a good hand of praise this morning.