Fellowship in the Word

Bil Gebhardt: And you know that in James 1, it says, consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and endurance, faith, and faith will mature you.

Guest (Male): Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bil Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bil Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church, located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bil Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world.

Bil Gebhardt: Why do bad things happen to good people? It's a universal question. It's been around for as long as people have been around. It's asked by everybody in the world. It doesn't matter the religious background. An atheist, it doesn't matter. Why do bad things happen to good people? From our point of view, and I've heard this often when I've talked to different individuals and they'll say, if God is a loving God, then why do bad things happen to good people? From our point of view, love protects, doesn't it? That's how we see love.

I remember many years ago, and I was able to find it between services, actually, I remembered a quote by Elizabeth Elliot, whose husband was a missionary killed on the mission field. Elizabeth Elliot said this, our vision is so limited that we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God, remember, did not protect his own son. What an interesting way to view it. If God is so loving, he didn't protect his son from suffering, so why would we expect that it always should be with us?

The books have been written all over the place. Earlier in my ministry, there was a famous book written by Rabbi Kushner, and it was entitled, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. His solution, he made it on Larry King and all the shows, and everyone was applauding. His solution was, God is infinitely good, but he's just not powerful enough. He's trying his best, but he cannot overcome the enemy. He was a little bit shortsighted, but he was trying to explain this very difficult question for us. It's the way that we see about this all the time.

The reason is we know that life is full of sickness and crime, death, trouble, sorrow, pain, disappointment, disillusionment, and despair. That's life. We know that. The question comes down to, why do bad things happen to good people? I'm going to give you a short answer, but it's not the one for the service, otherwise you can go home yet, but it will not satisfy your curiosity at all. I can tell you why bad things happen to good people from the Bible. There are no good people. Did that satisfy you? That doesn't feel real satisfying, does it? No, it doesn't work from that point of view, and I get that.

What I want to do now is I want to talk about a couple reasons and one in particular of why, and I'm going to rephrase the question, why does God allow difficulties or bad things happen to his children? Open your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 6. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 6. Peter is an epistle written to a group of people who are suffering. In fact, it is often called the suffering epistle. This is about people that are having a hard time in life and what they're going through.

The first thing we're going to see, one of the reasons that God allows his children to suffer will be shown up here. He says in verse 6, in this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. One of the reasons bad things happen to God's children is to test our faith. That's a test.

This is a different kind of test. This isn't a test that the tester, God, needs to know where we stand. God knows where we stand. We get tested so that we know where we stand. What's our faith? What's our heart? Proverbs 17:3 says, the Lord tests the hearts. In 2 Chronicles 32, it said that God left King Hezekiah alone to test him, so that he might know what is really in his heart. Hezekiah needed to know that. It's the whole way the whole thing seems to work and it works like this over and over.

If you think of the whole book of Job, why did Job suffer? To test his faith. That's all that was. Because remember, God said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? He's a man of phenomenal faith. In fact, the Bible says he's the most righteous man in the world. He's got phenomenal faith. Remember Satan said, no, no, he only has that because you give him all the blessings. God said, okay, let's take those away. You can do anything you want with them, but you cannot kill him. That's the suffering of Job. It was all a test of faith and Job passed. There's no question about that.

In James 1, it says consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and endurance, faith, and faith will mature you. There's no question we're often tested when we have to suffer. If any of you have suffered, and I think all of you probably have, it's a tremendous test of your faith because the problem that we have with suffering is we become preoccupied with what's making us suffer, and it has a tendency to really identify and define how we go through suffering.

There's another reason found in Romans chapter 5, Romans 5 and verse 3. This is an important reason. God allows bad things to happen to his children to call them to a heavenly hope. God allows us to suffer to call us to a heavenly hope. Notice what he says in verse 3 of Romans 5. He says, and not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance gives us proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint.

In the middle of the darkest days of your life, there's one thing all of us need at that moment more than anything. We need hope. You have to have hope. I've said it over and over again, but hope in the Bible in the New Testament in particular is future certitude. It's some- it doesn't mean cross your fingers and hope for the best. It doesn't mean that. It means a future certitude. I need to have something that I hope in, and that's a very important thing that I've seen when it comes to suffering.

I've been with enough people over all these years. It happens almost naturally. If you ever want to develop that hope, all you need is a prognosis of a very painful, long-term, fatal disease. I've seen people in our church go through that. Boy, it's difficult. It's difficult. When they're going through it, you know what starts evolving from them? They can't wait to stop the suffering and go to heaven. They can't wait for it. They have a hope of heaven. They understand that this gives me a certitude about my hopes in heaven. When we're not suffering, we put a lot of our hope in the stuff of this earth, so we put all of our hope in other things. But boy, when you're suffering, especially with a fatal prognosis, the hope of heaven becomes extremely real to you. That's the way this works, and he does this over and over again.

There are other reasons he allows us to suffer, to wean us from the world, to teach us obedience, to reap what we've sown, in other words, that's suffering we bring on ourselves, reaping and sown. You sow it, you'll reap it. There's suffering involved in that. To enhance our testimony, to keep down our pride. Remember when Paul had the thorn in the flesh and he entreated the Lord three times, God said, no. Why? I'm not going to let you become proud. Paul got it. He understood it.

There is another reason that I want to look at right now and I want to look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. This becomes the most important element that you and I can experience while we're suffering, and sadly, not all of us do. But we all can. This is a very important thing. Paul is writing to the Corinthians, the second letter. Understand Corinth is in the isthmus part of the southern Greece. It was rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. He made it into enormous- it's a seaport and it's also a place of where the main highways of Greece cross.

The Corinthians are rich. They're very affluent people and they have multi- ethnicity. They have all kinds of people living there, mostly Greeks but everyone else. In both letters that Paul wrote, the thing you need to remember about the Corinthians, they're the worst church in the New Testament by miles and miles and miles. There's no church comparable to them as how bad you can do. If you could do something wrong in church, the Corinthians did it. Almost everything they did was wrong.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul has to do an apologetic for himself because the Corinthians are starting to doubt whether Paul is an apostle or not. They're doubting his apostolic authority. One of the arguments they use against Paul is this one and it's an interesting one. Paul can't be an apostle of God. He suffers too much. Isn't that interesting? If he's God's apostle, see, that's the Greek idea. You should be prosperous. But he suffers too much. That's why Paul's writing 2 Corinthians and that's why he starts out with the subject that he's going to get to in just a moment.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, Timothy our brother, they're up in Macedonia, northern Greece. He said to the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia, that whole peninsula. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of our word, all comfort. The first thing he said is blessed. It's an interesting word when you think about it because blessed is eulogitas. We have an English word, eulogy.

We have a funeral, you do a eulogy. This Greek word, what it literally means is to speak well of. That's why the way you have a eulogy at a funeral. You don't want to call someone to do a eulogy who's going to be very critical of the person who died. They've got to say good things about the person. That's the reason it's called a eulogy. He said, I want to speak well of God. He gives him two titles. He says here that he is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Both of those are Old Testament titles of God that as a Pharisee Paul knew.

But the thing I want to get into here is the God of all comfort. How much comfort can God offer? How many of us can he comfort? You see how this works? My experience has told me that's not reality. But I don't want you to misunderstand a little bit about comfort here, so I want you to hold your place here and go with me back to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Understand Isaiah is a pre-exilic, a pre-exile prophet. He's telling the nation that if you don't turn to God, then you're going to be taken into captivity. They are, by the Babylonians, for 70 years. You're going to be ripped out of the land and taken into captivity. It's a very difficult time, but notice how God starts chapter 40.

He says comfort, oh comfort my people, says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare has ended and that her iniquity has been removed and that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. God says ultimately even you're going to be disciplined, there's comfort coming for you as a nation. I will comfort you in the future. Then God decides he's going to do something here and it's kind of interesting. He's going to brag a little bit. In fact, he's going to brag a lot and it's not bragging if you can back it up and God can.

Watch what he says, verse 7, the grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it, surely the people are grass, and the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever. In other words, he's saying simply, if I tell you something, you can take it to the bank. It stands forever. There's never a time when it's outdated or obsolete. It stands forever. Now verse 12, he starts talking. He said who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? He's using an analogy. What are the oceans of the world like? He said they're right here in the hollow of my hand.

Then he goes on and he says this, or marked off the heavens he said by span. What do you mean? The universe. He said, how do you measure? I just do it like this, one span, two span. Now we have an idea how huge the universe is. They didn't, but God tells them. He said and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure. That's an interesting question, isn't it? Hey God, how many particles of dust do you think there are in the world, let alone your house? You see what I mean? How many? At any moment God says I can tell you exactly. What? You can tell. I can tell you. That's who I am. I want you to understand that.

He says and I weigh the mountains in a balance and the hills on a pair of scales. Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or who has as his counselor has ever informed him? With whom did he consult and who gave him understanding and who taught him in the path of justice and taught him knowledge and informed him of the way of the understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, he lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon, famous for their trees, is not enough to burn nor its beast enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, they're meaningless. Even the Babylonians come and mean nothing to God.

He then says, to whom then will you liken God? And what likeness will you compare with him? I'm not like anybody else. Then verse 21, Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. It is he who reduces rulers to nothing and makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely he says have they been planted, scarcely they have been sown, scarcely they have their stock taking root in the earth, but he merely blows on them and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. To whom then would you liken me, that it would be my equal?

What's he doing? He's telling them just what he's capable of. Okay. Now notice down to verse 27. This is their condition. Why do you say oh Jacob and assert oh Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God? I can't tell you how many people in this church over all these years that I've been here have told me that exact thing in their own way when they're suffering. Where is God? Where is he? Why doesn't he do something? You see why, why me, why this? We talked about that some last week. That's what he says. Look how bad this is.

He says the everlasting he said God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, he does not become weary or tired, his understanding is inscrutable. He never stops. How can I forget you? I never get tired. My understanding's not even possible for you to understand. I saw a quote today in my phone from Spurgeon, and Spurgeon said something and I thought was interesting in light of what I'm saying. He said God gave us the gift of sleep to remind us who we are. What's he mean? He never sleeps. We sleep. We need rest. God says I need no rest. There's never a time when I'm down, I'm out. I'm always there. He said I never become tired or weary. He said he gives strength to the weary and to him who lacks might he increases power.

Then he says about our part in verse 31, yet those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength, they mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired and they will walk and not become weary. So God is telling them can I or do I have enough power to give you comfort? Do I have more than enough power? But God says, but that's not really comfort. You see by his power when you try to answer the question bad things, we're always thinking of his power, but it's not right. It's not right in any sense of the word.

I had this was given to Velma and I about 30 years ago. This is a picture of Jesus Christ and me and you. And you know what that is? That's comfort. Let me explain why. Now go back with me to verse 11 of chapter 40. And it says right there then, like a shepherd he will tend his flock, in his arm he will gather the lambs and he'll carry them in his bosom and he will gently lead the nursing ewes. Wow. He showed you all the stuff he can do. I'm not I can't give you comfort because I can do everything. He said I can give you comfort because I'm your shepherd. You're my sheep.

You see when a little lamb is in really in trouble, you just imagine he's lost sight of the herd, a wolf was bothering and a shepherd comes and picks him up and he holds him right to him. That's comfort. You see that's the comfort of God. Don't miss out on the tenderness of the image. You never noticed with little kids who sometimes at the mall they get lost or some kind of thing happens and they get a little panicky and they run to their mom. And they first thing they say is, hey mom, are you capable of handing- they don't do that do they? What do they want? A hug. What do you do when you have a child who's really frightened? You pick them up and you hug them. That's what God says he does to you and me. I pick you up, I hold you to myself like a shepherd with a little lamb. That's how I hold you. And that image has come back over and over again I've thought about that no more than in the last year, but what an absolutely wonderful image that it is from God to us.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Pastor Bil Gebhardt on the radio ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 70006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bil delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website fbcno.org. That's fbcno.org. At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bil's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for you can listen online or if you prefer you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember you can do all this absolutely free of charge. Once again our website is fbcno.org. For Pastor Bil Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.