Habakkuk And The Hard Question Of Suffering | Pastor Ben Burnett

We open Habakkuk and let the Bible say the uncomfortable part out loud: God can handle our holy complaints when life feels violent, unfair, and ignored. We follow God’s response through discipline, justice, and the cross, landing on a steady hope that suffering is not meaningless and God truly cares. 

• Why Habakkuk is the book for hard questions 
• Habakkuk’s first complaint about violence and broken justice 
• God’s surprising plan to raise up Babylon 
• Why God disciplines those he loves in Hebrews 12 
• Discipline as training, not just correction for wrongdoing 
• How we can waste suffering if we refuse the lesson 
• Why tragedy is not always God’s punishment 
• “Treat it as discipline” as a way to seek refinement 
• Habakkuk’s second complaint and waiting at the watchpost 
• “The righteous shall live by his faith” as the anchor 
• God’s woes against Babylon and the promise of justice 
• The cross as the clearest proof God cares 
• A direct invitation to trust Jesus in suffering 

if you don't know Christ, man, today is the perfect day to accept a free gift of salvation. 
we want to pray for you. 
You need Jesus. 

Transcript

Welcome And Why Habakkuk Matters

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Well, good morning. Y'all wake, I'm glad. Well, y'all today, and I'm gonna tell you this now so you can start finding it, the message is coming from the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk, however you want to say it. In case you don't know where that's at, because I remember the first time I ever heard a message, and the only time I ever heard a message that came out of Habakkuk, I had to look in the table of contents. If you look at your New Testament and you go back about five books, it's about probably 15 pages, you'll find the book of Habakkuk. It's small and mighty. It is one of those books that we don't read often. And when we do, it was funny. I was talking to somebody earlier and I said, Yep, message is coming out of Habakkuk today. And somebody said, Wow, that's that book's depressing. Sometimes it is. But may God bless us today as we read it, because the book of Habakkuk is one of those books that asks the questions that people have in this day and age. I hear all the time things like, number one, when I get to heaven, I've got some questions for God. Anybody ever heard that, said that? Habakkuk is one of those books that asks those questions. Questions like, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why does God make me go through this? Does God care? That's the book of Habakkuk. And so today, if you've been in that place where you've asked those questions, if you have holy complaints, we're gonna be looking at some insight from the book of a prophet who has much to say in a short amount of time. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come and we're so thankful for your word. Your word that has questions that we ask, that I've heard people ask me. And so, God, we pray that you will bless the study of your word today. Lord, I am not enough to preach this book, and yet you've called me to it. And so, God, would you just bless every word that comes from my mouth? Would they be yours and not mine? Would you open our hearts to hear from your word in Jesus' name? Amen.

Prayer And Habakkuk’s First Cry

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Amen. And so Habakkuk starts in chapter one. Hopefully you found it. If not, the words will be on the screen. It says this the oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? Or cry to you, violence, and you will not save. Why do you make me see iniquity? And why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise, so the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth, for the wicked surround the righteous. So justice goes forth perverted. What? That's in the Bible? Yes. It's funny. Times I get to counsel people as they have questions like this. And it's fun to turn to small and obscure books like Habakkuk. Because I don't know about y'all, but as like Pastor Ben Burnett, sometimes I forget that the Bible addresses some of the things that we have real curiosities about. Sometimes the Bible says things that are a little uncomfortable when I think about, like if I was in this guy's shoes and I'm looking at God and I'm well, not looking at God, but if I'm saying these things, right? I'm praying these prayers. Can you imagine? I'm going to talk to God today and I want him to know all of my complaints. That's a little uncomfortable. I read this now and my toes tickle just a little bit. But Abakuk, it's one of those books where if you notice, most of the time when you read, these are this is one of the what's called the minor prophets. When you read any of the prophets, almost always the prophet stories start with, the Lord called me, right? You read like Jeremiah, for instance, and Jeremiah's like, I'm a kid, I can't do anything. And but God's calling him to do something. You read, and it's like the Lord said, and then I spoke, right? Not Habakkuk. Habakkuk's the guy who's like, I'm gonna speak, and I want the Lord to hear what I have to say. He's that guy. And so again, Habakkuk is gonna ask some questions that I hear all the time. He really asks three basic questions. He's gonna ask, why do I have to go through this? Like we talked about. Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? And why doesn't God care? And so

The Violence And Unrest Behind It

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let's look at the first one. Why do I have to go through this? Habakkuk, you know, he looks around and he sees violence and injustice. He sees destruction. What's happening is Habakkuk is living in a time when there's social unrest because there was a king who rebelled against this guy named Pharaoh Nico, and he gets killed for it. And so the Assyrians, they kind of move in. Now you're saying I thought pharaohs were in Egypt, they were. Um just stick with me here. There were these Assyrians who came in after that and then takes over the whole nation. And these Assyrians, if you remember the story about Nona and Noah and the story of Nineveh, Nineveh is in Assyria. So if you ever read the story of, did I say Noah? Jonah, I'm gonna get this here in a minute. There's too many ends in them in all those words. If you ever read the story of Jonah, who has to go to Nineveh, and he's really upset about it, it's because they're getting ready to take over the nation of Israel. And he's mad. He doesn't like these Ninevehes. He's angry because they're a really, really bad people. And Habakkuk lives during that time as well. He sees the writing on the wall. Matter of fact, the Assyrians are already there. Um He doesn't just see the writing on the wall, the writing's already there.

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And he looks at God and he again says these words. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help?

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And you will not hear. And so what does what does God say to that? Is God big enough to answer your questions? The answer is absolutely. Let's look at what verse 5 says.

God’s Answer: Babylon Is Coming

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The Lord's answer, look among the nations and see. Wonder and be astounded, for I'm doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who marched through the breath of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. Now, if you just heard the word Chaldeans, that's a new nation. So the nation of Israel, under God's judgment, because they turned away from the Lord, got conquered by Assyria. Now, Habakkuk's complaining, hey, the Assyrians, we don't like them. And God's like, guess what? I'm gonna judge them with another nation. They're called the Chaldeans. You may have also heard them called Babylon. The nation of Babylon is gonna come and they're gonna take over the Assyrians. And well, if you're in Habakkuk's day, you're going, Have you heard about these Babylonian people, God? Because they're really bad. God's like, I'm gonna raise up the Chaldeans. They're bitter and hasty. And they march through the breath of the earth to seize dwellings, not their own. Verse 7. They're dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all, verse nine, come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on. Guilty men, whose own might is their God. Those are the words of the Lord. Habakkuk complains, Lord, don't you see what's happening? And God says, Yep. And if I told you what I was doing, you wouldn't get it. But then what's funny is God proceeds to tell him just a little bit of what's happening anyway. Hey, I'm gonna raise up this nation called the Chaldeans, and they're bad to the bone. Forgive me. I mean, they're bad. They're bad to the bone. These are rough and tough people. God is putting the nation of Israel through correction. And he doesn't just correct them once with the Assyrians, he corrects them twice with Babylon. Matter of fact, if you go back and read some of the prophets, they say that, for instance, they say words like the stump of Jesse is going to be cut down, and then he's going to burn the stump. He's going to cut it off again. He's going to judge it not once but twice. It's like God's serious about this thing because what's happened in the nation of Israel is they have turned away from the Lord. God is going to allow them to go through correction for their own good. But sometimes correction is very painful. It begs the question: why does God correct his people?

Discipline As Love In Hebrews 12

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And so not only are we in the book of Habakkuk, but let's stick with the H theme. Let's look at the book of Hebrews. Let's check out the New Testament for us for a minute. Because the book of Hebrews gives us some very good insight about this thing. Hang on just a second, they need two hands. There we go. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 12. And Hebrews chapter 12 tells us a few things about God who disciplines his kids. Hebrews chapter 12, starting in verse 5, says, And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? Why does God correct his people? Number one, because he loves us. If God didn't love us, he'd probably just let us do whatever we want and end up in whatever fashion we end up in. But no, God loves us enough to correct us. Verse 7 tells us that we need discipline. Scholars, if they if you look at kind of the translation notes from some of the different things that you read, some scholars actually say that this could be translated. Verse 7, it is for discipline, or it is because you need to become disciplined that you have to endure. So here's the question. Now, parents, look at me real quick, because you all are going to help me especially. Do you always discipline your children because they've done something bad? The answer is no. You actually, a lot of times, at least from you know talking to some of my good Christian friends who have kids, huntering some of them, you discipline your kids sometimes just because you want them to turn out as good adults. It's not that they did anything wrong, it's just that you want them to end up the right way. I remember when I was younger, um, one of my first, I'll call it official jobs. I cut grass and did a bunch of that kind of stuff, but one of my first official jobs was with my grandfather in his trucking garage. And I remember looking at mom right before I went to work with Papa. And mom gave me some advice that I've always remembered. She said, when you're working with someone, don't wait for them to tell you what they need to do their job. Try to anticipate, oh, you're working on this thing, and so you're gonna need a wrench. Grab that wrench before they ask for it. You see, mom was giving me discipline, and I had never done a thing wrong. Mom was training me in the way that I should go. If you remember that old proverb, you train a child in the way she should go, when they're older, they shall not depart. That's what mom was doing for me. She was giving me direction so that I would be disciplined when I went to that job and worked in a trucking garage and did a whole bunch of different things that I'd never done before. How many of y'all, do you remember the first time you ever went fishing? Some of my guys out there in particular, not I'm not trying to exclude the ladies, y'all did it too, but y'all remember the lessons that you learned the first time you went fishing? My uncle took me fishing, I think, probably for the first time, I wouldn't swear to it. But I can always remember, because my uncle's a big fisherman to this day, I remember him saying things like, hey, be quiet because you're gonna scare all the fish away. Y'all remember that lesson? Did you know that fish can't hear you underwater? Um that's but that's anyway. We'll talk about that later. Uh but do you remember other? Like I remember we would always, whether we were on the boat or on the bank, he always said, before you make your first cast, check your drag. Because your drag, you know, like if you get a big fish on the line, that drag, you've got to pull line out so that fish can run, so it doesn't just break your line. Or on the flip side, which happened to me very often, my drag would be too loose. And so that fish would grab that thing and run with it. And the problem is if they start running with your line, they get tangled up in all kinds of stuff. And that fish is gonna get trapped out there in the weeds, and I'm gonna be reeling for my life, and I can't pull him in at all. I remember to this day my uncle saying, Check your drag, because you never know when you're gonna catch the big one, and you don't want to lose him. Discipline is not always something that we receive because we've done something wrong. It's something that trains us and helps us. Matter of fact, if you keep reading in the book of Hebrews, verse 7, it's for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you're left without discipline, in which all have participated, then your illegitimate children are not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not more much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. How many of y'all know that oftentimes the lessons that we learn can be caught as much as they are taught? A lot of the lessons that we pick up over our lifespan are lessons that nobody just tells us. They're things that we notice and do naturally. Parents, if you're out there today and you have young kids, man, there is no better time than today to be intentional about the lessons that you want to give your children. There is no better time than now. If you've never sat down and planned out, hey, this is how I want my kid to be one day, man, now's the perfect time to sit down and plan that thing out. Young people who are not married yet, now is the perfect time to sit down and go, hey, one of these days I'm gonna be a spouse and I want to know how I need to be. For my young married people, now's the perfect time to go, you know what? This is how I want my household to go, to be raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Discipline is training. And when we catch as much as we're taught, the other thing that happens is we start to exemplify the traits of the people who are imparting on us. How many of you all have ever, you just know when a friend of yours or your child, how many of you know when your child goes to school and they come home and they hung out with that kid again? It happens. When I taught third grade, yeah, I taught third grade back in the day. When I taught third grade, I always knew there was one kid in particular that I had, and when he goes to spend time with his dad, it was not so great. I always knew it. Because he always came back with a new hobby or a new word that he'd say, or a new action that we just it was, yeah. Anyway, sometimes those things are negative and sometimes they're positive. Um what God does is he gives us discipline so that we can emulate his holiness. And so in verse 10, he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. It's a big thing. Verse 11 for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. To those who have been trained by it. What that means is you can waste the discipline. Bless you. You can waste the discipline in your life if you don't take the lessons that you're trying to learn. Now, you may say, Ben, are you okay? So let's back up a second. Let me give you some caveats, by the way, because I don't want you to hear a couple things that I'm afraid that you're hearing right now.

Tragedy And Suffering Without Blame

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Number one, we just had a bunch of flooding in Madison County not very long ago. People died in that flood, it destroyed people's homes. It was wild. Pastor Ben, are you saying that that was correction from the Lord? I'm not saying that God punishes us every time we sin or that that flood was some punishment from God, right? Matter of fact, if God punished us for our sin, you know what would happen? He would wipe us out because all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So actually, if there's ever a discipline that comes from the Lord, guess what? It's not punitive or punishment. It is, though, sometimes corrective in nature. It's something that we should learn from. That, again, though, doesn't mean if we got what we deserve from the Lord, we'd all be dead. That's what I'm trying to say. So if there's been something terrible that's happened to you in your life, and you know what I'm talking about, fill in the blank. Somebody who did something to you that they should not have done, that is not something God was not trying to correct you in that moment. Are you hearing me? Hear me? Okay. What the Bible does tell us though, in Hebrews, something that you need to make sure that you heard was when bad things befall you, treat it as discipline. It doesn't say all of it is discipline. It says treat it as such. So, in other words, there could be bad things that befall you, and God had nothing to do with it. Here's what I'm telling you, though, treat it as discipline. Lord, there's this bad thing that's happened to me happening to me. Could you refine me through it anyway? Don't waste the crisis that you go through. So often, like for instance, I think floods and natural disasters so often are just natural byproducts of sin. The world is broken because of sin. Has nothing to do with God necessarily. I don't think God's just sitting there going, oh, I'm gonna get them now. But we can treat those things as discipline from the Lord and still get something out of them. Does that make sense? Y'all hearing me? Okay, good. Discipline is training. And what it does is it creates in us the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Last thing I'll say. Have you ever met that Christian person who man just, every time you hang around them, they just have that peace. Even when they're going through stuff that's just really bad. You know why? Because they've gone through really bad stuff in the past, and the peaceful fruit of righteousness has trained them to trust the Lord no matter what. All right. Now let's

Habakkuk’s Second Question Gets Sharper

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go back to Habakkuk. So Habakkuk has some more things to say. He's good at that. How many of y'all have a foot-shaped mouth? Yeah, that's sometimes I do that myself. Habakkuk's got another complaint. It's chapter one, verse 12. He says, Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my holy one? Now, I will say, I'm reading it kind of snarky-like, but I do feel like Habakkuk asks the first question, gets a little revelation from the Lord, and he does get a lot more um respectful the second time around. So let me go back and read that again. Verse 12, are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my holy one? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? He's a lot more respectful, but he's still throwing punches. You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook. He drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his dragnet, so he rejoices and is glad. God's talking about, or I'm sorry, Habakkuk's talking about these people that God has raised up. These Chaldeans. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet, for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? So Habakkuk now sees the writing on the wall. He knows the Chaldeans, these Babylonians are coming, and they're bad to the bone. They're those people. And now he's starting to worry. He says, Lord, you've ordained them as a judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof. And then he says, This interesting thing you who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up those more righteous than he? The question Habakkuk asks is why do bad things happen to good? People. You could say it a different way. Why, how, I guess really is the question, how could you use such a wicked group of people? Well, number one, can I tell you that God can use anyone for his purposes? And I mean anyone. You may be sitting there right now and you're going, how could God use so-and-so? He can use anyone for his purposes. If you remember, the Bible says things like, eventually, one day, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. One day we'll all bow the knee. But God can make us do whatever he wants right here and right now. If you remember back to the story about Pharaoh in the Exodus, man, God uses Pharaoh, Romans says, to declare his glory. And he does it in a negative way to Pharaoh. Habakkuk in this story realizes that the Babylonians are coming, and man, he's worried. And he asks, How can a holy God use a wicked nation to accomplish his purpose?

Wait For The Vision, Live By Faith

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When chapter two, he then says, I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower to look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. I'm glad for church people. I was hanging out with Casey yesterday and uh our deacons. And she said, Hey, she said, You ought to look that up in the King James. And so when I did, what it really says, because when you read an ESV, it kind of doesn't have as much punch. Um, what Habakkuk says is he says, We'll see what I'll answer to God when he reproves me. That word reprove is the same word as rebuke. Basically, I'm gonna stand here and I'm gonna listen to God when he rebukes me, and I'm gonna figure out what I'm gonna say back. Now, he says it in a way that sounds really nice, but that's what he's saying. Habakkuk gets a little snarky. And when you read that verse, you see that he's got a little bit of attitude. What does God say in response? He says, verse 2, the Lord answered me, write the vision, make it plain on tablet, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time, it hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not delay. Now, if you're listening to that and you're thinking, oh, Babylon's coming, it will surely come and it will not delay. He says, Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. In other words, these things are coming. I have a purpose and it will be accomplished. But what he says is the righteous shall live by faith. Let me ask you a question. If you knew that something bad was going to happen, and yet you know that God is in control. Are you still willing to worship the Lord in the midst of bad circumstances? Is God only worthy to be worshiped if he does us good? Or is he God no matter what? I'm often confronted by this question because we see the sufferings in the world. And as pastors, people come to us all the time talking about some of the bad things. Man, my heart breaks for people who talk about some of the things that they go through.

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The thing about God, though. Well, let's read on. Let's see what God has to say.

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He says, The righteous shall live by his faith. Verse 5 Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as white as sheol. Like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples. Shall not all these take up their taunt

God’s Justice And The Proof He Cares

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against him with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, And now he's going to pronounce five woes. Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own. For how long? And loads himself with pledges? Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those who awake, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoiled for them, because you have plundered many nations. This is a woe against Babylon now, because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. Then he says, Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm. You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples. You have forfeited your life, for the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity. Are you getting the point yet? God is starting to pronounce woes on Babylon because the suffering of his people never goes unnoticed. You may say, Pastor Ben, why do I have to go through bad things? Why do bad things happen to good people? I kind of gave you a little bait and switch. I need to fess up. The book of Habakkuk doesn't answer that question, other than it wants you to know this: God is in control, and he notices when you suffer. The suffering that you go through is not, is not without meaning. The book of Habakkuk teaches us that God does not just willy-nilly make his people go through suffering. The justice, and let's see, number one, the suffering of God's people never goes unnoticed. But number two, the justice of God never goes unfulfilled. So when God starts to pronounce those woes on Babylon, he's not just saying these woes because Habakkuk complained. He already had this plan before he ever decided he was going to use the Chaldeans, and before he ever decided he was going to use the Assyrians. Yes, he has a purpose to accomplish. And yes, he's going to correct the error of these sinful nations. Can I tell you that when you look at the book of Habakkuk, the real question he's asking, and I think this is the cry of the heart of most people who go through terrible things and say, Lord, why do bad things happen to good people? Here's what he's really asking. God, why don't you care? When you read the book of Habakkuk, his cry ultimately is, Why don't you care about me? And here's the answer through all of scripture.

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He does. He does. He does.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

Psalm 116, 15 says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. If one of us were to die for our faith or for whatever, that death is precious. You say, Pastor Ben, what if I just die walking across the street, get hit by a bus? That death is precious. You don't have to earn it for your death to be precious to the Lord, is what I'm trying to say. Revelation 6 talks about the ones who were slain for their faith in the end of time. It says, what happens to them? Revelation 6, they are under the throne of God. It's interesting if you look at their proximity to the Lord. Yes, they went through terrible things, but man, they're so close to God. If you look at passages like 1 John 2.2, you can find that some of the greatest evidence to know that God cares even in the midst of suffering is the work of the cross. 1 John 2.2 says that he, talking about Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. That word propitiation means that though God had some judgment for the nation of Israel back in the day, propitiation is the thing that is given to satisfy the wrath of God. So when we read 1 John 2, 2, when it says he is the propitiation for our sins, he's talking about Jesus. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. God did not simply ignore sin, he dealt with it. And the thing about the way that he dealt with it is he dealt with it on a cross. How do you know that God cares for you? Because Jesus died on a cross for your sin. God wasn't one who was going to let you deal with all the things of the world on your own. There's this theory out there, it's called the clockmaker theory, that God takes the world kind of like a clock, sets it into motion, and says, All right, have a good day. I'm going to be distant from you now. That theory is false. And how do you know it's false? Because Jesus died on a cross for your sin. 1 Peter 1, 18 through 20 says, Knowing that you are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you. Hunter did a great job with communion today. It's funny how God just kind of works things out, because I didn't tell him I was going to talk about this. But how do you know that God cares about you in the midst of all your suffering? Because Jesus was planned before the foundation of the earth to die for your sins. God knew that he was going to make Ben Burnett, and Ben Burnett was going to be a sinner. And yet, before he ever made me, before he ever made anything, he planned for Jesus to die for my sins. And for you sitting out there, and it doesn't matter what your name is, who you are, what you've done, all the things you've gone through, Jesus died for your sins and was planned to do so before God ever made the world. If you were gonna make something, do something, whatever, and you knew how it was gonna turn out, and you knew it wasn't gonna go right, would you do it anyway? God did. And yet, before anything was ever made, he had a plan. You know how I told you that God's justice is always fulfilled? Always? God's justice is always fulfilled. Christ will fulfill it for you, or it will be fulfilled in hell one day. Now that's a hard message, and people get really mad about that message. But what's the why is hell fair? Because we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We've all committed cosmic treason. That's what sin is. It's betraying holy God. But the thing about it is the Bible talks about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, the grace, the payment that He would make for us was done, and it's a free gift. Why is hell fair? Because we have a free get out of jail. Free card. Yes. Hell is fair because the way out is just as free as the way in. Jesus died on a cross for your sins. And so, lastly, let me finish with this. We were redeemed not with silver, not with gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. And Hebrews 12 says, Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Did you hear that? The joy that was set before him. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. He knew what he was going to do for you. You know, people read the story of the Garden of Gethsemane and they see Jesus sweat great droplets of blood, and Jesus prayed the prayer. If there's any other way, let this cup pass for me. Well, number one, what you can know from that is there was no other way. And number two, it was for the joy set before him that Christ endured the cross. So what do we do with all that?

Invitation To Jesus And Final Hope

SPEAKER_01 34:27

Pastor Ben, I'm so glad I came to church today. I'm so blessed and encouraged. Well, here's what we do with that. Number one, if you don't know Christ, man, today is the perfect day to accept a free gift of salvation. I can't imagine going through the things that this world goes through and not having Jesus. And here's the thing about that. People talk about the fact, oh, Christianity is just a crutch, and that's why people do it. Heck yes, it's a crutch. Sorry, that was not the right way to say that, but it's the truth. Do you not need a crutch when you're injured? I'm injured. I need a crutch every day. Absolutely. There is no shame in coming to Christ because you have an injury. It's called sin. Every one of us have it. Praise God that he heals that. So, number one, if you need Jesus, do it. Number two, if you're going through the worst of things, here's all you need to know from this message. Listen to me. If you're going through the worst of things, your suffering is not meaningless. God cares for you. And we want to pray for you. Wherever you're at today, God loves you. And we love you too. And we want to pray that the Lord would help because that's the help that you need. Not five points in a program. You need Jesus.