Amen. Good, good music. If you have Bibles, I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 50.
Genesis chapter 50. If you remember a long time ago, we were talking about Joseph. That
was back before vacation Bible school, before graduation, and before the preacher decided
to fall out. Slow down quite a bit. So, where were we? Well, let's get back at it. Joseph
had risen through a lot of hardship to govern Egypt, through a famine, and to manage what
became the breadbasket of the world. And when the brothers that sold him into slavery came
to Egypt for help, they unknowingly faced him. And when he revealed himself to them, he then
took in the family. He cared for them, just like his beloved daddy would want. However,
when dad died, and all that's left are the sorry brothers that sold him into slavery, the
plot thickens. Genesis chapter 50, beginning in verse 15, it says this, when Joseph's brothers
saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us
back for all the evil that we did to him. So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father
gave this command before he died, say to Joseph, please forgive the transgression of your brothers
and their sin because they did evil to you. And now please forgive the transgression of the
servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came
and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, do not fear.
For am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good
to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear.
I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
What an amazing godly answer Joseph gave them. It goes above and beyond and makes him a real hero.
I mean, listen, if going from prison after being falsely accused to managing the food distribution
successfully for really all the known world, if that don't make you a hero, and it does, by the way,
I'll tell you what else does. His response to his brothers. Remember, these are the sorry brothers
that sold him into slavery, and now they are scared to death of him. They had in their mind that he had
saved their lives and restored them because he loved his dad. And now dad just died, and they probably
wet their tunics again, bowed their knees, and said, please make us slaves. And the part that's not
written or said is instead of killing us. And they didn't say that because they didn't want to give
them those ideas. And he looks at them and says, I'm not God. I'm not here to judge you. You tried to do
evil against me, but God used that to save many lives, including yours.
I wonder how many times Joseph ever asked the hardest question before he ever heard the answer.
Hardest question anybody ever has asked me is why. It's the toughest question I've ever been asked,
and I've been asked that many times. And before you ask me your why,
I will tell you, I may not give you, I probably won't give you a definitive answer.
Because there are some things in life that we just don't know. I can give you some hints.
Let me explain. Young inquisitive minds like to know, and if they're not allowed to do something,
they're going to ask you why. Why can't I do that? And after several whys, at least with my girls,
after several whys, it always ended up because I said so. That was about the way it ended. Not
the best parenting, but that's the way it goes. But you take them to the zoo and an animal does
something that you don't know how to explain to them. Instead of taking it in and just enjoying
the moment, the child says why. Well, I don't know why monkeys catch their excrement and throw it.
I'm not sure. He's probably a dude, you know. I mean, don't ask, but just take it in
and don't ever do it. But then there's also harder questions. Why questions that we face?
When you see a loved one suffer? When one is snuffed out too early? Why? I prayed, I've asked
God to intervene, and I don't see his intervention. It's not what I anticipated. Why?
Why? In April of 2011, the rural Mississippi County that we lived in got hit in a devastating
EF3 tornado. And 12 hours later, after that tornado came through, another tornado came through
and crossed the path of the previous tornado. The counties north and south of us got hit a lot,
but this one had kind of bullseyeed upon us. 200 homes were damaged. Dozens were destroyed.
50 affected homes had no insurance at all. Three were killed in that rural small county. Six were killed
in the area around that county that we claimed as our own. Smithville, Mississippi, about 30 miles
from us got wiped off the map. And that got a lot of attention. So a lot of crews and a lot of volunteers
were going to Smithville. One of those tornadoes, after coming through, hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
and knocked out part of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. That got a lot of attention. A lot of crews went there.
Disaster relief units flooded to those areas because of the news media. Chickasaw County didn't get a lot
of attention. It wasn't until Smithville and Tuscaloosa and those type areas were saturated with folks
that they began to trickle back. Or maybe somebody knew somebody in our area and their church came.
Volunteers made their way to us when other areas got full. And a couple of local pastors
leaders led the command center for cleanup from the front seats of their car, directed volunteers to
strategic spots to work. And I was one of those two preachers. I was a, I met a man one day whose brother
died. I had heard there was damage in that area and I rode down that road and the brother would, there was a
mobile home that was there and the brother was in the back of that mobile home. And the survivor was in
the front room. He said the wind and the storms were coming and then he felt a stillness in the air.
And then he said, I could feel my house just begin to twist just a little bit and hear it.
And he said, the next thing I knew, I was standing in the front yard
and my home was gone.
It was across the road, probably 75 feet, just in shambles.
And his brother
was in that mess.
He died in the rubble.
I know a milkman who was
going down the road in his milk truck,
drove right through the middle of the tornado,
picked up that truck and it
threw him across a field
and into thankfully
a muddy field and he sank
in the mud, broke many bones
in his body.
He always walked with a limp
after that, but he lived on.
Amazingly after
that. Then there was
the lady down the street
that the storm
they said had just
twisted her when they found her.
Why?
There were a lot of why
questions when I went door to door
and asked how we could help.
Why does a tornado
come and take innocent lives?
Why does a
why does God allow a person
to lose their house
and their home
and the next one
right next to it
may be sorry folk
next door?
Their home don't even look scathed.
Why my brother
and not me?
How do you deal with that?
It's the hardest questions.
Why do my loved one
make such sinful decisions?
Why do I have to deal
with such laws?
Why do I feel like
life is so unfair?
I've heard the whys.
I have my own whys.
And when I look deeper
at my whys,
I begin to find
an answer
about other people's whys.
Sometimes I have whys
about things in Scripture.
That's what sermons come from.
One that I came across
that gets me
is in 2 Samuel 23, verse 20.
And it says,
and Benaiah,
the son of Jehuda,
was a valiant man
of Kabziel,
a doer
of great deeds.
He struck down
two arrows of Moab.
He also went down
and struck down
a lion in a pit
on a day
when snow
had fallen.
Okay, well,
maybe that's not
earth-shattering,
brain-twisting passages.
I don't know.
But you wasn't
in the snowy pit
with him,
were you?
Because the difference
in major and minor events
are who's involved in it.
And if I'm involved in it,
it gets pretty major
for me.
Now, if I heard
of someone in a pit
with a lion,
not a big deal.
I might even turn
the channel.
But if I'm in a pit
with a lion
on a snowy day
and I make it out alive,
I'm speaking
at Wild Game Fest
all over the nation
riding around
on a big old bus.
It's a major deal.
But why in Scripture?
Well, that passage
in Scripture
is there
because it was
a significant happening
in his life
and it would have
seemed really bad.
However,
when he walked
out of that pit
with a few scratches
and realized
what he had conquered,
it made him stronger
to face
much more in life
because this man
did mighty things
for God.
He was a priest,
but he was not
the kind of priest
that you would think of
when you think of a priest.
He was a worship leader.
He was an intercessor.
He was a man of God.
He was honorable
in his walk,
but also in the strength
as a protector.
He's the one
that escorted Solomon
during his coronation parade.
He was a hero killer.
He killed a man
that stood
seven and a half feet tall
that carried
a Goliath-sized spear.
Benaiah,
with a staff in his hand,
snatched the spear
out of the man's hand
and killed him with it.
Not only that,
but he commanded
David's 30 mighty men
and he was a mighty man
and he did many mighty things
and one of them
was that he killed a lion
on a snowy day
in a pit.
Now, I understand
that most people
would run from a lion,
but if you do,
it'll do you no good
because a lion
can run 35 miles per hour.
I know because
I outran one one day.
When they don't want to run,
they can leap 30 feet
in a single bound.
They eat manwich for lunch.
But Danaiah faced it
and he killed it.
You never know
what you'll have to face
and you're bothered
and disturbed
and even mad
about what you have to face.
However,
it's the things
that we have to face
that make us ready
for whatever it is
God's preparing us for.
It's the things
that we face
that make us stronger
in him.
It's the things
that we face
that help us to grow.
Benaiah was a lot more
than a lion killer,
but his lion
killing strength
strengthened him
for other things
that God had in store for him.
So why do bad things
happen to good people?
Preparation.
Sometimes
it happens
to prepare us
for more
that he has in store.
Let me tell you
about a horrible
natural disaster
that overwhelms
anything and everything
that we've ever experienced
or that we've heard about
concerning weather-related tragedies.
A long, long time ago
there was a flood,
a huge flood,
so catastrophic
that the whole earth
flooded.
Not just part of it,
all of it.
Only one
extended family
survived.
And the only animals
that survived
were the ones
that boarded
onto that boat
or those
that lived
in the sea.
It was a,
those that lived
in the sea.
It was a complete
cleansing
of the land.
And it had never
happened before.
It has never
happened since.
It will not
happen again.
It's guaranteed
by the greatest
meteorologist
that has ever
lived.
As a matter of fact,
this meteorologist
is the one
that developed
meteorology
and created
the sun
and the moon
and the stars
and placed
them
in orbit.
Why in the world
would a loving God
destroy the whole earth
as it was known
and preserve
one family
and many pairs
of animals
to replenish it?
To cleanse it?
It says it over
and over again
in Genesis chapter 6
that he wanted
to cleanse
the earth
of evil
and lead
all living
to turn their eyes
to him.
So why do bad
things happen
to good people?
Because even good
people are guilty.
As a matter of fact,
it could be argued
there ain't any good people.
Even wonderful people
are not perfect.
And those events
prepare us
for what's to come.
But there's another
reason why
bad things happen
and that's reflection.
Bad things
happen to cause us
to reflect upon
our lives
and upon God
and to turn our eyes
to him.
And when we do that,
cleansing can come
that way.
I mean,
if that's hard
for you to understand,
you're not the first one.
Let me reiterate.
Joseph's brothers
had a hard time
with it.
They had sold
their younger,
more favored brother
into slavery
and then made him
out for dead.
They had went
about their way
until a famine came
and in their hunger,
they went to the only place
that they could find relief
and that was Egypt.
There they found
the governor of Egypt
who held the world's economies
in his silos.
And little did they know
that the governor
was their long-souled brother
who had prospered
and succeeded
either in spite
of their action
or because of their action.
And once he confronted them,
he also comforted them.
He also provided for them.
And then their mutual father died
and they knew
they were in trouble.
Notice what happens
in our passage.
The brothers got together
and thought,
maybe he did the good
that he did for us
for the sake of daddy.
Now what do we do?
And they grew very afraid
and they sent a message
to him.
But it's not what they said,
it's what he said
and I'll reiterate.
It says,
but Joseph said to them,
do not fear
for I am,
am I in the place of God?
As for you,
you meant evil against me
but God meant it for good.
To bring it about
that many people
should be kept alive
as they are today.
How in the world
could God have meant
such a thing for good?
I mean,
Joseph said
without his
God-given insight
and preparation
for this famine,
many more would have died
due to the famine.
God allowed
the dreams
that he had,
God allowed
the slavery
that he endured,
God allowed
the prison
that he endured,
God allowed
even the forgetfulness
because if you don't remember,
they left him
in prison
for two years
because his friends
forgot about him.
Didn't tell
what his abilities were.
And that two years
in prison
actually
was spiritually
strategic
because when he came out,
the timing
of the famine
was upon them.
It was all
in God's plan
but it sure
didn't feel like it
when he was
in the dungeon.
However,
by doing that,
in that amount
of time,
Joseph showed up
at the proper place,
at the proper time
to feed the known world.
Why do bad things
happen to good people?
Scripture tells us,
as I've mentioned already,
that we're not good.
Don't take offense
to that.
We're all
in the same boat.
We've done wrong
and that separates us
from God.
Outside of Christ,
we'd have no hope
of reunion with God.
But because of
what Christ did for us
and demonstrated
his own love for us
that while we were
yet sinners,
while he knew
everything about us
and everything
we had done,
yet he was willing
to give his life
for us to have
the opportunity
to come back
to the Lord.
So why do bad
things happen?
I'll tell you why.
Salvation.
Earthquakes
and tsunamis,
they're bad things,
aren't they?
You've seen the devastation
that happens with that.
Bad things come
from them,
but does anything
good come from them?
Yes.
Of course it does.
Peter Ward
and Donald Brownlee
explain in their book
Rare Earth
how earthquakes
and the ensuing tsunamis
are necessary.
There is an anthopic
principle at work.
In other words,
we need them to live.
Let me explain
as best I can
and I am
science illiterate.
earthquakes
and tsunamis
are the consequence
of plate tectonics.
That's the giant plates
of rock and earth
that move below
the surface
of the earth.
And earth is unique
in having such plates.
And without them,
there would be no large
mountain ranges
or continents.
Without the movement
of them,
which causes
these disasters,
the earth's land
would be submerged
to the depth
of several thousand feet.
Fish could live here,
we could not.
Plate tectonics
regulate our climate.
They prevent scorching
and freezing temperatures.
As a matter of fact,
the movement
of these plates
are necessary
for us to live.
So why did God
build it
where earthquakes
are necessary?
Or why didn't he build it
where they wasn't necessary?
Ward is an eminent
paleontologist
and Brownlee
is a college
professor astronomer.
And they say
that some creatures
could live here
without earthquakes
but not Homo sapiens.
And if you forgot,
that's us,
by the way.
Our planet
requires oxygen
and we need
a warming sun
and we need water.
Now,
I will warn you
that sun can cause
a sunstroke
and water
can cause drowning.
However,
both give life
and both
are necessary
for us to live.
So why do bad things
happen
to good people?
It may surprise you
so that we can live.
Salvation.
That's why.
The worst thing,
the most unjust event,
the most horrible
happening in all of history
could easily cause one
to beg the question,
why?
Why?
Why does God's son
leave his home in heaven
to come into
a very humble means
and live his life
as a servant
for many?
Why did the people
he came to
mostly reject him,
falsely accuse him
and fail to acknowledge
that he was the only
perfect person
to ever live?
Why did they become
so adamant
about being against him
that they arrested him,
that they falsely accused him,
that they beat him
nearly to death
only to hang him
on the cross
of the cruelest death
known to man,
crucifixion
of the Roman Empire
on a Roman cross?
Why did they strip him?
Why did they demean him
by gambling for his clothes?
Why did they mock him
as he died?
Why did they throw
his corpse
into a borrowed tomb
without any celebration
of life?
Why did the worst thing
happen
to the very best person
for the same reason
we have earthquakes
so that we can live?
Salvation.
I don't think it's ironic
that the earthquake
quaked
as he died.
The worst thing
happened
so that the greatest
thing could happen
because three days later
he rose
proclaiming his life
as he had previously
done with his mouth.
In John 11, 25
he said,
I am the resurrection
and the life.
Whoever believes in me
though he die
yet shall he live.
Why do bad things happen?
Well, there's a variety
of reasons
but the primary one
is so that we can live.
Salvation
or as Joseph put it,
what others
meant for evil
and what others
take as evil,
God meant
for good.
So why do bad things
happen
to prepare us,
to lead us,
to reflect,
which leads
to salvation.
Romans 8, 28
says this,
and we know
that for those
who love God
all things
work together
for good
for those
who are called
according
to his purpose.
So why do bad
things happen?
Because God
said so.
That's why.
Let that be enough
because God's
at work.
God's at work
in the good.
God's at work
in the bad.
Praise the Lord
and bless
his holy name.
What is it today
that you need
to entrust to him?
It might be
your life.
I'm so glad
you're in the house
of God this morning.
I'm so glad
you heard
the story
of what Christ
has done for you.
I believe
it's a divine
appointment.
And if you're
here this morning
and you've never
surrendered your life
to the Lord
Jesus Christ,
I want you to know
that he'll meet
you where you are
and if you'll
just admit
of your need
of him
and ask him
to save you
and change you,
your life
will forever
be changed.
Today's the day
of salvation.
Whosoever will
may come
to him.
Maybe you're here
this morning
and you've done
that but you've
only acknowledged
that privately.
You've never
acknowledged that
publicly.
And Jesus
says if you're
ashamed of me
before others
I'll be ashamed
of you before
my Father.
What that means
is it's not real
if you're ashamed
of it.
So in reality
if you've never
publicly acknowledged
the salvation
that God's given
you, I encourage
you to come.
Jesus by his
commission, by his
example told us
to follow that
with baptism.
We'd love to
guide you in that
process.
We're not doing
it this morning.
We'll set that up
in the future
but you obey God
as he speaks
to your heart and
life.
Maybe you're