Husband, love your wife!

Before we get started, I just wanted to kind of give a little background on this lesson that I've prepared.

! It's definitely more of a Bible study.

Sometimes we have questions.

We go through life.

And I was going through a time in my life.

I had some questions.

It's easy to say the worst day in my life was the day that I found out that my dad was killed.

And I just want to be a little bit transparent tonight to kind of get you geared the same way that I was preparing for this message.

He didn't show up to work, so we knew something was wrong.

I checked on my phone.

We have an app that kind of shares what people are.

And I saw his location.

So I started heading there, and it was about a 25-minute drive.

On the way there, I called non-emergency police, kind of give them some details.

Maybe they would know something.

And the operator was very friendly, very chipper.

And she said, let me check on that for you.

But when she got back on the phone, her whole attitude had changed.

She was very somber.

And I knew right then this was bad.

Because if there had been any hope, she would have told me.

So I'm driving there.

I had about 10 minutes left.

Just kind of processing everything.

I show up, and I'm talking with the officers.

And they told me what had happened.

So I just have, you know, that was very unexpected.

I have a lot of weight on my mind.

That same day, I was talking with the funeral home.

And in my grief, they're trying to squeeze me for 30 grand for the burial and everything.

And I didn't have that kind of money.

So I have this financial burden on top of that.

But my family were all donors.

And I talked to the donor place that night.

And there was nothing salvageable.

And so I knew even then, this is bad.

And I had a lot of weight on my mind.

There was a lot of stuff going on.

And that point in my life, I was going through a transition from churches.

And I didn't really have anybody to turn to.

And so I went to the Bible.

And I just started reading in the book of Job.

Because he had it way worse than I did.

If you have read the book of Job, that first chapter is a gut punch.

Here Job explains that he's a wealthy individual.

He's righteous.

And he has a servant come up to him and says,

Hey, we're out in the field.

And these guys, the Sabians, they came and they started taking the oxen.

And they just started killing everybody.

And I'm the only one that made it out alive.

And the Bible says, while he yet spoke, another servant comes in.

He's like, hey, fire came down from heaven.

It consumed all the sheep and all the servants watching the sheep.

I'm the only one that came out alive.

It says, while he yet spoke, another man comes and says,

Hey, the Chaldeans, they come.

And they've stolen all the camels and they killed everybody except me.

I'm the only one that made it out alive.

While he yet spoke, someone said,

Hey, your son was celebrating his birthday.

He had all of his brothers and sisters there and all of their families.

The house caved in because of a wind.

We went through the rubble.

They're all gone.

The only one surviving is me.

He has all of this going on.

Just boom, boom, boom, piled up on him.

And then on top of that, he has sores on his body.

And the Bible says throughout that, he didn't charge God foolishly.

He was perfect.

And I remember reading through that.

And it was a comfort to me.

And there were some questions.

The handout tonight doesn't have the first question because it's not specifically answered in Scripture and Job.

So this kind of gets us geared to where I was thinking.

I remember reading through Job and Proverbs 3, 5 popped in my head.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thy own understanding.

And I remember thinking, I don't know what's going on, but God does.

Hebrews 9, 27 says that it is appointed once for men to die.

And I took comfort in knowing that God knew that that appointment had been set up.

And that's all it was, my dad's appointment to meet the Lord.

That gave me some encouragement.

We sing a little bit about, you know, the Lord is a friend to those who are brokenhearted.

We kind of sing about that tonight.

In Psalm 147, turn there real quick.

Let me read this to you.

Verse number 5, it says,

Great is our Lord, and of great power his understanding is infinite.

You know, God knew, and he does know.

Isaiah 55, starting in verse 8, it says,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

And I kind of came to the conclusion.

I may not ever know the reason why that happened.

It's easier for us as Christians today who have the Bible.

We can read through Job in an hour, and we get it all resolved in a nice package.

It's like, wow, this is great.

It wasn't like that for Job going through it.

I mean, he had to take it day by day.

And, you know, he had friends that came along, so-called friends that were accusing him.

Hey, you obviously have sin in your life, because God allowed this to happen because of, you know, sin.

And I hear a lot of pastors and preachers talk about how much of a rag Job's wife was, but I don't believe that at all.

To have someone so godly, you have to have a godly woman behind you.

And she went through all the same struggles.

Those were her babies or her grandchildren.

And now she sees her husband boils.

And I think she spoke from a broken heart.

Just curse God and die.

Just get it over with.

Let it be done.

And, you know, he rebukes her.

You talk like one of those foolish women.

You know, what are you talking about?

And it just gave me a lot of encouragement reading through this book.

The first question I had was, and this isn't on your paper, so you don't have to worry about it,

but why do bad things happen to good people?

And I think that's a question even unsaved people have.

Why does that happen?

And I just had four things to just consider about this.

As I was just kind of studying, as I was healing through that hurt,

the first thing to consider is this life is not the end.

So don't get hung up on what happens here.

If you want to turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4,

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

I'm going to try and just read through these things.

So if I start reading and you're not there, I do apologize.

You can ask me later and I can get to these verses.

2 Corinthians chapter 4, starting in verse 16.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Verse 18.

It's not always easy to put on our, you know, our glasses, our eternal glasses,

and look toward the rewards because we're so inundated with everything we have right in front of our face today.

But we will be rewarded one day.

Obviously, there's things that man does.

We have sin nature.

That can be a reason.

You reap what you sow for bad things to happen.

But the second thing that I considered was God allows some bad things to happen for our good and for his glory.

The Bible says in Romans 8.28, it says,

And we know all things work together for good to them who are called according to God's purpose.

I think about Joseph in Scripture.

He's supposed to be giving a report to his dad about his brothers.

And they see Joseph walking down the way, and they're like,

I hate this guy.

Honestly.

Let's kill him.

And all the brothers are like, yeah, let's kill this guy.

We hate him.

And one of the brothers, definitely the opportunist, is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Let's make some money off of this guy.

Let's sell him.

So that's what they do.

They sell him into slavery.

Then he gets to Egypt, and he's sold again to a man named Potiphar.

His wife has some evil intentions towards him, but he trusts God, and he stays away from her.

He gets sent to prison.

And now he's rotting away in this prison, and he has a glimmer of hope.

Two guys come, and they're like, oh, hey, we work for Pharaoh, and we'll definitely let him know about you.

They forget.

And we know just in Scripture that 13 years passes between all of this.

And then the time comes where he's with his brothers, and once they realize who it is, they're terrified.

But in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, he tells them,

Genesis 50:20

But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Joseph knew sometimes bad things happen to good people because God can use that for his good, for our good, and for his glory.

Another thing I thought to consider about why bad things happen to good people is it's opportunities for our growth and for others' encouragement.

If you'll turn with me again to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

We'll start reading in verse 3.

It says,

Sometimes we're meant to go through things just so we can help other people go through them.

I think it's important to bear those type of scars so that others can see if you've gone through something,

shared those experiences and how the Lord was able to get you through it.

And lastly, I want to mention the last thing to consider.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Because some of the worst things happen to the best person, Jesus Christ.

Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

He was sinless.

He didn't deserve anything that he got.

1 Peter chapter 2, verse 20.

1 Peter 2:20

It says,

For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently?

But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

For even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that he should follow his steps.

Let's read to verse 24.

You know, Jesus knows what we're going through.

A lot of times God allows it.

We know in Job, you know, God is in his inhabitant.

And Satan comes along.

God asks, what are you doing?

Satan's like, I'm just going to and from on the earth.

God says, what do you think about Job, my servant?

And of course, Satan has to make everything.

You know, he's like, oh, well, you know, of course he'd be serving you.

You gave him everything.

God's like, all right.

Well, don't touch him, but take everything else.

And, you know, Satan does.

And Job comes out strong.

And he's like, well, yeah, things are easy, but what if he was really sick and I could touch him?

Then he would curse your name.

I know it.

God's like, do it.

And he does.

And Job is faithful.

God allows these things.

And God knows what's happening.

I was thinking in our own life, we may have to go through these things.

Job chapter 23, verse 10 says, but he knoweth the way that I take.

Job 23:10

When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

We may have to go through the fire ourself.

You know what's cool is gold doesn't fear fire.

Everything that gets burned up at the end of our life, if it's wood, hay, and stubble, we didn't need it anyway.

We get to come out on the other side.

Psalm chapter 34, if you're going through a heartache and you need some encouragement, I would say read through Psalm 34.

Psalms 34 · chapter mention

And I just want to read some of it to you tonight.

34, and we'll start reading in verse 15.

It says, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

35, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of their troubles.

36, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

37, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken.

38, evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate righteous shall be desolate.

39, the Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him.

39, the Lord shall be desolate.

That's a promise.

God is faithful to uphold those things.

In Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, I'll read this, and then we'll get into the notes that you all have.

Hebrews 11:6

Give me a moment to turn there.

The back of my Bible is literally falling apart.

So I enjoy Old Testament messages, because then nothing falls out of my Bible.

Hebrews 11, chapter 6, it says,

But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,

and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

So, you know, we might ask, why didn't God let Job know the reason why?

Well, he doesn't, but if we seek him, he will be a rewarder to us.

So I read through those things, and then in chapter 14 of Job, if you want to turn there,

these are where these questions come in.

There's a lot of questions that we have, and I just kind of wrote down some of them as I was going through Job,

some that I thought were really good.

The first one is, where do I go when I die?

That's a really big question.

I would be willing to guess if we would go on Saturday, and we're out there canvassing,

and we just ask everybody that we walk by, where do you go when you die?

We would get a multitude of answers.

And so I think it's a really good question.

In Job chapter 14, I guess this will be our text,

Job 14 · chapter mention

verse 10, it says,

But man dieth and wasteth away, yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

So where do we go when we die?

So that's your first point there, I guess, is the eternal destination of man.

If you'll turn with me to Luke chapter 16, we'll read a little bit about that.

Luke 16 · chapter mention

Many of us are familiar with this passage, the rich man and Lazarus.

It says in verse 19,

There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores,

and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

The rich man also died and was buried.

And in hell he, that's the rich man, lift up his eyes, being in torments,

and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried and said,

Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,

for I am tormented in this flame.

But Abraham said,

Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things,

and likewise Lazarus evil things.

But now he is comforted and thou art tormented.

And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed,

so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot,

neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.

And so here we have this rich man.

He's died.

We see the two destinations there,

heaven and hell.

Are the,

do we have any of the,

I'm going to come back here and grab an extra sheet

so I can keep along with everyone.

My notes have a lot more stuff on them,

and I'm losing my spot.

So where do we go when we die?

I, the eternal destination of man.

So A and B would be heaven and hell.

So with our text there,

in Luke chapter 16,

Luke 16 · chapter mention

we see under hell,

first off, there's everlasting torment.

It says in verse 23,

and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments.

There's everlasting fire, the Bible says.

It says in verse 24 at the end,

I am tormented in this flame.

And then we see in verse 26,

everlasting separation,

everlasting separation from God.

I truly believe that's going to be the worst part about hell.

It's because here, even on earth,

there are things that are restrained

because of the Holy Spirit's power.

And once that's gone,

chaos and ruin will reign.

And that's what hell will be like.

There will be no restraint.

And I think,

I believe that's going to be the worst part.

So that was Job chapter 14, verse 10.

Job 14:10

So back, I guess, in our text here.

And again, this is something,

I know most of us know these things,

but it's just a Bible study

that the Lord has laid on my heart.

But Job chapter 14, now verse 14,

Job 14 · chapter mention

says,

If a man die,

shall he live again?

All the days of my appointed time

will I wait till my change come.

So if a man die,

shall he live again?

So,

is there life after death?

I think that's a very good question.

I think many people would ask that.

And again,

you would get a lot of different answers.

So now we have the eternal destiny of man.

We'll turn over to John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

We'll start reading in verse 28.

It says,

Marvel not at this,

for the hour is coming

in the which all that are in the graves

shall hear his voice

and shall come forth,

they that have done good

unto the resurrection of life

and they that have done evil

unto the resurrection of damnation.

So there's going to be two resurrections.

So the first there is for the saved.

So that'll be A there for your notes.

We'll turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter.

Can I have someone read that for me

while I get a drink?

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16.

1 Thessalonians 4:16

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16.

1 Thessalonians 4:16

Thank you, brother.

All right.

So,

that's a part of the resurrection of the saved.

John 11, starting in verse 25,

it says,

Jesus said unto her,

I am the resurrection and the life.

He that believeth in me,

though he were dead,

yet shall he live.

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me

shall never die,

believest thou this?

So again,

the dead in Christ

will have a resurrection.

1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

And we'll start reading in verse 54.

It says,

when this corruptible

shall have put on incorruption,

and this mortal

shall put on immortality,

then shall be brought to pass

the saying that is written,

Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death,

where is thy sting?

O grave,

where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin,

and the strength of sin

is the law.

Verse 57,

But thanks be to God,

which giveth us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ.

As sinners,

or as sinners,

yeah,

as sinners we get saved,

but as saved people,

we don't have to fear

life after death.

The Bible says

that we can know

that we're going to heaven.

We can have that assurance.

But it's not so

for letter B there,

it's for the sinners.

If you go out

and ask people

where they're going to go

when they die,

it's amazing

how many times people say,

I hope I go to heaven.

They don't know.

They don't know

one way or the other.

Revelation chapter 20,

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

starting in verse 4,

it says,

And I saw thrones,

and they sat upon them,

and judgment was given unto them.

And I saw the souls of them

that were beheaded

for the witness of Jesus

and for the word of God,

which had not worshipped the beast,

neither his image,

neither had received his mark

upon their foreheads

or in their hands,

and they lived and reigned

with Christ a thousand years.

But the rest of the dead

lived not again

until the thousand years

were finished.

This is the first resurrection.

Everybody on earth

is born at least once.

That's how we're here.

And then we know

everyone will die

at least once.

That's a guarantee.

We know that through Scripture

because the Bible says

because of sin,

there's death.

But there's an opportunity.

You can either

be born once,

be born again,

and die once,

or you can be born once,

and you can actually die twice.

That physical death

and then that spiritual death,

which is separation

from God for eternity.

I remember talking

with somebody one time

that didn't understand

that God's blood

was what paid the price

for their sin,

and they said

that they could do it themselves.

And the answer is,

you can pay that debt yourself,

and that's eternity in hell,

and your slate is clean.

But no one wants to go there.

God sent his only begotten son

to die on the cross

who's paid that debt,

so you don't have to do that.

So then you might be wondering,

okay, well that sounds good.

How can that happen?

Let's turn to Job chapter 25,

Job 25 · chapter mention

because this is another question

that gets asked in Job.

Job chapter 25,

Job 25 · chapter mention

and verse 4.

How then can man be justified

with God?

Or how can he be clean

that is born of a woman?

So that third question,

can I be justified with God?

God.

This is the eternal deliverance

of man.

We can be justified.

First off,

sometimes it's good to know

kind of what justification is.

In this context,

it's a word that's used a lot

in the courts.

Someone who has been accused,

he's awaiting trial,

going to find out

if he's declared innocent

or guilty.

John chapter 3,

John 3:18

verse 18,

lets us know

by our nature,

we are guilty.

John chapter 3,

John 3:18

verse 18,

says,

He that believeth on him

is not condemned,

but he that believeth not

is condemned already,

because he hath not believed

in the name

of the only begotten

Son of God.

So the second letter A,

I guess there for you,

is the experience

of justification.

First off,

we have work.

That's God's grace.

Romans chapter 3

Romans 3 · chapter mention

tells us there

in verse 24,

says,

Being justified freely

by his grace

through the redemption

that is in Christ Jesus.

That's one thing

I'm so thankful for,

that we don't have to do things

on our own.

I'm telling you right now,

I would not be making it

to heaven.

And neither would any of you.

We're honest with ourselves.

I'm glad it's not

because of our position.

I'm glad it's not

because of a caste system.

I'm glad it's not

because of how much money

you have.

You know,

it's a simple choice

to accept Christ

as your Savior.

Then secondly,

letter B there,

the second thing

under work would be

the way,

man's faith.

Romans 5.1 says,

Therefore,

being justified by faith,

we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That leads us

to the elements

of justification.

Starting with the first one there

will be forgiveness.

In order to be justified,

there needs to be forgiveness.

Acts chapter 13,

Acts 13 · chapter mention

starting in verse 35,

says,

Wherefore,

he saith also

in another psalm,

thou shalt not suffer

thine holy one

to see corruption.

Let's see,

verse 36.

For David,

after he had served

his own generation

by the will of God,

fell on sleep

and was laid unto his fathers

and saw corruption.

But he,

whom God raised again,

saw no corruption.

Be it known

unto you,

therefore,

men and brethren,

that through this man

is preached unto you

the forgiveness of sins.

And by him,

all that believe

are justified

from all things

from which he could not

be justified

by the law of Moses.

Once Jesus Christ came

and he died on the cross,

the law was fulfilled.

We didn't need it anymore.

And so that's the way

is man's faith,

forgiveness there

under justification.

Number two,

under that forgiveness,

is freedom.

Romans 8.1

says,

There is therefore now

no condemnation

to them which are

in Christ Jesus

who walk not after the flesh

but after the spirit.

We have freedom

from sin,

we have freedom

from shame,

from guilt,

from that debt

that was put upon us.

That's a great feeling.

I remember

going through Bible college

and at the beginning

of each semester

you would have to go see

Mrs. Julian.

She was the financial officer

so you're just dreading that

because you've worked

all summer

and now you have to

give all your money away.

And I remember

my last year

I'd worked really hard

and I had a fat stack

of cash

and I walked into

Mrs. Julian's office

and I just plopped it down

and I was like,

I'm covering for the whole year.

She's like,

not the semester,

I was like,

the year,

I'm done.

I don't owe anybody

nothing.

And I remember

they wrote out the receipt

and I was like,

yeah,

paid in full.

That's a great feeling.

And that's just a taste

of knowing that

Christ died for your sins.

You don't,

it's already paid.

You don't owe anything

once you've accepted him

as your savior.

There's a freedom

that comes with that.

I think that's why

only the saved

can understand

true joy,

true peace

because they have

that freedom in Christ

that you can't get

that anywhere else.

Lastly,

we have

the last F there

is fellowship.

We'll turn to Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

We'll start reading

in verse 12.

It says,

that at that time

ye were without Christ

being aliens

from the commonwealth

of Israel

and strangers

from the covenants

of promise

having no hope

and without God

in the world.

But now

in Christ Jesus

ye who sometimes

were far off

are made nigh

by the blood

of Christ.

For he is our peace

who hath made

both one

and hath broken down

the middle wall

of partition

between us.

We have that fellowship

with him.

You can't get that

without justification.

Remember,

I'll turn here

real quick,

John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

A lot of times

when you're dealing

with these types

of questions,

people get very skeptical

because in this day

and age that we have

there's always these

gimmicks.

You know,

lose weight

with these

simple steps,

get out of debt

with these,

you know,

and it's always

how to better yourself

and try to do

all these things.

Well then when you tell

someone about salvation,

you don't have to dress it up.

It's very simple

but they're expecting,

you know,

I have to be such

a great person.

I have to give

so much to this.

And so a lot of times

these questions,

I'd like to go back

to John chapter 14

John 14 · chapter mention

and verse 6.

This,

we have Jesus,

it says,

Jesus saith unto them,

I am the way,

the truth,

and the life.

No man cometh

unto the Father

but by me.

So many times

you have people,

well,

you know,

how can I be saved?

How can I get to heaven?

And Jesus answers it,

I'm the way.

I don't know man,

how can I be sure?

There's a lot of religions

out there.

How can I be sure?

Jesus answers it.

He is the truth.

Oh,

and then they think,

oh,

if I go down this path

and I get saved

and I go to church,

I'm going to have to give up

all this stuff.

Nope,

it says Jesus is the life.

He will satisfy

all those needs,

you know,

just trust in him.

And so,

so many times

we try to make things

more difficult than they are.

As I kind of studied through,

I can honestly say

that God's word

has answers

for all of our questions,

whether it's in particular

or in principle,

it's there.

And all you have to do

is search for it.

The Bible says,

we read it earlier,

those that diligently seek him,

he will reward.

So go to God's word.

That's how he speaks to us

through his word.

So I will give us

a closing prayer

and then we can fellowship some.

Thank you,

so much for those who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew

who knew