I want to speak to you today about learning to read the story that you're in—how to read the story that you're in. As we look around at the unraveling of the last several years, it is easy to become dismayed. Where did this come from? How long has this been going on? Who is responsible? The lament raised by the psalmist David comes readily to mind: "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" That's in Psalm 11:3. In times of chaos like this, when everything is unsettled, it is easy to become unsettled yourself. The antidote to this temptation is to learn how to read the story you're in. My task this morning is to provide you with some scriptural principles to help you do exactly that.
I want to begin by insisting that it is, in fact, a story. This may be the point that is tripping you up. It doesn't look or feel like a story to you, but rather like a cafeteria food fight. It doesn't look like an old-fashioned cafeteria food fight either, but rather like a cafeteria food fight at the Monkey House at the zoo, where all the chimps are amped up on meth. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to anything. Contradictory data keeps flying past us, making that whooshy sound, and the conspiracy bros are having a hard time keeping up with it all.
Well, who is telling the story then? It would not be the Sons of Anarchy. It is not the Deep State. It is not the CIA or the FBI. It is not the minions of George Soros, although they would have us believe that they are in charge. As the prophet Isaiah pointed out, all these petty lords of the earth can do is breathe through their noses. As Isaiah says in chapter 2:22, they are midges in a sunbeam plotting to overthrow the sun.
In the second Psalm, the kings of the earth took their stand against the Lord and against His anointed (Psalm 2:1-2). And what was God's response? He laughed, and He laughed them to derision, it says. And why? At the end of their very busy day, what did these enemies of God actually do? What did Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jews (Acts 4:26-28) accomplish? Well, they ushered in the salvation of the world—that's what they did. They arranged for my forgiveness and for yours to be purchased by the blood of the Son of God—that is what they did. If the rulers of this world had known what they were doing back then, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory, as it says in 1 Corinthians 2:8. And if the dark forces arrayed against us today knew what they were actually bringing about, they wouldn't be doing that either. Our God is a sovereign God, and He knows how to draw straight with crooked lines.
Coming back to our earlier metaphor, all the bad guys are merely numbered among the combatant chimps. They are not the author of any of this. They can certainly vaunt themselves for a time in Adamic pride, but when the true Author turns the page, that is it for them.
So, who is this true Author? Christians believe that the Author of the story that you are in is Almighty God. He turns the hearts of kings whichever way He pleases. He numbers the hairs of your head. He decrees the position and velocity of every atom in every asteroid in the darkness of deep space. There is nothing in this cosmos that is outside His determinative purpose and will.
Do you see that yellow mutt running around? On the last day of the world, before the world began, before ancient times, God determined the number of hairs that would be on that yellow dog's back. God is God, and there is no other. From our vantage point, things certainly look dire, but that is from our vantage point. I can assure you of one thing: God in heaven is not looking down on the 2024 presidential election cycle in a panic. The thrones and dominions are not all in a doodah. The angels are not scrambling and running through the heavenly courts yelling, "Plan B! Plan B!" We are in a storm, no doubt about it, but the tops of all our clouds are radiant and white.
Not only does God turn the hearts of kings, but He also turns the heads of former presidents at just the right moment, such that the bullet grazes the ear, leaving behind the red signature of Providence. This was not an example of God lurching forward to intervene in our affairs, but rather an instance of God showing us the steadiness of His hand. I'm not here remarking on the greatness of Donald Trump, but rather on the greatness of God.
All laws are imposed morality, and the only question concerns which morality it will be. This is yet another inescapable concept—not whether, but which. Not whether morality will be imposed, but rather which morality will be imposed. The character of the living and true God is immutable, and He is altogether good. That is why law based on His character is constantly the same—He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
You are, thank God, not actually living in the world that the bad guys are attempting to build. They are attempting to build it, but you don’t actually live there. You are living in a world, however, where they are certainly making the attempt, and we shouldn’t be spooked by the attempt. They are consumed with an insane desire to make the world according to their designs because a very green and leprous libido dominandi has them by the throat. And because their lust for this sovereignty has far outstripped their competence, everything under their charge is disintegrating. They are in the position of the sorcerer’s apprentice, and everything is spiraling away from them—pieces are flying everywhere.
Your preparations for living in a time like this include recognizing that God is the author of all of it. But more is needed than a simple recognition that God is the author. While such recognition is more than God’s enemies will admit, and it’s good as far as it goes, it is not sufficient. You are a character in the story that He is telling, but more than a simple acknowledgment of that is needed. You have an Author of your story, but you need to be on good terms with the Author of this story.
Jesus and His disciples were figures in the Gospel story, certainly, but so were Pilate and Herod and Judas. It is no great blessing simply to be in the story—the bad guys are in the story too. So, what does it mean to be on good terms with your God? The Bible calls it reconciliation. We are a sinful people living in a fallen world. All of us were by nature objects of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), and we were enemies of God in our hearts, in our minds, in our hands, and in our mouths—all of us. In this dire situation, God sent His Son to offer terms of reconciliation. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. That’s what it says in Romans 5:10.
We are put right with God when we recognize our own complicity in the sin that surrounds us, and we repent of it. We repent of it while looking at the cross of Christ, where He died as an efficacious substitute for all of His people. He died there in fulfillment of the Scriptures. He was buried in accordance with the Scriptures, and God raised Him to life so that we could walk in newness of life. On the basis of this gospel, you must be converted to God; you must be born again. This being the case, what do we do now? We are still confronted with the chaos of a world gone mad. We must still navigate this stretch of the river, which is nothing but miles of white water. We have recognized that God is the author, and we've been reconciled to the Author through the blood of His Son. What now?
Well, the early Church Father Athanasius was valiant in his stand against a compromised and compromising Church. Many bishops had folded and had made their peace with the heresy that Jesus was merely a creature, but he stood firm and was told that the whole world was against him. By this, it was meant that the whole world of bishops was against him—the Christian world was against him—to which he replied, "Then let it be known that Athanasius is contra mundum—against the world." We live similarly in troubled times, and so we must be valiant in a similar way. But we not only have to be contra mundum, but we must also be contra clown mundum—against clown world.
But how do we do that? We return to the first question that I raised in the beginning: When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? I want to leave you with three specific tasks, and I trust you will find them encouraging. These are things that the righteous can do and which the righteous must do.
First, worship God. Assembling before the Lord on the Lord's Day with His people is the most important thing you do in your life. Man was created to worship God. We are not in the first instance Homo sapiens, as the Greek philosophers would have it, but rather Homo adorans—worshiping man. God has framed this world with an iron law, which is that you become like what you worship. This is why worship is so central. We who worship God are being transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is our life; this is our light; this is our joy. This principle is also why the idolaters will come to nothing. The iron law applies to them as well. "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone that trusteth in them" (Psalm 115:4-8). You become like what you worship. They serve gods that are deaf, dumb, and blind, and so we see the progress of this inexorable law. The worshipers of these gods grow increasingly deaf, dumb, and blind, and the fact that they call it being "differently abled" does not help them in any way.
Second, all your basic duties are near and clear. Love your wife, respect your husband, educate your kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Get them out of the government schools. Stop looking at porn—you can't fight the enemy if you're fraternizing with the enemy that way. Excel in your work. Did you wrong a brother in a business deal? Go and put it right. Don't fret about all the things you cannot reach; make sure that you're being responsible within the radius of your influence. Deal with all the things you can reach.
Third, rejoice that God has created you and has placed you in this hour. He has done the same thing with your wife and your kids. All of you are assigned to this hour. Then he said unto them—this is from Nehemiah 8:10—"Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto the Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." The joy of the Lord is our strength. We are not called simply to fight with the evil around us; rather, we are called to fight this evil with a song in our hearts. If God has assigned to us the role of being dragon slayers, why should we be distressed to discover the existence of dragons?
The great Jehoshaphat once sent the choir out in front of the army, and he won an astounding victory. It was one of the great moments in all of redemptive history (2 Chronicles 20:21). And that is the kind of thing we are called upon to imitate. We should have no desire to be surly conservatives, or despondent conservatives, or timid conservatives. And why? Because they are the conservatives who never conserve anything, and we have had quite enough of that foolishness. The heart of unbelief wants to say that God is a blunderer and that He makes mistakes in the assignments He gives us. This is what is being said, for example, when someone claims that they are a woman trapped in a man's body, or vice versa. But if we object to that nonsense—and we do—how is it consistent to complain that God mistakenly caused us to be born into the wrong generation? You were born for this hour. All of this, you were born for this hour. All of the surrounding mayhem is our duty station. We were put here on purpose. God did it deliberately. We were written into this role by the Author of the story, and He is a good, wise, and perfect Author.
Chesterton once said wonderfully that the one taste of paradise on this earth was to fight in a losing cause and then not lose. Let me say that for you again: the one taste of paradise on this earth was to fight in a losing cause and then not lose. J.R.R. Tolkien called it a "eucatastrophe"—an astonishing deliverance at the end that was predictable given everything that went before, and yet somehow nobody in the adventure predicted it.
What we need is a Black Swan Reformation, a Black Swan Revival, a Black Swan eucatastrophe—an event that is seen by all historians as inevitable after the fact, but which no one saw coming. Chesterton also said in The Everlasting Man—and this is an appropriate line, an appropriate thought, an appropriate thing to meditate on—he said in The Everlasting Man that Christianity has died many times. The Christian faith has died many times, but this should not distress us at all, for we worship a God who knows the way out of the grave.
Let us pray together.
Our gracious God and Father, we come to You in the strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would deal with everyone here. I pray that You would bring to conversion any who are not converted. I pray You'd bring to renewal anybody who needs to be renewed. I pray that everyone else would be simultaneously overwhelmed and encouraged. And Father, we ask for this in the great and good name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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by Douglas Wilson
Watch original YouTube Lecture Here