What Does Tragedy Teach Us? – Part 2
“I form the light and create darkness, I make
peace and create calamity; I, the Lord,
do all these things.’” - Isaiah 45:7
“For He
does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” – Lamentations 3:33
“And we know
that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
the called according to His purpose” – Romans 8:28
What should we learn
from a tragedy like the one experienced 9/11/2001? There’s a lot we could and
should learn. America is a nation that is not only asleep spiritually, but
defiantly seeking to eliminate God from our schools and every way of life. Did you
ever think that the gender confusion of our day is a defiant shaken fist to God
denying His sovereign decision to create us in a certain way? I believe it is. We
like to think that this nation is great because of democracy, or even because
of being a federal republic with an incredible constitution, but that is false.
This nation is great because those who founded it were faithful to God. That is
the truth. Haters of America can try to redact that truth out of our heritage,
but it is too deeply ingrained in us. Just walk around Washington DC and take
note of the myriad of Biblical chiseled into the stone of our monuments. But we
have lost our bearings and foundation in God. We need to be awakened to that
fact.
Despite the recent
Supreme Court decision to return authority from the Federal government to the
States in regard to abortion, we continue to be a nation that not only kills
its unborn children in the safety of a mother’s womb but argue about whether or
not to deliver a child partially to make killing it easier. Too many are proud
sponsors of abortion. We are immoral and lascivious. We are heartless and
calloused. We are a licentious nation that legislates to approve that which is
repulsive to God as revealed in His Holy Word. There are even segments of the “Church”
that support such immorality. The “Church” today supports a lot the Bible calls
immoral and sinful. And they do it proudly
In the name of
tolerance, lifestyles aberrant and repulsive to God are not only allowed but
promoted, and that to our youth! (Romans 1:18-32). We have schools approving
transvestites in full absurd regalia teaching young children. Not only is
homosexuality promoted but now the list of alternative “lifestyles” or gender choices
include so many representative letters that its hard to keep up with the list. Generally
speaking, the list includes LGBTTQQIAAP standing for Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning,
intersex, asexual, ally, pansexual. This is the short list. I saw an
article listing 71 genders![1] The BBC in England is telling kids there are more
than 100 genders![2] All of this is preposterous. But it is promoted
as reality. We are a very confused
nation and a confused world. Why such confusion? We are confused due to having
left our spiritual moorings. We are a people who are selfish and self-absorbed.
We major in the minors of sports and leisure. We minor in the majors of truth,
justice and the salvation of souls. And tragically, the Church is not much better
than the secular.
The Church has become
secularized. Segments of “the Church” have given up ministering to such
confused lost people and instead affirm their lifestyles as “normal” and
acceptable to God. There have even been some who have left the church and apologized
to proponents of this confusion and immorality and then joined in their sin! [3] Blasphemous! They have
cast aside the eternal Word of God and replaced its eternal truths with the
trendiness of the day. The world has given up trying to help such people, but
why has the church? Where is the power of the Gospel? “To the law and the
testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is
no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). Where is holiness? Where is the Spirit in and
through us? Where is the Spirit of Christ in us? We need to break up the fallow
hard ground of our hearts (Jeremiah 4). We need to repent and call the lost to
do the same. The Church should be leading the way to help such lost and
confused people, not condoning their sin, not aiding and abetting their
lostness.
You may think these
words are harsh and insensitive in a discussion involving the innocents of
tragedy. You may still be stewing in your “Why does God allow bad things to
happen to good people?” mind and heart set. But the truth of the matter is
that, there are no good people. All fall short of the glory of God and we
need to repent and turn to Him. “There is none righteous, no, not one”
(Romans 3:10). God is willing to heal us and heal our land, but we need to turn to Him
and give Him our hearts (Romans 10:9-10).
We are not called by
God to speak watered down truth. We are called by God to speak all His truth and
speak it in His love (Ephesians 4:15). You may say, “Pastor, I read those
previous paragraphs and they don’t’ sound loving.” I would say, when a house is
on fire, even if its early in the morning and people would dislike being disturbed
from their slumber, I’ll risk their anger to tell them truth that will save
them. I’m willing to shout the truth that there is a “Fire!” And, “You better
get out! You must get out!” I’ll even enter the house to save them and wake
them up, to shake them up. Wouldn’t you? There is a much hotter, a much more damaging
fire in eternity that we want no one to experience. Yes, this is part of the truth
of the gospel. Its something that must be shared.
That is why Jesus came,
to speak truth, to witness to the truth (John
18:37). God’s purpose for us is to be conformed to His likeness (Romans 8:29). Therefore,
that means we too, like Him, are to testify to God’s truth. Our calling is to follow
in His steps and walk as He walked (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6). That means, we must love people enough to share the truth with them. It’s not
loving to ignore sin and condone it. Sin leads to pain and suffering. True love
speaks truth that brings salvation from sin, freedom from sin, healing.
The truth, the
undiluted truth here is that the aim of God in allowing tragedy is to get us to
search out our ways and return to Him. In Lamentations it states:
- Lamentations 3:40-41 – “Let us search out and examine our ways, and
turn back to the Lord;41 Let
us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven.”
This is the greatest aim and lesson of tragedy; to turn to God in the
midst of them.
Fourth, God Allows Tragedy to Cause Us to Call Out to
Him and Repent of Our Sin
Jeremiah goes on to
say:
- Lamentations
As we turn to God, we
find a loving God of hope willing and waiting to heal us and have us personally
relate to Him in an eternal relationship of love. He is able to fix that which
is broken. He is able to right that which is wrong. He is able to solve that
which we’ve found unsolvable. Jeremiah was inspired to write of this by saying:
- Lamentations 3:21-26 – “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have
hope.22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not.23 They
are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”25 The
Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.26 It is good that one
should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord.”
In the New Testament
Jesus speaks of a tragedy similar to that of the
- Luke 13:1-5 – “There were present at that season some who told Him
about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.2
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you
suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they
suffered such things?3 “I tell you, no; but
unless you repent you will all likewise perish.4 “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and
killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?5
“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will
all likewise perish.”
Notice in these verses,
Jesus does not concern Himself with assessing blame. Jesus focuses on the
fragile condition of life. He focuses on the need to repent and get right with
God. We are not guaranteed our next breath. Those who went to work at the World
Trade Center on the morning of September 11th 2001 had no idea of
what the day would hold for them. And we too likely gave no thought to our
eternal destiny until grim reality slapped us in the face.
Tragedy confronts us
with the fragile nature of life. Life is a vapor. “For what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James
4:14b). Death is a certainty. “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but
after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Death is caused by sin. The curse of
sin is death (Galatians 3:10). But Jesus is the cure for that curse. “Christ
has redeemed us from the curse” (Galatians 3:13). “The sting of death is sin,
and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). And because of
that we can stand strong in the storms of life. “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” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Are You Going to Heaven?
The Bible states you can know for sure
whether or not you are going to heaven?
·
1 John
5:13 – “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the
Son of God.”
How can you know for sure?
Realize eternal life involves personally knowing God -
·
John 17:3
– “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Realize sin separates people from Holy God
–
- Psalm 66:18 – “If I regard
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear”
- Isaiah 59:2 – “But your
iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden
His face from you”
- Habakkuk 1:13 – “You are of purer
eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness”
Realize you are a sinner –
·
Exodus
20:1-17 – Examine and assess yourself by the Ten Commandments
·
2
Corinthians 13:5 – “Examine
yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?”
·
Romans
3:10 – “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one”
·
Romans
3:23 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
·
Galatians
3:10 – “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for
it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things
which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
·
James
2:10 – “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Realize there is a penalty for sin –
·
Romans
6:23a – “For the wages of sin is
death,”
Realize you need to be saved from
your sins –
·
Romans
6:23 – “For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
·
Ephesians
2:8–9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not
of works, lest anyone should boast.
·
Titus 3:5
- 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Realize Jesus paid the penalty for you –
·
Romans
5:8 – “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.”
·
2
Corinthians 5:21 – “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.”
Realize your salvation is a free gift from God that requires only a
repentant heart faith decision from you to receive it – To “repent” means to confess to God and forsake your sin. To
“believe” or have “faith” unto salvation means Forsaking All (others or other means of salvation) I
Trust Him.
·
Acts
3:19-20 – “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and
that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you”
·
Acts
16:31 – “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”
·
John 1:12
– “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of
God, to those who believe in His name”
Realize salvation is a matter of the heart
–
- Acts
8:36–38 - Now as they went down the road, they came to some water.
And the eunuch said, “See, here is
water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip
said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and
said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So
he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water, and he baptized him.
·
Romans
10:10 – “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Realize now is the time to
call on God to be saved from your sins –
·
Romans
10:13 - For “whoever calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved.”
·
2
Corinthians 6:2 – “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day
of salvation.”
A SALVATION PRAYER:
If you believe the above Gospel and are
willing to trust in Jesus with all your heart as Savior, if you want the
forgiveness of sins and eternal life God in this Gospel freely offers to you,
with all your heart, pray this prayer:
“Dear God, I have sinned and disobeyed Your
Laws. I admit I deserve eternal
punishment. But I repent; I confess my sins to You and forsake them. I ask that
You please forgive me, not because of any good works I have done, but because I
believe Jesus paid the just penalty for my sins by dying for me on the cross. I
believe He rose from the dead. I believe that with all my heart. I receive it
by faith, as a gift of Your grace. Help me to live for You. Please Holy Spirit fill me, give me spiritual
life, eternal life. Please help me to know you Father, Son Jesus Christ, and
Holy Spirit. Help me grow in a relationship with You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Now, begin praying
and reading your Bible daily, regularly. Find a church that believes in and
teaches the Bible as the word of God. Find a church where the Gospel is
preached and people believe in being born again. Find such a church and become
a part of your new eternal family. And tell someone else about what God has
done for you. Don’t go by feelings, live by faith in Jesus. He is faithful. He
will help you. Remember this:
2 Corinthians 5:17 - 17 Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have
passed away; behold, all things have become new.
1 Corinthians 10:13 - 13 No
temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to
be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the
way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
2 Timothy 2:15 - 15 Be
diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 3:16–17 - 16 All
Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that
the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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