Why Does Evil Seem to Go Unpunished? | Brother James Answers Your Questions - Lesson 10

let's turn the bibles ecclesiastes chapter number eight ecclesiastes chapter number eight we are fielding trying to answer your questions during these uh summer months and we had a lesson just a week or so ago on um uh does god use evil or does god bring good out of evil and someone else asked a very similar question went along with this and it runs along these lines if god is against all of this sin and god's against all of this evil in the world why does he not judge it why does he allow it to go on and allow it to continue and it's not because he's powerless not because he can't stop at any time that he wants to but we'll try our best to answer that that question for this morning from the bible many stops to make in the word of god let's pray father help us today we sure we sure get looking around in this world and see that things are so different from the way they're supposed to be and the way you want them to be and we we do tend to wonder lord how long that's that's what the psalmist said how long oh lord and father help us help us get it right perspective on your heart and your ways from your word this morning we thank you in jesus name and amen ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse number 11. i i'm not going to speak this morning of the world at large of movements in the world at large of religions or ideologies i don't really talk about the individual because any of these any of these outfits that you're concerned about and in these groups that that bother you it's just a collection of individuals who all agree together um a church is is is nothing without all the individuals who believe the gospel and believe the bible and assemble together with those of like precious faith and and so when you look and you say well these people believe that and these people believe this we tend to to see them as this great monolithic block of of this this mass of but it's not it's not it's just a number of individuals who sought people that believe like they believe and and so we want to focus on each individual within whoever you think it is might be troubling you and worthy of god's judgment and here's what the bible says ecclesiastes 8 verse 11 because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil now we can use this verse we're teaching about training children we can use this verse we're talking about a society or cultural issue but look at the heart of god and look at the heart of man god does not bring immediate judgment upon sinners when they sin or there would be no flesh left alive on the face of the earth you would not be alive today you certainly wouldn't be saved today if god was speedy in his execution of judgment upon evil so we have to agree that that god's not in a hurry to punish sin the problem is we presume when i say we i'm not about the human race we we presume upon that mercy and deceive ourselves into thinking because he has done nothing he will do nothing because he hasn't punished that sin it carries no punishment and so the very grace of god becomes a hindrance to the sinner needing that grace the very mercy of god becomes a hindrance to the person enjoying the mercy of god you you have all i trust all of you well let's say it this way all of you who witnessed the lost people have had lost people tell you if god was against what i'm doing he would have done something by now if god wanted me to stop doing what i'm doing how come my life is so good how come it's not it's not costing me anything well that's exactly what you read about here in ecclesiastes the heart sets itself to continue in an evil practice because nothing has happened look in proverbs 29 the book right before ecclesiastes proverbs chapter 29 and verse number 1. proverbs 29 verse number one he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy now here here again is a second point of understanding god between the times something is done that is wrong and the time the judgment finally falls god provides reproof it may be a father it may be a mother it may be a sunday school teacher it may be a preacher it may be maybe the holy spirit of god it may be a police officer someone is going to say to you you need to stop doing that why well it's wrong you that's going to hurt you that's going to cost you maybe it's maybe you got proper training growing up as a child and your father said if you do that again i'm going to let you have it and your mother said if you do that again there's going to be some punishment they you didn't just do something and they whacked you in the back of the head that's not proper training there was a reproof don't do that here's why don't do that here's what's going to happen there's reproof between the time of the error and the time of the judgment now it may be in in the bigger picture you're growing up in the world and you're lying and you're stealing and you're lusting and all these things and god sends a christian maybe into your school maybe under your job maybe you start going to church out of curiosity or desire and you hear from the bible thou shalt not hell fire awaits the christ rejecter the wages of sin is death often god reproves the sinner before any judgment ever falls now here's the problem if instead of bowing your head in humble submission you harden your neck all you're doing is making it easier for the sword to take your head off see god says you've sinned that's a sin this is what's going to happen if you continue in that sin i want you to stop the wise boy the wise girl the wise adult says i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i didn't know and you you can see it in the very expression of the body i'm humbled i'm ashamed i can't look you in the eye because of what i've done oh but the longer the longer somebody persists in that sin who are you to judge me don't tell me i'll do it if i want to what do you see without any words you see the expression look how hard my neck is i will not take your reproof i will not submit to your demands or gods or anyone else's i'm i'm defiant now what does the bible say judgment doesn't come little a little here a little there a little bit here a little bit there the bible says suddenly suddenly so swiftly so decisively that there's no time to get right without getting too far off track the reason and i appreciate all the things people send me i can't look at all of them all things people give me i can't read all of them you have to understand i i i'm i'm 62 years old i've been saved since 1976 i have lived through so many ends of the world i have lived through so many total collapses of america i have lived through so many this is it this is the end jesus has to come now everything's ready for the antichrist i just can't get worked up about it anymore because it to me it's just like another hurricane in the summer it says yeah yeah if you not if you just moved here from up north and it's the first time you've seen a tornado 150 miles wide it's pretty freaky but after a while it's like look unless it hits like 0.4 4.5 or something like that it's just going to blow some stuff around we just so so here's what happens people say look at what they're doing in america god has to judge it that's not biblical look at what's happening in his life that's the judgment of god that's not biblical what god does with nations is he warns them and warns them and warns them and warns them and then he doesn't send a little bit here and a little bit there just one night he wipes them out they're just gone a broken arm is not god's judgment it's what happens if you try to stand on the seat of a moving bicycle uh okay a car wreck is not the judgment of god it's what happens when you're on the phone and drinking coffee and steering with your knee at 75 miles an hour it's just that's what happens the judgment of god is when you die and wake up in hell there's no remedy there's no remedy so so let's look in first peter chapter three first peter three because something happened somebody said well i guess god's judging him i guess god's judging her no no that's just life doing what life does first peter 3 1 peter chapter 3 verse 18 first peter 3 18. the ones the ones get me are the one you're going down the highway and you look over and there's some dear lady putting on her makeup using a car mirror she's watching a highway out of one one eye and putting her makeup on with the other and having never used makeup i've always been curious why do you have to hold your mouth open while you're putting on makeup it's it's the oddest thing tomorrow morning some of you going to try doing it without opening your mouth and maybe anyway first first peter 3 verse number verse number 18 for christ also hath once suffered for sins praise the lord the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedience now watch disobedient when once the longsuffering of god waited in the days of noah while the ark was preparing wherein wherein few that his eight souls were saved by water the bible says in days of noah that the imagination of man's heart the thoughts of man's mind and that man the heart's gone the mind's gone you know the deeds got to be horrific were only evil continually non-stop non-stop evil heart evil thought evil deeds and that bible says it took the best best we can tell it took noah 12 decades to build that ark before the flood came and the waters of that flood drowned the world you know what the bible says it's god's god's suffering man's evil for a long long long time because if he didn't have to destroy them he didn't want to destroy them if they would take a way of escape he would provide them with a way of escape now listen and i'm i'm confessing my heart and i'm i'm pointing at you in your heart we want god to judge sin and destroy evil and wipe out the bad guys because they are inconveniencing us they're inconveniencing god a lot more than their inconveniencing you the difference is he doesn't want them destroyed so he can be comfortable he wants them saved so they can be comfortable oh it's hard it's hard for me to think like god it's hard for me to have a heart like god now think about this the flood of noah's day was not sudden though it came swiftly the warning had been loud the warning had been long jesus never said i come soon he said i come quickly when jesus comes it'll be it'll be in a moment it'd be a blinking of an eye it'll be with lightning speed like a thief in the night but it won't be without warning after warning after warning after warning so to death death could come in an instant to me today to you tomorrow but it's not like we haven't been warned so god said there is going to be sudden destruction but the sudden destruction will will come after a lengthy season of reproof so that you have an opportunity to find a way of escape we'll come back to that in just a minute look at numbers 23 book of numbers back the old testament way way back numbers genesis exodus numbers numbers chapter 23 numbers 23 and verse 19. god is not a man that he should lie now the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good so if god has promised judgment on individual sinners and judgment on groups of sinners and judgments on nations and eventually judgment on the whole world it's going to happen god's not a liar god doesn't go back on his word then your question my question then why hasn't it happened why doesn't he do something second peter 2 and revelation 2. second peter chapter 2 and revelation chapter number 2. ii peter 2. revelation chapter number two peter two revelation two no no second peter three sorry second peter three there we go second peter chapter three and revelation chapter number two what do you want first you want individual or you want group individual anybody want group all right just snooze you lose revelation 2 look at this revelation 2 verse number 18 under the angel of the church of thyatira write these things saith the son of god who hath his eyes like a flame of fire so there's a church a church not a bar not a nightclub right not a not a hate group not a supremacist group not a political party not a false religion there's a church and god said i got eyes i see what you're doing down there verse 20 notwithstanding i have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman jezebel which calleth himself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed unto idols said there's a woman in that church he didn't say a jezebel spirit we're in the bible not on not the internet he said he said there's a there's a woman called jezebel in that church and you're letting her teach and what she's teaching is that it's okay to be sexually immoral and be in a church and it's okay to participate in idolatry and be in a church god said i'm against the whole church because they're letting that go on that's bad stuff not run away wouldn't you think when you think if somebody was in here telling telling our young people it's okay to be sexually active i'd hope you'd be outraged by that and somebody's in here and we've had a couple through the years encouraging women in our church to be unfaithful to their husbands if they were in love with somebody else encouraging people to engage in the world's idolatry and the church allowing it to go on you say boy god i'll do something about that verse 21 and i gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not i will and so then then terrible judgments verse 22 and 23. now let's listen i am not i am not advocating a church go soft on sin i'm not i'm not advocate god god tells the church what to do with a woman like this and you got to deal with somebody that's doing that kind of stuff in the church but the reason you have to deal with it is because god's not going to judge her god's not going to kill her until he's given even someone that low down space to repent how about that now if you're teaching something like that in the church first corinthians says romans says we have to remove you from the church but we don't take you out in the parking lot and stone you with stones as was was mandated under the jewish law so we take somebody look you can't come church here you can't be teaching that stuff that can't be going on here you're gonna have to go you're gonna have to leave a church and then we stand and watch i tell you give it give a gun we're gonna count to ten by the time by the time her car hits that street out there god's gonna drop her dead give her leprosy smite with a plague and he doesn't and you say i can't believe that guy split our church and god didn't know anything about it i can't believe that woman tore up our some of our marriages and god did anything about it god unlike me god unlike you doesn't want to destroy anyone and he will give people space to repent that you and i would probably rather he didn't how about that you can say it i'm feeling it [Music] first second peter chapter 3 second peter 3 verse number 7 but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and partition of un perdition of ungodly man that's uh we call that global warming that's god setting the entire earth on fire just to watch it burn but but he said i can't wait for that no way but beloved be not into this one thing that one day is where the lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day the lord is not slack concerning his promises some men count slackness he's going to do it but is long suffering to us word not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance now if we ask this morning pick a group what what group do you think most deserves a judgment of god pick a man what man do you think most deserves a judgment of god pick pick something that people do some some sin and and that that most deserves the judgment of god whoever you pick god does not want to destroy them whoever you put on that list god there is nothing in the will of god mr calvin that wants those people to die in their sins now you know some some people here this morning and and i hate to bring up anything i won't bring up anything but it just comes up whenever you make statements like this i'm thankful my life has been so easy that when i think of the person i would most want destroyed it's someone i've never met never encountered never had dealings with some of you the person on the top of your list did something to you or to your family that who could blame you for wanting to see them consumed where they stand and drop right into hell i'm not finding fault with you but i'm telling you if that's your desire for them you can't ask god to back you up on it because it's not his desire for them he doesn't want them to perish i might you might god doesn't i love my country i hate these people that are destroying my country i don't find fault with you for that but god's not going to destroy them and here's why there's a church across the street that's praying for god to kill the other side see for every church that says they're the greatest enemy god get them there's another church saying oh no those are the greatest enemy god get them and then there's a group over here saying oh no god they're the greatest get them and the lord said in heaven saying my son shed his blood so i could provide them with forgiveness for those very sins that make you want to destroy them can i i'm going to say this cautiously because the first time in my life i've ever been cautious about what i say up here but we just i'm gonna say this the more time you spend watching the news the more you're gonna find yourself hating people god doesn't hate and wanting people destroyed that god doesn't want destroyed turn off the news and get in the bible before you become some kind of christian activist instead of christian amen god doesn't want those people dead god doesn't want those people to get it he wants them to repent so he can save them he wants to save a jezebel tearing up a church he wants to save the people that have made the world so evil he's going to have to burn it with fire and start over again but he hasn't done it yet because he doesn't want to he wants them saved god god help me in my heart god sent jonah to nineveh to preach and he walked through that city and from the time he hit the city limits on one side the city limits another he cried aloud 40 days 40 days god's going to destroy and in about 40 days god's going to destroy nineveh why not 10 minutes and god's going to destroy nineveh why not tomorrow morning god's going to destroy none of it why send jonah at all because they deserved to be destroyed and he didn't want to do it jonah go tell them i'm going to destroy them you know what that is that's reproof you know what they did they repented they put on sackcloth and ashes they went out in the barn and put sackcloth and ashes on their livestock so when they forgot to cry out to god they'd hear a cow complaining about the rough garment and be reminded to cry out to god and 40 days came and went and god did not destroy the city because it wasn't the same city he said he would destroy they repented caleb sang about that prodigal son this morning he's in my notes you think he was gone 24 hours i think he's gone a week a month a year several years why didn't god just drop him dead as soon as he shamed his daddy why didn't god just drop him dead as soon as he began to waste his substance on riotous living why didn't god drop him dead and he started hanging out in a pig pen every day that father is looking down that road maybe today my boy comes home maybe today my boy comes home maybe today my boy comes home you know why god doesn't kill those cuss and blaspheme and pornographic co-workers of yours because he doesn't want to you know why god doesn't kill those low down women in your town trying to trying to pervert your daughters and and and lead your your sons into into this damnation because he doesn't want to he wants nineveh to repent he wants the prodigal son to come home he's not willing that any should perish brother sister if you're not careful you're going to develop a will that some people perish you're going to develop a will that god gets somebody or some group or some some race or some religion and your heart and god's heart be at odds then your mind and god's mind will be at odds then he's going to punish evil but he's not in a hurry to do it romans 10 romans chapter 10. romans chapter 10 romans chapter 10. i got let me say this while we're because it's it's it's pertinent if someone harmed my wife and went to prison for it i would hope they got a life sentence i would hope they got the most horrific cellmate that ever existed and the day they got out i think i'd be standing there waiting for them to create a prison sentence on my own okay if somebody harmed anybody else i want to go into prison give them the gospel and see them get saved so they can have eternal life look here's what i'm here's what i'm saying you can't look to me for salvation you can't look to me for forgiveness you can't say to me would you pardon me i don't have what it takes to be the savior you need but i'm telling you the person you could never forgive the person you don't want forgiven the person you hope gets it every don't lord don't kill them that's too easy torture them i'm not saying that's right i'm saying we're human i'm telling you the person you would put at the top of your list for destruction and punishment jesus christ is hanging on that cross shedding his blood so if they ever repent god can wash their sins away and give them eternal life the bible never says i am love it says god is love trying to be more loving but i'm not your hope jesus is he's a god of all grace i've got some i got some trying to have more god what a gracious god now that nation of israel nobody's done had more done for them than they have and nobody's turned their nose up at it any more than they have the bible says in romans 10 21 but to israel he saith watch this to israel he saith all day long i have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gain saying people can i say street preachers can i say to you can i say bold stand for the truth against sinners can i say to you if your god is seated on a throne with a hammer in one hand and a lightning bolt in the other you are reading god on the day of his vengeance at his second coming you are not reading god today today god is stretching forth his hands to the disobedient and saying for all you've done for all you if you have trodden under your feet today i will take you in my arms if you'll just repent i don't want to do to you what i'm going to have to do to you if you don't repent would you please come and let me forgive you amen that's our god i think you'll preach hard on the street i think you ought to preach hard in the rescue mission i think you ought to preach hard in the camp meeting i think you ought to preach hard in any time you one-on-one with a lost person heart against their sin but never never give them the impression that god is just waiting with delight to see them screaming in hell because he's not he's not he's waiting to embrace them with saving grace praise the lord if you're not careful you'll let your personal anger against sinners misrepresent god god god wants to destroy you but if you'll trust him he'll he'll change no he doesn't want to destroy you he wants to save you destruction is the last resort all right luke 9 luke 9 one of my favorite comparisons in all the bible luke chapter 9 and acts chapter number 8 luke 9 and acts 8 why is there no judgment on sin [Music] because god does not want to judge it if he doesn't have to luke chapter 9 verse 51 it came to pass when the time was coming he should be received up he steadfastly said his face go jerusalem this jesus he's on his way to the city where they will crucify him and sent messengers before his face and they so he sent messengers before his faith these are these are god sent representatives to proclaim the coming of jesus christ and they went and entered into a village of the samaritans to make ready for him and they the samaritans did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to jerusalem so jesus sends these men into this samaritan village and says they say jesus is coming make ready prepare yourselves and they said where's he going well he's going to pass through here and bless you and then he's going on jerusalem jerusalem forget it we don't want it so they refused to prepare the hearts and receive jesus at the preaching of his of his messengers and when his disciples james and john saw this they said lord will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as elias did oh been there been there we've been at some public ministry events where it got pretty raunchy where the opposition got about as ungodly and blasphemous as it can get and there's something something in my heart maybe not everybody's yeah everybody there's there's up in my heart and i just thought would that not be so cool oh yeah where's your god whoosh down comes this fire and just leaves leaves them smoldering little corpses there and then you turn to everybody else and say you want some of this you ought to read that story you get home this afternoon these 50 men came out to 51 men came out to arrest elijah and fire came he said if i'm prophet and let's let's prove it here and god set fire down for him and burn stand before the king he politely requested that he and i just thought you know just be a blessing to see your town come crawling on their hands and knees and and that's what they wanted verse 55 but he turned and rebuked them jesus didn't rebuke the town that rejected him he rebuked the people who represented him how about that and said ye know not what manner of spirit year of for the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives but to save them you know jesus said i don't afflict willingly i don't send punishment with it it brings me no pleasure at all when the wicked dies and if you think if you think i'm a god that wants to destroy people you you got the wrong spirit if you think i'm a god that wants to lower the boom and send fire down on a group of people in a city that disagree with you you're misreading me i want them saved i want them saved come on now pull out your list i hate that group i hate that group i hate those people i hate what they stand for what they've done to our country they've done to our schools okay me too god too but if your next step is and i hope god wipes them out you're wrong your next step should be and i hope god saves them amen don't you want the rapture to happen today man i want the rapture to happen today if the rapture had happened five years and one day ago showed miss rapture some of you got saved in the last year as much as i want the rapture god didn't want you to be left out somebody's going to get saved this morning in a city that maybe if one or more of us had our way would be smoldering ruins like sodom and gomorrah well i'll tell you look at the wickedness in that town i hope god just drops it in the ocean that's wrong hope i hope god sends a great moving of the holy ghost into that city and saves people by the thousands come on people we can't think with our emotions we can't think with our human attitudes we got to try to look at this thing like god does and i'm not finding fault with you i'm just i'm showing you from the scripture they wanted to burn up these people look they went into this town and they they preached jesus christ and the people and towns and we don't want anything to do with jesus christ and the preacher said then die and jesus said then die how about second chance how about another go at it if i ask for a show of hands they're probably in a crowd this side there probably wouldn't be two people put their hand up say i got saved the first time i heard the gospel i got saved the first time somebody witnessed me thank god he didn't give you one sunday morning sermon and then burn you on the way home thank god he didn't put one gospel tract in your hand on a street corner and when you crumpled it up and threw it on the ground he torched you yes sir acts chapter 8 acts chapter 8. verse number 1 and saul was consenting unto his death and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of judea and samaria except the apostles and this is the time when air-conditioned well-fed americans look at each other and say boy it's never been this bad have you been driven from your homes and your possessions and your town because you're a christian and they're trying to kill you you say this in my comfortable well-fed existence the things i see on tv have never been this bad mean our our perspective is so we we have had it so good for so long and devout men carried stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him as for saul he made havoc of the church entering into every house and hauling men and women committed them to prison therefore they were scattered abroad when everywhere preaching the word you know what their solution was to persecution getting enough people saved to cause the persecution to settle down you know what they're you know what their antidote was for governmental oppression getting enough people saved where it turned the tide or maybe they just thought we got to do something for jesus before we die but they went everywhere preaching the word then philip went down to the city of samaria and found nothing there but dead bodies because james and john had called fire down from heaven and killed everybody no no they went down there's still a city there and preached christ unto them and the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which philip spake hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them and were taken with men with taken palsies and that we're lame we're healed and there was great joy in that city now forget forget the rest of us and forget the rest of these preachers and disciples jesus says go tell the samaritans i'm coming i'm their savior and they go tell the samaritans and when jesus gets there he says anybody want me be their savior no get out of town we don't want you he says okay and he goes to the cross and dies for them and he goes to the cross and sheds his blood for them and then the persecution starts at jerusalem and now disciples are going back the other way and one of them gets to samaria and said jesus is your savior anybody want him and hands went up all over town of people that christians who are believers who wanted god's judgment to fall on wicked people would have killed right before god had a second opportunity to save their souls you don't want people dead you don't want people destroyed you don't want god to give them what they got coming because if god was like that we'd all be in a place where we were crying for one drop of water thank god he's not willing then he should perish every verse in the bible about god's coming judgment is going to happen just like it's written but when you ask why has it not happened yet and when you throw up your hands and say why doesn't god do something about that you know you know what you know why you're saying that because what you want him to do is different from what he wants to do why hasn't god sent fire yet and burned them up because he doesn't want to doesn't want to he wants us to go downtown to land he wants us to go from house to house he wants us to go to the prison he wants us to go to the jail he wants us to go to the rescue mission he wants us to go to work he wants us to go to school and say how about this time amen will you receive him this time i know you said get lost last time but how about this time you know in luke 9 you don't know in luke 90 read acts 8 they weren't just samaritans they were samaritans possessed with devils might be a bit more of a spiritual battle than you anticipated might take more than one witness it might take more than one visit it might i talked to pastor i was was preaching for him in 1980 long long time ago 1980 and he had a thriving church lots of young people lots of energy and i said brother how honestly how did you how did you build this church how did you get all these people in here and he said we go door knocking and if we find someone who's interested we don't go to other doors we go back to that door until they tell us not to come back anymore and he said most of these people he said i kept records most of these people i wanted to christ the 12th time i went to their house we knock on a door we give out a track we said nothing happened nothing came of it god wants a second chance a third chance a fifth chance a 10th chance 120 years a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day god wants people saved he doesn't want them destroyed don't let current events don't let media don't let your own heart cause you to think about lost people differently than god does jesus saves jesus saves that's our message again and again and again and again jesus saves amen father help us help us to be more influenced by the pages of the bible and the holy spirit than we are the events and actions of men and women around about us lord we're saved today because of your patient long-suffering we're saved today because you are so gracious to give us another chance and another and another help us lord to live with that same attitude and not be discouraged not be weary with our efforts to win the lost in jesus name we pray amen

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Published: Sun Jun 21 2020