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I'm thinking today of Job 21-7. This is the question that was asked.

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Why do the wicked still live? Continue on. Also become very powerful. Job 21-7.

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The logical conclusion here is that there is a judgment coming.

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It's not really a rhetorical question. It's like we're asking God, why does it seem like the wicked are still getting away with what they're doing?

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The truth is we live in a world with a lot of not very nice people in it doing things, pulling schemes,

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getting ahead usually at others' expense. So why does God allow that?

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And the answer is there is a judgment coming.

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The truth is that some of those people who are getting away with really bad things right now,

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before they die on this earth, they may come to Christ.

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I know several drug dealers who no longer deal drugs because they've come to Jesus.

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I know people who spent 20 plus years in jail who no longer served the enemy but now serve God.

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I, for 25 years of my life, was a pretty bad guy, manipulating people around me, lying, a little bit of stealing, playing around with addictive substances.

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The bottom line is Job was starting to get an understanding of heaven in the midst of the worst trials he had ever been through,

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as horrible as his life had become, with guys coming to him and saying,

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you must have sinned against God, and him saying, no, I haven't. I really haven't. I'm living for the Lord the best in Ohio.

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He was beginning to understand that there is life after this life.

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If you judge God's mercy and justice only by this life, it seems hard to understand.

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But we have an eternity with God in heaven after this life, and so we can endure what we're going through now.

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Be encouraged. This is not the end. This is just the beginning.