God is great! Evolution is not even a math equation. Nothing plus nothing does not equal something but nothing.

If it exists in its natural state then it came from God. There is no such thing as natural phenomena. God created time because faith cannot exist without time. You believe by faith then experience the result of it. In any relationship trust is the foundation. It can increase and decrease with people. We accuse God of being unfair, unjust and indifferent. But he has more than proved these things to be untrue by giving us his son. God allows us to live in such an environment in order that he can continue to prove his love for us creating the opportunity to believe or not believe.

The Old Testament believers looked forward to the cross by faith.

New Testament believers looked back believing. But God sees the two in one panorama in the present tense. Adam did not sin by breaking the Ten Commandments but by making the first independent decision outside of God. 'I am in control.' Our culture now sees that as a virtue. But we were designed to be dependent on God. The job description of God is to run everything but he has 6.5 billion applicants for the job who want to compete with him. Each candidate draws a circle around them and declares they to be god of that world.

If independence was the benchmark for strength them Christ was the weakest man who ever lived.

The world's definition of weakness is to be dependant on someone other than you. Satan tempted Christ to go independent and satisfy his need of the moment. Christ did not say he could call down angels just before his crucifixion.

Christ did not lift up an independent hand all his life.

Your strategy for living was developed in the same way Paul refers to about himself. How he used to think, act and feel were developed through his flesh in a twofold way:

1. Get love and respect from others

2. Give myself love and respect

To maintain these two things you believe that you have to stay in control. Getting a steady supply of love is so important because God is love and he gave you the desire in the day you were created. You are born with an intense need to be loved but do not know God yet. There are three types of people who think they are in control:

1. USDA prime choice

2. Plain vanilla

3. Vacant

The first two keep building their life skills of getting people to love and respect them but the last type is all about surviving in a world without love. The milk their love supply from people by what they do for a living, what they own, which they know and so on. The last type handles rejection much better than love. They want to be loved but when they get it they do not know what to do with it. They are like a dog that chases a car. Once the car has stopped they do not know what to do with the car. They keep their spouse, kids, other people and God at arms length simply because they do not know how to receive the love being given.

When Adam sinned it was spiritual suicide.

That very day he died spiritually. From that moment all children born in the human race were spiritual stillbirths, dead to God, lost, enemy of God, guilty, rejected and a child of wrath. Being born gave you an immediate identity crisis. A dog is a dog not because it eats dog food. You could eat dog food but it would not make you a dog. It was born a dog. Its performance in life does not make it a dog but its birth. You are a human being by birth. Your mom did not pray between labor pains, 'please make the child human' but simply being born made you human.

The fatal seed comes from the dad. Christ did not have a human dad but the Holy Spirit conceived him in Mary.

There is something biologically wrong with this verse because a woman does not have seed. Christ could not have had a human father or he would have been in the line of the first Adam. Sinners are not sinners because they sin but because they were born that way. Spiritual identity is a big deal. You cannot change it by cleaning up your act.

Hell was not created for any human being but Satan and his angels. People are not sent to hell but they choose to go there. They literally have to trample the blood of Christ to get there.

Christ has no beginning or end. His life extends to the past and the future.

Several things took place at salvation. You were crucified

You were buried

Because he was raised you are also raised at the moment of salvation

Christ is now your life

Now you have a future. When Christ was crucified, died and buried you were in him. When he was raised you were re-created in him.

Your past is no longer from the first Adam who spiritually died but in Christ who had no beginning and will have no end. If you have a painful past this is the most liberating reality of salvation. You may have wished for a new start in life and this is it. The fallen history of the first Adam no longer dictates to you. Healing is yours if your past is riddled with rejection, trauma and gross sin. You no longer have to strive for acceptance, love and respect. Your trust is no longer in the approval of people.

Now you are born again what proof do you have that your sins are forgiven? It is not a feeling but faith in what the Word of God says. After the cross there are 60 statements that say you are holy. It is not because of your performance in behaving well but in your birth - new birth. (John 3:7) "You must be born again." Salvation is a two-sided coin. Christ in you is heads and you in Christ are tails. Most believers know of the heads side that Christ is in them. But now many know they are in Christ. There are ten to one times as many references to the believer being in Christ. How you feel is not the measuring line to who you are but faith in God's Word is.

What you feel and what the Word says

1. 'I am too weak to resist sin' (Romans 6:7) "…anyone who has died has been freed from sin."

2. 'I am a failure' (2 Corinthians 2:14) "…thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession…"

3. 'I'll never change' (2 Corinthians 5:17) "…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

4. 'I am inadequate' (Colossians 2:10) "…and you have been given fullness in Christ…"

5. 'Everyone must live there own life how they want' (Colossians 3:3-4) "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

6. 'I'll never understand the Bible' (2 Corinthians 3:14) "But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away."

7. 'All I need is to win the lottery' (Ephesians 1:3) "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."

8. 'I'm always the last one to be chosen' (Ephesians 1:4) "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

9. 'I worry about the future' (Ephesians 1:11) "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…"

10. 'What if I lose my job?' (Philippians 4:19) "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

11. 'I am losing my mind' (Philippians 4:7) "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

12. 'God seems to be far away' (Ephesians 2:13) "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ."

The Chronicles of Christ
The Lion, the Witch and You. - Part 9

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At the height of the Vietnam War the Wall Street Journal reported that the politicians were making all the weekly decisions on how to engage the enemy. Of that group there was not military representation to help identify targets and build strategy. A small group managed the war with no real time experience. It became a joke US troops could fire one bullet and call 'time out' to the enemy and go back to the safety zone to reload another bullet. History has recorded that no one really had in mind the big picture of what was happening from the troops to the Commander in Chief. It had a negative affect on those who were required to submit to authority giving a strong impression that the authority did not care. This is how the believer can approach God in the subject of suffering that he does not care.

(Ephesians 6:12) "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

God told Adam that if he went independent on him the world he created would go bad on him. He did, it did, and its still happening today

(John 16:33) "These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Tribulation is the Bible's term for Satan's work not God's work. We were rebellious by birth but when we were born again God gave us a new heart that wants to be obedient to him. Despite being born again the problem of suffering still exists in the world.

(Isaiah 43:2-5) "When (not if) you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When (not if) you walk through the fire, you will not be burned…Since you are precious and honored in my sight…do not be afraid, for I am with you…"

A lack of understanding the big picture can erode the spiritual morale of spiritual warfare. Satan targets your mind during times of suffering. Satan loves people to be hooked into a cultural religion. Our country has entire communities hooked into this like the Dutch Reform communities and many more. Small countries across the world are characterized by religion.

(2 Corinthians 3:14-16) "But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant (in their minds) is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away…but whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."

We can be deceived into performing spiritual workouts and push-ups from the cultural religion that is man's idea how to approach God. Christianity is God's idea of how to approach him through Christ. The crusaders fought over religion, the SS in Nazi Germany were deeply religious, and Ireland is split into two through religion. President Bush said in a prayer breakfast 'Behind all of life and all of history, there's a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God.' At the same time the Extreme Muslims prayed 'Fight as God ordered you to fight.' But the Pope, US Catholic Bishops, UK Bishop of Canterbury and theologians around the world have said it is not a religious war but a political war. Look at the following texts:

1. 'Then you must utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them and show them no mercy' (Torah Deuteronomy 7:1-2)

2. 'Thou shall not kill' (Torah, Exodus 20:13)

3. 'All who take the sword will perish by the sword' (New Testament Matthew 5:43-44)

4. 'Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but aggress not' (Koran 2:190)

5. 'Whoever fights in the cause of God, then gets killed or attains victory, we will surely grant him a great recompense' (Koran 4:74)

6. 'When all efforts to restore peace prove useless and no words avail, lawful is the flash of steel' (10th Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh)

7. 'May your weapons be strong to drive away the attackers, may your arms be powerful enough to check the foes, let your army be glorious, not the evil-doer' (Hinduism's Rig Veda 1-39:2)

Religion is far better and taking prisoners that any other force on earth. Other things take prisoners one by one but religion takes entire families, communities and nations on mass. Christianity is not the cultural religion we see but a relationship with God through Christ. Religion blocks the Gospel like police officers on a highway.

(Galatians 4:6) "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father."
(Romans 8:15) "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father."

God wants you to love him as your Father because of who he is not what he can do for you. The problem is that God is the richest, biggest and most powerful Father in town. If you are the richest man in town it is very difficult to know who is your friend because of what you can do or for who you are. If he is poor most would not want to be his friend or respond to the overtures of his attempts to be your friend. A rich man can never really know for sure if the people around him really love him for who he is.

You profess your love for God but you can never really know how much you love God until you experience undeserved suffering. When you experience this you have a choice to continue believing God has never changed his love for you or to believe the lies of Satan that somehow you failed God therefore you are now suffering. God has placed us and kept us in an environment where we are forced to choose. Only in this way can you know how much you love him.

Are you riding the glory train because you love the engineer or because of the destination of the train? Do you love the King of kings for who he is or what he is preparing for you? Will you continue to worship him as long as it continues to pay off for you? Do you love God based on what he does? If he continues to bless you will you continue to pay him back with love? Job failed the test at one point.

(Job 23:4,10) "I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments…but he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."

Job was saying he deserved God's best based on his performance. Must God earn your love? Suffering puts the squeeze on you and allows you to really know yourself. God does not have to test you to know your heart but he tests you so you know your own heart. You need certain answers about yourself. How you respond to undeserved suffering will reveal a great deal to you about you.

What is heaven was not utopian but a dry place where the temperature soared and all the streets and buildings were crowded? What if you had to labor all day? What if there was no beauty? But there would be a bright spot in your day because your co-worker would be Christ. There would be a shortage of food and drink and your accommodation would be noisy and filled with strangers and your only friend who is Christ? You would develop a wonderful and intimate relationship with Christ where all the answers to questions in your heart are answered. Are you looking for a hellish heaven with Christ or a heavenly hell without him?

Do you murmur when things don't go your way? Angels are constantly worshipping around the throne of God because he is worthy but your murmuring brings into question his worthiness. The only way you will truly know how much you love him is to praise him at all times.

(Ephesians 5:20) "…always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(1 Thessalonians 5:18) "…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

The world is the closest thing to hell a believer will experience and the closest thing to heaven an unbeliever will experience. Keep the big picture in mind. God takes all the experiences both good and bad and uses every one of them to fashion you into the image of Christ. This includes suffering. Any believer who does not grasp this does not see the big picture in the center of suffering.

Parents love their kids and love them to show appreciation. What if you said 'no' to a request of your child and they still loved and appreciated you? It would show you that their love for you is real. This is what the Bible calls a 'sacrifice of praise.'

(Hebrews 13:15) "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name."
(James 1:2-4) "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
(1 Peter 1:6-7) "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

C.S Lewis was asked why Christians suffer. He said they are the only one's who can take it.




This teaching is part of a new series The Chronicles of Christ. Other teaching series can be found by clicking the links below
The Lion, the Witch and You - Part 1.
The Lion, the Witch and You - Part 2 & 3.
The Lion, the Witch and You - Part 4 & 5.
The Lion, the Witch and You - Part 6 & 7.

• Promise Land to Promise Life Series
  
• Discovery.God Series