Why Would God Say No? (from our 11-3-24 worship)
Watch The Video Version Here: https://youtu.be/reTKTQpBFcA
Transcript:
Second Kings chapter 20, beginning of verse one. In those days, hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of a man has come to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order for you shall die. You shall not recover. Then hezekiah turned his face to the wall.
And prayed to the Lord saying, now, oh Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your side. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him. Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father, I have heard your prayer.
I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. And on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord and I will add 15 years to your life. I would deliver you in this city out of the hand of King of Assyria. And I will defend this city for my own sake and for the servant and for my servant David's sake.
And Isaiah said, Bring the cake of figs and let them eat it. take and lay it on the boil that he may recover. Do you look at this? Hezekiah Hezekiah was given the most terrible news that you could maybe imagine. You get the call from the doctor. The test that was supposed to be routine all of a sudden isn't routine.
And Hezekiah prayed this prayer. And even though he didn't say specifically, God, would you heal me? God, would you take this sickness away from me? You kind of get the idea in the process somewhere of that weeping bitterly. Whether audibly with words or in his heart, he asked God, could you change this?
Could you save my life?
And his kind of got maybe one of the most awesome answers to a prayer you could imagine. I mean, the answer was almost immediate, and it was one of our favorite words. You know what that word is? Yes. I mean, who doesn't love a good yes? God, can I, can we do this? Yes. God, can I have this? Yes. God, can you keep everybody in my family safe and healthy?
Yes. I mean, who doesn't love yes? Yes is a wonderful answer. But if you lived in the length of time As I have you understand that not every answer is yes You see if I got your hopes up there for a minute thinking the sermon was gonna be about yes this morning I'm sorry, but as my loving son called him would say what won't Today I want to talk about no Now no isn't as exciting as yes Often when we think about no, it just even just gives us this kind of Yucky feely, doesn't it?
I don't know, I mean, there's a very famous best selling book out right now entitled, How to Get to Yes. We love yes, we want yes, but often times when we ask God for something, the answer is no. And this morning we're going to look at some people who ask God for something specifically. And God did not give them what they asked for.
And the question I want to ask this morning with this sermon is why? Why might God say no? Why might God say no to us? And I hope that through maybe looking at the answers, it may not make the no any easier, but at least maybe it can help us to grow and to understand more about not only the God that we have, but what we need to do to serve Him.
So that being said, I'm going to look at five reasons this morning. I don't know that this is an exhaustive list. You could probably come up with more or better reasons than on this list, but I think every one of these that I picked out this morning is something that each one of us has dealt with or will deal with or something in our lives.
And I hope that these things can, can bless us. Now, the first reason why, God might tell us no. If you had a child with you and the child looks at you and says, Mama or daddy, you know, there's this piece of candy over here in the store that I want and and I don't have any money to pay for it. So I got a bright idea.
I'm just gonna pick it up and I'm gonna walk out the door and I'm not gonna pay for it. What would you say to that child? Some of us grew up in a generation where there wouldn't be any saying. I might be some smacking going on, but you would generally tell that child what? No, you shouldn't do that. Why?
Because the thing they want to do is wrong. The thing they want to do is wrong. Now, maybe they don't understand that yet. Maybe they do understand it, but their desires is getting the best of them. You think there's ever been a time Where somebody has asked God for something that was wrong. Yeah. I think Balaam is a good example of this.
Of course, we're not gonna get to the really interesting part where his donkey starts talking to him. Right. And how angry that he was that he didn't even didn't phase him that his donkey was talking to him. But look at how this all began. Numbers 22 beginning of verse one. Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan and Jericho.
And Balak, the son of Zippor, saw that all of Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. And Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, this horde will now lick us all, lick up all that is around us as ox licks up the grass of the field.
So Balak, this is the bad king, Balak, the son of Zippor, who was the king of Moab at the time, sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, at Pythorea, these names, which is near the river in the land of the people of Ammon. to call him saying, behold, the people have come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth and they are dwelling opposite of me.
Come now curse this people for me. Since they are too mighty for me, perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land. For I know that he who whom you bless is blessed and he whom you cursed is cursed. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand and they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message and he said to them, lodge here tonight and I will bring back to you, bring back word to you as the Lord speaks to me.
So the princes of Balaam stayed, uh, the princes of Balak stayed with Balaam and God came to Balaam and said, who are these men with you? And Balaam said to God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come and curse them for me.
Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out. And God said to Balaam, You shall not go with him. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princess of Balak, Go to your own land, for the Lord commands. There's refused to let me go with you now.
We could keep reading the story this morning. It's rather lengthy, but they send another delegation back and another. And eventually he winds up going to King Bailack and he keeps telling them now. Listen, God told me that I can't do it. But let me look at that money you want to give me. And even though God has told him no, you shall not go.
You shall not do this. He keeps getting closer and closer and closer. and closer and eventually this leads him to a situation that cost him his life. He, this man Balaam, interacted with god. He knew how god operated. He knew about god's people. And he knew that it wasn't right to curse them. But what? But he really wanted that money.
He really wanted, god, I just really, it be nice to have that, don't you think? Your child looks at you and says, can I touch the stove? The hot stove? No. Why? Because that parent is trying to protect that child. You ever think sometimes God tells us no because he's trying to protect us? Maybe for whatever reason, whether, whether we don't know no better or whether we do know better and we, and we just want what we want.
You ever think he might tell us no to protect us? I think that he would. So, sometimes the reason he tells us no is what we're asking for is sinful, it's wrong. But this next one, it's not hardly that bad, but it's, you know, the motivation is still not great. You know, sometimes God tells us no because what we're asking for is selfish.
Now, of all people that this is a good example of, the apostles make a good example of this. It's in Mark chapter 10. And James and John, the son of Zebedee, came up to him, that being Jesus, and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Parents, if your Children ever come up to you and say, Mom, Dad, will you say yes?
That's an automatic. No. Okay, let me go ahead and give you some life advice. That's a no. All right. Um, and he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left hand in your glory. And Jesus said to them, you do not know what you are asking.
For, are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, we are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink in the baptism. Baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit. And my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those to whom it has been prepared.
And when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant with James and John. You talk about hedging your bets and trying to get ahead of the curve. Hey, hey, Jesus, uh, can we go ahead and reserve our seats in heaven? What did they think he was gonna say? Yeah, yeah, honey, here's a golden ticket. And when you get up to heaven, you show them.
It says right here, it says row one seats two and three. Okay. Boy, they'll just park the, they'll park that golden rope for you and let you own it. I mean, what, what did you think they were going to say? The other ten are indignant with them. And we get it, right? It's kind of selfish. But how many times has it been us?
With the selfish prayer. How many times has it been, has it been me? That, God, you, you really should do this, you really should give me this because, you know, Just rattle off the reason, boy, aren't we good with coming up with justifications and reasons for what we want? But, you see that selfishness part's the problem.
Now you understand there's a difference between a selfish prayer and maybe a self centered prayer. If you go to Matthew chapter 6, they ask Jesus, Lord teach us to pray. And one of the things he told them is, God, give us this day our daily bread, right? I mean, there's all kind of things that we're going to pray for that are for me.
But there's a difference between a self centered prayer and a selfish prayer. A self centered prayer says, Lord, give me this day my daily bread. A selfish prayer says, Lord, there's only so much bread in the world. Give it all to me because I don't want them to have none. You kind of see the difference in the two?
It's all right to ask for stuff for you. But if my only focus is me, then that's a problem, isn't it? Maybe God is telling me no because, because I'm being selfish. Now, this next one, the first two, maybe the motivations aren't that good behind it, but this one here, the motivation is good here. The motivation is good, but it's still not exactly right.
Okay? Sometimes God has to tell us no because we're misguided. This is another one of the apostles, Luke 9. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered the village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.
But the people did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village. Now this is, this is not selfishness here.
Why are they upset? Why do they want to call down fire from heaven? Because they are mistreating our Lord. They did not receive Him. They're, they're snubbing Him, if you will. Lord, let's just, let's just get them. Okay, the motivation's good. But they're not there yet, are they? I haven't learned enough about how this is, how this works.
You see, it's possible for us to be kind of on the right track, but not be there yet. I had a situation a couple weeks ago. We were making supper. Annetta had fixed, I forget what it was, but I'm literally in the kitchen, standing there, putting plates together. And one of my children, one of my lovely, lovely children walks up to me oblivious to what's going on.
It looks at me and says, Daddy, can I have a snack? Okay, so it's time to eat. He was right about that. He was hungry. He was right about that. But he wasn't. He wasn't there yet. Okay. What I said to him is what? No, no, you can't have a snack. And then I said, But you can have supper. Mhm. Ta da. You ever think maybe that God sometimes has to tell us no because we're not there yet?
Maybe he has to tell us no now so he can tell us yes later. Well, why, why doesn't, I mean, why doesn't he just go ahead and let me do this? Well, maybe you're not ready yet. Maybe you're doing your best and you're trying to follow God and you're trying to do what's right. That's great. But if he says no, that doesn't necessarily mean that Well, this is horrible.
This is bad. You may just not be there yet. Okay, now this next one, this next one may be the toughest pill to swallow all up. Sometimes God may tell us no to help building this character. Think about the Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul in second Corinthians 11 There's this thing going on at Corinth where there's these people who claim to be super apostles.
And Paul doesn't want to do this, but he says, OK, if they want to, if we want to talk about being apostles, then let's lay out resumes and let's compare what's going on. The end of chapter 11, he gives all these things that happened to him, his weaknesses. right shipwreck, beat the rods, all these things. And beyond all these things, all the daily anxieties that I have upon me for the churches.
But with all this going on, look at what Paul comes to the conclusion that he comes to in Chapter 12. Though, if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool for I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. Now that one verse right there, that's a pretty powerful thought.
So they might not think more about me than they see in me or hear, hear him hear from me, right? He don't want people to, to put him on this pedestal and build him up. He's just a servant of God. Verse seven. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh.
a messenger of satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceded. Three times, three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, and insults, and hardships, and persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Why didn't God take the thorn away from Paul? There's been a lot of debate over the years what that was. I think it's his eyesight. It doesn't matter what the thorn was.
The point is, is that he's trying to serve God. And I can imagine Paul in those three prayers saying, Lord, I could do a better job serving you. If you take this away, my physical body would work better. If you take this away, I could cover more ground in today's time. I could preach to more people. I could physically do a better job without this storm.
And he was probably right. But it's not all about the physical is
You ever wondered if God maybe has told, you know, or told me no at some point in our lives just to make us better people. What if telling us no is the thing that we need to make our faith grow? What if God is more concerned with my character than my comfort? Let me say that again. What if God is more concerned with my character than my comfort?
What if no allows me to grow my faith? What if it allows me to be more spiritual? What if it allows me to build my dependence on God? What if no allows me to go through some things so that maybe one day when I cross paths with somebody else and they're struggling, I can look them in the eyes and say, you know what?
I have struggled too. And you can make it. God will carry you through. No might be the very thing, even though I don't like it, even though I don't want it. No may be the very thing to grow my character. And I get it, that's a hard pill to swallow. But, we know it's true. How many times do we tell our children no?
Daddy, can I watch TV again? No. My favorite is, I'm bored. It's good for you. Being bored's good for you sometimes. I didn't like it no more when I was their age than they do. That doesn't mean it's not right. Sometimes God tells us no to build our character. Then, lastly, I don't think I have to make much about this point, but sometimes God tells us no, because it's not doesn't align with his wheel.
Jesus in the garden. Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray and talking with With him, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. And then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
Remain here and watch with me. And going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came disciples and found it sleeping. And he said to Peter, So could you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, My father, if this cannot pass until I drink it, your will be done. And again, he came and found them sleeping with their eyes heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed the third time, saying the same words that he came to the cycles and said to them, sleep and take your rest later on.
See, the hours at hand The son of man is betrayed in the hands of sinners. Rise. Let us be going. See my betrayers in hand. Where would we be right now? If God had said yes to that prayer, would be lost. And you know, I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't been talking about God saying no. And in our minds, almost if God's gonna say no to this, I shouldn't ask it.
There's still value in asking the question. I don't think Jesus. I think Jesus knew the answer before he asked the question. This is more about pouring his heart out to God and being with the father and letting God know this. This is killing me. And in his case, it was going to kill him,
but the no was still necessary and maybe for us, maybe it might be a great idea. Maybe it might be a great thing. So maybe it just don't line up with God's will. And if that's the case, then I would do, I would do well to take that no in stride and to keep my faith and to keep following after him. You see, we looked at all these reasons why God might say no.
And I think you get the idea. But James puts it so so adequately counted. I'll join my brothers when you meet trials, various kinds where you know that the testing your face produces. Steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I want you to focus on that word produces because I think sometimes God looks at us and says no because it produces something in us.
No has helped produce faith in me and help me grow. And yes, it's hard. And yes, it's a struggle and in all those things. But Paul said this, These light momentary afflictions are not not worthy to be compared to the glory that we'll have someday. I Don't know what kind of afflictions you're going through Maybe you got told no this past week and you're struggling with it.
I Don't know what you need, but I know that When you come to God and pour your heart out to him, he's not gonna tell you no, I don't love you No, I'm not gonna listen to you. No, I'm not gonna be there for you He's gonna say yes to that. If there's any need that you have today, I don't know if it's coming down front, if it's going out back, pulling somebody aside, having a phone conversation at the church, but do not leave this body of people.
Don't leave it without help. If you need help this morning, we can help you up front here. Come on. We have a sensation
Transcript:
Second Kings chapter 20, beginning of verse one. In those days, hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of a man has come to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order for you shall die. You shall not recover. Then hezekiah turned his face to the wall.
And prayed to the Lord saying, now, oh Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your side. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him. Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father, I have heard your prayer.
I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. And on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord and I will add 15 years to your life. I would deliver you in this city out of the hand of King of Assyria. And I will defend this city for my own sake and for the servant and for my servant David's sake.
And Isaiah said, Bring the cake of figs and let them eat it. take and lay it on the boil that he may recover. Do you look at this? Hezekiah Hezekiah was given the most terrible news that you could maybe imagine. You get the call from the doctor. The test that was supposed to be routine all of a sudden isn't routine.
And Hezekiah prayed this prayer. And even though he didn't say specifically, God, would you heal me? God, would you take this sickness away from me? You kind of get the idea in the process somewhere of that weeping bitterly. Whether audibly with words or in his heart, he asked God, could you change this?
Could you save my life?
And his kind of got maybe one of the most awesome answers to a prayer you could imagine. I mean, the answer was almost immediate, and it was one of our favorite words. You know what that word is? Yes. I mean, who doesn't love a good yes? God, can I, can we do this? Yes. God, can I have this? Yes. God, can you keep everybody in my family safe and healthy?
Yes. I mean, who doesn't love yes? Yes is a wonderful answer. But if you lived in the length of time As I have you understand that not every answer is yes You see if I got your hopes up there for a minute thinking the sermon was gonna be about yes this morning I'm sorry, but as my loving son called him would say what won't Today I want to talk about no Now no isn't as exciting as yes Often when we think about no, it just even just gives us this kind of Yucky feely, doesn't it?
I don't know, I mean, there's a very famous best selling book out right now entitled, How to Get to Yes. We love yes, we want yes, but often times when we ask God for something, the answer is no. And this morning we're going to look at some people who ask God for something specifically. And God did not give them what they asked for.
And the question I want to ask this morning with this sermon is why? Why might God say no? Why might God say no to us? And I hope that through maybe looking at the answers, it may not make the no any easier, but at least maybe it can help us to grow and to understand more about not only the God that we have, but what we need to do to serve Him.
So that being said, I'm going to look at five reasons this morning. I don't know that this is an exhaustive list. You could probably come up with more or better reasons than on this list, but I think every one of these that I picked out this morning is something that each one of us has dealt with or will deal with or something in our lives.
And I hope that these things can, can bless us. Now, the first reason why, God might tell us no. If you had a child with you and the child looks at you and says, Mama or daddy, you know, there's this piece of candy over here in the store that I want and and I don't have any money to pay for it. So I got a bright idea.
I'm just gonna pick it up and I'm gonna walk out the door and I'm not gonna pay for it. What would you say to that child? Some of us grew up in a generation where there wouldn't be any saying. I might be some smacking going on, but you would generally tell that child what? No, you shouldn't do that. Why?
Because the thing they want to do is wrong. The thing they want to do is wrong. Now, maybe they don't understand that yet. Maybe they do understand it, but their desires is getting the best of them. You think there's ever been a time Where somebody has asked God for something that was wrong. Yeah. I think Balaam is a good example of this.
Of course, we're not gonna get to the really interesting part where his donkey starts talking to him. Right. And how angry that he was that he didn't even didn't phase him that his donkey was talking to him. But look at how this all began. Numbers 22 beginning of verse one. Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan and Jericho.
And Balak, the son of Zippor, saw that all of Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. And Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, this horde will now lick us all, lick up all that is around us as ox licks up the grass of the field.
So Balak, this is the bad king, Balak, the son of Zippor, who was the king of Moab at the time, sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, at Pythorea, these names, which is near the river in the land of the people of Ammon. to call him saying, behold, the people have come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth and they are dwelling opposite of me.
Come now curse this people for me. Since they are too mighty for me, perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land. For I know that he who whom you bless is blessed and he whom you cursed is cursed. So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand and they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message and he said to them, lodge here tonight and I will bring back to you, bring back word to you as the Lord speaks to me.
So the princes of Balaam stayed, uh, the princes of Balak stayed with Balaam and God came to Balaam and said, who are these men with you? And Balaam said to God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come and curse them for me.
Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out. And God said to Balaam, You shall not go with him. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princess of Balak, Go to your own land, for the Lord commands. There's refused to let me go with you now.
We could keep reading the story this morning. It's rather lengthy, but they send another delegation back and another. And eventually he winds up going to King Bailack and he keeps telling them now. Listen, God told me that I can't do it. But let me look at that money you want to give me. And even though God has told him no, you shall not go.
You shall not do this. He keeps getting closer and closer and closer. and closer and eventually this leads him to a situation that cost him his life. He, this man Balaam, interacted with god. He knew how god operated. He knew about god's people. And he knew that it wasn't right to curse them. But what? But he really wanted that money.
He really wanted, god, I just really, it be nice to have that, don't you think? Your child looks at you and says, can I touch the stove? The hot stove? No. Why? Because that parent is trying to protect that child. You ever think sometimes God tells us no because he's trying to protect us? Maybe for whatever reason, whether, whether we don't know no better or whether we do know better and we, and we just want what we want.
You ever think he might tell us no to protect us? I think that he would. So, sometimes the reason he tells us no is what we're asking for is sinful, it's wrong. But this next one, it's not hardly that bad, but it's, you know, the motivation is still not great. You know, sometimes God tells us no because what we're asking for is selfish.
Now, of all people that this is a good example of, the apostles make a good example of this. It's in Mark chapter 10. And James and John, the son of Zebedee, came up to him, that being Jesus, and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Parents, if your Children ever come up to you and say, Mom, Dad, will you say yes?
That's an automatic. No. Okay, let me go ahead and give you some life advice. That's a no. All right. Um, and he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left hand in your glory. And Jesus said to them, you do not know what you are asking.
For, are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, we are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink in the baptism. Baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit. And my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those to whom it has been prepared.
And when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant with James and John. You talk about hedging your bets and trying to get ahead of the curve. Hey, hey, Jesus, uh, can we go ahead and reserve our seats in heaven? What did they think he was gonna say? Yeah, yeah, honey, here's a golden ticket. And when you get up to heaven, you show them.
It says right here, it says row one seats two and three. Okay. Boy, they'll just park the, they'll park that golden rope for you and let you own it. I mean, what, what did you think they were going to say? The other ten are indignant with them. And we get it, right? It's kind of selfish. But how many times has it been us?
With the selfish prayer. How many times has it been, has it been me? That, God, you, you really should do this, you really should give me this because, you know, Just rattle off the reason, boy, aren't we good with coming up with justifications and reasons for what we want? But, you see that selfishness part's the problem.
Now you understand there's a difference between a selfish prayer and maybe a self centered prayer. If you go to Matthew chapter 6, they ask Jesus, Lord teach us to pray. And one of the things he told them is, God, give us this day our daily bread, right? I mean, there's all kind of things that we're going to pray for that are for me.
But there's a difference between a self centered prayer and a selfish prayer. A self centered prayer says, Lord, give me this day my daily bread. A selfish prayer says, Lord, there's only so much bread in the world. Give it all to me because I don't want them to have none. You kind of see the difference in the two?
It's all right to ask for stuff for you. But if my only focus is me, then that's a problem, isn't it? Maybe God is telling me no because, because I'm being selfish. Now, this next one, the first two, maybe the motivations aren't that good behind it, but this one here, the motivation is good here. The motivation is good, but it's still not exactly right.
Okay? Sometimes God has to tell us no because we're misguided. This is another one of the apostles, Luke 9. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered the village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.
But the people did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village. Now this is, this is not selfishness here.
Why are they upset? Why do they want to call down fire from heaven? Because they are mistreating our Lord. They did not receive Him. They're, they're snubbing Him, if you will. Lord, let's just, let's just get them. Okay, the motivation's good. But they're not there yet, are they? I haven't learned enough about how this is, how this works.
You see, it's possible for us to be kind of on the right track, but not be there yet. I had a situation a couple weeks ago. We were making supper. Annetta had fixed, I forget what it was, but I'm literally in the kitchen, standing there, putting plates together. And one of my children, one of my lovely, lovely children walks up to me oblivious to what's going on.
It looks at me and says, Daddy, can I have a snack? Okay, so it's time to eat. He was right about that. He was hungry. He was right about that. But he wasn't. He wasn't there yet. Okay. What I said to him is what? No, no, you can't have a snack. And then I said, But you can have supper. Mhm. Ta da. You ever think maybe that God sometimes has to tell us no because we're not there yet?
Maybe he has to tell us no now so he can tell us yes later. Well, why, why doesn't, I mean, why doesn't he just go ahead and let me do this? Well, maybe you're not ready yet. Maybe you're doing your best and you're trying to follow God and you're trying to do what's right. That's great. But if he says no, that doesn't necessarily mean that Well, this is horrible.
This is bad. You may just not be there yet. Okay, now this next one, this next one may be the toughest pill to swallow all up. Sometimes God may tell us no to help building this character. Think about the Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul in second Corinthians 11 There's this thing going on at Corinth where there's these people who claim to be super apostles.
And Paul doesn't want to do this, but he says, OK, if they want to, if we want to talk about being apostles, then let's lay out resumes and let's compare what's going on. The end of chapter 11, he gives all these things that happened to him, his weaknesses. right shipwreck, beat the rods, all these things. And beyond all these things, all the daily anxieties that I have upon me for the churches.
But with all this going on, look at what Paul comes to the conclusion that he comes to in Chapter 12. Though, if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool for I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain from it so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. Now that one verse right there, that's a pretty powerful thought.
So they might not think more about me than they see in me or hear, hear him hear from me, right? He don't want people to, to put him on this pedestal and build him up. He's just a servant of God. Verse seven. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh.
a messenger of satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceded. Three times, three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, and insults, and hardships, and persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Why didn't God take the thorn away from Paul? There's been a lot of debate over the years what that was. I think it's his eyesight. It doesn't matter what the thorn was.
The point is, is that he's trying to serve God. And I can imagine Paul in those three prayers saying, Lord, I could do a better job serving you. If you take this away, my physical body would work better. If you take this away, I could cover more ground in today's time. I could preach to more people. I could physically do a better job without this storm.
And he was probably right. But it's not all about the physical is
You ever wondered if God maybe has told, you know, or told me no at some point in our lives just to make us better people. What if telling us no is the thing that we need to make our faith grow? What if God is more concerned with my character than my comfort? Let me say that again. What if God is more concerned with my character than my comfort?
What if no allows me to grow my faith? What if it allows me to be more spiritual? What if it allows me to build my dependence on God? What if no allows me to go through some things so that maybe one day when I cross paths with somebody else and they're struggling, I can look them in the eyes and say, you know what?
I have struggled too. And you can make it. God will carry you through. No might be the very thing, even though I don't like it, even though I don't want it. No may be the very thing to grow my character. And I get it, that's a hard pill to swallow. But, we know it's true. How many times do we tell our children no?
Daddy, can I watch TV again? No. My favorite is, I'm bored. It's good for you. Being bored's good for you sometimes. I didn't like it no more when I was their age than they do. That doesn't mean it's not right. Sometimes God tells us no to build our character. Then, lastly, I don't think I have to make much about this point, but sometimes God tells us no, because it's not doesn't align with his wheel.
Jesus in the garden. Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said his disciples sit here while I go over there and pray and talking with With him, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. And then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
Remain here and watch with me. And going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came disciples and found it sleeping. And he said to Peter, So could you not watch with me one hour?
Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, My father, if this cannot pass until I drink it, your will be done. And again, he came and found them sleeping with their eyes heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed the third time, saying the same words that he came to the cycles and said to them, sleep and take your rest later on.
See, the hours at hand The son of man is betrayed in the hands of sinners. Rise. Let us be going. See my betrayers in hand. Where would we be right now? If God had said yes to that prayer, would be lost. And you know, I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't been talking about God saying no. And in our minds, almost if God's gonna say no to this, I shouldn't ask it.
There's still value in asking the question. I don't think Jesus. I think Jesus knew the answer before he asked the question. This is more about pouring his heart out to God and being with the father and letting God know this. This is killing me. And in his case, it was going to kill him,
but the no was still necessary and maybe for us, maybe it might be a great idea. Maybe it might be a great thing. So maybe it just don't line up with God's will. And if that's the case, then I would do, I would do well to take that no in stride and to keep my faith and to keep following after him. You see, we looked at all these reasons why God might say no.
And I think you get the idea. But James puts it so so adequately counted. I'll join my brothers when you meet trials, various kinds where you know that the testing your face produces. Steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. I want you to focus on that word produces because I think sometimes God looks at us and says no because it produces something in us.
No has helped produce faith in me and help me grow. And yes, it's hard. And yes, it's a struggle and in all those things. But Paul said this, These light momentary afflictions are not not worthy to be compared to the glory that we'll have someday. I Don't know what kind of afflictions you're going through Maybe you got told no this past week and you're struggling with it.
I Don't know what you need, but I know that When you come to God and pour your heart out to him, he's not gonna tell you no, I don't love you No, I'm not gonna listen to you. No, I'm not gonna be there for you He's gonna say yes to that. If there's any need that you have today, I don't know if it's coming down front, if it's going out back, pulling somebody aside, having a phone conversation at the church, but do not leave this body of people.
Don't leave it without help. If you need help this morning, we can help you up front here. Come on. We have a sensation
