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All right. So Norman is asking, how can we, as Christians claim that with the Incarnation, our God reigns, bearing in mind the ongoing cruelty and suffering in the world?
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Norman, great question. And this is yet another question that.
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We know so many people in the.
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World are struggling with it.
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And this clearly is a reason that.
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A lot of people turn the back on God.
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They say, how can there be yeah.
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I was saying, how can there be.
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A good, kind, living God if there’s so much sin and pain and suffering and anguish all around us? Why wouldn’t God just immediately snuff it out and stop it and let us all live in paradise right away?
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So let’s dig into that.
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There is a good answer. And first we should say in Romans 828, as it’s written, we know that all things work together for good to.
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Those who love God.
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God is going to take all these.
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Things and make it good.
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He will, especially for those of us who are responding to God’s love and.
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Walking according to his purpose.
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In Matthew 13, starting at verse 24.
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There is a parable. Jesus gives us a parable, and it.
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Goes like this so another parable he put forth to them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in the field. But while men slept, the enemy came.
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And sowed tears among them the wheat, and sowed tears among the wheat and went away.
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But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tears also appeared.
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So the servants of the owner came.
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And said, sir, did you not sow good seed in the field?
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How then does it have tears?
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He said to them, an enemy has done this.
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The servant said to him, do you.
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Want us to go then and gather them up?
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But he said, no, lest while you.
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Gather up the tears, you also uproot.
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The wheat with them.
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Let both grow together until the harvest. And at the end of the harvest.
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I will say to the reapers, first.
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Gather together the tears and bind them.
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In bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
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What is going on here? Right, this is such a critical, important parable for understanding all of this.
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So Jesus goes on to explain this parable.
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He actually does to the disciples.
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Starting at verse 13 sorry, at verse 36.
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Of chapter 13 says then Jesus sent.
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The multitude away and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, explain to us the parable of the.
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Tears in the field.
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And he answered them, he said, he.
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Who sows a good seed is the.
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Son of man, aka Jesus. The field is the world.
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The good seed are the sons of the kingdom, but the tears are the.
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Sons of the wicked one.
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The enemy who sowed them is the devil.
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The harvest is the end of the.
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Age and the reapers are the angels.
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Therefore, as the tears are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will.
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Be in the end of this age, the Son of man will send out his angels and they will gather out.
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All of His Kingdom.
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Gather out of all His Kingdom, all.
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The things that offend and those who.
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Practice lawlessness and will cast them into the furnace of fire, there will be.
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Wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as.
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A Son in the Kingdom of the Father. He who has ears, let him hear. So there it goes.
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Jesus breaks it down.
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So what do we have?
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We have tears being basically the wicked.
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People who choose to follow Satan. And Satan was one who planted the.
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Bad seeds, who got the sin going, who originated it.
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And Jesus says, I don’t want to right now get rid of the wicked.
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People, because if I did, we might lose some people who could be saved.
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Isn’t that amazing?
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That’s right.
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Out of two Peter three, verse seven.
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To nine, where it says but all the heavens and the earth which are.
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Now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of Godly men.
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Perdition being destruction of Godly men. Sorry, ungodly there they’re all reserved for fire until the day of judgment and.
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Perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years. And a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his.
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Promises as some count slack this, but.
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Is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all.
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Should come to repentance. So God is just waiting.
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I mean, he probably nobody is in.
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More pain and agony than Him because he’s seeing it all, feeling it all. I mean, Jesus took it all on Him on the cross.
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Even so, he totally understands when we.
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Say, god, this is unbearable. I can’t believe what’s going on. Why don’t you stop it?
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His response is, I get it.
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I totally want to stop it too, but I can’t right now because I want more people to be saved. I want as many to be saved as possible. And so he has to let the wicked get to full maturity as his righteous also come to full maturity. Again, it’s important to emphasize iniquity sin originated with Satan, it did not come from God. We see this also confirmed in Ezekiel 28, verse 15. Speaking of Lucifer says, you were perfect in all your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. So he was made perfect.
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And then one day there’s sin within.
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Him because of his thought patterns and he’s getting his selfish and thinking about himself.
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And Ezekiel 20 816 talks about, by.
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The abundance of your trading, you have become filled with violence.
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This trading mercantilism is the mercantilism of ideas.
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He’s trying to fish lies.
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He’s seeding lies everywhere.
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And then we see in Revelation twelve.
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Starting at verse seven, it says and war broke out in heaven.
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Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels.
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Fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, the serpent of old called the Devil. And Satan who deceives the whole world, he was cast to the earth and.
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His angels were cast out with them.
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But it’s critical here again to bring up he deceived the whole world.
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And note he was kicked out with a whole bunch of know revelation says elsewhere, a third of the stars were.
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Brought down with mean.
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He deceived a third of the angels and then now he deceives the whole world. And if God took immediate action on Satan, so Satan seeding lies left and right. Oh, God. Is he can’t trust God. Oh God is up to something. God is no good, God is unfair, God is a dictator.
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What would happen if God then immediately.
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Kills Satan and these lies are out there?
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People are going to start thinking maybe Satan was right and now they’re going to start serving God out of fear as opposed to love.
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And people are going to start thinking, well, maybe Satan was right, maybe Satan was right.
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Know, God’s law is too strict, god is too fair. We really can decide what’s good and.
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Right on our own. We don’t need the law there.
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And all these things that who knows what all lies he would have fed.
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If you really study the Bible, you.
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Could get a feel for it. But at the end of the day.
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At the end of the day, god had to give time for everything to play out, including showing how Satan is a murderer.
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Jesus says John 844, you are of your father the devil and the desires.
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Of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning.
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Who did he want to murder?
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And does not stand in the truth.
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Because there is no truth in him.
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When he speaks a lie, he speaks.
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Of his own resources for he is.
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A liar and the father of it.
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All lies trace to Satan and he.
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Was a murderer from the beginning.
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But if Jesus told us right, you know, Satan’s a murderer, people look like.
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What are you talking about?
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And they might not even be able.
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To conceive a murder until Jesus lets himself be murdered on the cross, letting Satan orchestrate the know. We’re told Satan entered Judas.
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Even that started the final sequence of.
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Events leading to Jesus being nailed on the cross.
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Jesus submitted to show the results of.
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Sin, how even a perfect, flawless person.
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Even the Creator himself, would end up.
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Sin, could lead to destruction of even.
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Him if left unchecked.
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But notice how Jesus had to show what happens when you let sin play out.
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And so this process still is continuing.
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To this day, showing where evil goes.
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And ultimately Revelation shows that Jesus is.
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Going to draw a line.
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He’s going to have the special group of people, the 144,000, who will keep.
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The commandments of God and have the.
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Testimony of Jesus and what’s going to happen to them.
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You hear about the market of beast.
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You’Re going to hear about the persecution of these people under even threat of death.
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Interesting.
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So they’re going to be treated almost same as Jesus. Jesus says if they murder me, expect they’ll murder you, right?
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Master will be treated the same as his followers.
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And the conflict doesn’t end there though with 144,000.
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I mean shortly before the death of.
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Creek comes, you could gather from Revelation that Jesus will come, take the 144,000.
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And the other righteous, they’ll all be raised, go with Jesus reign for 1000 years. We’ve talked about this recently even.
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I want to pick up with Revelation 20 verse seven.
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It says now.
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Revelation 20 verse seven.
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It says now. When the thousand years this is the millennium have expired, satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, GOG.
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And Magog together to battle, whose number.
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Is as the sand of the sea.
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They went up on the breath of.
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The earth and surrounded the camp of the saints in the beloved city.
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And fire came down from God out.
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Of heaven and devoured them.
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So Jesus even gives them yet another.
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Opportunity to reflect how evil they are.
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And at the end of thousand years, the wicked arrays, satan again rallies them.
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And they would all go and attack the new Jerusalem and Christ and his people within it.
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And this is when then we see.
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That fire come out and devour them.
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That’s when the hellfire that the eternal flames dissolve them. It’s after they totally prove that there.
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Is absolutely no hope. They are totally beyond salvation. And God is proven once and for all to be totally fair, totally just totally good.
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And sin is just always going to.
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Lead to death, murder, rebellion, killing, pain, suffering.
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And why is this a big deal?
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Why is it a big deal to.
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Let this all play out?
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Because God never ever wants sin to come out again.
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He doesn’t.
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And what is the only way that.
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You can ever make sure it will never ever happen again, absent taking away free will? It’s to make it so clear and.
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Help us all understand how terrible it is that we totally yearn for God to not let us ever sin again.
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That we just totally say lord, we.
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Absolutely want to submit to you because.
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We know what happens when we rebel against you.
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And so this is what we’re told, right?
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Nahem one nine it says, what do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise a second time.
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He’s going to make an utter end of sin.
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There’s never ever going to be another rebellion again because God has let this one totally play out so we could.
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See where it goes.
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We totally see.
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God is totally loving, totally right, totally trustworthy, totally fair. And by the way, you see these terms again and again in Revelation referring to God.
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This is the conclusion the.
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Universe reaches about God.
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And the good news is, it doesn’t come back.
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Revelation 21 one, it says, now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and there was no more sea.
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And then Revelation two, verse four says.
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And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no crying, there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
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So through God’s great patience, and ours.
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Too, revelation talks about the patience of the saints.
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By us bearing with this terrible time.
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We let sin just reveal itself how.
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Terrible it is, and we can all a universe come together and agree we.
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Cannot tolerate it in the slightest. God’s law cannot be broken in the slightest because the consequences lead to this. And God is so fair in his.
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Law, so right in his judgments, that.
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We absolutely yearn then in our heart.
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To obey Him and agree with God’s.
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Decision to wipe out permanently those who.
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Choose to continue to stay in rebellion. And that’s just how it pours out.
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And when you think of these things.
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It’S just so wise, it’s so brilliant.
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This is the grand plan that God has, that only God could come up with.
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And I feel like the Bible is such a divine book because it truly.
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Is beyond human conception.
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We cannot come up with this.
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I hope this helps you a lot, Norman, to understand these things and work through them.
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Please read the Bible daily, dig into this, and this hopefully will give you more structure now to see what you’re.
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Reading and how it fits into the grand plan. Tina, anything you’d like to add or wendy?
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I think that was absolutely spot on. I really agree with that answer and I really appreciate you bringing up how, yes, this is God’s plan to wipe out sin, not just for the here and now, but forever, that it will never rise again. So I really appreciate your answer in that regard.
For more on this topic check out The Fate of the Transgressor.
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In His Service
BibleAsk Team
