A song that’s a favorite of mine at the moment is “God Really Loves Us.” One of the things that I love about worship music is not only the time that is spent being able to praise God but also the moments that happen at times after worshiping. In those moments I (at times) find myself thinking about aspects of the song. “God Really Loves Us” is no exception.

My immediate thoughts about the song are just how awesome and amazing it is that God really loves us. We were lost in our sin. We were in constant rebellion, yet God really loved us. He was there for us. He has always been there for us. What’s even more amazing is that He has always loved us. It’s not just a one-time thing. It’s not like the short and fleeting love that we may feel as we indulge in our favorite snack. God has always loved us, and He continues to love us. It’s a mercy that we do not deserve yet He still gives it to us.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved.”
Ephesians 2:4-5 (ESV)

If you really think about it, God could have easily given us exactly what we deserve. How many of us are guilty of delivering our own form of justice to another? I know I am. Despite our sin, God loves us so much that he sent Christ to be the payment for our sins. Despite how much we have rebelled against God and are deserving of his wrath, He loved us so much that he offered to us the gift of eternal life in Christ. Wow!

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 (ESV)

Despite all of our sin, God was merciful towards us. We were dead in our sin. But now through Christ we have life. What love that must be!

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 (ESV)

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
John 10:11 (ESV)

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13 (ESV)

So just to recap. We are all sinners that have fallen well short.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23 (ESV)

God sent His Son to be the payment for our sins. Jesus laid down His life for us. We were dead in our sin, yet we have life in Christ. What love God must have for us! It’s such a beautiful thing to ponder. No matter how poorly we have faltered, no matter how poorly we may still yet falter, God still loves us.

As we approach Easter I invite you to take a moment and really think about how God loves us. What a love He has for us. God’s love is without a question the greatest love we will ever know. I am so thankful for His love.

If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, please know that you are loved. If you would like to learn more about becoming a believer, please check out Become A Believer on MissionWay’s website. We would love to also connect with you and pray for you. Please take a moment and fill out an Online Connect Card.

Verse 1
I was the fool. I still act like a fool any time I sin. Your Son Jesus became the fool in my place to suffer the fool’s deserved wrath. There have been none who do good except your Son. We have all been corrupted by our evil actions. We have committed horrific deeds, thought horrific thoughts, and said horrific words. Yet, Christ took the corruption and the abomination upon Himself although He was not corrupt nor were His deeds abominable

Verse 2
Apart from Him, none of us would seek you. You looked down from heaven for just one person of understanding and goodness. Can anything escape Your sight? If there had been a good person at any point in time, you would have found him. You did not. You knew we needed a good man sent to us. A God-man.

Verse 3
Apart from Him, all have fallen and have become corrupted by sin. No one does good. No not one. Without Christ, our best works are like rags fit only to collect waste.

Verse 4
Your Son.
He never turned aside from your will.
He always does good, for He is Goodness.
He has all knowledge.
He eats the words of His Father as His bread.
He prayed perfectly with HIs Father.
He called upon His name.
Oh, God! Help us be more like He is. Grant us wisdom and grace.

Verse 5
He, by taking the place of fools, made them righteous. His Father is with them because of Him. His Father was with Him from eternity to eternity.

Verse 6
He has been united with His Father and His Spirit since the beginning. The cross was the one and only time His Father came against Him as if He was the combined foolishness and sinfulness of His people.

At that moment, that terrible moment, His Father was no longer His refuge so that He could be a refuge for His Son’s people. For us, despite our sin.

The sin and foolishness can be forgiven of any fool who would turn from sin and believe upon His Son by the power of His Holy Spirit.

What a great God and Savior we have. All of God’s people, let us rejoice and be glad in Him!

Amen.

If you haven’t listened to All Glory Be to Christ by Kings Kaleidoscope please take a moment to do so. We will actually be singing this song together as a church for the first time this Sunday (12.12.21) One of the things that I love about this song is the simple truth that all glory belongs to Christ. It doesn’t matter what we do, without Christ we have nothing. It doesn’t matter how much we gain, without Christ we have nothing.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
Psalm 127:1

Unless we seek Christ, unless we allow Him to do His work in us and through us, we labor in vain. Without Christ what do we have to boast in?

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:13-15

Outside of Christ, we have nothing to boast in. We can strive to make all the plans we want, but at the end of the day if it doesn’t align with the Lord’s will, what do we really have? That’s not to say that we cannot make plans, when doing so we must remember that God is ultimately in charge. It’s not my will be done, it’s His will be done.

Ultimately we should strive for not our will, but His will to be done. A well-known example is found in the Lord’s Prayer and when Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39). Is that a request that you are willing to make? I know personally, I struggle with it at times. It can be difficult to pray for His will to be done. Despite the difficulty, Christ is so much greater. He is so much more glorious. Through Christ, we have everything that we could ever need. So take Him up on His invitation and come to the water.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Isaiah 55:1

If you have yet to take Him up on His offer, come to the water, consider Jesus’ words to the woman at the well…

“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
John 4:10

It’s a gift that is given without cost. It’s water that satisfies all thirsts. It’s water that gives such a great reward.

In Christ, we have the greatest reward, both now and in the future. Christ is our hope, the one that we can look back at what He has done and hold strong in the promises of what He will do.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:3-4

What a glorious day that will be. Through Christ, we are adopted into God’s Kingdom. Allow me to rephrase that, we are adopted into God’s Kingdom now and forever. No matter what may come our way in this life, in Christ, we have all that we will ever need. In Christ we have life. In Christ, we can go boldly throughout knowing that we are saved now and forevermore. What a beautiful message. What wondrous love that God would send His son to die for us sinners. That he would express his unconditional love for us and give us the water that we so desperately need.

Christ is worthy of all the glory that we can give. “Saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12). To Christ belongs all glory. In all that you do, strive to glorify Christ. He is worthy of all the glory that we can give Him.

Likely by now, you have heard the news about what is happening in Afghanistan as the Taliban ravages through, killing, raping, and literally destroying lives and cities as they go. It has honestly been too much for me to imagine and I find myself in a bit of cognitive dissonance at times. As I study for my sermon on Habakkuk 2:6-20 this Sunday, a thought struck me that I wanted to flesh out a bit through this blog post: “we need a proper understanding of hell to help bring our souls comfort in times like this.” That may sound like a bizarre statement and I truly am not writing that for shock value. Let me offer two quick caveats to explain what I DO NOT mean before I explain what I DO mean.

CAVEATS
1. I am not saying that this is the ONLY truth we need in times like this, or even the most important truth in times like this. I just see this as an overlooked truth that can bring additional comfort from the Lord.

2. I am not trying to make the doctrine of hell seem less difficult to swallow. As a matter of fact, that is one of the last things I hope this article does. The truth about hell and those who will go there should make us tremble - always.

WHAT I DO MEAN
As we watch evil seemingly triumph and win the moment in Afghanistan, we find ourselves lacking words to say and yet full of doubts in God’s goodness and His nearness. This was the dilemma that Habakkuk faced as he thought about the destruction that the Babylonians would bring to his people in Judah. And He began to question whether or not God even cared. God’s response to Him in Habakkuk 2 was to remind him that evil will not go unpunished. God Himself would ensure that the Babylonians would receive just punishment for what they would do.

In all of our conversations about the goodness and love of God, if we forget to teach ourselves and our children that God is also perfectly just and does not overlook evil, not only will they have a shallow view of salvation, but they won’t be able to handle the atrocities of the world we live in. We must know and find comfort in the fact that our enemies will not win, they will face the Judge of the Universe one day and He will enact perfect justice.

Hell is a place that is known for fire, deep pits, and utter darkness. Those are terms that Scripture uses and while we cannot with certainty describe what Hell will look like, we know it to be the place that the wicked are cast - for eternity - where they will experience the wrath of God forever. And that for those in Christ, they will be welcomed into the presence of God where we will fully experience His goodness and glory for all eternity. That’s why Paul could say with certainty that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). On the flip side, that means that these ‘momentary’ victories that the wicked seem to be gaining are preparing for them an eternal weight of suffering and justice to be served to them.

While on the one hand, this is difficult to talk about, it should bring our souls tremendous comfort to know that “The Lord is in His Holy Temple” (Habakkuk 2:20), and “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.” (Habakkuk 2:14) as He one day eradicates evil from this world. He is not sleeping, He will return and “repay each one according to their deeds” (Romans 2:6). This does not mean we will not experience evil in this life. It means that God will repay the wicked for every evil deed and reward His children for enduring every evil deed. It means that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

The doctrine of hell should bring us comfort in these things. It should also cause us to pray for our enemies - yes, even the Taliban. As I read through Habakkuk 2:6-20 and saw all the evil and wickedness of Babylon, it made the evil of the Taliban hit home for me and I began to grow angry. But then, I remembered that I too was once a child of wrath, just like them (Ephesians 2:3). I too deserved the eternal punishment of hell for my sin against a holy God and yet, God in His kindness has redeemed me and showered me with His grace and Mercy.

I now have been given the charge to go into all the world and proclaim this Good News - yes, even to the Taliban. So we pray for their salvation, and we pray that God’s justice would be done in every situation, and we have complete confidence that He will ensure that to be true. We know that every deed done by mankind under the sun will either be forgiven by the grace of Jesus (because Jesus already bore the wrath for them) or repaid at His second coming through the eternal punishment of Hell. This truth should cause us to tremble and be comforted at the same time.

None of this allows us to sit back and throw off the responsibility we have to find ways to relieve the suffering of our brothers and sisters. None of this gets us ‘off the hook’ in any way, shape, or form. It does, however, give us an anchor for the soul that none of this is meaningless and God is not surprised, nor will evil win. We mourn with our brothers and sisters today and know that there is coming a day when Jesus will wipe away every tear, death and evil will be no more, and we will enjoy the goodness of the presence of the Lord forever.

There is so much more to be said, but let me end with this for now: Pray for your brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. Pray for the Taliban. Pray for God to fill the earth with His glory. Pray for Jesus to return soon.

Our church began a series through the book of Habakkuk this week where we are looking at questions regarding God’s justice and goodness in our world. It’s an age-old question to ask “if God is good and powerful, why does evil exist?” As we look around our world, we see evil, disease, natural disasters, and more around us that can cause us to wonder if God cares at all or if He is able to do anything about it.

But something struck me as I walked through the first 11 verses of the book of Habakkuk. The prophet’s first concern was not the evil out in the world, but the evil among God’s people. In the first 4 verses, as he pours out his first complaint before the Lord, his focus is on the evil within the people of Israel. He is going to eventually get to the evil in the world, but it seems his primary concern is the sin of God’s covenant people.

It got me thinking: do we really care about all evil? Often when we pour out our complaints to the Lord about the evil in our world, we are talking about the unsaved all around us who are committing terrible acts. But how often do we cry to the Lord about the sin among the people of God - or to make it more personal - the sin of the people in our local church. Better yet, how often are we grieved over the evil in our own hearts?

Habakkuk was grieved that the people of God were walking in constant sin and it didn’t seem that God was doing anything about it. When is the last time you cried out to the Lord over the sin in your own heart or the sin that you see in your brothers and sisters around you? When did you last add to your prayer list the sin that the people in your local church are struggling with?

If we are going to be a people who are truly concerned about the evil in the world, shouldn’t it start with an honest assessment of our own hearts and churches?

I’m not suggesting that we become judgemental and make our every prayer about the sin of the people around us. I am suggesting that we judge rightly with godly discernment and ask God to break our hearts over the sin that breaks His. Could it be that one of the reasons the Church seems to not take evil in the world seriously is because we don’t take the evil in our own hearts and homes seriously?

Here’s the good news - this conversation doesn’t end with guilt and shame. If we humble ourselves and truly repent before the Lord for the evil in our hearts and the sin in our lives, He always hears and forgives (1 John 1:9). When we get serious about dealing with sin in the camp, I believe the Lord honors those efforts. As a matter of fact, one of the purposes of the church is to help one another walk in holiness (Hebrews 10:24).

So let’s be grieved over the evil in our world around us, but let’s begin by grieving over the evil in our own hearts and in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And let us cry out to the Lord in repentance and ask Him to purge the evil from among us.