Let's begin reading at At verse 50 and first Corinthians chapter 15 will begin at verse 50. I'll read to verse 58 We'll get into our study. I'm going to introduce this by looking back at verses 48 and 49 and then developing that But let's begin at verse 50 Paul says first Corinthians 15 verse 50 now this I say brethren that flesh and blood Cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does corruption inherit in corruption Behold I tell you a mystery We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment In the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible And we shall be changed For this corruptible must put on in corruption and this mortal Must put on immortality So when this corruptible has put on in corruption and this mortal has put on immortality Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory Oh death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades Where is your victory? The sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to god who gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ Therefore my beloved brethren Be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the lord Now we receive human bodies from adam our glorified bodies come through jesus christ remember in verses 48 and 49 How paul had already written as was the man of dust So also are those who are made of dust and as is the heavenly man So also are those who are heavenly And as we have borne the image of the man of dust we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man So in our resume, excuse me resurrection. We shall receive glorified bodies now When asked about that, what does that really mean? uh I'm not sure Because i've already received mine. So no i um in first john in chapter three Verse two john said beloved now we are children of god and what we will Will be has not yet been made known, but we know that when he appears We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The body that we'll receive is going to be one that is made suitable to dwell In heaven. It's going to be a different body. It's going to be glorified. It's going to be spiritual And we were looking at that recently and so paul is continuing that thought as he moves into verse 50 here And he says this in verse 50 this i say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god So he's reminding his readers that the resurrection body will not be one of flesh and blood It's going to need to be transformed in order to enter into heaven Now he'd already said that our resurrection bodies are not flesh and blood That's because according to the old testament book of leviticus chapter 17 verse 11 The life of the flesh is in the blood In eternity, we will no longer have blood coursing through our veins Because according to verse 44 our resurrection bodies will be what are called spiritual bodies This natural body that i have is fit only for living on the earth So in order to be made suitable to live in heaven our bodies must be changed Now when jesus was resurrected He had the same body, but it was called or would be referred to or recognized as a spiritual body On the cross he poured out all of his blood in order to atone for our sin So his resurrection body has no blood and neither will our resurrection bodies As it says in verse 49 as we have borne the image of the man of dust We shall also bear the image of the heavenly man and so Jesus christ did not have blood coursing through his veins There's an interesting event that took place. It's recorded in luke chapter 24 Where jesus was speaking to two disciples On what has been referred to as the road to imeas And as he was speaking to them and ministering to them They had shared this experience with the 11 remaining apostles And in luke chapter 24 verses 36 to 40 it says Well, they were still talking about this jesus himself stood among them and said to them Peace be with you they were startled and frightened Thinking that they saw a ghost. He said to them Boo, no he said to them That's why they thought they saw a ghost He said to them Why I'm tired. I'm sorry He said to them why Are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself touch me and see A ghost that does not have flesh and bones As you see I have When he had said this he has he showed them his hands and his feet Now you might want to mark those scriptures down that I just gave to you If you didn't you ought to and I'll tell you one reason why As we continue on that's going to be important just to keep that in mind, but If you ever have opportunity, which I'm sure we all have in this room on occasion In the past we have in the future we will If you have occasion to speak to some of those nice young men Called mormons And they are nice young guys Would to god that the church would do as much for the truth As some people do for an error Would to god that 18 and 19 year old kids Who love jesus would take out of their own funds and go on mission trips and stay for two years to do their service to god I don't disrespect these young men and I don't mock them either They have a genuine faith, but unfortunately and tragically It's in the wrong gospel And so with love for them When opportunity strikes and we have that given to us we should share the good news of the gospel of jesus with them That they might have the truth that sets you free And not a bondage of having to earn your way into heaven with that said If you speak to a young mormon missionary They will tell you as they have told me That god has a body And that he has a body of flesh and blood and When i've spoken to these young well, they say he has a body that's a phrase they use when i've spoken to them i've said That's incorrect and they'll say no god has a body and i'll say to them. That's not what jesus taught That's not what the scriptures teach Because jesus said god is spirit And the spirit has not flesh and blood And Seeing that god is a spirit and a spirit doesn't have flesh and blood We know that uh that god doesn't have a physical tangible body jesus had a body in his resurrection and retains that body But it is called a spiritual body It is not One that is animated by blood the life of the flesh is in the blood but rather it is A body that is animated by the power of the spirit And so the lord jesus christ has what is called a spiritual body and we will have spiritual bodies also And so when he says in verse 50 now this i say brother in flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god The fact is is this body needs to be transformed He says corruption does not inherit in corruption So he goes on in verse 51 and he gives to us a scripture that we ought to put on the nursery Behold i tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep But we shall all be changed. We ought to do that for our children That's an old joke, but i love it anyway I actually wait for verse 51 just to say it But i want to show you a couple things here in verse 51. Behold i tell you a mystery The word mystery What does that mean? Well the mystery is the secret councils of god In dealing with believers that are hidden from those who are unsaved A mystery speaks of that which once was secret, but now has been revealed And so in the new testament there are various scriptures that speak concerning concerning things that are referred to as mysteries 1st timothy chapter 3 verse 16 speaks of the mystery of the incarnation Colossians 1 27 speaks of the mystery of the indwelling christ Ephesians 5 31 and 32 speaks of the mystery of the body of christ 2nd thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7 speaks of the mystery of iniquity But here in verse 51 of 1st chrithians 15 Paul speaks of a mystery and he says it i tell you a mystery and then he Then he reveals it. We shall not all sleep But we shall all be changed We shall not all die Christians who are alive when jesus returns will not physically die Death will not be required for their bodies to be transformed Because he says we shall all be changed that word changed means to be transformed He's saying there is going to be a time when there will be an instantaneous transformation An instantaneous transformation and this occurs in an event called the rapture I don't know how many of you were raised in christian homes. Perhaps some of you were I wasn't And so I never heard Of a term called the rapture. I had never heard that term before until I got saved Then it seems that that's pretty much what I was hearing constantly There's a rapture going to happen. It's going to happen at any moment The next prophecy that is to be fulfilled The next on god's prophetic calendar is an event called the rapture And so this rapture this taken away is what paul is speaking about When jesus comes for his church, he's saying we shall all be instantly transformed In uh, philippians 3 20 and 21 paul said our citizenship is in heaven And we eagerly await a savior from there the lord jesus christ who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control Will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body and so this is an event this Rapture is an event that's going to take place. That's going to have a work that instantaneously changes us Our bodies are going to be instantly made Into spiritual bodies that are capable of dwelling in heaven no longer will be be Alive because we have blood that is Within us that is being pumped through our heart But there'll be a spiritual transformation and our bodies are instantly going to be made capable of living in heaven And he says You're in viz in uh verse 52 that it's going to be in a moment in the twinkling of an eye At the last trumpet the trumpet will sound the dead will be raised incorruptible and we Shall be changed And so he speaks of this being in a moment that word moment speaks of that Which is the smallest conceivable quantity twinkling of an eye is another way of saying instantaneously And he says it'll be at the last trumpet The last trumpet has been associated with the conclusion of what is called the church age It's it's what would be calling the church to be with the lord And so this last trumpet is when jesus will summon the church to himself as he promised us that he would do Now when i first got saved again Not every hearing of such a doctrine I was just i was caught up with it There were times and i still remember doing this that i would be Driving and i would look into the sky and i'd be saying it can happen at any moment The lord can call me to be with him and And there were times when i would see the clouds and the clouds Sometimes seemed to have like a bull's eye if you will it was open you can see the blue sky behind the white clouds And in my mind i'd say it'd be so cool if jesus were to come right now So we could just go i just blow right through that bull's eye there and go to him and i really was caught up with this this idea Because i'd never heard it before i'd never heard that That jesus christ was going to take us that we are going to be instantly transformed And that we would see him and be with him i'd never heard that before and such a hope and such a joy and Such an amazing promise that that was It actually just invigorated me it made me just anxious for that to take place and And and that's because the lord promised that he would do that in john 14 verses one through three He said let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me In my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you I will come again And receive you unto myself That where i am there you may be also Where i am there you may be also What a promise What a joy and that's something that i look forward to With great anticipation to develop this i want to take you into first acelonians chapter four Let's turn our bible bibles there for just a moment first acelonians chapter four Some of you are probably a little new at Turning your bibles. So you're saying where is first acelonians? Well, it's right right by second acelonians that should help you I'm sure that helped you an awful lot first acelonians chapter four beginning at verse 13 Paul says But i do not want you to be ignorant that word ignorant simply means without instruction or without knowledge I do not want you to be without knowledge and instruction I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope For if we believe that jesus died and rose again Even so god will bring with him those who sleep in jesus for this we say to you by the word of the lord That we who are alive and remain until the coming of the lord will by no means precede those who are asleep For the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout With the voice of an archangel with the trumpet of god The dead in christ will rise first Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air And thus we shall always be with the lord Therefore comfort one another with these words So these words are intended to bring comfort to To believers believers have hope because we trust in jesus And we have hope because jesus conquered the grave And so the key to our hope Is always going to be the resurrection of the lord jesus christ in heavers 2 14 and 15 The writer writes since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity So that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death that is the devil And free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death And so before you have a relationship with the lord jesus christ There is a fear that motivates you It's that that fear of the unknown. It's that fear of the future. It's that uncertainty as to what's going to happen Even before you knew the lord you knew that there was something that was going to be Furthering in terms of time and existence at least with within the relationship of view and And what may be out there? And so there is this concern that people have as a concern as to What's going to take place when I close my eyes here? There are those who will say Nothing they'll say what's going to happen when you when you close your eyes here Is you just close your eyes and you become food for worms and there's nothing to be concerned about And yet there's a man by the name of Lockyer who wrote a book called last saints of saints and sinners in which Some of the better known Atheists and their last words their dying words are recorded And some of the things that these who influence so many people with their writings and and the things that they've taught There are so many quotations that were taken by those who were There at their deathbed that Lockyer actually put together a a book called the last saints of saints and sinners Where he demonstrates that quite a number of these who didn't believe said they didn't believe in god at all When they were dying Said quite the opposite one in particular. I wish I could remember his name Was simply saying i'm going to hell.  Oh jesus christ There there are so many of these who in their last moments of their lives When they had their nurses that they're attending them who are writing their last words There are so many quotations because they died without hope and when they died in that way It's just a painful thing to read and for them. It was a painful eternity They had mocked god and they had mocked eternity. They had mocked the thought of heaven. They mocked the thought of hell But it's one thing for you to be real brave and to speak with that kind of bravery when your health is Solid and you have finances and things of that nature everything's going well It's different when you're about to die and enter into eternity So we have the ability in christ to be prepared So I you know when I committed my heart to christ was beginning to be prepared by him For that moment that I would see him face to face And so I have great hope. I have a great confidence because my hope is in him And so we know that one day we who believe in him will be with him So we have hope because of the resurrection of the lord jesus christ now with the return Rather with the resurrection also comes the hope in the promise of his return Jesus when he was speaking in the book of acts in chapter one Had said you shall receive power After that the holy spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in jerusalem judaeus samaria and unto the uttimos parts of the earth So he had given the promise of the power of the holy spirit To those who would be his followers who were baptized with the holy spirit But right after that in verse nine we see something else because in acts versus Verses nine through eleven in acts chapter one it reads after he said this he was taken up before their very eyes And a cloud hid him from their sight They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them Men of galilee. They said why do you stand here looking into the sky? The same jesus who's been taken from you into heaven Will come back in the same way you have seen him go Into heaven and so there is a promise of the return of the lord jesus christ And so he is going to return for us because he said I will come again receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also now In the city of thesalonica There were those who were concerned about their relatives They were wondering what happens when jesus returns And these would have been relatives perhaps who had already died and they were simply wondering What's going to happen in verse 14 the answer is given god will bring with him those who sleep in jesus Now as we've been seeing in in chapter 15 in first chrithians paul had addressed what happens when a person dies He had said in verses 35 through 44 that the body of the believer is buried like a seed in the ground And then when that happens immediately The believer is present with the lord immediately It says in second chrithians chapter 5 verse 6 as long as we are at home in the body We are away from the lord But he goes on in second chrithians 5 verse 8 to say we would prefer to be absent from the body and to be present with the lord There is no place called purgatory Some of you perhaps were taught that there's a place called purgatory. There is no place in scripture called purgatory And as I always say The closest thing Protestants have to purgatory is junior high ministry.  I was losing my keys constantly It actually became a thing where my mom every day was helping me find my keys. That's the truth It was almost like, you know, just every day was a habit before my mom would leave She'd say what are you looking for and I'd say my keys And she didn't know the reason that I had misplaced my keys Is because when I came home, I was wasted and I would just kind of put them somewhere and this is true Almost every day my mom was helping me find my keys because I had lost my keys Well, you know what? You lose things that means you don't know where they're at But I have never lost anybody that I love who knows the lord because I know exactly where they're at absent from the body present with the lord So we don't lose anybody And so when you and I die it's going to be an instant Instantly being brought into the presence of the lord jesus christ, but your body Is going to be planted like a seed And so you will be should you be buried your body will be planted But your spirit soul goes to be with the lord jesus christ And so that's what we'll look at in a little bit more detail in just a moment because The people are wondering what happens about to those who died before jesus returns. What about those who are still alive and And in verse 14 he's saying they're not going to be left out If we believe that jesus died and rose again Even so god will bring with him those who sleep or who have died in jesus now When he speaks and I want you to see this in verses 15 through 17 When he's writing he he says we who are alive and he repeats that two times Now don't let that get past you Because when he says we who are alive in verse 15 we who are alive in verse 17 That means that paul had an expectation to be part of that The hope of jesus's return to take us to be with him Isn't something that was invented in the 18th century Is something that the church from the beginning has had a hope for And paul expected to be taken to be with jesus christ And paul actually wrote telling believers that it can happen at any time My own pastor chuck has been accused more than once of being a date setter Chuck has had some real Desires to be with the lord He put that desire into those who have sat under his ministry We all want to be with the lord jesus christ. We all long to be with him. We look forward to that But he's never specifically set dates, but there are those who say oh he has set dates and this and that What chuck has done is he has taught us just to live as if jesus is returning today And one of the things that that I would say Is uh Something i've learned a long time ago somebody taught it to me and i'll just repeat it and pretend that they didn't teach me That i'm inventing this but it's not me somebody else taught me And that would be um If you and if I if we knew that jesus was returning today say we knew that What would you do differently? And and i'll let you think about that for a moment might as well If we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that jesus is returning today by nine o'clock What would you do any differently has been what I was taught and then the answer is then go out and do that Instead of putting it off for next week next month next year or some other time That's the whole point live in anticipation of being with him as if he's returning today Where do we get that idea? Well paul and other writers made that clear that that's how we ought to live first chrithians 7 29 What I mean brothers is that the time is short Philippians chapter 4 verse 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all the lord is near Hebrews 10 25 not forsaken the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another And so much the more as you see the day approaching James 5 8 9 You also be patient Establish your hearts for the coming of the lord is at hand Do not grumble against one another brethren Lest you be condemned behold the judge is standing at the door 1st peter 4 7 the end of all things is at hand therefore be serious and watchful in your prayer That's the new testament teaching for us to be ready for the lord can return at any moment The next prophecy to be fulfilled on the prophetic calendar is the rapture of the church Where jesus takes the church to be with him now He says in verse 16 the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel And with the trumpet of god and the dead in christ will rise first There's a shout There's the voice and there's the trumpet and all emphasize immediate departure Revealing that the event is sudden So that would be A picture of the rapture jesus coming for his bride the church now You might find this interesting i was reading The writings of a particular messianic believer a jewish christian And he wrote something that i found very interesting interesting enough to repeat at this point and he was speaking concerning the marriage The various things that related to marriage during the time of christ and the writing of the new testament and so he began to write concerning that and the customs that were surrounding marriage at that time because This picture we have is reminiscent of a jewish wedding during the time of paul and so If if you were a young man and or a young woman and you were getting ready to be married and all of that This is what normally would take place He writes when a young man Met the girl that he would desire for us his wife or that his father had decided upon for him First there would be what is called a bride price a bride price would be decided upon If she was greatly desired He would pay a very high price And so you have to think in terms of jesus and his father to get the the picture here Because what was the bride price for the church? It was a very high price What was that price the blood of jesus christ? The bride and the groom would be brought together And they would drink a cup of wine together which would seal the bargain That would be something that we see in communion There would be a bride price that was paid Then the groom would give a small speech he would actually stand up clear his throat and he would say something like this I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again And i'm going to receive you to myself That where I am There you will be also Which is basically what jesus was saying in john chapter 14 That was a customary speech about going to prepare a place He would leave to build what was called a bridal chamber in his father's house For the honeymoon in my father's house our many mansions This place would be stocked with provisions that would last for seven days The construction normally lasted around a year but This groom who was preparing the place did not know The time that it was completed the father would determine when it was completed During that time the bride waited and when spoken of would be referred to as the one who has been set apart The one who has been bought with a price Which is what the church has referred to in the new testament Now the bridegroom would have some friends ask him on occasion. When are you going to get your bride? He would normally reply only my father knows the time That you see in matthew 24 36 Where jesus said of that day and hour knows no man know not the angels of heaven, but my father only The bridegroom would eventually assemble his friends and he would come in order to steal the bride And when the bridegroom came there would be a shout that was given And it's the bridegroom comes In matthew 25 6 jesus said at midnight there was a cry made behold the bridegroom comes Go out to meet him Now if it was at night she would light her lamp and then she would leave with him and his friends When they are over uh, uh, when they arrive at the home They would go directly to the bed chamber The best man who was known as the friend of the bridegroom would stand at the door of the bed chamber When the consummation was completed He would rejoice at the voice of the bridegroom Telling him that the bride and groom were now telling the guests that the bride and groom were now married The wedding guests would rejoice And then a celebration began it could last a week And at the end of the week the bride and the groom would appear They'd enjoy a feast called a marriage supper And they would go to where they would be dwelling So the rapture actually has is a picture of a jewish wedding ceremony And these things that took place in the days of christ are things that we will personally experience Now notice how he says the dead in christ will rise first And then those who are on earth will be transformed And so There'll be those who are in the graves And they are going to be taken out of their graves Their bodies are going to receive that spiritual body They're going to be transformed to be able to live in heaven now Though their body was planted their soul and spirit went on to be with the lord At the rapture It'll be reunited into the one spiritual body And so that's what we will be we will have our we will be united in that fashion We'll be made completely whole if you will And then Uh, we'll be with the lord forever. Let's turn on back to chapter 15 of first Corinthians and move on with that For those of you who went to first Thessalonians Those of you who were rebellious and didn't shame on you So those who are alive when the rapture occurs Instantly changed The corruptible puts on incorruption the mortal puts on immortality Those who are alive are immediately made suitable for heaven He says in verse 53 this corruption must put on incorruption. This mortal Must put on immortality So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory Oh death, where is your sting? Oh, hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law and so There's a cry of triumph The great triumph over death is accomplished and then we experience complete victory That's why you can say where's your sting? Where's your victory? It doesn't have the last victory It doesn't Does that mean That when one of our loved ones die That we don't grieve I've had people in the past who have thought that It's almost weak Being weak in faith if you cry For somebody that you loved who died I've never felt that way quite obviously Grief is part of the human experience It's part of the way that we are allowed to bring healing or to be healed And grief in and of itself is not necessarily a lack of faith It's a simply it's simply a recognition of the pain that occurs in separation If Jesus could weep at the grave of a friend named Lazarus I don't have a problem weeping When my father dies or my mom dies or whatever. I don't have a problem with that at all Because even as paul had already said we do not sorrow as those who have no hope He didn't say we do not sorrow. He said we don't sorrow as those who have no hope Yes, there's a sense of pain. Yes, there's a sense of loss Yes, there's there are tears and and and yes it can go on for a long time But it isn't one of those hopeless Times of pain It's that it's just the sorrow of missing them My my mom had asked me when my father went home to be with the lord My mom I think I might have told you this recently, but my mom had asked me She said to me does daddy miss me And I said no I said no There's no sorrow in heaven And I don't think mama understood what I meant. So I had to explain it It's not as if she wasn't worthy of being missed. Of course They were married for 54 years She was 16 years old actually when she met him in 17 when she married him. He was only 20 when they got married They had a long long life together And uh Of course my dad were it possible Of course he would miss her, but it's just not possible Because when you're in heaven There's no don't pain There are no tears There's no sorrow It's all swallowed up in joy And so the ones who hurt are not the ones in heaven It's us And I've said it before I might as well say it again When I go home to be with the lord if somebody were to say oh god bring him back if he brought me back I'd kill you I don't Who'd want to come back? Think about it. Oh lord. I missed the traffic on the 91. Are you kidding me? Who wants to come back? Man when we're gone, we're gone And we're in there's nothing but joy and nothing but peace And nothing but but love and and and nothing but seeing the face of the lord and I mean who would want to come back? That's why these people who believe in reincarnation to me That's just a terrible way to think who'd want to come back a thousand times Who'd want to come back one more time in the way the world is right now, right? I mean We're going to be with the lord. We're going to be with him forever We're going to enjoy his presence and there's at his right hand his pleasure forever more I mean there's there's no tear no pain no sorrow no sickness no death It's all swallowed up in victory. And so I look forward to that I long for that. You know, I'm not suicidal But but I long for that for for us to be with the lord Jesus christ and you can say that oh death Where is your sting? Great. Where is your victory? Where's it? Where is it? You didn't win you lost, right? And so this is what we have Waiting for us the sting of death is sin The strength of sin is the law but thanks be to god who gives us a victory through our lord jesus christ Therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the lord christ borst death sting So that we could have life in him Thanks be to god who gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ I read of a a little boy Who was traveling with his father in a car And a bee flew through the open window This little boy was highly allergic to bee stings And he and his father knew that his life was in danger And this little boy frantically was jumping around and was trying to avoid this agitated bee And as he was doing that the father calmly reached out and he grabbed the bee When he opened his hand The bee began to fly again And the little boy once again was terrorized But then the father said look son and he held up a hand with an implanted stinger And he said his stinger is gone. He can't hurt you any longer And as the bee loses its stinger when it stings So death lost its sting when it stung jesus We have victory in him


Every unfortunate thing to happen in my life, and especially my parents' life, has been a result of modern medicine doctors, and this is just another one. What saddens me is my parents also made my sister get vaccinated, and she is unable to make any decision for herself. Of course, my parents are under mainstream mind control, so I didn't even bother convincing them otherwise. Who knew that watching 10 hours of CNN brainwashing per day would scare you into listening to everything the government says? I kept telling my parents to stop watching the television just about every day until they started freaking out that I was trying to help them. It's interesting because I told my parents they would mass-vaccinate one year ago when this all started, and my parents at that point in time said they would never get it. I remember that moment very clearly, my parents sitting at the dinner table, almost like a bunch of scared rabbits when I asked them that question, sheepishly saying they wouldn't take it. Here we are, a year later, and they were the first ones to get in line, practically begging for it. And since the YouTube guidelines on vaccine discussion are very strict, instead of actually talking about my parents getting vaccinated, we're just going to read those guidelines. Some of you might remember about four months ago I did a video on the New York State Senate bills they were passing, and it was taken down within half an hour of being posted. This is the reason why that happened. COVID-19, medical misinformation policy. The safety of our creators, viewers, and partners is our highest priority. We look to each of you to help us protect this unique and vibrant community. 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Amen. Romans chapter 1, keep your place there. We'll go over there in a few minutes. But this morning we're going to answer a question that a lot of people have, maybe saved people and unsaved people have on this question as they see things happening around them in the world. And this question is, is why bad things happen to good people?  And a lot of people think, why would God allow these things to happen to good people, people that don't deserve to have those things happen to them. So I'm going to answer that question from the Bible for you this morning. I'm reminded of a time that I was out soul-winning in Sacramento three or four years ago. And it was kind of an odd situation because I actually got separated from the group. We were in a larger group of five or six people. And I think I was in a group of three and I kind of went off and found somebody walking on the street and let my other two partners knock the doors. And I found somebody walking on the street and I got separated from the group. I mean, it was kind of a maze of a neighborhood and the group, I guess they thought I could handle myself and they just kind of went off without me. I got done talking to this person and my group was gone. So I figured I'll just go back to the car and wait for somebody back at the car. I saw right by the car in the vehicles where we parked, there was a lady sitting on her porch with her two kids. And so I went up and I gave her an invitation. And I ended up having a conversation with this lady because this question of why good things happen to bad people can actually be a stumbling block for people. They actually, for them believing the gospel. And that was the case with this lady.   And she was asking this question, you know, as I stood in her, you know, at her door with the Bible, you know, why would God, why if there's a God and you have this message from God, why would God allow these things to happen? So I didn't preach the gospel to this lady because she wasn't ready for it. Instead, I went through Romans chapter one with this lady and I explained to her why things happen. Basically this, I preached to her the sermon that I'm going to preach to you. And the thing is, in order to understand the answer to this question, you have to believe and you have to understand some hard truths in the Bible in order to answer the question of why bad things happen to good people. So let's look at it this morning and I explained to this lady and I hope that I removed that stumbling block from that lady, but I also hope that, you know, you understand that by believing the hard truths in the Bible, we actually bring people closer to God. We actually bring people closer to believing the truth of God's word. And people have hang-ups on things.  So the first thing is this, look at Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. So we're looking at the question today of why bad things happen to good people. The first thing, and this is a prerequisite, let's just get this one out of the way, but look at Romans three and chapter 12. You're going to want to keep a place in Romans. We're going to be all over Romans this morning. But look at Romans three and verse number 12. The Bible says they're all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. So the first thing in why bad things happen to good people is this, there is no good people, the Bible says. The Bible says there is no good people. So we first need to understand our spiritual condition as people, as everybody in the world. But then you could say, okay, well, what about, you know, the innocent people and children and things like that? So I get that, okay? But I just wanted to get that out of the way that there is really no good people out there. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But look, how about like an innocent person, somebody that was innocent, that didn't deserve to get murdered, for example. You know, somebody that just had a random act of violence committed on them, why does that happen? And in order to understand that, we need to understand evil.   So let's look at this and let's reverse engineer, go back to Romans chapter one, let's reverse engineer the evil person this morning. So we can understand how this happens. I'm talking about the serial killers, the child molesters, just the worst possible thing could happen that you see out in the world today. Look at Romans chapter one and look at verse number 28. Romans chapter one and verse number 28. Let's reverse engineer this type of person and see how it actually comes about. Verse number 28 says, even as they did not like to retain God and their knowledge, now this is important that you understand this phrase right here, because it says that they did not want to retain God in their knowledge, meaning they knew about it and they didn't want to retain it or they didn't want to keep it in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. This means not natural, not normal, not, you know, not convenient.  They just will break any deal. They'll say anything without what? Without natural affection, implacable, meaning they just can't be satisfied. They'll never be satisfied, unmerciful. So this right here is the evil person in Romans chapter one. We just read all these things and we'll go and we'll look at, you know, more detail on these items that are listed here and what God says about these items in verses 29, 30 and 31, a few minutes, but this is the evil person. So what did they do to become evil? Let's walk it backwards in Romans chapter one. Verse number 28 gives us the last thing that they did. They did not like to retain God. So they knew God, they did not like to retain Him. Go back to verse number 25. Before that, they actually, they changed, so they changed the truth of God into a lie, it says in verse number 25. So these people, it's not like they never knew who God was. It's not like they never knew what God's word was. It's that they changed God's word. They changed what God says, they changed who He was and then they worshiped and served the creature more than the creator. Look at verse 23. They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. So they changed God. They took God as He was presented to them and they changed it into an image into a false version of God. Look, this is what you're starting, this is what you see in churches today. This is what you see happening in churches today. And this is how it begins with people. Churches today, they teach a God that is not in the Bible.  They teach a God that is just loving and accepting of everybody and everything. And that is not God. If you are preaching from the pulpit in a church and you are presenting God as accepting of everything, of loving of everything, you are changing who God is to people. That is what you're doing. And that is what was one of the first things that happened with this person in verse 20. Now look at verse 21. And here we have the proof right here. So in order to change something, in order to not retain something, you had to have it in the first place. You had to know about it in the first place. But in verse 21 it tells us they knew God. They knew God. They didn't know them. They certainly weren't saved. But they knew of God. And Romans 2.15 tells us that everyone knows of God because he has written his law in their hearts. They knew God, but guess what? They knew him, but they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. So verse 21 is the beginning of it all, where they knew God, they had that law in their heart, but they didn't give him credit for any of it. They didn't give him credit for any of it. They were unthankful to God and they just became all about themselves. They became all about vain, meaning just feeding their own desires and their own thoughts and then their heart was darkened from there. And then of course they just started changing God. And then at the very end, they just completely forgot about him. They didn't retain him, they just let him go. And the Bible says at that point, God gave them over to a reprobate mind or rejected mind. They forgot him all together. It wasn't more thankful to him anymore. They just forgot about him all together. And then the Bible says at the end of Romans chapter one that they actually, so it's not that they never, you know, it's not that they forgot that he was God. It's just they even started to hate him. They're haters of God, the Bible says. And you will find that going out soul winning. You will find that.  You will see that. Look, if you want to see this in practice, if you want to see this in the world, you need to become a soul winner and you will see it firsthand. Guaranteed. So this is what has happened and this is where the evil person comes from. I mean, think about it. Think about it from God's perspective.  He gave them up in Romans chapter one. But they started it. They were unthankful. They changed him. They changed him into a creature. They changed him into a false God. All these things.  But here's the thing. Is it even possible to have a relationship with someone like this? Think about God's perspective here. Somebody that has done these things to you. Think about a husband and a wife. Think about a relationship, husbands. Think about a relationship with your wife. Would it be possible? Would it be possible to have a relationship with someone that has treated you this way? That doesn't recognize you. That doesn't want to think about you. That changes who you are. It forgets about you.  Could you even have a relationship with someone like that? What kind of, I mean, these are irreconcilable differences if there ever was any. Turn to Genesis chapter three. And here's the thing. Unless God took control of us, this is bound to happen. Unless God just completely erased free will, this is bound to happen. Because guess what? God wants us to listen to him and to follow him freely. And that is very clear in the Bible. At the very beginning, look at Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three. Unless God wants us to come to him, to listen to him, to obey him freely of our own free will. Unless he just took control of us and made us robots, the other side of this spectrum is inevitable. Look at Genesis chapter three in verse number one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. This is of course Satan, you know, talking to Eve through the serpent. And he said unto the woman, Yay, hath God said, ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden. So here we have someone that is opposing God's will. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it.  And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. So look, look at verse number three. He says, you shall not eat of it. This is the same language that you're gonna see in Romans constantly. It says you should not do these things. You should not. You should do this. You should not do that. God says the same thing in Genesis chapter three in verse number three. She says, God said, ye shall not eat of it. He didn't say it's not possible to eat of it. He didn't say to her, you can't if you tried. So here we have God telling them, you shouldn't do this because this will happen. And turn to Deuteronomy chapter 30. God didn't say it's not possible. Now we have an opposing will coming in and saying God's lying. God didn't say that.  She was able to physically eat of the fruit of that tree. And she did, but it went against God's will. Look at Deuteronomy chapter three. So the point being is, God gave the choice. He gave the direction, but he left the choice open to Adam and Eve. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 in verse number 19.  This is the same thing as Genesis chapter three.  What's the direction that he gave? And here the Bible is saying therefore choose life that both you and thy seed may live. Here you have a choice. Again, Deuteronomy chapter 30 is saying, you have a choice between following God and life and not following God and death. Look folks, this world is a battle. It's really a battle of three wills. Turn to second Timothy chapter two. Second Timothy chapter two.  You have God's will and you have Satan's will in this world. It's really a battle of three wills. Look at second Timothy chapter two. Look at verse number 24. So you have God's will. You have our will as men. And then you have Satan's will, which is opposing God. Look at second Timothy chapter two in verse number 24. The Bible says, and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men. App to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. If God, paraventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth, acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will, at the devil's will. So the devil has a will that is opposing what God is telling us to do. And then here we are in the middle and we should choose God's will, but many times we don't. We choose Satan's will. Look at Romans chapter eight. If you've kept your place in Romans. Romans chapter eight in verse number six. Look at Romans chapter eight in verse number six. Look, man's will and what we choose to do is all about what this life is about. Look at Romans chapter eight in verse number six. For to be carnally minded, carnally minded is to do with your flesh or what Satan is tempting you to do. You basically, it's you choosing Satan's will. That's to be carnally minded and it's death. And that's what God told us from the beginning. You choose my will as life, Satan's will go against me and it's death. To be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded for us to choose God's will is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God. This is saying listening to Satan, going with Satan's will is making you an enemy of God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they are into the flesh cannot please God. So we have man's will, God's will and Satan's will. So God did not create robots. God gives us free will but we must accept both sides of free will. And the other side, the extreme other spectrum of free will is Romans chapter one. Somebody that knew God, that just went against the conscience, went against the law in their heart and just completely rejected all of it and then God rejected them and you just get this wicked person that just becomes unnatural and implacable and unmerciful because God gave them up. Because God gave them up. Turn to 1 John chapter five. So we see where evil people come from. It's the opposite of the choosing God. It's those that chose death and God gave them up. But you say, okay, but why? Why doesn't God intervene?  Why doesn't God just stop it?  Why would God allow that? Look at 1 John chapter five. Let's look at that question next. Why does God allow the bad things to happen from the evil people? We see where the evil people come from. Look at 1 John chapter five in verse number 16. The Bible says, There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. So the only reason I read you this verse is just to say that God did give us a law. God did give us very specific laws to handle evil people. He gave us very specific laws because not all sin is equal. This is another huge problem with churches today.  Like, you know, you stealing a stapler from work. You know, there's no difference but this is a problem because we're not, by doing that, we're not following God's law because God gave us very, look, it's ridiculous how specific the instructions are in the Bible.  I mean, we'll look at it, but look, here's the thing.  These were things that are all sins unto death in the Bible. And God gave us specific directions.  I mean, isn't that something that happens like all the time today? I mean, the Bible actually says that this is the government's main job is to take care of this thing and God gave us a blueprint for it. Turn to Leviticus. Actually, turn to Exodus chapter 20. Turn to Exodus chapter 20. Let's look at some, let's look at the law a little bit. Let's look at God's law. I understand that, you know, we don't, I mean, we'll see how far away from this we are today, but let's look at God's law. Here's a complicated verse. Exodus 20, verse number 13, thou shalt not kill. And it's interesting because if you look at, you know, verse 13, verse thou shalt not kill, that's murder, verse 14, and even verse 16, thou shalt not bear false witness. If you're bearing false witness against somebody and it could cost them their life, we just looked at this Wednesday night, but these things are all punishable with capital punishment in the Bible. All these things. But we don't do this today. Look at Exodus or Leviticus chapter 20. Leviticus chapter 20. Look at how detailed God had to get in the Bible. Whenever I read this, I'm just like, it is ridiculous that God had to like look at mankind and say, you know, I have to make a rule for these things because they're gonna do it. I mean, it's crazy. I mean, for us to put this on God, but he told us, look, look at Leviticus chapter 20. Look at verse number nine. For everyone that curses his father or mother, shall surely be put to death. Cursing your parents is punishable by death. Verse number 10, a man that committed adultery with another man's wife, adultery, punishable by death. Look at verse 11. And the man that lieth with his father's wife and uncovered his father's nakedness. Same thing, I mean, now we go into like incessual relationships. Verse number 13, if a man will also lie with mankind, this is homosexuality. Look at verse number 14. If a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. If a man, look at verse 15. If a man lie with a beast, God had to make a rule about this. Can you imagine? These are all things that are punishable by death in the Bible. This is what God is saying. He's like, this is the law. This is what you're gonna have to do. He's to manage people. Can you imagine?  And God, I mean, can you imagine? God had to literally make a rule that you can't lie with an animal because this is what will happen when people are turned over to this.  Exodus chapter 21, Deuteronomy chapter 24 talks about stealing men and forcing them into servitude. Slavery, you know, what we would look at as slavery in the Western world was punishable by death in the Bible. Look, this is the government's main job but do they do this today? Do they even come closest? We don't even punish murderers today.   Look, it is not happening today. But the point is, this is the government's job to keep this evil in check. And it's not happening. So what do we think is gonna happen? We're not listening, folks. Do you know, let me read this. Do you know that it's estimated? It's estimated that 1% of the population is a psychopath. Meaning 1% of the population is a Romans one person. Meaning they have no conscience. Meaning they have, what you say is, and look, if you listen to what I'm saying, you will recognize these people. That means, I mean, if you know more than 100 people, which I think most people know more than 100 people, you know at least one psychopath. So the point is, there is, but you say, this doesn't mean that 1% of the population is an axe murderer. What this means is that 1%, one out of 100 people, they have the potential to do that. And many people won't because they're just afraid of the consequences. Many psychopaths are actually in corporate America. They actually do, that's where I've met most of them. Because you'll find people that will just do anything. They'll do anything to get to the top.  They don't wanna get in trouble. They don't wanna get put in prison or whatever. They just wanna use this fact that they have no ethics. They have no version of right and wrong. They don't care what's right. They don't care what's wrong. And they're gonna use that to climb that ladder as fast as they can. And for many of them, it works. So you can recognize these people if you look for people that just don't seem to care about right and wrong at all. They don't seem to have a conscience about who they hurt, who they don't. And it's usually just for their own vein, their own vein imaginations to further themselves. Look at Romans chapter 13. But look, the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us, so look, 1% of the population, I completely believe it. It's totally true because I've met several of these people. And look, they're not axe murderers. You think psychopath and you think of a movie or something like that. But the point is, they're just people that no longer have a conscience. They've seared their conscience. They have no version of right and wrong. They just don't care. They don't care. It's only about their vein imaginations, what they wanna do. Look at Romans. And the only thing keeping those people in check is consequences to themselves personally. Because they're vein in their imaginations, but they're also vein in the fact that, so if we had a government that just punished nothing, which thank God we don't, this would get way worse. But this is the road we're heading down, folks. This is the road we're heading down. Look at Romans 13 in verse number three. This is why I don't trust the government right here. This is why I don't trust the government because the one thing that they're supposed to be doing they're not doing. They do everything else, but the one thing that they're supposed to be doing they don't doing for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. This is what they're supposed to do. Just keep in mind, by the way, keep in mind, don't forget the context of who wrote this letter. Of course it's written by the Holy Spirit, but Paul wrote this letter to who? To the Romans. That was a wicked society. That was a wicked government. This Roman government was the one that would end up killing him. This Roman government was just corrupt in immorality, in perversion. They ended up persecuting the Christians just a few years after this was written like some of the worst persecution in history. Look at verse three that do that which is good and now shall that praise of the same. For he is a minister to God, to thee for good. But if that will do that which is evil, be afraid. For he bears not the sword in vain, but is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. This is God's ordination of government. If God ordains government to punish evil, that's what government's for. It's not to tell you what to do, what to put in your body. It's not to steal all your labor. It's not to just oppress you. It's to punish evil. That's what government is for. This is why I don't trust the government today because they're not doing what they're supposed to do and they're doing all these things that they shouldn't have anything to do with. So why would I trust them? They're not even punishing murder to the tune of 60 million unborn children. They have no credibility from the Christian perspective. So this is the second reason that bad things happen to good people. First of all, evil exists. And the second reason is our government does not punish evil as it should. That's the second reason. So evil grows. Evil spreads. And look, turn to Romans chapter eight, again in Romans, Romans chapter eight. We live because of sin and because of the choices that we have made as people in this world because we have followed our will and not God's will and we've given over to temptation to Satan's will in many cases. We live in this fallen world that Satan is taking control of. Look at Romans 822. The Bible says, for we know that the whole creation growneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they but ourselves also which are the first fruits which have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves. Look, we will battle this flesh our whole lives and we see this fallen world around us and it pains us to see this. The whole point of the sermon this morning, this, you know, the fact that people grown at what's happening in the world. Look, that lady on the porch, she wasn't saved but you know what she did have? She had a conscience. She had a conscience and she recognized evil when she saw it and she just didn't understand what the Bible said about where these things come from.  She just needed to be told the truth on where evil actually comes from. And then look, he said, not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the spirit we grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. Look, we are going to struggle with these three wills our whole lives even as saved people. We have our will but we have, you know, the Holy Spirit within us battling our flesh. That's why we need to be reading the Bible, following the Bible. We choose God's will every time but we're not going to because we're all sinners. We're all sinners. But then, knowing this, knowing this, look what God says in Romans 8, 28. Knowing that we are going to fall, that we're living in a fallen world, that we're gonna still, even as saved people we are still gonna choose to go against God's will in our lives. Look what God says in Romans 8, 28. And knowing that we have this fallen world around us we have people that God has literally rejected that have just turned into wicked people. Knowing all that, when bad things still do happen in this world, because look bad things happen evil people succeed on this earth at times. And look at verse 28. God, look, God tells us this. Knowing that the creation is groaning under this pressure of sin. God tells us and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them who are called according to His purpose. God says, God says here, look, this is not a fridge magnet. This is a promise right here in Romans 8, 28. God is promising us as saved believers that if this evil intersects our lives God will take that and make a good thing come from it. And you can see that with bad things that have happened to saved people. You can see that God has taken that and used that for the kingdom of heaven on earth in many cases. But look, it's a promise that God gives us. It's comfort that God gives us. So look, after the nations have forgotten the Lord after individuals have turned against the Lord and what he told us to do.  I promise to take the evil deeds against my people and make good come from it. That's a beautiful promise. And that's mercy upon this world from God. And you know what the perfect, the perfect most extreme example of that is? You know what the ultimate terrible thing in this world is? The ultimate terrible thing happening to the innocent. You know what it is? It's someone who has persecuted and killed for their faith in Christ. That is the ultimate, you know, that is the, and here, this is Romans 828 proved in the most extreme case right here. Turn to Psalm 116. Turn to Psalm 116. So you say, Romans 828, give me an example of God, you know, turning something that's terrible against the saved person into something that's great, you know, that making a good thing come of that. Look, that's the promise that he gave us and we can see it everywhere. And I'm gonna show you. Look at Psalm 116 and verse number 15. Psalm 116 and verse number 15. Psalm 116 and verse number 15. Look what the Bible says here. I want you to read these words. Read these words. This is an extreme statement right here. But look what it says and you have to understand this statement. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. What in the world? It says when the saints are killed for Christ, when we are killed for our belief in Christ because that's what's gonna happen, all shall suffer persecution.  You don't know anybody like this. But look, the Bible says, God says, that when that happens, when Stephen is stoned, when the martyrs in the martyrs mirror are tortured and brutally killed for their faith, the Bible says it's precious in the sight of the Lord. The Bible says that God, he's like, that's a great thing. It's precious to him that that happens. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, let me explain this to you.  How could a saved person being killed in a horrible way be precious to the Lord? Because of Romans 828, that's why. That's what I'm explaining to you this morning. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. I'm gonna read for you. While you're turning to Hebrews chapter 11, let me read for you Matthew chapter five. Blessed are ye. This is Jesus saying, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.  And you're like, what? But it's precious to the Lord. God's up there and he's just like, this is precious. And he's saying, you should rejoice too. You should rejoice. Look, this isn't gonna happen to everybody. This probably happens to very few believers throughout history. This isn't gonna happen. And many of us may sit there and say, we may read a story like Stephen. We may read the martyr's mirror of the terrible things that happened to these Christians as they were strapped to the stakes and burned and tortured and all these terrible things that I can't even say from the pulpit. And be like, man, I'm glad that didn't happen to me.  And I know that's hard to wrap your head around. But that's what Jesus is saying. He says, for great is your reward in heaven.  If you're chosen to go through something like that. For so persecuted day, the prophets which were before you. And this brings us to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse 37. You say, where's the good part of this? You say, where's the precious part? I'm getting to it. Just hang in there. It gets worse. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder. They were sawn in half. They were cut into pieces. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. And then here we start to see what it is right here. Verse 38. Of whom the world was not worthy. You see, this is why it's precious right here. This is why it was precious. Because what does that mean? Of whom the world was not worthy. Because these men whose lives, you know that there's men and women whose lives were born just for this.  It was just always suffering and death in the end. You can think about the apostles. They all just suffered horrible deaths. And they just kept preaching. There was no glory. There was no riches. There was no comfort. It was just affliction and torment.  But the Bible says the world was not worthy of these people. And that shows you they were performing a service for the world.  And the world that had them here to serve them was not worthy of the service that they performed. And just as, look, God is a God of the extremes. And I can't even imagine what the rewards are gonna be like for this. Because I know what the other extreme is. And I'll get to that in a few minutes. But the world was not worthy because, you know, they did all these things in service of, and they gained nothing on earth for themselves. It was all for the service of a wicked, fallen world. That's why they did it in verse 39. And these having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise. They received nothing for it themselves. Only pain and suffering. And then verse number 12 shows us the Romans 828 answer right here, Romans, or Hebrews chapter 12. Just go to one chapter over and look at verse number one. It says, why did he do this? What's the point of all this? What was the point of letting all these evil, wicked rulers just destroy all these prophets, destroy all these great, wonderful men of God, women as well? We're foreseeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. It's like, they're a witness to us. And then we can do what? We can lay aside every weight.  We can lay aside every sin and the sin, which does so what? So easily beset us. Look, these guys did this.  That's what the Bible is saying. It's like, these great men of God perform this service to the world.   That's what the Bible is saying here. They were a witness to us, for us. We're not worthy either. Yeah, we get wrapped up in all the thorns of this world. You know, all the riches. You know, just we get sidetracked by anything in our Christian life. We get sidetracked by any little weight. Anything hits us. And we're like, we're out of church. Or we're out of soul winning. Or, you know, whatever. But these guys, they're a witness to us. They're a witness that if they can do this extreme, extraordinary thing, we can run with patience. We can finish the race. If they can run a 50 mile marathon with no water, we can run 100 yards. Is what the Bible is saying here. They did it. That's why it was precious to the Lord. It was precious to the Lord because this is a powerful witness for us going forward. This Romans 828 in the most extreme case is the prophets being that witness. That's why it's precious because, you know, Isaiah giving his life or being son of thunder is a huge example and it will just, it will propagate throughout the rest of the world for generations for the kingdom of heaven. You know, we do things. If we go out and we may get people saved and, you know, hopefully we can get those people into the Christian life so they can get their family saved and things like this. But what these men did is, if many of them, much of it's documented in the Bible. Documented in history books. It just, it echoes. It echoes throughout century after century after century. And it just furthers the kingdom of God. That's why it's precious. And that is the good thing that comes from a terrible thing with the prophets. So first of all, let's recap. Why do good things, why do bad things happen to good people? You know, because free will. Because free will, that's why. And some people will choose evil. Some people will choose evil. But think about, you know, we think about free will. Think about this. Why did God choose free will? Think about this between both husbands and wives. Think about this for all you married people. Who would like to have a marriage where it's like your wife constantly has a gun to her head.  Like constantly. You have to love your husband. I'm gonna pull this trigger. Like nobody would want that. It doesn't even match our conscience. It's ridiculous. Who would want it? Ladies, who would want a husband who's supposed to love them? Right, the Bible says, you know, love your wives.  You know? Like nobody wants that. God wants us to choose him freely. And then, you know, on top of that, he gives us his word. He gives us the complete instructions. He gives us complete instructions. You know, for this fallen world that he knows that we live in, he provided the path out of our sinful condition. First of all, by giving us his son, by dying for us, he's provided us that path, you know, just out of, you know, the punishment that we deserve. But even that, even more than that, his word tells us how to manage our lives, how to manage our country, how to manage the world. And we just, we just don't, we just don't listen. He tells us how to handle evil personally, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17. He tells us how to handle evil through government that we would have, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17, look at verse number two. Deuteronomy chapter 17 in verse number two. The Bible says if there be found among you within any of the gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee man or woman that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God in transgressing his covenant and hath gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the Son or the Son or the host of heaven, which I've commanded and let it be told thee. And thou hast heard of it, inquired diligently and behold it be true. And the certain thing that such abomination is wrought in Israel now shall bring forth that man or woman that have committed the wicked thing unto the gates, even that man or that woman shall stone them with stones till they die. The Bible here is saying just follow the law. It's saying just follow the law that I gave you because guess what? Evil breeds more evil. Evil breeds more evil if it's just allowed to just float around. And here's the thing, God's law is not really about punishment because that's what hell is for. I mean, it's about community, safety and management. Think about it that way. I mean, have you ever gone to, I always go to like before we moved to a house, I always go to familywatchdog.com or.us or whatever it is. Go to that.  You go there and it shows you like all the offenders against children. You know, I don't even wanna say the word, you know, with the kids in the room. But I mean, basically it shows you the offenders and they're living in all the, it will shock you how many there are and they're not in the ground, they're living next to you. And we wonder like, why do these bad things keep happening? Because we're not following what God says. But look, here's the thing, the Christian should be smarter. And this is why, this is why, hey, we, I can't do anything about what the government does. But guess what?  And this is why these hard things in the Bible are so important.   Because there's not many churches following the Bible anymore. And it's a big deal. It's a big deal because if you find like, Christians should be smarter. We have to administer the church like this.  This wickedness is gonna come in here and it'll literally put people in the church in danger. But we have to be smarter. A Christian should be smarter realizing, realizing, turn to Genesis chapter six. Realizing that the more the government doesn't punish evil, the more violent society is gonna get. Because guess what?  It always leads to violence. And it usually leads to violence against the most innocent in our society, which is children. It, look, this is the reason that God steps in. And guess what? God does eventually step in. We need to think about that in this country, too. God eventually does step in and just say, you know what? That nation, that iniquity is full in that nation and they're done. Look at Genesis chapter six, but it always ends in violence. Christians need to understand this. Christians need to understand that as the government keeps doing what it's doing, that our society is gonna get more and more violent. We'll get verse number 11.  The earth was also corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh has corrupted his way upon the earth. It's corrupt, it's corrupt, it's corrupt. In what ways it corrupt? He said it was filled with violence. That means hurting the innocent. That's the purpose of this sermon. Why are the innocent hurt? Why is there violence in the world?  So look, it only comes from not listening. But violence always comes from it. As Christians, as individuals, we need to understand that this violence is around us. This is why you need to be able to protect your family. You need to be prepared. We have plans in this church. We have things in this church that they're here in place to protect the church because violence is around us. Because where evil is allowed to exist, there will be violence. But God promises, again, God promises even through those bad things and even through that violence and even through not listening to His will, He promises that if any saved believer that loves Him is hurt through this, He will use it for the good. He will use it for the good. To be a witness for other believers. To be a witness for other believers. That's why even the small things that we go through, you'll see that. Even the small things like the mandates. Even the small things. You know what that does?  But guess what? You can see that it becomes a witness. Even in just the small things.  This is why you can't back down on anything in the Bible because it allows you to be that witness. It can't just be about surviving everything in this Christian life because we're here to be a witness to people. Why are you taking that stand? People will start asking. And then you can start telling people things. And you can have conversations that you normally wouldn't have had with people. But finally, here's the last comfort that we can have. Turn to Romans 12 and verse number 19. So it's our fault, folks. Turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. This is our final comfort right here. Why bad things happen to good people? Romans chapter 12, look at verse number 19. The Bible says, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place under wrath. For it is written, avenge is mine. I will repay, say it to the Lord. We still do what we're supposed to do. We're gonna come and we're gonna serve the Lord. We're gonna go out and we're gonna preach the gospel.   You let me handle the wickedness in this world. He said, I will repay. In Matthew 25, 46, he says, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal. The punishment that evil people and even people that have just not decided to believe in the Lord, it's gonna be everlasting. It's gonna be everlasting chains, the Bible calls it. Eternal, look, eternal torment, the Bible calls it. No rest, day or night. The Bible calls it, look, it sounds, I mean, when you think about an evil person, it sounds fair. And the thing is, God will repay more than we could ever think of how to repay. So in the end, it will always be made right in the end. And we can have that confidence, we can have that hope, you know, but essentially on this earth, we've not followed God's plan and there are consequences for that. And there are consequences for everybody. And ultimately, let me just leave you with this. Let me leave you with the verse on the front of your bulletin. On the front of your bulletin, the Bible says in Job 121, the Bible says in, and said, naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return dither. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. You don't deserve anything. We don't deserve anything.  You don't deserve any of your life. God just gave that to you. You didn't deserve any of it. I know that's hard to wrap our heads around that, but God, even the person that decided in their life, later in their life, or whenever, you know, in their late teenage years or whatever to just reject the Lord, they lived that whole life as a child, and that was free to them.    He gave you that, you didn't deserve that. He sent his son to die for you and offers freely salvation to you. He offers you heaven for free.  Now he offers you eternal life for free. We deserve nothing, nothing. And we haven't followed his laws. We have free will, and you know, it's our fault that we have done this to this world, and it's a fallen world that we live in, and we're just not choosing the Lord. But yet, when those bad things happen to good people, when those bad things happen to saved people, even when a wicked person does, is able to hurt a saved person, an innocent person that didn't deserve what happened to them, God promises, I will turn that into a powerful witness. I will turn that into good. Even though it's our fault, we've rejected everything. It's fair, and then when he gets those evil people, what about the evil person? We can't even imagine. You think about the rewards of the prophet that was killed, those rewards are gonna be comparable to the eternal punishment that the evil person receives. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.


One of the most important themes, heading into this off-season and especially heading into the draft for the Baltimore Ravens that a lot of fans have been saying is that they need to build a wall around Lamar Jackson. They need to do everything that they possibly can to protect their quarterback. And this guy, Daniel Filale from Minnesota, he literally is a wall all by himself. This guy is massive. He is huge. What is he, six, nine, almost 400 pounds? That's the offensive line all by himself, man. That's a massive figure, man. And with him, the Ravens selected him in the fourth round. He was projected to be a second round pick. Some people thought he could even be a third round pick, but the Ravens got him in the fourth. And that's something that you keep hearing about this Ravens draft this year is a steal. This guy's a steal. Wow, how did the Ravens end up getting this guy? He was projected to go a lot earlier. And this is yet another example of that. Now with him, he is, I think he is actually the biggest player in the draft. And he sorta like Orlando Brown Jr., but bigger, bigger. Now, something that concerns me is that him being that big, the strength is there. Hey, Ravens, you know, Minnesota lined him up with a fullback for that play. Don't let Ravens see, you know, Raven probably already saw that.  Cause Raven's like tinkering around with stuff like that. So they're gonna end up doing something. So watch out for it. But anyway, he is huge. When I see past rushes go up against him, if they try to bull rush, they try to rush him straight forward, no. That, no. He'll be fine dealing with that. My concern is for the past rushes that if he's not as bendy as he should be, if he can't, those guys that get around and they're sorta hitting with them, swim moves. And that kinda get low on them. Because that's where I would be concerned for Lele. Cause again, if you can match in strength for strength, alright, he'll be just fine. But if you trying to match strength versus speed and technique, especially guys that's learning on an NFL level, that's where it can get a little more challenging for him in my opinion. But at the same time, he'll also be learning on an NFL level as well. So he'll be able to work on his craft. He'll be able to come in and he's somebody that this is going to be sort of a developmental guy for the Ravens. He's not gonna come in and start right away. At least you would hope not. Because that would mean that somebody was hurt. So you hope not. But he's one of those pieces that you got in the back. He's one of those, stay ready so you ain't gotta get ready. And Ravens, they needed to do this. They needed to get those pieces, especially along the offensive line, because we saw last year. Because we saw the year before. We've seen it. And the Ravens have, this has been an issue for years, them needing to really upgrade the quality of the offensive line as a whole. And them needing to have backup options for particularly Ronnie Stanley the most. Because you know how his history has been, unfortunately. Hopefully this year it changes. But again, stay ready so you ain't gotta get ready. So now the Ravens, they have drafted Linda Baum at Senna. They drafted Daniel Falele, who was the right tackle at Minnesota and shout out to Rashal Bateman. I guess the Ravens were like, you know what drafting from Minnesota so nice? We wanna do it twice, two years in a row. And Bateman's happy about this. He gets somebody that he's obviously familiar with, went to the same school. But the offensive line, the depth and the quality has definitely gone up from last year. You get the best center in the draft, not just a center, but the best center in the draft. And one of the best center prospects that has been coming out for a long time. And then you get Daniel Falele. Again, project guy, not all the way ready yet, but you never know, just in case he needed to step in, maybe he could be ready. But then you signed Morgan Moses as well. You hope that Ronnie Stanley is healthy. You hope that Joanne James is healthy. Tyree Phillips, he should be coming back healthy. He'll probably be more at guard though. I don't think they're gonna do the tackle thing with Tyree Phillips no more. At least we hope not. You got David Sharp. I always feel like I say his name in the wrong way. Maybe it's Daniel. I think it's David Sharp. But anyway, so right now the quality is better. It's better than it was last year. And of course a lot of that is pending health. But this, I do like this pick because it helps, again, build the wall. Protection, protection for Lamar Jackson. Protection for, and of course with him, with him. I know my guy Cam Neal talks about it all the time.  You gotta wait for the defender to come your way.  You get to go out the defender. You get to initiate contact. You get to go knock somebody on it behind. So he can not only help protect Lamar but he can also help open stuff up for the running bags. If he gets his chance, if and when he gets his chance and opportunity. The most that I would expect to see him early or obviously in a preseason, I wouldn't really expect to see him on game day. Because again, like I said, Ravens, they have their guys right now. Like they're starting offensive line, barring injury would be projected to be Ronnie Stanley, left tackle, left guard, could be Ben Cleveland, could be Tyree Phillips. That's still undecided. Center, Tyler, could be Patrick McCary too. Center will be Tyler Lindenbaum, right guard will be Kevin Zeigler, right tackle will be Morgan Moses. So for Lele is not in that equation right there. Maybe they try them out at guard though. Maybe they give them a little spin at guard. Maybe they give them a little try and see, hey, what can you do there? But I don't see that happening. But you never know with the Ravens. You never know. Definitely wouldn't be surprised if they tried them at full back too. They'd be like, all right, Patrick, the card, we gonna let him spell you for a little bit. Come on, for Lele.  Show us what you did in Minnesota. Ain't nobody gonna wanna tackle you. Who's gonna wanna tackle a six, nine, 400 pound guy? Ain't nobody gonna try to tackle you. They gonna try to go low, but it ain't gonna work. You definitely can't go high, so you be done. Anyway, Team Keeping Clean appreciate y'all. I love y'all and we out.