I am pleased this morning to welcome, after a big hiatus, R.J. Gore. R.J. is a retired Army chaplain, and he also is a professor of theology and ministry at Erskine Seminary, and he's the dean there as well. And so I'm delighted to have him here, and welcome, R.J. It's good to be back with you. I've been tied up for about two and a half years doing pulpit supply for a small church down in North Augusta. And they finally decided, they were looking at different options and they finally decided that the best option for them in terms of where they were was to close down. And I think that was the right decision for them. And that means I was free when Bill rang. So, you know, I learned to preach back in the 70s. And in the 70s, we were taught that sermons are structured to have basically a thesis statement, and then you support that by your three major points. And additionally, a poem and a shaggy dog story were thrown in for good measure just to get people interested. And this gives us the well-known three-point sermon. And I used to do this all the time. It's how I was taught to preach. But I'm not going to do that today. Instead, I'm going to give you a sermon with three poems, one point, two takeaways, and references to several shaggy dogs and cats. So if you came looking for normal, this is not a normal day. We begin with a poem from the late 19th century English poet William Ernest Henley. The title of this poem, Invictus. Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how straight the gate how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. Wow, that's really in your face and obnoxious, isn't it? Henley had to undergo the amputation of one foot during his teen years and then later almost lost the good leg as well. So this is a guy who had some difficulties in life. He died when he was 54 years old, and his poem is recognized by many as epitomizing that famous British trait, the stiff upper lip. And this poem has made the rounds. For example, September 1941, in a speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill paraphrased the last two lines of the poem under Nazi assault, stating this, we are still masters of our fate, we are still captains of our souls. And the line bloody but unbowed was the Daily Mirror's headline the day after the July 2005 terrorist bombings of London's transportation system. But there is in this poem not only an element of defiance, but even arrogance towards God. The last stanza borrows from the King James Version of the Bible, this reference to the straight gate. And the entire poem is simply off the rails. Does anyone here really think you're the master of your own fate, the captain of your own soul? Would you try peddling that philosophy to the folks in the Bahamas who lost everything when Dorian hit? What about the families of all those Californians? Remember, not this year, the fire, the fire before, the one where you had people rushing out to get to their automobiles and being enveloped by the flames before they could get into cars to escape. And does anybody want to tell Australia which is burning from one end to the other, that you're the master of your fate. You know, the Bible warns us against such arrogance. The Bible tells us our own ways are too frequently the ways of death. Isaiah 53 6 indicts those who seek their own way. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And conversely, Proverbs 3, Five through seven, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn from evil. And yet there's another problem with the Invictus approach to life and for that we turn to the second poem. This one is by Jane Kenyon. an American poet. She died in 1995 at the age of 48. Now, these poets are dying young, so maybe you want to think about another career path for those of you that are younger. The title of this poem is Otherwise. Kenyon writes, I got out of bed on two strong legs. It might have been otherwise. I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach, It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood. All morning I did the work I love. At noon I laid down with my mate. It might have been otherwise. We ate dinner together at a table with silver candlesticks. It might have been otherwise. I slept in a bed in a room with paintings on the walls and planned another day just like this day. But one day I know it will be otherwise. Otherwise intrudes when it chooses and often without warning. December 7th, 1941, otherwise showed up as Japanese planes came over the hills and bombed the Pacific Fleet. November 22nd, 1963, otherwise showed up in the Texas Book Depository as shots rang out and assassinated our president. September 11, 2001, it was otherwise, as those planes flew into the towers. Brothers and sisters, life is full of otherwise moments, and if that is so, you are not and cannot be the master of your own fate. Otherwise attacks the familiar, the comfortable, the routine, often without any warning. Sometimes otherwise telegraphs its presence through a discomfort in the air, a feeling that something is not right, or maybe a sense of foreboding. When I first preached this text last year, we had two outside cats. They're 13, 14 years of age. They've been running up to me every day since I came back from Iraq in 2004. But I saw something taking place. Their movements were slowing down. The yellow tabby, for example, no longer could jump up to the fence and then jump up to the porch. The little gray cat is getting slow as well. They would still come to see me, but one day I knew it would be otherwise. I first preached this text Sunday the 18th of November last year. On Tuesday the 20th, otherwise appeared, and the yellow tabby had crawled up into his favorite window and died during the night. At the trivial end of otherwise, over the years I have said goodbye to a pound full of shaggy dogs. Blacky, Whitey, Speedy, Puddin', Andy, Patches, Chubber, Jake, Zoe. There's probably a few I left out. In most instances, old age or disease telegraphed the otherwise moment. In a few tragic instances, the squeal of breaking tires and a sickening thump announced that otherwise had intruded. On a more profound level, I've said goodbye to my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, to Joan's mother, to Joan's father, to Joan's brother, and to a host of fellow soldiers and friends, including my best friend from high school. I mentioned I first preached this in November 2018. Congregation had 40 parishioners, eight families. At that time, otherwise, had impacted that small congregation, as two of those eight families had lost a loved one within the previous space of a month. I preached this the end of December at the Greenwood Presbyterian Church in America on the 29th. On the 30th, my wife got a phone call from the wife of one of my faculty members saying, I'm at the hospital, my husband died. Somebody says, you need to quit preaching that sermon. I said, no, I need to preach it more often because otherwise is out there. Otherwise is waiting for you. I don't know what's going on in this congregation, but otherwise is here this morning. the lives of some of you. There is a regularity in the universe that bears witness to God's sovereign decree and His wise control of all things. Don't misunderstand me. Genesis 8 tells us, while the earth remains sea time and harvests, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. God is in control but sometimes otherwise occurs. Now look here as our text begins Jesus and the disciples are leaving the Temple. If you were to go back just a few verses before our text, you would see that Jesus had been sitting there watching closely as this poor widow woman comes, reaches down, shakes the dust and moths out of her coin bag, and takes the last two mites that she has and puts them in. Look at our text. He came out of the temple. One of the disciples said, look, teacher, what wonderful stones, what wonderful buildings. Jesus said, you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. Jesus says it looks great now, but otherwise is coming. Apparently there was no discussion as the disciples with Jesus made the 25 minute walk down from the Temple Mount up to the Mount of Olives. When you get to the Mount of Olives, which is higher than the Temple Mount, you can look down upon the temple. Across the Kidron Valley, there it is. In the first century, the temple was the center of Jewish life. Its destruction in AD 70 completely rocked the nation and destroyed the Jewish nation, and it remained destroyed until 1948. Now when they got to the Mount of Olives. They were able to look down on the temple with its white marble environs and its gold trim. What a sight that must have been. Herod had expanded the second temple, and it was improved over a period of 40 years. At this time, the temple and its precincts took up one-sixth of the geographical footprint of Jerusalem. This thing was enormous. Historians tell us some of the largest stones in the temple weighed over 500 tons. I have no idea how you move a 500 ton stone with donkeys, oxen, and ropes. So if you wanna go into that space aliens came in and built this thing, I'm not gonna argue with you a whole lot because that sounds more plausible than the other explanation. Now, you see, here's the thing. As they're sitting up there looking down, The words of Jesus are still rattling around in their head. So it's then that James and John, Peter and Andrew, they pull Jesus aside for a private conversation and ask him, when is this going to happen? What will be the sign that these things are about to be accomplished? And if you were to read the parallel passage of Matthew, there's one further question. And what will be the end of the age? After warning his disciples not to be led astray, Jesus says this. He says, look, many will come in my name, saying I am he. They will lead many astray, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Don't be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. Now, most of human history has involved warfare. Rare have been those moments when someone somewhere on planet Earth was not engaged in armed conflict. And while I suspect there's been little change in the actual frequency in our world of 24-7 news coverage, We have instantaneous information, social media. So we know more about earthquakes, famines, pestilences. We've seen the AIDS epidemic, the Ebola virus, hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, you name it. We see this stuff every night. You turn the TV on and it's there. Well, what happened here? In AD 66, revolt broke out between the Jews and the Roman oppressors. The Romans sack the temple's treasury, and this began what was known as the Great Revolt. Meanwhile, back in Rome, chaos. AD 68, Emperor Nero kills himself. Then they go through the year of the four Caesars, as one Caesar comes in after the other. And then, in AD 69, a fellow by the name of Caesar Vespasian took power. And Caesar Vespasian had a son who was a general. His name was Titus Vespasian. And Vespasian sent his son Titus to bring to an end this Jewish revolt. And so he showed up. He placed three Roman legions, 5,000 soldiers each, to the west, one Roman legion to the east. They surrounded the city, breached the walls, crucified the Jews that they gathered as they tried to escape or capture them, and just ringed the city with these crucifixes. And he set the city on fire, and he tore the stones one from another, just as Jesus had said. So the destruction of Jerusalem prefigures the ultimate destruction at the end of days. In 2 Peter 3.10, for example, we read, the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. In 2 Peter 3, 9, just as in our text, we read these words. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. And so in our text this morning, we have this reference to those who endure to the end will be saved. Even in the midst of judgment, there is an opportunity for repentance. Even in the midst of judgment, there is good news. Now, look, this morning, let's talk about that good news. God says you have sinned and you've fallen short of my glory. God says the soul that sins, it shall die. That's what you've earned. It's called the wages of sin and the wages of sin is death. God says, I know what you deserve. But you know what? I'm going to deal with you otherwise. Lamb of God, sinless and spotless will take your place. The debt that you have earned will fall upon him. The life that is intrinsically his will become a gift to you. So you see, otherwise is not necessarily an evil thing. It often is. But in the person of Christ, otherwise is our only hope. And so now we come to our third poem. I mean, after all, we've got to find something good to say here. It's all been kind of a downer thus far, right? So the third poem was written by Dorothea Day. And this is a poem that follows explicitly the structure of Invictus, but in so doing, turns the poem entirely on its head. The title of this poem is My Captain. Hear now what Dorothea Day had to say. Out of the light that dazzles me, bright as the sun from pole to pole, I thank the God I know to be for Christ, the conqueror of my soul. Since his the sway of circumstance, I would not wince nor cry aloud, under the rule which men call chance, my head with joy is humbly bowed. Beyond this place of sin and tears, that life with him and his the aid, that despite the menace of the years keeps, and will keep me unafraid. I have no fear, though straight the gate. He cleared from punishment the scroll. Christ is the master of my fate. Christ is the captain of my soul. Now, with Christ as our master and as our captain, we are certain he is in control of all things. And as we have discussed, God's providential care involves regularity, cause and effect, and predictability, morning and evening, seed time and harvest. But I believe this is also another wise world in which the potential exists at any time, at any moment, for joy to turn to sorrow and for the normal to be turned into chaos. There are people dealing with hurricanes, wildfires. We had a tornado alarm go off in due west of all things. We don't think it did much damage other than create a leak in my roof. Could have been worse. For a lot of people it is worse. And in an otherwise world, there are a lot of people who are suffering badly, but this is not a reason for despair. And it's not a reason to stand back and shake your fist defiantly at God as though you were the master of your own fate. In other words, in other words, in an otherwise world, you need Christ as the master of your fate and the captain of your soul. So here you go. Will you agree with me this is an otherwise world? And so I want to give you two takeaways. Now I'm not a Puritan, I don't do Puritan preaching, but the way Puritans preach is they would talk about the text and then at the end they would do application. So what I want to do is I want to give you two takeaways. And if you remember these two takeaways, everything that I've said this morning is gonna fall into place for you. The first takeaway is this, define carefully. Let me say that again, it's not hard. Define carefully. Let's be clear what we mean by an otherwise world. We do not mean that this world is subject to good luck or bad luck. Not so. Luck has nothing to do with the course of this world or the events that occur in your life. The ancient Greeks believed in the fates, these three blind women who spun thread and measured and clipped. and thus determine the length of your life. There is no such thing as fate. There is no such thing as fortune. There is no serendipity. There are no accidents, and there are no coincidences. That is not how life works in God's world. Instead, we're talking about something far more certain, far more powerful, God's work of providence. The Shorter Catechism defines it this way. God's work of providence is His most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions. And then there's this beautiful little phrase from Westminster Confession 3.1. God, from all eternity, did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own, will freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass. And as you know, there are Bible verses on top of Bible verses that confirm these things. For example, one of the strongest texts you can find is Isaiah 45, 5 and following. I am the Lord and there is no other. Beside me there is no God. I equip you though you do not know me that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the West that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. Listen to this now. This is where it gets really hairy. I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. Now this is a very hard text, and it is not teaching that God is the author of sin, but the good and the evil that occur are all part of God's infinitely wise plan to redeem this world. What Isaiah is telling us is that there is no such thing as random in our otherwise world. Things may appear random from time to time because we don't see. We can't see all the moving parts. John Piper helps us grasp this. He writes this, he says, God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them. You understand why then things look random sometimes? Because you can't see the 997 things that are back on the other side. When we define ourselves carefully, when we define our language that we're using here, We realize that our otherwise world is anything but uncertain because Christ is the master of our fate and the captain of our souls. Look, those of you that do jigsaw puzzles, I don't do them anymore. I don't have the patience for them. But you know how difficult it is early on when you have only random parts of the puzzle connected? You've got a couple of things over here. It looks like there's a corner piece. And then you've got something else over here. And you can't begin to see the picture from these random connections that you have. And so we only see a part of the puzzle. But there's good news. God sees the end from the beginning. And God knows exactly how every piece of your life is going to fit even those things that seem like they come out of left field or out of outer space. Corrie Ten Boom puts it this way. She says, there is no panic in heaven. God has no problems, only plans. And being the critical systematic theologian that I am, I would sharpen this comment a wee bit. There are no plans. There is only one plan. There is no plan B, C, or D. And remember, the Lord doesn't miss the tiniest detail. Remember where our text begins? Jesus, right before, sitting there in the temple, looking at this least of all, this widow woman with nothing, nothing but two mites, and now she doesn't even have the two mites. The Lord Jesus doesn't miss the tiniest detail. Define carefully. That's your first takeaway. Define carefully what you mean by an otherwise world. Second takeaway, believe confidently. Believe confidently. Define carefully, believe confidently. Our God is a God of infinite goodness and he is at work in your life and mine to do what? To make us look like Jesus. He is a God of infinite wisdom who always knows the way forward. He is a God of infinite power who makes a way when there is no way. He is a God of infinite love who loves you more than you can ever imagine. Now, if we really believe that our good, holy, wise, all-powerful God is in control, we should be filled with confidence and joy. We should believe confidently. Look, in Jeremiah 29, writing to exiles, they're in Babylon. Their whole world has been turned upside down. Their city is gone, their nation is gone, their temple is gone, their worship system is gone. These people have next to nothing. But God doesn't have a word of doom or gloom for them. In Jeremiah 29, listen to what the Lord says. For thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope, then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I've driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. With their homeland gone, their temple destroyed, Their capital city burned to the ground. God's people needed to hear that God was not finished with them. In an otherwise world, it is essential to believe confidently that Christ is the master of our fate, the captain of our souls. Hear these words. It's an extended passage, but I'm getting ready to wrap this up, so listen to this from Romans chapter eight. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is indeed interceding for us. So, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it's written, for your sake, we're being killed all the day long. We're regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure, I am sure, Paul says, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, your two takeaways. Define carefully. Understand what you mean when you say this is an otherwise world. Otherwise world says that there are things that look random, but Jesus is. the master of your fate, the captain of your soul. So define carefully and believe confidently. This is the only way to deal with an otherwise world. Look, we just closed the door on 2019. And for some of you, some things in 2019 went the way you hoped they would go and some other things went south. And as you look back on any year, you're going to have that experience. As you look forward to 2020, what can you expect? Well, you can expect that it's going to be predictable in some ways, and at times, there are going to be those otherwise moments. But even as you do that, you need to define carefully and believe confidently that Jesus is the master of your fate, that Jesus is the captain of your soul. And if you do that, you will get through 2020 in spite of the otherwise moments that come your way. Let me close with a quotation from John Bloom of Desiring God. Here's what he says, and he's reflecting on this poem, Invictus. The incredibly good news is that in Christ who loved us and gave himself for us, Ephesians 5.2, we are more than conquerors, Romans 8.37. Ours is not a stoic resolve against mindless evil. Ours is a hope-infused, courageous resolve because come what may, the end will be glorious beyond all comparison, Romans 8.18. If Christ is the master of our fates, the captain of our souls, we have nothing to fear, 1 John 4, 18. We will be sustained to the end with our scroll reading guiltless, 1 Corinthians 1, 8. All will work together for our good, Romans 8, 28. And though we die, yet shall we live, John 11, 25. To have an invictus soul is not heroic, it is unbounded foolishness. But to have a soul conquered by the greatest love that exists, John 15, 13, that then by God's grace can withstand the worst that evil can throw out us and be more than conquerors and then know eternal joy, that, Bloom says, that is a life worth living. And I would add, that is the only life worth living in an otherwise world.