WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.320 Friends, have you ever wondered why suffering and evil seem so wrong? 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:08.560 That's where we're going tonight with the first one of this evening series. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.679 ! Well, to get us going, let me quote to you. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:17.480 Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, who was speaking about this truth recently. 00:00:18.400 --> 00:00:20.839 She was giving an interview on her upbringing. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:25.000 She was talking about the fact that she grew up in and around the church, 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:28.280 but she lost her faith in 2008 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:34.960 because she read about the case of Joseph Fritzl and his daughter Elizabeth. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:37.960 Now, I will spare you telling you the details of that whole story 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:42.299 because except to say with children, with daughters, you'll understand that I can't. 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:46.240 You Google it afterwards, you'll see it. Absolutely horrific. 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:48.560 It epitomizes evil. 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:55.600 And she said this as she was reading the news every day about what was going on. 00:00:55.640 --> 00:00:57.520 She said this, I couldn't stop reading this story. 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:03.359 I read her account how she, she's talking about the daughter, prayed every day to be rescued. 00:01:04.859 --> 00:01:08.900 And I thought I was praying for all sorts of stupid things and I was getting my prayers answered. 00:01:09.460 --> 00:01:13.180 It's like, why were those prayers answered and not this woman's prayers? 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:18.240 And then notice what she ends with, talking about her faith. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:25.159 And it just, it was like someone blew out a candle. 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:28.859 Now, here's one thing you can say about her sentiments. 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:33.140 They are so deeply human. 00:01:33.140 --> 00:01:40.680 For when it comes to the plausibility of faith and particularly the Christian faith, 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:43.219 this is the question. 00:01:44.659 --> 00:01:50.659 Statistics will tell us that the question of suffering and evil and all its spring-off cousins 00:01:50.659 --> 00:01:59.099 continue to top the charts when it comes to barriers to faith in God. 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:02.259 Why do people suffer? 00:02:02.899 --> 00:02:05.099 Why do good things happen to bad people? 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:07.739 Why do bad things happen to good people? 00:02:07.739 --> 00:02:12.319 How do we make sense of evil and suffering? 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:18.560 Because surely if there is a God, and let's assume that God is good, none of this would happen. 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:24.879 And is there any hope through it all? 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:29.079 Now, listen, I don't know what's brought you here tonight. 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:34.359 Maybe that's a question that you are slap bang in the middle of. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:38.919 Maybe it's one that your friends have. 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:42.919 Maybe it's one that you have about your friends or your family. 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:45.739 You are thinking, why does this happen? 00:02:45.839 --> 00:02:49.799 Let me just say we have all, whoever we are here tonight, we've all got skin in this game. 00:02:51.539 --> 00:02:54.879 Can I just tell you, Ma'in, it's always good to be self-aware of what's going on 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:56.819 in your life as you come to topics. 00:02:56.899 --> 00:02:58.579 I'm coming at this from two perspectives. 00:02:58.739 --> 00:03:01.439 I'm coming at this from a pastor, which is what I do here. 00:03:02.279 --> 00:03:07.479 In my role, I have seen people go through some serious stuff. 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:13.039 Trying to get their heads around a cancer diagnosis that they just didn't see coming. 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:15.679 Dementia. 00:03:17.579 --> 00:03:18.099 Strokes. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:22.060 And we heard another one today of someone in our church family. 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:22.519 Strokes. 00:03:23.139 --> 00:03:23.659 Blindness. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:30.719 Things that happen in life that just flip life as we know it completely upside down and tear you inside out. 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:35.300 So coming at it as a pastor, I've seen stuff. 00:03:35.539 --> 00:03:37.419 Also coming at it just as a person. 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:38.960 We've got four daughters. 00:03:39.259 --> 00:03:44.520 I remember our second oldest, Grace, when she was born, the doctors found a hole in her heart. 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:49.319 And I'm holding my then pale eight-month-year-old daughter and contemplating that question. 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:50.079 What if? 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:54.500 What if she doesn't come through the other side of that surgery? 00:03:56.100 --> 00:04:00.900 Remember a few Christmases ago, my uncle died really suddenly from a heart attack. 00:04:01.480 --> 00:04:04.900 He dropped, I think it was the 21st of December, just dropped at home. 00:04:05.060 --> 00:04:06.040 He got two days. 00:04:07.100 --> 00:04:08.560 And he never regained consciousness. 00:04:09.320 --> 00:04:13.260 So strange because we were even opening presents from him on Christmas Day. 00:04:14.160 --> 00:04:16.900 My 94-year-old gran has vascular dementia. 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:19.340 She doesn't even know where she is. 00:04:19.339 --> 00:04:22.299 We've all got skin in the game in this. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:25.439 All get skin in the game when it comes to this question. 00:04:26.019 --> 00:04:32.839 And what I and millions of others down the years have found is that the Christian faith, it doesn't sidestep the issue. 00:04:33.779 --> 00:04:36.259 It confronts it head on. 00:04:37.579 --> 00:04:47.219 And wrestling with that question, with this question of why, not only is it one that the Bible, come to the pages of the Bible and you see we are invited to take to God. 00:04:47.220 --> 00:04:53.720 But actually wrestling with it takes us right to the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. 00:04:53.720 --> 00:05:01.360 So what I'm going to do tonight, just to shape this a little bit, I'm going to assume that somebody has come to me and asked me that question, why? 00:05:03.400 --> 00:05:06.140 Because this is all about loving people at the end of the day. 00:05:07.080 --> 00:05:07.260 Yeah? 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:10.780 These are real people with real questions. 00:05:10.900 --> 00:05:12.080 This is all about loving people. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:17.199 So we should take the time to think about the person who's asking the question, what's going on in their lives? 00:05:18.259 --> 00:05:30.539 Now, in my experience, what's crucial before you make the next move when it comes to that question of why evil and suffering, have you ever wondered, is to understand where the person asking the question is coming from. 00:05:30.540 --> 00:05:38.200 Now, in my experience, there's two types of people who generally ask this question, and we'll kind of run with this all the way through tonight. 00:05:38.280 --> 00:05:39.620 Here's the first type of person. 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:41.100 It's the debater. 00:05:43.780 --> 00:05:47.400 This person is interested in exploring the question genuinely. 00:05:47.820 --> 00:05:50.460 They're coming at it from a philosophical point of view. 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:55.980 The other type of person, though, is the sufferer. 00:05:55.980 --> 00:05:58.879 This question is not an academic one. 00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:04.600 It's a really raw and painful one that is filled with tears. 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:13.379 And diagnosing who's in front of you and how they're coming at this question will totally change how you approach it. 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:23.140 So the question always to ask is, is this person who's coming to me, are they in the, if you like, the armchair or are they in the wheelchair? 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:29.860 And determining who is asking the question will totally affect how we seek to answer it. 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:31.860 And we're going to see that as we go tonight. 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:38.500 But that whole question of evil and suffering, my answer really is framed around two responses. 00:06:39.339 --> 00:06:41.819 And I hope this is just helpful getting us just to think. 00:06:42.620 --> 00:06:48.560 Two responses that I think as a Christian you can say are true from the Bible about this topic. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:49.560 Here's number one. 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:56.280 It's that the Bible invites us to have a, the Bible invites us to have a big problem with evil and suffering. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:06:58.040 Yeah? 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:02.019 The Bible invites us to have a big problem with evil and suffering. 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:02.860 Now let me explain. 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:13.459 The Bible tells us and offers us an explanation of why the world is the way it is. 00:07:13.459 --> 00:07:23.759 Now we meet in Genesis, the opening book of the Bible, at creation, a God who is good. 00:07:24.599 --> 00:07:31.039 And that underpins the whole of the Christian worldview, a God who is good. 00:07:31.159 --> 00:07:33.759 He creates the world, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. 00:07:34.039 --> 00:07:35.560 He creates a good world. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:42.139 He creates people to inhabit it as the climax of his creation. 00:07:42.139 --> 00:07:47.620 And that's so important that we understand what a human being is from Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:58.479 Because it means if God has made every human life in his image, it means that every human life has value and worth because we are all made in the image of God. 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:08.120 And I think in our current cultural moment, that is one of the sharpest arrows we have, if I could put it like this, in our apologetic armory. 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:11.879 The image of God, what it is to be a human being. 00:08:12.180 --> 00:08:16.980 That is something that value, something that is not earned or discovered. 00:08:17.280 --> 00:08:23.759 It is pronounced over us from the outside because God made life in his image. 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:27.100 God makes Adam and Eve. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:34.519 He gives them the job of stewarding his good planet, all in loving relationship with him, the God who made them. 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:37.500 And at this point in the Bible story, all is rosy. 00:08:38.579 --> 00:08:42.500 But at this point, I think of my daughters and their love of spot the different puzzles. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.460 You know, the two pictures next to each other. 00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:48.600 And you think they kind of look the same, but there's a few things that are different. 00:08:49.159 --> 00:08:55.980 If you do that with Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and the world in which we live today, you will see that they're similar but very different. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:09:01.779 This is not the world of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 that we're living in. 00:09:02.360 --> 00:09:03.139 And you'd be right. 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:13.440 The Bible then goes on in Genesis 3 to tell us the story of human sin coming in, cosmic rebellion, human beings against our creator. 00:09:14.180 --> 00:09:19.700 Sin, if you want to understand it like this, shove off God, I'm in charge, no to your rules. 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:23.740 Sin, shove off God, I'm in charge, no to your rules. 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:29.360 And the ripple effects of sin are catastrophic. 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:39.320 The fracturing of relationships in four directions, people with God, people with people, people internally, and people with creation. 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:44.780 The Bible paints this picture of a world that is beautiful and yet broken. 00:09:44.779 --> 00:09:51.139 You know, I remember coming to the Bible for the first time as a teenager trying to think about these things. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:52.480 Why is the world the way it is? 00:09:52.579 --> 00:09:53.480 What's going on here? 00:09:53.779 --> 00:09:58.159 And I found in the Bible a deeply relatable and realistic book. 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:05.319 The Bible has a framework for understanding the mess that we're in today. 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:09.500 And maybe here's the big thing that you can take from this. 00:10:09.579 --> 00:10:12.419 And I know I've rushed it, but we can bat it out afterwards if you want. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.539 Here's the big thing to take. 00:10:13.539 --> 00:10:16.959 This is not how God created it to be. 00:10:17.939 --> 00:10:18.980 That's the framework. 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:24.360 And with that framework, you can begin to engage the debater. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:30.719 When someone asks me why and it's clear that it's the theory of everything that's driving them to ask it. 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:37.279 Listen, I just take a leaf out of the Jesus playbook of evangelism and just ask a question back. 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:40.199 Always a great tactic. 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:45.259 Jesus is the question asker par excellence when you meet him in the Gospels. 00:10:45.660 --> 00:10:47.860 Did you know some facts for you tonight? 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:52.840 That Jesus asks 307 questions in the Gospels. 00:10:54.620 --> 00:10:58.040 He's asked 186. 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:01.799 He answers directly 8. 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:11.439 Isn't that not fascinating for one who called himself the way, the truth and the life? 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:16.080 Because questions get people thinking, don't they? 00:11:16.460 --> 00:11:18.080 They draw us out. 00:11:18.780 --> 00:11:20.040 They invite us in. 00:11:20.180 --> 00:11:21.280 It's what Jesus does here. 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:23.420 So why evil and suffering? 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.860 Take atheist professor Richard Dawkins, who famously said this. 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:30.680 Again, thinking about the debater. 00:11:30.680 --> 00:11:34.680 The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect. 00:11:36.220 --> 00:11:44.680 If there is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference. 00:11:46.100 --> 00:11:48.300 Love to be at a Christmas party with that guy. 00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:53.299 Nothing but pitiless indifference. 00:11:53.559 --> 00:12:00.359 And it's a really popular thing to, if not articulate, then certainly to think that there is no God. 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:09.299 And yet, if you pushed people, you would find that so often the same people who hold that opinion care deeply about things like human rights and discrimination 00:12:09.299 --> 00:12:14.899 and protecting the vulnerable and marginalized in our society. 00:12:15.079 --> 00:12:22.439 And so the question to offer back respectfully and with love is when we feel that sense of responsibility, 00:12:22.439 --> 00:12:30.000 it's worth asking where that sense of ought and what's right comes from. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:37.879 If there is no God, and yet we feel morally like we should care about certain things, 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:42.299 it's worth asking where that sense of ought and right comes from. 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:49.799 That was C.S. Lewis, a famous Christian apologist and author, famously talked about that very thing. 00:12:51.259 --> 00:12:56.120 Wrestling with that exact question was the thing that moved him from atheism to theism. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:00.340 Now, he was a few notches away from Christianity, but it moved him from atheism to theism. 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:01.480 He said this, 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:05.740 My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. 00:13:05.740 --> 00:13:07.700 But how? 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.799 How had I got this idea of just and unjust? 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:16.779 A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:21.680 What was I comparing the universe with when I called it unjust? 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:22.539 Do you see what he's saying? 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:30.199 If we feel like this world isn't the way it should be, if it's like our car dashboard, 00:13:30.319 --> 00:13:33.679 if it feels like there's a light going off saying there's a problem, 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:38.819 then it shows in our minds that we have some sense of what is right. 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:45.839 And with this framework as well, we can begin to engage and love the sufferer. 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:54.200 Now, the Bible might tell us why the world is as it is, if you like, on a big picture level. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:58.060 We're all living in this sin-stained, broken world. 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:02.120 But when it comes to individual suffering, friends, can I just suggest pastorally, 00:14:02.300 --> 00:14:03.860 we cannot draw straight lines. 00:14:03.860 --> 00:14:11.519 Individually, it's so often not our place to guess why people are going through the things 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.000 that they're going through. 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:18.440 And to pretend that we have trite answers and can explain it away is really just cruel and unloving. 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:22.399 What can we do with this framework? 00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:24.480 Because we know that we live in this world. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:28.240 Is that we can cry with people. 00:14:30.100 --> 00:14:32.240 Because this is not the way it was supposed to be. 00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:36.600 You know, there's a book in the Bible, if you want to look at it later. 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:42.519 I mean, it is a big one, but it is the book in the Bible that's really all about human suffering. 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:44.379 And it's a book in the Bible called Job. 00:14:45.420 --> 00:14:48.700 And in Job, all the big questions are raised. 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:53.000 And all the easy straight line answers are ruled out. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:58.500 Under God's permission, Satan takes everything away from Job. 00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:04.120 His three close friends come and they see the devastation which has happened in this man's life. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:06.100 And how do they respond initially? 00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:09.019 They cry with him for three days. 00:15:09.300 --> 00:15:12.639 In fact, I think you could argue that it's the only thing in the book that they get right. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.560 They cry with him for three days. 00:15:17.220 --> 00:15:20.940 This is not the way it's meant to be. 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:27.580 Did you see as we picked up the reading there in John chapter 11, we'll come back to it, that Jesus was deeply moved. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:34.700 To be a Christian is to have a bigger issue with evil and suffering. 00:15:35.640 --> 00:15:36.880 But here's the second thing. 00:15:36.940 --> 00:15:41.100 The Bible invites us to embrace a great hope through evil and suffering. 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:48.159 Because have you thought about the fact that the Bible really should be a three chapter book? 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:55.139 What's God going to do in the wake of Adam and Eve's Rebellion Gate scandal? 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:58.200 Burn it all up and start again? 00:15:58.320 --> 00:15:59.000 Could have done that. 00:15:59.560 --> 00:16:02.440 God promises to send someone. 00:16:02.440 --> 00:16:06.900 And turn to the Gospels and we learn that someone has a name. 00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:15.200 In the coming of Jesus, he who was timeless stepped into our time and space. 00:16:16.380 --> 00:16:22.720 He who was sinless stepped into our mess and brokenness and sin. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:29.120 Jesus steps down, takes on our human flesh and steps into our story of suffering. 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:36.460 And he was a man of suffering, climaxing in his death on a Roman cross. 00:16:36.920 --> 00:16:39.980 He dies there for the sins of his people. 00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:43.660 And on the third day, he rises again. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:48.320 Forty days later, he ascends to heaven where he is right now. 00:16:48.540 --> 00:16:51.759 One day he will come back to make all things new. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:55.080 And that is radical as far as religion is concerned. 00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:58.279 That God would come down and suffer. 00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:03.960 That he would step into our mess, our brokenness, our pain. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:06.579 That is unique. 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:12.019 You see, Christian hope is not a wishful grasping at an uncertain tomorrow. 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:20.140 It's a confident expectation rooted in the reality of what transpired some 2,000 years ago. 00:17:20.140 --> 00:17:23.780 Centering on an empty tomb in Jerusalem. 00:17:23.779 --> 00:17:26.619 And that's the Christian hope. 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:29.680 Doesn't bypass suffering. 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:32.839 It's one that takes us straight through. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:40.379 You know, the Bible, when it talks about experiencing grief and hardship in this world and longing for that day when these things won't be, 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:44.260 it uses that word, and you can look at it later if you want, in Romans chapter 8. 00:17:44.840 --> 00:17:46.820 That word of groaning. 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:49.660 Groaning. 00:17:50.340 --> 00:17:53.380 And Fiona's song choice at the start was brilliant. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:57.740 That idea of come, Lord Jesus, and make this right. 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:01.260 Come and bring an end to the suffering. 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:09.279 In fact, the best metaphor that a man called Paul, an eyewitness of the risen Jesus, uses as he writes, is the one of childbirth. 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:13.200 That sense of agonizing pain. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:18.259 Now, I've watched my wife go through four of these, and I would not swap places. 00:18:18.259 --> 00:18:31.900 Sickness, tiredness, even on the day, going the best part of 20 hours without food to do it right, to deliver our fourth daughter. 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:34.339 What on earth gets you through something like that? 00:18:34.339 --> 00:18:39.659 It's the joy of seeing the newborn baby on the other side. 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:42.220 And that's the Christian hope. 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:48.299 And so to the debater, I'm always wanting to ask, what is your hope? 00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:54.599 One of the topics we'll come up with in a few weeks' time is, where is history going? 00:18:55.059 --> 00:18:56.740 Is history going anywhere? 00:18:56.919 --> 00:18:58.759 What is your hope? 00:18:58.859 --> 00:19:00.519 Where are things heading? 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:08.720 And to the sufferer, you're able to draw alongside with tears in your eyes and say, there is a hope. 00:19:10.900 --> 00:19:15.879 You know, so often when I'm trying to process grief myself, or I've been trying to pastor people in it, 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:23.599 the language of hope, and Kate I picked up on it this morning, is absolutely priceless and unique. 00:19:24.259 --> 00:19:27.119 Places like 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:34.199 For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:40.919 Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:47.759 And on that note, we're going to end tonight by seeing that God's answer to our why 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:51.660 is ultimately a who. 00:19:54.900 --> 00:19:58.320 A bigger issue and a greater hope. 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:02.920 I want to take you to what for years has been my favorite chapter in the Bible, John chapter 11, 00:20:02.980 --> 00:20:07.320 and show you how these two things connect in the person of Jesus. 00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:15.039 John chapter 11, where we see Jesus of all places at a funeral. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:20.240 There was this family that Jesus loved consisting of three siblings. 00:20:20.419 --> 00:20:22.639 You've got Mary, you've got Martha, you've got Lazarus. 00:20:23.139 --> 00:20:24.179 Lazarus died. 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:30.059 And on hearing this, Jesus says to his disciples, not let's go. 00:20:30.539 --> 00:20:32.539 He says, let's stay. 00:20:32.539 --> 00:20:38.920 And he says to them that it's because you're about to learn something about me and my glory 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:43.159 and my person that you wouldn't learn any other way. 00:20:43.399 --> 00:20:47.319 So after four days, Jesus and his disciples get to this funeral. 00:20:48.159 --> 00:20:54.180 And one after another, Mary and Martha, make their way to Jesus with their question. 00:20:54.180 --> 00:21:02.980 And they run up to Jesus and they both, if you notice it in the text, they make the same point to Jesus. 00:21:04.980 --> 00:21:10.180 Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 00:21:11.180 --> 00:21:12.320 It's not a question. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:14.360 It's a vent. 00:21:16.420 --> 00:21:18.700 Essentially, Lord, I thought you loved us. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.720 Essentially, Lord, how could you let this happen? 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:25.579 And they make the same point to Jesus individually. 00:21:25.860 --> 00:21:29.700 And yet Jesus answers them both in profoundly different ways. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:34.720 Want you to see this, Jesus, because this is the only way we can answer this question and have hope. 00:21:35.360 --> 00:21:40.059 To Martha, who I think is struggling to understand this intellectually. 00:21:42.120 --> 00:21:45.620 Jesus says to her, I am the resurrection and the life. 00:21:45.619 --> 00:21:52.299 And to Mary, who I think is struggling to understand this emotionally. 00:21:53.979 --> 00:21:57.279 Jesus doesn't say anything other than show me his tomb. 00:21:58.659 --> 00:22:02.479 And when he gets there, you get the shortest verse in all of the Bible. 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:05.719 And yet, make no mistake, it's the most profound. 00:22:07.199 --> 00:22:09.159 Jesus wept. 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:15.460 Jesus knows his people perfectly. 00:22:15.620 --> 00:22:18.540 He knew that Martha needed to know that he was in control. 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:21.420 He knew that Mary needed to know that he cared. 00:22:23.820 --> 00:22:24.960 What does this tell us? 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:26.220 Two quick things about Jesus. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:28.980 It tells us, firstly, that his tears are real. 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:34.599 We're told that he wept for Lazarus when he learned that Lazarus has died. 00:22:34.700 --> 00:22:42.039 And when he encountered the sorrow and the heartache that death because of sin had brought to this world. 00:22:42.380 --> 00:22:46.660 He cries, not as someone who is lacking control. 00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:47.920 He cries. 00:22:48.339 --> 00:22:51.779 And the way that it's put there is that he is, he's raging. 00:22:52.360 --> 00:22:52.980 He's angry. 00:22:53.660 --> 00:22:56.480 He's determined to do something about this. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.940 So much so that people around him saw him cry and they comment, you see it in the text. 00:23:01.360 --> 00:23:02.920 See how much he loved him. 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:12.160 You see, in Jesus Christ, Christians have a Savior sent from God who entered our broken humanity and became one of us. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:22.880 And far from being immune from the pain, he knows and he feels and he shares and he weeps and he knows life in this broken world. 00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:25.980 And that is wonderfully unique about the Christian faith. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:32.380 In Jesus, we have one who's able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:37.660 A Savior and brother to all those who will believe in him. 00:23:37.779 --> 00:23:39.099 His tears are real. 00:23:39.620 --> 00:23:40.819 They're not crocodile tears. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.759 His tears are real. 00:23:45.360 --> 00:23:48.339 And he knows what it is to suffer himself. 00:23:48.339 --> 00:23:53.819 The second thing about Jesus is that his words are powerful. 00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:57.339 Because he's not just a shoulder to cry on. 00:23:57.399 --> 00:23:58.839 He's a Savior to be trusted. 00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:05.039 We read that after Jesus had wept for his friend, he asked for people to roll away the stone. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:10.460 And he spoke into the darkness and the void. 00:24:11.899 --> 00:24:18.420 And he said, and he didn't just say, he shouted, Lazarus, come out. 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:22.060 Now talk about things that you don't say at a funeral. 00:24:24.620 --> 00:24:29.960 Let's get that coffin back up and let's unnail it and we'll see what we can do. 00:24:30.560 --> 00:24:37.060 If that is true, then it's horrendously cruel and insensitive for Jesus to say that. 00:24:37.059 --> 00:24:43.700 Unless, of course, he does have the power. 00:24:47.059 --> 00:24:50.299 Jesus spoke and he summoned his friend back from the dead. 00:24:50.399 --> 00:24:53.399 I love just how casual John writes that there. 00:24:55.480 --> 00:25:00.019 Of course, what this says is a wonderful foretaste of what Jesus himself would later do. 00:25:00.139 --> 00:25:06.079 He dies on the cross for the sins of the world and three days later comes back to life, defeating death. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:13.259 In Jesus Christ, Christians, that is all those who've put their trust in Jesus as their Lord, King and Savior, 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:20.500 can know that our lives are secure and our times are held in his mighty hands 00:25:20.500 --> 00:25:23.879 because he is the king who has triumphed over death. 00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:27.759 I love if you want to look at it there, verse 10 of chapter 12. 00:25:31.899 --> 00:25:35.619 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:38.559 So the chief priests are after killing Jesus. 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:40.839 Now they add Lazarus to that list. 00:25:40.939 --> 00:25:44.139 Can you imagine Lazarus' response when he learns about that? 00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:47.799 These guys are trying to do what to me? 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:49.699 To kill me? 00:25:49.700 --> 00:25:55.360 What is the worst that can happen if my lives are held in his hands? 00:25:57.660 --> 00:26:01.100 Friends, it's because of Jesus that you can say at every funeral that you go to, 00:26:01.180 --> 00:26:03.620 and I can say at every funeral I do, 00:26:04.279 --> 00:26:07.640 that for that person who has died, if their faith is in Jesus, 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:09.039 it is now far better 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:12.360 because they are now in the presence of their Savior 00:26:12.360 --> 00:26:14.880 who called them home into his very presence. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:19.580 And it's because of Jesus that what's happened to Lazarus 00:26:19.580 --> 00:26:21.780 will happen to each one of us. 00:26:22.840 --> 00:26:25.160 Jesus will banish evil and death. 00:26:25.980 --> 00:26:28.580 But here's what I want you to take from this tonight as well, 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:30.920 this whole idea of evil and suffering. 00:26:31.820 --> 00:26:34.020 Friends, nothing has gone unseen 00:26:34.020 --> 00:26:37.000 in the eyes of an all-seeing God. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:39.839 That evil that we started with, 00:26:40.380 --> 00:26:42.500 we've got to call evil evil. 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:47.180 Nothing has gone unseen in the eyes of this all-seeing God, 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:51.339 and nothing will go unpunished in the eyes of this holy God. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:54.920 Hell is a place where God reigns 00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:58.359 and will eternally and justly deal with those who have rejected him. 00:26:59.420 --> 00:27:04.140 There is coming a day when evil will be completely dealt with. 00:27:04.140 --> 00:27:07.700 But to those who have hoped in him, 00:27:07.780 --> 00:27:09.759 Jesus will raise our bodies from the grave 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:12.420 and usher us into the new heavens and the new earth 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:14.340 where righteousness dwells. 00:27:14.520 --> 00:27:16.300 A place where, in the words of Sam, 00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:19.080 speaking to Gandalf and the Lord of the Rings, 00:27:19.220 --> 00:27:21.660 that place where everything sad will come untrue. 00:27:25.180 --> 00:27:26.620 You see, here's what I want you to take from tonight. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:28.740 If you remember one thing, remember this, okay? 00:27:30.420 --> 00:27:32.500 That our world is full of people at the minute 00:27:32.500 --> 00:27:34.819 who have lots of power, 00:27:35.500 --> 00:27:38.660 but they have no love for people. 00:27:40.220 --> 00:27:41.720 Our world is also full of people 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:44.599 who have lots of love and good intentions to do great things, 00:27:44.900 --> 00:27:47.920 but they've got no power to do anything about it. 00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:51.359 Do you see in John chapter 11 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:54.579 how in Jesus we have one who is all power 00:27:54.579 --> 00:27:57.099 and all compassion? 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.240 And that's why he's worth your total trust tonight. 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:05.139 You know, let me just close thinking of this whole idea of hope 00:28:05.139 --> 00:28:08.259 with this quote from Jeremy Marshall, 00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:11.579 who was a much-loved businessman and evangelist in the UK 00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:16.099 who died a few years back after a long battle with cancer. 00:28:16.099 --> 00:28:18.019 And he wrote a book in the year before he died 00:28:18.019 --> 00:28:20.719 called Life Beyond the Big Sea. 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:23.839 And here's what he wrote towards the end, 00:28:23.879 --> 00:28:24.799 and we'll finish with this. 00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:27.139 He wrote, 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:29.500 God's ultimate treatment is not a philosophy 00:28:29.500 --> 00:28:33.140 or theology or morality, 00:28:33.140 --> 00:28:35.220 but a person 00:28:35.220 --> 00:28:40.860 when nothing else makes sense. 00:28:42.460 --> 00:28:44.640 And when nothing else is left, 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:47.280 Jesus is there, 00:28:48.280 --> 00:28:50.280 and he will hold us fast 00:28:50.279 --> 00:28:54.059 if only we will trust in him. 00:28:56.720 --> 00:28:57.579 So let me pray. 00:28:59.399 --> 00:29:01.220 Lord, we pray that you would just be with us. 00:29:02.680 --> 00:29:07.220 Lord, I'm so conscious of this topic tonight. 00:29:08.899 --> 00:29:09.839 Lord, personally, 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:13.740 I'm also conscious of so many things 00:29:13.740 --> 00:29:15.500 that I might know that people are going through tonight. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:19.259 And so, Lord, I pray that your spirit would come 00:29:19.259 --> 00:29:21.119 and help us tonight as we think about this topic. 00:29:22.299 --> 00:29:24.900 So, Lord, thank you for your kindness 00:29:24.900 --> 00:29:25.960 and your presence with us. 00:29:26.019 --> 00:29:27.220 We pray that you would just be with us now 00:29:27.220 --> 00:29:28.379 as we talk about these things. 00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:29.519 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:29:30.180 --> 00:29:30.460 Amen.