You Asked For It: When Scripture Meets Everyday Questions

Hey, good morning, everybody. I'm excited for a part two of you asked for.

I'm also excited for the Thunder to start their playoff run today.

Let's go. I'm excited. Hey, so this series you asked for,

we've been answering the questions that you have submitted. A few things before we

hop into our theme and the questions today. The first thing is this, hey,

some of these questions theologians have been debating for thousands of years.

I got about a half hour with you guys, and I'm confident in my ability to just

land the plane perfectly. If you have questions, if you want to follow up or

you have a concern or you want to go a little deeper on something, I love that.

This is my job. I love what I do. If you've got a question, you want to contact

me, my info is right there on the screen. I would love to go a little deeper to have

coffee, meet up, whatever you want to do about any of these questions.

If you want to go further, it's right there. Before we go any further into these

questions, I want to make sure you guys know what our series theme is.

Go ahead and throw that up on the screen for me. I got some help I'm going to need

from you guys. Say those words in yellow out loud for me. The Bible is our,

the Holy Spirit is our, the Bible is our map, the Holy Spirit is our God.

Here's the deal. I just got a microphone. I am not an authority on anything.

God's Word is. I'm not the authority. God's Word is the authority.

We can disagree on some of these questions and about how maybe they're applied so

long as we get there biblically. That God's Word is our map and the Holy

Spirit is our God. It's okay for us to have some variance in beliefs as long as

we are getting there rooted in the Word of God. The Bible is our map,

the Holy Spirit is our God. I want to be clear, we need both of those

in our life. You need a map, you need a guide. If I was going to try to climb

Mount Everest, let's assume I have the physical capabilities. I don't,

but let's just, for the sake of this conversation, let's assume that I did.

If I just had a map to get from here to this point, to this point,

to this peak, to this peak, to get all the way to the top,

I'm probably not going to make it. Again, assuming I have the physical abilities

and I don't to make it to the top, the map is not going to be super helpful

because I need a guide to help me along the way. Someone who has been there,

someone who understands it, someone who knows what I'm feeling and what I'm going

through and how to fight through it. We need our map and we need the guide,

the Holy Spirit, in our lives. We need both of those coming together.

So this series, as we're answering these questions, the Bible is our map and the

Holy Spirit is our guide. Let's pray and then we'll dig into some

of these questions today. Would you guys put your arms out with your palms up?

Close your eyes, just a posture of surrender. Take a deep breath.

And remember, God is just as near as the air you're breathing. Let's pray.

God, today, would you guide us closer to you? Help our minds put away the

distractions of the coming week to put away the frustrations of the past week.

We come empty with nothing to offer but surrender. Fill us up as only you can.

Holy Spirit, move in here today with power. We believe that in advance.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Amen.

All right, we're going to start off with some easy ones and we're going to just

kind of turn the heat up as we go through these questions. We're going to start off

with some easy ones. Is cheating on a standardized...I don't know what student

asked this but this is great. Is cheating on a standardized test or assignment the

same cheating that the Bible prohibits? Yes. So Exodus 20, 16, this is where it's

listed in the Ten Commandments. You must not testify falsely. It says specifically

against your neighbor but the principle there, tell the truth. Give a true

testimony. Cheating on something, that would be not giving your best, you'd be

giving somebody else's best, right? So no. Yes, that's the same thing that's there.

I don't know which one of the kids from Club 57 asked that but that's great.

All right, next question. In Leviticus 19, 27 through 28, somebody quotes Leviticus

right out the gate, you just better be ready. All right, there's some stuff in

Leviticus. Leviticus 19, 28, the Lord says, do not trim off the hair on your

temples or trim your beards. Do not cut your bodies for the dead and do not mark

your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord. There's a quote that's straight from

Leviticus. It says, is this still applied to now? For I know he was commanding this

to Israel to distinguish them from pagan idolaters. So if we go to Leviticus 19,

there's a passage there that that's what he just quoted there, 19, 27, 28, but right

above that, at the start of it, that passage in your Bible usually has a

header. The header right there is entitled, Holiness and Personal Conduct.

Verse 11 says this, I think this just is funny because it goes to the last one,

don't steal, do not deceive or cheat one another. All right, don't cheat, still

don't cheat. But here's the deal, holiness is a call to be set apart, to be set

apart and to be used by God. And God calls us to be set apart. So when you

read Leviticus 27, I got it here on the screen, when it says, do not trim off the

hair of your temples or trim your beards, do not mark your bodies for the dead, do

not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord. What he is talking about is at that

time in the world, the Egyptians would have been clean-shaven. They would have

looked a little different. And so what God is calling them to do is personal

holiness. All right, holiness and personal conduct. He's calling them to look

different, like quite literally, he wants them to look different from the world

around them. That is specific to them in that time. We're talking about the, God

doesn't care about your sideburns, all right. That's, I guess that's what I'm

getting at. But he does want you to look different from the world around you. That

principle that is there is the same. I got a tattoo, if you got a tattoo, God's

not against you, right. He does want you to be holy, to be set apart, to look

different from the way that the world looks. So that, that passage talking about

it is talking about them at that time. The principle there is that God does

want us to be holy. Question number three.

Gonna make some moms mad here. There's somebody that has a whole like shelf at

their house that's gonna be upset with this one. I don't know who, but we'll find

out. All right, question number three. Who are angels in the Bible and what do they

do? Some of y'all getting it, all right. So I'm gonna say what angels aren't, and

then we're gonna talk about what the Bible says the angels are, because it's

not about my opinion, it's about God's Word. They're not naked little toddlers

in like ceramic sets, all right. So somebody's got a little precious moments

thing, that's not, that's not what we're talking about here. They aren't, they're

not loved ones who have passed when you pass. There's no scriptural evidence to

say that you turn into an angel. Biblically speaking, an angel, that word

in the original language, it actually means messengers. That angels are

messengers, that they have been given a message from God to tell people, tell us.

So they're messengers. They're coming to announce what God has done or what God

is getting ready to do or maybe what he's already finished. A couple examples

of that. The angels come to Mary and say that she's gonna expect a child. They

announced her that she's gonna have a child. He's gonna be the Lord. Angels

tell Lot, and the paraphrased version of get out of here, this place is gonna

blow, all right. That's what they tell him. Angels tell the women that go to the

tomb, when the women get there to the tomb to take care of Jesus' body, he says

he's not here, he has risen just as he said he would. They are announcing

something that God has done or is going to do. The other thing that angels do is

they worship God. Revelation 5 verses 11 to 12, it says this,

Revelation 5:11–12

then I looked up again and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of

angels around the throne, the living beings and the elders, the angels, they're

singing and they sang in a mighty chorus, worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to

receive power, riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and

blessing. We sing a song here, it's called Revelation song. It's from that, right?

It's straight from Revelations. But so the angels, they're messengers, they

announce what God has done or is going to do, and it says that they worship the

Lord. The theme for our series, the Bible is our map, the Holy Spirit is our guide.

Precious moments is not our guide. Hollywood movies is not our guide. The

Bible is our map. It says that angels are messengers. They announce what God

has done or is going to do, and they worship Him. All right.

Question number four. What is the difference between a cult and a religion?

Where does non-denominational fall within religion? So I got a little help

from Webster's on this one, just gonna be honest, I know that's not the Bible. There

is not a biblical definition for a cult, all right, or it just cuts out, cuts out

straight up, says it. So here's what a cult is. A cult is a group with

tenets and practices regarded as coercive, insular, or dangerous. I just

emphasis on that or dangerous. Religion, according to Webster's, right, a

particular system of faith and worship. So what's the difference between them?

All right, the difference with the world's understanding would be a cult is

dangerous, that is actually going to cause you harm. So as Jesus followers,

when we hear the word religion, I just want to push back on that a little bit

because as Jesus followers, we're not looking for religion, a set of beliefs, a

set of like hoops to jump through to make us right with God. That's not what

we're looking for. As Jesus followers, it is our relationship with Jesus that makes

us right with God. That's what we're counting on to save us. So that's the

difference between a cult and a religion. A cult is gonna be dangerous, gonna harm

people. Religion might be a set of beliefs, a system of faith, and that's not

a bad thing. People say a Christian, a Jesus follower, has a faith, has a

religion, and I'm good with that, but we're not counting on a system to save

us. We're counting on a relationship with Jesus to save us. Where does

non-denominational fall within religion? This is a really big question because

there are Christian denominations, right? There's a lot of them. Every time

somebody gets mad at the one that they grew up in, they just go start another

one. That's kind of how it goes. And so non-denominational, that would just mean

it is a church that does not affiliate with one particular denomination, and so

that could mean a lot of different things. If there's a church that's

non-denominational, they could be at this end of the spectrum or that end of the

spectrum. It just simply means, that term means they are not affiliated with a

denomination, and so that's a pretty big tent. And so I don't want to paint that

with a narrow brush what that could be because it could be a number of things.

So that's what it means they're not affiliated with a particular

denomination. All right, let me be honest. I got notes all the way around my car on

this one. Question number five. This is about five questions in one, and I'm

going to kind of try to just go through all of them with just some general

principles, I think, about how we can answer them. I'm going to read through them all, and

then we're going to talk about them. How does God, Christianity, play into

science? How do they go hand-in-hand? Biology, evolution, the

Big Bang, dinosaurs. That was one question. Second question that somebody else asked,

were dinosaurs real? Were there any on the Ark? Another question, how old is the

earth? Can I believe in evolution and still believe in God? That's a lot of

questions to answer, okay? So let me just do my best, kind of give us some

principles to get after it. Faith in Jesus does not mean that you reject

science. That's kind of a false dichotomy, that you have to believe in

one or the other. I am thankful for the common grace that God has given us that

is modern science. There are miracles that happen because of science. You

probably know somebody who has experienced the miracle of modern

medicine, right? There's people who weren't doing well, and the medicine of

today's science saved that person's life, right? It gave them new life. That's

a good thing. It's awesome. That's true. Science is a good deal.

It's not a bad deal. It ends with each other, but I want to think about it a

little bit differently when it comes to our faith. Science is

something that you can observe, that you can repeat, that they can have an

experiment, they can have a control, they can have a variable, they can know what's

going to happen because they've done these experiments, they've

seen something. And I think my point is with science, the hope is that you can

connect some dots. In a general sense, you can connect some dots where, hey, we know

that this and this is going to give us this. They are observing it. They

see it happen. They can connect the dots. Science is there, and you would hope that

it gives you an answer of some sort. And there's a lot of times where it does, and

it helps us with that. I think I would just say in the midst of all of this, I'm

going to answer that last question on here specifically. All of these are

scientific in nature. Is it possible, is it possible that when science and

Scripture or our faith, when they seem to contradict one another, like when we can't

see the dots of how those connect, is the issue that Scripture and science are at

ends, or is the issue really maybe that we just don't understand how those

things could come together? I don't think the gap is in Scripture. I think the gap

is with us being humans and not understanding everything that God put on

this earth. I think that's okay. If we could understand everything about God,

that would make us pretty powerful and God pretty weak. It's okay for us to not

understand everything, and I think this side of heaven, that's okay. We don't have

to understand how everything works together, and when there seems to be a

contradiction, it's okay to have some questions unanswered. To not understand

everything, but to trust God. Can we believe in evolution and still believe

in God? I would just say yeah, yes, absolutely. So to believe, to be a Jesus

follower, that just simply means the line of faith is that you believe in the

death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That's what you're counting on to save

you. That's it. Are there Christians, Jesus followers, who believe in evolution? Yes.

Are there Jesus followers, Christians, who don't believe in evolution? Yes. The

theme for this series, the Bible is our map, the Holy Spirit is our map. It is okay for us to

maybe disagree on some things. I have my own belief, my own opinions on these. I'm

sure you do as well. Are we getting there from the Word of God? That is the

authority in our lives. We can disagree as long as we get to that agreement from

the Word of God. All right, next question, number six. Who wrote the first books of

the Bible? Who knew about the creation of mankind? So this is a really interesting

question. I don't know if you've ever thought about this much. It's commonly accepted by

most believers historically that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible,

the book of the law, the book of the law of Moses, said different things, the

Pentateuch. All right, there's all these different things. They're talking about

the first five books of the Bible, and Moses is usually viewed as the author of

these books in the Bible. And there are passages in the Old Testament that

actually states that he's writing it. There's other references to the book of

the law of Moses. Here, look at Joshua 1, verses 7 and 8. Joshua is talking here,

Joshua 1:7

he says, be strong and courageous, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to

obey all the instructions Moses gave you. And again, he's referring to the first

five books there. Do not deviate from them, turning neither to the right nor to

the left, then you'll be successful in everything you do. Study this book of

instruction continually. Let's talk about that, those first five. Meditate on it day

and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will

you prosper and succeed in all you do. He's talking about the book of Moses,

right? That's what he's saying, the instruction he has given you. And so it's

there in the Old Testament, that's what they're referring to, Moses. It's even

there in the New Testament. Here's what Jesus said in Luke 24. He said, then he

said, when I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in

the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled in the law

of Moses. That's common vernacular to mean the first five books of the Bible

as we currently know them. So, who knew about the creation of mankind? If we were

to put a little chart up of the age, Moses is a little bit further down the

line. He wasn't there in creation. He wasn't there, he wasn't an eyewitness, so

to speak. So, why would you pick Moses to do this? I think, practically speaking, the

answer would be, if you remember the story of Moses, he is raised in the

palace, he is given an education, he is given everything that would have made

him a credible source to the world. Like, this wouldn't have been some rando, he

would have said, no, I had, I was educated in the king's, in the Pharaoh's palace, I

knew all the right things, I knew how to write, I knew how to do this. So,

practically speaking, it would make sense for him to be writing these down because

he was educated enough to do it, where it would look like a respected author. Now,

here's the deal, our faith was an oral history for a long time. It was shared

like this, that's why it says study it day and night. They would pass it down to

their children, they would say, talk about it, and you're coming and you're going.

Always share what God is doing, what God has done. There's something practical

about that. The other thing is just spiritually. Spiritually speaking, here's

what happened, God inspired Abraham what to write down. It makes sense, he was

smart, all this stuff. That is the person that God used, and we trust in God, that

he wrote him down. Okay, next question. I don't know who asked this one, but I like

it. It's a good question. If Adam and Eve hadn't sinned, would we all still be naked

right now? That's what it says. Or, would skinny jeans have eventually been invented

anyways? Excellent. And somebody asked the same question, what would it look like if

Eve had told the serpent, no thanks, I'm good. Same deal. This is great. So, if Adam

and Eve hadn't sinned, would we be naked or would skinny jeans have come about

anyways? That's the question. So if Adam and Eve had not sinned in the garden,

we'd be living in a Genesis 2 world. The fall happens in Genesis 3, but in Genesis 2,

this is before the fall, before sin, everything's good. And one of the last

verses of Genesis 2 is this, Genesis 2 25. Now, the man and his wife were both naked

and they felt no shame, right? There's your answer right there, right? Still be

naked. But here's the deal. I want to kind of go in a little further on this. I

think this is good. That sounds great, right? Naked and no shame. Everybody's

just living life. They're doing things. There's no shame involved because there's

no sin. And I think when we look at the garden, many people look at that and the

curse of sin, that there is shame, that there is death. And I think, why would God

give them that choice? That's actually another question that we're gonna get to.

It's gonna go a little deeper, but why would God even give them that choice?

Like, why would God even give that as an option for them to go their own way?

It's because God loves us that He gives us a choice. It's not loving to force

someone to follow Him. We're talking about like a cult, it's like coercive, it's like

manipulative, it's persuasive. God loves us, He pursues us, but He absolutely gives

us a choice. Without choice, you're just kind of like AI. You just got to do

whatever this idiot tells you to do, right? It's just whatever you tell to do,

it's gonna do. It's gonna pop out. If they had chosen God's way instead of their

way, things would be going great until somebody else stepped in and decided

they wanted to go their own way. I actually think a big part of the garden

and the fact that the first people chose to go their own way instead of following

God, it shows that that choice that we have is a personal choice. And I think

the fact that the very first people had to had to try to go their own way, I

think there's something about choice that we all we all are wired to go our

own way, and that's why we need to turn from ourselves and look to God.

Question number eight. I've never thought about this one. This is kind of a

Catholic question with the mentality. What do you think about the parallels

between the Ark of the Covenant and Mary? Could Mary be considered the Ark of the

New Covenant? I'd never thought about that before. So if you're unfamiliar, the

Ark of the Covenant, that's what they carried around before they had the

temple, and they carried around with them place to place, and inside it had

the book of the law, and it had the Ten Commandments, it had everything, excuse me,

everything that they needed at that time on earth to be made right with God.

Because before Jesus, they did have a lot of like sacrifices, all these things they

had to do to be made right with God. There was all these rules and

regulations they had to follow so they could be made right with God, and those

were carried around in the Ark of the Covenant. That's how they were right with

God. Mary carries around Jesus, and so that was the Old Covenant, the law, how he

had to be made right with God by doing these things. And through Jesus, we

have the New Covenant, that we are made right not by what we do, but by what he

has done for us. So he's done those things for us. So the Ark of the Covenant

carried the Old Covenant, the way that they were made right with God. Mary, she

is carrying in the womb the New Covenant, Jesus, that is how we will be

made right with God. So yeah, I think that's similar. I would also just say

this, again I'm not Catholic, we don't pray to the Ark of the Covenant, right?

Like as Jesus followers, we don't pray to the Ark of the Covenant, we don't pray to Mary in

the same way. So yeah, there's some symbolism there, but that doesn't mean

that she carries any different weight. She was a vessel used by God to carry

the Lord, but nothing, we don't pray to Mary, we don't seek for Mary to

intervene on us, nothing like that. So question number nine, I got two more left.

I've heard that we should hope for universalism to be true. That would be

the most loving thing. Some form of purification or whatever first. Sure.

Thoughts. I read that verbatim, right? I've heard that we should hope for

universalism to be true. That would be the most loving thing. Some form of

purification or whatever first. Sure. Thoughts. Thoughts, that's the question.

That's about universalism. So if you don't know what that means, universalism,

that would kind of like be, you know, if you had a wheel, like a little wheel of

your tire, kid's bicycle, and you got all the spokes that go to the center, and it

would be like, hey, there's God in the center, and all these spokes, although

they're different, they lead to the same point. They lead to God. Doesn't really

matter how you get there, they're all going the same way. That would be kind of

what universalism is, that they are all gonna lead to the same path. It says, I've

heard that we should hope for that to be true. And I would say that that would be

hopeful that, hey, they all are gonna lead to the right path, but also knife.

Because we get none of that from Scripture. If that was true, if that was

possible, that we could be made right with God through any other way, why would

Jesus go to the cross? Why would he endure that terrible death? Why would he

go through all of that pain and humiliation? Why go through all of that

if there was another way? In Luke 22, 42, this is Jesus praying to God the Father.

He says, Father, if you're willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me.

He is talking about the cross. He is talking about sin being put on him. If

you're willing to take it away from me, he's showing his humanity here. I don't

want to go through this. This is going to hurt. This is going to be hard. He says,

yet I want your will to be done, not mine. There is no other way. He had to go to

the cross. John 14, 6 is another example. This is straight from Jesus. Jesus told

him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except

through me. So universalism, all the spokes go into the same spot to end up

with God. It sounds really nice. There's no scriptural evidence for that. The

Bible is our map. The Holy Spirit is our God. Question 10. We're turning up the

heat as we keep going here. So how do I heal from people who gave up on me? And

what does it mean to actually love yourself in a healthy way? How do I heal

from people who gave up on me? On all these questions, especially these last

couple here, you can just feel the weight of the question. This is not simply an

academic question, but there is some heart involved in that. There's some pain

that's here. It's not just intellectual. It's actually right here in the feelings.

How do I heal from people who gave up on me? I would just say this. We say this

each and every week, and I don't just want it to become something that we say. I want it to

become a way that we live. Help me out if you know it. Anything less than Jesus.

You got it. There's a whole wall over there. Perfect. Anything less than Jesus

is a weak refuge. People will let you down. I don't know. I think you get

that. Like there's some people who are gonna let you down. I'm gonna go a step

further. Well-intending people will still let you down. There are people who are doing

their best to care for you or to take care of you, whatever it might be, and

they are still going to fail. They are going to let you down. They are not going

to come through the way that you wish they would come through. Anything less

than Jesus, it's a weak refuge. It's not going to last. Even if they want to,

they're human. It's the nature of who we are. We are not perfect. We will let each

other down. I'd say that that's the first step. That if you don't acknowledge that

people are gonna let you down, it's just gonna let you be in more and more pain,

because the more people you put your trust into, the more they're gonna fail

you. And again, well-intended. We're human by nature. We're not gonna be able to be

perfect. I have to flip the script and put our faith in God first and foremost.

He will never fail us. Luke 137 says this, for the Word of God will never fail.

Hebrews 13 5 says this, don't love money, be satisfied with what you have, for God

has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. I will never fail you.

I will never abandon you. How do you heal people who have given up on you? It

starts with God. He will never fail you. Never.

Is your faith in Him, or are you hoping that somebody's gonna turn it around?

People are gonna let you down. God never will. His timing might be difficult to

trust. I get that. He will never fail. Second part of the question, what does it

mean to love yourself in a healthy way? I think loving yourself in a healthy way

is viewing yourself appropriately in relationship to God. So 1 John 3 verse

1 John 3:1

1 says this, see how very much our Father loves us. Help me out. For He calls us His

children, and that is what we are. But the people who belong to this world don't

recognize that we are God's children because they don't know Him. Our

relationship with God, I think, when it comes to loving ourselves appropriately, is

knowing that we are God's children. That He loves us. There is nothing my kids

could do that would make me not love them. And I'm an imperfect human. I got

three little hellions around the corner. My youngest is five, and she is a spitfire.

She could be in there punching other kids in the nursery right now. I'm just

shooting straight with you. It could be your kid she's punching. My love for her

hasn't wavered. I'm just being real. She's mine. That's my baby girl. I'm sorry she

punched your baby boy, but like, she's mine. You are a child of God. He loves you

and no one, no thing, no mistakes that you have made, no wrongs that have been

done to you can ever change that you are His child. I think healthily loving

yourself means acknowledging, I am a child of God. That's our first and

primary identity. Hey, you're a sinner. Yes, that's in there too. We're not, we're

not living in our sin. We're not saying we're terrible, worthless people. We're

saying I am a son of God, that He loves me. I am a son, we are sons and daughters. We are

His children, and nothing can change that. So I think walking boldly in that,

knowing that you are loved by God. This is kind of a two-parter. Okay, I just got to

read this. Backstory. I think the little baby here is Brooks. This is the little

brother of the two girls that I'm about to read this from, so this is fantastic.

Backstory. This is from the McLeans. All right, this is Jane and Molly. I'm just

gonna get their backstory. Jane stepped on a scorpion last night. You imagine me

just reading this question coming through. I'm like, whoa, she stepped on a scorpion? This is crazy. She's okay.

But it's been the talk of the McLean house the past two days. Here's the

conversation we had on our way to daycare. These are young kids. This is

fantastic. Jane, she's a little one. Why scorpions made? Molly, interpreting

Jane language to mean the following. Yeah, why did God make scorpions? God

doesn't make bad things, but scorpions are bad. Jane, why God makes scorpions?

Molly, He didn't make scorpions because scorpions are mean. It's got an

exclamation point there, so I think this is how it's going. Molly, maybe they used to be

good and now they're bad? Jane, scorpion a goner. Daddy smashed him. It's fantastic.

Fantastic. Love it. Very cute question. Why did God make scorpions? Why did God

make mosquitoes? All right, I think that's kind of a thought there. Before sin,

what did you think of this? There was no death in the world. Think about this, lions didn't eat the

lambs, right? Watching National Geographic and seeing the cheetah chasing

down the wounded antelope or whatever. It wasn't like that. They were all eating

grass, right? They were doing things their own way. So there was a point where Molly

and all of her theological wisdom as a five-year-old, she's got it down right.

Maybe they were good, but now they're bad, right? It's different. Isaiah 11 7 says

this, God will restore the natural order of things before sin.

Isaiah 11 7, it should be back there, I think. Maybe not. It's not. But it does talk

about how the bears and the lions, it's basically taking all these predators, they

will eat the grain. That there won't be this killing in the animal kingdom, that

it will actually all be restored to the natural order. The way the world was

before sin. We think of the world we live in as natural, that's just a part of

nature. That is actually not the way God had it going in the beginning. It's just not.

He will restore everything at one point. Maybe at one point they were good, and

now they're bad. Yeah, before sin they were. Last question, it's kind of on that

same line. If God has the most power of anybody, why does he let bad things

happen to people? Again, I want to pause and just say behind every question there's a

heart. A heart that hurts, a heart that is feeling it. These aren't asked in a vacuum, purely academic. There's some emotions that go into asking these.

So before I answer this, I want you just to know that I am not trying to explain away any pain or heartache that you've experienced. I'm not trying to take this lightly, I'm just trying to answer this question.

I know I'm going a little bit at heart and a little bit ahead, but I'm hoping it comes together. So that pain that you've experienced is very real. There are bad things that have happened to us.

I'm going to start with a quote from an old Presbyterian preacher. His name is J. Vernon McGee. This is a pretty common quote of his. It's good. It says,

this is God's universe and God does things his way. You might have a better way, but you don't have a universe. Kind of cute. There's something to that. This is God's, not world, universe. He owns, he created everything. He spoke this into existence.

He has that kind of power. If he has that kind of power, why does he let bad things happen? We talked about this, about skinny jeans and being naked. God gave us choice. The ability to follow him or to go our own way.

Romans 1, verses 24 and 25. Here's what it says,

Romans 1:24

He is worthy of eternal praise. Amen.

Adam and Eve, every human that's ever existed,

has a choice to go their way or God's way. And what happens to us, we all try to go our own way.

We do. I think we give Adam and Eve, we look at the garden, we look, everything was perfect. Why would you leave that? I think that's a picture of us. God's given us choice. We probably would have done the same thing.

They went their own way instead of God's way. They were set up for a perfect life and yet they went their own way.

Romans 5, verse 12, says this. When Adam sinned, sin entered into the world.

Romans 5:12

And Adam's sin brought death. So death spread to everyone for everyone sinned.

Why do bad things happen? It's a result of sin. God didn't create sin.

He didn't give us choice in it. We have chosen to go our own way.

Since He abandoned them, right, to do their own things like they weren't gonna listen, they're gonna go their own way.

So He just let them go their way.

Love cannot be forced. It's not love then.

If we're just to end it right there and say we've sinned, we're sinners,

that's why bad things happen.

Because you've sinned and other people have sinned and we live in a world that's broken, that's fallen.

There's just sin all over and people get hurt because of sin. That would be

true.

We live in a broken world. There is sin. We have sinned. People have sinned against us. It is broken. It is hard.

But that's not the story. We find ourselves incomplete.

Romans 5, verses 18 through 19 says, yes, Adam's one sin brings condemnation for everyone.

Romans 5:18–19

But Christ's one act of righteousness brings a right

relationship with God and a new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners.

But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made

righteous.

Why do

bad things

happen? I think it just says people here, but I think the connotation is why do bad things happen to good people?

Why do bad things happen to good people? And I

understand what they mean in a general sense I do, but biblically speaking

there has been one man, one person only, who has ever been

innocent or good and his name was Jesus.

And the only one, the only innocent, the only good, the only perfect man that ever lived, guess what?

They hung him on the cross.

And he got what we deserved for our sin.

He took the punishment for us.

I think the question we've got it flipped a little bit. Why do bad things happen? Why do good things happen?

Any good thing that we've experienced in this life is all because of the grace of

God.

I mean the Bible is very clear. Sin is serious. It can cause death. When we go our own way,

he can abandon us if we just turn away and leave him. All right.

But that's not what we see. Every breath that we breathe is not promised to us.

The good things you've experienced are from the Lord.

Flip the question on its head. Why do bad things happen? Why do good things happen?

God gives us so much.

I just want to

recap this question. Why do bad things happen? Bad things happen because of people.

God doesn't force us. He gives us choice. People have chose to go their own way. There's sin.

We live in this fallen broken world where sin, it seems, just is rampant.

There's all these terrible things that happen. People are mean. They're rude to one another.

They hurt one another. They tear each other down. But in Jesus there is hope.

And there's hope for the future and eternity with Him that we will be made right and have a relationship with God.

There's hope for the future, but there is also hope for right now.

Romans 8 28 says, and we know that God causes

everything,

everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes for them.

There

can be bad things that happen in life.

If God can take the cross of Jesus, the only innocent one who ever lived, who was murdered,

executed, humiliated publicly, He had all that and He turned it into salvation for the world.

He can take whatever heartache, whatever pain you're experiencing that is real, and there He can take that and He can work it

for good. In fact, God's Word says that He will work it all together. All things work together for good.

That's the power that God has.

There's a quote that's not on the screen, but it's from Tim Keller.

He's a

deceased pastor.

It's just this, if the resurrection is true,

everything's gonna be okay.

If the resurrection is true, if the tomb is empty,

everything is gonna be okay.

It might not be okay right now. It might not be okay a week from now, but here's the deal. It will be

okay.

We just have to trust God.

His timing is

perfect.

It is.

Let's pray together.

God, I thank you that your timing is perfect. I thank you that you work everything together for good,

that we aren't alone, that you are with us, God, that you have given us a way to be made right with you, to have

a relationship with you, that through the cross you took the one innocent man who ever lived, Jesus, God, and you

put all of our sin on Him, and He paid the punishment for what we deserve, for all of the wrong things that we've done.

We've tried to go our own way, and we've forgotten you.

God, you gave us a way to be made right in your eyes. We're so thankful for that.

God, would you guide us in your Word, and through your Spirit to become more like you, to become more hope-filled

the longer we are on this earth, because God, you are full of hope, and you will work

everything together for good. I ask all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Church, let's stand and worship together.