He Can Work It Out

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again radio friends, how in the world are you? Doing alright today? Oh, I trust so, bless your heart. This is your good friend, Bob Cook, and I’m back with you for another few moments of sharing from the Word of God. We’re looking at the Gospel of John, Chapter 10. Our Lord Jesus was talking about the fact that He’s the good shepherd, He gives his life for the sheep, and the sheep know Him, and He knows them. Do you know anything about that mutual recognition factor with your Savior? How many people, when they pray, seem to be making a speech to God? They aren’t comfortable with God, particularly. They’re just making a speech to Him. How would you feel if your children came to you, and instead of talking comfortably with you, they just made a speech to you, “And now, oh Father, I want to tell you about what happened in school today.” Would you like that? No, I don’t think you would. And God says He gets bored with our long and pompous prayers. Read the first Chapter of Isaiah and find out for yourself. God said, “I’m weary of that.” He gets tired of it. What He wants is a cleansed heart, and sincerity in praying, and righteousness in living. That’s what He’s looking for.

And when you’ve met the Lord Jesus Christ, and made Him Lord of your life, you get comfortable with Him, so that there’s mutual recognition. And you recognize Him as your loving Savior, and He recognizes you as one of the sheep in His sheepfold. And there’s that mutual relationship, yours of worship and obedience, His of tender, loving, and compassionate care. And you know it, and He knows it. People who say that their religion is a very private matter are probably right. Although, oftentimes, that statement is used as an excuse for no religion at all. But when it comes right down to it, it’s pretty hard to describe how you really feel, when you and Jesus are one in prayer, and in worship, and in spirit, isn’t that true? The most delicious moments one will ever spend are those moments when your soul is entirely enrapt with Him, and there is that oneness of worship, and of love, and of interaction with His will, that makes it just like the vestibule of Heaven. That’s what our Lord Jesus was talking about here. He said, “I know my sheep and they know me.”

Don’t be satisfied until you’re comfortable with the Savior; where there is that perfect union of your heart with His. This takes yieldedness, it takes sometimes repentance for our willfulness and sins, it takes obedience, a willingness to do what He wants, surrender to His will. But when that has happened, what a delight to feel free in the presence of your Lord. You don’t have to prove anything to Him. He knows it all, and you can worship, and love, and adore, and then go out to obey what He’s whispered to you, in the moment of prayer. “I know my sheep and they know me.” In Verse 16, He went on to say that, “There are other sheep,” and that, of course, means the Gentiles. I am so grateful that God opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles, and because I am one, I went through that door as a little boy, and trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior, and have been serving Him, and loving Him, and listening to His voice as the years have gone by. What thrills my heart is that the Savior planned it this way. He said, “Other sheep I have, they’re not in this fold, but they’re mine, and I must bring them, so there’ll be one fold, and one shepherd.”

Which leads me to say this, my friend, God has His eye on you. He knows about you, even though you may not be in the fold. Just remember that God has His eye on you, and He knows about you, and He has plans for you. Believe it, and today might be the best time in all the world for you to pause, momentarily, when you have an opportunity, and just say, “Lord Jesus, I want to give control of my life over to you. I want you to be my Lord and my Savior, and I want to fit in to the plans you have for me.” One of the most thrilling things about this broadcast ministry, is that I get letters, now and again, from people whose lives have been completely turned around, when they let the Lord Jesus become Lord of their lives, and realize that He did have a plan for them.

An orthodontist wrote me some years ago now. He had a very successful practice somewhere in Jersey, then God had touched his heart and he knew that he was supposed to go into the Christian ministry. Now, having prepared over so many years to be a successful dentist, an orthodontist, and established your practice, and bought all of that expensive machinery that you have to have to operate on people’s teeth, and then he’d married, and he had a family, and had to support them, you put all of that together, and I can tell you, it’s a pretty demanding proposition to consider changing your career, in midstream, one might say. But the Lord spoke to him and he wrote to me about it. And I said, “Well, all you need to do, is just to follow what the Lord tells you to do. Just obey Him. You don’t have to sweat it. You don’t have to hurry it. Just let Him work it out.” Well, that’s what he did, and he changed direction, he went to school, he prepared himself, he’s now in the ministry; happy as can be.

Now, this happens all the time. I don’t mean to say, beloved, that if you give God His complete control over your life, that He’s gonna turn you around, and take you out of the contracting business, and make you a bishop. That isn’t the point, really. The point is that God has His eye on you and He is working in the direction of bringing you to Himself. Paul says in the book of Romans, “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” What’s happening in your life, is because God is good to you. You look up and you’re mad at Him. You say, “Why does this have to happen to me?” When you have a car wreck, or somebody’s sick, or there’s a death in the family, or your job seems to be on the verge of collapse, and you say, “God, if there is a God, why is He doing this to me?” Well, one reason is because you’re not any better than the rest of us. And number two is because He is working on you to bring you to Himself. That’s why. A man said to me when I was in the pastorate, he said, “Pastor, I guess the Lord had to put me here in the hospital, flat on my back, where I can’t look any way but up, so that I could get in touch with Him.” “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.”

The Palermo Brothers were visiting in Vietnam at Christmas time during the Vietnam conflict. And they were visiting the hospital wards where the wounded soldiers were lying. And they gave out the Gospel as clearly as they could. And they went on to another ward, and then they came back to this one ward, and there was this GI, whose feet had been blown off by a landmine. He was there in bed, the bandages were around his legs and he was crying. And Phil Palermo said, then went over to him, and he said, “Fellas, I just want to say I am so thankful that God allowed everything that happened to happen, because if it hadn’t, I never would have heard about Jesus and become a Christian.” Wow, that’s pretty extreme, isn’t it? But there you are. God let’s things happen, so that we will seek His face.

What I’m trying to say to you is don’t fight against God in the circumstances of your life. What’s with you, beloved? Is it your health? Is it your family? Is it your car? Is it your job? Is it your neighbors? Is it some relationship in life? What is it, that is getting you down? As we say. Turn to your blessed Lord and say, “Oh, God, use this to draw me to you.” And He will. Do you understand me? No, I can’t understand why we have troubles. I only know we all do. Jesus said, “In the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Troubles come to us all, but God uses circumstances, which many times we don’t enjoy, to bring us closer to Himself. If you’re going through the wringer right now, beloved, and I know some of you are, and it’s no fun, and you’re hurting, if you’re going through the wringer right now, look up, and say, “Lord Jesus, teach me what you want. Get me in your will. Work your will in my life. Make this suffering pay out for eternity.” You pray that kind of a prayer and I can guarantee you, you’ll get an answer. Yes, you will.

Anything I tell you, I’ve been there. I know it works. Oh, yes I do. “Other sheep I have.” He says, “I have,” not, “I must go look for.” He says, “I got them. They’re mine, but they don’t know it yet.” God’s out looking for you, my friend. I’m talking to some unsaved man. Your wife has been praying for you for 20 years, maybe. And you’re still not saved, and you’ve been fighting against God, and you’re self-righteous, and you criticize other Christians, and you think that you’ve got it made. Let me tell you something, God has His eye on you and He’s working in your life. And one of these days, you’re gonna get down on your knees, and you’re gonna pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He’s gonna save you. He’s got His eye on you. That’s the way it is.

“Them also, I must bring. And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” Thank God for the oneness there is in Christians. The great political parties that have been meeting this year, they speak about oneness, “Bring the country together, bring all the different groups together.” And Mr. Jackson talks about finding common ground. Togetherness is the goal that people seek, in order to accomplish their political ends. But my friend, the only real togetherness, is found at the foot of the cross. Oh my, yes.

I’ve been with people all over the world, who were so different from me, and I was different from them, different language, different clothing, different customs, different food, different personalities, and different everything, but as we knelt to pray, we were one. One fold, one shepherd. The real oneness will be found on your knees at the cross. That’s why I always encourage church people, when they’re looking for a pastor, to pray more than politic. Don’t call a committee meeting, call a prayer meeting. Oneness of heart is found when you’re on your knees at the cross. Don’t forget that; one fold, one shepherd.

Dear Father, today, oh, may we stay close to the shepherd and be guided by Thy divine plans. In Jesus name, I pray, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!