Authentic - Trusting God When What He Does Doesn't Make Sense, Part 2

Why doesn't God stop bad things happening to good people.

Why doesn't he stand in and save the day. The answer may surprise you today on Living on the Edge will discover why God not only allows but sometimes orchestrated events in our lives that take our situation and makes them impossible. Thanks for joining us for this Tuesday. Addition of living on the Living on the Edges and international discipleship ministry bring the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram venture continues a series called authentic how to be a Christian without being religious. Mr. last broadcast.

Let me encourage you to hear it online on the provide a lot of context which of your day and why are there many download chips message notes for this entire series. Notes are free and provide you with a great study tool while you listen.

Again, our web address is LivingontheEdge.org just click listen now you have a Bible open it to John chapter 11 let's join Chip for part two of his message trusting God when it doesn't make sense. Mark this first question when he sees Jesus you have, Lord, translation my problem. Mary's first question Lord. Being here on my time schedule on my agenda.

You can fit my problem but you didn't now if you think you second it seemed like he really loves her.

Now my Lance if he really cared you I got here earlier take care of this problem. Does everyone here now understand the dynamics of what's occurring this passage, people whom Jesus loved, and people who love Jesus deeply have a big problem and they bring the problem to Jesus and Jesus doesn't make it better. He doesn't even make it worse. He lets it go from bad to impossible.

Why, why does he do that.

Why do you do it here and why does it do it in our life. And I'd suggest that the key is going to be found in a very interesting word before we see the end of the story which you know I want to begin in your mind to be thinking about what he said to the disciples.

Why was he glad why was he glad the disciples weren't there so that they may what so they may believe what you mean believe they already following right.

I'm glad I wasn't there so you believe when he responded to Martha he said Martha if anyone does what in me. He'll never see death. If you believe he's given us clues. Let's turn the page. Let's find out what happens.

Jesus solves the problem. I want to suggest that the better gift that he gave to Martha and Mary and the one he wants to give you. I want to miss it. Is this so often we want God to solve the big problems in her life and what God is saying is I want to give you a better gift and that problem when it won't go away when it goes from being hard and difficult to worse, to impossible. There's a lot of you like the guy talking who you never get desperate and you never seek me and you never weep and you never get afraid and you never cry out to me and say I am all you really want until it goes from bad to impossible. And you've gotten so used to me fixing things because I do because I love you and taking care of things and answering prayers and doing this and doing that he was suddenly fallen into thinking that I am here to fix your life to make it work out your way for you and that is too small and too limited and that's not what I'm about. I don't want to fix your problems.

I want you to know me as a person. I want to revolutionize your life. I don't want to know some facts about resurrection. I want you to look into my eyes and see the face of the living resurrection.

I want to be with you.

I want me and you to have intimate relationship. I want you to understand it's not me, plus a good marriage is like. It's not me. Plus kids that are like is not me. When I get to make some dates.

Life is not me, plus a good job. His life is not me. Plus when your body works right is life. I am all you need. I am the resurrection and the life. And I will orchestrate circumstances in your life and I will purposely put you in possible situations to get you to the point where you come to me with a level of desperation were what you really need is me instead of just what I can do for you to make sense what he did for them now. It's only until this is a theory but the theory is it's hard to resurrect people until they die.

Use think that over deeply very hard to resurrect people until they die until it's impossible you can get bailed out and you can get help. But when it is in impossible not a day dad not today's bed not three days that four days that I bought away after the second that he's about it.

That is some your saint of God.

Just wait for days. You know I can take for data like we might have a four month delay with you. He might have a four year delay with you. I don't know what I know is he loves you what I know is he will allow some things to go from bad to impossible. Until you die to yourself until you die to your agenda until you and I die to our demands until we get where if we could just be with Jesus, and if he would look us in the eye and if his spirit through his word and through his family would speak life into our soul that would say he's the resurrection, and he is life. He will take you through. Sometimes, like, and then after you die, he will do what can only happen when you die. By the way, the process of dying spiritually is painful just like the process of dying physically is painful but until you die you never experience resurrection and Jesus does a miraculous thing because he allows Lazarus situation to go from bad to impossible. We pick it up. Jesus once more deeply moved. Verse 38 came to the tomb.

It was a cave with the stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said, but Lord said Martha was the practical want the sister of the dead man. By this time there is bad odor. He's been there for days when Jesus said, did I not tell you what's our word. If you believed you would see the glory of God. So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said father I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I said this to the benefit of the people standing here that may may you get the message you are you beginning to understand that the organ through which life with God through Christ is experienced as faith and God will take your bad situations and make them impossible so that you learn to believe that's what is up to in your life. That's what is up to my life. He's up to that more than fixing the problem, and so here he doesn't. So they took away the stone and Jesus prayed the prayer when he said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out the dead man came out his hands and feet, strapless strips of linen a cloth around his face and Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let them go in that in that just a little bit better than Jesus. And you know what Ron this ministry trip, excuse me guys got close friend back in Bethany you want to hold my place right here. In fact, Pete, you know you doing pretty good at the preaching you do a couple sermons John once you pray Thomas watching you need help later okay on the back Lazarus, Martha Manning, good to see everybody. Lazarus got a bad old unconscious okay Lord father healed him. Thank you. He's better. Okay Selah, but later I would have significant impact in Mary Martha and Lazarus. Like when would it have this impact it would've been a loving act because he didn't do the good thing and didn't fix the problem. Instead, he waited to do something, he made the impossible possible in people's personal experience where others can see it and guess who they really got to see they got to see who Jesus was.

That's the goal.

By the way, that's what faith is all about faith and about trying harder and mustering up emotions, faith is seen Jesus for who he is, to the point that whatever he says you do because of who he is and by the way, it's faith in his word, did you notice he didn't say open the tomb and did he go in and touching. How did he.

How many resurrect Lazarus. This is not a trick question. He spoke he's about what's behind his house in the world come into existence. Hebrews 11 he spoke the world into existence. You have the very word of God. God breathed in his life into your soul.

Faith is that you may believe and when he says do relationships is way that you might believe what he says prioritize your money that you may believe when he says this is how to handle your sexual life that you may believe that it might be well with you, even when the culture is going this way, even when the stock markets going down that you may believe and is that step of action that demonstrates and so sometimes to teach you, but he does miracles and that he loves you.

He will fix your problem. I will fix my letter get impossible about away as it gets impossible.

Some people don't go back to get mad. They turn inward on the can't stand the pain they going to not start smoking stuff and drink and stuff and eat stuff and watching stuff and turning stuff on and they get busy and it's impossible to get disillusioned and they don't cry that they're not like Martha and Mary. They don't we and cry and cry out to a lot of people when there's a difficult situation. They say I'm afraid you want to go back there. Jesus I'm you got him. I don't we Christians everywhere. God says I'm going here you come with me. I want you to come that you might believe I'm taking a place that is scary. I'm gonna scare the daylights out of you, but there's 12 hours in the day when you walk in the physical daylight of light you'll stumble if you try and walk in the night you fall and get hurt. As long as you're with me here in the light when I call you to walk by faith and to follow me and you say, I'm afraid I won't go there you are in darkness. It is safer with me that you might believe what happens when we believe the epilogue verse 45 to 48.

Therefore, many of the Jews would come to visit Mary and see what Jesus did put their faith in. Are we getting idea what this whole thing was about. Now notice this is this is classic knows what happens but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done Canute widget when you like to be a fly on the wall here that conversation you never knowing what he's doing now is doing now, Mr. Jesus, the bad guys take away all of our power and all the people you think that feeding the 5000, 4000 always get more to get more since you know that one night he healed the issue of libel you know that, press you, Lazarus. Four days dead, he's back is that unbelievable. How do you respond when God is a supernatural, you come up with one more reason why not to follow him with your life, your heart, your relationships, your future would you put your faith in maybe some here tonight is to know what God brought you came with a friend.

Whatever reason you never placed your faith in Christ you don't know them personally. You're in your sins, you violate a holy God, like all the rest of us here Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sin. He loves you and he brought you here tonight to tell you if you repent that means have a change of mind turnaround and if you come to Jesus and say I need you. I'm sorry.

Forgive me of my sin. I believe in you died in the cross you paid for my sin and rose from the dead.

I turn from my sin. I want to be your son.

I want to be your daughter come into my life. I put my faith in you and your work in resurrection and he'll save you a brought you here tonight, so that in the chair that you're sitting in.

You can bow your head and call out to the God of the universe and his promises that he is the resurrection and the life. And if you believe in him. You'll never die if you don't believe in him you are judged already, because you have rejected the grace of God, and you'll die in your sins. We all get exactly what we deserve unless we cry to God asking for mercy and grace freely available.

We make up reasons why did you ever wonder why people don't believe the textile tell us when they went to the chief priests and the Pharisees verse 47 they called a meeting of Sanhedrin.

What are we accomplishing that task what you mean what we, here in the sky. Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.

If we let him go on like this.

We can have a big problem right, everyone will what believe in him. Why are they saying this, the evidence is overwhelming evidence is overwhelming. They realize everyone will believe in him, but they won't. Why don't people believe, why don't people come to Christ. Number one, and those who are already Christians the majority in this room. Why won't you believe God, why don't you believe the answers in the next verse you will know what is very very simple. If we let them go on like this. Everyone will believe in, and then the Romans will come and take both our place and our nation. Our place is position our nation's power to believe in Jesus you have to give up your position and step off the throne of your life and give Jesus the throne and you bow the knee and you surrender and you say from now on your word breeze that created the world will be my guide and if you say it.

I believe it to the point of acting on if it says be sexually pure. I'll be sexually pure, which is only put good things in my mind. Things are wonderful, beautiful, praiseworthy, that's what I'm gonna do it is get the first portion my money because all believe belongs to you. I will do that if it says that you long for my heart and I will spend each day in your word and talk to you. If it says I need to tell the truth, even if I lose a sale. I'm in a tell the truth and the reason we don't do it is we lose our position in our place.

And you know what those two things have to do is called pride. It's called ego. It's called we want to be little gods who run our world and you can't have faith and pride. You can have one you can have your position in your place or he can have his position and his place in yours under him weave a generation of American Christians who think because they intellectually believe in God because they prayed a prayer and they come to church now and then but their lives don't match up because why they don't want their place in their position and we receive unbelievable consequences of a life that is in passive rebellion in seeing what he'll do in your life when you're like that he'll take your hard situation and make it possible and you come to the point were in that hard situation.

You either turn away or to get so impossible. You'll start to cry and I don't mean theoretically cry.

I don't mean I mean cry I mean we I mean all God save me, help me. I can't make it.

I can't make it another day. And as you cry out you have compassion on and he'll do things in you first and then he'll do things through you that you never mentioned in her resurrection as you end up dead. You get to where you think it a matter I mean it in a matter I can't work this out. I can't make this work and you meet you, the conclusion is sometimes God lets her problems go from bad to impossible, so that we might believe. My question is ready for this. Do you believe you really believe you believe in Jesus. I don't mean just as your Savior. Do you believe in Jesus. Do you believe in Jesus to the point that what he says you will what are the two things that we learn he wants us to believe he wants us to learn to trust. First, the depth of his compassion. If the if things wouldn't have got impossible.

Guess what we would've never seen Jesus weep.

We would've never seen him emote at a level that we seen nowhere else in all Scripture until your situation gets impossible and you cry out and you weep and you fall at his feet, both figuratively and literally. You will never experience the cry compassion of God. He loves you. He will weep over your problem when you come desperate he'll never turn you away.

His timing will be your timing may not happen the way you want it to happen.

He may not answer at all and the way you want them to, but it's so that you might believe in part of what he wants you to believe is that he loves you and that is for you and he wants to meet you. The second thing he wants you to believe is in the extent of his power available to you when things are dead. He can I come alive. He can make relationships alive again. He can make people alive again. He can make organizations alive again. She can take any situation, emotional, spiritual or physical when he gets to the point was completely possible. He has the power to make it alive. He wants us to believe that believing it to the point of acting should with some additional thoughts about today's teaching but if you're just joining us, you're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram's message today trusting God when it doesn't make sense is from his series authentic how to be a Christian without being religious, being a Christian who lived like a Christian. One person, one family, one church, one community at a time is how you can make an authentic difference in your world. This powerful series is available in a couple of audio formats and for limited time. The MP3s are absolutely free. When I get a set for yourself or send them to a friend who could benefit from a fresh perspective on how to live the Christian life without getting caught up in all kinds of religious activity for complete pricing and ordering information, go to LivingontheEdge.org or would be happy to have you call us at 188833360030 chipping a great application for today's message but before you talk about that. I know for many people this message really hit home or going through a season of difficulty or maybe crisis that just doesn't make sense in the really struggling so for someone who's in that place is looking for some serious answers. So how can we help them with Dave. I have one series that grew out of one of most difficult times not only my life but in the life of the church. I was pastoring at the time. Literally it seems like everyone I knew had cancer or was going through tragedy or a drunk driver had killed a teenager and he was horrendous and out of that grew a series of finding God when you need them the most that I literally keep to those books in my car at all times your play a lot of pickup basketball or I I meet someone in a restaurant. I say wait right here, you know, a waitress talks about her husband walked out on her work is been horrendous situation and then when I travel I normally put one of those books my briefcase because it talks about finding God in the midst of a crisis finding God when you're paralyzed by fear of finding God when you feel like a nobody going nowhere, finding God when you're depressed finding God when you've blown it big time and you're overwhelmed with guilt and these are the core Psalms, but there more than just a Psalm of truth there. How do you experience God in those times and I just encourage people if you know someone going through a time like that. Or maybe it's you. I would encourage you to either get the book or the MP3s right now or CDs what whatever helps you, but these are deeply powerful messages from people that have been where you've been and can help you allow God to touch you and speak to you and comfort you and encourage you in just the lowest most vulnerable times in your life right strip. If you or someone you know is going through a difficult time right now. Chip series finding God when you need them most would be a very helpful resource series is on CD, MP3, and in book form and all of them are available now it Living on the Edge. To learn more about the series finding God when you need him most. Visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 will know the final application for today's message. Here's Chip, as you listen to today's message. Let me ask you a very important question. How about you, where is your life going from bad to impossible. Is it a relationship that's dead a career that's been hijacked a health problem that shattered your dreams. Where's your life going from bad to impossible. Maybe not quite there yet but it's heading in that direction. Where you see signs and all like me, you realize. Okay it's going the wrong direction on the outsmart life and outmaneuver God I'm gonna stay in control why what you know that's a losing proposition. If life is hard right now I want you to know and want you to remember that God is one big agenda and that agenda is that you trust him and that you would believe he may continue to ratchet up the situation until it becomes impossible.

But here's the thing he won't make you believe that's up to you if you choose to push them away.

If you choose to substitute things or people. If you choose to try and figure out how to get out of it or whine or complain. I want you to know that the velvet vice of his love may keep moving in in in in until life gets impossible, but I want to remind you it's because he loves you. He wanted to give Mary and Martha, a better gift.

He didn't want their life simply to work out to meet their present immediate needs to make them just a little bit happier to have their dreams fulfilled. He wanted to give them something beyond their wildest dreams himself. That's God's agenda for you. It's God's agenda for me and I want to share with you a fresh because it's been a while since I taught this message dying is painful. I mean, when you let go of when things that you thought would fulfill you when people let you down when it's impossible and you're bankrupt and you're at the end of yourself. It's painful, but as you say to God I don't understand I don't get it.

I choose to believe that you are good when you die.

Then you experience a resurrection he has a great plan for you cooperate with him, trust him, don't bail out. He will never leave you or forsake you as we wrap up today's program. I want to say thank you to those who make this broadcast possible through your generous financial support. Your gifts help us create programs. Purchaser time and develop additional resources to help Christians live like Christians. If you've been blessed by the ministry of Living on the Edge.

Would you consider sending a gift today. You can call us at 1-888-333-6003, or if you prefer, donate online at http://livingontheedge.org will tomorrow. Chip continues his current series. So I hope you'll be with us for that for all of us. This is the brewery saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge