“Why God Lets ___ Things Happen to ___ People (Acts 12:1-24)” | 5/15/22
Acts 12:1-24 | 5/15/22 | Will DuVal
Most of you have probably seen the 1994 classic Forrest Gump. One of the most moving scenes in the film takes place during the Vietnam War, when Forrest rescues his superior officer, Lieutenant Dan, whose legs were blown off in battle, followed by the loss of Forrest’s “best good friend” Bubba in the same attack.
Bubba, like Forrest, was a good man. A simple, but kind, sweet man.
Lieutenant Dan, on the other hand, is a mean, vulgar, bully.
Bubba wanted to live. He had dreams of one day returning home to the Bayou and becoming a shrimping boat captain.
Lieutenant Dan desired to DIE in Vietnam. He came from a long, proud military family who had lost a member fighting in every American war, and Lieutenant Dan felt it was his DESTINY to die with his men on the battlefield.
And yet, much to his chagrin, Forrest managed to SAVE his life, but Forrest couldn’t save BUBBA’S.
In his dying breaths, Bubba asks Forrest the age-old question that EVERY sufferer in life must wrestle with: “Forrest, WHY’D THIS HAPPEN?”
Lieutenant Dan similarly bemoans his fate: “Forrest, this wasn’t supposed to happen, not to ME.”
Why do BAD things happen to GOOD people? Why do GOOD things happen to BAD people? The Bible doesn’t turn a blind eye to this unfortunate and seemingly un-JUST reality of life; on the contrary, Scripture helps give VOICE to our righteous grievance:
The prophets are especially concerned with it:
Isaiah 57:1 “The righteous man perishes… while no one understands”;
Jeremiah 12:1 “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?”;
Habakkuk (1:13), Malachi (3:15), on and on they question.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon laments that “In my vain life I have seen [that] there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.” (7:15; 8:14)
The Psalms are FULL of such protests:
Psalm 73, “I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked… All in vain have I kept my heart clean…
For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked.” (vv3-14)
But the quintessential example, of course, is JOB, the righteous sufferer (1:1) who questions God:
“Why do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
[Job exclaimed] …‘I am in the right,
and God has taken away my right;
in spite of my right I am counted a liar… though I am without transgression.’” (21:7; 34:5-6)
Sometimes the righteous perish, while the wicked prosper.
But then OTHER times, the righteous prosper, while the wicked perish.
Who can make sense of it all?!
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Well, this morning, we’re going to attempt to. And to DO so, we’ll be considering the stories of 3 men - the apostle James, the apostle Peter, and King Herod Agrippa - all of whom we find in Acts ch12. As we continue our exposition of the book of Acts, we are temporarily skipping the REST of ch11, where we left off LAST week; God willing, I will go back and finish chapter 11 NEXT Sunday, since it makes for a perfect “Church in the Park” sermonette. But fortunately, we don’t even have to get too far out of order chronologically here, because ch12 opens this morning with the words: “About that time”; they are roughly contemporaneous. And AS it opens, we’re going to see two good men here - James and Peter - ONE of whom will perish, while the other prospers. And we’ll also observe a WICKED man - King Herod - who prospers for a time, before ultimately facing his demise. So we get every possible permutation here of good and bad people receiving good and bad circumstances. And with each of the 4 combinations, we will ask that question shared by both Bubba and Lieutenant Dan, both King Solomon and Job: “God, WHY?”
Would you stand with me… Acts 12:1-24
“About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.
18 Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 19 And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.
20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain,[b] they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food. 21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. 22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
24 But the word of God increased and multiplied.” This is the word of the Lord… Let’s pray…
#1 - First question: “Why does God let BAD things happen to GOOD people?”
Answer: God lets BAD things happen to GOOD people because God gets glory when He SUSTAINS US. (vv1-5)
We’re introduced to all 3 of our main characters in the first 2 verses here: For starters, “Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.”
Now, THIS particular “King Herod”, namely, Agrippa the FIRST, came from a long line of “Herods” notorious for attacking God’s people (Merida, Acts, 169).
His grandfather was Herod the Great, who had attempted to kill the baby Jesus in Matthew ch1.
His UNCLE, Herod Antipas, had beheaded John the Baptist in Matthew 4, and refused to exonerate Jesus before his crucifixion in Luke 23.
And even his SON, Herod Agrippa the SECOND, will later send the apostle Paul to Rome, in chains, in Acts ch26, where Paul would ultimately be martyred.
Quite a lineage! But Herod Agrippa the FIRST here is evil in his own right; v2: “he killed James the brother of John with the sword”. This is James the disciple-turned-apostle, “not to be confused with James the half-brother of Jesus and author of the book of James, who later became a leader in the Jerusalem church”; Peter will reference THAT James later in this chapter, in v17 (Merida, 170). But THIS is the James who had been in Jesus’ innermost circle - Peter, James and John. Now, he becomes the first of the apostles to be martyred. But he won’t be the last; in fact 11 of the 12 apostles would go on to die for their faith in Christ.
Why does God let it HAPPEN? To James… later, to Peter too, and eventually, to nearly ALL of his apostles… Why does God allow US to suffer, still TODAY?
Well, Scripture offers many answers to that question, but perhaps the most prominent among them is that God gets glory when He SUSTAINS us amidst our suffering.
History is filled with the stories of Christian martyrs, just like James, who marched joyfully to their deaths, in full confidence of the eternal, blessed hope that awaited them on the other side of the sword, the flames, the Coliseum. Imagine what a WITNESS that must have been to the onlookers at JAMES’S execution; we’ll never know (until we get to Heaven!) just how many sinners were SAVED that day, when they came out to hear James renounce his faith in Jesus and beg for mercy and not of the sword, but INSTEAD they heard him sing hymns of PRAISE, REJOICING that he had been counted worthy to share in the sufferings of Christ, his Savior!
What kind of unearthly HOPE can SUSTAIN such an unimaginable JOY, in the midst of such unbearable suffering? It is this: “Christ IN you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).
If it is true, as we saw last week in Acts 10-11, that God desires that NONE should perish but that ALL should reach repentance and saving faith in Jesus…
And if it is TRUE, as we’ve seen all throughout the first 11 chapters of Acts now, that God wants to use US, his followers, as His WITNESSES to those in need of Christ, and God will use any means NECESSARY to accomplish that…
Then it stands to reason that God will use even our suffering, maybe ESPECIALLY our suffering, as a powerful testimony to unbelievers.
And time and time again, Scripture attests to it: that God allows even the righteous - his beloved sons and daughters - to go through hardships in this life, so that He can prove that He alone has the power to sustain us through the storms of life.
*Ps 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you”
*Ps 63:8 “you have been my help… My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
*And my favorite, 2 Corinthians 12:9, where the apostle Paul prays to God for relief from his OWN suffering, and he writes: “But [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in [your] weakness.” [To which Paul responds:] Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Perhaps you’ve prayed and prayed and prayed for healing, but God has continued to let you suffer from chronic, debilitating depression, anxiety, heart failure, cancer, Alzeimers, financial distress, marital problems - I can’t help but think of your stories as I list off all the various ailments represented just in this room this morning; I see them every WEEK on your faces and in our prayer requests: some of you have the SAME, recurring request week in and week out. And my heart BREAKS for you, as your pastor. And yet, even as I pray with you for your healing, I ALSO pray in the meantime that Christ’s power might prove to be PERFECT in your weakness, that God’s GRACE might prove sufficient for you. Both for YOUR sake, as well as for the sake of those unbelievers around you who are watching. That they might see their other family members and friends suffer from the SAME depression, the SAME cancer, the SAME marital conflicts, and in their unbelief, THEY take the advice of Job’s wife, who told Job to just “Curse God and DIE!” but THEN they watch YOU suffer differently. With a peace that surpasses understanding… with a JOY that eclipses your present circumstances… with a HOPE that transcends the brokenness of this life. Because YOU know that YOUR peace, YOUR hope, YOUR joy, is not of this world, but it is seated in the heavenly places, with CHRIST. And HE has promised to sustain you to the end, until the day He calls you home.
God allows BAD things to happen to GOOD people so that HE can get the glory from SUSTAINING us.
But #2 - He ALSO lets GOOD things happen to BAD people because God gets glory when He SHOWS US MERCY. (vv1-5)
Why didn’t God put Herod to death immediately when he hatched this plan to kill James and Peter?” I mean, if Herod was such a bad dude, and if God was planning to execute him eventually ANYWAY, why not just do it right here in v1 when Herod BEGINS “laying violent hands on the church”, BEFORE he killed James, imprisoned Peter, and let’s not forget about those poor soldiers in v19 who he put to death as well - God could’ve saved a LOT of lives here! So why’d he WAIT, to execute justice?
In a word, God is patient because He is SO MERCIFUL. He is full of undeserved kindness. God gave even a wicked sinner like King Herod every possible opportunity to repent and turn back to Him. Just like he had the wicked Canaanites, even allowing his OWN people, Israel, to suffer in Egypt for 400+ years, while God patiently, mercifully, waited on them (Gen 15:16).
*Because Ps 145:9 “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” Even the wicked!
*Jesus pointed out in Matthew 5:45 that God “makes his sun rise on the evil AND on the good [alike], and sends rain on the just AND on the unjust.” We call it God’s “common grace”; His good gifts that are common to ALL of humanity, irrespective of our morality - God has given us ALL the gift of LIFE - the air in our lungs, the food in our bellies, the sun on our faces, the rain on our lawns, the love of our families, the joy of cheering the Blues on in another playoff run… God blesses even those who HATE Him with these good gifts!
But Scripture is CLEAR, that God’s common grace, his mercy towards even the wicked, is intended to turn us towards HIM: Romans 2:4, “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
*Because Ezekiel 33:11 “I have no pleasure, declares the Lord God, in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live!”
*That’s why Jesus hasn’t returned yet, by the way. Christ promised to return and “make all things new”, wipe every tear from our eyes, no more sickness and death - it’s gonna be a glorious day! So what’s he WAITING on? According to 2 Peter ch3, He’s waiting on US to share the gospel with even more folks, so that more unbelievers might be SAVED! “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance… Count the patience of our Lord [then] as salvation” (vv9, 15).
Now, I know they say patience is a VIRTUE, but be honest this morning, how many of you really ENJOY being patient? You just LOVE a good WAIT. A traffic jam, a line at the bank, checking out at Costco, the waiting room at the doctor’s office: that’s your JAM? None of us, right.
So the idea that God could just snap His fingers at this very moment, just say the word, and the trumpets would sound, Jesus would descend, and those of us who’ve been born again would experience literal heaven on earth - all those problems I mentioned in point #1: your anxiety, your Alzheimers, your crushing debt - all instantly GONE! That sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? Maybe you’re tired of WAITING for that glorious day, and you’re praying this morning: “Maranatha: Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly!”?
Scripture invites us to pray that. But even so, be careful what you pray for. Don’t forget the folks on your “Acts 1:8 Prayer Initiative” list. This coming Wednesday, and on the 18th of every month this year, we’ve been fasting and praying together as a church for those loved ones in our lives who do not yet have a saving relationship with Jesus. Let’s not forget them, when we pray “Maranatha”, because if Jesus returned this afternoon, we know where they would spend the rest of eternity.
I thank the LORD that he didn’t return in March of 2012. That he at LEAST waited til APRIL, on me.
And I praise GOD that in His MERCY, He allows GOOD things - even the very BEST things, like SALVATION! - to happen to BAD people, even people like ME.
That “[I was] dead in the trespasses and sins in which I once walked, following the course of this world… by nature a child of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved ME, even when I was dead in my trespasses, made me alive together with Christ—by grace I have been saved… so that… he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward me in Christ Jesus.”
Praise God that HE gets all the glory from showing ME all the mercy that is now mine in Christ Jesus my Savior.
Is that YOUR story this morning, friend? It CAN be; just give your life to Jesus.
You say, “But I’m a BAD person; Pastor, you don’t know the AWFUL things I’ve done.”
I know that King Herod killed the apostle James and TRIED to kill Peter too, and God gave HIM a second chance. I’d be willing to swap stories with you after the sermon and go toe to toe with anyone IN here, on who was the WORST sinner before God finally got ahold of us; Paul claims the title “chief of sinners” in 1 Timothy 1:15, but I’m claiming runner-up. At best, you’re only taking bronze. God has saved worse.
Repent and trust in Jesus today, and YOU WILL BE SAVED.
The worse you were, the more GLORY God gets from showing you mercy. Don’t deprive Him of that glory this morning; Micah 7:18 says God “DELIGHTS to show us mercy”; don’t deprive God of the JOY of pouring out his GRACE and His undeserved FAVOR and LOVE on you this morning. It is his delight, as your good, heavenly Father.
And no matter how BAD you think you were, or still ARE, God’s GOODNESS is bigger. Our sins, they are many, but his MERCY is more. God gets GLORY from blessing us, despite our badness, because it’s an opportunity for HIM to prove HIS GOODNESS, by showing us unmerited MERCY, in his son Jesus.
#3 - Sometimes God lets GOOD things happen to GOOD people because God gets glory when He SAVES US. (vv6-17)
Now, quickly: some of you may be getting hung up on this idea of “GOOD people”. Doesn’t the Bible say that “NO ONE is righteous”? Yes, Romans 3. But it ALSO says that Noah was a “righteous man” (Gen 6:9). That Job was “blameless and upright” (Job 1:1). Prov 13:22 distinguishes a “good man” from a wicked “sinner”. How do we reconcile that?
Well, Romans 3 is just saying that no one is so righteous as to be PERFECT. As to not need a SAVIOR. But Scripture really does call some people “good” and others “bad”; some “righteous” and others “wicked”. Some people are Peters, and others are Herods.
And sometimes God gets glory from RESCUING the Peters FROM the Herods. Not always. God had a different plan for James.
Both were apostles. Both in Jesus’ innermost circle. Both faithful. Both being fervently PRAYED for by the church.
Peter wasn’t any holier than James. He wasn’t any more important. He wasn’t more LOVED by God, or even more USED by God; I trust that God used James’ DEATH every bit as much as he used Peter’s RESCUE, in His own ways, for His own Glory.
But God was glorified to save Peter here. And I do apologize that this is the MAIN part of the story - the BEST part of the story! - and yet, we have to FLY through it. But I just want to draw your attention to 11 quick takeaways we can glean from this spectacular, supernatural salvation story.
1) Just how great WAS God’s saving work here? V4: Peter had “four squads of soldiers guarding him”; that’s 16 soldiers! But it could’ve been 16,000 and they would’ve been no match for our God.
2) How did God accomplish his saving work? V5: Through the “earnest prayers” of the church. So if you’ve ever wondered, “Why should I even bother praying, if God’s gotta be the one to act anyway?”, the answer is, “Because God acts THROUGH the prayers of his people”.
3) How in the WORLD was Peter SLEEPING in that prison cell?! V6: He’s stuck “between two soldiers, bound with two chains” (bet you rap fans didn’t know that 2 Chainz was biblical), but Peter probably didn’t get a bed; he’s on the cold, hard ground. Oh, and let’s not forget, the biggest factor of ALL: he’s supposed to DIE the next morning! If you knew you were gonna DIE the next morning, how much sleep do you think YOU’D get? “There’s not enough Ambien in the whole pharmacy” (Steven Furtick, “Knock, Knock”, 2019)
So how could PETER possibly get to sleep here? Because Peter trusted in the Lord. Because Peter had the kind of faith we find in Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego when King Nebuchadnezzar gave them one last chance to worship him before he threw them in the fiery furnace, and they replied, “God CAN save us, He WILL save us, and even if He doesn’t save us, we’re still going to worship HIM alone” (Dan 3:17-18).
Can you say that this morning, brother, sister, in the midst of your OWN fiery furnace, your OWN metaphorical “prison cell”, can you REST EASY, trusting that God CAN save you, He WILL save you, but even if He doesn’t save you in the way you WANT - even if God doesn’t cure your sickness, doesn’t alleviate your mental illness, doesn’t fix your marriage - even if God chooses instead to SUSTAIN you in suffering like James instead of SAVING you from it like Peter, will you still rest easy, trusting in His sovereign will for your life?
Will you say, like the apostle Paul, in Philippians 1, and as our opening hymn this morning so poignantly paraphrased: “Be still and remember the worst that can come / But shortens our journey and hastens us home”.
I can’t remember who it was - probably good I can’t remember who! - in the foyer last week, I was giving you such a hard time, because I asked, “How ya doing?” And one of you replied, “I’m alright. I’m still here. It’s better than the alternative.”
And I said, “I sure HOPE not!” Cuz friends: there’s only TWO alternatives to being alive here on earth, and if this life is truly your “best life now” then you’re in TROUBLE for eternity!
No, Paul said, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is FAR better.” (Phil 1:23).
Maybe THAT’s how Peter was sleeping that night; he’s thinking, “FINALLY! I get to go HOME!”
4) Why’d the angel tell him to “get dressed” in v8? Just like God did the Israelites before he led THEM to freedom from Egypt; he told them to eat the Passover meal with their “belts fastened and your sandals on” (Ex 12:11); Why? Because God never just leads of OUT of something; he’s ALSO leading us INTO something even BETTER. So God prepares us for what lies ahead; He saves us for a PURPOSE.
5) What do you do when the way forward seems impossible (I mean, Peter had TALKED to angels before, but he’d never SEEN one, much less heard of an angel breaking someone out of prison!)? V9: You just keep trusting, and walking by faith, not by sight. Sometimes that’s all you CAN do - just put one foot in front of the next; take one more step, and trust God to keep guiding you and giving you the strength to do it again… and again… and again…
6) What do you do when the way forward IS impossible? Not just SEEMS impossible; when it IS impossible?! Cuz I don’t know how heavy a locked “city gate” made of “iron” would have been, how many MEN it would’ve taken to open that gate - none of my commentaries answered that one for me, but I’m GUESSING it was downright IMMOVABLE. Impossible. But guess what: someone forgot to let GOD know. “Just ask the stone that was rolled At the tomb in the garden
What happens when God says to move!”
Cuz when Peter walks up to the gate in v10, “It opened for them of its own accord”; the Greek word used there is automate; the world’s first automatic gate!
So what do you do when you’re facing the impossible? You trust God to do the impossible FOR you.
7) What do you do when you realize that God has saved you? V11: You Worship him!
8) What ELSE do you do? V12: You share the good news with others! Peter RUNS to the house of Mary, John Mark’s mom, where he knows the church has been praying for him. Which brings up…
9) What do you do when you’re not sure your prayers are successful? The church had PRAYED for James, and that didn’t seem to work, at least not in the way THEY wanted. They’ve been praying for Peter, but so far to no avail (at least not that they’re AWARE of yet!). So what do you do? V12: You just keep on praying. You pray some MORE! And…
10) What do you do when your faith grows SO weak, that you lose ALL hope that your prayers are effective, that God is still listening? Because the church here, to their credit, was still busy PRAYING for Peter in v12. But to their DIS-credit, they apparently believe, judging by v15, that it’s more likely that Peter’s guardian angel has left him to die, and come to deliver the bad news to the church, than to believe that God could actually DELIVER Peter from death. So what do we DO, when our faith is THAT weak? We thank God for His promise, 2 Timothy 2:13, that even “if we are faithless, he remains faithful”. That GOD’S faith-FULL-ness is bigger than OUR faith-LESS-ness.
So Peter just keeps knocking, they FINALLY let him in, they ALL freak out, he tells them to pipe down - he’s still a fugitive on the lam, and a jailbreak does ya no good if you end up back in prison anyway because Rhoda can’t contain her excitement, and she wakes up the neighbors who call the police about a noise complaint. So Peter quiets them down, he tells them the whole story, he tells them to share the good news with Jesus’ half-brother James and the others, and then the biggest question of all…
11) Why did God save Peter? V17: Because God’s not done with Peter yet. James had fulfilled his assignment in this life. But God’s got more for Peter to do - more unbelievers for Peter to evangelize, more new Christians for him to disciple, more churches for him to plant, more GOSPEL for Peter to PREACH. So that God might get more GLORY, through Peter’s continued ministry. Brothers and sisters, if God hasn’t taken you home yet: THAT’S why; because he’s not done USING you yet, in the lives of those around you, for THEIR good, and for HIS glory.
God gets GLORY from SAVING us:
*Zeph 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness…
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
*Ps 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
*Ps 37:39-40 “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them… because they take refuge in him.”
*And of course Romans 8:28 “All things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”
God lets GOOD things happen to GOOD people because God gets glory when He SAVES US. (vv6-17)
Lastly, #4 - God eventually lets BAD things happen to BAD people because God gets glory when He SHOWS US JUSTICE. (vv18-24)
God showed Herod MERCY, for a time. But just like ALL the wicked, Herod’s time for repentance eventually ran OUT. In v23, when the people of Tyre and Sidon worshiped him as a god, and “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down… and Herod was eaten by worms and he breathed his last.” WHY? “because he did not give God the glory”. Have you noticed a recurring theme in all FOUR of these answers?
God lets bad things happen to good people…
Good things happen to BAD people…
God lets EVERYTHING happen, ultimately, in one way or another, FOR HIS OWN GLORY! And God is clear in His word, Isaiah 42:8, that “I am the Lord… and my glory I give to no other”.
And I need to warn you this morning that Scripture is equally clear, that if you FAIL to give God the glory that is due His holy name for long enough, your time will eventually come too.
*Ezek 18:20 “The person who sins will die… and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.”
*Prov 11:21 “Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished”
*Isa 13:11 “I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;”
*And what will be their punishment? Most scary of ALL, 2 Thess 1:9 “ They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from[b] the presence of the Lord” Eternal judgment for those who, in their self-centered PRIDE, would DARE to reject CHRIST! Reject so GREAT a salvation.
Friends, that doesn’t have to be your story. Today can be the day of YOUR salvation. Repent of your sins, throw yourself on the MERCY of God, poured out on you in Christ Jesus his Son, and YOU WILL BE SAVED.
But rest assured, one way or the other, God WILL be glorified. And v24, “the word of God WILL increase and be multiplied.” That train ain’t stopping. The only question is, will you jump ON the train, before it’s too late.