How Come It's Taking So Long? Part 2

I know we certainly appreciate the hymn choir and all that our musicians bring to us every Sabbath. Thank you very, very much and very seasonal with beautiful Thanksgiving hymn. Well, for those that have just heard today, we are in the middle of a series that I'm bringing to you. My schedule allows me to at least be here every other week right now, and I want to bring something that I hopefully hope is germane and is going to be helpful to each and every one of us as we continue our own spiritual pilgrimage.

Today we move forward in our series entitled, How Come It's Taking So Long? The purpose of this particular series is to confront a dilemma, a dilemma that visits Christians who, on one hand, know that we have been called to be that new creation in Christ, as Paul calls it, but at the same time we can seemingly be overwhelmed by our own humanity. And that, at times, is very frustrating. It can cause bewilderment, it can cause despair, it can also cause a hypocritical lifestyle, and most importantly, it can result in a defeated Christian, which, when it's all said and done, has got to be the saddest species of all.

As a guiding light, I'm using several outstanding principles and historical examples from a book that is actually by the same name, How Come It Is Taking So Long, by a gentleman named Lane Adams. He wrote it in 1971. It certainly struck me when I read it, because the examples that we're going to use are family stories that have come down to me, especially from my own father's experience during World War II.

For those that were here during the last message, you'll remember some of the examples that we used, and actually, no pun intended, but you're going to find out that we're going to go a step deeper later on. Last time, as a congregation, we came to find that there are false expectations, and at times, a lack of understanding that complicate our Christian pilgrimage. They can derail us as a Christian from moving forward for God's full potential for each and every one of us.

Last time we talked, or at least opened up, and I'm just doing a little review for those that were not here, that we all grew up with the expressions that you can't watch the grass grow underneath your feet, and or you can't sit there and watch a teapot boil, but as you know, that's never stopped any of us yet from trying to do that.

I do that with a coffee pot. I think I just watch it at the end, and the end, and the end, and I keep on watching, wondering what's going to end, and I know that it's going to end. It ends every morning, but I just sit there and watch. I'm literally mesmerized. When will it ever end? And so we all go through these things, even though we know these expressions or know these situations. Well, we can't do that. And what we're really finding, what I really want to bring to each and every one of us, whether we've been newly baptized this year, considering baptism, and or have been veterans of being a baptized member for many, many years, is simply this is the point that I want to get across to you, and is that we cannot confuse conversion as simply an event in time.

But rather, it is an ongoing existence of surrendering our total being to God until we are completely free of the enemy that is inside of us. Again, Christianity is not just an overnight event. It takes time. Conversion is a process.

It's an ongoing existence. It's the greatest opportunity that is visited upon man or woman to be a part of. And yet, at the same time, it is also indeed a challenge. Last time, we came to understand—you might want to jot this down if you're taking notes to stay along with where I'm going to take you this afternoon—we came to understand there is a difference between becoming committed to Christ and growing in Christ and having the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, grow in us.

And they are not the same. And to make them synonymous is to underestimate what God is performing in each and every one of us as this new creation, and indeed, the challenge and to impart the struggle that lies ahead of each and every one of us to come to that completeness which is in Christ. And we need to understand that. There is a difference. When we are baptized, a minister will come and he'll say, Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? And he'll go, Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm ready. Sounds good.

Yes, sir. I've never had anybody yet tell me, No, sir. But there will be probably a time—no, I would rather somebody say, No, sir, if they're not ready. But they normally say, Yes, sir. And then I say, Because you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and as your King and as your High Priest, I am going to therefore—and then the ceremony continues. That is accepting Jesus Christ. But now there's a whole other layer of development.

That's called growing in Christ. And that is so much what the epistles of the New Testament are about. Last time we discussed and used the example of the World War II theater of operations in the Pacific and the battle tactics and conquering the islands that stood between us and the Japanese Empire. We moved through the different stages of reconnaissance, softening up the target, establishing a beachhead. And then with the radioing back, when submarines got on shore, they radioed back and said, Situation well in hand.

We've landed. We've got the beachhead. But that was only the beginning of the process. And therefore, there we are on the beachhead. When God the Father has called us, when we have accepted His Son Jesus Christ, we understand two things. We now have a position through and in Christ before God's throne. But we also have the conditions on the ground.

And today we're going to bring them together a little bit tighter. We concluded last time with the reality that we established a beachhead, but now today we're going to begin to move into the interior. We're going to understand what that interior is like. And we need to understand that we have to occupy every aspect of our life and conquer it and give it over to God the Father and Jesus Christ. And that is the role that is before us. And even as we are baptized, even as we are converted, the reality is there's still some enemy territory inside of us. That's what Paul said in his famous conclusion that all the things that I don't want to do, I do.

And all the things that I ought to be doing, I am not doing. He had to do some interior work, and we are going to do that today. As we do, we are going to confront three factors, and I'd like to share them with you. Number one, the breakout from the beachhead. We're going to discuss that first. Once that position in Christ has been established, how do we move? As that territory broadens out in our hearts and minds, how do we break out from the beachhead? Number two, the importance of taking a stand for the right side when things get rough.

And number three, hunkering down for the long warfare that lies ahead of us. With that stated, then, let's move. I'd like to share point number one with you. Point number one. Again, thinking of the analogies of the American troops in the islands in the Pacific during World War II. Let's go back to that historical example of a World War II beachhead in the Pacific. Once secured, the beachhead would begin to receive reinforcements and equipment.

During that build-up period, the beachhead would be subjected to frequent barrages and even some counter-attacks. I'm sure we can think of that when we were first baptized and we thought, I finally made it. I'm in. Maybe you use different words, but you just said, I'm in. The worst is behind. And all of a sudden, POW! This came out of nowhere. You thought, wait a minute, I'm baptized. I'm on the escalator, on the roll to God's kingdom. This ought not be happening.

No, the beachhead has been established spiritually, but that doesn't mean that there aren't going to be some barrages that come our way. Now, while punishing nature, those forces give us an opportunity to begin to develop muscle, to feel out the enemy, and gauge both the strength and the abilities of that before our major assault as we go inward. Last time, I'm just going to go down here for a second, because this is what happens sometimes when we get baptized.

We're baptized. We come up just simply to a point, and we've done this walk all the way through our life. God's Spirit has guided and led us and directed us, for as many as are led by the Spirit, the same are the sons of God. We come to that point, we come to that beachhead of baptism, and we say, ah, this is it. It's done. I've accepted the Father's call. I've accepted His Son. I now have His Spirit. I'm here. I'm done. It's all okay. But what you have right here is you're just at a beachhead, just like an island.

When the Marines during World War II made that beachhead, they radioed back, we landed. Everything's okay. We're all right. No, it's just the beginning. They landed. But guess what? They got a little bit of the turf of the beach. They're there to conquer the island. And that's what God wants each and every one of us to do, is to broaden out. Because once you begin to go into the interior, everything begins to broaden. And things that you didn't see on the beach are now things that begin to happen in our life that we've seen, that we've never seen before.

That perhaps were not important, because all we wanted at the moment was to get on the beach. Because we thought that was secure. But God doesn't want us to just simply stay on the beach. He wants us ultimately to surrender all of our lives and take this island of humanity of which we are, and ultimately say, Father above, through Jesus Christ, through your spirit, the victory is yours.

The island is yours. And that is what we are to do as Christians. What happens as you establish the beachhead, you have this pressure coming from the enemy on the inside, and you get this compression, and finally you have to recognize that you need to move out and do something different. I think that happens, brethren, at times when we pray about it, when we fellowship with others of like spirit and like mind that encourage us, that we gain that encouragement, that conviction that comes by the Spirit of God, the conviction that comes by reading the Word of God, and that we are ready now to move from the beachhead to what we call the breakout.

It may take time, but it will come. I know I established that point in my life when I was 19 years of age, and I was baptized here across the royal on the Ambassador College Campus. I had grown up in this way of life, and then finally when I was baptized, and the pool was circled with human beings because they couldn't believe that Robin Weber was going to be baptized, I think they wanted to see all the dirt come up to the surface of the pool, I'm not sure, but there are a lot of witnesses, I remember that.

That was just the beachhead. I had grown up observant as a young person in the Church of God. I had kept the Seventh-day Sabbath. I had kept the biblical festivals. I had done this, and I had done that, and I had done this, and a lot of I in between. I, I, I, I, and sometimes you say, well, the I's have it. Well, in this sense, they don't. Because there were things that God wanted for me to see about myself that I was not yet ready. But I had to have that beachhead. I had to have that landing. And then, as people came into my life, including my wife, including good lifelong friends, including brethren like you, I began to recognize that I needed to move off the beach. I needed to go deeper. I needed to go wider. I needed to grow in grace and knowledge. And God had some assignments ahead for me, just as He has for you. Join me, if you would, in Matthew 9 verse 16. In Matthew 9 verse 16. Because this is the assignment for each and every one of us. Let's put a scriptural account to this to link it together.

Matthew 9 and verse 16. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskin breaks. The wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both then are preserved. Now, when we look at this, let's understand something. Can we have a reality check as a congregation here for a moment? And in what we call our human condition. Unfortunately, far too many Christians retain the status quo of remaining simply in the build-up process rather than the breaking out.

Now, when you think about it, and we look at some of the people that have preceded us that are listed in the Bible. I have a question for you. Each and every one of those, or let me make a statement and go to a question. Each and every one of those patriarchs and matriarchs that are in the Bible that we look to and gain strength from. They established a beachhead, but just wonder if they had remained on the beach and had not gone further and grown in grace and knowledge and explored that interior of themselves. Just think about this for a moment. You might want to write down some of these names. What if Stephen had simply remained on the beach? I wonder if he just simply remained on the beach and didn't go any further in surrendering himself to the Spirit and the will of God. What about Mary Magdalene? I wonder if she had just stayed there on the beach and had not chosen to render her interior to Jesus Christ for a healing and that she could go deeper. What about Paul? What about Apollos? Apollos who, boy, did he land on the beach of the first century with a splash. They thought, wow! What a speaker! We wish we had him rather than Weber. And after all, he knows Greek. He's from Alexandria. But wonder if he had just stayed on the beach. Wonder if he had shoot off Aquila and Priscilla and said, I'm okay on the beach. I don't need any more understanding. I don't need any further thoughts. No, we know that he didn't remain on the beach. We know that he went further and deeper. And all of these individuals that I'm sharing with you broke out of their own beachhead as Christ into their life. That's so very important that we break out. I want to share a verse with you that I hope is encouraging. I think sometimes it's misunderstood. Join me if you would in Matthew 16. Matthew 16. In speaking about breaking out. In Matthew 16 and verse 18, let's take a look at this.

I think sometimes subconsciously we look at this as a defensive statement rather than an offensive statement that Christians are to be on the offense. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.

What's that mean? That he's going to build a building? That he's going to build an organization? No. The church in this sense that's used in the Bible is those that are called out, separate at once. People who will have the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The church was never to simply be satisfied with the status quo. The church was not simply just to be in a standstill mode. We as human beings, we that are that church, that ecclesia, are to move off of that which is comfortable and which has been established and move into, as it were, deeper territory. And that is extremely important to understand. When we do that, when we're ready to move, when we're ready to grow, we begin to have new observations. We begin to have new encounters that prepare us for the next beach heads that are ahead. I think of the many years that I've been in this area from the time I was in Imperial schools, later on in Ambassador College, later on baptized, later on as a young married couple in Pasadena working on the outside, later on as an elder serving amongst you like Mr. Helgi, Mr. Garnett, Mr. Fish, then later on as becoming a pastor in the late 70s. Each and every one of these things came along with new opportunities and new observations as to widened territory. Not for me just simply to be a shepherd or be an elder to others, but to explore myself and to recognize what I am about. Not just simply what I do on the exterior, but what is my motivation? What am I really like inside? Am I doing the things that I do on the outside for all the right reasons that are on the inside? God basically is probably like you too. He's given me, given you a lot of homework over these years for self-exploration. Now sometimes, you know, He did not do that at first with me. He didn't lay it all on me at once at age 19 when I was baptized. I would not have been ready for it. I just simply could not have handed it. I had enough to handle as a 19-year-old man to be dealing with that. And some of the matters that later on I had to tackle when I was 28, 38, 48, 58... I won't go any higher... 62... It's only now that I'm able to handle it. And to take those lessons that are in stride and go a little bit deeper. God's good that way. He knows how to guide us as the good shepherd towards that which we can handle. And sometimes there are items that I haven't handled, just simply out of my pure stubbornness and my willfulness that needs to come under subjection by God. There's one thing that we need to understand to be able to break out, and I'd like to share this thought and move to the second point. And that is sometimes to recognize we don't really realize how deep matters really go in us. Really go. Let me use the example again out of World War II. During World War II, and actually about 20 to 25 years before that, the Japanese had a genius for concealment. In the island chains leading up to the heart of their empire. They went into those islands that which were basically made of coral and dug tunnels deep, deep, deep down into the interior of that island. They could dig into caves and create tunnels that seemed impervious at first to any infiltration that was thrown at them. Likewise, we need to understand that, brethren, about our own human nature, of how deep it goes. Can we talk? I think sometimes some of us do not really recognize how deep our human nature goes. We oftentimes come to this point that perhaps in our mind we think, well, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to this earth to die for everyone else. Because I'm looking around. Whoo!

And we don't really always bring it back home that if there was nobody else that ever lived, and if we were to be in the presence of our Father above, that Jesus Christ would have to die for you and He would have to die for me. That there is something in us that is apart from God. That Jesus Christ did not come to this earth just simply to die for good men, but came to this earth to die for dead men walking, that were separated from God because of their sins and because of the human nature that is in us. Oftentimes when I talk to people about baptism, I will discuss two things, and actually when I baptize people, I actually ask them, have you, are you ready, have you repented of your sins?

Oh yeah. And I say, have you repented of what you are apart from God? What you are? It's the R that gets the rest going, isn't it? It's that human nature factor inside of us. It's that engine that is inside of us. And that is what then produces what comes out that we need to repent of, but we have to recognize how, just like the Japanese on those islands, how deep those tunnels go. And that's why God, as we move from the beachhead into the interior, keeps on in His graciousness slowly opening up that interior and broadening it now that we're ready with the understanding behind us to be able to deal with ourselves. And that's exactly what it did. Join me if you would in Jeremiah 17 and verse 9. Again to see how deep this tunnel goes. Jeremiah 17 and verse 9. Jeremiah 17 and verse 9. It says, the heart. Who, mine? Yeah, my heart, Robin Weber. My heart. The heart is deceitful above all things. Wow! That's kind of grave. No, it's not over. And desperately wicked. And then the Bible says something. Who can know it? You look at this verse, it's very interesting, because this is contrary to the basic thought that is out there. It's that basically human nature, human beings of and by themselves, are really pretty good people. It's just that they have, are you ready with me? A little itty bitty bad. What a difference that the Bible brings out that man, apart from God, you and I, apart from God's grace, you and I, apart from the indwelling of God's Spirit inside of us, this is what the prognosis is. This is the diagnosis of the human condition. The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. And who can know it? One of the reasons why at times, brethren, it takes so long, and we ask ourselves that question, Oh God, how come it's taking so long? It's simply, we believe this statement, we look at Jeremiah 17.9, we believe this statement, but we fail to acknowledge its reality in our lives. And if we do, if we do, our lives remain in the status quo. Jesus further diagnosed the depth of the battle that you and I have over in Mark 7. Join me if you would there, please. In Mark 7.

In Mark 7 and verse 5, He talks here about, Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? And he answered and said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is from me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandments of men, God, you hold, excuse me, for laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.

And he said, And all too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. In other words, they were kind of satisfied with their beachhead. They were kind of satisfied with what they do, by what they perform. They were satisfied with the outside of the individual. Just like individuals that might come through those doors at times, on a Saturday, like today, and they have on their Sabbath best, they're clean and shiny, their suits are pressed, their dresses look immaculate, they might have on their Sabbath smile, and teeth are gleaming, they might have the firmest handshake, they might even be involved in the activity of the work of the church, with Sabbath school, with a Bible class, with ushering, with deaconing.

But they make the mistake that the outward activity, the activity of the church, is different than the activity of Christ molding and shaping our lives, and us surrendering that life in our marriage, our jobs, our neighborhoods, and not to confuse the outward motion with our inward motivation of why we do what we do. Why we do what we do? Because sometimes that outward motivation is actually trying to fill holes that are inside of us, shaped by our childhood, shaped by what other voices tell us, other people are thinking about us.

And they're not a true echo sound of what God wants to hear coming out of our heart and out of our mind. And we need to understand that. Because then he says down here in verse 18, So he said to them, Are you thus without understanding also?

Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from the outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach and his eliminate, thus purifying all foods? And he said, What comes out of a man? That is what defiles him, down in those tunnels of our hearts, that at times we think that we're hiding from God or even hiding from our spouses or other loved ones, or from a pastor or from fellow Christian members.

That's where God wants us to go as we move from the beachhead into the interior and to go deeper and to understand that. Why is that so important for each and every one of us? Allow me to make this statement. The advance of God's life in us is dependent upon the death of the other part of us called self.

God cannot advance in our life. God cannot advance in our life until we are willing to slay those parts of our human island that have not been occupied by His grace, by His love, and by His Spirit. And that's why at times it takes so long. Now, I want you to understand something. Let's look up here again. I'm the PowerPoint. I'm on the move. I'm down here. This is where I personally started in 1970. Beachhead. Ambassador College. Underground Pool. And under the water. But God wanted me, for the purposes He had, and me as He does with the purposes in each and every one of you, to move off this beachhead.

But we have to understand the depth and the breadth of the struggle and the challenge that lies each and every one of us, and that ultimately we have got to render ourselves to God. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 31, I die daily. I die daily. Not just simply a baptism, but it's an existence of continuing to move the self out and allow God to come in.

Let's go to number two. Number two. Once we begin to move into that interior, and we begin to have that pushback of our human nature and of those things that are challenging to us, let me just be frank. We have to take a stand. Number two, we have to take a stand. We have to ask ourselves, whose side are we on anyway? Wonder if you were in sports.

Wonder if you were on a professional sports team. And you were wearing a Lakers uniform. But we're making baskets for the Golden State Warriors. Somebody might ask, who is that out there anyway? I'm sure all of us have seen that at one time a year. I remember a couple times at Ambassador College where there'd be a tip-off. And the guy, the first time on the court, he was so excited.

The ball was thrown into his hands, and he takes off for the wrong goal. Any of you ever seen that? Or am I the only one? Anybody that's like the spider in the fly, you can't believe this is happening. You're going like this. Anybody that's going like this? No! No! No! Right? I was that man. No, just tea. No. We're laughing about that. But I have a question for all of you. Whose side are you on anyway? God has asked us to put on the clothing of Christ, not only on our exterior, but on our interior and on our heart.

Join me if you would, a very interesting verse over here in James 1. I'd like to define it for you a little bit that maybe you've never seen before. Kind of interesting. Book of James, Bookful of Wisdom. Verse 7, chapter 1, For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. This is about asking for wisdom. For he is a double-minded man and unstable in all of his ways. Now, when we read double-minded, yeah, whose side are you on anyway?

But in the Greek, the word is dipsukos. Dipsukos. And that literally means this is a man that has two brains. Two brains. Have you ever seen a two-headed snake in the San Diego Zoo, or am I the only one?

There's a two-headed snake. Which way do you go? Sometimes, here we have been given this incredible opportunity to be called of God, and we likewise can be like the two-headed snake in the San Diego, or this phrase of being double-brained. I have a question for you. May I?

It's not going to be hard. This is just basically pass and fail. There's no grade. How many of you came down the 210 freeway today with four hands on the wheel?

Anybody do that?

I was giving Megan a little driving lesson this weekend, and I was able, on a country road away from everybody out in Riverside County. And I managed to keep only her hands on the wheel at least every five seconds. No. You don't do that. You've got to know whose uniform you're wearing. You need to know who you're playing for. You need to know what goalpost you're going on. You can't be that double-minded person. Brethren, some of us are still on the beach and not moving into the interior because we have not made up our mind whose team you are playing for. You know what team you ought to play for. You've read the end of the book. You know what team is going to win.

But you've got wobbly knees. You're afraid to commit. You think it's going to be painful. You think it's going to hurt to develop a holy righteous character and have the heart of Christ. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Because you have to give away something. And it hurts. When you give away self, it does hurt. But what replaces it is so much better. God's love, God's grace, God's peace, God's assurance. You have the confidence that your position in Christ trumps any condition that's on the ground. It begins to discipline your thoughts, your tongue, your heart to where you now are ready to establish that next beachhead. Let's go to point number three. Point number three.

It's a long warfare that lies ahead. It's a long warfare that lies ahead. As we contemplate the depth of the battle that lies ahead, as we break out of that beachhead and into the interior, and we recognize that things broaden. I remember when I was a young boy of, I think it was 10 or 11, when I first started hearing an elderly gentleman on the radio about a way of life. That was a whole lot different than the Protestant church that I was growing up in. And we had incredible life changes occur. We went from worshiping God on Sunday to worshiping God on Saturday. We went from worshiping God on a day or two during the year to worshiping God with seven biblical festivals throughout the year. We went from eating anything that our eyes fell upon to recognizing that God as creator knows best and knows exactly what fuel we need in our tummy. And there were a lot of big changes that happened all at once. And we were very sincere, just as you were sincere. You remember that when that happened. You were all very sincere. And he thought, I've arrived. Did it! Thank you, Lord.

But that was just the beginning. That was basically a lot of, as challenging as that was, even in the fact of the time he's moving away from culture and family. Back in the Midwest, down south, where culture runs deep. Back in the Midwest, where culture runs deep. That you were like a Brahm. You walked away from everything. I was telling Megan and Kalen as we were coming up one of the riverside freeways today. And there was traffic on both sides because of Thanksgiving weekend. I said, you've got to picture what God asked a Brahm to do. Was to take a lane out of town. Why don't you think about this? A lane out of town. And that lane of town, you only saw one human vehicle going up it. And that was a Brahm. He was leaving town. On the other hand, coming in was a human traffic jam. As people were coming to settle into the river valleys of Mesopotamia, to Ur of the Caledes. There was a traffic jam of everybody. You know, you know, we're all Angelenos. We know what traffic jams are like. The traffic jam was coming into where? Into Ur of the Caledes. And there was only one vehicle named a Brahm headed out. Now each and every one of us kind of began that. We were like that vehicle leaving Dodge. Not a Dodge, but leaving Dodge. And we thought that we had grown. But that's where we were. And then, but then God began to, over these last 40 or 50 years of our life, for four months or five months of our life right now, for some of you that are new, He began to say, now you've got to go deeper. Now you're not just simply wrestling with days. You're not just simply wrestling with diet. You're not just simply wrestling with removing yourself from extra biblical and non-Christian traditions. Now you've got to come to grapple with that man and that woman inside of you. You have to deal with the matters of patience. You have to deal with the matters of humility. You're having to deal with the matters of lust in whatever fashion that might be. You have to deal with the matter of pride. You have to deal with the matter of anger. You have to deal with the matter of division. See, that's down there deep. And that's going to take a while. God understands that. And you understanding that, and you not being there at this point, does not in any way remove you or remove me from God's love or grace. He understands the challenge and the struggle that is in front of us as long as we do move forward. And that's very important. Join me if you would in 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy. As we begin to conclude, 1 Timothy 1.

Let's pick up the thought in verse 15.

1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern, and or you might use the word as an example, notice, to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. When we look at that, we find a godly and a refreshing perspective of why it takes so very long. But who is waiting there for us at the end? 1. That Christ came to save sinners. That's very important. I know sometimes that is something that holds people off from baptism. They don't want to be baptized because of who or what they have been. And they somehow feel that in their mind they almost have to be God before being baptized. No. God did not come to save little gods. God, I know it sounds trite or funny, God came to save sinners. The spiritual, specific verse of Luke 19.10 says that Jesus said, I have come to seek the lost and to save them. When you have established that in your heart, in your mind, and you have accepted God the Father's call and Jesus Christ is your Savior, you have then the opportunity to have the indwelling of God's Spirit. You are on that beachhead, but God does want us to move off the beach and move into some of these deeper items. Notice again what it says, Christ came to save sinners. It's a work that is still in motion. It's needing completion. It's needing guidance by God's Holy Spirit. And to recognize that we are recipients of God's unlimited, gracious patience. The long suffering of God can mean, if you want to use another phrase, He is long bothered. He can be long bothered. God is up there. He's watching us. He's not so much watching our steps as watching our heart. And He can be long bothered as long as we do not give up, as long as we stay the course. He is long bothered. And why? Because what we're going through right now is an example for others. Join me, if you would, in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 4. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 4. Just two more verses. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 4.

Why are... Can I ask you a question, brethren? Why is it that we ask ourselves some questions at time? How come it is taking so long? Well, it's answered here in 2 Corinthians 1.

With some of the things that you and I are going through right now. Let's start in verse 3. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Now, I've been very frank with all of you. Last time I spoke in this time. And that is to recognize that there is still enemy territories that were figuratively inside of me that I have not yet conquered. I hope that doesn't make you feel too qualmish about your pastor. I'm just a human being. I do have the same echo as Paul does. All the things I don't want to do, I wind up doing. All the things I ought to do, at times I don't do. Neither do you. We all have that echo of Paul in us. But to recognize that when we look at this verse, that we recognize that God knows this in us. Christ was a human being. He had to face challenges. He faced them but never buckled like you and I do. And therefore it speaks of this God and this Father that is merciful and a God of all comfort. Now notice verse 4, who comforts us in all our tribulation. As we go into those valleys and as we go down into those dales of the island of humanity, as we broaden the expedition off the beachhead. And sometimes, but for the moment, we will fall flat on our kisser. We'll fall flat on our face.

God doesn't turn and say, I'm done with you. I'm done. That's it. You've used up my grace. You've used up my son's sacrifice. No. It says he's merciful. It's not how you fall. It's how you get up. It's how you keep on responding to the call of God Almighty into our lives. And he comforts us. Notice that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. I think all of you remember last time I spoke to you that one of the mantras of the Army of the Marine Corps, frankly of all of the service, is simply this. You do not leave a brother and these days a sister behind. There is a bond that runs deep because of the training. You never, ever leave somebody out on the beach or in the valley. You always go back, and I think all of us are always overwhelmed when we hear about these people that have either gotten the bronze star or a purple heart, that they do not leave their body behind. That's why, brethren, some of the things that we've gone through over the years, some of us that might be even a tad older, say, why did I go through that in my late 20s? Why did I go through that situation in my marriage in my early 30s? Why did I go through that health crisis in my early 40s? Why did I go through that job challenge in my early 50s? Well, number one, because God was working with you. But also that, in turn, you might share what you have learned. That to gain ground, to conquer that unoccupied territory that is not yet surrendered to God Almighty, is going to be challenging. It's going to be painful. At times, you're going to think that you're alone, but you're not. Join me if you would in Philippians 1.

In Philippians 1, and let's pick up the thought as we conclude that we are not alone. And, dear brethren of Los Angeles, this is the very, very best news that I could share with you on this Sabbath day. That the beachhead that God has asked you to establish in your life for Him, that interior that He now asks you to go forward into, those deep spots in your life that He asked you to explore, you are not alone. In Philippians 1, it says, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. God's plan for you and for me is not to remain on the beach. It is to move. It is to move forward. It is to move into the interior of our lives now, to get down not beyond the motion into our motives of why we do what we do. And there's some hard sledding ahead. There is a journey that lies ahead of us with some steep mountains of self that God asked us to render to Him. This very verse, when you look into the Greek meaning behind it, this word that what He has begun He will complete, the words that are used in this sentence actually deal, and they are words that are used in extra-biblical literature dealing with sacrifice. Sacrifice. And what is actually being spoken about here is not just a pat on the back, but He's saying what God has begun in us to give our lives daily, to sacrifice ourself, to conquer that which is not yet conquered in our lives. God recognizes that it will take everything plus in us to do that. Even with the conviction of the Word, even with the conviction of the Spirit, even with the example of Jesus Christ, front and center in our life, He recognizes that pull that comes to us. And prays that we will echo what Jesus Christ echoed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, not my will, but Your will be done. And He says here that He will not leave us alone until we have done that. This is now the end of the second part of the three-part series. We do have more ground to cover, more territory to explore when come back here in two weeks hence. One more message. And we need to recognize that even though we continue in the battle, I want to remind you of something very important. Something that we've heard so many times, but it's always good to be reminded. I've read the end of the book. So have you. The victory has already been won. It's just the details that have to be worked out as we move off the beachhead, into the interior, and up towards the mountain of the Lord. Look forward to seeing in 45 minutes for those that want to join. Mr. Opichka and I, for those that are here just visiting today, would you please come up and introduce yourself. We'd certainly love to meet and greet you. And that's all of us in the congregation. Reach out. Let's offer the right hand of fellowship. And I do ask a personal prayer that you will please remember me over the next couple of weeks as we come up to the council meetings, that God will grant me wisdom and strength and capacity in my role in the church, in helping fellow ministers and all of our brethren to move the goal forward towards the kingdom of God.