Receive God’s Favor

This message was delivered by Jim Penner from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral. It was aired during the Hour of Power program on Hong Kong's ATV World Channel on 25 March 2012.

People of God, an optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist believes that’s true. Did you get that? An optimist thinks that this is the best possible world. A pessimist believes that’s true. Amen? No matter who you are, or where you’ve come from today, it does not matter what your circumstances are, because I know one thing for sure. I know one fact to be true. Jesus Christ is still on the throne. Can I get a hallelujah? Jesus Christ is still on the throne. And what did Jesus say? Jesus said over and over again, “In this world, you will have tribulations and you will have trials, but do not be afraid. Do not fear. I have overcome the world.” That’s what Jesus says. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”
So this morning in this house, you’re going to pick up your chin. Pick your chin up a little bit and put a smile on your lips because Jesus Christ is on the throne and that’s worth celebrating, and we’re going to do some celebrating this morning. We’re going to celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ is on the throne. Amen? Amen. Let’s give the Lord a clap offering. Hallelujah.
We’ve been going through the Beatitudes, a great place to go these days because it talks about how God wants to bless you. So let’s go back a little bit and see where we’ve come from so far. “And seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up on a mountain, and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth, saying to them, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.’” That’s where we are today. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
Now, righteousness is not a word that we hear often in today’s world. I don’t know if you run around using the word “righteousness” all the time. We don’t often use this word in modern-day language. So, what do you do when you have a word that you don’t use a lot? You run to your dictionary on the bookshelf or Internet. You look it up.
What does righteousness mean? You’ll find a whole raft of definitions for righteousness, but it boils down to just a couple of things: “Doing the right thing,” or “To act justly.” That’s how the world looks at righteousness, to do the right thing or to act justly.
C.S. Lewis, in his book, Mere Christianity, believed or argued that every person has an innate sense built into them of right and wrong. Every person has that. Some choose to ignore it, and some live by it, that innate sense of right and wrong. Some choose to ignore it and some live by it.
Here’s a very simple example of that. I like simple things. There’s a commercial on television that cracks me up. It’s a commercial for Ally Bank. You’ve probably seen it. There’s a nicely dressed man in a suit sitting at a table with two little girls. He looks at girl number one and asks, “Would you like a pony?”
The little girl says, “Yes.”
So, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a little toy pony, and hands it to the girl. Then he looks at the second little girl and he asks, “Would you like a pony?”
Girl number two says, “Yes.”
So, he stands up, walks over to a screen, reaches behind it, and pulls out a real live pony! Instantly, the little girl who received the small toy pony said, “You didn’t say we could have a real pony.”
And the man says, “You didn’t ask.” As little girl number one looks down at her toy pony, it’s obvious that she’s struggling with a sense of right and wrong, of fairness.
I love the tagline for this TV commercial: “Even a child knows it’s wrong to hold out on somebody.” Isn’t that true? We all have built within us a sense of right and wrong. You have a sense that sometimes things are not fair.
What do the scriptures tell us about righteousness? We’re going to go to Psalm 119, verse 172, in the Bible where it says, “My tongue shall speak Your Word, for Your (meaning God’s) commandments are righteousness.” God’s Word in His commandments are righteousness.
Now we have our definition. We’ve just learned what righteousness is. Righteousness is every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and every word that He has written. That’s righteousness. If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, hunger and thirst to obey God. You hunger and thirst to obey His Word, hunger and thirst to obey His voice. That’s what righteousness means. It means you hunger and thirst to be submissive to God. It’s that simple. That simple.
Now, watch this. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” Let’s talk about being filled. If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, what are we going to be filled with?
To answer that, we’re going to go all the way back to Exodus, an interesting place to go. God is speaking. God says, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you will be a special treasure to Me above all the people, for all the earth is Mine.” Is any of that sinking in? “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine.”

When you hunger and thirst for righteousness and Jesus says, “You will be filled,” it means you will be considered a special treasure to God. Does anybody here want to be a special treasure to God? Oh, come on. Yeah! I want to be a special treasure to God. Now watch this. Our self-doubt kicks in. “I don’t feel like a special treasure to God.” “The circumstances of my life don’t necessarily indicate that I am a special treasure to God.” “The circumstances of my life are in turmoil. They’re up and down. Does that mean I’m not a special treasure to God?” That’s a good question, right? We all think that sometimes: “Am I a special treasure to God?”

I don’t always feel like it. I believe I’m obeying God’s Word and His command, but I often don’t feel like a special treasure. Let’s talk about that for a little bit because you, too, may not feel special - at times or even all the time.

That verse starts in an interesting way: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me.” Notice how this verse starts: “Now therefore…” Whenever you see “therefore” in the Bible, go back and see what came before the “therefore.” Because the “therefore” is a conclusion. Do you ever read a report and you read the conclusion but you didn’t read all the data that led to the conclusion?

So, let’s go back and see what came before the “therefore.” It’s a very important thing to do. I read to you from Exodus 19, but what came before Exodus 19? What came before that “therefore”? We’ll go back.

You’ve all heard of "the father of nations," Abraham? Father Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, and one of them was Joseph. Joseph was the beloved son of Jacob. And Joseph was favored by God. We know this because God would give Joseph prophetic dreams. He gave Joseph dreams of his brothers bowing down to him, and his entire family bowing down to him. When his brothers heard about this dream, they didn’t like it, so they sold him into slavery.

Do you think Joseph felt like a special treasure as he’s being sold into slavery? The circumstances of his life - being sold into slavery - might have indicated that he wasn’t a special treasure to God. Then look what happens. He gets to Egypt. Now he’s sold into the house of Potiphar, a prominent Egyptian. The Bible says, “God blessed Joseph,” and soon Joseph is running the household because Potiphar trusts him so much. Potiphar sees Joseph’s wisdom, and chooses to trust him.

Now, because Joseph rises to the top of the heap in this household, does that mean he’s now a special treasure? Does that mean God’s blessing suddenly came though it wasn’t there before? Let’s keep going.

It says Joseph was a fine-looking man, handsome in appearance. Soon Potiphar’s wife had eyes for him. She knew Potiphar liked Joseph, so she wanted to get close to him. However, Joseph wouldn’t have anything to do with it.

Here’s an interesting side note to this story: When my girls were young, their school staged a play about Joseph’s story. When one of my daughter’s came home from school after the casting call, my wife says, “So, what part do you have in the play?”

My daughter responds, “I’m part of his wife.”

Gretchen says, “Part of his wife? Who is that?” Finally, she realized that my daughter had been cast as Potiphar’s wife. I thought that was very cute. Anyway, a sidebar. Let’s get back to the story of Joseph.

Potiphar’s wife, yes part-of-his-wife, accused Joseph of rape because he had continually denied her. She thought, “I’ll get even with this guy. I’ll accuse him of rape.” Much to his dismay, Potiphar had to throw Joseph in jail. Wrongly accused, Joseph hadn’t done anything immoral, and had obeyed God by not having anything to do with Potiphar’s wife.
Now that Joseph was in jail, the circumstances of his life might have indicated that he was not God’s special treasure. Do you think God’s blessing suddenly left him? If you were living in his life and suddenly you were in jail, you might think that.

Then look what happens. Soon Joseph becomes a leader over all the other prisoners in the jail because the head guard likes Joseph and sees his wisdom. Did God’s blessing upon Joseph suddenly return if it wasn’t there before? Let’s keep going a little bit further.

Pharaoh gets mad at a couple of the folks in his employ and he sends them to jail with Joseph. While in jail, these me share what appear to be prophetic dreams with Joseph, and he’s the only one able to interpret them. He says to the prisoners, “I’ll interpret these dreams, but please remember me when you get out of here. Talk to Pharaoh. Maybe you can get me out, too.” Nevertheless, when these guys get out of jail, they forget all about Joseph. Does that mean Joseph wasn’t a special treasure?

Two years go by, during which Joseph may have thought he was not God’s special treasure. Then Pharaoh has a dream and nobody can interpret it. Suddenly these servants remember and say to Pharaoh, “Oh, by the way, there was this guy back in jail who could interpret dreams.” The Pharaoh calls upon Joseph, who accurately interprets the dreams. Pharaoh is so impressed that he makes Joseph the number two man in all of Egypt. It says that Pharaoh took off his signet ring, put it on Joseph’s finger, and paraded him all through the land on a chariot just to prove that Joseph was now second in command.

Does that mean Joseph is now suddenly a special treasure? No! It was God’s plan all along. Why? Because a great famine came to the land and, when all should have starved, because Joseph had interpreted the dream correctly, he had stored up grain like the Lord had told him, and everybody was able to eat.

Just outside Pharaoh’s realm, Joseph’s father Jacob and all of his brothers had nothing to eat, so they came to Egypt. They had heard there was grain there. They all survived because God had elevated Joseph to number two in all of Egypt. He was able to save his entire family.

It took many years for all of that to unfold but all along, Joseph was God’s special treasure. During all that time, Joseph prayed in his spirit, “Lord, not my will, but Your will be done.” Through whatever circumstances, whatever peaks and valleys, he was trusting God. Amen?

There are some lessons in Joseph’s story for all of our lives. Are we going to trust God no matter what our circumstances? They may go up and down, up and down, up and down, and we’re saying, “God, God, mold me, God shape me, God teach me, God use me for Your will.” That’s the lesson here.

Okay, now let’s go to chapter two. Jacob dies old and full of years, and his family is in the land of Egypt living high on the hog. They’re having a great time. They have many cattle, lots of grain, and they’re multiplying. When a new king comes into power in Egypt long after Jacob and Joseph have died, this new Pharaoh forgets all of what Joseph did for Egypt. He starts worrying about all of these descendants of Jacob that are now more in number than the Egyptians. He’s thinking, “These guys could take over. We have to do something about it.” So, the new Pharaoh enslaves them and persecutes them.

Does that mean that Jacob and Joseph’s people are no longer a special treasure to God? Not true. God was setting up another important moment in the story of our faith when He taps Moses, a descendant of Jacob, to be an unlikely hero. At that time, Moses was an 80-year-old stutterer, three years younger than his older brother, Aaron, who was a priest and an eloquent speaker. God didn’t pick Aaron; He picked Moses, an unlikely hero.

Then what does God do? He takes this unlikely hero and puts him before the Pharaoh, many, many, many times to plead, “Let my people go.” And it says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Now, why would God do that? Don’t you think that, if He sent Moses to Pharaoh to plead to “Let my people go,” that God would have said to Pharaoh, “Let him go and have him gone.” It didn’t happen that way. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so the Pharaoh wouldn’t let Moses and his people go. Then God sends plagues - flies and frogs, hail with fire in it - and bloodies the waters of the Nile and all the waters in the land. God sent it. You know the story; you’ve seen the movie, right? God causes all of these things to happen. Why? There’s a reason. We’re getting there.

Finally, Pharaoh can’t take it anymore, so he relents, and says, “Get out of here. I’ve had enough. You’re gone!” Pharaoh even gave them treasures just to get rid of them. There’s a very interesting verse about this in the Bible. It’s wonderful. It says, “As the children of Israel left Egypt, God steered them away from the Philistines towards the desert.” God knew that the Israelites would be afraid of war with the Philistines and would turn around and run right back into Egypt, right back into slavery. So, God steers them through the desert.

Then God creates a miracle and parts the Red Sea as the Egyptians are bearing down on them. God had hardened their hearts again and had inspired them go after the Israelites.
Through all of these miracles, God wanted to make a statement. It’s very clear. You can’t read any other thing into this. God wanted to make a statement. Sheila had a beautiful message series on miracles…the miracles of yesterday, today and forever. One of her messages was “Remember the miracles.” If it had been easy getting out of Egypt, if any of these things would have been easy, would anybody remember them? Would anybody still be talking about them? We’re still talking about them today. That’s how much of an impact God made in that time.
Now, we’re caught right back up to where we left off in Exodus 19:5. You remember the “therefore.” What comes before the “therefore”? God says, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to Myself.” In other words: You saw it, never forget it. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all the people for all the earth is Mine.”

The lesson in this entire story, frankly, is to take your eyes off your circumstances. Don’t let circumstances make you feel like you’re a special treasure or not a special treasure to God. If you’re hungering and thirsting for righteousness, God promises that you are a special treasure. Let Him lead. Learn the lessons that you need to learn. We don’t know what they are. God doesn’t reveal everything to us. That’s the great mystery. Our job is to trust Him.

And if this story isn’t enough, just look at that cross. That’s how much God loves you. He sent His Son to that cross for your salvation, for my salvation. That’s how much He loves us. He wants us never to forget how much He loves us.

Sometimes, we still put our eyes on our circumstances, don’t we? We do. But you need to remember that God’s thoughts towards you are beautiful and numerous. There’s a great Bible verse: “How precious are Your thoughts to me, oh God, how great is the sum of them.” This is Psalm 139. “If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.”

Some of you today need to pick up your chin. Maybe all of us today need to pick up our chins because God has a word for us today. The word is: “I am the Lord thy God. I am a God that delivers, I am a God that provides, I am a God that heals. I am a God that is in you and through you. I have given you My holy spirit. I have poured out My spirit upon you.” The Lord says, “I have beautiful thoughts towards you. Eliminate those negative thoughts because I have beautiful thoughts towards you. Are you going to accept them? Are you going to listen to My voice? Are you going to obey My commands?”

That’s what the Lord thy God is saying to you today. Are you willing to do that? “You will be a special treasure to Me if you obey My voice.” Amen? Amen.

People of God, do you trust in the Lord? You heard earlier, Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He’s done everything to prove how much He loves you.

So, you’re going to walk out of here today with a smile on your face. Put it on right now. Let me see it. Okay, it’s not big enough. I’m going to make it bigger. We need bigger smiles.
Let’s read that scripture verse again. “How precious are Your thoughts to me, oh God, how great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.” God’s thoughts towards us are more numerous than the grains of sand. We need to get that through these very thick skulls that we have. My mom says I was stubborn as a kid and things wouldn’t get in through my thick skull. We need allow God’s positive thoughts to get in our skulls and in our thoughts, okay?

I went to Home Depot and got a bucketful of sand. The Bible verse says that God’s thoughts towards you are more numerous than the grains of sand. So, what we’re going to do at the close of this service today is to walk by this table and slide our fingers through the sand. You’re going to feel those grains. Every one of those grains represents a positive thought God has towards you. I don’t ever want you to forget how positive God thinks of you. His thoughts of you are more numerous than the grains of sand. Next time you go to the beach, take your shoes off, take your socks off, and run your toes in the sand. Every grain represents a positive thought God has towards you. Amen?

This is how we’re going to celebrate today. We’re celebrating God’s positive thoughts towards us. We are His special treasure as we hunger and thirst for righteousness, amen?
They’re going to start singing a song, “Trust in God.” As they do, come on down. Don’t even wait. Just come on down. Run your fingers through the sand and remember God’s positive thoughts towards you are more numerous than the sand.