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Introduction: Why Does God Allow Bad Things To Happen?

Well, good morning. It is great to have you here with us at Horizon City. Most of you in the room know me, but if you don’t, my name is Kenny. I have the privilege of serving as pastor here. A few weeks ago, we looked at John, chapter nine, back on January 5th.

So this morning we will look at John 11. This morning is a little bit of a part two to that sermon on John, chapter nine. So January 5th, we looked at John 9. A week later, Liam Garden was here from Scotland. He preached. Then last week was Sanctity of Life Sunday. We spent time talking about the image of God. This morning, we will jump into John chapter 11. Again, a little bit of a part two to that sermon that we had a few weeks ago.

Then, God willing, next week when we gather, we’ll be back in the book of Hebrews. So we were in the book of Hebrews in the fall for two months. Then, Lord willing, for February, all the way through May, we’ll be back in the book of Hebrews. I am very, very excited to be in Hebrews. As I’ve been studying, there is a lot of good stuff. A lot of good stuff. Daniel is very excited. He’s like, let’s get the milk. Let’s go. We’re excited.

This morning, there is a question we want to answer. We’ve been answering various questions over the last few weeks. The question we want to answer this morning is Why does God allow bad things to happen? We sort of already answered this question back on January 5th. Back in January, a few weeks ago, when we looked at John 9, I said, There are a few reasons why bad things happen in our lives, why we experience suffering. Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes a bad thing happens or there’s some suffering, and we can sort of figure out why it’s happening to us.

But that’s actually pretty rare. Most of the time, when we’re experiencing some form of suffering or difficulty, we don’t know why. There are a few different reasons. When we look at scripture, there are a few categories of reasons as to why suffering happens. I mentioned this a few weeks ago. One reason Suffering happens because sometimes we sin, sometimes we make foolish choices, and we end up suffering the consequences of our own sin, right? If I eat two dozen donuts in one sitting, my stomach’s gonna hurt. It’s a consequence of my own choice. I can’t look at God and say, How? How can you make my stomach hurt after I ate 24 donuts in a row, Lord? That would be silly.

But oftentimes we face suffering, and it’s totally unrelated or unconnected to our sin. Sometimes we face suffering because of other people’s sins. That’s hard. Sometimes we ask God, Why would you allow that? A few weeks ago, I made the point from John 9 that one of the reasons why God allows suffering is for the good of others who are watching us. God allows us to experience suffering for a period of time, for a season, and then God will intervene in our lives in that season, and other people will see the glory of God in us, and it will cause them to believe. That’s another reason why suffering is allowed in our lives.

But this morning I’m going to give you a reason as to why God allows suffering from John, chapter 11. In John chapter 11, as we look through this passage, this is a moment, very famous, well-known moment of scripture where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. In this passage, the reason we see that Jesus allows suffering is because he loves us.

Now that seems counterintuitive, but as we’ll see in a moment here, God allowing suffering in our lives is one way God allows us to experience his love. While we suffer, the apostle John will help us to see. Because he loves us. Because he loves you. So let’s pray briefly again, and then we’ll look at John 11 together.

God, would you give us understanding, give us ears to hear, minds to understand. May we be encouraged by what we see in your scripture this morning, I ask, Amen. 

 

A Message from the City of Bethany

If you remember in John chapter 9, Jesus was traveling throughout the Judean region. Before John 9, most of Jesus’ ministry was in the region of Galilee. That’s the region he was from. Galilee was sort of separated from the main downtown or crossroads of society in Jerusalem and the central parts of Judea. So Jesus had done a lot of ministry in Galilee. There were rumors of Jesus spreading throughout the Judean region.

Most people in Jerusalem or near Jerusalem had never experienced Jesus firsthand. In John 9, that was a little bit of a coming-out party for Jesus. That was kind of the moment where he is on the map in a significant way, where lots of people in Jerusalem firsthand get to experience the ministry of this man they’ve heard of, that some say is the Messiah. This man named Jesus.

In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man, a man probably in his early 20s who had been born blind. Jesus heals him. This caused an incredible buzz, a stir throughout the city of Jerusalem. Jesus stays there in Jerusalem through John chapter 10. He’s traveling around, preaching and teaching, and the Jewish leadership starts to get concerned. They begin to say to themselves, this Jesus character, he’s starting to get a lot of attention, a lot of following.

If we kind of allow that to continue, it’s going to kind of upset the apple cart. Like, we kind of like what we’ve got here with the Romans. They’ve given us a lot of, a lot of autonomy. We want to kind of run the show. If Jesus comes in and people start following him, that could kind of cause a stir. And the Romans might not like that. We might lose authority or power or influence, we might lose money.

So we probably should kill this Jesus. That’s going to begin to plot. Eventually, his disciples are victims of a potential plot. The Jewish leadership is trying to kill Jesus, so they flee the town. In John chapter 10, verse 40, it tells us that Jesus flees to the other side of the Jordan River. Jesus ends up in a place probably about 20 to 25 miles north and east of Jerusalem. 20 to 25 miles in the ancient world would be a several-day journey.

Some time passes, maybe a few weeks go by. Jesus is in the region on the other side of the Jordan River. He’s doing ministry, he’s preaching, he’s teaching, he’s healing the sick, casting out demons. While he’s there, he gets a message from the city of Bethany. The City of Bethany is actually pretty close to Jerusalem. It’s just under two miles. The New Testament tells us it’s 15 stadia, which is just under two miles away from downtown Jerusalem. So pretty close to where there are people plotting to kill Jesus.

Jesus gets this message from the city of Bethany. In the city of Bethany, there are a few of his friends. Jesus has friends. There’s one particular family that’s really special to Jesus. This family has three siblings, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. A message comes from Bethany to the area where Jesus is, and the messenger says, Jesus, you gotta come to Bethany, the one you love, Lazarus, (how he’s defined). The one you love is sick. It’s very serious, he’s going to die.

Mary and Martha, by the way, are known to us; many of us are familiar with them. There is a well-known narrative in The Gospel of Luke. In Luke, chapter 10, Mary and Martha are the ones who are hosting Jesus. Famously, Mary is the one hanging out with Jesus, and Martha is the one working hard to serve Jesus. What we learn from that narrative is that Jesus is interacting with Martha, and Jesus says to Martha, Martha, you don’t have to do a bunch of stuff for me. You’re working yourself up.

You’re feeling so anxious. Martha, what I’m really concerned about is for you to do what Mary’s doing. Just be with me, hang out with me, commune with me. Let’s be friends, let’s have a conversation, let’s love one another. Mary was sitting with Jesus. Martha was busy doing a bunch of stuff for Jesus, and Martha got frustrated with Mary.

You just sit in there, and Jesus says, No, no, no, Martha, you missed it. Mary’s doing the right thing. I think it’s a great lesson for us. God doesn’t demand we do a bunch of stuff for him. God will not love you more just because you do a bunch of stuff for him. No, he will love you because you are his, and he loves to spend time with you. You’re busy doing a bunch of stuff. Could you just sit with me this week?

This kind of hit me a couple of days ago. I have a tendency to just want to do a bunch of stuff for God. You know, we’re Horizon City Church, about three months old now, and I have this tendency to be like, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do this. We’ve got to launch the groups. We gotta get our website better, we gotta do our social media. I’m busy doing all this stuff. This week, I just felt the Lord tell my heart, Can you just be with me, man? I’m not impressed by your ability to do stuff. I’m not impressed with you, Kenny. I was there when you were made. I’ve seen all the sins of your life. I know your resume, it’s not that impressive.

God, could you just be with me? I love you. Not for what you can do, not for what sermons you can preach, not for how many lunch meetings you can have, or how much money you can raise. Kenny, I love you because you’re mine. I resonate with Martha so much, but he calls us to be Mary. So Mary and Martha have this moment with Jesus, and they develop a sweet friendship.

 

The Story of Lazarus

So here Jesus is on the other side of the Jordan River, several days’ journey away from where his friends are. He gets this message that Lazarus is seriously sick and he’s about to die. Here’s what the apostle John writes for us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Look at John, chapter 11, verse 5. Such an interesting verse. Verse 5 says this:

“Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”

He loves them. Then verse six it says something I would not have expected. He loved them so. Verse 6.

“So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.”

What? That doesn’t make sense. That’s not what I expect the verse to say. It should say he loved them. So he got up immediately and he rushed over to Bethany to make sure he healed Lazarus. That’s what it should say from my human perspective. So what it says, because he loved them, so he intentionally waits two more days. The word ‘so’ here is a little Greek conjunction. Some English translations translate it as ‘yet’. So he loved them, yet. That’s a terrible translation. With all due respect to those Bible translations, it is not an accurate representation of the Greek.

The word there should be ‘so’ or ‘therefore’. Or in light of so. The better English translations will use either the word so or therefore. God loves them. Therefore, he intentionally waits two more days. He waits two more days. That is so confusing to us. For those of us who experience difficulty, if God didn’t love us, pain would be easy to understand. Why am I suffering? Well, because God doesn’t love me. Okay, well, duh, He hates me and he wants me to suffer.

But that’s not the case. God does love us, so it’s confusing. God, wait a minute. You see the suffering. You see Lazarus dying, you know what’s happening, and yet you intentionally wait, and that is somehow the evidence that you love him. God, that does not make sense to my human brain.

So if you are here this morning, if that’s confusing to you, I’m with you. You’re not crazy. He intentionally waits longer. He waits and he tells his disciples, after two days, hey, disciples, we’re going to travel to Bethany. We’re going to heal him. Some of the disciples actually give him some pushback. They’re like, well, if we go to Bethany, that’s really close to Jerusalem, and they were just trying to kill you there.

So if we go to Bethany, we might die. Jesus says, Don’t worry, we’re gonna go. We’re gonna be with Lazarus. They’re like, well, he’s probably dead by now. He’s like, don’t worry. He’s like, I know what’s going on. Then Thomas speaks up. Thomas says, Guess we’re gonna go die. Let’s go. Thomas, the one who gets dogged on for being doubting Thomas, he’s like, all right, guys, let’s go. Jesus said, We’re gonna go. If this is the time to die, let’s go. We’re gonna go. We’re gonna die. Jesus then says to him, verse 14. Jesus says,

“Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe.”

What an unbelievable statement from Jesus. He’s like, I waited two days because I wanted to make sure the Lazarus was dead. I’m glad I was not there when he died. I’m glad because this is going to be for you, speaking to Thomas and his disciples. I’m about to do something in front of you, in your eyes, and it’s going to be good for you. It’s actually good that Lazarus died because something good is going to happen for you. It’s going to help you believe.

Very similar sense of what we see in John chapter nine, when the young man is blind. Jesus, when his disciples asked, Why was this man born blind? Jesus said he was born blind because the works of God could be displayed. So they travel to Bethany, 20ish miles or so. It would have taken them at least a few days. They get there, and after they get there, Lazarus has been dead for four full days. This is important because there was a rabbinical tradition in the first century that when a person died, their soul would remain somewhat connected to the body, maybe hovering over the body or floating over the body.

There was a belief that there was a possibility that the soul could then re-enter the body, reanimate the person, could raise. So they weren’t really officially considered dead. But the belief was that at the end of the third day, the soul would then completely leave the body. On day four, the person would be officially dead, and their body would begin to rot, and then they would stink. The body would begin to smell.

So this is important because if Jesus had shown up on day two of Lazarus being dead or day three, someone could say, well, that wasn’t a real resurrection for the dead. His soul was still right next to him. Well, how hard is it to get the soul to go down a few inches? That’s how people thought in the ancient world. So Jesus waits till day four so people know for sure. Later in the text, it tells us that there was a great odor coming from the tomb, so he stinketh. At this point, the old King James says Jesus intentionally waits until Lazarus is dead for four days. Verse 18 tells us that they get to Bethany.

Which is about two miles away in your English Bible. The Greek actually is 15 stadia. That’s the measurement they used in the ancient world. It’s close enough for Jerusalem. We see in verse 19 that there are several Jews from Jerusalem who come to visit Mary and Martha. It appears this family had a lot of friends in Jerusalem. They were probably wealthy, probably well-known. So a bunch of people from Jerusalem come to console Mary and Martha.

No doubt many of the people who come to Bethany to console Mary and Martha are people who have heard of Jesus or maybe were familiar with Jesus. In fact, later they will make some comments and make it clear that they were very familiar with, maybe even there when Jesus heals a young man in John chapter 9.

Jesus is becoming pretty famous now, or in the mind of some people, infamous in the minds of some Jewish leaders. At this point, Jesus is sort of public enemy number one. No doubt some of those people were in Bethany. Jesus is potentially walking right into the hornet’s nest. When he arrives, Martha comes up to meet him first. She says to him, basically, Jesus, if you had been here, you could have healed my brother and you wouldn’t be dead right now. Only if you had shown up sooner.

How many times have we felt this in our lives? So many times in our lives, I’ve had these moments of difficulty and pain, and hardship. I’ve said, God, if you had just stepped in in this way, this thing wouldn’t have happened. God, why? You say you love me? Why didn’t you show up? Why didn’t you do it? Why didn’t you intervene? If you ever thought those thoughts or felt those feelings, experienced those emotions, you know exactly what Martha is feeling in this moment. In verse 23, Jesus looks at Martha and he tells her,

“Martha, your brother’s going to rise again.”

She tells him, but she doesn’t realize what he’s actually referring to. The text says she thinks he’s referring to the future resurrection when all of us will be raised from the dead. She goes, well, yeah, I know in the resurrection of the dead, he’s going to rise. She misses what Jesus is actually telling her. Later in the text, Jesus meets up with Mary, the other sister of Lazarus, and she says the same thing as Martha. Verse 32, Mary says,

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Surely many of us have felt this emotion. God, if you had only shown up in this moment, then we wouldn’t be experiencing this thing. Why didn’t you show up? I felt this emotion so many times in my life. The next few verses, in my opinion, are some of the sweetest verses in Scripture. So sweet. Jesus sees Mary in her confusion, in her frustration. She’s crying. Jesus looks at her. And in verse 33, it says this about Jesus.

“He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.”

He sees his friend Mary, whom he loves. She’s weeping, and he’s deeply moved. He’s troubled. It bothers him that she’s crying, that she’s weeping. Friends, Church this morning, know you have a savior when he sees you weeping, when he sees you mourning. He’s moved in his soul, his spirit. He’s bothered. He’s troubled. And in John, chapter 11, verse 35, the shortest verse in the entire Bible. Two words. One of the most profound verses in Scripture, in my opinion.

“Jesus wept.”

The God of the universe became a man, and he sees the suffering of the one he loves. And he wept. In the Greek language, there are multiple words for crying and lamenting. The word here is actually uncontrollable weeping, is sort of the word. Jesus is not just crying. There is this deep lament. We might call it an ugly cry. He’s so moved and troubled. Deep weeping because his friend is hurting. He wept.

When Jesus comes face to face with the death and the pain of those he loves, his response is to weep. Some people may ask, Wasn’t this intentional? Didn’t Jesus intentionally orchestrate this whole thing? Well, he did, yes. But it doesn’t make the pain of the moment any less. Jesus is not going, I know what I’m doing. I’m orchestrating this. I know it hurts, but I’m about to raise him from the dead. You don’t know. It’s fine. No, it’s not how he functions.

That’s not how he responds. Yes. I’m orchestrating all of this because I’m going to raise him from the dead. You don’t know that yet, Mary. All you know is that he’s dead, and you are in pain, and your pain causes me to weep. Pain is an interesting thing in the moments when we experience great pain. It’s the moments where God tends to get our attention the most.

 

Responding to Suffering

The National Institute of Health Organization in the United States unit, they’ve done some extensive studies over the last few years. There’s an incredible connection between people who experience chronic physical pain and people who are labeled as empathetic and humble. People who have experienced significant chronic pain in their life, they are more likely to be labeled as empathetic and humble by their friends.

It seems that pain, when we experience pain, it causes us to be more compassionate toward others. It causes us to walk with more humility. Walking with compassion and humility is a good thing. C.S. Lewis, it’s been a few weeks without a C.S. Lewis quote; you need one, right? At least three weeks. That’s way too long. You can’t go that long. It’s unacceptable. C.S. Lewis says it this way. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. Pain is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, shouts in our pain.

Whenever someone who’s a believer and loves Jesus experiences pain, you usually get one of two responses. Most of the time, one of two responses. We actually see those two responses, right here in verse 36. Some people say this.  They look at Jesus, they see him weeping, they see him and Mary together. And they say this in verse 36,

“See how he loves them.”

There are people in your life who will see you going through pain. They will see you experiencing the comfort of Christ, and they will say to themselves, God loves you. It’s one of the reasons why God allows us to suffer pain, because as he comforts us, it will show others the glory of his love. The other reaction you might get, we see here as well in this text. Verse 37 says that certain people responded this way:

“Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

So the first category of people that are going to go, wow, look how much Jesus loves them. He’s helping them in their pain. Then there are others who say, Couldn’t he just stop the pain altogether? Couldn’t he have protected you from this? Who is this guy? He claims to love you.

They’re referring back to John, chapter nine, when he healed the blind man. Couldn’t this Jesus character have also healed Lazarus before he died? You will get both of those reactions when you experience suffering. Some people will be attracted to Jesus as He works in your life through your suffering. There will be others who are repelled and are frustrated, even more so, or become more hostile toward Jesus because they see you suffering.

Their response is not your responsibility. That’s between them and the Lord. The Lord will see fit to use your suffering in whatever way will most glorify Himself. That’s between them and God.  When I read this passage, I can’t help but pause and think, so, Jesus, you love them. I would have expected you to heal Lazarus and get there sooner. But Jesus knows that something greater is coming.

You see all of these people, they seem to have some amount of confidence in Jesus because they’re all saying, well, couldn’t he have healed Lazarus? They could have healed him, right? So they’re all confident that Jesus could heal the sick, that Jesus could heal the blind man, that Jesus could heal someone before they died. They all have some level of confidence in Jesus.

Mary and Martha have some level of confidence in Jesus. The people from Jerusalem, there’s some level of confidence. But in the sentiment, when you read the text here, there’s a sense of finality. Like they seemingly think, well, the window of opportunity for Jesus to do something has now passed. It’s been four days. The soul has left the body, There’s an odor. He stinks. Nothing can be done. So they have some level of confidence in Jesus, but they don’t really understand what Jesus is capable of.

That’s what this moment is all about. Jesus is like, you guys have seen me heal a blind man. You have some confidence in me, but you actually don’t realize what I’m capable of. And because I love you, I want you to see all that I’m capable of. Mary and Martha, because I love you, I want you to be a part of the story of bringing other people to faith in me. Because I love you, I’m going to do something bigger than you could have ever imagined. You expected me to show up on time and heal Lazarus. I’m going to do something better than that.  Because I love you.

Now, those of us who know the end of the story, that’s easy to say when you’re in the midst of the suffering, when you’re in the moment of difficulty, gosh, it’s hard. Know this: Jesus will allow you to suffer in this life, and he will withhold his intervention. It will pain him, it will bother him. He will be troubled in his spirit because he loves you and would love to intervene and take away that pain. He loves you so much.

But he knows if I take away the pain now, they will miss out on the greater thing. So I will allow them to suffer because I love them, and I don’t want them to miss out on the greater thing. We think the immediate healing, the immediate deliverance, well, that’s the best thing that could happen. Jesus says, You don’t realize there’s a greater thing about to happen. Jesus goes down to where the tomb is with a crew of people following him. Right before he does anything, he prays his prayer. In John 11:42, Jesus says, speaking to the Father:

“I know that you always hear me, but I said this on the account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me.”

He prays to the Father, I know you’re always listening to me, Father. The reason I’m praying to you right now is because all these people are watching, and they’re about to see something they could have never imagined. And in verse 43, Jesus shouts to the tomb,

“Lazarus, come out.”

Lazarus rises from the dead. Several early church fathers noted that Jesus had to say Lazarus’ name. If he had just said, Come out, all the dead would have come out. They all would have been raised from the dead. This was about Lazarus. This is about one family, one moment, one group of people. So he says, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus comes stumbling out, hobbling with bandages wrapped all up, probably disoriented. I don’t know what that would have been like for him.

What a moment this would have been for those watching. What? I mean, preaching with authority is one thing, giving us insights that we’ve never heard before, casting out demons, healing the sick, maybe raising someone from the dead within the first three days. All of that we can understand. But even after four days, he still commands the dead to rise. Who is this guy? John tells us that many of those who had come from Jerusalem believed. Mary and Martha. This is hard. I love you. So I’m going to allow you to suffer because I love you enough to allow you to be a part of the story of bringing others to faith. What a moment this would have been.

 

Closing: He Will Restore You

How would this change the life and faith of Mary and Martha, or those who watched? I think it’s interesting that John highlights in verse five. All of this happens because Jesus loved them. Had Jesus gotten there sooner and healed Lazarus before he died, there would have been some amount of impact. But Jesus knows there was a greater impact on those people in that region, and that’s why Jesus did it. So sometimes you will experience hardship and suffering and difficulty in this life. It will be confusing. But know this, Christian, know this: It’s because he loves you.

That will seem counterintuitive. It will be confusing. It doesn’t make sense. But he tells you the reason why I allow this is because I love you. I love you. He promises that nothing will ever happen to you in vain. Every moment of pain you’ve ever experienced, he will use for your good. So if there’s some pain in your life, it’s because God has ordained to allow it. If God is ordained to allow it, it’s because he has a purpose for it, and nothing will ever go to waste. Romans chapter 8 famously says,

“All things work together for the good of those who love him.”

All things. He does it because he loves you. Psalm 36, verse 7.

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God, the children of mankind. We take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

First John 4:16.

“We have come to know this, that the love of God is for us.”

He has love for us. God is love. God is love. So when the cancer is still there, when the illness is still there, when the diagnosis is confusing, when the depression keeps coming back, when the headaches won’t stop, the migraines won’t go away, when the person that made commitments to you betrays you, when all of the suffering continues, Christian, you can know this. He is allowing it because he loves you.

If God is allowing it, then you can know there’s a greater future moment coming where he will intervene. Think to yourself, if God were to intervene right now, it would be this amount of awesome. If he refuses to intervene right now, then I know what’s coming in the future is an even more amount of awesome. He wants you to experience the more amount of awesome because he loves you.

In the meantime, while you suffer, it will be hard. It will be painful. Jesus will see your suffering. He will be troubled. He will be bothered by it. He will be heartbroken on your behalf. He will want to intervene, but he will not, because he does not want to short-circuit what the Father is doing in your life. So he will lament with you and he will comfort you. Earlier in our service, my lovely bride, Malaina, read for us. First Peter 5, verses 10 and 11. The apostle Peter says this.

“After you have suffered a little while”

The suffering of this life seems significant. But remember, 50, 60, 70, 90 years of suffering compared to billions and billions of eons in eternity. We’re going to suffer in this life, but it’s just a little while. Hang in there, Christians. We’re going to suffer for a little while. After that, after this suffering is done, here’s what Peter promises under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Peter says this:

“The God of all grace.”

He’s the God of all. The grace that exists is in him, comes from him, the God of all grace. This is what he will do.

“He Himself will restore you, confirm you, strengthen you, establish you.  The God of all grace. He Himself will make sure you do not fall away.”

When you’ve gone through this life, he was the One who will strengthen you and establish you. In the meantime, he will keep us. Sometimes at the end of our service, we sing. We sing a Chorus from Jude 24 down to him. Jude 24 says this, speaking of our God.

“He is able to keep you from stumbling, to present you blameless before his presence.”

So, as you go through this life, as you suffer, how are you going to stick with Him? How are you going to survive it? How are you going to get all that God has for you? Because he’s going to keep you. He’s the One who will keep you from stumbling. He’s the one who will guide you in this life and ultimately present you to the Father blameless. After you’ve suffered for a little while, he will restore you. He will establish you, and he will take you to the presence of the throne room to His Father. Jesus will say, Father, look, it’s one of ours. He will present us blameless to our Father, not because of what we can do, but because of his strength at work in us.

In just a moment, we’re going to take communion. During communion, we’re going to sing one of my favorite songs, which I’m sort of surprised, how did we get this long in the life of our church and not have sung this song? It’s one of my favorites. He will hold you fast. We’re going to sing one of the lines. My favorite line from the song is, ‘I could never keep my hold. I could never keep my hold on him through life’s fearful path, for my love is often cold. He must hold me fast.’ In the suffering of this life, I’ve never been able to hold on to Him. I’m not capable of that. I love God. My love for him is so small and so fragile, so fickle, so irritable, and so easily annoyed.

I’m so sinful and prideful, there’s no way I can hold on to Christ in my own ability. But he will hold me fast. He will hold you fast. He will hold you fast. Christ has promised to hold us tightly and to keep us from falling. It’s just another one of the most amazing reasons to love our Jesus. There are many reasons to love Jesus, but here’s another. One of the reasons to love Jesus is that he loves you. He loves you enough to allow you to suffer so you would experience the greater intervention.

He promises that through the suffering, he will cry with you, he will comfort you, he will hold you, he will keep you, and in the end, he will present you to his Father. Blameless. This is all because of what Christ has done on our behalf.

 

Communion

That’s why we take communion every single week. Every week here at Horizon City, we come to the Lord’s table to remember Christ and what he has done for us. In just a moment, we’re going to pass the baskets. If you are a believer here, you are welcome to take communion with us this morning. We invite you to remember Christ with us. If you are here, however, you are not a genuine follower of Jesus. You would say, Kenny, I’m not 100% sure that I’m all in. I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so thankful that you’re here.

I would just say, when the basket comes, if you’re not a genuine follower of Christ, then I would just ask you to let the baskets pass. Don’t take communion with us this morning. But as the basket passes, don’t let the moment pass. If you are not a believer in Christ this morning, I implore you, instead of taking communion with us this morning, to take Christ instead. If you don’t, you know what that means. You want to have a conversation? I’d love to sit with you after the service. Or we can go grab tacos at Torchy’s. I’d love to talk about Jesus with you over some tacos if you like.

For those of us who are followers of Christ, we invite you to participate in this thing we call communion. To remember Christ, the one who loves you enough to allow you to suffer. The one who loves you enough that he promises you will not suffer alone. The one who says, I will hold you fast, I will be with you, I will cry with you, I will sustain you. If you have not worshiped with us. When the basket comes, there will be two options.

There’s a little one that is juice and gluten-free bread. The other one is a little mini chalice, has a W on it, that’s real wine, and it’s gluten-free bread. So, two options. When the basket comes, pick whichever one is your preference, the juice or the wine. Hold on to it, and then I’ll come out and we’ll partake together. Believers, let’s remember Christ together. Leon and Daniel. Come, let’s serve God’s people together.