Why Bad Things Happen to Good People? Another Dimension of The Paradox. A Communion Message

[0:00] Why do bad things happen to good people? While we were doing some door knocking yesterday we had a couple of people really pose the same kind of question.

[0:15] ! Why do bad things happen to good people? Really it's a thorny question that sometimes people use that as a kind of excuse.

[0:26] Well, bad things happen and we had a dear lady, she was literally weeping on a doorstep. Six years ago her husband had passed away and she's still broken up, broken hearted about it.

[0:39] Her tears were flowing down her face. And why do bad things happen to good people? It is a serious question, an important question and I can't probably unpack it really in just a short little devotion here.

[0:54] And I don't want to make light of that very important question but hopefully I can give you a different way of looking at it. A different way of thinking about it. Why do bad things happen to good people?

[1:07] Let's just pray. Lord we thank you for your word as we come to it now. And Lord for your encouragement to our hearts. And still our hearts Lord. We know there's grieving ones amongst us. There's a family that's lost their father just this last few days.

[1:22] Lord we know it's a hard time. There's hard things going on for lots and lots of people. There's people looking for jobs. There's people that are hurting. There's people with health problems and concerns of family and friends.

[1:36] Lord we know that this world is full of sin and hurt and hurting people. Lord we pray your comfort to each one. And Lord especially the comfort of your word. Because your word tells us of the comfort of the scriptures.

[1:48] And we can take heart in these words that you give to us. In Jesus name. Amen. How could God be so unkind? How could God be so uncaring?

[2:00] What are some bad things that happen to good people? We're just going to talk about what happened to just one good person. Just one person.

[2:11] It tells of him. Isaiah 52, 14. In part it reads. As many were astonished at him. As astonished at him. That his visage, his face was so marred.

[2:23] More than any man. He was marred. More than any man. And his form. More than the sons of man. And it says further.

[2:34] He was despised and hated. Rejected. That's a bad thing isn't it? You ever have a rejection? I know when you go for a job and they say. No you weren't the one. You're rejected.

[2:45] Rejected. He was despised. He was hated. People loathed him. They spat out his name. They cursed him. They mocked him. He is despised and rejected of man.

[2:58] And he still is. As we were knocking doors yesterday. People tell us in quite colourful language that they hate Jesus. And they don't want to hear about him. He still hates it isn't he?

[3:10] People still hate the name of Jesus. He's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. And he was despised. And we esteemed him not. We didn't esteem him.

[3:21] We were in the same bunch. Cursing his name. In effect. Around the cross. He was despised. Hated. Rejected. He was afflicted. Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

[3:34] Yet we did esteem him. Stricken. Smitten of God. And afflicted. Affliction is a hard thing. A bad thing isn't it?

[3:45] You have life's troubles. You get hurt. You get sick. You get stricken. And afflicted. This good man too was wounded.

[3:56] But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes. Those cutting of his flesh to ribbons.

[4:09] As they lashed him with the scourge. With his stripes we are healed. He was wounded. That was a bad thing wasn't it? Have you ever been wounded? People carry wounds.

[4:21] That lady still carrying the wound of a bereavement six years after the effect. People are wounded today. They're hurting people. He was wounded. That wasn't fair was it? It wasn't right. It was a bad thing.

[4:32] Why did it happen? He bore the iniquity of others. He had none of his own. He was without spot. He was sinless without sin.

[4:44] And it tells of him that he bore the iniquity of others. It says all we like sheep have gone astray. And the Lord have laid on him the iniquity our sin the sin of us all. He bore the iniquity of others. He bore the iniquity of others.

[4:56] He carried my sin on the cross. He bore our sin in his own body on the tree. Your sin. My sin. It was there.

[5:07] 2,000 years ago it was there. That wasn't very fair was it? Wasn't very kind of God. He was oppressed it says and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth.

[5:21] He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. As a sheep before her shearers is dumb. He opened not his mouth. That was a bad thing that happened being oppressed. People are oppressed aren't they?

[5:32] They are still oppressed today. In chains. In bondage. Of all kinds. Oppression. Furthermore he was taken to prison it says.

[5:43] He was taken from prison and from judgment. And he shall declare his generation for he was cut out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken. It tells of prison of judgment.

[5:55] This one he was just. He was made unjust or considered unjust. That he was judged. That he was confined to a prison. Though he was not guilty.

[6:06] How was that fair? How was that justified? He suffered death. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.

[6:18] Neither had he done no violence. Neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Death. Is that fair? When we see and hear of death. Of loved ones.

[6:29] Of parting. Of loss. Of grief. Of bereavement. How is that just? Death is a bad thing. Grief.

[6:41] Grief. It tells how yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief. Then when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his sin. He shall prolong his days. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

[6:54] It tells of grief. Grief is a bad thing, isn't it? We all get cut up when we see something sad and hurts us and we feel for others compassion and hurting in our heart for others.

[7:06] He suffered that. Jesus. He suffered grief. Grief is a bad thing, isn't it? We would reckon. He suffered travail. He suffered travail. It says he shall see of the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied and he shall bear their iniquities.

[7:21] It says that by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. It tells of the travail. This is like childbirth. This is excruciating. Literally the crucifixion excruciating.

[7:32] That's where you get the word excruciating from the crucifixion. It was a travail of his soul. This wasn't just a travail as we would reckon it physically but a travail of his very soul.

[7:45] How was that a good thing? It was a bad thing and he took it, didn't he? The travail of his soul. And then it tells us how his soul was poured out.

[7:58] His very soul. His very soul was poured out. Poured out his very soul. How can we imagine that? How can we consider that? How can we understand that?

[8:09] That his very soul was poured out. He didn't hold it back. He poured out his very soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors. He bare the sins of many.

[8:20] He made intercession for the transgressors. It says his soul was poured out. Think of that this morning as we think about bad things that happened to the good person, Jesus.

[8:34] We think how he was considered cursed. Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. And it says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.

[8:45] Because he was made a curse for us. He was hanging on that tree. In humiliation and agony. And it was a cursed thing.

[8:57] They knew he was numbered with the transgressors. He was counted as the scum. As the riff raff. As the very wicked.

[9:09] And he's hanging there in this penalty. And yet he was guiltless. Guiltless. And he was cursed. Cursed. Why do bad things happen to good people?

[9:22] Why did such, so many bad things happen to the best of people? More so the perfect one.

[9:33] Unlike humankind. All have sinned. He is the perfect one. The perfect man. And God. Manifest in the flesh. Really all the suffering of Christ was because of man's sin.

[9:48] It was my fault. We could think of it, couldn't we? Why do bad things happen to good people? Really man's sin is the cause of all that is bad.

[10:00] Man's sin and guilt is the cause of all the bad things that we face on this earth. Yet our Lord Jesus went through the very bad things. The very worst of things.

[10:11] This one who is the very best of man suffered the very worst of things. And he knew shame. Think of the shame of the cross. And we're reading it Wednesday night. Coming.

[10:22] Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Despising the shame. And he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

[10:34] Think of him. The shame. And he endured the cross. The shame of it. He knew the shame. Have you ever felt shame? Something that you've done wrong? Some guilt?

[10:45] Some remorse? It's a bad thing, isn't it? Well, it's probably a good thing to feel shame. And then do something about it. But thank God. Jesus bore our shame. The very shame of our sin.

[10:57] And what's more, he laid down his life. He laid down his life. Think of it, friends, today. It tells us, really, this is the other John 3.16. In 1 John 3.16, it says, Hereby perceive we the love of God.

[11:13] Because he laid down his life for us. I was thinking to get a young volunteer to help me here and lay them on the ground to kind of illustrate this gruesome fact.

[11:26] But you can picture it. If someone's laid down. If someone's laid down. He's laid down on the ground. He's laid down on the ground. He's laid down with his hands. On a piece of wood. A piece of rough wood.

[11:37] And what does it say of him? He was pierced. He was pierced. Now, I can't do it. I need someone to do it for me. But you can imagine.

[11:48] I'm not meant to make light of this, honestly. But just think of it today. Think of it this morning. It tells of him as the prophet prophesied. For dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.

[11:59] They pierced my hands and my feet. Bad things happen to Jesus. He was marred. He was rejected. He was afflicted.

[12:10] He was wounded. He bore our iniquity. He was oppressed. He suffered prison. Judgment. Death. Grief. Travail. He was poured out. His very soul poured out.

[12:22] How can we picture that? How can we contemplate that? He was cursed. He was cursed. He bore our shame.

[12:34] He was laid down. He was pierced. How can I tangibly represent it to you? What it means. Bad things happen to Jesus for you.

[12:45] For me. Bad things. The worst of things. Happens to the best of people. Our precious Saviour. And it tells of him he was broken. Why? For you.

[12:56] For you. And when he had given thanks he'd break it. As he took of that prayer. And he'd break it. He'd break it.

[13:07] He tore it. Like his very body was torn. As his very person was injured. He was broken. And he says, take eat.

[13:18] This is my body which is broken. For you. Why do bad things happen to good people? Of course we can't fully unpack that. I don't know your situation.

[13:29] You might have had some very bad things happen. And that can be hard to still get your head around. Why did bad things happen to me? We know really it's not God's doing. It's not God's doing.

[13:41] It's man. It's man's sin. It's man's sin. It's man's sin right back from the garden. And right through. The planet's fallen. We suffer. The result of sin.

[13:52] We suffer it still. And that means sometimes we'll have hurts. We might suffer great affliction ourselves. It doesn't mean God's left us. Like it says of Job. He was the most just man on all the earth.

[14:03] And we know he was the righteous man of his day. And yet he suffered greatly. So don't think when bad things happen to you. That God's given up on you. Or that he's far far away from you. He's very very close to you.

[14:15] And he's gone through it. He's been there and he's done that. Why do bad things happen to good people? Really we could actually consider that the Bible says.

[14:26] Romans 3 10. As it is written. There is none good. None. None good. No. Not. One. There's actually no good people.

[14:40] So we could actually think. Why did the worst of things happen to the best of people? Our precious Lord. He didn't deserve what he suffered did he? He didn't deserve it.

[14:51] Yet he freely went there. He intelligently. Determinately went to the cross. He deliberately went to the cross. Our precious Lord. He was the only one without sin.

[15:02] Yet he suffered sin. In all those dimensions that we talked about. Why do bad things happen to good people? Really the source of all bad things is man's sin. It's the fact that we're living in a fallen world.

[15:14] And we're bearing Adam's sin and guilt. Each one of us. And there's no excuse to blame God for it. God's not the problem.

[15:25] We are the problem. For our fallen world. We are the problem. Man's sin. Generally speaking. Of course you may not feel that it's justified some of the suffering of life that you might go through.

[15:36] And I'm not meaning to make light of that or discount that. You have your cross to carry. And we all have. But the good news is that Jesus is born it all.

[15:47] Hasn't he? He's taken all of it. He knows where we're at. And really it's not God's fault. Rather that we should turn to God when bad things happen. Really we should turn to him who's the source of all comfort.

[15:59] The God of all comfort is his very name. And God has done everything to save us from our sin. If we would but trust in him. Just trust him.

[16:10] We would better pose the question. Rather than this one. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people?

[16:23] Really? Isn't it? That should be the question. Why do good things happen to bad people? Because there's none righteous, no not one. So we're in that bunch. We're the bad people. I've got to be honest with you this morning.

[16:35] There's a sense where we've all fallen short of the glory of God. We've all got that sense where there's none good, no not one. But think of the good things that do happen to bad people. By God's grace. By God's grace.

[16:46] The good things that God has given to you. That in prospect you can have if you haven't already. Salvation. That's a good thing. Forgiveness, eternal life. Friends, there's good things that happen to bad people.

[16:58] Amen. There's good things that God gives to such as we. Guilty, unworthy as we are. Why would God in his grace see fit to act to save us and give to us unworthy ones salvation?

[17:12] Forever. Life with God. Forgiveness. Eternal life. So I urge you this morning to consider these things and reflect on how good things God gives to us.

[17:23] And it's all because of the cross. Because Jesus has gone through all of that. In our part. In our place. Bearing our penalty. And all of the ramifications of our sin. He's fully paid for it.

[17:34] For you that trust him, you can know that. Assuredly today. That Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Think of the richness of his love. Think of the richness of his love.

[17:49] He laid down his life for us. Friends, we can't really capture the full spectrum of that, can we?

[18:00] What that means. The love of God. So rich, so pure. He was marred. More than any man. Rejected. Despised.

[18:11] Still is. Afflicted. Wounded. For our transgressions. He was bearing our iniquity. Our very sin. That it was in his body.

[18:24] The Bible tells us that. He was oppressed. He suffered prison, judgment, even though he was guiltless.

[18:35] There was no judgment due to him. Yet he took our very penalty and shame. He suffered death. The death of the cross.

[18:46] More so. Grief. He knows the grief that we carry. The travail of his very soul. He was poured out.

[18:59] Poured out like a drink offering. Poured out. Fully poured out. His very soul was poured out. He was cursed.

[19:10] The curse of the cross. The reproach of the cross. The curse of it. The shame of it. He laid down his life. He laid down his life for us.

[19:22] He was pierced. His hands on his feet. And then lay to his side. And he was broken. For us.

[19:33] For you. This do in remembrance of me. And we think. What does it all mean? Why was it necessary?

[19:44] Because someone had to carry our sin. Someone has to pay for our sin. And the Lord Jesus has paid for our sin. If you but trust his payment for you. Receive his.

[19:55] That transaction. That his righteousness be counted as your righteousness. We can't fathom the depths of it really. And really we should ask.

[20:08] Why do good things happen? Why do good things happen to such as we? Undeserving. Unworthy. Guilty. Lost. Yet he comes to.

[20:20] Seek and to save the lost. And we can thank God for his. Great mercy that he would extend his arm to us.

[20:31] It says his hand is not shortened that it cannot save. If you're outside of Christ today. You can get inside of Christ. You can make that transition from being lost to being saved.

[20:44] The Bible talks in John 5 of passing from death to life. Where are you today? You're either in one camp or the other. You're in one state or the other. It says we can pass from death unto life.

[20:58] Until then. Until then.