1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,860 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest 2 00:00:15,860 --> 00:00:21,060 questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search 3 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:27,300 and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead 4 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:32,440 pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth 5 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:41,200 for the life we're searching for. So glad that you're with us this morning. It's been 6 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:45,880 a great morning of worship and man, I just sense the presence of the Lord. His goodness 7 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:51,880 is so, so good. And I want to ask you a question today that I know that you've dealt with in 8 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,160 the past and many people have that question in their hearts that I'm about to ask and 9 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,760 that is how can a good God, if he's so good, if his goodness pursues us and is running 10 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,120 after us and if we talk about the mercy of God, the goodness of God, the love of God 11 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:11,240 so much, how can a good God allow evil to take place the way it does in our world? How 12 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:16,440 many of you have asked or heard that question asked of you in recent days? Would you raise 13 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:22,200 your hand? How can a good God allow evil of the Holocaust? How can a good God allow random 14 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:26,480 wickedness and evil to take place? Well that's what we're going to be looking at today. How 15 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,880 can a good God allow evil in our Dear God series? Please take your Bibles and turn to 16 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:36,240 Ecclesiastes chapter 3 beginning in verse 1. We'll read the first 17 verses, a good 17 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:43,200 segment here of Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and I'll ask you to stand with me as we read it. 18 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:48,000 If you're having trouble finding it, it's just to the right of Psalms and Proverbs. 19 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,840 And Solomon writing in the book of Ecclesiastes is writing, now if you remember Solomon is 20 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:58,480 the wisest man in all the world. God has given him wisdom beyond anyone else. Read the book 21 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:04,160 of Proverbs and you'll read the wisdom of Solomon day in and day out, just incredible 22 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:09,240 wisdom that God gave him to rule, to lead, and to write, and to preach, and teach. And 23 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,680 now we're looking at something in the book of Ecclesiastes that the latter part of his 24 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:20,520 life. Solomon as wise as he was made many poor decisions and now he's looking back over 25 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:26,120 his life with all the wisdom that he has that God has given him. He's trying to factor in 26 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:31,880 some of the things that he's seen that seemingly are difficult to answer like the problem of 27 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:37,320 evil and other things. I'm going to read the first 17 verses which will be our setting 28 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:43,240 to begin this question, how can a good God allow evil? We'll go from Genesis to Revelation 29 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:48,560 today but we'll start here. Verse one says, there's an appointed time for everything. 30 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:53,480 There is a time for every matter under heaven. A time to give birth and a time to die. A 31 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:59,080 time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. 32 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:04,240 A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time 33 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:10,320 to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones. A time 34 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:16,840 to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost. 35 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:22,360 A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together. 36 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:27,880 A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for 37 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:35,100 war and a time for peace. He goes on and says, what benefit is there for the worker from 38 00:03:35,100 --> 00:03:40,460 that in which he labors? I've seen the task which God has given the sons of mankind with 39 00:03:40,460 --> 00:03:47,360 which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity 40 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:53,200 in their heart without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has 41 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:57,840 done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there's nothing better for them 42 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:03,440 than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Moreover, that every person who eats and drinks 43 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:08,920 sees good in all of his labor. This is the gift of God. I know that everything God does 44 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:13,880 will remain forever and there's nothing to add to it and nothing to take away from it. 45 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:21,200 God has so worked that people will fear him. That which is, is what has already been and 46 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:27,720 that which will be has already been and God seeks what has passed by. Furthermore, I have 47 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:33,000 seen under the son that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of wickedness 48 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:38,160 or righteousness there is wickedness. I said to myself, God will judge the righteous and 49 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:45,160 the wicked for a time for every matter and for every deed is there. You can hear him 50 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:49,400 saying these words. I'm wondering about how all this works out. I know certain things. 51 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:54,920 I know there's a time for everything but how does God do all that from an eternal perspective? 52 00:04:54,920 --> 00:05:00,100 That's what we'll try to answer today. Father, in Jesus' name speak to us today about this 53 00:05:00,100 --> 00:05:05,440 question of good and evil and your goodness and how it all fits together in our mind and 54 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:10,040 with our faith in you, Lord. We ask that you illuminate your word. We ask it in Jesus' 55 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:17,040 name and all God's people said amen. Please be seated if you would. 56 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,760 So I hope that you are with me today in this little journey that we take climbing up a 57 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,760 mountain of perspective is what I'll call it. As we climb up this mountain of perspective 58 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:30,280 certain hand holes will help us get higher and higher to be able to see and understand 59 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:35,640 the whole landscape of the goodness of God and the suffering that we see taking place 60 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:42,640 on the earth. In 2004, some of you remember a tsunami hit across the world actually. 250,000 61 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:52,040 innocent people drowned in that tsunami. The headlines the next day read in magazines all 62 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:58,400 over the world, if God is God, he is not good. And if God is good, he's not God. You can't 63 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:04,400 have it both ways. A good God would have to stop a tragedy that's senseless like this. 64 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:08,920 That's what the headlines read. That's what people were saying and asking. Recently we 65 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:15,040 visited the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. And many of us know of the Holocaust. Many 66 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:20,720 have been in various museums. But there's something especially powerful about that museum 67 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:25,200 in Jerusalem because it was the Jewish people that actually were annihilated and taken to 68 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:30,080 the concentration camps. And something about walking through the hallways of that Holocaust 69 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:36,760 Museum provoked inside of just about everybody in the group that was there. How did God allow 70 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:43,760 something like this to happen? Where was God when his people were going through those things? 71 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:48,400 But for many of us it's more personal than that. Where was God when that bad thing happened 72 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:55,400 to me? Or to someone that's close to me? Or why was our community terrified by a crazed 73 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:02,360 gunman who shot and killed so many in a local mall not long ago? Those questions come up 74 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:06,960 over and over again. And I want to tell you today as we begin this message, you're going 75 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:12,120 to get some answers from the Word of God today, but you won't always know the answers of why 76 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:19,120 and difficult questions. Not yet you won't. One day you will, but not yet you won't. Lisa 77 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:24,960 Terkhurst writing her book on suffering said, pursuing answers to why God allows hard things 78 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:30,840 has never given me the peace I want. I dig as deep as I can. I go as far as I can, but 79 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:36,160 it never gives me all the peace I want. And yet she concludes I can still hold on to him 80 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:40,840 through life's difficulties. Anybody in this room ever climbed a mountain high enough to 81 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:45,800 see a whole different perspective than what you saw on ground level? Well it's quite an 82 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,440 experience. It's hard to get up. You have to have those handholds getting up there. But 83 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:54,040 once you get to the top, you see things so radically different that you can never imagine. 84 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:59,920 When I was 12 years old, my mom and dad took my brother and I, who was 10 years old at 85 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:05,920 the time, to the biggest mountain in Oklahoma and turned us loose to climb to the top. You're 86 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:12,400 laughing because Oklahoma has no mountains, aren't you? Not many. Mountain Scott is the 87 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:19,400 second tallest mountain in Oklahoma and the peak is 2,500 feet. That's not very high. 88 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,120 So my parents turned us loose, said we'll come back at the end of the day, go to the 89 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:31,120 mountaintop and come back down. That's child care back in the day I was growing up. But 90 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:36,840 2,500 feet is twice the height of the Empire State Building. And we found the little handholds 91 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:40,760 it took to get to the top. It's a gradually sloping mountain. Don't worry about my parents' 92 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:46,400 sanity here, okay? We got to the top and when we got to the top, it was really kind of life 93 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,120 changing for this 12 year old to see that when you're at the top of the mountain, you 94 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:55,400 see something so different from what you saw at ground level. You see for miles and miles 95 00:08:55,400 --> 00:09:00,040 and you see features you would never have seen otherwise. I'll always cherish that experience 96 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:05,360 and that's the kind of experience I want you to take spiritually today as we climb a mountain 97 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:10,000 of revelation, if you will, or a mountain of perspective to get higher and higher above 98 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:15,960 ground level where all the suffering is happening day to day and say how can God allow that 99 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,720 kind of thing to happen? I hope to give you handholds to grip as we climb this mountain 100 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:26,720 of perspective. So I'm going to give you first of all a set of truths to guide us. And then 101 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:32,160 I'm going to give you some reasons for suffering on the planet. And finally I'm going to give 102 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:39,280 you some promises that God gives us even though we're on a suffering surrounded world that 103 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:45,160 you and I can hold on to until a better world comes. So first of all, some truths to guide 104 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:52,160 us. First truth is our good God created a good world. Now read the book of Genesis and 105 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:57,160 you'll see how God created the heavens and the earth in such a powerful and perfect way 106 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:02,160 that it was not just good but according to God it was very good. God saw all that he 107 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:09,160 had made, the Bible says, and behold it was very good. Some day do a word study on the 108 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:13,160 word good from the perspective of God's good and you'll see that it's far different from 109 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:20,160 our good. Our good is just okay. God's good is not just very good but it's absolute perfection. 110 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:27,160 For example, Jesus says there is none good but one and that is God. God is the only one 111 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:33,520 that's good. So there's nothing that we really compare our good with his good but God created 112 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:39,800 a good and perfect world for us to live in. And honestly who's not amazed by the planet 113 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:45,440 earth? I mean I am amazed and astounded by all the things that you can see on the planet. 114 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:51,160 Unexplainable kind of features of the landscape. I love to stand on the brink of the Grand 115 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,360 Canyon and look at that and wonder at how God created that. We're on a mountaintop, 116 00:10:55,360 --> 00:11:00,120 not a real mountain, not in Oklahoma. I wonder exactly how is it that God has created these 117 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:05,760 mountain peaks and how is it that he has so altered the landscape to make it so incredibly 118 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:11,620 beautiful. We spend crazy amount of time and crazy amounts of money traveling places so 119 00:11:11,620 --> 00:11:16,680 we can just see them all. We have bucket lists. I want to see this thing and I want to see 120 00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:21,480 that place and I want to go to that city just so we can see something so amazing and so 121 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:27,960 powerful as the earth that God created. God gave us a good world. He gave us a great earth 122 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:33,080 to live on. This last week I was doing some research in this and I just kind of got on 123 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:38,280 a website that had good earth quotes, good earth quotes and these are quotes by people 124 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,360 that are not necessarily believers. In fact there are many atheists that look at the earth 125 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:48,760 and say it's the good earth. And as you look at their quotations you see that they're mesmerized 126 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:53,080 by the planet that we're on. That's why so many people want to preserve the planet that 127 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:58,760 we're on because they realize its beauty and they realize its uniqueness. We're fascinated 128 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:03,960 by the beauty and the harmony and the alignment and the secretization, everything that God 129 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:07,920 has given us on the planet. And we can go on and on and talk about the fact that everything 130 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:13,480 we need to exist and everything we need to thrive has been placed before we were placed 131 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:20,320 on this planet earth. God created a good world in which we can live in. Would you agree with 132 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:27,320 that today? God created the heavens and the earth a good world. But the second truth is 133 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:35,920 free mankind chooses disobedience and death. Free mankind chooses disobedience and death. 134 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:40,160 The same creation story that describes God created the heavens and the earth tells us 135 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:45,760 about the creation of the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve, and the free will 136 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:53,160 He gave them to choose for themselves. And they chose, as you know, disobedience. Four 137 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:59,440 thousand years later the apostle Paul describes the impact of their choices in Romans 8 and 138 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:04,320 so much is written in Romans 8. It says in chapter 5 of Romans, for example, leading 139 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,960 up to Romans 8, therefore, justice through one man sin entered into the world and death 140 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:15,200 spread to all men because all sinned goes on to say because of that sin and because 141 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:21,340 of that death, death reigned and death reeled on the planet. Later on we'll read in Romans 142 00:13:21,340 --> 00:13:26,480 chapter 8 where the whole earth is groaning because it wants to be freed from the curse 143 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:33,840 of sin on the earth itself. So what's happened is Adam and Eve's choice to disobey God brings 144 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:38,840 sin and death and all kinds of curses to the earth that we live on. As beautiful as it 145 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:43,840 is, did you know that our earth is cursed today because of sin? You can read about it 146 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:48,880 in the book of Genesis. Let's think about that curse for just a few moments because 147 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:54,960 it impacts everything about this question about suffering. For example, Adam and Eve's 148 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:59,880 choice of sin and death brings a curse to people. We are from that moment on separate 149 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:06,400 from the God who created heaven and earth and we must have a bridge to gap that difference 150 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:10,640 between ourselves and God. They received a curse to their bodies today. Did you know 151 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:16,600 that your body will not live forever? Surely you're aware of that. Disease and difficulty 152 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:22,240 will happen to our body. Old age will take place in our lives as a result of the original 153 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:27,200 sin and the curse that came in the Garden of Eden. Ultimately, everyone will die. Do 154 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:33,080 you know it's not sounding like good news right now but that 100% of humanity will face 155 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:39,600 death? We will all die. We're mortal individuals because of the curse of sin. But also the 156 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:45,040 curse on the earth itself. Did you know that the garden existence in the Garden of Eden 157 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:50,000 was not an existence of difficulty but it became difficult because of the curse on the 158 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:55,120 earth? In fact, if you describe heaven and earth and all of humanity, all of earth and 159 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:05,240 all of humanity has been cursed by the choice of mankind to sin. Free will brings suffering. 160 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:12,240 So why did God allow Adam and Eve to choose sin? God created us with the capacity to do 161 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:18,520 good and he entrusted heaven and earth to us. He entrusted the animals to Adam and Eve 162 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:22,360 and we wouldn't have it any other way. We would want free will. We would want the capacity 163 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:28,600 to choose. We choose free will but we just can't choose our consequences. We so desperately 164 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:32,960 want to be free. We so desperately want to choose the circumstances of our lives and 165 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:36,880 the decisions that we make day in and day out. But it's those choices that have led 166 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:42,680 us to suffering and cursing and difficulty. We would like a pain-free world in which we 167 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:47,880 have both freedom to live just like we want to and freedom from suffering consequences. 168 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:53,120 But those two things are mutually exclusive because we do not choose the right way just 169 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:59,200 as Adam and Eve did not do. There was C.S. Lewis that said, try to exclude the possibility 170 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:05,240 of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free wills involve and you 171 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,920 will find that you've excluded life itself. There is no life where there is no suffering 172 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:14,080 because there is no life where there is not free will. Stay with me here today. You have 173 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:19,920 a free will just as Adam and Eve had and that in itself brings suffering. There is no pain-free 174 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:26,920 world where free will and sin exist. Then the third truth, God will create a new world 175 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:36,840 in eternal perfection. He created a perfect world. Man took that perfect world and began 176 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:42,520 to make choices that brought suffering but God will create a new world in eternal perfection. 177 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:47,280 This is the heaven that we sing about. Revelation chapter 21, we've looked at Genesis, now we're 178 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:52,680 going to the very last book in the Bible, nearly the last chapter, Revelation 21, where 179 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:57,240 John says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth 180 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:04,240 passed away. So the first earth will end with the earth being destroyed and there will no 181 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,840 longer be any death in this new heaven and this new earth. There will no longer be any 182 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:14,400 mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. Now that sounds like good 183 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:20,720 news to me. It's kind of what we want now, right? But God says, I will create that new 184 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:25,920 heaven and that new earth. And I think this is an amazing glimpse of what God has for 185 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:30,560 us in the future. This says so much about the fact that God is a good God who always 186 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:37,560 provides for his people to be in a good world. But here's what I think we do. We vastly underestimate 187 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:44,160 the beauty and perfection of the original creation. Vastly underestimate the horrific 188 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:51,160 after effects of the curse of sin and disobedience and rebellion. We so minimize that. We underestimate 189 00:17:52,460 --> 00:17:58,400 the glorious future existence that God has for every single one of us who believe. God's 190 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:04,800 created world was perfect before we arrived. His new creation will be perfect after mankind 191 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:09,200 is done from the earth. But in the middle, while we're here, in this middle place, this 192 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:15,840 middle earth, if you will, this middle world, sin and choices and free will and suffering 193 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:22,840 and hardship and death are just going to be part of our existence. It's only where we 194 00:18:24,060 --> 00:18:30,040 have freedom that suffering and hardship is real. And you're thinking to yourself, man, 195 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:37,040 this is turning out to be a real downer of a message today, Pastor. You know, today many 196 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:44,440 people that are far from God who do not believe in the existence of God use the presence of 197 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:49,960 suffering as a way to say, I don't believe in a good God. And you might encounter some 198 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:56,300 of those people from time to time and they may question you. And let me just say that 199 00:18:56,300 --> 00:19:03,300 most people today don't accept that argument for the existence of a good God, that if suffering 200 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:10,360 is here, there must be no good God. The idea is that most of the world skeptics don't even 201 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:17,120 accept that anymore. Suffering does not explain in a way the existence of a good God. And 202 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:21,260 the reason for that is if you take God out of the equation, you have no creator, no good 203 00:19:21,260 --> 00:19:27,240 world to begin with, and you have an evolutionary process as a result of a Big Bang Theory in 204 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:33,640 which survival of the fittest is the theme. Without God, it's just each one of us trying 205 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:39,440 to survive over and above and beyond anybody else. And the whole idea of the survival of 206 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:45,560 the fittest is suffering and hardship and conquest and putting others down in order 207 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:51,480 for you to be at the top of the evolutionary cycle. So even scientists today won't even 208 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:58,040 use that as an argument for the fact that they believe that there is no God, that suffering 209 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:03,040 says that there is no God. A godless world is more wicked and more pointless than you 210 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:10,040 can possibly imagine. But the evidence for the presence of God, for the reality of God 211 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:15,680 is so compelling, so real for us that know Him that we wrestle with the issue of suffering 212 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:20,920 from a completely different perspective, and that's the perspective of faith. I so believe 213 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:26,280 in the goodness of God that I look for other reasons for human suffering other than there 214 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:31,960 must be some gap in God's judgment or a gap in God's ability to do that. When bad things 215 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:36,200 happen I don't say, God, where were you? I know where God is. When bad things happen 216 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:40,080 I don't look at God and say, there's some flaw in your character because you should 217 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:44,960 have rescued me from that bad thing that was happening. Why did you turn your back on so 218 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:50,560 many of us? Because the Bible doesn't say that God is doing that. So let me give you 219 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:54,520 some reasons now for suffering that are so important for us. At this point we're starting 220 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,440 to climb the mountain and we should be at about the halfway point of being able to see 221 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:03,560 more clearly the landscape around us in answering this question, why does evil happen when God 222 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:10,440 is good? So let me give you three reasons today to consider for suffering. Number one, 223 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:16,440 suffering is the direct result of rebellion against God. This is inescapable. There's 224 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:23,280 no place that you can look at in the Bible or in life itself where this is not true. 225 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:27,800 Suffering is the direct result of rebellion against God. And if you want to look at creation, 226 00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:32,040 let's timeline all this. First of all there's Lucifer's rebellion against God in heaven. 227 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:37,440 He's a fallen angel, right? And we knew that he fell from heaven. We read about that in 228 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,960 Ezekiel and Isaiah, but he fell from heaven before the temptation of mankind because he 229 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:48,960 ended up tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. So first of all Satan fell from heaven. Lucifer 230 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:55,720 fell and became an adversary to God. And all kinds of subsequent evil and pain took place 231 00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:02,720 because of his fall. Next is Adam's rebellion against God's command. God said to Adam and 232 00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:08,240 Eve, if you eat of this one tree, you shall surely die. And of course Adam and Eve disobeyed 233 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:15,240 God and set sin and death in motion. Sin and death can be traced back to that day when 234 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:20,080 they rebelled against God's command. And then the third event that takes place in this timeline 235 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:25,920 is Cain's rebellion against his brother. Even though the curse had happened and mankind 236 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:32,200 was told you shall surely die before disease set in, before sickness brought suffering, 237 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:37,520 evil in Cain's heart led to the very first murder. Genesis chapter four verse eight, 238 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,480 and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, 239 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:48,360 and killed him. And of course the first murder was a precursor for all murder. My concern 240 00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:55,360 is that we badly underestimate the depravity and the severity of human depravity and sinfulness. 241 00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:00,280 We badly underestimate the power of Satan to bring those things about and fuel those 242 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:04,520 in our lives. And as a result of that, we see all this horrible stuff happening and 243 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:11,080 we say, well it must be God. It can't be us. It can't be the people I know. If we don't 244 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:18,080 see Satan, so we blame God so often. But I want you to consider the horrific tragedies 245 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:25,080 that we talk about a lot. The horrific tragedy of slavery for so many years in America, but 246 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:31,800 also all over the world. I want you to think about sex trafficking for just a few moments 247 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:37,600 and the almost unimaginable things that young victims of sex trafficking go through and 248 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:44,600 the incredibly, incredibly wicked intent of those who make it happen. Or think about war. 249 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:51,600 I've recently watched some video of World War II and even though I know well the history 250 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:57,120 of World War II, again it was brought to me face to face about the atrocities that were 251 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:01,720 created in instigating the war and all that took place during the war and the ending of 252 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:08,040 it. All the direct result of unrestrained sinful mankind. What I read about the Holocaust, 253 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:14,640 the annihilation of six million Jews in Europe by wicked demon possessed Adolf Hitler is 254 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:20,400 a direct result of sinful mankind and so much suffering that happens as a result of rebelling 255 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:26,640 against God. So when I'm thinking about this question, when I'm considering how can God, 256 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:33,640 a good God, allow so much suffering in this earth, why am I blaming a good God when sinfulness 257 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:40,640 is so obvious and so deep? And the answer is I shouldn't blame a good God when sinfulness 258 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:48,880 is so obvious. Here's a third reason suffering happens because of the curse of sin on the 259 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:53,920 earth. Romans 8 goes back and talks a little bit about that original sin and here's how 260 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,960 it describes it. We know that the whole creation, Paul says, groans and suffers the pains of 261 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:05,040 childbirth together until now. The whole creation, you know what the whole creation refers to 262 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:10,040 of course is everything that God created. All of it. It's not difficult to understand. 263 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:15,800 It's not just mankind, it's also everything else on the earth. The curse, for example, 264 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:22,560 brought thorns and pistols to the agricultural efforts of Adam and Eve. God said to Adam 265 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:27,480 by the sweat of your brow, you're going to work because of this sinful action you've 266 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:32,560 taken, you're cursed. The earth is cursed. We didn't read about thorns and pistols before 267 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:38,520 the curse. Think about the effects of sin and rebellion on animal life. I think it's 268 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:43,280 obvious. In the garden, in Eden, the animals lived in peace. In the after world, the Bible 269 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:48,840 says in that new creation, the lion will lay down with the lamb but in this present age 270 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:58,840 the lion does not lay down with the lamb. Think about natural catastrophes. They're 271 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:05,800 influenced by the curse of sinful mankind upon the earth. Do you expect to see earthquakes 272 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:12,640 and tornadoes and tidal waves in God's perfect heaven? Did you see them in the garden of 273 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:18,800 Eden? Of course not. But on a cursed earth they're prevalent. It happens all over because 274 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,920 the earth is cursed. The Bible says in the same way we groan and suffer and anticipate 275 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:30,240 freedom from this cursed body, the earth anticipates that same kind of freedom from sins, corruption 276 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:36,560 and we feel it. I came across a quote this last week that kind of stuck with me. It kind 277 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:41,000 of, I think, characterizes the dilemma that we feel in our hearts sometimes when suffering 278 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:47,240 happens. A guy named Chuck Palahniuk said this. He said, what makes earth feel like 279 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:58,720 hell is our expectation that it should feel like heaven. We want earth to feel like heaven. 280 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:05,920 We want earth to be perfect. We want earth to treat us well. We want people to treat 281 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:14,000 us well. We want society and culture to treat us well. We want earth to feel like heaven. 282 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:21,400 And in our hopes we've forgotten that heaven is where that's going to happen. Not earth. 283 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:31,200 This isn't heaven. Thirdly, suffering is caused by personal disobedience. Not only 284 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:36,760 as a direct result of the rebellion against God and not only because of the curse of sin 285 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:41,280 on the earth but by personal disobedience. In other words, you can suffer by making wrong 286 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:47,220 choices. Sometimes suffering is not the result of general sinfulness but it's personal when 287 00:27:47,220 --> 00:27:53,280 we do things that lead us to be in suffering. The tragic car wreck that takes place because 288 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:58,600 someone drives drunk or because someone exceeds the speed limit to a ridiculous amount and 289 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:06,080 not only hurts them but also others that they hit in that collision. Because of the direct 290 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:11,280 result of our disobedience in some personal way many people are hurt. Relationships are 291 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:15,960 a great example of that. When we hurt other people then suffering takes place because 292 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:22,000 of our disobedience and our unwillingness to live the way we ought to live with each 293 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:31,600 other. Sometimes God just allows us to receive consequences that we deserve, that we create. 294 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:35,760 Remember the guy named Jonah in the Old Testament? Most of us remember Jonah pretty well. Do 295 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:40,080 you remember he disobeyed God? He ran from the command to go to Nineveh and he wanted 296 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,680 to go to Tarshish so he goes into the ship. He's down in the hold and the storm takes 297 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:48,600 place. And the Bible describes the storm this way. The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea 298 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:53,100 and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. So the 299 00:28:53,100 --> 00:28:57,400 sailors were afraid and they went through this calamity. They felt like they were all 300 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:02,440 suffering and they didn't know why. So they're asking questions about it and Jonah gives 301 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:06,520 them the answer. Now Jonah does not say the answer is that you need to toughen up, it's 302 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:15,880 just the weather. That's all it is, it's just the weather. No, Jonah says it's me. This 303 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:22,780 storm is here because of me. And when you throw me overboard this storm stops. There's 304 00:29:22,780 --> 00:29:28,840 no better evidence that sometimes suffering happens because of personal decisions. Now 305 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:32,760 it's a notable exception that we're looking at here in the Bible. God does not always 306 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:39,280 send literal storms to every disobedient person. So the next time you see a tornado it's not 307 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:44,480 necessarily an indication that you need to get on your face and repent, okay? But if 308 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:51,800 you need to go ahead and do it right then, that's a good time. It's present though. It's 309 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:58,200 one of the reasons that suffering happens. God is not vengeful to us but he's a perfect 310 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:03,880 father who will discipline us so that we can reflect his character so sometimes even your 311 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,880 heavenly father will discipline you in a way that's painful and creates some suffering 312 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:12,960 in your life. There are three reasons for suffering that I've shared with you. We're 313 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:18,920 at the halfway point of understanding a higher perspective of suffering but here's the third 314 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,640 place I'm going to take you. Three promises to believe. Let me give you some handholds 315 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:29,320 to get to the top of that mountain. The first promise is that God will bring justice and 316 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:37,600 vengeance to evil acts. I take personal satisfaction in that promise because I'm told that I'm 317 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:43,320 not to retaliate on my own. I take personal satisfaction in the fact that one day God 318 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:48,480 will level the playing field, deal with every person the way they ought to be dealt with 319 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:55,120 in ways that I can never even imagine and certainly not be able to do. During the persecution 320 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,760 of the New Testament church, Paul wrote to the church at Rome that was under the real 321 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:03,920 heat of persecution by the emperor Nero. Hundreds of thousands of believers were being 322 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:08,120 killed but here's what he says. He said, never take your own revenge beloved but leave 323 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:12,520 room for the wrath of God for it is written, and here's the promise, vengeance is mine, 324 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:22,320 I will repay says the Lord. One day every injustice, every inequity, whatever that may 325 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,720 mean in the eyes of God, every single one of them will be dealt with, God will repay 326 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:37,000 evil. And as you noted in the book of Ecclesiastes, Sodom even referred to that. Those New Testament 327 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:44,240 Christians died in Christendom, in martyrdom rather as the emperor persecuted them as we 328 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,640 were referring to a moment ago. They didn't understand it then, they didn't know what 329 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:52,440 to say about the persecution that seemingly was senseless but I can tell you now in the 330 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:57,000 presence of God they have an answer for why God allowed that and they also have an answer 331 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:03,760 for all their persecutors were dealt with by God himself. Over and over in scripture 332 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:08,440 and God has this great reputation here, over and over in scripture God proves himself to 333 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:14,640 be a just and holy God, he will punish and eradicate evil and when we see evil and when 334 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:19,320 we see suffering and we come to the defense of those that are suffering, the anger and 335 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:24,000 the frustration that rises up inside of us, just remember that only God is big enough 336 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:30,040 and wise enough to fairly and justly and eternally deal with it. If he created the heavens and 337 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:35,640 the earth he can make it right again but only God can do that, we want to take it in our 338 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:40,920 hands and we just can't. 339 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:47,120 The first of all God will bring justice and vengeance to evil acts, secondly, second promise 340 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,680 God will bring good out of suffering and I know this is a hard one to listen to especially 341 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:55,960 if you've gone through suffering and I think sometimes we quote Romans 8.28 and people 342 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:01,960 say oh you're going there again. That's your regular answer to tough things and I would 343 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:06,720 answer to you yes it is my regular answer to tough things because it's the best answer 344 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:12,000 to tough things. Now you know what it says, read it with me out loud would you? And we 345 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:17,720 know that God causes all things together for good, to work together for good to those who 346 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:23,320 love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Man what a passage, what a 347 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:28,360 verse. Now Paul's been through persecution, he's been through suffering, he's saying 348 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:33,240 this in light of all that. We know God causes all things to work together for good, God 349 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:38,600 will bring good out of suffering, we can believe that, we can know that. It's just difficult 350 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:43,800 for us to see it sometimes right? God I know you're able to do that, theologically I'm 351 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,440 sure of it. I have enough faith to believe you'll cause it to work together for good 352 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:55,400 but man why don't you show me how that's going to work. Tim Keller said just because you 353 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:59,960 can't see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something doesn't mean there 354 00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:07,080 can't be one. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean anything at all, it just 355 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:12,520 means that you're not all knowing and you're not all wise, you're not all seeing but oh 356 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:16,800 we want to be. Sometimes things happen in life and they're kind of small and they're 357 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:21,840 kind of trivial but they help us kind of conceptualize this and this happened a number of times when 358 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:29,520 my kids were growing up. I would always try to play games with them in fun ways to me 359 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:35,320 that would later on teach them a lesson. I remember my middle daughter wanted a car really 360 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:40,120 badly when she was 16. We went car shopping and we found a little Honda Civic that was 361 00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:45,720 just perfect for her and it was just gently used if you would, if you want to call it 362 00:34:45,720 --> 00:34:50,880 like that it was just in good shape enough for her. So I saw it that day and talked to 363 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:55,760 the guy and we decided to look on for other cars and I didn't say anything else about 364 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:59,520 the car. I went back to the dealership and bought it and took it to a friend's house, 365 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:06,520 parked it in the garage because her birthday was weeks away. We looked for other cars and 366 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:09,960 I wasn't going to let her know I'd bought the car and she said well what about that 367 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:15,680 first car we looked at? I said somebody bought it. I didn't tell her who. Knowing it was 368 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:22,960 just a few blocks away in my friend's garage. And my daughter was angry about that. Every 369 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:27,680 other car we looked at she would look at and say but that white Civic dad if you just bought 370 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:32,240 that everything would be just fine I don't like anything else and this went on for weeks 371 00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:38,240 until I was ready to give her the car before her birthday. But on her birthday she came 372 00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:43,600 outside that car was wrapped in a canvas and she pulled it off and there was that car that 373 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:48,360 she wanted so bad so many weeks ago and all of a sudden all the anger she had towards 374 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:55,640 me melted away completely. I've done this with more than one of my children by the way 375 00:35:55,640 --> 00:36:05,200 just because it's so fun to watch it unfold. As I said it's kind of a trivial illustration. 376 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,680 But don't you think there's a smiling God somewhere that looks at things that we go 377 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:14,600 through that says if they can only wait long enough they'll see why. If they can only wait 378 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:19,560 long enough they'll realize I had the very best in mind for them but it wasn't the right 379 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:26,760 time and it wasn't the right way. They just need to trust me with that. Do you think perhaps 380 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:33,040 that God means that in Romans chapter 8 verse 28? We know God causes all things to work 381 00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:37,360 together for good. We can't explain it, we can't see it, and we get impatience in the 382 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:42,640 middle of that verse often but don't we know that God causes all things to work together 383 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,560 for good for those who love God? Those who are the called according to His purpose? And 384 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:54,800 the answer is yes. Some of us are upset because we know God is big enough and loving enough 385 00:36:54,800 --> 00:37:00,680 to redeem a situation and to stop a situation but if He's big enough to stop a situation 386 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:07,320 then He's also big enough to redeem a situation right? We have to trust Him. You know when 387 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,560 I look at suffering and the idea of a good God allowing suffering to take place I think 388 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:16,240 sometimes people struggle the most with that because they think God is there and He's not 389 00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:20,840 experiencing the same suffering we're experiencing until they remember that God did come down 390 00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:27,240 on earth into a suffering, sinful, horrific, wicked world in the form of Jesus Christ. 391 00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:34,360 And that Jesus Christ did walk through suffering and He did pay the price, the penalty of sin, 392 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:39,880 all of the sin of mankind was placed upon Him. Not just one man's sin or one woman's 393 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:45,560 sin but all of the sin of mankind was placed upon Him. God did come down, He did walk in 394 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:50,560 this world of suffering to identify with us and then to pay for that suffering and that 395 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:57,680 sin and then to overcome it all through His power and resurrection. We have a good God, 396 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:04,920 we have a suffering world but we have a good God who came into that suffering world. 397 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:12,920 The final promise is God will bring those who believe into a perfect eternity. Your 398 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:21,600 best life is not now but your best life is then on that day. 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 399 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:26,360 13, but according to His promise we're looking for a new heaven and a new earth. I love the 400 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:31,400 emphasis there. We are looking for something different from what we have here. We're looking 401 00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:38,000 for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. You know what you need 402 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,720 to do some day? You just need to read the descriptions of the future eternal earth that 403 00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:49,240 God has for us after this short life and take them serious. You should just read about all 404 00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:53,920 the glories of heaven, read the latter part of the book of Revelation, read what Jesus 405 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:59,760 promises in the book of John. When you read about all that God has for all those who put 406 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:04,560 their faith and trust in Him, it's hard to deny the existence of a good God when He has 407 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:10,880 these amazing plans for us for all time and all eternity. He's preparing something for 408 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:17,640 us so much greater than anything we can possibly fathom on this planet. I promise you what 409 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:23,040 He has for you will make you forget everything you've experienced here and now and God will 410 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:29,080 so settle the inequities of life, all the pain, all the suffering, all the seemingly 411 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:34,460 senseless tragedy. This new existence will swallow them up and overwhelm them and make 412 00:39:34,460 --> 00:39:40,160 up for all the hardships we've seen on the planet. That's God's promise to us. It's 413 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:46,960 bigger than you can possibly imagine. It's above and beyond what we can ask or think. 414 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:52,680 Tim Keller said this, the ultimate defeat of evil and suffering is this, this new heaven 415 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:58,520 and new earth. It will not only be ended but so radically vanquished that what has happened 416 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:05,680 will only serve to make our future life and joy infinitely greater. And no one that's 417 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:11,560 passed from this life to that life is questioning the goodness of God and we shouldn't question 418 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:17,720 it here and now. He is good and He is God. And here's the great part of this promise. 419 00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:21,760 Into this perfect world of eternity, into this perfect new heaven and new earth, He 420 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:32,760 has invited you. You. You have an invitation through Christ to a perfect world. You want 421 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:39,960 it now, but it's then that you're invited. That's the promise. He who believes in me, 422 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:46,160 Jesus says, has eternal life. And I'm looking forward to that day. I'm looking forward to 423 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:51,640 all that God is going to show us, all He's going to reveal to us. And I promise you that 424 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:56,800 you'll be past all the fear and frustration and disappointment and all the pain and suffering 425 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:01,800 and heartbreak. Beyond all that stuff is the perfection of the heavenly kingdom that He 426 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:07,040 has for us. And you're invited and you're encouraged to believe Him and join Him in 427 00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:18,960 that. So what's the verdict? What's the verdict? How then do we live? Well, Solomon, who was 428 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:24,640 at the high place of understanding on his mountain, never found all the answers to his 429 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:30,320 questions. But basically said, we're going to have to learn to trust the God who has 430 00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:35,720 revealed some of himself and some of the reasons for what he does. We're going to have to 431 00:41:35,720 --> 00:41:39,400 trust him. Now I know in this room today, there are going to be some people who insist 432 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:44,440 on all the answers. No, that's not good enough for me. You'll say, I need all the answers. 433 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:49,640 I need them now. And may I just kind of poke you in the chest a little bit and say, even 434 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:54,960 if you heard what they were, you wouldn't understand them. Your mind and your comprehension 435 00:41:54,960 --> 00:42:00,400 is not big enough for the things that God knows and that only God knows. Take a step 436 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:10,600 back and say, his ways are higher than mine. His ways are bigger than mine. Solomon concludes 437 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:15,480 it with this verse. The whole book is concluded in chapter 12 verse 13 and 14. The conclusion 438 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:22,080 when everything has been heard is, fear God and keep His commandments because this applies 439 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:27,800 to every person for God will bring every act to judgment. Everything which is hidden, whether 440 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:33,640 it is good or evil. In the end, Simon says, I'm going to have to trust him. He's a good 441 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:44,400 God. He's trustworthy. I'm putting my confidence in him. And I want you to do that today. I'm 442 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,920 going to give you three invitations today that are important to our life. I want you 443 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:53,640 to consider what we're talking about here today. Go home, read through your Bible, maybe 444 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:58,120 some of these passages that we've looked at today and reconcile that in your heart. God, 445 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:03,840 I don't understand how this all works, but I believe that you're a good God. And that 446 00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:08,960 in the end, I will see what I can't see right now. What an incredible step of faith that 447 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:15,000 is. Today it may be that you've never taken the step to trust Jesus Christ. God came into 448 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:21,560 suffering by becoming man. That's called the incarnation. He walked on this planet in suffering. 449 00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:27,280 He suffered on the cross for us and now offers the gift of eternal life, forgiveness of sin 450 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,400 and the promise of this great new world we talked about. If you've never made the decision 451 00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:37,160 of trusting Jesus personally for your forgiveness of sin to be your Lord and Savior today, stop 452 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:42,400 by our decision station. That's my first invitation. Stop there and talk to someone and say, I 453 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:47,160 want to know that I have a relationship with this God who's creating new heaven and new 454 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:51,680 earth. I want to know Him. Second invitation is if you're a guest, I'd love to see you 455 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:56,440 in the guest reception room just outside the center exit doors and across the hallway. 456 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,080 There I'll share a few things with you about our church. I have a couple of invitations 457 00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:04,720 to give you to next steps. Thirdly, I want to ask you to invite someone to come back 458 00:44:04,720 --> 00:44:09,040 with you next week. You know, next week I'm dealing with the subject of is hell real? 459 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:14,240 How can a good God create a hell in which there is eternal punishment and separation? 460 00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:21,240 That's a big question that someone wonders about. Is hell real? Would you stand with 461 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:28,320 me as we pray? Father, I want to thank you so much today that you are a good God and 462 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:34,040 that your goodness pursues us. It comes after us. And oh, we need your goodness. We need 463 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:40,040 to know you that way. We need to receive your goodness and grace. Father today, thank you 464 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:45,120 that you have given us a brilliant light of your goodness and your love for us in the 465 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:52,320 middle of a dark, dark world. And Father today, I pray that each one of us will grapple personally 466 00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:56,640 with who you are and what you've done for us. And they will make the personal decision 467 00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:03,200 of placing their trust and faith in you, Lord Jesus, as Lord and Savior and Master today. 468 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:07,920 We believe in our hearts. I thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.