The First Slander And The Goodness Of God (Genesis 3:1-6 and Acts 10:34-43)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:07.000 Genesis three, verses one to six, the story of the fall of man, 2 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:12.230 and then an axe. Ten will look at an excerpt from the sermon 3 00:00:12.349 --> 00:00:20.309 Peter Preached to Cornelius. Genesis three, one, two, six, here 4 00:00:20.429 --> 00:00:24.620 is the word of God. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other 5 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:29.739 beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the 6 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:35.619 woman, did God actually say? You shall not eat of any tree of 7 00:00:35.659 --> 00:00:40.369 the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of 8 00:00:40.450 --> 00:00:44.049 the fruit of the trees in the garden. That God said, you shall 9 00:00:44.130 --> 00:00:46.490 not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the 10 00:00:46.609 --> 00:00:52.240 garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpents said 11 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:58.600 to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that when 12 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:00.920 you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like 13 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:06.590 God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree 14 00:01:06.709 --> 00:01:10.590 was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that 15 00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:15.150 the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its 16 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:19.739 fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was 17 00:01:19.859 --> 00:01:26.700 with her, and he ate. And then acts chapter ten, verses thirty 18 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:32.060 four to forty be three, in the middle of the sermon, the middle 19 00:01:32.060 --> 00:01:34.650 of the message, Peter Brings to Corneius when he comes to his house. 20 00:01:40.049 --> 00:01:44.209 Next chapter ten, verse Thirty Four. So Peter opened his mouth and said 21 00:01:45.049 --> 00:01:49.319 truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, 22 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.319 anyone who fears him and does what his right is acceptable to him. As 23 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:57.879 for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news at peace through 24 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:01.510 Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened throughout 25 00:02:01.510 --> 00:02:06.590 all your dia, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism of John, proclaimed 26 00:02:07.549 --> 00:02:10.710 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He 27 00:02:12.550 --> 00:02:15.979 went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for 28 00:02:15.219 --> 00:02:20.539 God was with him, and we are witnesses of all that he did, 29 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:23.860 both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to 30 00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:28.539 death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third 31 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:31.569 day and made him to appear not to all the people but to us, 32 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:36.930 who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him 33 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.849 after he rose from the dead, and he commanded us to preach to the 34 00:02:39.969 --> 00:02:45.159 people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge 35 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.000 of the living in the dead, and to him all the prophets bear witness 36 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:54.680 that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. This 37 00:02:54.919 --> 00:03:06.349 is the word of the Lord. Would you pray with me please? Father, 38 00:03:06.469 --> 00:03:10.270 we thank you tonight that you are the God who delights to reveal yourself 39 00:03:10.389 --> 00:03:15.740 to your people. You delight to give yourself to us. You have said 40 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:20.580 that we will be your people and you will be our God, and all 41 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:24.099 that you are, you are and to us as your redeem people. Show 42 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:30.969 US yourself tonight, show us who you are as father, son and spirit, 43 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:34.409 that we may trust you and, in trusting you, obey you. 44 00:03:35.969 --> 00:03:40.879 Through Jesus Christ, we pray a man. Well, this evening, I 45 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:46.280 want to talk to you about trusting God, I want to talk about believing 46 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:53.039 in the goodness and the faithfulness of our father, and I want to give 47 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:59.990 you reasons to trust in God's goodness and to fight the lies that contradict the 48 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:04.430 truth that God is good and they're three kinds of people. Are Three circumstances 49 00:04:04.509 --> 00:04:09.310 in which you may find yourself for whom this message may be relevant tonight. 50 00:04:09.389 --> 00:04:14.939 Number one, you may feel like life is out of control and you're anxious 51 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:19.579 in the midst of that. Your life may be characterized by many cares you. 52 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:25.329 You may be obsessing over those cares. You may be obsessing over what 53 00:04:25.490 --> 00:04:28.810 you eat or what you earn, or or how to spend money, or 54 00:04:28.810 --> 00:04:32.810 how to pay your bills or how to raise your children or how well your 55 00:04:32.889 --> 00:04:38.490 children are going to do when they become adults. But you feel life is 56 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:44.519 not within your control and so you're anxious. Or number two, you may 57 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:48.920 feel right now life is very hard because you're in the middle of significant affliction. 58 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:58.709 Those circumstances are different than you want. Maybe it's illness, maybe it's 59 00:04:58.750 --> 00:05:05.029 employment, maybe it's income, maybe it's the burden of depression or other bad 60 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:09.620 things that have come into your life, or maybe even the loss of loved 61 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:13.300 ones that you have faced. You are facing affliction in life is hard. 62 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:17.180 Or maybe your sacred circumstances. Right now, you're in the place where what 63 00:05:17.339 --> 00:05:23.730 God has called you to do is very hard. You're resisting. God's word 64 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:29.850 calls you to a path of obedience that you find distasteful and difficult and you 65 00:05:29.930 --> 00:05:36.240 wish God's commands were more flexible. Now those three circumstances in many ways sound 66 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:41.279 like something all of us, at one time or another, will face. 67 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:46.319 Life is out of control, life is difficult, obedience to God is hard, 68 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:50.189 and I want to speak to the particular temptations you may face in those 69 00:05:50.230 --> 00:05:56.110 situations, because either to night or next week or a year from now, 70 00:05:56.189 --> 00:06:00.990 you will face one of those three circumstances and in those circumstances you are called 71 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:03.980 to do it. A friend of mine used to say, is exercise your 72 00:06:04.100 --> 00:06:10.420 faith. Faith is something you have to exercise. You have to exercise your 73 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:15.540 faith towards God in the midst of those is his wisdom, his goodness. 74 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:23.449 You have to work to trust God in those and in all of those circumstance 75 00:06:23.569 --> 00:06:28.250 use. You not only have to work to trust God, to exercise faith, 76 00:06:29.529 --> 00:06:34.120 you have to work to resist what I call the original lie, the 77 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:40.360 original slander of God, the first slander of God, which we will find 78 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:46.000 here in genesis chapter three, because if you do not resist the slander, 79 00:06:47.230 --> 00:06:51.990 you will find it very difficult to exercise faith and trust God when life is 80 00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:57.189 out of control, when life is difficult that when obedience seems very hard. 81 00:06:58.069 --> 00:07:00.910 So I want to do is walk you through tonight three things. One is 82 00:07:00.949 --> 00:07:04.939 the first slander. The second is what happens when we believe that slander. 83 00:07:05.019 --> 00:07:10.019 What's the fruit of when we believe that slander? And then third is God's 84 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:15.290 last word about the slander. So genesis three, the first slander, tells 85 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:18.050 a story that if you've been a Christian any amount of time, you're probably 86 00:07:18.089 --> 00:07:21.290 aware of and maybe even were aware of if you weren't a Christian, the 87 00:07:21.329 --> 00:07:28.930 story of the serpent tempting Adam and Eve. It's a wonderful tax genesis one, 88 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:31.480 two and three. It's the story of how God created man and woman 89 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:36.680 in his image. He placed them in a lavish garden and that garden was 90 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:43.800 God's Temple, God's dwelling place. Scholars today would say that Eden was the 91 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:46.629 dwelling place of God and God dwelt among his people, which in this case 92 00:07:46.709 --> 00:07:51.750 was just Adam and Eve, and in that lush and Lavish Garden, God 93 00:07:53.189 --> 00:07:57.829 says God, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying you may surely 94 00:07:57.870 --> 00:08:01.860 eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge 95 00:08:01.899 --> 00:08:05.019 of good and evil, you may not eat, you shall not eat, 96 00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:09.100 for in the day you eat of it you will surely die. That's a 97 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:11.970 lavish provision. God had made a garden, sort of like the Tucson Botanical 98 00:08:13.009 --> 00:08:16.970 Gardens, where all manner of resources were available to him, but one was 99 00:08:18.170 --> 00:08:24.850 prohibited, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, traditionally 100 00:08:24.889 --> 00:08:28.480 we've read this as a call to obedience. It's a command to which Adam 101 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:35.480 had to give obedience. But I I think scripture gives a little deeper understanding 102 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.559 of this. I don't think this is simply a called obedience. I think 103 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:46.830 God is calling Adam and Eve to trust him, to trust him as the 104 00:08:46.950 --> 00:08:52.230 giver of the command, to believe that his commands are good because he is 105 00:08:52.389 --> 00:08:58.820 good. He's calling Adam and eve to a life of faith, to trust 106 00:08:58.940 --> 00:09:05.019 in the God who made them, knowing that such trust would lead to obedience, 107 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:07.899 and not just obedience, but a life of faith, a life of 108 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:13.610 trusting in the character of God. Now there are lots of reasons I say 109 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:18.529 that. I could demonstrate that through the rest of scripture or just quoting Hebrews 110 00:09:18.570 --> 00:09:22.330 eleven six. Without faith it is impossible to please God. But I think 111 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:26.120 if you reread the account of Genesis too, you'll be struck first of all 112 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:31.440 by the lavish provisions of God. This was not God giving them a little 113 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:35.639 this was God landing in in the middle of a grocery store in which everything 114 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.389 they could desire or need was present. Only it was a garden, lavish 115 00:09:41.509 --> 00:09:45.990 provision. You may eat if every tree of the garden, and this garden 116 00:09:46.070 --> 00:09:50.549 had everything imaginable in it to them, but you may not eat of one 117 00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:56.419 tree in the midst of the garden. He prohibited access to one fruit and 118 00:09:56.580 --> 00:10:00.100 he says if you eat of it, you will die. He doesn't explain 119 00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:05.779 why he prohibited he just gives the consequences, gives a fair warning. It's 120 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:07.610 a call of Adam and Eve to believe God is good. Look at his 121 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:11.850 abundant provision, look at all the things he has given to you. So 122 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:16.970 his goodness is seen even in the prohibition not to eat of the knowledge tree, 123 00:10:18.009 --> 00:10:22.559 of the knowledge of good and evil. Well entered the serpent, which 124 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:26.679 Genesis says was more subtle or more cunning than all the other beasts of the 125 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:31.840 field. The serpent slithers up to the woman, although at this point he 126 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.870 probably wasn't slithering, because that's a result of his the curse, that he 127 00:10:35.070 --> 00:10:41.230 approaches the woman and he cons her, he plays on her desires. And 128 00:10:41.389 --> 00:10:46.389 verses four and five, that says the serpent said to the woman, ask 129 00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:48.549 did God command the she said Yes, God did, and the serpent just 130 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:54.139 comes right out and says you will not surely die, for God knows that 131 00:10:54.299 --> 00:10:56.580 when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be 132 00:10:56.659 --> 00:11:03.019 like God, knowing good and evil. That's that's a contract direct contradiction of 133 00:11:03.100 --> 00:11:07.169 God. And then first five is interesting. God knows that when you eat 134 00:11:07.210 --> 00:11:09.409 of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, 135 00:11:09.490 --> 00:11:16.289 knowing good and evil. What's the serpent doing here? She he's giving her 136 00:11:16.370 --> 00:11:22.519 reason to disobey, and he gives her reason to disobey by slandering God. 137 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:26.320 That's what he does. First for he says, God lie to you. 138 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:31.440 First five he says the reason God lie to you is he's not telling you 139 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:37.549 everything. There's a hidden motive here. See, God knows that if you 140 00:11:37.669 --> 00:11:39.389 eat of that freed to the knowledge of good and evil, that tree, 141 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:43.269 that something good will happen to you, and God doesn't want something good to 142 00:11:43.389 --> 00:11:48.580 happen to you. God knows that you really they won't die. God knows 143 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:54.500 that. Really, what's going to happen is you will be as him, 144 00:11:54.659 --> 00:11:56.659 knowing good and evil. God knows that, Eve, and he hasn't told 145 00:11:56.740 --> 00:12:03.889 you everything, and he's tempting eve to believe a slander about the character of 146 00:12:03.929 --> 00:12:09.049 God, what I call the first slander, the original slander. And See, 147 00:12:09.090 --> 00:12:11.129 God had said, you can surely eat of every tree of the garden, 148 00:12:11.210 --> 00:12:16.879 and God gave them generous provisions, all trees, every tree. The 149 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:22.960 serpent said, not really, he's really holding back from you. The Best 150 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:28.240 God is being deceitful. So the serpent is directly attacking the name and the 151 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:33.750 character of God, because the serpent's goal is to undermine Eve's trust, because 152 00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:39.470 if eve no longer believes God is good and wise, she will now have 153 00:12:39.629 --> 00:12:46.220 reason for disobedience. See, all disobedience comes from distrust and believing lies about 154 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:52.940 God. This is slander, right, slander is to mark the good name 155 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:54.980 of someone, only, in this case, the slanders of God, which 156 00:12:56.059 --> 00:13:03.490 we call blasphemy. Slander simply suggests that you don't know the whole story. 157 00:13:03.529 --> 00:13:07.970 Right. That's how slander works. You're talking to someone and they say well, 158 00:13:09.889 --> 00:13:11.490 really what's going on and they put their hand over their mouth. It 159 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:16.960 will really what's going on and they tell you what really is happening, what 160 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:18.639 the real motives are. Well, that may be what the boss said, 161 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:24.120 but I happen to know that may be with the Pastor said, but I 162 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.429 happen to know that may be what your husband said, but I happen to 163 00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:33.950 know that may be what your parents say. But see, the slander says 164 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:37.149 they're going to give you the rest of the story, they're going to tell 165 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:41.700 you the whole truth, because they have inside and the person who you're speaking 166 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:48.059 of in a way that you don't, and if you knew what they knew, 167 00:13:48.419 --> 00:13:52.500 you would think differently about that person. Only here it's the serpent saying 168 00:13:52.620 --> 00:14:00.730 this about God. The goal of slander is to undermine trust, to create 169 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:07.129 suspicion. Slander is usually private as it begins, and it's simply a suggestion 170 00:14:07.370 --> 00:14:13.159 that there's another way of looking at this. And Satan is the first slander 171 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.120 and the first person he slanders is God. So what does heve do? 172 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:22.720 Well, you know the story. When the woman saw that the tree was 173 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:24.110 good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the 174 00:14:24.190 --> 00:14:26.990 tree was to be desired to make one wise. She took of its fruit 175 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:31.350 and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who is with 176 00:14:31.470 --> 00:14:35.350 her, and he if you read the whole account, you'll know that God 177 00:14:35.429 --> 00:14:39.379 had already said in Genesis to nine that he was giving every tree that is 178 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:46.059 good, beautiful to look at and good for food. She already is is 179 00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:48.460 missing the fact that God did give her the tree that was good for food 180 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:52.179 and a delight to the odes. But now she's added to it. She 181 00:14:52.379 --> 00:14:58.129 wants more. God had given her lavish gift. She wants one more gift, 182 00:14:58.210 --> 00:15:01.690 which is to be wise, to be like God, to determine good 183 00:15:01.769 --> 00:15:09.639 and evil. She she didn't believe God was good and she believed God was 184 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:16.080 lying to her. That unbelief was created by slander. The slander created her 185 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:24.190 distrust. The distrust gave her grounds for disobedience, and she disobeyed God, 186 00:15:24.350 --> 00:15:30.990 believing God had been holding back. Now let's pull back a second. What 187 00:15:31.110 --> 00:15:33.669 is slander? The slander here is very simple. What is the slander? 188 00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:41.620 God is not good, God cannot be trusted. The slander was God is 189 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:46.299 a scheming, manipulative being who does not joyfully scatter his gifts to his people, 190 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:50.970 but calculates his every move as every command, and he was only using 191 00:15:52.009 --> 00:15:56.169 Adam and need for his purposes. That's the first slander. It led to 192 00:15:56.210 --> 00:16:00.330 the first sin. And, as a result of believing the slander, leave 193 00:16:00.450 --> 00:16:04.679 is really saying God's a bully. I don't believe God he's a bully. 194 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:10.919 He's only commanding us this because he's a bully. He's bigger and stronger than 195 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:15.840 we and we have to obey him. And she was Def Ying God because 196 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.350 she believe God was not to be trusted. God is not good, holding 197 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:23.070 back from us. Now, what's so unusual about this first slander? It 198 00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:29.029 has been passed on to every one of Adam and each descendants. Usually, 199 00:16:29.070 --> 00:16:33.860 slander gets passed on like right. That's how it gets passed on. Here 200 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:37.659 gets passed on by DNA, not literally DNA, but it gets passed on 201 00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:42.659 by birth. We are born into this world believing the first slander. God 202 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:48.970 is not good, God is not to be trusted. It's a slander. 203 00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:53.330 Every member of the human race believes and I know that because whenever God asks 204 00:16:53.370 --> 00:16:56.409 a member of the human race outside of Christ to do something we don't like 205 00:16:57.529 --> 00:17:02.919 or whenever God brings us into a time of affliction or whenever God brings us 206 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:07.319 into situations that seem out of our control, we revert to the slander God 207 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.680 is not good. God cannot be trusted. God doesn't know what he's doing. 208 00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:19.150 God is demanding, he's using his position to force us to obey him. 209 00:17:19.150 --> 00:17:23.630 He has mixed motives. He wants to take away our pleasure. That's 210 00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:30.980 the first slander that Satan brought about, the original slander that infects every member 211 00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:37.900 of the human race outside of Christ. If you read all the criticisms people 212 00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:42.579 have of Christianity, they all come down to believe giving the first lie about 213 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:47.569 going God is not good. God doesn't want us to be free. Once 214 00:17:47.650 --> 00:17:49.650 to take away our freedom. God's not going to do anything to stop evil 215 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:53.609 because he doesn't care. You're a full to trust to God who rules the 216 00:17:53.650 --> 00:17:56.569 universe the way he does. You're a fool to believe in a God who 217 00:17:56.609 --> 00:18:03.799 comes up with the rules he comes up with. That's the first lander and, 218 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.319 like I said, it wasn't just Adam and Eve who believed it. 219 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:12.710 If you know your own heart, you know that when life is out of 220 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:21.309 control, when the command is hard, when the path is filled with adversity 221 00:18:21.710 --> 00:18:26.740 without explanation. You and I attempted to believe this slander. Right. You 222 00:18:26.859 --> 00:18:32.180 and I attempted to think God doesn't know what he's doing. So the other 223 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:34.660 day I was thinking about this, happened to be taking a walk. I 224 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:37.380 was walking the dog. My wife had gone off in the morning to teach 225 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:41.609 pilate's, which he does, and I was taking the dog in a walk 226 00:18:41.650 --> 00:18:45.009 and I was worrying about one of our children. I'm going to come to 227 00:18:45.089 --> 00:18:48.849 this again later, and I realized that why am I worrying? I'm worrying 228 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:52.529 about what might happen to them. Why am I worried about what might happen 229 00:18:52.609 --> 00:18:56.400 to them? I'm worried about what might happen to them because God might let 230 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:57.720 that happen to them. Why am I worried about? Why? God might 231 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:00.480 let that happen to them? Because I don't think God knows what he's doing. 232 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:07.880 That was what it came to. Very simply, I was believing a 233 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.670 lie which led me to look at a circumstance with one of our children and 234 00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:22.910 worry. So that's the first slander. How you think about God will affect 235 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:26.220 how you respond to God when life seems out of control, when you're in 236 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:30.900 adversity or when the commands of God seem very hard. Now, be a 237 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:33.180 Christian a long time, you learn to put a good face on it, 238 00:19:33.299 --> 00:19:41.170 the game face, but inwardly you know whether you're truly trusting in the goodness 239 00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:45.009 of God. That's the first slander. What about what happens when we believe 240 00:19:45.410 --> 00:19:49.009 in the slander? What are the effects of believing this lander? Well, 241 00:19:49.009 --> 00:19:52.690 let's let's think about the effects for a minute. Well, the effects of 242 00:19:52.769 --> 00:19:56.160 Adam and Eve was death. Death to them, and all of us condemnation 243 00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:02.119 death. But what about us? What happens when we believe God is not 244 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:06.720 good, God is not worthy of being trusted? Well, when life is 245 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:11.309 out of control, we become anxious. When life involves suffering, we resist, 246 00:20:11.509 --> 00:20:15.069 we become bitter, we live under guilt, and when the Commands of 247 00:20:15.109 --> 00:20:18.269 God seem unreasonable, we resist them, we kind of Chafe under them. 248 00:20:18.309 --> 00:20:22.019 Let's let's take a look at each of those. Suppose suppose you feel life 249 00:20:22.140 --> 00:20:26.619 is not under control, and anybody here who thinks life is under control, 250 00:20:27.819 --> 00:20:30.660 that's a whole different subject. I think all of us know life is not 251 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:36.490 under our control. Right that when it seems particularly true that life is not 252 00:20:36.569 --> 00:20:41.210 on our control and we believe Eve God is not good, God does not 253 00:20:41.369 --> 00:20:45.210 know what he's doing, what is the outcome in our souls? Anxiety, 254 00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:56.680 right anxiety. And that's how Jesus diagnose the problem. You might remember Matthew 255 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.119 six and the sermon on the Mount. He talked about people who are anxious, 256 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.640 anxious about their life, what they would eat, what they would drink, 257 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:07.670 about their body, what they're going to be clothed with. And he 258 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:10.630 says to the people who are anxious, look at the birds of the air. 259 00:21:10.710 --> 00:21:15.029 They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into Barnes and get their heavenly 260 00:21:15.069 --> 00:21:21.539 father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they is? If 261 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:23.779 God is good to the birds, do you think he's going to be good 262 00:21:23.819 --> 00:21:29.220 to you? and which of you, by being anxious, can add a 263 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:32.220 single hour to his life span? And why are you anxious about clothing? 264 00:21:32.259 --> 00:21:34.250 Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow? They neither toil 265 00:21:34.329 --> 00:21:37.369 nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon and all his glory, 266 00:21:37.529 --> 00:21:41.250 was not a raid like one of these. Do you think God loves the 267 00:21:41.329 --> 00:21:45.009 lilies more than he loves you. So what do you hear? What Jesus 268 00:21:45.009 --> 00:21:51.720 is saying here? He's speaking to the anxious and he's saying your anxiety. 269 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:56.720 Your anxiety is rooted in the fact that that you don't think God cares or 270 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:00.359 God can't do anything to help you. Your anxiety is rooted in the fact 271 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:04.789 that you've believed the original why God is not good, God doesn't care, 272 00:22:07.710 --> 00:22:10.430 and and you live in a world that's filled with many needs and live in 273 00:22:10.470 --> 00:22:15.059 a world filled with uncertainty and things not in your control. If you believe 274 00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:19.980 the lie that he will not give us what we need, you will be 275 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:27.339 anxious. Anxiety is a theological problem. Ultimately, they have medical causes, 276 00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:33.250 me of chemical issues, but ultimately anxiety is a theological problem. We're believing 277 00:22:33.329 --> 00:22:41.170 a lie about God. We don't trust him because we question his goodness and 278 00:22:41.289 --> 00:22:45.480 his ability to take care of us, and that leads to anxiety. Why 279 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:51.400 is it lead to anxiety? If God's not going to take care of it, 280 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:55.960 who has to me? Right, I know to take care of it. 281 00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:00.309 The only problem is controlling life is way above my pay grade, and 282 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:10.390 anxiety is the fruit of my attempts to be God. Anxiety is like. 283 00:23:10.670 --> 00:23:14.579 Is like the sign that I think I'm God, and guess why? I'm 284 00:23:14.619 --> 00:23:17.220 not big enough to do it. So I'm anxious. God's never anxious. 285 00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:23.420 I'm anxious I cannot control my life. I cannot guarantee the outcomes I want, 286 00:23:25.900 --> 00:23:32.089 Martin Luther said to Philip malengthen there was a real warrior. He rebuked 287 00:23:32.089 --> 00:23:37.930 Philip one day. He said Philip, let Philip cease to rule. What 288 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:42.559 was he saying to him? Stop playing God, you are not in control. 289 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:47.920 God is in control. Trust him. Your anxiety is telling me that 290 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.240 you think it all depends on you, which means you're not believing the truth 291 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:59.029 about God. You're believing a lie. To be quite candid, if the 292 00:23:59.150 --> 00:24:02.430 God, who is the true God, who created and governs all thing, 293 00:24:02.589 --> 00:24:04.549 is not all things is not good, we have a lot of reasons to 294 00:24:04.630 --> 00:24:11.460 be anxious. But if he's good, then we may not fear and trust 295 00:24:11.539 --> 00:24:17.539 him. God is worthy of our trust, and anxiety is the fruit of 296 00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:21.579 believing a lie about God rather than trusting him. Well, what about the 297 00:24:21.619 --> 00:24:23.329 next subject I gave? What about when life is hard, when we suffer? 298 00:24:25.410 --> 00:24:30.650 Lots of ways we suffer. Sometimes I think suffering is almost infinite. 299 00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:37.640 Infertility, cancer, divorce, in justice, betrayal, we could go on 300 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:44.440 down the list. Now, when you come into suffering, especially prolonged suffering, 301 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:48.480 how do you believe the lie when you come into suffering? Well, 302 00:24:48.519 --> 00:24:52.440 their couple ways. We believe Satan's lie, the first slander. We believe 303 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:56.230 God's punishing me. I must have done something wrong. He's going after me 304 00:24:56.349 --> 00:25:00.589 to punish me. Or God's just learning me something. I hear that one 305 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:03.750 so much. I'm not I must must be. I'm just thick skinned and 306 00:25:03.829 --> 00:25:11.339 God has to break me up to get my attention. or I just don't 307 00:25:11.380 --> 00:25:15.220 understand how God works. I don't understand suffering. I don't understand how, 308 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:18.140 if God is good and Almighty, this can happen. So I just don't 309 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:23.650 trust him. In short, we come into times of suffering and we believe 310 00:25:23.650 --> 00:25:26.369 a lie when we say God must not be good and God must not be 311 00:25:26.529 --> 00:25:32.089 sovereign. He's severe, he's using severe means when less severe means would do 312 00:25:32.170 --> 00:25:40.559 just as well, and this leads to what Selfpity, anger against God, 313 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:45.200 against others, despair. How can you fight God? prayerlessness? What's the 314 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:52.029 point of praying? Now it's interesting once again. Scripture goes after how we 315 00:25:52.230 --> 00:25:56.630 think of God when it addresses how we respond to suffering. Hebrews twelve. 316 00:25:57.349 --> 00:26:03.470 These people are undergoing great suffering, and the writer of the Hebrews has the 317 00:26:03.589 --> 00:26:07.059 boldness to say, have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 318 00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:14.339 My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be 319 00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:19.849 weary when reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and 320 00:26:19.970 --> 00:26:26.490 chastises every son whom he receives. What's the writer doing? He's going after 321 00:26:26.529 --> 00:26:30.730 their hearts. He's going after what they believe to be true about God. 322 00:26:32.009 --> 00:26:36.960 He's giving them reason to exist. The original slander that God is not good, 323 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:42.799 that God does not love his people. Now what's interesting is is sufferings 324 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:47.119 a challenge to us from many ways, and we all know their false teachers. 325 00:26:47.190 --> 00:26:52.150 Today, Prosperity Gospel preachers who insist that suffering cannot be from God, 326 00:26:52.829 --> 00:26:57.950 that are good in loving God would never allow his people to suffer. The 327 00:26:59.069 --> 00:27:02.579 reason we suffer is our unbelief. If we just had enough faith, we 328 00:27:02.660 --> 00:27:06.460 wouldn't suffer. Now, please. That's not what I'm saying when I say 329 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:10.779 we need to trust God. In response to our suffering. I'm not giving 330 00:27:10.819 --> 00:27:15.849 you the key that unlocks you into a prosperous and healthy life. I actually 331 00:27:15.890 --> 00:27:22.490 think the prosperity God is a cruel God, because he's saying if you get 332 00:27:22.490 --> 00:27:26.089 a sea plus or above in faith, you won't suffer, but if you 333 00:27:26.130 --> 00:27:30.799 get to see her below, you're going to suffer too bad. That's not 334 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:37.519 what Hebrews is saying. Hebrews is saying God, in his love, sends 335 00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:42.119 us suffering for our good so that we might know him better. He's so 336 00:27:42.279 --> 00:27:47.509 committed to our wellbeing that he even use pain to shape us, only when 337 00:27:47.630 --> 00:27:52.509 necessary, and c s Lewis said, pain is God's megaphone and it's because 338 00:27:52.549 --> 00:27:56.349 he cares so much for us that he will deploy it for our good. 339 00:27:57.190 --> 00:28:03.339 He can be trusted. So when life is out of control, we have 340 00:28:03.420 --> 00:28:06.420 to resist the first slander and believe God is good and will take care of 341 00:28:06.539 --> 00:28:10.819 me and is ruling over all the events of my life. When I'm suffering 342 00:28:10.900 --> 00:28:15.170 a specially prolonged suffering, I resist the first slander and I believe that God 343 00:28:15.369 --> 00:28:18.970 is good and wise and loving and he's doing what is according to his goodness 344 00:28:18.009 --> 00:28:22.130 and wisdom and love. Well, what about what? Obedience is hard. 345 00:28:25.250 --> 00:28:30.720 See, if I believe God is not good, I'm left with commands that 346 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:36.400 may not be good. If I believe God is not good, I'm left 347 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:41.630 with thinking when God gave that absolute he didn't take my situation into account. 348 00:28:44.829 --> 00:28:48.190 I'm left for thinking God maybe holding back on me, that his commands are 349 00:28:48.309 --> 00:28:56.500 not for my good, that, in a sense, God ends up being 350 00:28:56.539 --> 00:29:00.019 a playground bully. I have to obey even if I don't want to, 351 00:29:00.099 --> 00:29:07.019 because he's bigger and stronger than I am. Now here's where it gets interesting 352 00:29:07.140 --> 00:29:11.250 this particular case. See, if I believe God is not good and I'm 353 00:29:11.529 --> 00:29:17.289 a follower of Christ, there they're two options before me. And what to 354 00:29:17.329 --> 00:29:19.609 do when it comes to the Commands of God. One has good optics, 355 00:29:21.329 --> 00:29:26.839 the other has really bad optics. Good optics is I'm going to submit grudgingly. 356 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:30.359 Now no one will know it's grudging on the out how to to look 357 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:34.839 like obedient Jane and Obedient Harry, Oh aren't they godly? Look at them. 358 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:41.109 How they obey God, even though it's hard. But inwardly, here's 359 00:29:41.109 --> 00:29:44.069 what's going on. I'm stuck. I got to submit to God. He's 360 00:29:44.109 --> 00:29:47.309 bigger than I am. I'm going to do what I'm told, even though 361 00:29:47.309 --> 00:29:49.829 I don't like it, even though I don't think God knows what he's doing. 362 00:29:51.549 --> 00:29:53.220 I'm going to be just like that older brother in the parable the two 363 00:29:53.259 --> 00:30:00.180 sons. That's the good optics. Looks Great on the outside. Inwardly I 364 00:30:00.220 --> 00:30:06.339 don't trust God. Bad optics. I'm going to be authentic, the modern 365 00:30:06.380 --> 00:30:10.849 virtue of authenticity. I don't think God knows what he's talking about. I'm 366 00:30:10.849 --> 00:30:11.609 not going to obey him. I'm going to do what I want to do. 367 00:30:14.289 --> 00:30:18.009 I don't care if he wins. Well, that looks bad. That's 368 00:30:18.089 --> 00:30:21.960 the younger brother in the parable the two sons. Now it's exting. Option 369 00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:30.359 one is a legalist who obeys without joy and submits with gritted teeth. We 370 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:37.309 could also say the legalist is the one who muscles there for anxiety down, 371 00:30:37.710 --> 00:30:41.269 wrestles it down, doesn't let it control them, deals with their resentment against 372 00:30:41.269 --> 00:30:48.109 God for suffering, but doesn't really change their hearts. That's the legalist. 373 00:30:48.150 --> 00:30:52.819 The option to is the licentious. Now notice in the Church we reward number 374 00:30:52.859 --> 00:31:00.180 one and we punish number two. Right, so long as someone's outwardly conforming, 375 00:31:02.140 --> 00:31:07.609 that's good. That's not how Jesus sees it. Number One and number 376 00:31:07.650 --> 00:31:11.609 two, the legalist, who resents God but obeys, the licentious, who 377 00:31:11.609 --> 00:31:17.089 resents God and disobeys, are really the same. They only look different. 378 00:31:17.970 --> 00:31:21.519 and Saint Claire Ferguson says, the League is legalist, believes God is not 379 00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:25.000 good, but he yields to God because God is bigger than he is, 380 00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:30.559 and the licentious believes God is not good and disobeys for the same reason. 381 00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:37.269 They both bought the lie, the slander. Both of them believe God makes 382 00:31:37.309 --> 00:31:41.390 up rules without lover wisdom. Both of us believe God. Both of them 383 00:31:41.470 --> 00:31:47.339 believe God wants US happy only when it suits his purposes. Both of them 384 00:31:47.380 --> 00:31:49.980 believe God just hold holds back what is really good because he's not good. 385 00:31:53.460 --> 00:31:59.220 That's because I believe the first slander. God can't be trusted. God knows 386 00:31:59.420 --> 00:32:02.130 that if you get to do that, something good's going to happen. He 387 00:32:02.289 --> 00:32:08.410 want that to happen for you, so he's just making a difficult so we 388 00:32:08.529 --> 00:32:14.329 looked at the first slander. We look at the fourt the what happens when 389 00:32:14.410 --> 00:32:16.440 we believe that and how it affects us when life's out of control, when 390 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:22.960 life is difficult or when the command is very hard. And now we're going 391 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:24.880 to look at God's last word. I love the I love the imagery of 392 00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:29.799 the last word. There ever been a conversation with somebody where one of you 393 00:32:29.880 --> 00:32:34.430 had to have the last word? How'd that go? Conversation never ended right. 394 00:32:37.349 --> 00:32:38.950 Somebody always wants the last word in the argument. Well, God gets 395 00:32:38.990 --> 00:32:45.779 the last word because he's God. If you've ever been slandered, especially if 396 00:32:45.779 --> 00:32:50.220 you've ever been publicly slandered, you know it is foolish to try to answer 397 00:32:50.380 --> 00:32:54.019 the slander publicly. You can't. You can't argue with it, you can't. 398 00:32:54.500 --> 00:32:59.329 You can't say that's not true, because the slander will always have another 399 00:32:59.369 --> 00:33:01.410 way to interpret things to make it sound like it's true. It's a foolish 400 00:33:01.450 --> 00:33:06.049 to try, once the slander has spread, to try to talk it away. 401 00:33:07.250 --> 00:33:12.650 The only way to answer a slander is by actions, by showing it's 402 00:33:12.690 --> 00:33:17.039 not true, by demonstrating with your life it's not true. And that's exactly 403 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:22.319 what God has done. That's exactly what God has done by showing us what 404 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:28.789 he is really like. He gives us a weapon against the slander that Satan 405 00:33:28.869 --> 00:33:31.750 put upon us. Well, how does God do that? Well, in 406 00:33:31.829 --> 00:33:37.589 Jesus Christ, God gives the final word that he is good and to be 407 00:33:37.710 --> 00:33:42.460 trusted at all times. That takes place in a couple ways. Number when 408 00:33:42.740 --> 00:33:45.420 you look at the life of Jesus and you find that he is, as 409 00:33:45.500 --> 00:33:49.339 Peter said, an act abundantly good. He went about doing good and healing 410 00:33:49.380 --> 00:33:52.099 all who were oppressed by the devil. Everywhere he went he did good, 411 00:33:52.180 --> 00:33:58.130 because that is what God is like. Matthew says this is the generosity in 412 00:33:58.210 --> 00:34:02.730 the goodness of God that when Jesus fame spread throughout all of northern Galileans and 413 00:34:02.930 --> 00:34:07.530 Syria, they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and 414 00:34:07.690 --> 00:34:13.440 pains, those are pressed by demons, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed 415 00:34:13.480 --> 00:34:17.679 them. That's how good he is, not reluctantly, not grudgingly, but 416 00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:27.590 lavish. We see in Jesus the goodness of God revealed. BB Warfield, 417 00:34:27.630 --> 00:34:32.550 who was a noted Bible scholar, theologian and of the Nineteen Early Twentieth Century, 418 00:34:34.150 --> 00:34:37.550 commented that what we have in the Gospels, if you put it all 419 00:34:37.590 --> 00:34:40.420 together, is probably two weeks of Jesus, three to four your public ministry. 420 00:34:42.099 --> 00:34:46.300 That's all he said. If you if you just do reasonable extrapolation on 421 00:34:46.420 --> 00:34:51.579 his Galilean Ministry, where he was the majority of his time, and you 422 00:34:51.699 --> 00:34:54.530 take those incidents of healing that we have recorded in some Rey statements like this 423 00:34:54.690 --> 00:35:00.530 Warfield said, it would not be unreasonable con to conclude that all disease was 424 00:35:00.650 --> 00:35:09.599 vanquished in Galilee while Jesus was there. That's how good he is. So 425 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:15.880 we see it in his life, we see it in his teaching. I 426 00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:20.280 was, I'm struck by this again again. The fundamental reason Jesus says we 427 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:24.829 should pray. It's because God is generous. Why does he have to keep 428 00:35:24.869 --> 00:35:32.670 reminding us of that? We don't believe it. We don't believe it. 429 00:35:36.260 --> 00:35:38.420 If you, being evil, give good gifts, how much more will your 430 00:35:38.460 --> 00:35:45.139 father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? In order to 431 00:35:45.260 --> 00:35:49.699 show us how we think about God, he portrays God as the unjust judge, 432 00:35:49.780 --> 00:35:52.690 that the widow has to beg and annoy UN till she gets her answer, 433 00:35:52.969 --> 00:35:55.969 because that's how we think of God. And he says, if that's 434 00:35:55.969 --> 00:36:00.369 the way your picture God, even that kind of a God, eventually gives 435 00:36:00.409 --> 00:36:06.679 you something but he's God's not like that. If you, being evil, 436 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:12.039 give good gifts, how much more will your father in heaven? So we 437 00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:14.280 see it in his life, we see it in his teaching. That where 438 00:36:14.280 --> 00:36:16.880 do we go ultimately see the generous goodness and love of God? We go 439 00:36:17.480 --> 00:36:27.550 to the cross. Jesus in obedience to the father who sent him marched to 440 00:36:27.670 --> 00:36:32.019 the cross, trusting the father the whole way, not grudgingly. Don't read 441 00:36:32.059 --> 00:36:39.460 Gussemite as well, I guess I have to now. There is trust in 442 00:36:39.619 --> 00:36:45.019 Jesus toward the father as he goes to the cross. He says in John 443 00:36:45.539 --> 00:36:54.210 the father is with me now. He demonstrates rust in the generous love of 444 00:36:54.530 --> 00:37:01.039 the father even as he walks a path of obedience on to death. And 445 00:37:01.239 --> 00:37:06.440 he reveals to us the generous love of God by dying for sinners like us. 446 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:10.800 Paul says, while we were weak at the right time, Christ died 447 00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:15.789 for the ungodly, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though 448 00:37:15.829 --> 00:37:19.070 perhaps for a good person one would dare to die. But God shows his 449 00:37:19.230 --> 00:37:22.429 love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us 450 00:37:23.989 --> 00:37:29.429 and the giving of his son for us God gives the last answer to the 451 00:37:29.630 --> 00:37:35.420 satanic slander. You think I'm not good, I will show you how good 452 00:37:35.460 --> 00:37:39.019 I am. I will do what no human whatever do. I will show 453 00:37:39.099 --> 00:37:43.139 love to my enemies, not to the good, not to the righteous, 454 00:37:43.139 --> 00:37:49.889 but to my enemies. I will not spare my own eternally precious son to 455 00:37:50.170 --> 00:37:57.409 redeem sinners who hate me from their destruction. I will act to restore you 456 00:37:57.449 --> 00:38:00.480 to me, to forgive you of your unbelief and to pour out my favor 457 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:07.679 on you as my sons and daughters, at the highest price imaginable. That's 458 00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:15.349 my answer to Satan slander. And there's no answer to God's answer. He 459 00:38:15.469 --> 00:38:19.989 who did not spare his son but delivered him up for us all. How 460 00:38:20.150 --> 00:38:25.909 will he not, with him freely give us all things? So that becomes 461 00:38:25.949 --> 00:38:31.860 a weapon, and I use the word weapon intentionally, because this battle for 462 00:38:31.980 --> 00:38:37.699 what I believe in my heart is a war. The slander of Satan has 463 00:38:37.860 --> 00:38:45.010 deep roots in the human soul. It has mighty weapons because we are lean 464 00:38:45.250 --> 00:38:49.650 that way as sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, and it takes this 465 00:38:49.889 --> 00:38:53.449 great truth of God's Love, revealed in the Gospel, to Pummel that lie 466 00:38:53.650 --> 00:38:59.280 into submission, to take that plant, which has such deep roots, and 467 00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:02.400 tear it up again and again and say that is not who my God is. 468 00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:07.920 My God is good, my God is just. My God has shown 469 00:39:07.960 --> 00:39:10.550 his great love for me. My God is worthy of my trust. All 470 00:39:10.670 --> 00:39:16.309 his ways are good. I will follow him gladly and confidently because he has 471 00:39:16.510 --> 00:39:24.139 shown me what he is. The brothers and sisters don't yield to the slander 472 00:39:24.260 --> 00:39:30.739 of Satan which infected our first parents. Take the truth about God that he 473 00:39:30.780 --> 00:39:35.900 has answered in the Cross and when life is out of control, when you're 474 00:39:35.900 --> 00:39:38.250 in the midst of suffering, when the commands of God seem hard, go 475 00:39:38.449 --> 00:39:43.730 back to the love of God revealed in the Cross and let that answer all 476 00:39:43.809 --> 00:39:49.489 your questions about his goodness and trust him. Let me pray for us.