when you consider life.
There are things.
that we don't have the answers to.
There are questions that arise.
for which we have no explanation.
Sometimes those in the world are of the observation or they're of the opinion that many things about God there are questions about and there are no answers to.
But when we sit down and we look at what the Word of God actually says, we find there are many of the questions that people ask.
which are already recorded.
Someone in Scripture asked that same question, and the answer is right there for us to find.
One of the reasons why it is important to study the Word of God and not just to read it, but to consider how others are reading it.
It's because sometimes people read right through the question and write through the answer and never recognize it for what it is.
So we're going to spend some time this afternoon with some of the questions about God that we find in the text of Scripture.
We're going to begin with questions about His justice.
Turn over to Genesis chapter 18.
Now each one of these, I will say, we're not gonna spend a great deal of time on, otherwise we won't cover very many questions.
Every single one of these, you could probably do an entire lesson on the question that is asked.
But we're going to begin, and we're gonna cover these simply in a cursory view to help us to frame and understand in our mind that these questions are asked and answered in
scripture.
In Genesis chapter 18,
Abraham is there with Sarah and three visitors come by.
As those three visitors come by, Abraham greets them.
He begs them to stay to allow him to show hospitality.
He does show hospitality and only later will realize that the ones who he is entertaining is the Lord and two others.
The Lord will tell him concerning the son that he is going to have within one year's time.
But then they get up to leave.
And as hospitality and tradition was, Abraham went with them for the beginning of their journey.
And that was common in that day all the way till the days of Paul as he is there in Acts chapter 20, leaving and departing from the church at Ephesus.
But as they are going, the question is asked in verse 17 of the Lord, shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?
God is about to send those two messengers, those two angels on ahead of him to Sodom, where Abraham's family member Lot and his family dwell.
So God asks,
those who are with him shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed
in him for I have known him in order that he may command his children after his household and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and
justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him and the Lord said because of the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because
their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against uh it that has come to me, and if not, I will know."
Then the men turned away from there and went towards Adam.
But Abraham stood before the Lord.
And Abraham came near and said, Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city.
Would you also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who were in it?
Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked.
Far be it from you, shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
The question that is here asked, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
Is one of those questions that people struggle with.
They struggle with a God who judges.
They struggle with a God who judges, viewing life, sin, and righteousness in a way that they, in their physical, mortal selves, cannot view it.
But Abraham asked the question, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?
And he asks and answers the question because he asks it in a way that reiterates he knows in great assurance that God as a righteous judge, as a righteous God will do right by
those
who are just.
Abraham is going to ask the Lord, if there are 50 righteous souls, will you spare the city?
And the Lord agrees.
Abraham asks again if there 45 righteous souls, will you spare the city?
And God agrees.
If there are 40 righteous souls, will you spare the city?
God says yes.
all the way down to ten righteous souls.
God says, ten righteous souls, I'll spare the city.
It's been pointed out by others, and appropriately so.
Then when you pay attention to the text, Lot has more than 10 individuals in his own family.
If only Lot's own family, if all the rest of the city and all the cities around it, and the cities of the plains of Sodom, because there's seven of them that are going to be
destroyed in the midst of this.
If all of them...
were unrighteous and Lot's own family, one family, was righteous.
God said he would spare the city.
The truth of the matter is that when it comes to God's justice, He is a judge who does right.
And yet, the sad part is so often it's humanity that refuses to do what is right.
Lot will survive.
Lot's two daughters will survive.
And none of the rest of the cities will.
And then you consider Job chapter 3.
Job, if you are familiar with the text, was a righteous man.
And yet, is going to suffer tremendously.
In the beginning of the text, you find the devil coming before the Lord, accusing the Lord of having put a hedge around Job, accusing the Lord that if God would simply take away all
of Job's blessings, then Job would curse God and die.
Job would curse God and turn his back on him.
God tells Satan, you can't touch.
Joe.
And you can't touch himself, but anything else you can touch.
So in one day, all of his flocks, all of his herds, almost all of his servants, all of his children are either taken away or killed in a single day.
And Job blesses the Lord.
And in chapter 2, the devil again appears before the Lord and says, it's because everything a man will give for his life, but you wouldn't let me touch him, so he hasn't
cursed you.
So God tells Satan, you can touch him, but you can't kill him.
So Job will end up with boils and sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet as he sits, having been forsaken by his own wife, and he sits in the city dump, scratching
his boils with potsherds that are broken.
And in chapter 3, you read in verse 11,
birth.
Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?
Sometimes people look at the suffering that they go through and they wonder what's the point of living?
Why is it worth living when you look at all they're going through?
And this is just the beginning of a series of conversations that Job will have in the midst of his despair with his friends.
oh
And Job seeks to understand.
Why is he still alive?
As Job goes through the grief and the anguish of losing his entire family, losing everything that he's had, losing all that he has built and struggled to maintain, and yet
maintains his righteousness.
He asks the question many who have gone through much suffering ask, why live?
Yet in the midst of that book, he also understands that there's a God who redeems, that there's a Lord who is still in charge.
And he realizes before it's all over the foolishness of his lips because of the greatness of God.
And the prophet here is going to question why he cries out and why God does nothing.
There will be times in our lives where we feel alone, when we feel as though no one hears us, no one understands what we're going through, what the struggles are that we face, the
iniquity that we see around us.
Habakkuk cried out, Lord, how long shall I cry?
and you will not hear.
Even cry out to you, violence, and you will not save.
Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me.
There is strife and contention arises." The indication of the text is that Habakkuk not only was witnessing these things in person, he was seeing visions of these things from
God.
and he's crying out to God to do something about it.
We live pretty sheltered lives in this country.
It doesn't take a whole lot of reading and a whole lot of time looking at the actions, deeds, and iniquities of men across this globe to realize that we live very blessed and
very sheltered lives.
but Habakkuk didn't.
Habakkuk lived in a day and in a time in Israel where the worst of the worst of the worst in that nation's history were alive and well.
And Habakkuk was crying to the Lord to put an end to it.
And you notice Habakkuk's statement.
Why is it that, how long shall I cry?
And you will not hear.
Sometimes we encounter individuals who are going through some great difficulty or some great anguish or some great strife.
And they say, I don't think God hears me.
I've been praying, I've been asking for this to be changed, I've been asking for this to be changed, but nothing ever happens.
I don't think God hears me.
That's been thought before.
From the midst of Habakkuk's cry, you read down in verse five that the Lord was hearing him,
and that the Lord was going to deal with it on His timeline.
We're reminded that just because we think a problem needs to be solved right now
doesn't mean that's God's decision or God's timeline.
And yet, as we've already discussed, the Lord of all the earth will do right.
If you turn over to Romans...
Romans chapter 9, Paul discusses the nature of God.
And he writes, what shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God?
Certainly not.
For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
we need to realize.
that while God is in charge and while we observe things in our lives, in the lives of others, in the lives of the events of people all over the world, that we do not
understand.
we can be assured of this, the judge of all the earth will do right.
but then consider questions about God's identity and His power.
When Moses comes to Egypt and he comes before Pharaoh after God has called to Moses and spoken to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 and Exodus chapter 4, there as
Exodus chapter 5 begins, Moses and Aaron will arrive before Pharaoh.
And thus says the Lord God of Israel, Moses and Aaron, speak to Pharaoh, verse 1, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast of me in the wilderness.
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?
I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.
Some ask the question, who is God?
And why should I care?
Who is the Lord?
Who's the God of the Bible?
And why should I have to listen to Him?
Pharaoh will demonstrate through his life, his rebellion, and his existence till it comes to an end just exactly who God is.
He's the God who there is none other like Him.
He's the God who controls heaven and earth.
He's the God that can give and He's the God who can most certainly take away.
Why should we obey God?
because He is who He is.
When Moses asked the question of the Lord there in Exodus chapter 3, who will I tell Israel that has sent me?
God tells him, you tell them that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have sent you.
But he goes on to say, you tell them that the I Am that I Am has sent you.
By saying that, God is saying, you tell them that the self-existing one, the one who doesn't need anything, the one that was not preceded by anyone and won't be followed by
anyone, is the one who sent you.
Who's the Lord that I should obey His voice?
He's the one who created heavens and earth.
He's the one who has all authority in heaven and in earth.
Questions Asked Concerning God in Isaiah chapter 40
Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah is going to ask in the midst of this conversation and in the midst of this prophecy concerning God and the idols, he says, to whom then will you liken
God?
Sometimes the question is not who is God.
Sometimes the question is, well isn't there just a bunch of different gods?
Can't we worship one of the other ones?
And Isaiah wants to know, whom will you liken God?
or what likeness will you compare to Him?
What does God look like?
How will you relate to God?
What are you going to see on this earth and think, this is a good representation of God?
Isaiah says, workman molds an image.
The goldsmith overlays it with gold.
The silversmith casts silver chains.
Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot.
He seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter.
Have you not heard?
Have you not known?
uh
Has it not been told to you from the beginnings?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
He brings the princes to nothing and he makes the judges of the earth useless." As I say, says, who are you going to liken God to?
You're going to fashion an image out of gold or silver?
You're get a skillful workman to cut up a tree to where you're have an image of God?
Foolishness.
He looks at everything that exists on this planet and it's as grasshoppers in his sight.
You're not gonna find anything on this planet that represents the likeness of God.
unless, of course, you understand His Word.
But then, you consider Mark chapter 4.
In Mark chapter 4, the disciples come face to face with the reality of who God is.
as they are there trained fishermen who made their occupation on the Sea of Galilee, some of them at least, and they get in that boat and they cross that sea.
And as they're going across the Sea of Galilee, the winds come up and the waves come up and the storm begins to get to the point where they're afraid they are not going to
survive.
And yet Jesus, according to verse 38, is on a pillow in the back of the boat asleep.
They come and say, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?
Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Be still.
wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
But he said to them, Why are you so fearful?
How is it that you have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him?
You see, they came to the realization.
that the person that they had spent so much time with was a whole lot more than they had been giving him credit for.
Who can just say a word?
And the winds and the waves just stop.
So many examples from history, hard times.
You think about the uh days in the early part of the 20th century here in America where the middle of America was known as the Dust Bowl because of the drought, because of the
farms, because the wind would sweep across the country and just create a cloud of dust.
and the harshness of that experience for farmers just trying to grow a crop.
And how many of them would have wished to just be able to say a word and it rained?
But it wouldn't.
And yet Jesus could say a word and the storms would cease.
Who is God?
that I should heed his voice.
He's the God who created everything.
He's the God who can speak and the storm dies and follows his command.
But then you consider as well questions about God's relationship to man.
As we mentioned in our sermon this morning, the psalmist writer in Psalm chapter 8,
We'll ask the question there in verse 4.
You go back to verse 3, when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son
of man that you visited him?
For you have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor.
When you consider
as the psalmist writer did, who humanity is, how insignificant we are in all that God has created.
You might wonder why God even bothers.
Why is God so interested in humanity?
The Psalmist writer doesn't give you all the answers.
but he has pointed out.
that God is clear.
He cares for man.
You turn over to Mike in chapter 6.
the pinnacle question of just exactly what we should know about God, what we should understand about God.
comes not necessarily in the question about God Himself, but rather, what would God have me to do?
If He is the Judge of all the earth, and He will do right, and if He is the Creator of all that exists and there is none other like Him, then what would God have me to do?
And over in Micah chapter 6, we read beginning in verse 6, With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings with calves of a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Micah asked the question, what am I going to do that's going to be sufficient to
pay for my sins?
And he looks at all the things that he could have done under the old law and says, these are not enough.
The Hebrew writer will point out over in the book of Hebrews that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins.
They're insufficient for the purpose.
But Micah does say what God has required.
Verse 8, He has shown you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly?
to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
All the questions that we may have ultimately boil down to this.
Will I hear God and will I keep His commandments?
Will I humble myself to obey His Word?
or will I stand staunchly and emphatically and say, well, until I get every bit of my questions answered, I'm not going to.
Job found out before the end of the book of Job that with all the questions he asked, he hadn't even begun to touch all of the questions God had for him that he couldn't answer.
Sometimes we put just a little too much stock in the questions that we have and not nearly enough stock in understanding what God would have us to do.
Questions about God are worth asking, but all the ones that are really important have already been answered.
We'll open this book and read the answers for ourselves.
If you're here this afternoon and you have need of the invitation of Jesus Christ to become a member of the body of Christ,
To have your sins washed away in the watery grave of baptism, to rise to walk in newness of life, Romans chapter 6, verses 3 and 4.
If you're willing to hear the Word of God and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and you're willing to be obedient to His commandments, then this we know.
The judge of all the earth will do right.
And He's a God who loves to extend His mercy for those who will walk humbly with Him.
If you have need of the invitation this afternoon, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing.