No matter how bad it gets, you're never alone. No matter how bad it gets, you're never alone... In this dark moment where it looks like God's people are fearful and silent, there are still people that are faithful and courageous. And let's say that weren't true for us Christians, right? It can be easy to look around and feel like the church is on the defensive and feel like you are the only person faithful at your work, at your school, in your neighborhood, in your daily life or whatever. But the thing is this, even if you feel alone, you're not alone. Because Jesus last words were, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. The only one that matters is on your side and is with you.
In the middle of this chaos, in the middle of evil's victory, God is still on the throne. In the middle of evil's victory, God is still on the throne. This is tragic for Israel, and it is evil, but it's also under God's sovereign control. Even in, and even when darkness advances, that darkness is under the hand of God and the rule of God. And evil triumphs and advances forward only as much as God allows it to happen.
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In the middle of this chaos, in the middle of evil's victory, God is still on the throne. In the middle of evil's victory, God is still on the throne. This is tragic for Israel, and it is evil, but it's also under God's sovereign control. Even in, and even when darkness advances, that darkness is under the hand of God and the rule of God. And evil triumphs and advances forward only as much as God allows it to happen.
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God was not surprised by Israel's defeat. As a matter of fact, he predicted it to Saul. So when Israel is defeated and evil triumphs, God knew this would happen and actually allowed it to happen in this moment. And he would actually use it later for Israel's good. Because this is God cleansing the land of evil so that a new king can come in and bring prosperity for the nation of Israel. But they have to go through the evil first.
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God was not surprised by Israel's defeat. As a matter of fact, he predicted it to Saul. So when Israel is defeated and evil triumphs, God knew this would happen and actually allowed it to happen in this moment. And he would actually use it later for Israel's good. Because this is God cleansing the land of evil so that a new king can come in and bring prosperity for the nation of Israel. But they have to go through the evil first.
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The answer to the question of God allowing evil ultimately comes back to the answer of this. What is God's ultimate goal? What is his ultimate goal? See, a lot of us, we think God's ultimate goal is our happiness. And so then whenever evil happens, we're like, well, God's not God because I'm not happy. God's ultimate goal is not happiness, it's holiness. And his ultimate goal is his glory. That's what he's most concerned about.
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The answer to the question of God allowing evil ultimately comes back to the answer of this. What is God's ultimate goal? What is his ultimate goal? See, a lot of us, we think God's ultimate goal is our happiness. And so then whenever evil happens, we're like, well, God's not God because I'm not happy. God's ultimate goal is not happiness, it's holiness. And his ultimate goal is his glory. That's what he's most concerned about, which is why, if you've ever heard the Westminster Confession, when we talk about what is our purpose, our ultimate purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Those two things are not at odds with each other. But that doesn't mean that everything in our life is always happy, right?
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So what this means ultimately, is that God both allows and uses the thing that will bring him the most glory in the end. So practically, this means that sometimes God allows us to experience the consequences of sin in the world or the consequences of our own sin, because he is working something out ultimately for his glory and for our good.
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So what this means ultimately, is that God both allows and uses the thing that will bring him the most glory in the end. So practically, this means that sometimes God allows us to experience the consequences of sin in the world or the consequences of our own sin, because he is working something out ultimately for his glory and for our good. Okay, so this means sometimes we will look at the world or we will look at our personal lives, and we will feel like evil is triumphant, but that's because God is ultimately working something out that is beautiful.
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Could God have created a world without any allowance for the possibility of evil and sin? From a hypothetical perspective, yes. He could have made a bunch of robots and programmed them to never do wrong, never even create the possibility of evil. They could only ever obey his command. But at the end of the day, God gets far more glory from redeeming a sinful and broken people. He gets far more glory when he shows mercy to sinners. He gets far more glory when he shows grace to a sinner who isn't deserving of anything more than an eternity in hell. And he shows us his grace and he shows us his mercy. And he gets so much glory from that, not by preventing evil, not by preventing sin, but by overcoming evil and sin.
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God gets far more glory from redeeming a sinful and broken people. He gets far more glory when he shows mercy to sinners. He gets far more glory when he shows grace to a sinner who isn't deserving of anything more than an eternity in hell. And he shows us his grace and he shows us his mercy. And he gets so much glory from that, not by preventing evil, not by preventing sin, but by overcoming evil and sin.
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We need, I feel like in this moment, to remember this truth even in our own lives, that when evil seems to triumph, God is still in control. He is not surprised. And he is working in and through the evil in the world. The pain that you go through, the sin and the consequences of sin that you experience, and the sin that you didn't even bring on yourself, but other people have brought on you. God knows about all of it. And it's all a part of God's redemptive story in this world.
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We need, I feel like in this moment, to remember this truth even in our own lives, that when evil seems to triumph, God is still in control. He is not surprised. And he is working in and through the evil in the world. The pain that you go through, the sin and the consequences of sin that you experience, and the sin that you didn't even bring on yourself, but other people have brought on you. God knows about all of it. And it's all a part of God's redemptive story in this world.
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As Christians, we are to be reminded that, that all the things in our life work together for God's glory and for our good. And so when we go through pain, there is always a purpose behind our pain. Even if we don't in this lifetime know what the purpose was behind that.
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As Christians, we are to be reminded that, that all the things in our life work together for God's glory and for our good. And so when we go through pain, there is always a purpose behind our pain. Even if we don't in this lifetime know what the purpose was behind that.
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The enemy may mock God, but any victory the enemy has is short lived. Okay? And it's important for us to remember that there's no King David without the death of Saul. And when David becomes king, he reclaims the land, he restores the honor of God's people. And he shows the world who the real God is. You may have mocked our God, but we are going to crush you. God gets the ultimate glory through this crushing defeat of Israel.
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The enemy may mock God, but any victory the enemy has is short lived. Okay? And it's important for us to remember that there's no King David without the death of Saul. And when David becomes king, he reclaims the land, he restores the honor of God's people. And he shows the world who the real God is. You may have mocked our God, but we are going to crush you. God gets the ultimate glory through this crushing defeat of Israel.
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One of the things that I think of when I think of redemptive stories is ultimately Jesus right on the cross. What did his enemies do? They mocked him, him repeatedly. He saved others, let him save himself. And when he died and they put him in the grave, the enemy thought they were victorious. But three days later, Sunday was coming. God is getting glory through the cross, not in spite of the cross.
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One of the things that I think of when I think of redemptive stories is ultimately Jesus right on the cross. What did his enemies do? They mocked him, him repeatedly. He saved others, let him save himself. And when he died and they put him in the grave, the enemy thought they were victorious. But three days later, Sunday was coming. God is getting glory through the cross, not in spite of the cross.
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Temporary victory of the enemy is not the last word. It's just not. Christ is Lord, Jesus is king, and he will crush his enemies under his feet. And it can be hard in the meantime, in this kind of in between time where we wait for that to happen. It can be hard to not be taken seriously at once for your faith. It can be hard to not be taken seriously at school, to see evil celebrated in our society, to see evil codified into law enforced on us. But it is always short lived. And God will not be mocked.
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Temporary victory of the enemy is not the last word. It's just not. Christ is Lord, Jesus is king, and he will crush his enemies under his feet. And it can be hard in the meantime, in this kind of in between time where we wait for that to happen. It can be hard to not be taken seriously at once for your faith. It can be hard to not be taken seriously at school, to see evil celebrated in our society, to see evil codified into law enforced on us. But it is always short lived. And God will not be mocked.
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No matter how bad it gets, you're never alone. No matter how bad it gets, you're never alone.
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In this dark moment where it looks like God's people are fearful and silent, there are still people that are faithful and courageous. And let's say that weren't true for us Christians, right? It can be easy to look around and feel like the church is on the defensive and feel like you are the only person faithful at your work, at your school, in your neighborhood, in your daily life or whatever. But the thing is this, even if you feel alone, you're not alone. Because Jesus last words were, behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. The only one that matters is on your side and is with you.
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If you stand up for what's true, it will cost you. It will cost you something. There is no standing up for truth without costing you your reputation. There's no standing up for truth without costing you relationships. There's no standing up for truth without costing you potential opportunities in your career advancement. There's no standing up in a culture that hates God. There's no standing up for truth where you don't offend your neighbors at times.
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If you stand up for what's true, it will cost you. It will cost you something. There is no standing up for truth without costing you your reputation. There's no standing up for truth without costing you relationships. There's no standing up for truth without costing you potential opportunities in your career advancement. There's no standing up in a culture that hates God. There's no standing up for truth where you don't offend your neighbors at times.
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There is a cost to following Jesus and believing truth. And that is why it is so important for us as Christians that we understand that the ultimate cost was already paid by Christ. He is worth the cost of following him courageously and faithfully.
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There is a cost to following Jesus and believing truth. And that is why it is so important for us as Christians that we understand that the ultimate cost was already paid by Christ. He is worth the cost of following him courageously and faithfully.
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The next generation is not looking for another crowd to blend in with. They are looking for faithful, courageous people who are not ashamed of the Gospel and are not ashamed of the truth of what the Bible teaches.
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The next generation is not looking for another crowd to blend in with. They are looking for faithful, courageous people who are not ashamed of the Gospel and are not ashamed of the truth of what the Bible teaches. So what do we do, Christians? We choose courage. We choose faithfulness. If, God forbid, we eventually become the only church in town that believes the truth, by golly, we should stand on that truth.
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If, God forbid, we eventually become the only church in town that believes the truth, by golly, we should stand on that truth. And luckily, we're not. There are like, it's easy for us to talk about the Christians that won't stand up for truth. There are good churches in our city that do stand for truth. And it can be disheartening to focus on only the ones that don't. But there are plenty that do.
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No matter how dark it gets, there are still faithful people that are courageous and willing to do what's right. So let me give you a couple of points of practical application, because I've talked philosophically for quite a bit. The first thing I want to remind us is that Christian, it's important to realize there is a time for action. There's a time to do something. And many times that's when it looks like evil is winning.
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Christian, it's important to realize there is a time for action. There's a time to do something. And many times that's when it looks like evil is winning. That's when it looks like when evil is triumphant, everyone in Israel has fled. But these men step up. Instead of worrying for their own safety, they risk their lives to sneak into enemy territory and retrieve the bodies of Saul and Jonathan. And I believe that this is the kind of courage that God calls his people to. Specifically in a culture or in an area of the country that makes it feel risky to be courageous with your faith.
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I would encourage you, Christian, if you're sitting in a meeting, if you're sitting in your classes, you're around family members, friends who are openly mocking God, speaking, falsely promoting wickedness, speak up, don't be a coward. Like, and here's how it usually goes in our culture, okay? Because I've lived here long enough to know this. Typically when you live in an area where Christians are the minority, what tends to happen is it usually goes like this. You're talking to a neighbor, a co worker, a friend, and they just start talking publicly about what they believe. They start talking openly, mocking God, anti Christian, anti Christian morality. They just say things. And the assumption is, is you live here so you agree with me and I can just talk as if everyone believes this way and thinks this way. There is nothing wrong with looking at those people and being like, actually, I believe that way. And we live in a world that's so afraid to offend people that if you just look at them and say, actually, I believe that way they'll be like, oh, well, well, I didn't mean. And they start backtracking so fast. I've seen this over and over and over again. When you're courageous and you let people know, hey, hey, you don't have the high moral ground here. And this person that you're bashing is your neighbor who's hung out with you. A lot of times the person that you're bashing is the person that has sat and talked to you about what's going on in your home and the struggles that you're having with your wife or whatever. When they start to realize, oh, not everyone agrees with me, it starts to actually disarm them. And they realize like, oh, this is a normal person that I interact with on a daily basis. And it's actually hurtful when I say those things. And there are people out there who are good people who disagree with me. So maybe I should realize not everybody actually thinks this way. It's an okay thing. It's risky, but it makes you. And it makes you sometimes feel like you're all alone. But it is the faithful thing to do, to speak up in those moments.
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I would encourage you, Christian, if you're sitting in a meeting, if you're sitting in your classes, you're around family members, friends who are openly mocking God, speaking, falsely promoting wickedness, speak up, don't be a coward. Like, and here's how it usually goes in our culture, okay? Because I've lived here long enough to know this. Typically when you live in an area where Christians are the minority, what tends to happen is it usually goes like this. You're talking to a neighbor, a co worker, a friend, and they just start talking publicly about what they believe. They start talking openly, mocking God, anti Christian, anti Christian morality. They just say things. And the assumption is, is you live here so you agree with me and I can just talk as if everyone believes this way and thinks this way. There is nothing wrong with looking at those people and being like, actually, I believe that way.
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As Christians, listen, I know we like to say, you know, I don't like politics. Politics aren't my thing. Do not be afraid to get involved politically, guys. Don't be afraid to make statements that might come across as political. Because when politics delve into the realm of morality, you have a need to speak up. When politics delve into the realm of what you believe. As a Christian, we have a representative government, guys, you should speak up and not just be like, God doesn't care about politics. God doesn't care about any of this stuff. He absolutely does. I promise you. Jesus cares about your politics. And courage means doing what's right, even if it's gonna cost you something.
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As Christians, listen, I know we like to say, you know, I don't like politics. Politics aren't my thing. Do not be afraid to get involved politically, guys. Don't be afraid to make statements that might come across as political. Because when politics delve into the realm of morality, you have a need to speak up. When politics delve into the realm of what you believe. As a Christian, we have a representative government, guys, you should speak up and not just be like, God doesn't care about politics. God doesn't care about any of this stuff. He absolutely does. I promise you. Jesus cares about your politics. And courage means doing what's right, even if it's gonna cost you something.
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And I would also encourage you, Christian, to be faithful. And it's even more important to be faithful when it looks like evil is triumphing because that is the right thing to do. See, the Jabesh Gileadites, they couldn't go in and change what happened. They couldn't go in and undo the battle. They couldn't go in and fix the fact that the king was dead. But what they could do was they could honor God anyway and they could be an example to the other Israelites of what a faithful and courageous life as a people of God looks like. So when you are faithful and you are courageous, your courage and your faithfulness will actually inspire the other Christians around you. If this person can be faithful and courageous, so can I. I'm not alone in this.
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And it's even more important to be faithful when it looks like evil is triumphing because that is the right thing to do. See, the Jabesh Gileadites, they couldn't go in and change what happened. They couldn't go in and undo the battle. They couldn't go in and fix the fact that the king was dead. But what they could do was they could honor God anyway and they could be an example to the other Israelites of what a faithful and courageous life as a people of God looks like.
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When you are faithful and you are courageous, your courage and your faithfulness will actually inspire the other Christians around you. If this person can be faithful and courageous, so can I. I'm not alone in this. And so I would encourage you to be a faithful person because it encourages the other Christians around you that are maybe afraid and are trying to put their head down and just like survive until Jesus comes back to show some backbone as well. You can encourage others.
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Be faithful, Be faithful to share your faith with them and be faithful to pray for them. Don't give up. Don't think that evil has won and that anybody in your life is hopeless. If God can save me, if he can save you, he can save anybody. And we don't get the privilege of saying that person is too far gone on. We pray and we're faithful.
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This means that if you're struggling in your marriage, you keep loving your spouse sacrificially, even and faithfully, even if it feels one sided. Because you know that God honors covenants. This means that when finances get tight and you're tempted to quit like giving you trust. God, God, you will take care of me and I'm gonna be faithful in this situation. This means that at work and at school, you continue to live with integrity and you continue to live with character, even when it's not rewarded because you wanna be faithful in the everyday life. Faithfulness and courage means that we keep doing what Christians are supposed to do, even when it doesn't feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel that we can see.
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Faithfulness and courage means that we keep doing what Christians are supposed to do, even when it doesn't feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel that we can see. And here's why this matters. Because the story of Saul actually points us to something so much greater than what God is doing with the nation of Israel.
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The story of Saul actually points us to something so much greater than what God is doing with the nation of Israel. See, in Saul, what we see happen here is we see a king's body hung up in shame and the enemy celebrating. They're marching Saul and Jonathan's weapons around their territory, worshiping their false God, wallowing in their victory. And God's people are in despair in that moment. Yet we know this isn't the end of First Samuel. By the time we get to Second Samuel, God's been working all along in the life of a shepherd boy named David. And David will save Israel. David will unite the kingdom and will bring victory to them. And when it looks like evil has won, God has set up something greater and Christian. This should be bringing some things to your mind because this isn't the last time we see a king humiliated and mocked. The enemy celebrating a victory and the people of God fearing Jesus, our true and better king, was mocked. He was beaten. He was nailed up as a public spectacle in front of everyone, hung in shame for the world to see. His followers would scatter in fear and sin. Satan, death and the enemies of God would all rejoice in that moment. See, Saul died for his own sins, but Jesus died for our sins. Saul's death marked the end of his reign. Jesus death and his resurrection marked the beginning of his. The resurrection of Jesus is this guarantee that we have that no matter how dark it gets, no matter how much ground the enemy takes, evil does not get the last word.
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See, in Saul, what we see happen here is we see a king's body hung up in shame and the enemy celebrating. They're marching Saul and Jonathan's weapons around their territory, worshiping their false God, wallowing in their victory. And God's people are in despair in that moment. Yet we know this isn't the end of First Samuel. By the time we get to Second Samuel, God's been working all along in the life of a shepherd boy named David. And David will save Israel. David will unite the kingdom and will bring victory to them. And when it looks like evil has won, God has set up something greater and Christian. This should be bringing some things to your mind because this isn't the last time we see a king humiliated and mocked. The enemy celebrating a victory and the people of God fearing Jesus, our true and better king, was mocked. He was beaten. He was nailed up as a public spectacle in front of everyone, hung in shame for the world to see. His followers would scatter in fear and sin. Satan, death and the enemies of God would all rejoice in that moment. See, Saul died for his own sins, but Jesus died for our sins. Saul's death marked the end of his reign. Jesus death and his resurrection marked the beginning of his. The resurrection of Jesus is this guarantee that we have that no matter how dark it gets, no matter how much ground the enemy takes, evil does not get the last word.
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We have freedom as Christians to be courageous, faithful, because we know how it ends. Church let's be known for our courage. Let's be known for our faithfulness to Jesus, because Jesus was faithful for us all the way to death. And so I just want to ask you to consider this morning, where is God calling you and encouraging you to be faithful and courageous in your life? And let's not just be a church or a people that survive when the world wants to silence us. But let's be a people that thrive in that environment. Let's run towards what God is calling us to and trust that God's purposes and his plan will prevail, because they will.
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We have freedom as Christians to be courageous, faithful, because we know how it ends. Church let's be known for our courage. Let's be known for our faithfulness to Jesus, because Jesus was faithful for us all the way to death.
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Let's not just be a church or a people that survive when the world wants to silence us. But let's be a people that thrive in that environment. Let's run towards what God is calling us to and trust that God's purposes and his plan will prevail, because they will.
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