I was playing golf the other day with a guy I'd
never met, and about hole number two, he turns
to me and says, so you talk about God? Well,
let me ask you this. Why do bad things happen
to good people? What I'm going to share today
is what I would share with him. Stick around.
Welcome to this edition of Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram. We are an international discipleship
ministry devoted to helping Christians worldwide
live out their faith for the glory of God and
the benefit of all people. And boy, Chip's tackling
probably one of the most prominent themes in
our world today, justice. Because as prejudice,
wrongdoing, and evil seem to be running rampant
everywhere, the question of where is God gets
louder and louder. So let's learn more about
this core attribute of our Heavenly Father. Go
in your Bible to Genesis chapter 18 as we join
Chip for his message, The Justice of God. If
this message were in a little wrapper and it
was The Justice of God, there would be a little
sticker in the corner. And the little sticker
would be in that bright yellow and it would say,
Warning. This message may be hazardous to your
health. We have talked about many of the attributes
of God, but the one that we will talk about on
this time together requires us to think at a
level of clarity that is uncommon for most of
us, and it requires us to have a sense of sobriety,
of seriousness, a sense of what's at stake if
we're going to really hear from God. And so I
would encourage you that even as we get started,
that you pray and say, Lord, I'm a human being,
and like all human beings, I have practiced and
become very good at denial. I have learned how
to fool myself. I've learned how to fool other
people. I've learned to play all kind of games,
but I need you to take the spiritual wax out
of my ears, to take any calluses that are on
my heart. I need you to help me hear. clearly,
and to see accurately, okay? There are two questions
that I find disturb believers and unbelievers
alike. I mean, I can go to a mall, I can go to
a park, I can go to a church, I can talk with
Christian leaders, I can talk to absolute pagans,
and I can tell you there are two questions that
they struggle with, we struggle with, and everyone
struggles with. Question number one is why do
bad things happen to good people? I was six days
after the tsunami hit. I was at a beach where
160 people were out for a daily walk on Sunday
morning, and they heard an interesting sound,
had no idea what it was, and a huge wave comes
in, sweeps them off the beach, takes them out,
and they are gone. I walked around the corner
and I saw a big shipping area, not like his little
fishing boats, but I mean big fishing boats that
were the livelihood of this village of a few
hundred thousand people. And I saw huge ships
just tilted like this. How does a good God let
tsunamis hit and kill tens of thousands of people?
How does a good God let a 9 -11 terrorist attack
occur? Where innocent people, you know, some
guy kissed his wife and said, honey, I'll see
you later. I've got a business trip and gets
on a plane from Pittsburgh and it ends up decimated
in the ground. Or some gal, you know, puts on
her makeup and goes up to about the 62nd floor
and she's just there early doing her work. And
all of a sudden she hears all kind of sirens
go off and a plane has hit the building. And
she scurries downstairs that are crowded and
packed with screaming people. And her family
really doesn't know whether she made it out or
not. All they know is there's no remains. And
they ask why. 39 -year -old guy, a friend of
mine that I know, great health, good shape, took
care of himself, three kids, massive heart attack.
Why? One of the hardest things my son faced,
he had a young man that grew up in our church
who was unbelievably musically talented. Literally,
I've never seen anyone where he just sort of
played around and pretty soon he could play the
piano. It didn't take any lessons. And he watched
someone else and he picked up a mandolin and
then he played the guitar. And then he saw someone
else playing something else and he could just
sit down and God gave him these amazing songs.
And he and my son would make this music in my
garage and then travel all over the country and
do their thing. And John was always skinny, and
we'd really kid him and give him a hard time.
I mean, he was like thin, as in all the jokes.
John turned sideways, and he disappears. And
he always had a little bit of a stomach problem,
and no one thought much of it. But I remember
the day I got a call, and they finally found
out what was wrong, and John was 25 years old,
and he had cancer. And nine months later, I remember
sitting around his bed and one of the worship
leaders in our church was with the guitar singing
and his mom and his dad and myself and my son.
And we sat around and we prayed as we watched
the last parts of life ebb out of John. And I
get in the car with my boy. And he's been raised
in a Christian home. I mean, his dad's a pastor.
It's me. And my son looks me in the eye and goes,
Dad. I mean, that guy has more musical ability
in his little finger than I have in my whole
body. And he's already written songs that we're
singing in our church and his passion was to
do this for God. Dad, why? And you could tell
me stories of the cancer that hit people that
you love and the car wreck and the drunk driver.
Everyone struggles with this question, why do
bad things happen to good people? And there's
a second question. In fact, I have more problems
with this one. I do. My confession is why do
good things happen to bad people? I mean, you
look at the corporate excesses and you have people
now after years, you know, getting a little slap
on the wrist and executives who defrauded people
of hundreds of millions of dollars going home
with a little parachute of 10 or 12 million dollars
as they run out the back door. And then they
interview grandmothers who had their life savings
in the company who are absolutely broke, 77 years
old, have absolutely nothing, and they have zero.
And this guy that hoodwinked everybody walks
out. the back door with 10 or 12 million dollars.
And I don't know about you, I not only get angry,
I'm thinking, hey God, where's the justice here?
All of us have been in a corporation or a job
site or even in high school and you found someone
that you knew, they lied, they cheated on tests,
they were anti -God, they were arrogant, they
were the kind of people that the word jerk was
made for. And it just seems like the blessing
of God is on their life. It's like they don't
have any struggles. They don't have any problems.
They get the pretty girlfriend. They get on the
fast track. They have the nice home. They got
the nice car. And you're going, hello. Why do
good things happen to bad people? And these two
questions, there's something underneath of them.
See, underneath these two questions is a big
issue. The real issue is life's not fair, right?
I mean, the problem with the bad things happen
to good people is that's not fair. And the problem
with good things happen to bad people is that's
not fair. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist
to say, okay, life doesn't seem very fair. Now,
who created life? God. And if God created life,
then the real question is, is God fair? Is God
just? Does he judge rightly? People have a very,
very, very difficult time, believers and unbelievers,
but one of the things you have going for you
is you have the best explanation to this problem
because you have what's called a biblical world.
You don't have some sort of a wacky dualism of
there's a good God and a bad God and they're
in competition and there's the dark side of the
force and the white side of the force and all
this jazz of trying to figure out who's going
to win. Your biblical worldview definitely helps
you understand. Because let me give you your
biblical worldview. I want you to imagine this
is a timeline right here, beginning right here
is eternity past and there's an arrow. And this
arrow goes right to here for eternity future.
And what your worldview and my worldview tells
you is this, is that before time began, we have
Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two.
We're right here. And God creates a perfect,
fair, just environment where he loves his people
that he's created. He gives them all the world.
He says, be fruitful and multiply. He has intimate
communion with them. And it is a perfect paradise
or environment. And that's the first two chapters
of human existence. Then there's a parentheses.
There's a parentheses that started right here.
And in Genesis chapter 3, there is a coup. There
is a rebellion. There is a... entrance of sin
into the world, and with that comes a judgment.
Sin is judged. Mankind is taken out of the garden.
The tree of life is now guarded by cherubim so
that this death or separation will not be permanent.
And what we have in the Bible and what we have
in our experience, it's called the fall. You
live in a fallen world. What we know is the world
that we live in is not the world God intended.
The world that we live in is a fallen world.
We live in a world that has cancer. We live in
a world that has a disease. We live in a world
that does not reflect the goodness and the purity
and the holiness of God. But it was allowed by
him for reasons we talked about earlier. So in
this parenthesis, the whole story of mankind's
history is Genesis chapter three. You're inside
of a parenthesis and you have the story of the
Old and the New Testament. You get all the way
in the entire rest of the Bible, all the way
up to Revelation chapter 20. Is God working with
people in light of a fallen world and his redemptive
plan? And at chapter 20, you have another judgment
and it's called the great white throne judgment
where God takes all the injustice and all the
pain and all the bad things done to good people
and all the good things done to bad people and
he takes all the scales and he says a day will
come when he will make everything right and he
will judge. All men of all time according to
their works. And then the parentheses ends and
we're in chapter 21 and there's a new heaven
and there's a new earth and it's a perfect environment
and there's no pain and there's no tears and
everything will be as it should be again. But
here's what you need to remember is that you
live inside the parentheses. See, God is just.
God is fair. But you live in a fallen world where
his justice is not meted out in space -time history
in a way that is corollary to what we think ought
to be when it actually happens. And so there
are injustices. Life is not fair. I mean, if
you haven't figured that one out, life is not
fair in a world where sin dominates. But it raises
a very, very important question. How can we...
trust God in a world that has fallen? How can
you depend on a God where life doesn't seem fair?
How can we learn to think soberly and clearly
about what it means inside the parenthesis of
Genesis 3 to Revelation 20? How do we live this
life and worship God who is just in the midst
of a fallen world? And that's what I want to
talk about today. Let's begin by defining the
justice of God. What do we mean when we say justice?
The first preview I see in the scriptures is
with Abraham in Genesis 18, verse 25. You probably
know this story. Abraham's a man of God. He's
called by God. God is going to make a great nation
out of him. He and his nephew Lot have both grown
in their livestock. And so Lot goes this direction
and chooses this area because it looks good.
And Abraham continues where he was. And God says,
here's all the promises I'm going to fulfill.
And Lot ends up in Sodom and Gomorrah, right?
And it's called Sodom and Gomorrah for a reason.
And it is sinful and it is evil. That iniquity
rises up to God, and so the triune God determines
that they're going to judge it. And he says,
can I keep this from my servant Abraham? And
as you know the story, what you find is that
there's this very special meeting where God appears
to Abraham, and he lets him in on his plan. And
what you have in Genesis 18 verse 25 is he quickly
does the math. And remember the story? If there
were 50 righteous, if there were 45 righteous,
if there were 40. And I mean, he literally negotiates
with the God of heaven. And the basis of his
negotiation is verse 25. He says, far be it from
you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous
with the wicked. treating the righteous and the
wicked alike. Far be it from you, will not the
judge of all the earth do right? Now, remember,
Abraham does not have the Old Testament written.
He certainly doesn't have the New Testament written.
He has no written revelation. He's had experiences
with God. God has spoken to him. But here's what
he knows intrinsically about the character of
God. He's fair. He's just. And he's saying to
him, wait a second. I know you. I know what you're
like. Okay, I know there's all this evil in the
city, but there's this pocket of people that
I love. They're righteous. It would be unfair
and unjust and wrong for you to kill the wicked
with the righteous. And on the basis of your
just character, I'm going to appeal to you. And
then he goes through the negotiation until he
gets it down to the number of people, of Lot
and his family and his life. But what I want
you to hear is, Abraham, even in a fallen world,
appealed to God's justice as the basis for dealing
with the thing that was best on his heart. Notice
what it says in Psalm 97 too. It says, clouds
and thick darkness surround him. Righteousness
and justice are the foundation of his throne.
You could do a little study, Job 8 .3, Job 40,
verse 6, Psalm 11 .7, Psalm 45 .6, Isaiah 51
.6, Isaiah 30 .18, Zephaniah 3 .5. I could go
on and on and on. Here's what I want you to hear.
Old and New Testament, proclaim, proclaim, proclaim,
proclaim. God is just. God is righteous. God
is just. God is righteous. God is fair. The foundation
of his throne, the basis of how God deals with
everything. God will never give anyone a raw
deal. It's what his justice is all about. You're
listening to Living on the Edge, and we'll get
back to Chip's message in just a minute. You
know, we love to hear how you are deepening your
relationship with God as you study his word with
us. But another way we want to support you in
that is through our free resource called Daily
Discipleship with Chip. Let me encourage you
to stick around after this message as Chip will
tell you more about it and how to sign up. But
for now, let's get back to the remainder of his
talk. Tozer writes, justice embodies the idea
of moral equity and inequity is the exact opposite.
It is the inequity, the absence of equality from
human thoughts and acts. judgment is the application
of equity to moral situations and may be favorable
or unfavorable according to whether the one under
examination has been equitable or inequitable
in heart and conduct. Justice is not something
God possesses. Justice is not an external standard
that says this is right, this is wrong, this
is fair. It is in the very essence and the nature
of his character. He is justice and all moral
law, all commands are merely a reflection of
the justice and the character of God. There's
something interesting that you need to know about
justice and Packer, I think, describes it well.
J .I. Packard in Knowing God writes, it becomes
clear that the Bible's proclamation of God's
work as judge is part of his witness to his character.
It shows us also that the heart of justice which
expresses God's nature is retribution. Will you
circle that word in your notes? The heart of
justice which expresses God's nature is retribution.
You know what retribution is? You do this, therefore
you get this for doing it. Now he goes on to
explain. The rendering to men what they have
deserved, for this is the essence of a judge's
task. To reward good with good and evil with
evil is natural to God. So when the New Testament
speaks of the final judgment, it always represents
it in terms of retribution. God will judge all
men, it says, according to their works. At the
heart of this concept of justice is this. Everyone
gets what they really deserve. Everyone. Everyone
gets what they really deserve. No one will ever
get a raw deal. Now, inside this parentheses
in a fallen world, everyone is not going to get
what they really deserve inside the parentheses
at the time in a one -to -one correlation with
how events occur. But even though we live in
a fallen world where sin mars our concept and
the timing of justice, God wants you to know
that he's just, that he's fair, that as you trust
him in the big picture of this all -knowing,
sovereign, all -wise God, you will never, ever
be treated unfairly. And that means that you
can trust him. Now, how has God revealed his
justice to us? In what ways has God revealed
it in a fallen world so that we can trust him?
You always have to remember you're in the parentheses.
You never get one -to -one justice 100 % unless
it's before the world begins or until there's
a new heaven and a new earth. But inside the
fallen world, there's about three or four different
ways that God has revealed to us that he is just
so you can trust him, even when it seems like,
in our experience, it's very hard to do. The
first way he reveals his justice is through the
natural order. Romans 1, verses 18 to 20, let
me read it. It says, the wrath of God is being
revealed from heaven against all the godlessness
and wickedness of men who suppress the truth
by their wickedness. That means his attributes.
His eternal power and his divine nature have
been clearly seen, being understood from what
has been made so that men are without excuse.
He's saying that the creation and how God has
made creation is invisible attributes, not just
his goodness and beauty in creation, not just
his otherness and holiness and purity, but God's
justice. As you look at creation, you will see
what? There is some cause and effect relationship.
You will see that God is just, that we have intrinsically
in nature revealed that people know this is right,
this is wrong. You can study anthropology and
look at every tribe, any place in all the world,
and they will have a list of rules. It's wrong
to kill. It's wrong to take another man's wife.
The rules will change, but people have this internal
sense of ought that they get. That this is right
and this is wrong. The only way you have a internal
sense of ought, of what's right and what's wrong,
is that the world that you live in is communicating
to you that there is a sense of accountability.
There's a sense that when you do things wrong,
we're gonna see in just a second, there's a conscience.
And even observing the world order. Even in pop
culture, what's the old saying? When I grew up,
when you would diss someone or do something to
hurt him, someone would come up and say, you
know what? Everything that goes around comes
around. What is that? That's justice, isn't it?
You know what? You do that to him, this is going
to happen to you. You do that over here, this
is going to happen to you. Or even multiple Eastern
religions who are looking at the world and trying
to figure out and they watch the cycles of the
earth. The whole concept of karma is what? What's
behind the sense of karma? Justice. In other
words, if you jack around with people and you
hurt people and if you're cruel and you're this
man, you're going to come back as a grasshopper.
You know? Right? And you know, if you're a really
good person, you're going to come back as a cow.
I'm not sure you gain a whole lot on that thing,
tell you the truth. But you have people living
their lives with a mindset that they've seen
from the created order based on what? There is
a sense of justice. There's a sense of you will
pay for what you do. It comes around, it goes
around. Cause, cause, effect, effect. God has
revealed his justice through the created order.
Second, God has revealed it through the human
heart. Romans 2, verses 15 and 16. Since they
show that the requirements of the law, this idea
of a standard, this sense of ought, the sense
of there's a moral right and a moral wrong. Since
they show that the requirements of the law are
written on their hearts, their consciences also
bearing witness and their thoughts now accusing,
now even defending them. This will take place
on the day when God will judge men's secrets
through Jesus Christ as my gospel declares. God
has put on the human heart. Totally apart from
Scripture, a sense of ought or should, of right
or wrong, of a conscience that bears witness.
Long before I became a Christian, and long before
the Spirit of God was living in my life, I clearly
knew certain things were right and certain things
were wrong. And when I either thought or did
the things that were wrong, what happened to
my conscience? It condemned me and said, Chip,
that's bad, that's wrong. That's how it works.
Why? God placed that in me like he placed it
in you. Even people without any revelation, people
that don't know about Christ, this is in the
human heart. It's one of the reasons we're without
excuse. Everybody knows by what they see that
there's a day of judgment, and everyone knows
by what God has placed inside your heart there's
going to be a day of judgment. Let me give you
a New Testament example. Flip, if you will, to
Acts chapter 28. Acts chapter 28. It's very interesting.
It's a pagan group. As you turn there, Paul is
on a missionary journey. And, you know, he's
got these Roman soldiers and they have a shipwreck
and they end up on an island. And so they're
gathering some wood is the context. And there's
these tribes. And there's an event that occurs
and it's so interesting. Now, these are not Christians.
These are not people that have any idea of the
true God. But pick up the story with me in verse
3. Wait a second. Where'd they get that idea?
All he was doing was gathering a little wood,
helping out, put the wood on the fire, the flames
come up, and a viper comes up. And what's in
their thinking? Cause effect. Bad things happen
to who? Bad people. People get punished for doing
bad, correct? He must have done something very
bad because something very bad is just happening
to him. That's their logic. And notice this invisible
concept. It's not like God is going to, what's
it say? Justice has not allowed him to live.
There's this idea among these islander tribespeople
that there's this thing called justice that operates
in life. Notice it goes on. Paul shook the snake
off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
The people expected him to swell up or suddenly
fall dead. But after waiting for a long time
and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they
changed their minds and said he was a god. It's
consistent, isn't it? Bad things happen to bad
people. Nothing happens, must be a God. He's
not only good, he is so powerful and so good
and so amazing that what should have killed him,
the consequences, didn't happen, so he must be.
But do you see the logic? The only point I'm
trying to make is there's something in our hearts,
there's something in our hearts, even apart from
Revelation, that tells us that there is justice,
and if there is justice, What C .S. Lewis' point
will be in Mere Christianity is there must be
a judge. You cannot have a sense of justice without
a judge. This is Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram, and you've been listening to Part 1 of
Chip's message, The Justice of God, from our
series, The Real God. Chip will be back shortly
to share some helpful application for us to think
about. You know, we've all unintentionally projected
some of humanity's worst qualities into our Creator.
Many view God as moody, weak, unfair, impatient,
and merciless. But those ideas couldn't be further
from the truth. Through this series, Chip explores
key Bible passages to reveal seven fundamental
characteristics of our Heavenly Father, attributes
that reflect the very essence of His divine nature.
Join Chip on this journey to reshape your perspective
toward God, which will deepen your relationship
with Him like never before. You won't want to
miss a single part of this study. Well, Chip's
joined me in studio now to share a quick word.
Chip? Thanks, Dave. I'll be right back with some
personal application in just a minute. But before
I do, there's some things I want to share with
you personally. What I recognize is people are
going through some very, very difficult times
right now. We live in a broken world full of
pain and sorrow and disappointment. In fact,
Jesus promised, in the world you will have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world.
And he's given us the keys. He's shown us how
to live with joy, even in the midst of the most
difficult things that you go through and I go
through. To learn more about how to do that,
let me encourage you to sign up for our daily
discipleship series, Growing Deeper with God,
based on Philippians chapters one and two. This
is a free video resource where you and I, in
a one -on -one environment, will dive into the
first half of the book of Philippians together.
I have a recorded video there that's about 10
minutes, and then I'll challenge you to take
10 more minutes and learn how to study on your
own. Let's dive deeper into God's Word and discover
how to tap into the joy that God actually can
give us in the midst of the most difficult times
in your life and mine. I hope you'll check it
out. Thanks, Chip. To learn more about our daily
discipleship series, Growing Deeper with God,
visit livingontheedge .org. As you and Chip study
Philippians chapters 1 and 2, you'll discover
how to get into God's Word for yourself and develop
a more genuine connection to your Heavenly Father.
Again, for complete details, go to livingontheedge
.org. App listeners, tap Discipleship. We'll
hear again as Chip to share his application.
We started today's program by raising two questions.
One, why do bad things happen to good people?
And two, Why do good things happen to bad people?
And what we learned is life is not fair, but
God is. It's a fallen world, and this world is
not what God intended. And so bad things on occasion
do happen to good people, and good things unexplainably
happen to bad people. Yet God has clearly revealed
his justice through this natural order. And through
the end of the broadcast, I talked about how
we do reap what we sow and how that everything
that goes around does come around. And so here's
a challenge I have for you as you think about
your life in this tiny experiment called time.
Are you fair? I mean, I don't know about you.
I get really hot when people don't treat me fairly.
But I don't ask the question, am I fair? Are
you? Would people describe you as a fair boss,
a fair dad, a fair mom, a fair student, a just
person? And then secondly, a word of comfort.
I don't know what you're going through, but I
want you to take it to the bank that God is fair
and that he will balance the scales no matter
how difficult, no matter how unjust life has
been to you. either in this life or in the next,
I guarantee on the character of God, He will
balance the scales. It will be fair. And you
can rest in that. Good reminder. Thanks, Chip.
As we close, I want to thank each of you who
makes this program possible through your generous
giving. 100 % of your gifts go directly to the
ministry to help Christians live like Christians.
Now, if you found this teaching helpful but aren't
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call 888 -333 -6003. That's 888 -333 -6003 or
visit livingontheedge .org. App listeners tap
donate. And let me thank you in advance for doing
whatever the Lord leads you to do. We'll listen
to next time as Chip picks up in his series,
The Real God. Until then, this is Dave Drewy
saying thanks for joining us for this edition
of Living on the Edge.