Please don’t think I’m trying to sound humble but, all things considered, this morning’s message was the best I could come up with. I had to borrow bits and pieces from previous sermons because last week was one of the most emotionally draining weeks of my entire life. So much so, that I was tempted and came very close to asking Him to take me home. That will give you an idea of how worn out I felt. But that was last week and I’m doing much better now, thanks to Christ’s strength within me and the prayers of a lot folks.

Have you ever made the statement, “divorce is always wrong?” I honestly can’t recall having done so, but I suppose it’s possible. How about you? If you have, you’re in very good company. In his book, “The Divine Conspiracy,” Dallas Willard, well know theologian and scholar admits to once having had this conviction. Anyone familiar with the UCLA professor of philosophy would have a hard time believing what I just said. However, if I were to put his remark in context, they would be quick to praise God for this humble man’s honesty and spiritual maturity.

Allow me to explain. Willard once blurted out that remark years ago to a group of fellow seminarian’s and no one challenged him. In the passing of time however, the Lord opened his eyes to reality. For instance, he went on to inform his readers that, “Later I came across a situation of a devout woman whose husband had married her as a cover for his homosexually. He consummated the marriage so it couldn’t be annulled, and after that he had nothing to do with her. They had no personal relationship at all. He would bring his male friends home and, in her presence, have sex in the living room or wherever else they pleased any time they pleased. Her religious guides continued to tell her that she must stay in “the marriage,” while she died a further death, year after year.” I was simply an ignorant young man full of self-righteous ideas,” he added. “This and later episodes of discovery educated me in the hardness of the human heart. But Jesus, of course, always knew.”

Many Christians might concede the abused woman’s justification in fleeing from such an evil environment. But, they adamantly refuse to acknowledge divorce is permissible under any circumstance. A passage frequently used to justify their view is found in Matthew 19: 6, “Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate” (NKJV). Now allow me to ask you this question: do any of you believe the marriage I just described was actually made in Heaven? In my wildest imagination, I can’t believe the One who is the very personification of love, the One who is perfect in righteousness; that Holy One ever called into the Gospel Ministry homosexual predators, drunkards, womanizers and the like, men who unless they repent, will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Nor do I believe that God called such men into His church where they were free to masquerade as priests and ministers, and in His name, join a man and woman together in marriage.

Even if a divinely ordained man had united a couple in a marriage; quite often ‘the passing of time’ has revealed that there had been a phony ‘pre-marital conversion’ to Christianity on the part of one person, just as ‘the doing of time’ has revealed there had been a ‘phony jail-house conversion.’ Can you imagine God forbidding one of His children who had been deceived in such a manner not to remarry an obviously born-again Christian? In the eyes of the state such marriages are valid, but I can’t believe they are in God’s eyes. You and I may never have endured such suffering as the woman who was deceived into marrying the appalling homosexual, but in one way or another, we also know what it’s like to be treated with contempt. Are any of you folks strangers to being put down, despised, ignored or viewed as being inferior or worthless by another person or persons, or have you somehow managed to escape other peoples scorn and ridicule? Of course not! That’s the sad reality of the world we live in. I’ll be the first to admit it’s pretty difficult not to get angry with people who treat us so despicably and God doesn’t tell us that we shouldn’t.

Ephesians 4:26-27 (ESV)
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

As my son Mike is fond of saying, “I try to get rid of my anger before my head hits the pillow.” Of course he doesn’t always succeed but he honestly tries to. One of the things I’ve stressed in numerous messages is the responsibility of Christians to forgive those who have sinned against them, just as they have been forgiven by God in Christ Jesus; including folks who repeatedly treat them with such contempt. However, the time may come when it becomes obvious the person could care less about our love or forgiveness just as most people want nothing to do with the love of Jesus, and His offer of forgiveness for their sins. If that’s the case, we may have to sever our relationship with him or her completely, or reduce it to a bare minimum.”

A case in point is there are some loose cannons out there I avoid like the plague. For instance, over the past several weeks I started bumping into a middle aged intellectually challenged woman I hadn’t seen in several years. She is a notorious loose cannon both physically and verbally even to the point of kicking and screaming obscenities at the police officers whenever it became necessary to restrain her. I spotted her couple of days ago as my wife and I were shopping in a supermarket picking up some things for our vacation. She was accompanied by another woman who probably had been assigned to her by the State to see that she didn’t become a danger to herself or others. I whispered to my wife to get going in the opposite direction and I quickly split. I have been praying for that woman for the past several weeks and I still am today. As I mentioned a moment ago; I avoid her like the plague and so do others who have been on the receiving end of her fits of rage. Whenever I think about that woman or other folks I know who are enslaved by the acts of their sinful nature, I pray fervently for them.

Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV)
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

As I was thinking about the eternal quality of life of that woman and other people who are still enslaved by their sinful nature and who refuse to knock it off up until the moment of their death; I was reminded of a very strange experience I once had while I was thinking about a particular tragedy. It occurred three years ago next month when a very disturbing animated image suddenly flashed through my mind. It only lasted a second or two and seemed like a day-dream. Perhaps it was. Only the Lord knows for sure. It stayed with me on an off throughout the day and into the next, until several ministerial challenges took center stage. Nevertheless, that particular mental picture continued to resurface every once in a while, and here it is again today. At the time I had been recalling the tragic events that occurred on the Interstate 35W B ridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Allow me to explain by quoting brief excerpts from my August 5, 2007 with a few slight modifications.

An August 2nd update in the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported “the 1,907-foot bridge fell into the Mississippi River and onto runways below. The span was packed with rush hour traffic, and dozens of vehicles fell with the bridge leaving scores of dazed commuters scrambling for their lives.” “Between 50 and 60 vehicles were on the bridge when it went down shortly after 6 p.m., authorities said. Legions of rescue workers and volunteers swarmed the scene and spent hours sifting through the wreckage in a frantic search for survivors. Many vehicles, including a least one semitrailer were on fire. People were reported to be floundering in the river. Rescuers rushed to help people escape cars trapped in the V-shaped hollow where the bridge caved in.”

As the “ripple effect” expanded, the lives of untold numbers of people were being impacted dramatically. Needless to say there were many questions as to why it happened. Investigations were underway and fingers would no doubt soon be pointed at someone to blame. Government officials were making all sorts of promises. Politicians were intent on getting as much political mileage out of it as they possibly could. The media and those TV and radio talk show “motor-mouths” were having a field day. Anti-Christian activist atheists were gleefully hammering that tragedy as another nail into what they hoped was God’s coffin. And those who were directly affected by it were suffering intense sorrow, grief, anxiety, and heartache, as the magnitude of their loss continued to unfold.”

“I don’t know about you folks, but I seriously doubt if I won’t recall this particular tragedy every time I start to cross a similar bridge in the future, as I hope to tomorrow as we head onto the Maine Coast. And that’s exactly what our Creator wants everyone to do. Christians can take comfort in the knowledge that however awful that tragedy was, it had been planned and ordained by God in eternity past to occur in our present. We can be assured God will somehow be glorified through that tragedy and that it will work out for the eventual good of each of His children who were affected by it.

Ephesians 1:11 (ESV)
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Daniel 4:35 (ESV)
35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Among other things, He intends disasters to become a merciful blessing, and they will be for all those who pay attention and learn from them. In other words, in addition to His revelation of Himself in the Scriptures, our Creator speaks to His human creatures through these acts of divine providence..

A very, very patient God is speaking through tragedies such as 911 and the Oklahoma City bombing and the current B. P. oil spill to individuals and our nation as a whole. A nation which, [as of 2007], since 1972 has allowed American mothers to butcher over four hundred million babies living in their womb [as of 2007]; an affluent nation in which millions of people are caught up in the pursuit of pleasures which are taking them further and further away from God. A nation in which much of the media and educational system are trying to persuade us that evil is good; as in granting homosexuals the right to marry and raise children. I could go on and on, but I know you have the picture by now.

Whenever I view the video footage of a tragedy in which a lot of lives are lost, I try to visualize the invisible activity also taking place. Then I’m able to imagine the spirits of the dead Christians being warmly greeted by Jesus Himself. I can visualize Him grinning from ear to ear, and with outstretched arms, motion His follower to fly into them. I’m able to visualize that dead Christian who is now clothed with a new immortal/invisible/spiritual body leaving his or her dead one behind as they ascend further and further into the sky with Jesus and out of my sight on their way to the unimaginably wonderful place He has prepared for them.

At this point I would like to describe the disturbing animated image which flashed through my mind on that particular Tuesday morning as I was thinking about the eternal quality of life of folks who are caught up and enslaved by their sinful nature. These are the ones who will not ask God to forgive them, and who defiantly refuse to stop sinning up until the moment of their death. The unrecognizable spirit of such a person was silently standing facing me when all of a sudden it was engulfed by a huge fireball. The person’s horrible cries of pain were indescribable. A millisecond later the fireball vanished and there standing before me was a charred grotesque animated figure which no one would ever recognize a once having been a human being, and which no human being would ever want to go near. Then, the poor pathetic screaming thing seemed to be whisked away against its will, off into the darkness and out of my sight.

In his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards described the plight of such people. “Unconverted people walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not hold their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noonday and the sharpest sight cannot see them.” You and I know people who want nothing to do with Jesus and His love for them. They are wrapped up in themselves and the pursuit of their perceived needs. Sometimes you and I are on the receiving end of their sins.

If we have truly been born anew we will want to forgive everyone including Christians for the often despicable way they have treated us. With those unbelievers the Lord has brought into our life, we will want to do everything possible to lead them to the Cross of Christ and forgiveness. I know from experience it’s often very difficult to even want to forgive someone who has hurt us very much. Those are the times we must plead with Him to powerfully incline us to want to forgive them, and then give us the strength of Christ within us to do so. One of the things I suggest we do to help us to forgive someone is to meditate on the scourging Jesus had to suffer at the hands of the Roman soldiers for every our sins both the big and little ones. Concerning Jesus, the ancient historian’s Josephus and Eusebus in their accounts of the martyr’s wrote that: “They whipped His pain racked body so severely, that it revealed His bones and cartilage and deep-seated veins and arteries. Even His intestines and organs were exposed.” The Prophet Isaiah foretold and described the horrible result. Speaking of the crucified Savior, Isaiah wrote:

Isaiah 52:14 (NIV) 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness.

When time is no more, and all human beings are looking back at human history from eternity, the inescapable conclusion they will arrive at is that Hell was truly a very difficult place to get in to. They will be able to see with crystal clear clarity that, among other things, all their personal losses, sorrows, frustrations, disappointments and heart break had been planned and ordained by God to occur in their life in order to divert them from the place of eternal torment and on to the road leading to Paradise. They will be able to see that tragedies such as the bridge were in reality a divine mercy and that it truly was a roadblock on the way to hell.

As we think about those divinely ordained challenges we all experience which cause us so much distress; difficulties which we can’t make any sense of no matter how hard we try; it’s helpful to remember and believe that line from the classic hymn: ‘behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.’ Then we can scratch our head and ask ourselves this question: “I wonder what He’s up to now?”

I hoping and praying that every one of you folks who just heard this message preached, as well as those who may read it later, will, if you haven’t already done so, confess your sins to God and accept Christ’s love for poor sinners such as you and me.

Lord willing, on August 1st ….