WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:08.099 Well, a few years ago, television personality and celebrity atheist Stephen Fry was being interviewed by Irish Television, RTE, and he was asked, 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:14.500 Stephen, what happens if you're wrong? What happens if you reach the end of your life, you die, and you arrive at the pearly gates, 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:19.580 and you are confronted with God, the person who you say doesn't exist? What will you say to him? 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:23.500 Stephen Fry didn't hold back in how he responded to Seamus O'Mullen. 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:26.780 He said that he would say to God at the pearly gates, 00:00:26.780 --> 00:00:30.600 Bone cancer in children, what's that about? 00:00:31.460 --> 00:00:37.179 How dare you? How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:41.219 It's not right. It's utterly, utterly evil. 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:50.359 Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain? 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:57.460 Stephen Fry in that moment was speaking for many people who are asking this question that we're considering this evening. 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:00.640 Why does God allow suffering to happen to his people? 00:01:01.899 --> 00:01:07.739 Now, it's important that we understand tonight that the question of suffering is not an academic theological question for people who live in ivory towers. 00:01:08.420 --> 00:01:11.379 Suffering is a question that is very close to all of our hearts, 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:17.239 because all of us know what it is like to feel the bitter realities of pain and agony in our lives. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:22.719 I'm the pastor of a church that is filled with people who have experienced suffering. 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:30.599 Cuts and bruises, miscarriages and infertility, broken bones, broken hearts, hurting minds, hurting emotions, 00:01:31.539 --> 00:01:35.379 cancers, depressions, self-harms, you name it, we've got it. 00:01:35.379 --> 00:01:39.979 Yeah, the amazing thing is that in a community of people like that, 00:01:40.399 --> 00:01:44.539 their response has not been like Stephen Fry, which was to drive them away from God. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:49.299 Rather, their experiences of pain and suffering actually drew them closer to God. 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:52.259 That's going to be important as we think about this question tonight. 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:57.919 The reality of suffering does not necessarily mean that God should be distant from you 00:01:57.919 --> 00:01:59.759 and someone that you should be angry at. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:05.700 The problem of suffering is also not a question just for the Christian faith alone to deal with. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:12.439 Every religion, every worldview, every philosophy has to answer the reality of pain and suffering in this world. 00:02:12.939 --> 00:02:16.360 It would be absolutely fair for us to go back to Stephen Fry and say, 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:19.740 Stephen, okay, I hear that you're angry at the God of Christianity, 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:22.620 but what's your explanation for suffering? 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:29.259 How do you make sense of it in your worldview, your secular, humanistic, atheistic worldview? 00:02:30.739 --> 00:02:35.599 I think that actually the secular worldview which dominates the Western world in which we live really falls short. 00:02:35.659 --> 00:02:38.419 It doesn't have the resources to adequately deal with this problem. 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:40.719 So it's easy to throw stones at the Christian worldview, 00:02:40.979 --> 00:02:43.620 but they've got their own problems they need to deal with as well in-house. 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:50.859 It's interesting that we live in a part of the world where we have never had more comfortable lifestyles than at this time. 00:02:50.859 --> 00:02:52.959 We are economically advanced. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.879 We have medical and technological advances which shield us, 00:02:55.879 --> 00:02:59.859 that insulate us from pain and suffering at a very basic level every day. 00:03:00.859 --> 00:03:03.419 And yet we, with our much lower level of suffering, 00:03:03.939 --> 00:03:08.299 we seem to struggle more than they did in the past with pain and suffering. 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:09.579 Some of you are older than me. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.539 Some of you look considerably older than me, and you know what I'm talking about. 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:13.859 You look at some of my generation, 00:03:14.099 --> 00:03:16.519 and you agree with the Daily Telegraph or a bunch of snowflakes. 00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:20.100 Isn't it interesting that we are more insulated from suffering, 00:03:20.200 --> 00:03:23.860 and yet we struggle more today with that level of suffering? 00:03:25.480 --> 00:03:26.420 Why is that? 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:31.740 Well, I think that part of the answer is that the secular worldview just doesn't have the resources 00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:33.480 to cope and to manage with suffering. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.540 It tells us that suffering is just a fact of nature. 00:03:37.480 --> 00:03:38.980 It has no higher purpose. 00:03:39.660 --> 00:03:41.460 It has no ultimate reason to it. 00:03:41.620 --> 00:03:43.580 There is no redemptive hope in it. 00:03:44.100 --> 00:03:44.740 It just is. 00:03:44.740 --> 00:03:47.500 It has no longer purpose, and it will interfere with your plans for life. 00:03:47.640 --> 00:03:48.980 It will frustrate your dreams. 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:51.800 It will prevent you achieving your plans for happiness. 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:53.780 You've just got to get on with it. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:57.719 It will be a block on your hopes and your dreams and your plans. 00:03:59.180 --> 00:03:59.900 That's just it. 00:04:00.700 --> 00:04:02.420 It's just a waste of your time in life. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:03.600 That's just it. 00:04:04.980 --> 00:04:07.840 In the past, people had hoped that even though things were difficult, 00:04:08.260 --> 00:04:09.280 that maybe there was a purpose. 00:04:09.420 --> 00:04:10.160 Maybe there was a plan. 00:04:10.260 --> 00:04:11.879 Maybe one day they would look back and see, 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:13.120 oh, that makes more sense now. 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:14.680 But secularism doesn't have that. 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:16.759 Suffering just is. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:17.720 Get on with it. 00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:24.340 It isn't interesting that actually whenever we encounter suffering in our lives, 00:04:24.439 --> 00:04:27.879 we don't just ever receive it just as, well, that's just the way it is. 00:04:28.100 --> 00:04:29.560 We don't just shrug our shoulders at suffering. 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:32.879 We know deep down there's something more going on there. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:39.620 One Christian philosopher has said that only we human beings spell pain the way we do. 00:04:39.699 --> 00:04:42.040 And he doesn't just mean spell it P-A-I-N. 00:04:42.139 --> 00:04:45.959 He means that we see suffering not just as a fact of nature, like the weather, 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:48.479 but that we see it as a moral problem. 00:04:49.019 --> 00:04:53.459 Whenever we have the rain here in Scotland, we get it quite a lot at this time of year. 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:56.899 We don't go around all day complaining, saying, you know, rain is evil. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:57.739 It's wicked. 00:04:58.180 --> 00:04:59.079 It's despicable. 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:00.959 It's just wrong. 00:05:01.259 --> 00:05:02.639 We're just like, well, that's just where we live. 00:05:02.699 --> 00:05:03.219 That's just Scotland. 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:03.639 Come on. 00:05:03.740 --> 00:05:04.120 Go on with it. 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:11.160 We're well-versed in our umbrellas and our ponchos and things to keep us dry. 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:15.280 But whenever we encounter evil, when we encounter pain, 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:17.819 when we encounter grief and loss in this world, 00:05:17.879 --> 00:05:20.699 we don't just greet it the way we greet the rain and the weather. 00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:23.600 We instinctively know this is wrong. 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:27.360 This is not the way things should be. 00:05:28.620 --> 00:05:30.899 And secularism is unable to make sense of that experience, 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:33.879 that all of us deep down know to be true, 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:35.879 that suffering just is wrong. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:40.279 Take one of the spokespeople of secularism. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.060 Richard Dawkins cannot help us with this experience that we have. 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:48.019 He has said, in a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:51.519 some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:55.459 and you won't find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. 00:05:56.620 --> 00:06:00.180 The universe that we observe has precisely the properties that we would expect 00:06:00.180 --> 00:06:05.939 if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:09.600 nothing but pitiless indifference. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:16.480 I guarantee you, friends, that whenever Richard Dawkins experiences suffering in his life, 00:06:16.520 --> 00:06:19.600 he does not greet it with just pitiless indifference. 00:06:19.939 --> 00:06:20.640 He's angry. 00:06:20.760 --> 00:06:21.580 He's outraged. 00:06:21.780 --> 00:06:23.879 He says things should not be this way too. 00:06:25.080 --> 00:06:27.460 He can think these thoughts, but he can't lift them. 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:32.160 There is something inherently unstable and wrong with the secular worldview. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:36.120 We know that this world is wrong. 00:06:36.320 --> 00:06:37.860 It is not the way it ought to be. 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:40.060 We know that suffering is not fair. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:43.480 These instinctive, deep intuitions that we have, 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.200 they're telling us about the truth about the world in which we live. 00:06:47.660 --> 00:06:49.200 We live in a moral universe. 00:06:50.379 --> 00:06:52.740 There are such things as right and wrong, good and evil, 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:56.500 and suffering is on the evil side of the equation, the wrong side of the equation. 00:06:57.700 --> 00:06:59.980 One former skeptic, C.S. Lewis, once said that, 00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:03.740 my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. 00:07:04.379 --> 00:07:07.860 But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? 00:07:08.740 --> 00:07:13.780 A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:18.900 Lewis is saying that he understands that just the very fact that we know instinctively 00:07:18.900 --> 00:07:25.280 that suffering is wrong, that tells us that we live in a universe of moral goods and moral evils. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:31.679 And that implies that there is also a moral, ultimate good lawgiver who is God himself. 00:07:33.059 --> 00:07:36.399 This is why I said at the start that the problem, the problem of evil, 00:07:36.479 --> 00:07:40.619 the question of suffering does not necessarily need to drive us away from believing in God. 00:07:40.620 --> 00:07:46.639 But what it will force us to do is consider what are the purposes of God 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:50.500 in allowing suffering to happen in the lives of his people. 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:53.519 Now we're going to go on a bit of a whistle stop tour, 00:07:53.660 --> 00:07:57.019 three points to try and help us answer that question this evening. 00:07:57.019 --> 00:08:00.819 First point then is that there is a reason for suffering. 00:08:03.039 --> 00:08:06.839 Now if God is truly good, which is what the Bible says from the very first chapter, 00:08:06.919 --> 00:08:10.219 from the very first page, God is good, everything he made was good, 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.599 very good by the end of creation week. 00:08:12.899 --> 00:08:15.180 Then how is it that this world has gone so wrong? 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:17.219 Why is it that everywhere we look in this world, 00:08:17.339 --> 00:08:20.279 there is pain and sadness and suffering and decay? 00:08:20.479 --> 00:08:21.359 What has gone wrong? 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:24.180 Well, there are two ways that things can go wrong. 00:08:24.180 --> 00:08:28.620 There is user error or there is manufacturing error. 00:08:29.459 --> 00:08:34.039 Now a few years ago I had a mobile phone before I upgraded to a smartphone 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:36.600 and for years it had a crack in the screen. 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:40.440 And if I had gone back to Cameron Tolldown to the O2 shop and said to them, 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:43.240 look, my phone screen is broken, I would like a refund please. 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:46.200 Well, the customer service people would be entitled to ask me, 00:08:46.299 --> 00:08:49.220 well, sir, was it like that when you got out of the box? 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:51.799 To which I'd have to say, well, actually, no, it wasn't. 00:08:51.799 --> 00:08:54.080 When I got out of the box, the screen was fine, it was intact. 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:58.859 And then they would be entitled to ask, well, sir, how did the screen get cracked? 00:08:58.939 --> 00:09:01.559 And I would feel a little bit uncomfortable at that point and have to tell them, 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:02.759 well, actually, there was a Saturday morning. 00:09:03.299 --> 00:09:04.559 I'd forgotten to turn my alarm off. 00:09:05.479 --> 00:09:06.839 And my alarm went off. 00:09:06.939 --> 00:09:07.859 I wasn't happy at it. 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:09.199 And I let it fly. 00:09:09.439 --> 00:09:10.739 And crack went the screen. 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:14.239 And at which point the sales assistant would say, 00:09:14.459 --> 00:09:15.959 you're not getting a refund. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:16.959 It's your fault. 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:18.659 This is not manufacturing error. 00:09:18.819 --> 00:09:20.219 This is user error. 00:09:20.899 --> 00:09:22.960 And when we look around at the world around about us, 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:25.180 we see it broken in so many ways. 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:27.759 And the Bible tells us that the problem is not manufacturing error. 00:09:27.860 --> 00:09:30.440 This is not that God has somehow messed up his creation, 00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:33.019 that he is in some way bad and did a bad job. 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:37.840 But rather, we are told in the Bible that what has gone wrong is user error. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:40.399 People have often asked me, 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:45.139 is it not possible that God could have created a world in which user error would not be possible, 00:09:45.560 --> 00:09:47.500 where everything would always be right? 00:09:48.800 --> 00:09:50.740 And the answer is, well, theoretically, yes, 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:53.000 God could have created a world where user error wouldn't be a problem. 00:09:53.540 --> 00:09:55.500 But you wouldn't want to live in a world like that. 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:58.780 That would be a world without freedom, a world without love. 00:09:59.420 --> 00:10:02.639 You see, love always requires the ability to choose. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:07.399 And God wanted to create a world full of people like you and me, 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:13.319 who would know him and love him and live with him and live for him. 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:18.279 But to be creatures who can choose to love God and enjoy God forever, 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:23.699 we also have to be creatures with the ability to choose to live for ourselves and not for God. 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:28.919 And sadly, the story of the human race is that that is precisely the decision that we have made. 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:32.679 We have chosen to live for ourselves and to reject God, our creator. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:35.639 This world is not the way it's meant to be, 00:10:35.699 --> 00:10:39.299 because human beings are not the way that we were made to be. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.519 And so here is the dilemma of the problem of suffering. 00:10:44.079 --> 00:10:45.659 The dilemma is actually not with God. 00:10:45.719 --> 00:10:46.679 It's actually with us. 00:10:47.779 --> 00:10:50.039 If this world is broken because of user error, 00:10:50.299 --> 00:10:52.479 then we are a part of the problem of evil. 00:10:53.819 --> 00:10:54.500 Have you ever thought about that? 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:58.599 That each of us in our own small ways contribute to all that is wrong in this world. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.240 Let me assure you, the God of the Bible is a God of justice. 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:06.879 He cares about every evil, wrong thing that's been done to you in your life. 00:11:07.079 --> 00:11:10.379 Every act of unfairness and unkindness and injustice, 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:12.620 he cares about that in your life. 00:11:13.019 --> 00:11:16.279 There's coming a day whenever he is going to settle the accounts of all those people 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:17.860 who have caused suffering in your life. 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:19.099 That's good news. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:26.219 But friends, the bad news is also that God cares not just about the suffering that you have experienced, 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:31.379 but he also cares about the suffering that you have caused other people to experience. 00:11:32.379 --> 00:11:38.000 And there's a day whenever he's going to have to hold you to account for that pain in other people's lives. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:42.179 And so you see all of us in our own small ways, 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:44.360 maybe some of us even in bigger ways, 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:46.299 contribute to all that's wrong in this world. 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:47.700 We're all part of the problem of evil. 00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:53.419 Someone who had quite an incredible perception into this problem 00:11:53.419 --> 00:11:56.000 was a man called Alexander Solzhenitsyn. 00:11:56.340 --> 00:11:57.279 He was a Russian. 00:11:57.460 --> 00:12:00.700 He experienced the Russian gulags under Stalin. 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:03.799 He got on the wrong side of Stalin. 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.919 He was thrown to the gulag for many, many years. 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:08.539 He suffered horrendously in there. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.740 Wrote an incredible trilogy of books, the Gulag Archipelago. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:14.519 And in the second book, he writes this reflection. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.819 He reflects on the true dilemma of evil. 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:19.120 He says, 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:20.740 If only it were all so simple. 00:12:21.620 --> 00:12:25.879 If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds. 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:30.539 And it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:32.740 If only it was so easy. 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:35.500 But he continues and says, 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:40.779 But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. 00:12:42.019 --> 00:12:45.220 And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? 00:12:47.779 --> 00:12:54.600 Solzhenitsyn saw friends and colleagues just turned evil by their experiences in the gulag. 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:59.299 And he says that is something that is a capacity which is in all of our hearts. 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:02.419 So evil is not just a problem out there. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:04.759 Suffering is not just something done by other people. 00:13:05.820 --> 00:13:07.860 Evil is very much within all of us. 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:11.279 And that means that whenever we demand God, 00:13:11.379 --> 00:13:12.399 Why will you not just intervene? 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:14.740 Why will you not just come and stop all this bad stuff? 00:13:14.800 --> 00:13:15.960 Why will you not just end evil? 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:18.480 Why will you not just bring an end to suffering in the world? 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.919 You are actually asking God to come and deal with you as well. 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:27.259 He has to deal with you who is also a part of the problem. 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:30.139 We must be careful what we ask God to do. 00:13:30.139 --> 00:13:37.340 So the real dilemma of evil is how is God to deal with people like us whose hearts are plagued with evil? 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:39.659 Just like a wine bottle that's been corked. 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:40.840 What's God to do with us? 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:45.039 Well, we'll come back to that in a few minutes. 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:47.159 But let's move on to a second thought this evening. 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:49.220 We've thought about the reason for suffering. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:52.039 Let's now think about a companion in suffering. 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:59.179 See, the Christian faith, the good news of Jesus, it provides an answer to the problem of suffering. 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:05.639 And it tells us not just some sort of theoretical, philosophical principle that's the answer, 00:14:06.179 --> 00:14:10.699 but actually it presents it to the person who is the answer to the problem of evil and suffering. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.559 The good news is that God has not remained distant from us. 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:15.879 He's not remained removed from our pain. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:20.240 Rather, in an incredible love, God has stepped into this world. 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:21.379 He's become one of us. 00:14:21.379 --> 00:14:23.559 He has walked many miles in our shoes. 00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:25.139 He has felt our pain. 00:14:25.340 --> 00:14:27.279 He has drunk from the bitter cup of suffering. 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:29.840 And he has worn our scars. 00:14:31.259 --> 00:14:36.279 So I want to tell you a true story from the book, the Gospel of John, from John chapter 11 this evening. 00:14:36.899 --> 00:14:40.279 And this is a story that describes Jesus, the Son of the living God, 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.659 helping people in the midst of suffering in this world. 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:49.779 John 11 begins and it tells us that a few days before, Lazarus, one of Jesus' friends, had died. 00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:51.519 He had been buried. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:53.379 And Jesus had been late. 00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:56.799 His sisters had called for Jesus to come and help their friend, their brother. 00:14:57.399 --> 00:14:58.839 But Jesus delayed deliberately. 00:14:59.659 --> 00:15:00.819 So they've buried their brother. 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:03.659 And then a few days later, Jesus shows up. 00:15:03.959 --> 00:15:08.299 And he comes to care and comfort this family in the midst of their grief and pain. 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:14.240 And as Jesus walks into time, one of the sisters, Martha, runs up to him. 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:17.099 She is disappointed. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:19.359 Grievously disappointed. 00:15:20.059 --> 00:15:22.679 She had hoped that Jesus would come, that he would heal her brother. 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:24.579 And she says, verse 21, 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:31.339 Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 00:15:31.340 --> 00:15:39.379 I think many of us echo Martha's question at times in our lives whenever we ask and we say, 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:41.960 God, where were you? 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:44.320 Why did you let that happen? 00:15:46.420 --> 00:15:49.220 Why did you seem so far away when I was going through that time? 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:50.840 Where were you? 00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:51.960 If only you had been here. 00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:57.700 If you ever asked that question, you have permission to ask that question because it's in the Bible. 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:01.200 The story goes on. 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.400 Martha responds to Martha and tells her, verse 23, 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:06.500 Your brother will rise again, Martha. 00:16:07.740 --> 00:16:08.940 And Martha agrees with him. 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:12.920 Verse 24, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. 00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:18.379 And I wonder if we had an amplified Bible with voices, audio Bibles, if we had that, 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:20.540 if we could actually hear the tone of voice in Martha's voice. 00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:24.500 I wonder, was it a, I know he'll rise again. 00:16:24.500 --> 00:16:28.000 Is there a tinge of frustration here in Martha's voice? 00:16:28.259 --> 00:16:32.240 Because sometimes whenever people are struggling, the very last thing they need is us coming along 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:37.019 and just sprinkling some Bible verses, airdropping in some platitudes. 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:40.080 That's the very last thing that people need whenever in the midst of pain. 00:16:40.659 --> 00:16:43.700 Is that perhaps what Martha feels Jesus is doing initially? 00:16:43.779 --> 00:16:45.000 He's just giving her a platitude. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.399 I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:52.659 But Jesus here is not minimizing the depth of her pain. 00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:55.079 He is not dismissing the reality of her grief. 00:16:55.740 --> 00:16:58.079 He isn't just fobbing her off with some platitude. 00:16:59.319 --> 00:17:03.159 So Jesus is reminding her that the Bible teaches that history is not just a cycle 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:05.079 that's going round and round and round aimlessly. 00:17:05.619 --> 00:17:08.039 That rather, history is going somewhere. 00:17:08.740 --> 00:17:13.920 That it will climax finally on the last day when God is going to raise the dead 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:16.940 and make this broken world new in every way. 00:17:18.080 --> 00:17:21.460 And Martha is an Orthodox Jew and she believes that that day is coming. 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:26.800 There's a day coming when Lazarus and even she herself will be raised from the dead into a new creation. 00:17:26.940 --> 00:17:27.779 She knows that. 00:17:29.080 --> 00:17:31.180 But Jesus actually wants to shock Martha. 00:17:31.320 --> 00:17:35.279 He wants her to understand that what's going to happen on the last day, 00:17:35.360 --> 00:17:38.200 well, she's going to get a glimpse of that on this day. 00:17:38.800 --> 00:17:40.060 Jesus in verse 25 says, 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:42.000 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:47.299 Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live. 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:52.019 Jesus is saying that he is the king of that coming kingdom. 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:59.639 And he has the power to bring some of that resurrection life into Martha's world on this day. 00:18:01.139 --> 00:18:03.859 And Jesus doesn't just make crazy claims like that. 00:18:03.919 --> 00:18:05.159 He doesn't just talk the talk. 00:18:05.500 --> 00:18:07.659 He then asks to be taken to the tomb. 00:18:07.660 --> 00:18:14.160 And many people probably expected that this was Jesus wanting to go and pay respects to his dead friend. 00:18:14.620 --> 00:18:16.640 But Jesus has something far greater in mind. 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:20.080 And so they make the journey to the hillside where the tomb is. 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:22.840 And standing on this hillside filled with tombs, 00:18:23.259 --> 00:18:27.779 the Bible records the very shortest sentence that there is in the entire book from cover to cover. 00:18:27.840 --> 00:18:28.660 Just two words. 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:31.240 Jesus wept. 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:37.400 Someone who's thought a lot about these two words is Philip Yancey. 00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:40.880 Philip Yancey has written a lot of books on pain and suffering and the problem of evil. 00:18:41.819 --> 00:18:46.460 And he's reflected on how something changes in the Bible. 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:50.299 In the Old Testament, there are whole books dedicated to the question of suffering. 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:52.819 The question is often asked, God, do you care? 00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:55.440 The Psalms are filled with that question, God, do you care? 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:58.559 Job, Habakkuk, other places. 00:18:59.019 --> 00:19:01.100 God's people wrestle in the Old Testament with the question. 00:19:01.700 --> 00:19:04.880 In the face of evil, in the face of suffering, God, do you care? 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:06.480 Where are you? 00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:11.259 But Yancey notices that in the New Testament, things have changed. 00:19:11.940 --> 00:19:14.759 Suffering is still all over the place in the New Testament. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:18.840 But nobody asks the question, Lord, do you care any longer? 00:19:20.259 --> 00:19:22.860 And he thinks to himself, why is that? 00:19:22.859 --> 00:19:31.000 And then he says, although I cannot learn from Jesus why a particular bad thing occurs, 00:19:31.259 --> 00:19:34.119 I can learn how God feels about it. 00:19:35.619 --> 00:19:37.299 Jesus gives God a face. 00:19:38.379 --> 00:19:40.799 And that face is streaked with tears. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:45.759 Anyone who wonders how God feels about suffering on this groaning planet 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:47.740 need only look at that face. 00:19:49.719 --> 00:19:50.599 So there you go. 00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:53.899 The writers of the New Testament never have to ask the question, Lord, do you care? 00:19:54.099 --> 00:19:56.339 Because they've seen this face marked with tears. 00:19:58.779 --> 00:20:01.379 But Jesus' tears are not just tears of sadness and grief. 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:03.859 They are tears of anger as well. 00:20:04.199 --> 00:20:07.619 The words in the New Testament Greek, they are, he is indignant. 00:20:07.859 --> 00:20:09.219 He is deeply moved. 00:20:09.299 --> 00:20:10.379 He is greatly troubled. 00:20:10.459 --> 00:20:11.799 Verse 33, verse 38. 00:20:12.899 --> 00:20:15.519 Jesus is indignant because death is not just a tragedy. 00:20:15.719 --> 00:20:16.539 Death is an enemy. 00:20:16.539 --> 00:20:20.599 This is not what God wanted for his world. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:22.799 This is not what God wanted for his people. 00:20:24.180 --> 00:20:26.839 One theologian has said that when I see the death of a child, 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:30.519 I do not see the face of God, but the face of his enemy. 00:20:31.619 --> 00:20:32.440 And that's so true. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:38.740 But Jesus here is God come in the flesh, come in person to take on his enemy. 00:20:39.099 --> 00:20:43.119 He's come to face death and to liberate his people from its clutches. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:46.959 He's come to return things to the way that they were always made to be. 00:20:48.500 --> 00:20:52.319 And so Jesus then decides to tell the family to open up the tomb. 00:20:52.399 --> 00:20:52.899 They're shocked. 00:20:53.059 --> 00:20:53.719 This is the Middle East. 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:54.299 It's hot. 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:56.359 The body's been in there for three or four days. 00:20:57.079 --> 00:20:57.959 It smells. 00:21:01.459 --> 00:21:02.539 Jesus says, open it up. 00:21:04.439 --> 00:21:07.799 Then Jesus speaks into the black mouth of the tomb. 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:10.779 Lazarus, come out. 00:21:12.059 --> 00:21:15.180 And out of the tomb walks very much alive the dead man. 00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:19.819 The old preacher Charles Spurgeon once said that it's very important that Jesus said, 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:21.339 Lazarus, come out. 00:21:21.579 --> 00:21:25.159 Because if he just said, come out, the entire hillside of tombs would have been emptied. 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:26.579 It's a great thought. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:34.700 And on this day, Jesus proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he really is the one who is the resurrection and the life. 00:21:34.700 --> 00:21:40.380 It's also interesting that John tells us towards the end of this chapter that Jesus' actions on this day, 00:21:40.500 --> 00:21:45.220 proving that he's the resurrection and the life, set him on course for his own death. 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:50.700 The story ends with the Pharisees and leaders of Israel being so overawed by this incredible miracle, 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:56.100 which they cannot deny and dispute, that they resolve to make plans to put Jesus to death. 00:21:57.180 --> 00:22:03.400 Chapter 12, then of John's Gospel, through to chapter 19 is all about the last week of Jesus' life on the earth before he is crucified. 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:07.580 So what happens on this day sets Jesus up for the cross. 00:22:09.120 --> 00:22:15.620 And that's so important to understand because Jesus has not just come to sympathize with us in the midst of our pain and our sadness and our sufferings. 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:18.780 Jesus has come to save us from those things. 00:22:19.620 --> 00:22:22.860 But to do that, Jesus has to save us in the most surprising way. 00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:28.400 Jesus, to save us from evil, has to become the victim of evil. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:33.759 Jesus suffers an incredible miscarriage of justice. 00:22:34.040 --> 00:22:37.080 He endures incredible bruising and battering. 00:22:37.860 --> 00:22:39.519 He suffers horrendously. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:48.320 But in the cross of Jesus, God is making a way to deal with the cause of evil in this world, the evil of sin in our hearts. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:55.460 Jesus takes upon himself our sin and our guilt and our shame, and he brings it into judgment before God. 00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:59.039 And then he takes it down with him into the grave where it's buried, where it belongs. 00:23:02.379 --> 00:23:06.399 That's the only way that something can be done about the evil and wickedness within our hearts. 00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:07.599 Jesus has to take it. 00:23:08.139 --> 00:23:11.299 And it has to be judged and destroyed in him. 00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:15.159 The story doesn't end there. 00:23:15.500 --> 00:23:16.559 Let's move on to the third thing. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:18.139 This is a hope beyond suffering. 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:23.339 See, death and evil does not have the last word on Jesus' story. 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:26.599 And it does not have to have the last word over your story either. 00:23:27.819 --> 00:23:31.639 History records the incredible good news that Jesus did not just die on Friday, 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.700 but he rose again to life on Easter Sunday morning. 00:23:34.919 --> 00:23:38.139 Proving once again that he is the resurrection and the life. 00:23:38.379 --> 00:23:39.940 That he is our champion. 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:46.339 The resurrection of Jesus assures us that there is a day coming when good will triumph against evil. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.639 There is a day coming when death will die. 00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:52.639 There is a day coming when tears will cease and pain will be no more. 00:23:53.139 --> 00:23:58.379 Whenever the sadnesses of this life will just be forgotten like a bad dream. 00:23:58.380 --> 00:24:04.060 I love how J.R.R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings puts this. 00:24:04.060 --> 00:24:06.740 I was reading through the trilogy over the summer. 00:24:07.420 --> 00:24:18.060 And at the end of the return of the king, there's just this little exchange, this little phrase that everything sad is going to come untrue. 00:24:18.059 --> 00:24:24.359 Tolkien as a mere Christian, as someone belonging to the Roman Catholic faith steeped in the scriptures, 00:24:24.859 --> 00:24:26.960 understands that's how the Bible story ends. 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:31.819 That there's a day when everything sad is going to come untrue. 00:24:31.819 --> 00:24:39.679 Just as Jesus was raised, just as Jesus battered and bruised and broken body was raised from the dead. 00:24:40.399 --> 00:24:44.119 So also one day, that is the pattern for what we will experience. 00:24:44.379 --> 00:24:50.039 That this body, which is broken and suffered in so many ways, it will be raised into newness of life. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:54.839 And will inhabit the heavenly new creation that God has brought. 00:24:54.839 --> 00:25:01.379 Of that day, God promises, I will wipe every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. 00:25:02.099 --> 00:25:05.359 Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:07.819 For the former things have passed away. 00:25:09.919 --> 00:25:14.379 That also explains then why it is that God continues to allow his people to suffer in this world. 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:17.179 Why he doesn't necessarily answer all of our prayers for healing. 00:25:17.559 --> 00:25:21.119 Why he doesn't keep us safe from every possible tragedy and catastrophe. 00:25:22.399 --> 00:25:24.500 We're not at the end of the story yet, friends. 00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:26.399 We're in the middle of the story still. 00:25:26.459 --> 00:25:27.319 We're not yet at the end. 00:25:27.379 --> 00:25:28.559 We've not yet reached a new creation. 00:25:28.659 --> 00:25:30.819 We've not yet been resurrected into newness of life. 00:25:31.959 --> 00:25:33.059 That's still in the future. 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:37.419 And God is not going to keep on patching up this old creation. 00:25:37.579 --> 00:25:38.919 He's not just going to keep it running. 00:25:39.919 --> 00:25:41.839 God's plan and purpose is not patch up. 00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:43.159 It is resurrection. 00:25:43.539 --> 00:25:44.519 It is new creation. 00:25:46.259 --> 00:25:48.619 But that means that this old creation has to be allowed to die. 00:25:49.559 --> 00:25:53.439 And so there's going to come a time in your life whenever God is going to decide to no longer patch you up. 00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.120 And he's going to let you die, Christian. 00:25:56.500 --> 00:26:00.900 But that's not the end of your story because his plan is resurrection and new creation for you in your life. 00:26:01.320 --> 00:26:04.840 There is hope beyond suffering through the Lord Jesus. 00:26:04.839 --> 00:26:13.659 Now, as we finish up this evening, I heard on the radio one of the few times the radio has been useful. 00:26:14.139 --> 00:26:16.119 I thought to myself when I heard this, I can use that. 00:26:16.379 --> 00:26:16.839 That's good. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:22.839 On the radio a few years ago, I was listening to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and he was describing an incident in 1983. 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:26.099 He was involved in a car crash. 00:26:26.500 --> 00:26:30.679 His wife and his seven-month-old daughter, Joanna, was in the back of the car. 00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:32.839 And dear little Joanna died. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:37.480 This is a terrible tragedy in the Welby family. 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:40.500 But in that interview, Welby said, 00:26:41.660 --> 00:26:44.680 The Christian faith doesn't hide us from the cruelties of life. 00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:49.799 Jesus himself faced every aspect of the cruelty of life that is possible. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:55.819 It's just that in it, he is there in the middle of the mess with us. 00:26:55.819 --> 00:27:03.619 Let me say tonight that whatever you have been through in your life and whatever yet awaits you in life, 00:27:04.679 --> 00:27:08.039 let me assure you that you do not have to go through the storms of life on your own. 00:27:08.859 --> 00:27:13.419 Either you can come to the Lord Jesus and you can find refuge with him and in him. 00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:15.980 So, please do that. 00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:20.519 Do not try and go through this life and this broken world on your own. 00:27:20.919 --> 00:27:21.740 Come to Jesus. 00:27:22.439 --> 00:27:25.240 Take refuge and find help and hope in him. 00:27:26.159 --> 00:27:26.980 Let me pray. 00:27:29.639 --> 00:27:33.799 Father, we come to you this evening and we, in the stillness of our hearts, 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:39.700 we can look back and see just so many things that we have questions about in our lives. 00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:42.319 So many disappointments. 00:27:42.639 --> 00:27:44.679 So many broken dreams. 00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:48.779 So many times of tears and sadness and heartbreak. 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:51.059 And they don't all make sense to us. 00:27:51.059 --> 00:27:57.419 Well, we thank you that we read in this passage that you, Lord Jesus, wept. 00:27:57.420 --> 00:28:03.680 We know in the Psalms that we're told that you put all of our tears in a bottle. 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:05.320 You know, you've counted them all. 00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:08.740 Not one of them has dropped to the ground and been missed by you or forgotten by you. 00:28:08.740 --> 00:28:13.759 And we know that through the resurrection of Jesus and the hope of the new creation, 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:19.160 that there's one day whenever all of this bitterness and badness and brokenness is going to be made to work backwards, 00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:22.519 that it's going to rebound to our greater joy, 00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:30.079 that the bitterness of this life in this world will be all make the new creation, our resurrection life, all the sweeter. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:39.659 And yet here in the midst of this world, as we walk ourselves and walk with others under incredible burdens of sadness and pain, 00:28:40.299 --> 00:28:43.639 we thank you that we do not walk alone, that you are with us by your spirit. 00:28:44.379 --> 00:28:51.480 So we pray you administer to each of our hearts tonight and that you would help us with whatever we're carrying right now in the present 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:54.519 or whatever scars and wounds we have from the past. 00:28:54.939 --> 00:28:56.539 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:28:57.240 --> 00:28:57.599 Amen. 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:01.079 Amen.