It's time now for the chapel hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker is Dr. DeWitt Jones, Chairman Emeritus of the Division of Speech Communication at BJU. Well, I'm delighted to be here. This is my first opportunity to speak in summer grad school chapel. And when Dr. McAllister sent the email asking me to speak during this time, I immediately knew exactly what my topic was going to be. And it's one of those subjects that you ruminate on and you play around with and work with and all of this, but you don't always feel that you have just the right audience with whom you can develop that. And so I was set that I was going to deal with propositional truth in a postmodern experience-oriented world. And then the closer I got to this, I thought, wait a minute, you know, these are grad students. This is what they're getting in their classrooms for the entire day. A good portion of this of taking it and dealing with contemporary issues and all of that. And so I changed my mind or the Lord changed my mind, or at least I got changed. And so consequently, this morning, we're not going there. So you can breathe a big sigh of relief. And we're going to look at something, I think, that may be at least encouraging to graduate students in the midst of intense study this summer. It was 1968, and I was headed off for my first round of study on the doctoral level. And we were headed to Ohio State. And two days before we left, my eight-month-old daughter was diagnosed with strep infection. plus an eye infection. But nevertheless, we set out. And along the route to Columbus, Ohio, we stopped at my parents' for a brief stay. And while we were there, my wife got to a point that she wasn't feeling very well either. So we took her to the doctor there, and she was diagnosed with scarlet fever. So scarlet fever, strep infection, an eye infection, and we're still headed toward Columbus, Ohio. It was an incredible, awful journey, steaming hot. Our daughter, because of the medicines that she was taking, diarrhea, all of these things, it was just an awful experience getting there. We finally get there. We're cooped up in a small motel room while I'm trying to find a place for us to live and get registered and all of this. And I come back after being out trying to take care of some of that. And my wife is in tears. My daughter's not doing very well. And things are not looking good. We finally got a place to stay. We moved into the place to stay. And when we did that, I was just absolutely exhausted. I'd never felt so tired. I just stretched out in the middle of the floor. I thought, I don't know what's going on. So the very first day of classes, after that morning, I went to the infirmary and found out that I had mono. So it was not your best start to doctoral studies. And so my question this morning is, when you think you're doing what God wants you to do, what do you do when you come to the end of your rope? And some of you have had experiences, if not those same experiences, you've had similar ones. And you know the sense of intense pressure and things not going the way that you thought they were going to go. You think, what do you do? And I feel as if I've come really to the end of my rope. And conventional wisdom says, well, what you do is you tie a knot and hang on. But I'm not so sure that that's biblical wisdom. And so this morning, I want to look at a man who came to the end of his rope but did not tie a knot. Turn with me to Second Corinthians, Second Corinthians, chapter one. Second Corinthians, chapter one, and we'll begin reading in verse eight. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of life. But we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. The events of the past two, three years for the Apostle Paul had physically drained him. Acts chapter 19, we know that Paul started teaching there in the synagogue in Ephesus and then was put out of the synagogue. And so he started teaching in the school of Tyrannus and taught there for something over two years, at least two years. And F.F. Bruce, in some of his studies, tells us that there are documents suggesting that the period of time during the day when Paul was teaching was the most intense heat, probably from about 11 a.m. to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. so that this would have been physically the most draining upon him. So apparently Tyrannus came into the morning, taught for a while, then left during the hot part of the day. Everyone had a siesta, a nap, came back later in the afternoon. But Paul was stuck during that uncomfortable period of time. And we also know from Acts chapter 20 that Paul says, I was not chargeable to any of you during this time because I worked with my hands. And we remember at Corinth that Paul was making tents. Now we don't know exactly what he was doing at Ephesus, perhaps the same thing. So you get a picture of Paul that sometime during the day he is working with his own hands, perhaps making tents, perhaps doing something else. Then he is teaching during this time of intense heat of the day, and then perhaps in the evening doing more work, as well as giving out the gospel in other ways. Now toss in the riot of the silversmiths that occurs in there, and all of the disturbance that takes place because of the message that Paul was proclaiming. And then we just have one brief allusion in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul says that he had fought with beasts at Ephesus. And that has puzzled many commentators and scholars. What were the beasts? Were they literal beasts? Is this a figurative statement? Most take this as figurative. That, in other words, Paul was saying the battle was so intense, it was as if I were grappling with beasts in the Colosseum. Others think, perhaps, that that actually happened. I think most do not. But this is the intense pressure that was on the Apostle Paul while he was there at Ephesus. This was physically draining to the individual. But I don't think this was the worst of the situation. Because on top of this was the emotional and spiritual drain that was taking place on the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 38, Paul there enumerates some of the problems and he says, and besides all of this, all the things that he had been through, all the persecutions and difficulties and shipwreck, etc., etc., Paul says, the care of all the churches. And here was what was weighing upon him, and especially at this time at Ephesus, the church at Corinth. And that was what was making such a heavy heart and so much heaviness on the part of the Apostle Paul. After his first time there at Corinth, Paul then hears of problems, and we know that he then writes what we look at as 1 Corinthians. And there's a good deal of discussion that takes place regarding how many epistles are sent and lost epistles and all of this, and I don't intend to get into all of that this morning. But simply the fact that after Paul hears of problems, he writes that first epistle to the Corinthians. The problems intensify. And from 2 Corinthians we learn this difficulty and the rejection of the apostle Paul and of his authority. And it's possible that he made a quick trip to Corinth. There are at least some indicators in 2 Corinthians that that might have occurred. And then finally, Paul sends what appears to be a very strong message to the Corinthians by the hand of Titus. We don't have that message. But this went to them apparently, Titus takes it, and afterwards Paul is in agony over whether or not he did the right thing. Was the message too strong? How will the Corinthians receive this? What is taking place? And he cannot wait to find out from Titus what the response was going to be. And chapter 2, verse 1, you notice there, but I determined this with myself that I would not come again to you in heaviness. Here is the apostle Paul speaking of heaviness. Verse 4, it is affliction and anguish of heart in chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. And this is absolutely amazing. from my perspective when you come to 12 and 13. He is waiting. He is waiting for Titus to come back with word from the Corinthian church. And Paul is literally torn up about this. He is an emotional wreck at this particular moment. And notice the severity of it in verse 12. Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and the door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia." In other words, when he arrived there at Troas, he was expecting to find Titus coming back from Corinth with word on how the epistle had been received and all of this. And he says, I got to Troas, and when I got there, I didn't find Titus, but the Lord opened the door for the gospel. And so, knowing the apostle Paul, of course, he would have gone right in and proclaimed. He didn't do it. He said, here was an open door for the gospel, but I was so emotionally wrung out, so anxious, so distressed and disturbed, I could not take advantage of what God had put before me. So I hope we're getting the picture here of a man who is wrung out physically and who has been wrung out emotionally and spiritually. And literally here, Paul tells us back in chapter 1 that he thought he was going to die. And verse 9, it says, but we have the sentence or the answer of death in ourselves. So Paul is saying, in this intense trial, am I going to live or die? And it is if a court decision comes down that says, Paul, you're not going to make it. And Paul, you're going to die. That's the answer. And so all of this, one thing heaped on top of another, on top of another, until we have layer piled upon layer, that is what Paul says, pressing him down. He is physically and emotionally crushed in verse 8. There are two expressions that I find very interesting and powerful. that Paul uses describing the crush that can come to an individual. In Romans chapter 8, where he is talking about nothing being able to separate us from the love of God, he talks about tribulation and then he uses another word, distress. And that word is interesting because it is the idea of a narrow place, of walls that are squeezing you in. When I read that, I think of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. And there is Poe in that pit, and the walls slowly are continually creeping in on him. He is indeed in a narrow place, and it is squeezing. And that's what the Apostle Paul is saying in Romans chapter 8, when you are in a narrow place where the walls are squeezing you in. And sometimes you felt that way. And I felt that way. And you may be feeling that way right now in graduate school. The walls are pressing in upon me. And I just don't know where I'm going to go and how I'm going to handle it. And here he uses the second expression that I find fascinating. And that's in the middle of verse 8, where he says, We were pressed out of measure above strength. Pressed out of measure. Literally here a weight that is pressing down upon him. One writer has vividly described this. I read this years ago and it stayed with me because it is such a vivid image of what I think Paul is saying here. And he described it as a donkey that is standing there and the person is putting a burden on the donkey to carry this load. And so you begin to load the donkey and you put various items on the donkey and the donkey is standing there. And then after a while, you put a little bit more and the legs begin to tremble just a little bit and to shake. And then you add a little bit more of a burden to the back of that donkey and the legs start to shake more. And then you go ahead and you add some more. And finally, that donkey goes flat down in the dust. And he said, that's what he's talking about here. And that's what the apostle Paul is saying emotionally, spiritually, physically, I am like a donkey that has been overloaded and I am flat down in the dust right now. And in fact, he says, I think I'm going to die. Now, maybe you're not quite at the point of death, but some of you may understand what it is to be flat down your belly in the dust. And that's where Paul was. He was at the end of his rope. And what was the purpose of all of this? Well, God was teaching the Apostle Paul a lesson in trust. And I always have to think, stop and think, wait a minute, wait a minute, what are we talking about here? This is the Apostle Paul. And, I mean, if anyone had arrived at spiritual maturity, you say, it is the Apostle Paul. And here, with all of his experience, all that he has gone through prior to this, with what has happened in his life, and God is still having to instruct him in the basic lesson of trust. Several years ago, I was speaking at my home church up in North Carolina. And it was a dear brother there was in his mid 90s and just a lovely, lovely brother. And he was sick and in the hospital. And we, like I said, just went up, you know, from time to time. And the last time I'd been there, he was in the hospital. And then we went back later on and he was there. And so I was talking with him. And this man, he has been saved for 60 years or more. And when I was chatting with him, he said, all that time in the hospital, the Lord was teaching me so much. I'm thinking, whoa, wait a minute. This guy's been walking with the Lord for over 60 years. He's 94 years old and the Lord's teaching him lessons. Oh, my, there's no hope. I guess it just keeps going on forever and ever, doesn't it? Yeah, it does until eternity. But here's the Lord teaching the Apostle Paul a lesson in trust. You know, the Apostle had been at the end of his rope one other time in his life. That was on the road to Damascus. There he had been trusting in the rope of self-righteousness. And that was how he was trying to please God. Well-educated, school of Gamaliel. Leadership qualities of head of those, his peers, Galatians chapter 1 tells us. Moral and religious, we find out from Philippians chapter 3. And so Paul was holding on to that rope and on the road to Damascus, God broke him and literally put him down in the dust. And Paul there turned loose of that rope of self-righteousness and trusted completely, wholly, without reservation in the work of Christ. And now God was teaching him, Paul, turn loose of the ropes for daily living. And trust me now in these experiences, the Corinthian situation, the physical pressures that are upon you. Trust me now in the same way that you trusted me for salvation. It was the lesson of the patriarchs to go out in faith, turning loose of the rope. Abraham going out from Ur of the Chaldees, going to a place he didn't know. God called him. Abraham got up and left. And then he promises to give him a son, and it doesn't seem physically possible, and the son comes. And after he gets the son, what does he tell him to do? Take him out and sacrifice him. All from a human perspective, they're not going to work. It doesn't make sense. But God says, trust me. Trust me, Abraham, even though from your physical eyes, from what you're seeing, it doesn't seem to work. But the lesson that he was learning was that God was El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient One. I'm all you need, Abraham. It's me. And God was teaching Paul the same lesson. I'm all you need, Paul. And that's the lesson he has to teach us over and over and over again. And what does he say here? We were trusting in the God who raiseth the dead." Paul says, well, you know, this is the God, this is the lesson that I learned that God can bring back to life and this is the kind of confidence I've got to have in Him that when it seems impossible that God can still work His miracles. God wants us to turn loose of whatever ropes we're holding on to and to trust Him as the all-sufficient One. We move ahead about a millennia or two from my initial doctoral experience to the conclusion of that experience. And I had finished everything, the rough draft of the dissertation, and was ready to do the final draft of this and get it to my committee. And this was in the early fall, and I needed to get it to them before, during the fall at least, the fall semester. And this is in the early computer age, folks. And so we decided, you know, several options on this. But it seemed as though the best option was to buy a computer and to do it at home and so forth. So OK. Well, IBM at that time came out with a special for educators. And they thought, wonderful, reduced price, fantastic. It even had a color screen. I mean, this was really top notch. The IBM PS2, model 25. That was the low end of this thing. No hard drive, mind you, no hard drive. That's still down the roadways. But nevertheless, there's all these little floppies. And so, yes, this is the way it's going to go. So I had to send in documentation that indeed I was an educator and all this sort of stuff goes into IBM. So we're getting on into September, early October, and I'm waiting to hear from them. And finally, a letter comes and it says, sorry, Bob Jones University is not accredited. Therefore, we cannot process your application. Too bad, so sad. And I thought, ah, what do I do now? And that weekend, when the letter came, I was scheduled to go out on a debate tournament. And so quickly, I ran around town and grabbed every computer magazine I could find off the stands, stuffed them into my briefcase, and off we went to the debate tournament. And between every round, and when I wasn't judging, and during prep time, and all of this, I'm frantically going through all the computer magazines, trying to see what can I get, where's the price, where's the discount, what can I do? And I remember very distinctly, I was sitting in the final round of a turn. I was not judging, mind you, I was not judging at this one. So I wasn't, my attention, it wasn't a matter of being focused. But I was sitting in a final round and the Lord started speaking to me and saying, what's the matter with you? You know, haven't you read about trust? Haven't you spoken about trust? Have you forgotten about me? And I said, you know, Lord, you're absolutely right. And I closed up the magazines, and I stuck them in my briefcase and said, Lord, I don't know what you're going to do, but you're going to have to work it out. And I got home Sunday afternoon. And Sunday night, the place we had not thought about looking before, I looked in the want ads, just opened up the newspaper, just casually scanned through the want ads. And there was a IBM PS2 Model 30 advertised for less than what I was going to pay for the other. I called them. They said it was some educational training program here in Greenville. They had bought one more computer than they needed, and they wanted to get rid of it just at their cost. I said, yes. Monday night, I had that computer set up in my dining room on the table, operating and ready to go. Far and a better computer than the one I was looking at to begin with. Now, that's not a big, big thing in terms of life and death, but it was to me at that time. And there are situations that you're going to encounter and there are pressures that you're going to have in your graduate study and in these weeks during the summer that you're going to feel that, what am I going to do? You're going to sense the pressure. And the tendency is going to be to try to tie knots and solve all of this yourself. Let me just suggest God's trying to teach you some lessons. And the lessons you may learn during your graduate study, the lessons you may learn in trust, may be as valuable as the cognitive material that you're going to take out of the classroom. So, take both lessons. Learn both of them. Let the Lord teach you in both ways. And I trust that it will be a good experience as the Lord instructs both of us in trusting Him. You've been listening to the Chapel Hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Dr. DeWitt Jones, Chairman Emeritus of the Division of Speech Communication at BJU. For a cassette or compact disc copy of today's message, send a check for $6 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.