#486 It’s Not Fair – Grace Series# 4, Divine Deliverance

It’s Not Fair – Grace Series# 4, Divine Deliverance
By Zach Soane, Nov. 29-20

Recap:  “It’s Not Fair – Grace” 

Week #1 – Divine Detours. Following Jesus see us walking towards things we would rather avoid and into situations we don’t understand.

Week #2 – Divine Interruptions. God’s mercy interrupts our religion and what we think should and shouldn’t happen. e.g the labourers in the vineyard.

Week #3 – Divine Paradoxes. Life and circumstance seem to contradict the promises of God and his word. Happens all the time!

2 Corinthians 12:8-10
“…My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” …For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

How much performance religion is built upon trying to get stronger and eliminate weakness? How much emotional energy do we spend on trying to be strong, stronger, and avoiding weakness, when Paul learned to:

2 Corinthians 12:9
“…boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Intro:
“Grace – It’s not fair.” Sometimes there are things in life we go through that aren’t fair, that hurt, that are difficult, and the “its not fair” comes from a deep spot of pain and frustration, often when we find ourselves in tight spots and difficulty.

Divine Deliverance:
Hard to hear, but life can be tough and unfair. Some people believe that if everything does not come easy, gift wrapped and perfectly matching everyone else’s experience, they have been treated unfairly.

Sometimes confusingly, we who believe in the power of God can sometimes get sideswiped by difficulty, believing our faith exempts us from it, and we end up saying, “but it’s not fair!”

Acts 14:21-22
“And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” 

The Greek word for must is dei – .”necessary, inevitable, or required.”

We don’t enter the kingdom by what we suffer, but by what Jesus suffered, thats why he is encouraging them to keep the faith. But,  if we  are to manifest and enter into the experienced reality of kingdom living in a fallen world,  we will bump up against tribulation and difficulty.

John 16:33
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Tribulation: thlipsis: θλῖψις, εως, ἡ

thlípsis – properly, pressure (what constricts or rubs together), used of a narrow place that “hems someone in”; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, “without options”). 

2347 /thlípsis (“compression, tribulation”) carries the challenge of coping with the internal pressure of a tribulation, especially when feeling there is “no way of escape” (“hemmed in”).

Do you feel hemmed in? There is no way of escape? Powerless? At the mercy of situations, circumstances, higher powers, social pressures and constructs, personal limitations or resource scarcity that has you stuck… you can’t move even if wanted to?  The pressure you feel is tribulation.

Biblical Illustration of being hemmed in, having no way of escape.:

Exodus 14:1-3
“…Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’

I might have questioned God’s strategic planning abilities here.

Exodus 14:10-12
And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness…? it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

That is tribulation. To be confined, restricted, to have no options, and to feel the internal pressure of it.

Exodus 14:13-14
And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” 

Same as Jesus, who told us about tribulation so we would have peace, and who encouraged our hearts with the assurance that he has overcome the world.

In the midst of whatever is causing you to say “Its not fair,” Grace is our hope.

HOPE is:

H – Healthy

O – Opportunistic

P – Practical

E – Experience

H – Healthy. Hope is healthy.

Proverbs 13:12
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

If you don’t believe in God’s grace and deliverance,  you will get discouraged, frustrated, and the internal pressure and pain of the cry “its not fair,” will bring you down and debilitate you.

 Rom. 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

O – Opportunistic

Hope empowers you to see opportunity when others only see failure, dead-ends and chaos.

Exodus 14:4
Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

Paul was locked up in prison, but he saw in prison the opportunity to write .

2 Timothy 2:9-10
“And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained…” 

That was confined space, a real lockdown, and from that spot he wrote possibly up to 7 books of the Bible. Hope sees opportunity!

P – Practical 

Hope is practical, it is so much more than just sitting back and waiting and wishing for a solution. Hope inspires engagement. God promised the Israelites “stand still and you will see the salvation of your God, The Lord will fight for you.” He gives them a gracious promise, but then in the very next breath He says to Moses;

Exodus 14:15-16
“…“Why are you crying out to me..? Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

The hope that the grace of God gives us empowers to act. We have been given authority, and we can take up what is in our hand with renewed passion.

E – Experience

Our hope is real, tangible, rooted in the love of God , and has promise of real breakthrough in our experience. 

Romans 5:15
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we  have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we  also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 

Hope does not disappoint!

Psalms 27:13
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.

Don’t lose heart, don’t lose hope! Hope is healthy, opportunistic, practical, and will lead to a new experience.

Rom. 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Grace — it’s not fair – Sometimes life is not fair, but neither is the grace of God by which we experience Divine Deliverance. Amen!

It’s Not Fair – Grace Series# 4, Divine Deliverance, Sermon notes to print, PDF