Who Will You Call On, In Times Of Trouble? Series

Who will you Call on in Times of Trouble?

Congratulations to all of you on Graduation. You have taken a lot of trouble to reach this stage. You have struggled for financial support, you have struggled for time, you have been away from your families, you have burnt the midnight oil to reach this milestone.

So after Graduation, what is in store for you? Are your troubles over? Can we promise you a post-graduation life with great finances, successful ministry, great health, Great family life, and most importantly no persecution? You and I are aware that it is not going to happen that way isn’t it?

When we are in trouble, when we need help, when we want to be saved from something, who will we go to? Do we have anyone on whom we can call on during times of trouble? Let us look at that topic this evening.

In life, when we have such a situation we generally turn to good men/ women; don’t we? It is natural for us to take the help of Good Men (I will use the masculine term from here, but it includes Women too). We trust them, we believe they have good intentions and hence they won’t let us down, they won’t cheat us etc. Have you seen the superhero movies like Avengers. A few Good men and women with some super powers get together to save the world. We have the Indian counterparts of Krish and Chotta Bheem. Children especially love Chotta Bheem. Don’t they? We love such stories don’t we? We love such stories because they are about good men and women who make sacrifices to save the world. We wish that such good men and women will be able to solve the problems of the world, problems like Wars, Diseases, Criminals and rapists, Famine etc.

Let us look at a few good men from the Bible. Let us look at the Old Testament. The names that will jump at us are that of Moses, Samuel, Noah, Job and Daniel. I am not saying they we “perfect men”. For example Moses killed someone. Samuel also has killed people. But then they killed bad people didn’t they? The superheroes that we spoke about at the beginning of this message also has killed many bad people. So our heroes from the bible were not perfect, but we can still put them in the category of “Good people”. These were righteous men. They did not sin. They did what is right in the eyes of the Lord. They served Him. They were willing to sacrifice everything to obey God. Noah lived in a time when the land was full of sin, but he stood out. He was different. He was righteous and God chose him to give continuity to human race. Moses had his skirmishes with God, but those were all for interceding for others. He was a righteous man. God chose him to bring the nation of Israel together to their homeland and to record the laws for their living. Samuel was faultless, and obeyed the Lord always. God used him to identify and anoint the best King the world has ever seen, in David. Job of course was absolutely faultless to the extent that God was willing to take on a challenge with Satan to make him do something bad. God used him to teach others that God is sovereign and ultimately we are dependent on Him and Him alone. Daniel was true to his faith and stayed true to the faith even in a hostile land under persecution and threat to his own life. God used him to prophesy about the nature of things to come.

These were good men. And so, it is not a bad thing if we trust in them and say that these good men could possibly save me from God’s wrath when I do something wrong. After all, we have read stories of Moses interceding on behalf of the stubborn Israelites many times, and God relenting to his intercession. We have seen Samuel interceding on behalf of the Israelites after they demanded a King over them. We have seen Job interceding for his friends who blasphemed God’s name and nature, and they were spared. So it is OK if I put my hope in these good men to save me from God’s wrath.

Unfortunately for you and me, the message this evening is different.

Let us take Moses and Samuel first.

Jeremiah 15:1-2 (NKJV) Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. And it shall be, if they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Such as are for death, to death; And such as are for the sword, to the sword; And such as are for the famine, to the famine; And such as are for the captivity, to the captivity." ‘Read this in continuation of Chapter 14 and you will know the importance of this statement. In Chapter 14, Jeremiah is shamelessly imploring God to spare the people giving him multiple reasons to do so. God’s answer is interesting. He says even if Moses and Samuel Stood before me I shall not spare them from famine, war, diseases and death, imprisonment or living in a land of persecution. Such is the depth of the abominations of the people that God categorically tells them. “Nope, these good men cannot save you. I love my servant Moses, I have great affection for my prophet Samuel, but their intercessions are not good enough to save you from the consequences of your sin.”