Guaranteed Security

Due to the timeliness of this material, this transcript may contain additional material not aired on the actual radio program.

Leslie Basham: Everyone's been paying extra attention to safety these days. But, as we do, we need to remember that we're not really safe if we're not safe for eternity. Here's Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: As you think about the things that you're leaning on, the things you're trusting in, the things you're looking to to make you secure, are they things that are guaranteed to last? How do you know? Well, the answer is, "Are they eternal?"

Leslie Basham: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Safety. In a world of nuclear missiles, biological weapons and terrorism, is there any such thing? There's a simple answer from the pages of Scripture. And today, Nancy will tell us the one place we can turn for security.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: I think one of the reasons that so many of us find days, such as the ones in which we're living, so disorienting and terrifying is because, deep in our hearts, we want life to be orderly.

We want it to be secure, to be certain. We want to know that we can count on things staying as they are. But life on this sinful planet just will not always be that way.

We're looking this week at the Gospel of Mark, chapter 13. A passage that was written 2,000 years ago but is as timely today as when it was first written. We saw in our last session that Jesus was coming out of the temple with His disciples, and Mark 13, verse 1, says "As He came out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Look, teacher! What wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!'" speaking of the temple.

And Jesus said to him, verse 2, "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

Now, if you put yourself in the sandals of the disciples, these were really astonishing words. Because, as we've said earlier, that temple--this is Herod's temple--was one of the great wonders of the ancient world. It was a splendid, magnificent building. It took decades to erect it.

And here Jesus is saying, "This thing that you think is so impressive, this mammoth structure, one day is going to be leveled. There's going to be nothing left of it. The temple was the pride and joy of the Jews. And here Jesus is predicting that it's going to be utterly destroyed.

Now earlier in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 11, Jesus had already expressed His displeasure over the abuses that were going on inside the temple. Remember, He had thrown out the moneychangers who were in the temple serving for personal gain or profit, but now He's saying that the buildings themselves are actually going to be destroyed.

We know that in the Old Testament, God said that the temple would be destroyed by foreign powers as an expression of God's judgment on His rebellious people. And so, it was going to be in Jesus' day, as the Jewish nation rejected the claims of Jesus Christ to be their Messiah.

As they rejected the kingdom of God, Jesus said, "This temple in which you've put your trust is not going to last. It's not secure. It's not going to stand because it's temporal, it's earthly and it's not going to last forever."

Now, this prediction in Mark 13 was literally fulfilled within one generation. You may remember that in A.D. 70, the temple area was burned and Roman soldiers demolished the city of Jerusalem and leveled the buildings to the ground.

You know, we all want life to be a fairy tale. We want all our dreams to come true. We want all the pieces of the puzzle to fit together. We want everything that makes us happy, to last. And we want to be happy.

We want to be swept off our feet by a godly man who's strong and tender and romantic and who prays and reads the Bible to us every night. And we want to have kids who love us and obey us. And we want to have a good job that pays all the bills and still have enough left over to have a decent car and new furniture every once in a while--and enough money to eat out a couple times a week.

We want everybody to get along in our home and at church. We want people at work to respect us for our faith. We want freedom from war and famine and starvation and a lot of other things that we see on TV that are going on in other parts of the world.

That's the dream world that we all wish we could live in.

But, instead, we find ourselves in the real world, a real world where people lose their jobs or they lose their life savings in the stock market; a real world where children rebel; a real world where some godly women, who long to be married and might make a great wife, never find a husband. We live in a real world where women who long to hold a child of their own in their arms are never able to do that.

In this real world there is cancer and there are tumors and there are church splits and there are terrorists and suicide bombers and wars. And in this real world, as a dear friend of mine discovered recently, people commit adultery and they walk out on their mate after years of what they thought was a happy marriage.

You see, the Word of God teaches us that the things we place our hope in, in this world, will not last. Even those things that we think are invincible or indestructible. I mean, think about the Titanic, the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, the Columbia Shuttle. Think about perhaps the leader that you trusted who proved to be a hypocrite or to have a great moral fall.

Think about your marriage. Maybe you thought that marriage was indestructible. You married with stars in your eyes, and now you find out that the dream has turned to a nightmare. You see, anything that you and I place our security and our hope in, here on this earth, can be shaken and often will be.

There's a passage in the last part of Hebrews, chapter 12, that I think speaks to this whole issue very powerfully. The writer to the Hebrews says in verse 25, "See that you do not refuse him who is speaking to you. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven."

Then verse 26 of Hebrews, chapter 12. "At that time His voice shook the earth, but now God has promised, 'yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.'"

This phrase, the writer goes on to say, "yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken. That is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain."

Now, what is the passage saying there? I think what the writer is saying is that everything that can be shaken, will be shaken. Everything that can be changed will be changed so that we can find our hearts more attached to the things that can never be shaken, the things that can never be changed.

He says "Everything that can be shaken will be shaken." And we see that as we look around and we see governments and regimes that we thought were stable, and now we see our world and many of those nations in turbulence.

Everything that can be shaken will be shaken--so that the things that can never be shaken will remain--so that we can find out what's really eternal, what's really lasting, what's truly secure.

And the writer there of Hebrews goes on to say in verse 28, "Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken." Oh, I love that phrase. That's the Kingdom of God, the kingdom that can never be toppled. It can never be shaken. It can never be overcome for the Kingdom of God is eternal. And, thus, he says "Let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our 'God is a consuming fire.'"

I want to ask you today as we look around and we see the very foundations of our earth being shaken and maybe you're experiencing the foundations of your life or your marriage or something that you trusted in, in the workplace or at church--as you're seeing those foundations crumble, ask yourself this question, "What have I been trusting in?"

What are you looking to for security? For safety? I mean, are you planning on duct tape and plastic keeping you safe? Is it a strong national defense that's your security?

What are you trusting in for happiness? Is it your husband? Is it your children? Is it friends, is it health, is it a geographic location? As you think about the things that you're leaning on, the things that you're trusting in, the things you're looking to, to make you secure--are those things that will last? Are they things that are guaranteed to last? How do you know?

Well, the answer is, "Are they eternal? Are they things that will last forever?" And do you value the things that God values? Are you putting your trust in things that cannot be shaken? And are you prepared for your world, as you know it, to be shaken?

You see, Jesus is saying in Mark, chapter 13, "count on it." Expect that the things that are earthly and temporal will be shaken. He's going to go on to say that there will be wars, there will be rumors of wars, there will be earthquakes. You can count on it. So, are you prepared for your world to be shaken? And when your world crumbles, will you have such a relationship with God and with His Word that you'll be able to withstand the storm?

You know, Jesus said that if you build your life upon the Rock of the Word of Christ, if you've listened to and obeyed the Word of Christ, then when the storms come--as they will--whether it's world wars or terrorists or nuclear disaster or your husband walking out on you or your children rebelling or losing your job, whatever it is, if you've been building your life on the security of obedience to Christ and His Word, then you will be able to withstand whatever the attack, whatever the storm.

You see, in God's economy and God's wisdom, He sometimes causes or allows some of the things we think are important, some of the things we think are secure, He allows those things to be dismantled. He allows those things to crumble.

And we need to remember, at those times, that what seems like irreparable loss is never outside His control. God is still in control. He is ever performing His purposes.

And, if you're God's child, you can look at those great temple buildings or that great marriage or that great church or that great country in which we live and you can say "I thank God for this." But I'm not placing my hope there. That's not where my security is. My security, my trust, my hope are in Christ and His kingdom, which can never be shaken.

And, as the things around us are shaken, we can be confident that God is sovereign; God is in control. He knows what's happening. He's knows what's going to happen. And He is working all things on this earth to fulfill His eternal glorious redemptive purposes. You can count on that.

Leslie Basham: That's Nancy Leigh DeMoss giving us much-needed eternal perspective. She'll be right back to pray.

You know, when we pray, we are connecting with the eternal. Prayer helps us keep a right attitude regarding the difficult, messy, imperfect world around us. Nancy's written a booklet to help you pray effectively during this time of unrest and conflict in our world. It's called In Times Like These and it's our gift to you when you make a donation of any amount to Revive Our Hearts.

Just ask for In Times Like These when you write to Revive Our Hearts. Or give us a call at 1-800-569-5959.  You can also request a copy when you visit our Web site, ReviveOurHearts.com.

While you're there, you can find out how to order a cassette or CD of this week's series. When you contact us, be sure to sign up for our free newsletter. It contains articles from Nancy and it'll let you know about Revive Our Hearts events coming to your area.

Tomorrow, we'll hear about the power of God's Word. It can prepare our hearts for handling the difficult things that come our way. Now, here's Nancy to lead us in prayer.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Father, thank You for the confidence, the unshakeable confidence that we can have in times like these because our lives are built, not on the foundation of this world, or anything this world has to offer. But our lives are built upon You and Your Word.

So, help us, Lord, to evaluate what we're trusting, evaluate what we think is our security and to make sure that our hope and our trust are in things that can never be moved, things that can never be shaken, things that will last forever. I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a ministry partnership of Life Action Ministries.