Words of Jesus Podcast - Good And Bad Things Happen To Everyone

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

Give thanks in all things. God is not our enemy (or our valet). As children, students or disciples we understand that problems are the path to perfection. Jesus said eternal life can be obtained by obedience to the law. Take a longer view of outcomes. Circumstances of life provide the opportunity for our growth. to work with "works of God to be made manifest" God is not our enemy. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? . . . Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. 1 Peter 4***68: Jesus Teaches Concerning RepentanceLuke 13:1-9All Men Are SinnersSome of the crowd told Jesus of the Galileans who had been killed by Pilate and whose blood had been mingled with their sacrifices. Jesus said:             “Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, ‘Nay,’ but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, ‘Nay,’ but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Parable Of A Barren Fig Tree            Then Jesus told those who were with him this parable:            “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, ‘Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?’ And he answering said unto him, ‘Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it. And if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”

Think Red Ink Ministries presents The Words of Jesus Series with Don C. Harris Hello my friends and welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. Last show I kind of wandered a little bit. I'll try not to do that today. I love rabbit trails. They take us into some wonderful thoughts sometimes. Jesus was teaching his disciples. We're still in chapter 68. Jesus was teaching his disciples and he was giving them two current events, things that were in the Jerusalem newspaper.

That was that there was a time when Pilate had slaughtered a couple of I don't know how many were there, it didn't actually say. It talks about the Galileans who came up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. And I've never found any reliable history on this to tell you what the problem was or what actually happened. But nevertheless, they were slain

while they were giving sacrifices in the temple. And Jesus asked them a question. Do you think that they were sinners above all Galileans, that they suffered these things? And as I was saying as the show closed, if these guys had answered honestly, they would have said, well, sure they were. And then he told the story of the tower in Siloam that had fallen and had killed, what was it, 14? And 18.

And that they, he says, do you think those people were sinners above all that were in Jerusalem? They died such a horrible death. And if they had been honest, they would have said, well, sure. That's what we've been told. That's what we've been taught all of our life. You know, when something bad happens, it's because you've done something bad.

And you're just being paid back for it. This is a very common understanding and it permeates pretty much all religions that it's bad karma. You've done something wrong and therefore you're being punished for it. Friend, let me tell you something. You're not getting away with anything, but you're likely not being punished for anything either. Here's what I want you to know, and that is that we serve a wonderful and merciful

God who cares very, very much for us, and since Jesus Christ has come to the earth as the Son of God and now has been elevated to be our God and our judge, he's done something for us that the law could never do for us. You've heard that the law can't save you, but it's only from someone who's reading the scriptures that doesn't understand what justify means. They feel like justification is salvation

and it's not. They feel like salvation is justification. Well, They feel like justification is salvation, and it's not. They feel like salvation is justification. Well, they feel like salvation is justification, and sanctification, and redemption, and regeneration, and all the other words that all have perfectly good meanings, but they just kind of throw them all into one bucket, and so that's why we get bad doctrine. The law, Jesus said, well, if you follow the law, you will gain eternal life. That's what he said. That's not me speaking. It's him speaking. He's the one who said it.

I didn't. So what Jesus has done for us, what's really made the huge difference in the New Testament and the Old Testament living was that we have been justified. In other words, what Jesus has accomplished here on the earth is he became one of us. Buddy, you can believe that when he hung on the cross that day and said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, this was not a guess on his part. This wasn't a deduction on his part. This was experience speaking. He was telling the Lord, and which he probably said many, many times before,

you can't believe what these people have to think with down here. This is awful. Can you imagine taking a being like Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ, and squeezing him into not only a fleshly body, but into a fleshly mind? Giving him a brain? And making him, putting him into such confines. He was totally flabbergasted that we are as

non-understanding as we are. You can't understand anything. I'm going to try to help you here. Well, it was the fact that Jesus was made flesh that gives us justification for some of the stupid things we do. And nobody can justify sin, but we can be justified in some of the stupid things we do. This is why it's so important to separate in your thinking and in your doctrine the difference between stupid behavior and sin. If you violate one of the Ten Commandments, there's no justification

for that. You can't be justified. There is no justification in the law. You can be forgiven, but not justified. But when we live our lives in our puny little bodies with our puny little brains and our disemboweled spirits and our deaf ears and our blind eyes, Jesus understands that. And so therefore, the idea of, oh my goodness,

I did something wrong. I didn't handle a certain situation right. Therefore, my dog died. Friend, you are just torturing yourself. There's no reason to do that. And I promised you that I would tell you that there's a way to live above that. And I promise that there is such a life available in the Spirit of God that when the tower falls and kills one of your loved ones,

or when we're persecuted to the point of losing our lives, and everything in between, when your motor blows up in your car, it will never even cross your mind that I've done something wrong and therefore I'm being punished for it. I don't know about you, but I was really, really glad

to get that out of my repertoire of thinking because it wasn't doing anything but making me mad at God, mad at Christianity. You know, why doesn't God do something? All the blasphemous thoughts that a person has toward God. Man, many of them are rooted in our feeling toward Him as being an unfair judge. My book on Sabbath explores one of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Why did God ask us to rest?

It's really an odd commandment when you think of all that He could have asked us to do to show our faith in and our love for Him. Are we to become Jews, Seventh-day Adventists, or some wild cult in the wilderness? This popular book leads the reader to His most important decision He's made since deciding to make Jesus Christ his Lord. We don't want to miss what Jesus had in mind when he said the Sabbath was made for man.

On Sabbath is a quick read that'll leave you with hours of contemplation. Traditional objections are accurately and concisely answered. We owe it to ourselves to explore this invitation to spend time with the Father. Both of these books are also available in audio. The On Sabbath book is available in English, Spanish, or French. Specify the language you wish. Jesus is trying to dispel this theory.

Do you remember when Jesus was walking along and he found that man that was blind and his disciples asked him, Master, who did sin? Listen to that question, would you? He didn't give him any options. Somebody had to sin. You hear that in what they're saying? Who did sin?

This man or his parents? They didn't even give him the option of, you know, nobody sinning, that this happens according to the wisest man in the world, Solomon, the preacher of Ecclesiastes, who said, look, man, I've lived a long time. Here's what I've known. Good and bad things happen to good and bad people. Jesus is trying to teach that very same thing to his disciples. Look, nobody's chasing you around trying to punish you for what you do. But you should be careful because unless you change this in your mind, it's going to

kill you. It's going to destroy you. It'll destroy your relationship with God. There are myriads of atheists that are atheists because the God they prayed to didn't give them what they want. You talk with them, you interview them, even in casual conversation you think, how can you be an atheist?

Well, God didn't heal my 84-year-old grandmother. Well, when did you want her to die? She has to do that sometime. Well well you can't say that to people but they have some of the most unbelievable stories about having asked god for something and didn't get it or he's uh you know chasing them around and punishing every time they they do something wrong and they have these really bad attitudes about God. And I'm sorry to say the church gave it to them. The church put that into their head. God certainly did not.

And, you know, here's what I've noticed. There is such a thing as consequences for sin. Poor David. You know, he succumbed to the bath sheba thing and nathan the prophet told him he says you know david uh you know it's it's not a really a matter of being forgiven of god which of course he needed and and eventually received because i mean there was involved in that not only adultery, but murder. And nevertheless, Nathan was explained to him,

even though you're forgiven of this, you've jumped off a cliff, and you're forgiven on the way down, but there's going to be a splat at the end. All right, that was my interpretation of Nathan. But Nathan is saying these problems, these sexual problems that you open the door to, they're going to plague you the rest of your life, and they're going to plague your children, your family. You've started something, you've caused something that is going to plague you for the rest of your life. Look, I'm not telling you these things don't happen. Most of our lives are in the mess that we are, they're in the mess they're in because we have created that situation. I'm not

saying that, you know, we're getting a free pass here, but you don't have to perish by them. You don't have to live in that constant state of that black cloud over your head, that feeling that, you know, God is after you. You know, there's some silly southern gospel song about God's going to get you for that have you heard that just it's awful because uh look god's not gonna get you for that um it's he's not our enemy uh those of us who are christian those of you those of us who have received his son as Messiah, he's not our enemy anymore. That enmity between us and God has been eradicated. We have peace with God now. It's totally a different situation. But Jesus is saying, you know, even though God is

who he is, even though I am who I am, even though the truth is what the truth is, your silly doctrines, they're going to drive you crazy. Your silly doctrines, you better be careful because if you don't get these kind of things straight, you're going to find yourself blaspheming God. You're going to perish by these, by these by these things who did sin this man or his parents what are you doing why are you doing that this man is is in the condition he's in for one reason

and one reason only that the works of god might be made manifest in him oh a lot of preachers like to take that story and say he was made crippled so Jesus could heal him. No, he didn't say he's made crippled so I can heal him. He's saying he's made this way so that the works of God might be made manifest in him. And anytime you have trouble, anytime you have sorrow, those kind of things, there's your scripture. This is being done. This is happening to me that the works of God will be made manifest in my life. You ought to thank God that you are worthy to even have a thing.

You know, the Bible teaches us very clearly that there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He'll not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able. And should it come to the stage of torment, of sorrow, of pain, of whatever else, that you can't actually withstand that, you can't actually endure that, He'll make a way for you to escape. There's the God we serve, a way

to escape. He's going to protect us and should it come to the point where you can't make it, He's going to give you a way to escape. There's the God we serve. It's not this angry God with a quiver full of lightning bolts that just loves to stick his little lightning bolt darts into people. It's a horrible vision. It's a horrible description of our of our loving and wonderful god

so jesus is saying so you think these people were sinners above all no they're not good and bad things happen to good and bad people but you need not perish by it it need not take your life it need not take the even the smile off of your face off of your face it need not take your life it need not take the even the smile off your face off of your face it need not remove the smile or the joy from your life it need not do that well how do we do that change change the way you think change that silly doctrine get rid of that idea in your head. It's not true. Why hang on to it? I think some people get some comfort in thinking that they're being punished for a sin. Well, friend, you're going to really be disappointed when you stand before God on judgment day because that sin's not been paid for. It's not been paid for. So you didn't pay for it.

Jesus didn't pay for it. Nobody paid for it. It's still on the books. And so what do you have to show for it? Just a miserable life. Just a miserable life. Why? Because of your doctrine. Because your mother beat it into your head.

That if you trip and fall, that's because you didn't do what i told you to do this morning right i can't i can't believe we even get away with you know the blessing of being able to raise children because we do such a poor job of it all right he goes on to talking about the parable of the barren fig tree a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none then he said to the dresser of his vineyard behold these three years i have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down.

Why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it. And if it bear fruit, well. And if not, after that we'll cut it down. Here is that advocacy of Christ that we need so much. Because, you know, we're not talking about sin here. We're just talking about people that just don't do anything. They don't act on what they know and and it's it's something that i have found

that god can hardly tolerate that lukewarm idea he can hardly tolerate that why is that what's what's happening there what's going on there, that is part of the advocacy and part of the justification that Jesus came to prove. Hey, Father, I'll tell you what. You want to cut it down? Fine. But I'll tell you what. Give me an opportunity. Let me dig about it.

Oh, you might hurt its roots. Let me shake it up a little bit. Oh, you might hurt its roots. Let me shake it up a little bit. Oh, you might shake its leaves off. And if it doesn't bear fruit, well, we'll do what you say. But I really think that if a tower falls on them, I really think that if the motor blows up in their car, I really think that if the motor blows up in their car, I really think that, this is awful. I can hardly say this.

I really think that if their dog dies, friend, you know what I mean, don't you? The sorrows in life, the troubles in life, you know, the things we do to cripple ourselves, to hurt ourselves, to break our bones, to cause all kinds of problems. This is the opportunity for the works of God to be made manifest in our life. We don't learn when everything goes well. We just don't do it we don't learn when our butts don't sting it's it was true when you were a kid it's true today it takes that resistance it takes that

negative thing to bring us to the point where the works of god can be made manifest in us now with this understanding how are you going to face the next one the next time something falls apart aren't you going to grin a little bit i do i'm worthy to i i can i can make it through this? Really? You have that much confidence in me? You know what? That kind of gives me confidence in me. If you think I can do this, I'm going to try to do this. Now, if I can't do it,

you're going to make a way for me to escape? Yeah, I'll make a way for you to escape. What a lovely God we serve. That's why Paul said, give thanks in all things. We don't give thanks for the trouble. What kind of an idiot would do that? But boy, to see the opportunity for the works of God to be made manifest in you? Really? That doesn't just excite you to no end. It does me. And all of a sudden, when the bad things happen,

it's not, oh God, what did I do? It's, thank you, Lord. I'm giving thanks in all things. And watch me. I think i can do this and you just you almost want to prove it to him friend he knows he knows have you ever seen anybody with no trouble in their life aren't they hollow individuals they don't understand anything. They find it difficult to love, difficult to forgive. You know, why can't people just do the right thing? You know, they're very unforgiving and with no understanding.

What puts that into us? What brings about the works of God? What makes the works of God manifest in us? Troubles, problems, strife, contention, all the things that we just hate. But, boy, when you see it like it really is, then you can understand the apostle who teaches us. Now, look, you being chastised,

you know what that means? that means you're in the family that means that he's he's watching over you he's uh he's taking care of you this means that somehow he cares and um and he doesn't have to create these situations for us. These situations are on their way. Do you realize that? Do you know the big one, the great big one that's coming? It's on its way. No, you don't. But it is.

God doesn't have to create some kind of horrible thing to happen to you. It's going to happen. There's just no way around it. Why? Good and bad things happen to good and bad people. But you don't have to perish by it. This is such a lovely lesson because, I mean, I can remember learning this lesson, and it just absolutely changed my life.

So, you know, when I'm on my way doing a very pressing appointment and I have a flat tire, no, I'm not happy about it, but I do know that I don't have to perish by it. I don't have to sit and wonder if God really cares about me or he's chasing me around, sticking me with thunderbolts. It's a lovely way to live. Friend, as a Christian, you don't have any business living any other way. You know, when you don't know, it's tough. And if you constantly find yourself scratching through your bible and looking for this verse and that verse trying to get some comfort i understand why you do that i did that for years but what you will find is is once you get the tire

back on the car and you get your hands clean or whatever you need to do, get that old flat stuck back in the trunk and you sit down in the car and you're about to crank it up to take off again, just stop. Just wait a minute. Just pretend like it took five more minutes than it actually did.

Do whatever you have to do to take that time to hear the voice of God. If you're a man who keeps the commandments, and you're a man that doesn't disobey his conscience, you will never, ever feel that thing, oh God, what did I do? That will never occur to you again.

And frankly, good riddance to bad rubbish. I've never had it actually offer me anything of value whatsoever. And if I can eradicate that from you, man, I'm really handing you the joy of being a Christian, of being in touch with God. Somebody told me one time, you know why that happened to you? Let's just say, I answer, let's just say I don't. don't you tell me why wow and they will and they go on to tell you you know this happened because of this and because of that and God's trying to tell you

something do you know what a comfort it is to be able to say to somebody like that well you know i spoke to him just this morning and he never mentioned it wonder why he wouldn't tell me why would he have to you know why do i have to go to the hospital for somebody like you to walk in and say god's trying to tell you you something. No, I make God's voice available to me every day. So what is it? Keep the commandments, never disobey your conscience, and take time every day to hear the voice of God. It's time for us to go already. My goodness. I'd love to hear from you. Why don't you send me an email and let me know you're listening to the program. Just simply write to Don at thinkredink.com or you can write to Think Red Ink Ministries, PO Box 718, Pytown, New Mexico, 87827.

All right, till I see you again, Think Red Ink, my friend. Bye-bye. Goodbye. C. Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you