Baffling Rejections in a Mirror

5771, or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Amen.

I, I, the message tonight has been a truth that's been stirring down in my heart for a long time. For a very long time, and I just feel led of the Lord to share it with you tonight. The title of my message is this.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, and as you turn there, I'll give you the title of it. What, what's that roar I'm hearing? What's that? We don't know. Okay, alright.

You don't know? I'm satisfied. The title of my message tonight is, Baffling Reflections in a Mirror. Let me say it again.

Baffling Reflections in a Mirror. And if you're not familiar with that term, baffling, I'll explain it to you a little bit later. It really comes out of this verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 12.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. Baffling Reflections in a Mirror.

In the year of 1958, I was a student in Bible college. I received a telephone call from home, was told to immediately go home. It was an emergency call.

My father was in the hospital, had suffered a stroke. I went, and when I got there, my father was a pastor of a church in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The lights were on in the church, and I went in, and the elders and the deacons had just gotten up from the altar.

They were praying for my father. And one of the deacons said to me, he said, We can't pray anymore. We just feel that we just have prayed all that we can, and we just cannot seem to pray beyond what we've done, and we've left the altar.

And I had a very sinking feeling in my stomach when he said that. I went next door to the parsonage, and that night I laid down on the couch that we had in the dining room, and I remember I didn't even make it to my bed. I just laid down there, and I fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, I woke up weeping. In the morning, later that morning, the call came from the hospital. Yes, that my father had gone to be with the Lord.

He was 53 years of age. I was 19. Needless to say, there was a lot of questions that went through my mind.

Why, Lord, especially at this particular time, not only in my father's life, but in my own life, I'd look forward to perhaps ministering with him in his church, or at least my father assisting me as I would enter into the ministry, but it was not to be. Some years later, I was preaching. I was in the ministry, and I was preaching in El Paso, Texas on an Army base or an Air Force.

I don't recall, and once again, I got one of those emergency telephone calls. I was just about to go on the platform to speak to a chapel full of young soldiers, and it was my wife on the phone, and she asked me to come home immediately, and she informed me that her brother had been killed in a plane crash in Vermont, and asked that I would come home to take her to the funeral, and I did that. And I recall driving back from the funeral with my wife and my mother-in-law in the car, and my mother-in-law had asked me, why, why, Don? My wife's brother, Terry, was in his 30s.

He had four lovely, lovely daughters, beautiful daughters. He had gone on a trip to Boston, was on his way back, and in fact, he went as a substitute for another man in the office who couldn't go, and so he volunteered to take his place. And on the way back, the airplane crashed into a mountain in Vermont, and because he was sitting in the back of the plane instead of the front of the plane, he was killed.

And when my mother-in-law asked me why, I'm sure that all of those thoughts were in her mind, how he just happened to take somebody's place, how he just happened to be sitting in the wrong place on the airplane. And when she asked me why, why, Don, I did not, I could not answer her. In fact, I remained totally silent.

I didn't say one word. And at home, my wife asked me, she said, why didn't you at least say something to my mother, any kind of word? And I didn't know. I don't know to this day, and I'm sorry to this day that I couldn't even say anything.

Well, just as I do not know why my father died at such an early age, his age and my age, and just as my mother-in-law sought some explanation as to her life's son being taken so suddenly and tragically, life is filled with unsolved mysteries, mysteries of life, mysteries of death. Solomon said that we're often like birds trapped in a cage. We want to get out of it and explore the unknown, but we can't.

We're trapped. In fact, this is what he said in Ecclesiastes 9.12. He said, Man does not know his time like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them. You see, we never know when it suddenly falls on us.

Now, Solomon was talking about death, but this can apply to many things. I speak of the unexpected or the treacherous net that we sometimes find ourselves caught in without an explanation. And at such a time as I have experienced these, I often feel like Solomon described it, like a bird trapped in a snare.

I want to fly out of my cage of ignorance and mystery, and I want to attain a height of knowledge by which there would be a vantage point that I might see what I can't see and know what I can't know. Psalms 139 and 6 says, Thou hast enclosed me behind and before and laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.

It is too high. I cannot attain it. And oh, how I want to attain it.

I want to climb my own Mount Everest of the unsolved mysteries of life, the unexplained happenings, the unresolved puzzles, but many times God does not permit it. Yes, there is some knowledge that is too high for me. It's beyond my intelligence.

It's beyond my intellectual and spiritual reach. And I, like Solomon, feel like a bird caged up in a realm of limited knowledge. Job said it this way, Job 19 and 8. He said, He has walled me up.

He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass. And He has put darkness on my paths. When I expected good, then evil came.

When I waited for light, then came darkness. One of the greatest tests, both in the natural and especially in the spiritual realm, is when you find yourself waiting for light to be shed on some unsolved puzzle, but instead of light you find, as Job, He has put darkness on my path. Paul calls it looking into a dark, hazy, foggy, dimly lit, smudged mirror or glass.

As I've read it to you there, a familiar scripture to those that know the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. He says, But now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now we know in part, but then I shall fully, I shall know fully, just as also I have been fully known.

Now that part of that verse that says, But now we see in a mirror dimly. In another translation by the name of Mr. Moffat, Moffat's translation, he puts it this way. At present we only see the baffling reflections in a mirror.

Now Webster says that baffling means this. It means to confuse so as to keep from understanding or solving. It refers to a puzzle or to be confounded or it means something that interferes, something that blocks your vision.

And I don't know about you, but there are times when I am baffled as I look at the mirror of life and try to figure out certain unexplainable things. It's like looking into a glass, but it's not clear. There's not clear or certain vision.

Oh, I see bits and pieces of the puzzle and yet I can't see it completely. I'm baffled. At times I don't see clearly enough to understand enough.

It happens frequently in counseling. I find many who are like my mother-in-law waiting for some words of comfort and understanding as to why maybe sudden tragedy came into their life. Oh, listen, I know that God makes no mistakes.

My faith is not shaken at such a time. But still there are times when I see baffling reflections out the window of my understanding. But you see, I've seen some people who turn away from God because they sought an explanation.

They look for a reason. They look for an answer as to why this or that event happened in their life or happened to others. But if and when they did not find an answer, at least to their satisfaction, I've seen people get bitter and turn against God.

And listen, there are people that walk these streets tonight, they walk because of the baffling reflections in a mirror. Something happened to them. They blamed it on God.

They didn't get the answer that they sought. And so they live an embittered life. In fact, I've seen people who have been obsessed in their desire to look through the dark looking glass of knowledge.

In counseling some of these individuals, I've heard them almost demand that God would clear up the vision or clear up the glass. And in fact, they get so angry they want to put their fist, as it were, through the glass and say, Oh God, I want an explanation. I want to know.

And tonight, perhaps you are here tonight and you carry inside you, you carry within you a gigantic question mark that's stamped on your mind and on your heart. Maybe for years you've been plagued by unanswered questions and the baffling reflections in a mirror. And you see the danger of holding on to such doubts and feelings and often bitterness, even cynicism.

And that when you don't find an answer to these questions, that's when many people turn to the occult. Or they turn to the cult. So they turn this way and they turn that way.

They'll go to an advisor, a reader. They'll go, they'll delve into the world of the occult in order to find an answer to their mystery. Do you know that one of the appeals of Mormonism, one of the appeals to Mormonism is the belief, they believe that you can trace back your family tree and you can pray for the salvation of loved ones down the history of your family tree.

You see, one of the most perplexing mysteries to the living is what is the state of our dead loved ones. And Mormonism appeals to this desire, never mind that it's totally unscriptural to pray for the dead. But some are obsessed with wanting to control past or future events, not only in life but especially in death, that the Mormons have come up with a doctrine to satisfy the baffling reflections beyond the grave.

And that's what appeals to some people. Now if you have been or you presently are baffled by certain unanswered questions, let me address the issue tonight. First of all, there are some things that we cannot know until we are prepared to know it.

Let me say it again. There are some things that we cannot know until we have gone through a preparatory process of being prepared for that truth or that knowledge. The disciples constantly experienced baffling reflections in a mirror or glass.

They were always trying to figure out what Jesus was up to. But often he withheld knowledge from them until they were properly prepared. On one occasion, Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and when he came to Peter, this is what Jesus said, Jesus answering and said to him, He said, On another occasion in John 16 and 12, Jesus said, And Jesus was talking at that occasion about his death.

You see, the disciples were unable to see or accept the fact that he was going to be taken from them and that they would be tested as well by his rejection. And during Jesus three years with them, or three and a half years with them, he was preparing them for his departure. But Jesus did not let them see clearly into the future the tragic end that he faced because he knew their hearts were not prepared to accept it or to understand it.

And I say tonight to you, beware of trying to figure out God's plan for your life before you're ready for it. Let me say it again. Beware of trying to figure out God's plan for your life before you're ready for it.

I remember years ago in the coffee house ministry that Brother Sister Fay that's in our church and my mother were in charge of here in Greenwich Village. One of our young converts, new converts from Teen Challenge was there, he was witnessing to a young man, unsaved young man. And this particular young man had some very, very difficult questions that he was inquiring relative to spiritual matters.

And this person wanted this convert to clear up some things that were baffling him. And one particular question the fellow kept insisting, he kept pressing in on this young man. And finally the young man stopped for a minute and he said, he said, you know something, he said, I just prayed and the Lord told me not to tell you the answer.

Well, of course the convert didn't know the answer. But even if he had known, wisdom would have told him not to answer a question to a heart that has not been prepared to receive the answer. You know, I'm so glad that the Lord never answered some of my questions and some of my prayers, especially the ones about where he was taking me.

Because if I had known ahead of time, the path that the Lord was going to lead me on, I would have, if I had known that, I would have ran the other way as fast as I could go. But the Lord didn't let me know because first of all, he had to prepare my own heart for that path. The Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

And he never lets us know tomorrow's step until we've taken today's step. And he never overloads us with tomorrow's worries. Oh, of course we do.

And we want to know and we have this thirst for knowledge. God, I got to know. But in his guidance, he permits baffling reflections of the future for our own good.

And because he knows that we have to have prepared hearts, for what he wants to do in our lives. You see, the Lord never takes our steps where our hearts are not prepared to go. Let me say that again.

He never takes our steps where our hearts are not prepared to go. John 13, 37, Peter said to him, Lord, why can't I follow you right now? He said, I'll lay down my life for you. Well, remember that Peter did lay down his life for Jesus.

He did die a martyr's death. But when Jesus, at the time he said he could lay down his life, he was far, far, far from ready for it. He could never live up, his mouth, his promise, could never live up to what his heart was prepared to do.

But foolishly, Peter promised something that he was not spiritually prepared or ready for. And the Lord in his love said to Peter, Peter, you can't take that step now. He said, what I do, you don't realize now.

You can't follow me now. But after you've been further prepared, then you can follow me. And you see, there are times when we can't understand why we can't do what we want to do.

And whenever there is doubt, don't. Whenever there is doubt, don't. When God fogs up your mirror, when he fogs up your window, and you try to pray away the fog or wipe away the fog or break the window, you're still not going to know until you've laid down something he's trying to correct and get rid of in your life.

You see, sometimes the baffling reflections in a mirror are caused by our own sin. When the sin is removed, the mirror is cleared. And until Peter dealt with iniquity, the sin in his own heart, he was not permitted to follow the Lord or to know what the future held.

One of the reasons that we are so often so baffled by events in our lives is because we took steps that were not ordered by the Lord. I quoted before Psalms 37 and 3, the steps of a good man are established by the Lord, it says in the New American Standard. But King James says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

And you know, I think sometimes we come to the Lord and say, Lord, why did that happen in my life? Why did you let that happen? And the Lord looks at us and said, because you took a step I never ordered. You went a path I was never in. I was never with you.

I never told you to do that. Again, Psalms 37 and 23 goes on. It says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way, meaning the Lord's way.

You see, it's when we're not waiting upon the Lord, when we're not delighting and knowing him and his ways, that we take our own steps and we go our own way and we're left with baffling confusion and questions. And then after we've done it, we go running to the Lord or we go running to a counselor because we're baffled. Why did the Lord let this happen to me? Well, he would have and he could have if you had delighted in his way, if you had only waited, if you had only gone to say, Lord, what is it that you have to do in my heart before I can take that step that I want to take? Psalms 119, 133 says, establish my footsteps in thy word and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me.

Hallelujah. You take care of your heart. Take care of the sin that's in your heart.

You'll be surprised how the mirror begins to clear up. And so point number one, there are some things we cannot know until we're prepared to know it. It's a heart preparation.

Now, secondly, there are some things that God simply does not permit us to know. There are some things that God, now this is going to come as a surprise to some of you. There are some things that God does not permit us to know.

Turn, if you will, to Deuteronomy 29 and 29. Deuteronomy 29 and 29. And here we see this very truth that I want to take you into for a moment.

Deuteronomy 29 and 29. It says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of the law. Now listen to me.

There are things, you see, that belong to us and there are things that do not belong to us. There is knowledge that God permits. There is knowledge that he has revealed to us, it says, and to our sons.

There is knowledge that God reveals and there is knowledge that he does not reveal. Now, this verse in Deuteronomy was written to a people who were given such rich mercies. Never had a people known more about God's ways and his movements and his judgments and his dealings than Israel.

God told them what he was going to do. He told them where he was going to lead them. He told them what he had prepared for them.

It was all foretold with sufficient clarity and he told them what would happen to them if they didn't obey him. And God expected them to act on that word and on the instruction and the revelation that he gave them. But he warned them.

He also warned that the reasons for his determination were hid within himself. In other words, God always told them what he was going to do but he did not always tell them when or he didn't always tell them why he was going to do it. He just said, obey me.

Amos 3, 7 says, Surely the sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants and the prophets. And he did that through Moses, through Abraham, through Moses and through the prophets, through the kings and so forth. He revealed his will.

And then Hebrews 1, 1 and 2 says, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days he has spoken to us in his Son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom he made the world. And so he makes it clear. He said, I've revealed this to you but there's something else I didn't reveal.

He said, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. Proverbs 5 and 2 says, It is the glory to conceal a matter but the glory of the king is to search out a matter. You recall the prophet Daniel, Daniel received one of the most glorious visions of the future that any man in the Bible ever received.

A remarkable, wonderful thing, but it was baffling. Have you ever read Daniel? You talk about baffling reflections in a mirror, or a glass. He was given a remarkable revelation of the future but it baffled Daniel.

And here is Daniel's reaction. Daniel 12 and 8 he said, As for me, I heard, I heard, but I could not understand. So I said, my Lord, what will be the outcome of these events? Listen to the answer that Daniel got.

And he said, this is the Lord speaking to Daniel, Go your way, Daniel, for these words are sealed, concealed and sealed up until the end time. Ecclesiastes 11, 5 says, Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the wound of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things. You see there is a warning in this scripture in Deuteronomy 29 and 29.

There is also a warning in this word to Daniel. If God has sealed up a book, don't try to open it. If God has put in your life, as he takes you down a path, and you try to explain or understand certain events and God takes you down a path and brings you to a door and the door says, do not enter.

I recommend to you that you don't enter. There are certain things you kept knocking and said, God, I want to know. I'm talking about when it comes to certain personal dealings of the Lord in our lives.

Unexplained pain, unexplained death, the mysteries of his divine providence. And in it all you see there is a danger. The danger is to lust after knowledge and to knock and knock at a door that God has closed up or to pry open a book he's concealed.

I want to tell you that's very dangerous to your spiritual health. And many of God's people are in danger of partaking of the forbidden tree in the garden. You see, they want to bite of that tree because it's a tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And man has always wanted to go beyond the limits and boundaries that God has set. This is the reason that you get so many off-the-wall prophecies. So many people delve into this and that.

They're not satisfied with what God has given. They're always thirsting, looking beyond what God has already given us. Be careful, my friend, be careful.

Penals to people. They want knowledge and they want power beyond what God has permitted. They want to know the unknowable.

You see, if you keep calling God's action into question, he's eventually going to get tired of your questions and he's going to start questioning your questions. Did you get that? Do you remember Moses? Moses will tell you. Just ask Moses.

Listen to what Moses said. Deuteronomy 3.23. He said, the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me finally, enough, Moses, speak no more.

Speak to me no more of this matter. He was talking about going into the promised land. Isaiah 45 and 9 says, Woe to the one who quarrels with a maker.

Have you ever quarreled with a maker? Maybe not consciously you haven't, but maybe down in your heart. Woe to the one who quarrels with a maker. It says, an earthenware vessel among the vessels of the earth.

Will the clay say to the potter, what are you doing? Or the thing that you are making say, he has no hands. In other words, Lord, you made me, but you put no hands on me. I can't reach things.

I can't grasp things. That's because the Lord said, just walk in faith for a little while and I'll put hands on you. You see, Job was quarreling, quarreling with his maker.

You see, when God permitted troubles to fall upon Job, Job began to present certain arguments to God. And you know what Job wanted? Job wanted an explanation from God. He complained to God in very irreverent and unholy terms.

Job 9, 17 it says, Job complained, he said, for he breaketh me with a tempest and multiplied my wounds without cause, without cause. He had no reason to do that to me. And Job, you know what Job did? Job challenged God to a debate.

That's what he did. He challenged God to a debate regarding God's right in doing what he was doing to Job. And Job felt this way.

He said, if God would just listen to me, if he'll just let me present my case, I think I can convince God that he is doing, what he is doing to me is an error. Listen, Job 13, he said, only do two things for me and I'll shut up. That's what he said.

He said, give me two things. He said, withdraw thy hand from far from me and let not thy dread make me afraid anymore. In other words, remove the mess, remove the trouble that I'm in.

And then secondly, then call me and I'll come, I'll answer you and God, just give me five minutes. Just give me five minutes and let me present my case to you. And I think by the time I'm done telling you about myself, that you will realize that what you are doing to me is not fair.

Job actually thought that he could be his own lawyer and convince God that he was not doing good by Job. Now, I don't know, have you ever talked to God like that? Oh, listen. Listen, the thoughts that go through your mind, you may have not verbalized it, maybe you have, but the thoughts that go through your mind.

And God's final answer to Job was a warning. He said, Job, you're trying to challenge me, correct me, argue with me, and he that reproveth God, let him give an answer for it. Now, there are either two, one of two ways that we can deal with baffling reflections in the mirror.

First, there is Job's first way. It's called the way of self-approving vindication. Self-approving vindication.

This is a way which says, God is bound to consult me in what he does and in why he has done what he's already done in my life. This is a way that says, I am competent to sit in judgment over God's proceedings in my life or in the church or in my family or in my marriage or in the world that I know better than God himself does when it comes, when it has to do with my troubles and my heartaches and my sorrows. And I know exactly what God should do to correct the situation in my life.

I've got it all laid out. I've got it all written out here. Lord, just give me five minutes.

Just look at this. And you know what God said to Job? To his self-vindication, his self-approving vindication, this is what the Lord said to Job, Job 47 and 9. He said, now hold on to your trousers. That's what he said.

Now gird up your loins like a man. He said, I will ask you and you instruct me. He said, will you really annul my judgment? Were you really going to change my judgment? I don't know if any of you are baseball fans, but I listen to baseball every once in a while.

And you know when they argue with the umpire, the announcer will say they can argue all they want, but it'll never change anything. Who was in our office today? Tony Hernandez? It's a short stop. You ask Tony.

He's a born-again, spirit-filled Christian from the Toronto Blue Jays who's playing right now in Yankee Stadium, was in the office today, and he's a fine, fiery preacher. And you ask him. You ask him if he argues with the umpire how far he's going to get.

And that's what God said to Job. He said, Job, I called you out, and you're arguing with me. He said, you can't argue with the umpire of heaven who's in charge of the empire.

Can you annul my judgment? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Or do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? Hey, listen, when God calls the shots, my friend, you can't retract, you can't challenge it. We can no sooner judge God's ways than a peasant can sit in judgment of the greatest king or statesman. Who of us would want to have our actions criticized by a child that has only learned to speak? And yet this is the way we often presume to sit in judgment of God.

Can a candle add to the light of the blazing sun? And no more can we hope to correct or counsel God on how best to rule the world, or how best to advance his cause, or how best to affect his work within our lives. Romans 9, 18, and 21 says, So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault, or who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, Why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? No, my friend.

We cannot face the baffling reflections in a mill, in a mirror, by our own self-approving vindication. It will not work. And if we can't vindicate ourselves before God, then we have to approach him a different way.

And Job finally came to the Lord as he ought to come to him. Listen to this, Job 40 and 3. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am insignificant. What can I reply to thee? I lay my hand upon my mouth.

I spoke out of turn. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer. Even twice, and I will add no more.

You see, Job spoke out of a wounded heart. He realized that all of his arguments, all his self-vindication, could do no good. All his questions were fruitless, as well as unscriptural.

And this, later Job adds these words. He said, I know that thou doest all things well, or doest all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand.

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. And then he says, Therefore I retract. I repent in sackcloth and ashes.

And my friend, tonight there may be some of you that need to do exactly what Job did, and repent because you've spoken out of turn, and you've tried to correct God. You've questioned God to the point of doubts and unbelief. Maybe there's even roots of bitterness in your heart.

Instead of reproving God, let us repent and submit to Him. Psalms 51 and 4 says, God will surely be justified in all that He has done, and will be clear when He has judged. Hallelujah! You see, God's going to be vindicated someday on this earth.

But for now, He wants each of us to humbly submit to His will, past, present, and future, and put to silence every reproof or argument or question or baffling reflections in a mirror. That's our duty. It's our requirement as His child.

You and I expect this. If you're a parent, you expect it from your own child. And should we show any less regard for God than what we poor, feeble creatures expect from our own children, we must be submissive, clay in the hands of an all-wise, all-loving, gracious Heavenly Father, and leave Him to perfect His work.

Friend, He knows what He's doing. He knows what He's doing in your life. I don't care what you're going through.

Nothing surprises Him. He knows what He's doing. Will you accept that and believe that? Hallelujah! Let there be no anxieties in our minds.

Remember when God brought Israel out of the Egyptian bondage, and He marched them on their journey to the promised land? Oh, I like this little phrase that says, and He led them by the right way. He led them by the right way. Listen, my friend, He never takes you down the wrong way.

Hallelujah! It's always the right way with Him. James 5, 11 says, You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen of the outcome of the Lord's dealing, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Okay, one more thing.

First of all, there's some things we can't know until we're prepared to know them. Heart preparation. Secondly, there are some things that God never permits us to know.

Unanswered questions. But thirdly, and this is the important thing, everything we need to know can be known. Did you hear that? Everything we need to know can be known.

1 Corinthians again, 13, For we know in part. We prophesy in part. For now we see in a glass dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part. Oh yes, I only know in part. But oh, what a wonderful part.

What a glorious part. We can know everything that can be known of the revelation and prophecy and the revelation of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! Everything we know.

Turn to 2 Peter, the first chapter. 2 Peter, chapter 1. I said chapter 2, it's chapter 1. 2 Peter, chapter 1. Here it says that everything we need to know for godliness can be known. God has disclosed everything to us in His Son.

1 Peter 1, 2 and 3. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything, everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Of Himself, Jesus says to His disciples, just listen to me. John 15, 15.

No longer do I call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. Hallelujah! Of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said in John 16, 13 and 14.

But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak of His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come. And He shall glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and shall disclose it to you. Hallelujah! Everything that needs to be known can be known, because He's given us His revelation.

Hallelujah! Oh, it's true, there's a lot of unanswered questions, in many areas of our lives. You know, when I started out in the ministry, I knew a lot more than I know now. I mean, I knew a lot more than I know now.

I mean, I thought I knew. And now it seems like the more I know, the less I know. But I want to tell you, there's one thing I'm not in dark about, and that's my soul.

Hallelujah! And what Christ has done in me, seeing that His divine power has granted me everything pertaining to life and godliness. Listen to what Jesus said, John 8, 31 and 32, To the Jew who has believed Him, Jesus said, If you hold to My teachings, you are really My disciples, then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Hallelujah! Now, let me close with this.

There are three things that I know, and each of us ought to know tonight. He's promised that we can know. For example, Job, after all was said and done in his life, and all the sorrows and sufferings that he experienced, this is what Job was able to say.

One of my favorite verses. It's Job 19, I think verse 25. Job says, As for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He, at the last, He shall take His stand on the earth.

Job had a vision of the Almighty, which enabled him to know that God had everything under control, and that while everything else around him crumbled, even his own flesh was beaten away. He said, Yet at the last, He, the Almighty, will be standing, and I'll be standing with Him. Hallelujah! He said, After my flesh is devoured, yet from my flesh I shall see God.

And he was not talking about death. He was talking about life. He said, Even though my flesh is eaten, even though I've got sores on my body, He's saying, Even in my sorrows and my troubles, I've got unanswered questions, yet from my flesh in the midst of my suffering, I see God.

Hallelujah! Oh, praise the Lord. You know what Job learned? You know what I think he learned? Two words that the Lord is trying to etch in Job's heart, and He's trying to etch in all of our hearts. Two simple words, what He's trying to say to us tonight.

And I can sum it all up in these two words tonight. Jesus is saying, Trust me. Trust me.

When you're looking at baffling reflections in a mirror, the Lord says, Trust me. At that moment, be still and know that I am God. Hallelujah! When the questions and doubts plague your mind, the Lord is saying, Leave them alone.

Trust me. Isaiah 26.4 says, Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is a rock eternal. Let me read that again.

Trust in the Lord forever, and then He says, For the Lord, and then He repeats it again so we really get it. He said, For the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal. Hallelujah! That's one of the things I know tonight.

That's one of the things I know, that my Redeemer liveth. Hallelujah! And that in my flesh and out of this flesh, I see God. Hallelujah! There's another thing I know.

Paul said it. If you want to look at it, 2 Timothy 1 and 2, 1-12. He said, For the which cause I also suffer these things.

Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed. You know why he said, I'm not ashamed? Because there was a lot of prosperity preachers, even in his day.

And he was saying, I'm not ashamed. Even though I suffer these things, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.

Hallelujah! And if any man had reason to question God's activities on his behalf, Paul did. He tells us of much affliction, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonment, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. And Paul said, didn't waste his time asking God to explain necessities and imprisonments and tumults.

He had too much, he had, he was too busy saying, I know in whom I have believed and He will keep that which I have committed unto Him. Hallelujah! Paul believed that God was going to keep His word. God was going to keep His word.

Hallelujah! There's a lot of things that I don't know tonight, but that's one thing I do know. I've committed my life into His hand and He's going to keep me against that day. Hallelujah! And any day.

And then finally, one more thing. I usually have three closings. This is my third closing.

There's another day, another experience that each of us can know. Oh, what a wonderful day it is. It's a day here on earth that is for every disciple to know.

Listen to it. Job 17, excuse me, John 17, 23. Jesus said to His disciples, in that day you will ask me no questions.

Do you know that there is a day promised for us if we can but see it and understand it and desire it and seek after it? That's a day when you can look through a glass darkly, when you see the baffling reflections in a mirror. You don't understand. You don't have an answer to some questions.

You're in distress. You may be in confusion. You may be puzzled or confounded.

But in fact, it can be yet a time, a day when you say that you will ask me no questions. And the day Jesus spoke of to His disciples was to take place after His resurrection. And what is being taught here is that when the resurrection life of Jesus is manifested in us fully and totally, that we will no longer be asking this or the other question.

In fact, eventually we can come to a place of such complete trust in our Lord, a trust such as the Son had in the Father, that after a while you find that all the questions are already answered for you. They're all gone. You can come to the place of such reliance on the resurrected life of Jesus that it will bring you into a perfect trust in the purposes of God.

Oh yes, there will still be any number of things that are dark to your understanding, baffling things. But these things need not interfere or come between our hearts and God. This is a day when we have no need to ask, Lord, what are you doing? What are you doing? We'll be able to say, Lord, I implicitly trust you.

You know what you're doing. I don't need to question you about this. And you see, beware of baffling reflections in a mirror that come between you and a right relationship with the Lord.

Never seek an answer to your questions in your mind or your intelligence. The answer will never be found there. It must be found in your own heart.

If your heart is right, if your attitude is right, if you're trusting in Jesus, then your understanding and vision will be perfectly clear. There will be no distance between you and the Lord. Oh yes, you may not have an answer to your satisfaction, but you'll have a vision of Jesus and that will satisfy you.

Hallelujah! The child who trusts his father is never baffled by the darkness inside the mirror because it says the path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 1 John 3, 2 says, Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is and everyone who has this hope fixed in him, everyone who anyone and everyone who has this hope fixed in him has no questions. They've all been answered because we're in the hands of our Lord.

Our God reigns. Hallelujah! We're trusting him. Our faith is in him.

We can lay aside those questions until they'll come a day. They'll come a day and oh yes, he's gonna unfold all the unanswered questions. I believe eternity is gonna be an opportunity to have a lot of questions answered but my friend, wait till you get on the other side.

In the meantime, be satisfied that you're in the hands of the Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord. Let's stand together.

Let's stand together. Oh, hallelujah! Hallelujah! Lord, we'll... ten days and ten means complete. It means full, total, which indicates that perhaps death was waiting for us.