Greg Laurie - Where Were You, Lord? (04/02/2018)
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Pastor Greg Laurie shares from John 11 how Jesus delayed coming to Lazarus out of love, showing that God’s timing brings greater glory even through deep grief and loss. Drawing from his own son Christopher’s recent death, he affirms that faith holds true in tragedy—Jesus weeps with us, stands with us, and promises resurrection life beyond the grave.
A Heartfelt Prayer and Personal Context
Father, we acknowledge your greatness. We acknowledge your power. We acknowledge your love for each and every one of us and your presence with us now. And so speak to us as we open your word. Help us, as scripture says, to have ears to hear what you would have to say to us. We ask this all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You can be seated. Amen. Well, today, I would ask you to turn in your Bibles to John 11, if you would. Normally, we’re going through the book of Acts, but I’m going to ask you to indulge me for the next two Sundays as I preach on a couple of topics that are near and dear to my heart in light of all that’s happened in my life recently.
The title of my message is, “Where Were You, Lord?” And let me begin with a few questions. Have you ever had a crisis overwhelm you that you did not think you could survive? Or have you ever been through a set of circumstances that you simply thought you would not be able to get through? Or have you ever wondered why God allows tragedy in your life or in the life of someone else? Have you ever said in so many words to God, Lord, where were you?
The Story That Speaks to Every Heart
Well, before us in the Scripture is a story that deals with all of those topics. It’s a story of the unexpected death of a loved one and the grief that inevitably follows. But it’s also the story of how Jesus reacts to such situations. It’s a story of how God can be glorified through such circumstances.
Now, of course, this story resonates with me personally because of what has happened with us. Now, you all know that my son Christopher died in an auto accident 53 days ago. So, one never plans for something like this. In some ways, it’s your worst nightmare come true. And I’ll be honest with you, to plan a funeral for your own son, to pick a casket out, it is almost unbearable. But then I have to also say, God was with us. God was with us, sustaining us in each moment through the most radical of circumstances. And He helped us get through it each and every day.
You know, as a pastor for over 35 years, I’ve done a lot of funeral services. And I’ve spoken with families that have lost children. And it’s so hard when a child dies. And it’s the one thing that you look forward to the least as a pastor because you want to find just the right words for the people. You want to say the right thing. And really, there’s not a lot to say, you know.
What to Say—and What Not to Say—in Grief
Can I just tell you what not to say to someone who’s lost someone? Don’t say, “I know what you’re going through.” Because you probably don’t. Unless you have been in the exact set of circumstances that they’re in, it’s probably not good to say, “I know what you’re going through.” Because everybody deals with this in a different way.
A better thing to say is just, “I’m praying for you. And I love you.” Maybe there’s only one person that could really say, “I know what you’re going through.” And that person would be Jesus. Because everybody deals with this pain in their own way. And the grief expresses itself in its own way.
But here’s the point. As I’ve walked through this with people, I’ve always felt that I’ve tried to do the best job I could. I’ve also felt inadequate. But I’ve also thought, you know, I’m probably as close to experiencing this personally as one could be without having gone through it. But now that it’s happened to me, I realize I wasn’t even close to what it was actually like.
So as I talk to you about these things, I’m not going to put a happy face on suffering. And I’m not going to try to candy coat this. But I want you to also know, I’m not going to share a hopeless message with you today. Because I want you to know that everything that I’ve believed and taught on this topic is true. I want you to know, in the most difficult of circumstances, your faith will work. And the Lord will sustain you and hold you up through this.
Faith That Holds When Tragedy Strikes
Now it is hard, of course. But we know that when tragedy comes, when crisis comes, God is going to give us the strength that we need when we need it. Not necessarily before, but when it is required. Scripture tells us He will bring us grace to help in time of need.
Our son Christopher, age 33, was walking with the Lord when he went to heaven unexpectedly. We were very proud of him. And we told him so. Of course, he was married. He had a little baby, our granddaughter Stella. He had another one on the way. He was working here at the church, doing graphic design. I thought he was doing outstanding work, as did many others. And he was growing so much in his own spiritual life. He was studying the Bible more than any other time in his life.
In fact, he had opened his home up for a home Bible study that was taught by Steve Wiggins. And a couple of times, Steve wasn’t able to make it. And Christopher himself actually led the little Bible study. And we were so proud of the progress we were seeing in his life and in Brittany’s life and how the Lord was blessing them.
Encouragement in the Midst of Spiritual Battle
But, you know, when you’re serving the Lord, you’ll go through trials, right? And the enemy will attack. And so, Christopher was going through a little bit of a trial. So, I just shot him off a quick email. And here’s what I said to him in my email. I said, “Christopher, Remember, you are doing the Lord’s work now. And the devil will attack you in strange ways. But think about it. You’re doing cutting-edge graphics that are helping to get the gospel out around the world. You’re involved in a home Bible study that is touching your friends and family. You’re realizing your God-given potential. And you know what? Better things are coming. God has blessed you and the enemy will simply attack. So, keep doing what you’re doing.”
That’s what I’ve always done. When an attack comes, I batten down the hatches and go at it even harder because I know the enemy’s objective is to distract and discourage me. When Nehemiah was building the walls of Jerusalem, he came under criticism and attack for it. So, you know what he did? He just kept building that wall and that’s what you need to do too.
Mom and I love you very much and we’re very proud of you and Brittany. P.S. We like Stella quite a bit too. We knew he would appreciate the humor of it because we’re just head over heels in love with little Stella.
A Son’s Grateful Reply
So, Christopher wrote me back. “Dad, thank you so much for your loving encouragement. I’m so thankful for what the Lord has done in my life the last couple of years. I want what He wants for me. I’ve been blessed with the most wealth I’ve ever wanted. Loving parents and a brother who serves the Lord and desires Him first. A beautiful wife who knows Jesus. A beautiful daughter with another on the way. I’m truly rich and no man can take those things from me. I love you and mom so very much. Please be safe in your travels. Talk to you soon. Love, Toph.”
Toph was his nickname for Topher, short for Christopher. And I read an email that a friend sent recently and he had had a conversation with Christopher not too long ago. And Christopher was talking about how excited he was about the Lost Boy film. You know, this is a story of my life that he had been working on and he had done all the graphics for it and had a lot of input as to how it ultimately turned out.
Revisiting My Own Story in Light of Loss
Now he was so looking forward to the Crusades this year. And I thought a little bit about that Lost Boy film and I was at an event down in San Diego recently and they were going to show it and then I was going to speak and I asked them not to show the film. I just said, I don’t really want to go there right now. Down the road I can revisit that story but I’m just not quite ready.
And you know, the Lost Boy story is just about how God intervened in my life and in a way I had it all sorted out so neatly. I sort of felt as though the ink had dried on my story so now I could tell it. I had waited a long time to tell it but I felt like I could look at it objectively and say, here’s how God can bring good out of bad. I survived this crazy childhood, my mom being married and divorced seven times, raising in an alcoholic home, all that stuff I went through but I came to the Lord at 17, turned my life over to Him.
The stats say that if you come from a divorced home you will most likely end up divorced yourself but against all odds by God’s grace my wife and I are closing in on our 35th wedding anniversary so, you know, it was a pretty happy story. And the film closed with our family walking down the street smiling. It’s almost as though you could write the words “and they lived happily ever after” at the end of the story.
When the Ending Changes Unexpectedly
And when I would show this film and we would travel around a little bit and I was showing it in various churches and speaking we were having a tremendous response. And I would speak afterwards and tell the story of Joseph and how though he faced all these adverse circumstances God brought good out of bad—not that bad is good but God can bring good out of bad and God can be glorified through difficulty—and then I would close with the story of the prodigal son and how he returned home to his father and was forgiven and I would tell people God can be the father you never had. God… well. Was this story not true? Was this all a sham? No, the story is still true. Just a different ending than I thought I would have.
It’s not an ending I would have ever chosen. In fact it’s really not an ending at all because all of our stories are continuing on regardless of our age. In fact the Bible even says we spend our lives like a story that’s being told. Yes I was a father missing a son like the prodigal’s dad but I’m also a father who has seen his son go to be with his heavenly father. The story’s different but God will still bring good out of that. God will still be glorified but you see the ink is wet and I don’t know how it’s going to quite turn out. I’m walking through it now but my point is that God’s word is still true. It’s not easy but it’s all true and I wouldn’t be standing here today talking to you about these things if it wasn’t.
Lazarus, Mary, and Martha: A Family in Crisis
And I bring this up because now before us in scripture is a story of a family that also had a loved one die. They were devastated because they were a tight-knit family—Mary and Martha and Lazarus. They were friends of Jesus. They lived in Bethany. That’s within striking distance of Jerusalem. So often when the Lord would be going into the city he would spend time with his good friends.
Mary showed her devotion to the Lord by wiping his feet with a special perfume. Martha showed her devotion to the Lord by cooking up amazing food and Lazarus was there as a friend as well. And Jesus would frequent their home. These are three people that can honestly say Jesus Christ is our personal friend.
Well one day Lazarus the friend of Jesus became very very ill. So they did what any person ought to do in times of crisis. They sent word to Jesus to do something about it. And that’s where our story begins. John 11 let’s look at it together. Starting in verse 1: “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany. The town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.”
Key Lessons from the Sickness of Lazarus
“Therefore the sisters sent to him saying, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’” So what do we learn from this story? Number one: life is filled with pain, sorrow, sickness, and the death of loved ones. I know that’s a depressing point but it’s true and we might as well just come to grips with it and stop running from it. Life is filled with pain and sorrow and sickness and the death of loved ones.
Now when you’re younger you don’t necessarily understand this but as you get older your grandparents will die usually first and then as time passes your parents will die and then as you age you know that your day will eventually come and you expect your children will bury you but then there are those unexpected deaths in our life—it might be the death of a spouse or the death of a friend that’s close to us in age or the death of a sibling and suddenly we’re made aware of our own mortality.
That was the case with Mary and Martha and Lazarus this tight little family and all of a sudden one of them was dying—deathly ill.
The Depth of God’s Love
Point number two: God loves us. God loves us. Now don’t rush over that or misunderstand it—let it sink in. God loves you. And I bring this up because God will never allow anything to happen in your life as His child that is not motivated by His everlasting love for you. Jeremiah 31: God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
See Mary and Martha knew this. They knew they were loved by Jesus and I love their appeal. They didn’t say “Lord, the one that is devoted to you is sick” or even “the one that loves you is sick” but rather they said “the one that you love is sick” which is a good thing to remember when we appeal to God.
Never appeal on the basis of your devotion—“Lord, your great servant is calling upon you now”—no because I’m not a great servant. “Lord, the one that loves you so passionately is asking for help now”—no my love is fickle and inconsistent. Rather “Lord, the one that you love is in need. Lord you love Lazarus” they’re saying “and he is ill and we’re calling out to you right now.”
That’s a great appeal. And they don’t even tell Him what to do. They don’t say, “So rush home and do something.” They just say, wanted to let you know. Because we figure you’ll know exactly what to do.
Jesus’ Response: Love That Delays for Glory
But here’s an interesting thing. They use a different word for love than Jesus, that we find used of Jesus. Now, they said “the one that you love is sick.” It’s the Greek word phileo. And it is the word that means brother love. It would be as though they were saying, “Lord, your friend, your buddy, your companion, he’s not feeling well. He’s ill. So do something.”
But then we read in verse 4 and 5: “When Jesus heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Therefore, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.”
The word that is used to describe the love of Jesus for Lazarus is the Greek word agape. It’s not brother love. It’s a different kind of love. It’s God’s supernatural, all-consuming love. So effectively, what this is saying is that God’s love for us may be demonstrated in a way we don’t always understand. It doesn’t really make sense when you look at it. Because He loved Lazarus, He delayed to come.
Well, why would He do that? Because God wanted to do more than they were expecting. You see, we live in the here and now. And God lives in the eternal. We’re interested in what will benefit us right now. What will make my life a little bit more comfortable? What will make me a little bit happier? Or a little bit more fulfilled?
God’s thinking about the big picture. He’s thinking, what can I do to make you more like Jesus? What can I do to conform you more into My image? How can I transform you and make you stronger spiritually?
When Delay Is Actually Love
So we’ll ask for certain things that seem to work within our life. But God is looking at the broader picture. And that’s exactly what was happening in this story. He loved Lazarus, but He was going to demonstrate this in a different way altogether. So now He has delayed His arrival. And Lazarus has died. Not only that, but he’s been dead for four days. So there was no bringing him back. He was long gone.
And Jesus arrives in town. There He is at Bethany. Martha, hearing that Jesus is coming, goes to greet Him. We’re still in John 11. Look at verse 20: “Then Martha, as soon as she heard Jesus was coming, went and met Him. But Mary was sitting in the house.”
And Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You would have been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give it to You.” Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “Well, I know he’ll rise again in the resurrection of the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Lord, yes, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world.”
Honest Questions to Jesus
And when she had said these things, she went away and called her sister Mary, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” Pretty brash words from Martha. She was never one to hold her tongue. You always knew where you stood with Martha. “Lord, if You would have been here, my brother would not have died.” To paraphrase it, “Where were you anyway, Jesus?”
And maybe you’ve said that in so many words before. Where were you, Lord, when my marriage dissolved? Where were you when my parents divorced? Where were you when my child went astray? Where were you when my loved one died?
Now, I want you to notice something. Jesus did not reprove Martha for what she said. And I bring this up because you need to know it’s not wrong to tell God how you feel. I think sometimes we feel as though when we pray, we can never express our fears or even our doubts to God. That is not the case at all. She was expressing her fears and her doubts. And Jesus did not rebuke her for it.
Crying Out Honestly to God
You know, you look at the Psalms and how David and other psalmists would cry out to God. Psalm 42 comes to mind, verse 9 and 10, where the psalmist says, “God, why have you forsaken me? Why must I wander in darkness, oppressed by my enemies? This taunts me like a fatal wound when they scoff. Where is this God of yours?”
So the psalmist is saying, “Lord, it seems to me like you’ve forsaken me, like you’re not paying attention.” And then he corrects himself and says, in verse 11 of Psalm 42, “Why am I discouraged? Why am I so sad? I’ll put my hope in God and praise Him again, my Savior and my God.”
And I’ve done this many times. In my pain, I will cry out to God. I won’t tell you what I said. Because that’s between God and myself. But sometimes the reality of it hits me. That my son is gone. And I just say, “Oh God.” It’s just like, it’s like a sword in my heart. I can’t believe it.
But then I’ll preach to myself. And I’ll say, “Now Greg, listen to me. Your son is alive. And he’s more alive than he has ever been before. He’s in the presence of God. And you’re going to see him again.” I’ll remind myself of the promises of God.
But see, in my prayer, I’ll describe my pain to God. And then I’ll remind myself of God’s truth. And this is what prayer is. And the idea here is, call out to God. Even Jesus, hanging on the cross, said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But the point is, He prayed, “My God, my God.”
The Danger of Withdrawing from God
See, here’s the problem. When problems come, and trauma comes, and hardship comes, sometimes we withdraw from God. Or we’re angry at God. “I don’t want to talk to God.” Oh no, friend. You need Him more than ever. Cry out to Him with your doubts. Cry out to Him with your pain. He will patiently, lovingly hear you. He might set you straight. But He wants you to cry out to Him.
And that’s exactly what Mary and Martha were doing. And look at old Job. I mean, you talk about having your life fall apart. One day, he loses his possessions. He loses people that work for him. And worst of all, he lost his own children. Later, to be followed by the loss of his health.
And yet, Job did not charge God foolishly. But he cried out to God, “Naked came I into this world. Naked go I out. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Now, in fairness, Job did go on to question God. And he said, “Lord, why?” He asked why many, many times. And there’s nothing wrong with asking God why, as long as you don’t get the idea that God somehow owes you an answer.
Frankly, God does not owe you or me an explanation. But we may wonder why. Why did this happen to me? But, God tells us in His word, “My thoughts are above your thoughts, and My ways are above your ways.”
Standing on What We Know
I’ve asked why. Why did this happen? Why couldn’t it have been me instead of him? I’m 55. He’s 33. I’ve lived enough life. Take me. No. The Lord didn’t choose to do that. He was a loving husband, father, brother, friend to many. He was walking with God. He was serving God. Why did the Lord take him? I don’t know the answer.
But I was talking with Pastor Chuck Smith last week, and he made this statement to me. “Never trade what you don’t know for what you do know.” I thought that was a good statement. What do I know? I know that God loves me. I know that God loved and loves my son, and his wife, and his daughter, and daughter to come. I know that God can make good things come out of bad, so I’m going to stand on what I know instead of what I don’t know.
So if you ask me, “Greg, why did this happen?” Here’s my answer. Are you ready? I don’t know. I don’t know. And I don’t know that I will ever know.
Jesus Declares: “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”
I read a statement by Chuck Swindoll in his commentary on the book of Job when he said, and I quote, “God never promised He would inform us about His plan ahead of time. He just promised He has one. Ultimately, it’s for our good and His glory. He knows and we don’t. That’s why we shrug and say, ‘I don’t know.’ But I do know this,” Swindoll continues, “the death of his son was not in vain. Christ died for you and if you believe in Him, He will forgive your sins and you will go to live with Him forever. You’ll have heaven and all the blessings of it. I know that. It’s a tough journey getting there full of confusion and struggle, shrugs, followed by a lot of ‘I don’t knows.’ But when the heavens open and we’re there, there’ll be no more shrugs and we’ll be able to say, ‘Now I know.’” End quote.
The Bible says that the secret things belong to the Lord. Deuteronomy 29:29. If God explained it to us, I don’t think it would satisfy us. He promises a peace that passes understanding, not necessarily a peace that always will give us understanding.
There’s a lot of questions we could ask God as to why this happened and why that happened, but it’s in His hands and we won’t know. And Martha’s frustrated. She says, “Lord, foul. Wrong. Not right. You missed this opportunity.” She cries out to Jesus.
So the Lord tries to help her get an eternal perspective. “Martha, your brother will rise again.” “Oh, I know that. He’ll rise again in the resurrection of the last day.” “No, Martha, listen to me. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
Martha, listen to me. Death is not the end. You’re acting as though it’s over with. It’s not over with. And I think He was talking about something bigger than even the resurrection of Lazarus. Check this out. Lazarus, he died again. Isn’t it bad enough to die once? Lazarus had to die twice.
Mary’s Grief and Jesus’ Compassion
So I don’t think the essential message of this statement of the Lord is “I’m going to raise your brother up from the dead.” But rather, death is not the end. This is temporary. You live on. “He that believes in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
Let’s read a few more verses. So now Mary comes to greet Jesus. Verse 32: “And Mary came to where Jesus was. She saw Him. She fell down at His feet saying to Him, ‘Lord, if You would have been here, my brother would not have died.’”
Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” And they said, “Come and see.” Don’t miss verse 35. Two words. Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him.”
That brings me to point number three: Jesus weeps with us in our times of pain. Jesus weeps with us in our times of pain. Yes, Jesus was God with all the attributes that we attribute to deity. But let’s not miss the fact that He was also a man who felt our pains and our sorrows.
Isaiah 53 reminds us He was despised and rejected. A man of sorrows acquainted with the bitterest grief. It was our weaknesses He carried. It was our sorrows that weighed Him down. He not only carried your sin, He carried your sorrow.
God Collects Our Tears
The Bible tells us that God keeps our tears in a bottle. We’re told in Psalm 56:8 “You keep track of all of my sorrows. You’ve collected all of my tears in your bottle. You’ve recorded each one in your book.”
We were in Israel recently leading a tour with folks from our church and our radio audience and I had the opportunity to take my whole family with me and it was a wonderful trip. And one day Christopher and I were running around the old city of Jerusalem. Jonathan was there too. And we were taking photographs because we’re putting a calendar together. We’re still putting it together that will be available soon for next year. And we were capturing images from Israel.
So we went into an antiquity store. A store that sells relics from the past. And so I went in and asked the proprietor if he could show me the kind of coin that Jesus would have held in His hand when they… when He asked the people to give Him a coin and remember He held the coin up and said “whose face is on this coin” and so forth.
So the man gave me a coin just like that. It was 2,000 years old. And I wanted to buy it. I said “how much is this?” He said “$1,000.” I said “no thank you but can we take a picture of it?” And we did. So Christopher held it in his hand and I took a tight shot of this coin. And now I have that photo of the coin but more importantly of his hand that I would have never thought of taking a picture of but now I have it.
But also in that same story as we were walking around I noticed all these little bottles in various sizes and shapes and so I asked the man “sir what are these bottles for?” He says “oh those are Roman tear bottles.” And I said “well what is that exactly?” He said “well the Romans believed that when a loved one died you needed to keep your tears in a bottle so they would keep them in these little bottles” and I thought well that’s like that scripture that I just mentioned to you and I told that scripture to Christopher and I have a tear bottle now—not one on earth but I have one in heaven. In fact I probably have a few. Because I’ve never cried so much in my life.
You know my wife told me recently that she’d probably seen me cry two or three times in all of our years together and now you can’t make it through a day without crying sometimes multiple times. It’s very very hard.
Why Jesus Wept—and Why He Was Angry
So why does God keep our tears in a bottle? So He can wipe them away one day because the Bible says there is coming that day when God will wipe away all of our tears. Jesus wept. And when you’re going through hardship He’s weeping with you. He cares about you. If it hurts you it hurts Him. If it brings sorrow to you it brings sorrow to Him.
And He also felt anger. Look at verse 33. When Jesus saw her weeping and the other people wailing with her, He was moved with indignation and was deeply troubled. The word used there for trouble can be translated, “He was mad.”
Why was Jesus angry? Was He angry with Mary and Martha for not believing? I don’t think so. Was He angry with the multitudes or the group of people there that were mourning the death of Lazarus? No. I think Jesus was mad at death itself. He was mad at the grim reaper, if you will, because this was never God’s plan.
God’s plan was to have us live forever. God’s plan was that these bodies would never age or wear out, that we would never experience sickness of any kind. So He wept over that and He was angry over that and He did something about it. He went to a cross and He died for the sin of the world and rose again from the dead.
And the Bible says He has become the first fruits of those that sleep, which means He went before us. And those of us who have died can now know that death is not the end. That’s the whole point of this story. It doesn’t end with death. We continue on.
Glorifying God Through Suffering
So what are we to do? We’re to honor and glorify God. Which brings me to my fourth point. God can be glorified through human suffering and can bring good out of bad.
Now in the case of Lazarus, he had died. And Jesus went to the tomb and He said, “Roll the stone away.” They rolled the stone. And He prayed, “Father, I thank You that You hear Me now.” And then He cried out those words, “Lazarus, come forth.” And that man who had been dead for four days came back from the other side alive.
The people marvel. It was a great miracle. And sometimes God will just change the circumstances. Sometimes you’ll go to the doctor and he’ll say, “I am really sorry. There is nothing we can do for you. You better just get your affairs in order. You’re going to die.” And you cry out to God and He does a miracle and He heals you.
Or those adverse circumstances come and you pray for intervention and God intervenes. Sometimes God is glorified through the removal of the difficulty and there’s nothing wrong in calling out to Him and asking Him for that.
When God Is Glorified in the Pain Itself
But other times God is glorified in the adversity, you see. Because really, if you were to stop and interview Lazarus, we don’t really know what he thought about all this. But I’m not so sure I would have wanted to come back if I was in heaven. Would you? I mean, if we could interview people on the other side and say, “We want you to come back to earth,” do you think they would want to?
They’re in that place where there’s no sorrow, there’s no night. They’re in the presence of God. They’re in a glorified body. There’s no temptation. There’s no devil. It’s just perfection. And we’re saying, “Come back to the stinking earth and join us in our misery and die again.” What do you say? Oh, I think they’d say, “I’ll pass on that if you don’t mind. In fact why don’t you come on up here with me?”
See, God can be glorified through our suffering. The apostle Paul had his own suffering. He cried out for God to remove it. And God said, “No, Paul, My grace is sufficient for you.” So Paul then went on to say, “All right, I know it’s all for Christ’s good, so I’m content with my weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
You see, suffering makes us stronger if we let it. It can strengthen us in our faith. It can make us more like the Lord. When a Christian suffers, it glorifies God and reassures the rest of us that there’ll never be a valley so deep that God will not get us through it.
Because, listen, we’re all going to have to face these things in time in different ways. Some will suffer more than others. We know that. Some will have more calamity than others. But we’re all going to have to face the inevitability of our mortality. We’re all going to have to face illness of some kind, if not in our lives, certainly in the life of someone we hold dear.
Hope That Sustains and Witnesses to the World
We’re all going to have a loved one die unexpectedly. We’re all going to have tragedy in life. I hate to break this to you. But when you see another Christian suffering through it and glorifying God, it gives you hope and you say, “They’ve made it and I can make it.”
But here’s another thing to consider. God can be glorified through the suffering of a Christian and use it to display His power to a lost world. Because you see, non-believers might look at us and say, “Well, you Christians, you know. You have your faith, but your lives are pretty good, all things considered.”
Well, when they see one of us suffer, one of us go through adversity, they have to stop and ask themselves the question, “Whoa, what if this is true? What if their faith is real?” It gives the believer a platform from which they can preach the gospel because they’re living it out in the real world.
Think of Corrie ten Boom. She lost her father and her sister in a Nazi concentration camp, survived miraculously herself, and spent the rest of her life telling people there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. And she was able to forgive the ones that did this to her family.
Think of Joni Eareckson Tada through a freak diving accident. She became a quadriplegic. But yet think of the untold multitudes that Joni has reached through her powerful testimony for Jesus Christ. Not just disabled people, but people of every walk of life. As she’s spoken from her pain, spoken from that wheelchair.
Think of Nick Vujicic who came here to our church and was born without limbs, no arms, no legs. And we all marveled as we heard his story about how he could serve the Lord and speak for the Lord. And we just thought you have to listen to a man like that because he’s in such difficult circumstances, yet he’s honoring God. And that makes us say, “Man, how can I complain about my problems,” right?
The Power of Praise in Prison
The best example probably in Scripture is the story of Paul and Silas who were in prison for preaching the gospel. And yet at midnight, even though their backs had been ripped open with a Roman whip, they began to sing praises to God. And an earthquake came. And the walls were shaken loose. And the prisoners could have escaped for their lives, but they stayed there.
And the jailer in charge was ready to kill himself. Why? Because if those prisoners got away, he would be executed. Paul said, “Stop. Don’t hurt yourself. We’re all here still.” And he said, “That’s it. What must I do to be saved? I’ve been listening to you guys. I’ve been watching you. And I want what you have.”
And they told him how to become a believer. And he did. And he took them home. And he washed their stripes and fed them a great meal. And they led his family to the Lord. They’d earned the right to preach the gospel.
God can be glorified through human suffering. Physical death is not the end of existence, but only a change in the state of existence. The tomb is not the entrance to death, but to life. What will be waiting for us on the other side is better than what we have here.
In my email to my son, I concluded by saying, “Better things are coming.” Was I wrong? I don’t think so. They’re not the better things I would have chosen. The better things Dad would have chosen would have been for Christopher to live a long life. Long past my life. And been there for his family.
But Paul said, “I want to be with Christ, which is far better.” And he uses a superlative form that means far, far, far better. Listen, the best is yet to come. When we meet the Lord in heaven. It’s not better for me. It’s not better for my wife or his wife. But it’s better for him.
The Presence of Jesus in Every Moment
So where were you, Lord? Or was He? Right there. Jesus was right there when my son went to be with Him on July 24th, 2008, 9:05 in the morning. Jesus was there with me when I heard this horrific news. Jesus is here with me right now. And He’ll be with you in your good days and your bad days.
He’ll be with you at the birth of a baby and the death of a believer. Jesus said, “I will never leave you or forsake you. Ever.” David said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me.” And that’s the great hope that the believer has. We’ll never be alone. And God will be with us through everything we face. And the best is yet to come when we meet Him in glory.
Maybe you’ve joined us here today or you’re listening to this message and you don’t have this hope of heaven. As we’ve talked about suffering, maybe you’re going through hardship right now yourself and you have no way to deal with it. You don’t have a God like we have to call out to.
Oh, maybe you have a God with a small g that you cry out to but He’s not doing much for you now, is He? Oh, you’ve always looked at technology. You’ve always looked to political solutions. You’ve always looked to money. You’ve always looked to this or that. None of those things will sustain you in your hour of need, will they?
You need a real, living, true God. The Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe as you’ve been listening to this, you’ve thought, “I don’t know if I know God in a personal way. I don’t know if Christ is living inside of me. I don’t know if I would go to heaven when I die. I want this hope.”
Well, you can have it right now. We’re going to close this service with an invitation for you to put your faith in Jesus Christ. So if you need to do that, why don’t you respond as we pray now.
An Invitation to Receive Christ
Let’s all bow our heads. And Father, I pray for any person here now, any person listening now, if they do not know You, if they do not have the assurance of the forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven, help them come to You now and enter into this relationship with You. We ask in Your name.
While our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, if you would like Jesus Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you would like to go to heaven when you die, if you would like your guilt removed, if you would like to find the meaning and purpose of your life wherever you are sitting, I want you to stand to your feet and I am going to lead you in a prayer right now. A prayer of asking Christ to come into your life.
So if you want Christ to come into your life, just stand to your feet wherever you are. Just stand up. God bless you. I can’t see you out there, but I want you to stand as well. Because I’m going to lead you in this prayer. Stand up there in the courtyard area as well. If you’re in the fellowship hall, you stand up too. Anybody else? You want God’s forgiveness today. You want to know you’ll go to heaven when you die. Or you’ve fallen away from the Lord and you want to come back to Him right now. Stand to your feet in this final moment.
And we’re going to pray together. Anybody else? God bless you. Just stand up. There might be a few more. Anybody else? Stand now. Anybody else? God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? God bless you, sir. Stand up now. God bless you. Up in the balcony. God bless you as well. This final moment. If you’re going to stand, stand now. God bless you.
All right. All right. All of you that are standing, I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. You that are listening to this message, if you need to make this commitment, you pray this prayer as well. Again, as I pray, pray this out loud after me. Right where you are. Pray this now.
“Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus. I know I’m a sinner. But You died on the cross for my sin. And rose again from the dead. I believe in You now. I ask You to come into my life. And be my Lord. And be my Savior. And my friend. I want to go to heaven when I die. And I want to walk with You in this life. So thank you for coming in. And forgiving me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”