Matthew 5:45
It Happens to Everyone
There is a fact about the Bible that some do not know. The Bible does
NOT promise either Christians (New Testament) or Jews (Old
Testament) or anyone else, that they will not have problems in life.
In fact, the Bible promises the exact opposite, i.e. that God’s
people WILL HAVE problems. Just look at the previous verse:
Matt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you;
We can’t love enemies that we do not have.
We can’t respond well to curses we do not receive.
We can’t do good to haters that don’t exist
or pray for persecutors and despisers that are not there.
But that is just the beginning. Good and bad happens to everyone.
Hospitals and grave yards are filled with both good people and bad
people. Perhaps the most innocent in this world are children, but
children get hurt, abused, sick, and die just like killers,
kidnappers, rapists, mass murderers, and psychopaths. It is a
horrible thought but "It Happens to Everyone," good and bad.
And nothing we can do will stop all bad things from happening.
Nothing. Not being saved. Not living right. Not praying. However, we
can reduce the number of bad things that happen to us.
This morning, let me give you two words, one will help you to reduce
the number of bad things that will happen and one will help you to
deal with the bad things that cannot be stopped.
I. Guidance - Guidance helps keep the bad away.
A. I am not speaking of my guidance but God’s.
Ps 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in
the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee
with mine eye.
1. Heeding God’s guidance WILL keep bad things from
happening.
2. God’s guidance comes in a variety of ways.
a. The Holy Spirit speaks to some.
b. God gives wisdom to some.
c. But the most reliable and common method for God to
give guidance is through the Word of God.
B. The Bible was written, in part, to help keep bad things from
happening to people.
1. The Bible gives commands, precepts, and examples.
a. Commands are specific orders of things people are to
do and are not to do.
b. Precepts are bits of advice or hints given.
c. Examples in the Bible shows us what works and what
does not.
2. All of these help to keep the bad away.
C. Commands are the most obvious and some of the most helpful
means of finding God’s guidance.
1. God’s commands are not suggestions. They are commands.
a. Most of them are not explained. They are just
commanded.
b. Some of them are internal, orders concerning our
heart and attitudes.
c. Some of them are external, orders concerning our
behaviors, our words, our actions, even our dress.
2. Some of the commands were limited to the Old Testament
saints but all commands—at the least—represent the mind
of God and none of them should be disannulled unless God
Himself does it.
a. It is not my purpose this morning to explain why God
annulled some of the commands for this age.
b. Neither is it my purpose this morning to debate with
anyone which commands have been annulled.
c. The statement that I want to get to you:
D. You and I would not have experienced nearly as many bad things
in our lives if we had obeyed God’s commands.
1. You can debate law and grace all you want, but God gave
every command for a purpose and sometimes the purpose was
as simple to keep us out of trouble.
2. Some of the things I am about to say in the next few
minutes might offend some, but I am going to say them
anyway.
a. It is not my desire to be arrogant, legalistic, or
militant.
b. It is my desire to honest to the Word, helpful to the
flock, and faithful to God.
3. Take the command God gives to woman (with application I
believe to men) about modesty.
1Ti 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn
themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness
and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or
pearls, or costly array;
a. The Bible does not explain why we should cover
ourselves, but it commands us to do so.
b. Can we imagine some reasons?
(1) Skin cancer
(2) How about curtailing lust?
(a) I want to say this as right as I can.
(b) It is never right for a male to touch a
female or to coerce a woman to do any thing
for any reason. In fact, that is a sin.
(c) But ladies, it is also a sin for you to
advertise products that you are not giving
away or selling—and if you are not giving
away or selling anything, don’t put it on
display.
(d) The fact that most woman are wearing too
little and are wearing it too tight does
NOT excuse the men from their sin, but the
#MeToo effort should not be JUST be about
confronting the sin of the men. It should
also be about confronting the sin of the
women.
c. I am pointing this out not to become either famous or
infamous but to illustrate that if people would just
obey the Bible—follow God’s guidance—on this issue,
a lot less bad would have happened to a lot more
people.
4. Can we not see how many of our lives would be filled with
less bad if we had just followed God’s guidance?
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is
excess….
a. Have ever known of anyone who lost a family, a job, a
career, money, respect, friendship over drunkenness?
(1) Have you or someone you know been the unfortunate
one to lose a loved one because someone was
either drunk or stoned?
(2) Have you ever known someone to ruin their life,
squander their money, or hurt someone because
they were drunk or stoned?
b. By the way, it’s not just the commands that deal with
the outward behaviors that bring the bad.
(1) God’s commands on jealousy (envy), wrath and
anger, lust, fear, forgiveness, love, mercy,
and others help keep us from stirring the pot
of bad until it spills over on us and those we
know.
(2) These are just a few of commands that, if obeyed,
would help keep bad from us.
II. Grace - Grace takes the bad and makes good come from it.
A. God has made many promises to the believers to bring good from
the bad things that happen in our lives.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory;
Ro 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,
The just shall live by faith.
1. Perhaps you noticed that the word I gave to you was
"grace" but the word "grace" was not mentioned in any of
the verses that I read.
2. You might think I read the wrong verses, but I did not.
3. These verses are not talking about grace but about what
grace DOES!
a. Romans 8:28 - Grace is what makes all things-even the
bad--work for our good.
b. 2Co 4:17 - Grace is what takes our bad and makes them
into light afflictions.
c. Ro 1:17 - Grace is what is unleased from one exercise
of faith to the next.
B. Two thoughts about grace:
1. Grace is God stepping in to make good come from bad.
a. Grace is God working, God stepping in.
(1) Grace is not just a companion to mercy.
(2) Some say mercy is God withholding what we desire
and grace is God giving us what we don’t
deserve.
(3) It is that but it is so much more.
b. It was grace that changed…
(1) …the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers to the exodus
of Israel.
(2) …what we could have been calling "the nine
refusals of Pharaoh" to the "Ten Plagues of
Egypt."
(3) …the destruction of Israel at the Red Sea to
the crossing of the Red Sea.
(4) …Israel’s rejection of the Messiah to the
payment for our sin.
c. Grace is God working in the bad to make good come from
it.
d. And God’s grace can do such a powerful work that we
can become thankful for the bad because it brought to
us God’s abundant grace.
e. For grace to have that kind of an effect in your life,
you must yield to it.
2Co 6:1 We then, as workers together with him,
beseech you also that ye receive not the grace
of God in vain.
Ga 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God….
(1) disobedience, bitterness, anger, jealousy,
conniving, and others squelch the grace of God.
(2) For God to work, we must stay in our place.
(3) But when we let God work, He does not disappoint.
2. Grace can take EVERY bad and make something good come from
it.
a. Being obedient to God only gets hard when it gets
personal.
b. As long as it is someone else’s bad times, letting
God work is easy.
c. But when it comes to our life, it is more difficult.
(1) You were skipped over for a promotion? Let grace
work.
(2) You were stood up at the altar? Let grace work.
(3) You were abused as a child? Let grace work.
(4) You have been betrayed by friends and family?
Let grace work.
(5) You lost your fortune? Let grace work.
(6) You have a sickness? Let grace work.
(7) You have faced a death? Let grace work.
d. Let God step into your bad and do a work of grace.
I am going to close with this thought. You and I cannot stop some of
the bad that is going to come. We just can’t. If that is so, why
waste the opportunity to see God’s grace work? Why be bitter? Why
be angry? Why quit on God? Just because God allowed bad things into
our lives does not mean that God does not have a plan. Certainly, be
wise. Get saved. Live holy. Follow God’s guidance. Ask for
miracles, but when the bad gets through God’s nets of projection,
let God’s grace produce good from it.
<OutlineIndex>
<Close Window>
