Yesterday there was a major Terrorist Attack in Paris France.  Over 120 People were Killed and almost 200 others were wounded in 6 separate coordinated attacks around the city.  Paris went to a mandatory curfew, first times since the Nazi’s left in 1944.  France closed its borders to contain any terrorist still there.  The death toll could have been much higher as two of the venues attacked had thousands of people there.

As sad as it was to see this sort of thing, we are reminded that the closer we get to the end of this age, the more of this sort of thing we can expect.  Terror, disasters, war, and disease are only going to increase.

Recently we were talking about earthquakes and Rachel thought a small earthquake might be fun as long as there was no damage.  I said that there is a reason they are among those called “Acts of God”.  When you are in them you feel totally not in control and that anything could happen and there would be nothing you can do about it.  We told her about some of the Earthquakes and Tornados that we experienced and they are not something to look forward to.  In Medford last week, one of the members told of a close brush with death being a little too close to a tornado.

Most people fear natural Disasters as they have killed millions; in fact 10 million deaths over the last 200 years.  War is far more costly in death and destruction and has covered almost every era of history.  The top 20 conflicts have cost the world over 350 million lives.  The next in our list is disease.  It’s hard to get accurate numbers on disease since census data only goes back so far.  But when you start totaling deaths from the various Plagues, flues, smallpox, aids, you quickly get to half a billion people.  Add to that Malaria which has been killing people for thousands of years which some estimates put at half the people who have ever lived. 

Of course you can blame all of the deaths on Satan and his demons that put mankind on a path of death, pain and destruction.  One question that many have asked from the beginning of time is why? 

Why do we have to live with pain and suffering?  Why do we have to live in a world with Satan?  What is the purpose for a life of suffering?  If there is a heavenly realm why are we suffering down here?  If there is a God, why does He not show Himself to the world and save us from all of this?

Have you ever been asked any of these? Did you have an answer? 

Today I would like to start this conversation about answering these and sharing the hope that is in us because if you cannot share hope, the answers we give will be meaningless.  People need to understand that God’s purpose is being worked out here, but at the same time they need hope that it is going to get better and there has been a reason for all this.

There is a popular idiom that’s been around for hundreds of years.  The English Historian and Theologian Thomas Fuller is believed to have first written in in 1690.  Today that idiom will serve as the title for this sermon.

It’s Always Darkest before the Dawn

This phrase seeks to both answer and give hope to the biggest questions in life.  If we are going to share our hope we have to answer the tough questions at the same time.  It mixes darkness and light and gives a natural order to things to help us anticipate the coming light.

If you think back to the conversations you typically have with people about religion is it is rare for someone to venture much past curiosity because they don’t want to give the impression they are interested in joining.  There is a lot of proselyting in the world and people are suspicious.

Now we understand that Jesus taught in John 6:44 that:

John 6:44   44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

History has taught us that God has brought 1000s into the church and without anyone having to go door to door or get in trouble at work or school.  But does this mean that we never share our faith?  I Peter 3:15 says to be ready with an answer to those asking about the hope we have.

That means that even though the Father draws them He needs and expects us to share hope with those he brings to us. So how do you share hope?

How many times have you been called on to give advice?

We have some friends in the church whose 15 year old daughter writes an advice column for the local paper.  It’s quite impressive in itself but she uses this vehicle to answer questions from her faith and she does not hold back.  Recently she responded to a writer that commended her on her spiritual maturity in the way she answers question and wanted to know more about her faith.  She was asked about her personal method of Biblical Exegesis (fancy way to say critical explanation/interpretation of scripture).  The writer said that they were impressed with how she had elevated the local discourse on questions of Life and Faith.  Then she was asked specifically, “I want to know which parts of the Bible you take as the literal truth, which sections you’ve interpreted as conveying God’s message through metaphors and other literary devices, and the evidence you believe supports your choices.”  (Remember she is 15 --- How would you answer?).  She replied brilliantly and it got me thinking about the kinds of questions that people have in this world that traditional religion often gets wrong.

Years ago we saw many people come into the church because they feared the Great tribulation.  Fear is a powerful motivator but it does not have the staying power that Hope has.

Hebrews 11:1  NKJ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

So if you properly share faith you share hope.  That doesn’t mean we don’t talk about dreadful things.  One of the reasons so many are jaded against religion is that they just can’t understand how a loving God can sit back and do nothing while the earth He created is in such turmoil.  They wonder how God can allow so much suffering and not intervene.  And this is precisely where hope is needed.  Most people do know that the bible speaks of very dark days for what many call the end of days.

NKJ Matthew 24:21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

This will be man’s darkest hour.  But as the idiom states, then comes the Dawn.  God has a plan to bring salvation to mankind and you and I know that plan.  You and I live that plan day after day and year after year.  But how do you share it?  If you tell someone you follow the bible that could be good or it could overwhelm the person.  You could launch into the what we eat and how often we go to church when no one else does and that too could be good or bad.

Lets go back to our title today.  “Its always darkest before the dawn”.  Now what does that really tell you?  Now this phrase has been hotly debated over the centuries because some like what it says where others say there is no science behind it.

One could argue that dawn begins when light is returning to the sky which is not right before sunrise.  In that case the darkest hour is when the Sun is directory opposite you on the earth.  At that means that right before dawn is not in the middle of the night.

Dawn is the Point – Dawn represents HOPE

But this phrase is not applied to science it is applied to life.  And it does point to hope rather than doom.  The object of the sentence is the Light of the coming dawn and the darkness is necessary before that light.

Here is the way to share hope.  When we think about always being ready to answer we focus too much on what we are going to say.  What we need to focus on is listening to the need for hope.  That need is a hole that needs to be filled.  We can fill that hole with hope and then with answers.

Some people have told me that they are not interested in salvation if it means the rest of their family will not get it.  Others want to know why there is no fairness in the world.  They don’t care about what I do or do not eat or what day I go to church.  Explain to them why God allows suffering so that it makes sense and maybe then they will listen.

If we want to share hope then we have to listen to the emptiness that people have and show them you are filled with what they are lacking and maybe then, they will be interested in what we are about.  In the time remaining I am going to pose three fundamental questions that people ask.  From there I will start by answering their question and then offer hope so that they are left with more than just an answer.  The first question is: 

1. Why has God been absent for most of History?

The points of view on this one is all over the map.

Everything from God created the world and then became disinterested to the fact that God made very difficult rules to follow or else everyone goes to Hell.  They want to know why some people got the benefit of having God tell them what to do or at least had a prophet tell them what God’s will is.  Now they have a choice between corrupt clergy at worst or hypocrites at best. 

• Did God make a mistake when He made man? 
• Did He compound that mistake when He Chose Israel as His people?
• After Israel failed did God change to a plan to one of personal salvation where only a few lucky ones will be saved?

If you think about it, if you don’t know about God’s plan you can dream up all kinds of scenarios and Satan is all too willing to help fill in the blanks.

This is where I make sure they know that God has had a plan from the beginning.  That He has been working to this day to bring about His plan and that His plan involves everyone.  And I mean everyone.  That is very important.  From the cannibal tribes living in jungles to children that died in childbirth.  God has a plan for everyone.

God created man with many inherent weaknesses.  We have short memories and as such we forget lessons we learn and then make the same mistakes again.  We have the pulls of the flesh which often take us where we don’t want to go.  We have emotions that are often at odd’s with what we want.

The Angles he created without these limitations.  They don’t forget, they don’t have weak, feeble bodies.  But even so a third of them rebelled.

If God made man like He made the Angles then we would suffer their same fate.  Those that rebel would have to live forever in the lake of fire. 

But God made man so He can die.  And in dying he can be spared that future.  If man choses God’s way of life he lives forever in peace but if he choses otherwise, he dies and that ends the misery.  

Since Adam and Eve rejected God in the Garden and followed their own way, mankind has suffered greatly over the thousands of years of separation from God.  Rev 13:8 tells us “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”  Or in the New Living Translation says that “the Lamb who was killed before the world was made.”  Even before Adam and Eve ever failed God had a plan to save man from Himself.

So why doesn’t God make more of an effort to save people?  If He wanted everyone to have a chance then this is the worst possible way to go about it.  UNLESS….. This is not the only day of salvation.  If God does not call us in this life as it says in John 6:44, and it is clear that He doesn’t call everyone today, then He has to have a plan where He does later.

How do we know that.  Turn over to Revelation 7:9-10.  Now we can read in many places that Jesus Christ is the door and no one can come to God except through Christ.  There are 2 billion professing Christians in the world.  Most surveys of church attendance average between 10% and 20% globally. That means very few people in this life will be saved no matter how you calculate it.  The Angels faired far better.  Lets read Revelation 7:9-10. About the number of people who are saved.

 

Revelation 7:9-10   9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,  10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

 

 

That can only happen if God has a plan for everyone.  Everyone will have a chance to know God and then to choose. 

Most people who have ever lived never had that chance.  A just God would not condemn people that never had a chance.  This is Hope.  This is something to have faith in.  The Holy Days lay out that plan in detail but its important to share that God has a plan that hasn’t changed.

2. Why does God allow suffering?

Here is another big question. Everyone is affected by suffering.  And we watch as many people that don’t seem to be very good live long healthy and ever rich lives why the innocent suffer.  It doesn’t seem fair.

There are a number of ways to approach this one.  The more someone has been affected will greatly depend on the answer.  Knowing that God has a plan to restore those that have had life and happiness robbed from the helps but ultimately it comes down to why suffer in the first place.

Wakeup Call:

There is a phrase that many have used as a mantra to change some behaviors in their lives.  It’s called a wakeup call. If someone gets sick they use that sickness as motivation to change their lifestyle.  Its not that we don’t know we aren’t healthy.  Its that we are unwilling to put in the work until we see that our very lives depend on it.

This is true with mankind.  He has decided in his heart to live without God.  It brings misery and death but somehow man thinks he can find a way to live.  Now it wouldn’t be so bad if Satan and His demons weren’t here making it worse but they are allowed by God to do their worst.

This is the brilliance of God’s plan.  He Lets Satan influence the whole world for 6000 years and in then, during the Millennia, he takes only 1 thousand years and makes everything right.  Lets read Rev 20:6-10

 

Revelation 20:6-10   6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.  7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison  8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.  9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.  10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

 

 

God plans puts to rest the notion that there is any other way to life and peace than His way.  Man will try everything and Satan is motivated to help him prove God is wrong.  But they won’t be able to.  And God will do in 1ooo what Satan couldn’t do for 6000.  By the way, this is a great time to teach them about the Sabbath and how God gives man 6 days to do whatever he wants and 1 day to follow God’s path.

It’s always darkest before the dawn fits nicely here when we think about the need for the Great Tribulation to teach man that all roads lead to death except one.

We have free moral agency and we need to learn that all choices but one bring death even if we have to try every one of them to know.  Churchill may have understood this when he said.

Winston Churchill to the House of Commons November 11, 1947

Many forms of Gov­ern­ment have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pre­tends that democ­racy is per­fect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democ­racy is the worst form of Gov­ern­ment except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…

3. I don’t think God cares about me?

It is easy to think this way when we see so much suffering around us.  So much pain and suffering and if God loved me He would take this away.  Like the last question, this too can be a very personal question.  The more personal the question the personal the answer I want to give them.  If they are hurting remember that God So loved the world that He gave his only Son, not just to die, but to suffer.

He knew it from the foundations of the earth and He knew it in the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah speaking of the coming messiah even before either the fall of Israel or Judah.  Even before God divorced Israel or Judah he records in Isaiah 53:10 (reading from the New Living Translation).

 

NLT Isaiah 53:10 But it was the LORD's good plan to crush him and fill him with grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have a multitude of children, many heirs. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD's plan will prosper in his hands.

 

God loves this world and everyone in it.  He wants children and He wants a loving family.  Without understanding God’s plan you can miss this. 

Just because people in this world don’t see how this is working to bring this about isn’t proof of anything.  In 2Cor. 4:3 Paul makes a startling statement.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4   3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,  4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Why would God not want His Light to shine of people who Satan has blinded.  God could have prevented Satan from blinding them.  So why didn’t He?  Its because these things must take place and a few people called now to prepare for the time when all those blinded people are resurrected and shown that light.

For those that are called now we have it more difficult because we are walking completely by faith.  After the second resurrection people will see Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

But someday, people will have their eyes and ears to believe.

But just because we walk by faith doesn’t mean we can’t prove that God exists and test Him to see if He is so.  If someone doubts God’s love for them I would challenge them to talk directly with God about it.  Ask God to reveal His will for them.  Sincerely seek God while He may be found.  I have always found God when I sought Him.  That doesn’t mean I received the answer I was looking for.  But God’s presence is always there and His love for us is sure.

When you take the time to get to know someone and love them as God does, it is much easier to offer Hope.  Real hope is lacking in this world. 

We can acknowledge the dark time as long as we point them to the dawn that will quickly follow.  Answering with solutions and hope is so much better than talking about “have-tos” and “should-nots”.  Solomon wisely said there is a time for everything under heaven.  There is a time to teach about doctrines and God’s Law, but when you first meet someone and hear about their lives, it is a time for Hope.  God may be bringing someone to us and what do they need?  They need shelter from the storms of life.  They need spiritual food that first starts with hope. 

Then they need to be pointed to the one who is coming to bring that hope.  Jesus Christ will bring that dawn, the dawn that will bring an end the darkness.