Why

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. We're concluding our series called Eternity. In it, we've been learning that we get to choose where and how we spend eternity, and that God's character is the key to our tough questions. Well, in today's message, Pastor Robert is going to tackle some of those difficult questions that people have about God, life, death, and eternity. There's some incredible revelation in it, so let's join Pastor Robert now. The title of the series, by the way, is Eternity, Your Choice. So I want to nail it down that God did not choose some people to go to heaven and some people to go to hell, that it is completely your choice where you spend eternity. So we talked about whosoever will, where and how, this weekend, the message is why.

And what I'm going to do is take some of those tough questions and we're going to answer those. For instance, why would God send someone to hell? Why would a loving God, is the way it's phrased many times, send someone to hell? Why did God even create hell? Why did God create two trees in the garden?

And of course, there are many trees, but I'm referring to the tree of life, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Why did God even give Adam and Eve a choice? I mean, that's a question that a lot of people have.

Why? Okay, in order to answer these questions, though, please hear me. You can never answer a difficult question about God without making sure that your answer is congruent with his nature and his character. And we know his nature and his character through Scripture and the whole of Scripture.

It's very important to understand it's the whole of Scripture, because there are some Scriptures that would tend us to believe some way of thinking that might cause us to think, well, God might do that, and God is justified to do something like that. But if you try to answer difficult questions about God without taking into consideration his character, if you begin going down the line of thought, and this is very, very important to me. Again, I'm not trying to pick a fight with someone who believes that way.

I'm really not. But it is so difficult for me to believe that people can believe that and not believe God is good. In other words, I don't know how you can believe some of these things if you believe God's good. God's a good God. So we're going to look at some attributes of God today that are extremely important, because here's the reason. When I read something in this book and I think, now, I don't understand that. That sounds like God might be harsh or mean or cruel. I always go back to, well, I may not understand it, but I know God's good. And I know God's character, and I've studied the whole of Scripture to know God's character. So we have to answer difficult questions in light of God's character.

It has to be congruent. Any way of thinking you have has to be compatible with Scripture, the whole of Scripture, right? So three points today.

Number one, I've already alluded to. God is good. He is good. Psalm 119 verse 68 says, you are good and do good. You are good and do good. By the way, if you told yourself that, reminding yourself of that Scripture every morning, it might change your day. You are good and you do good.

Now, this is the reason I really love this Scripture. You are good and you do good. Now, listen carefully what I'm going to say, OK? God isn't good because he does good. God does good because he is good.

Do you follow me? Let me say it again. Him being good is not dependent upon him doing good. He does good because he is good. See, it's like God is truth. He is truth. Jesus didn't say, I know the truth. He said, I am truth. I'm truth.

OK. So because God is truth, he can't lie. He can't lie. This is why I have a real big problem with most people's definition of the sovereignty of God. Because what they think that it means is that God can do anything he wants to do. No. God is the, what it means is, I wish you'd study it. Sovereign means he's the supreme ruler of the universe. But because he is who he is, God, you say, well, God can do anything he wants. No. God can't act outside of his character.

He can't. Are you all following this? Am I making it clear? Because it's not that you follow me.

It's me saying it clearly. God is truth. So he can't lie.

He's not a man that he shall lie. OK. In the same way, God is love. So everything I read in Scripture, I have to put within. Does this fit in the basic that God is good? God is, we're going to talk about God is love, but God is good.

OK. So let me explain something about how good God is. Moses asked God to see his glory. Now, glory is this huge word. I could tell you the Hebrew and the words it comes from. I could tell you the Greek and the words it comes from and explain.

But that wouldn't help us much. OK. So I'm going to give you a practical definition. Glory is what you're famous for. It's what you're known for. OK.

So Moses, when he said, show me your glory, here's what he was saying. Show me what you're famous for. Show me what you're best at.

What do you do best? OK. Look at this. Here's what he said. And we'll get to Isaiah 5 at the very long time from now.

OK. All right. Exodus 33 18. And he, Moses, said, please show me your glory. Then he, that's God, said, OK, I'll make my goodness pass before you.

I love that scripture. Show me what you're famous for. He said, oh, well, I'm famous for being good. That's what I'm famous for.

I'm known for good. OK. Because I know that anything I read in the Bible has to line up with the goodness of God. And what happens is we read something in the Bible and we think, man, that sounds like God's being mean.

So let me show you one. When Adam and Eve sinned, God drove them out of the garden. And he gave a reason why he drove them out. But when you understand he is good, you understand why he drove them out.

OK. Let me read it. Genesis 3, verse 22. Then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us, us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to no good and evil. And now, watch, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. And then notice the sentence stops there, even though that's not a complete sentence. Watch.

And that's very important why I'm telling you this. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed cherubim, that's really big dudes, that's what that means in the Hebrew, really big dudes, angels, at the east of the garden of Eden and a flaming sword. Watch this. A flaming sword.

Doesn't even say anybody was holding it. A flaming sword which turned every way, north, south, east and west, to guard the way to the tree of life. OK. Now, I want you to notice the sentence says, God said, hey, man has become like us now. He knows good and evil. We better drive him out of the garden, lest he take from the tree of life and live forever. And then it doesn't go on. Lest he take from the tree of life and live forever, dah, dah, dah, dah. What?

What does that mean? OK. So many people have said, see, that just shows God was mad at Adam and Eve and in his temper he just drove him out. No. God's good.

Here's why he was saying it. He said they are now, Adam and Eve, are now in a fallen state. They're in a fallen state. They are now separated from me. And if they eat from the tree of life now, they will live forever in a fallen state.

Separated from me. Get them out. Get them out right now and put a flaming sword down there so they don't eat from that tree in a fallen state because they'll live forever separated from us. You all see that? See, that's God's goodness.

But people don't pick that up if you don't have it rooted in you. God's a good God. By the way, three scriptures in Revelation tell us that that tree of life is in heaven and you can eat from it all you want because you're in a redeemed state and he's fine for you to eat from the tree of life in a redeemed state, but he doesn't want you to eat from it in a fallen state.

He doesn't want you to stay fallen. So God's a good God. That's the first thing I want you to know.

Here's the second thing. God is just. He's just. It's not just that he does just things.

He is just. Isaiah 45, 21. There is no other God besides me. This is God speaking. A just God and a Savior. A just God and a Savior. There will never be injustice with God or any of his judgments. Never. Because I know that, see, I can't go along with this thing where God chose some to go to heaven and some to go to hell because that's not just.

That's not justice. And I know God. I know God.

I don't know if you all know this, I've met him personally. I'm saved. Are any of you all saved? Anybody here? Okay. So you've met him too.

I'm not special. You've met him too. And don't you. I spend time. I talk to him every day. You talk to him every day. I talk to him every day. And he wrote me a love letter and I've read it multiple times. So I can't believe anything that doesn't line up with this book.

I cannot believe it because I know this guy. I know he's good and I know he's just. So we have these questions of, well, would a loving God or how could a just God send anyone to hell? And I'm going to answer that.

But here's another question. Would God send someone to hell who's never had a chance? Never heard the gospel, never had a chance.

Let's answer it by the Bible, not our opinion by the Bible. Romans one, verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest. Now let me just tell you, and then I'll go a little deeper. The word manifest means to make known. That's what it means. I know it sounds like a big word, but it means to make known. So watch this scripture, because what may be known of God is made known. In other words, God makes it known to every person, watch, in, underline that word, in them, for God has shown it to them.

I want you to remember in and to. For since the creation of the world, now watch this, this is kind of tough to explain, but it's good. Listen, watch, his invisible attributes. Now what's the word invisible mean? You can't see them, right? Okay, watch. What can't be seen about him, watch, his invisible attributes are clearly seen.

Kind of a play on words, isn't it? In other words, his character, his goodness is clearly seen. His love is clearly seen. Being understood by the things which are made, even his eternal power in Godhead, so that they, that's the people who live in righteousness and won't accept him, so that they are without excuse. Okay, so God manifests himself to every person internally and externally.

That's what it's saying, internally and externally. So again, let me give you a little moral manifest. If I said to you, there is a multi-billionaire in the service, I just want everybody to know that. If you go home, you think, oh, okay, big deal. But if that multi-billionaire got up and began to do what only a multi-billionaire could do, and that is give every person $100,000, are there any multi-billionaires in there?

No, I just, I just, just joking, just joking, just joking, okay. But if he did, and he gave to every person what only he could do, we did for them what only he could do for them, he'd be manifesting his presence. He wouldn't just be in our service, in our presence, he'd be making his presence known.

Listen, this is why I love worship. Because it's not just the omnipresence of God, it's the manifest presence of God. He gets up during our worship, and he begins to walk around and give to every person what only God can give to you.

He's the only one that can give it to you. He makes himself known, all right. So how does he make himself known, according to this, internally and externally?

Let me let me say it this way, all right. God manifests himself to every person on the inside, because we have a conscience. Every person has a conscience. He manifests himself to every person on the outside, because we have creation. Conscience and creation. Your conscience tells you there's a God.

And creation tells us there's a God. Think about this, why did God create a universe this big? Stars as far as right now, as far as our telescopes can go, this is what I've been told, 300 million light years away. Light years. Speed. If you travel at a speed of light, 186,000 miles per second.

That's pretty fast. 300 million. Why in the world would God create a universe that big, except he wants us to walk out, look at the stars and say, there's got to be a God. There's got to be God. And here's what's amazing to me. People say that that takes a leap of faith.

Okay, here's the other one. Nothing collided with nothing, and all of this came into being. You don't want to talk about a leap of faith. It is crazy.

By the way, it is still called the Big Bang Theory. Okay, but why? Why did God do this? God put eternity in every person's heart. God has put eternity in every person's heart. Think about this. No person can ever say, no one told me.

Here's why. Because God can come and say, I told you. I came to you when you were a child, and I put it in your heart to wonder about me. I'll just take a little poll, every campus, all right, how many of you remember wondering about God when you were a child?

Can I see your hands? That's because God put it in your heart. And let me tell you something else. So this may blow you away, and I'm just going to list a few of the scriptures just because of time. Okay, just a few. Every person, this is what the Bible says, every person, every person who seeks after God will find Him.

Every person. Let me just show you a few of the scriptures, all right? Proverbs 8, 17, I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me. Not might, not should, not hopefully, will.

They will. If they'll seek me diligently, they will. Jeremiah 29, 13, and you will seek me and find me, you will find me, the verb still applies to find, when you search for me with all your heart. Jesus Himself, Matthew 7, Sermon on the Mount, 7 and 8, and ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks finds and the him who knocks it will be opened. And Acts 17, this is the way Paul put it in his sermon on Mars Hill, verse 26 and 27, and he's made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that, so that because, therefore, so that they should seek the Lord. He's done this for every person, he's put it in every person's heart to seek Him.

In the hope that they might grope for Him, that's the hope, and if they do grope for Him, and grope, by the way, means to make an effort, that's all it means, just make an effort, watch and find Him. That's what God put eternity in your heart so you would look for Him, and if you look for Him, you'll find Him because He's not far from each one of us, though He's not far from each one of us. So God's a just God, He's good, He's just, and here's number three, God is love. First John 4 18, he who does not love God does not know God, for God is love. Okay, so this question, why would a loving God send anyone to hell?

Well, I'm going to get to it, but just for a moment, could we just look at that, that issue from a biblical perspective, okay? First of all, you need to know something about hell. God did not create hell for people. People say, well, why would a loving God even create hell for people? He didn't create hell for people. He created hell for the devil and his angels.

Jesus' own words, Matthew 25 41, then He will also say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you curse into the everlasting fire prepared, the root of this word in the Greek means built, built for the devil and his angels. So He didn't prepare hell for you. He prepared heaven for you.

I go to prepare a place for you. He didn't prepare hell for you. And He built it for the devil's angels, but men became evil. And so watch what happened.

This may be something you've never seen in your life. By the way, I'm now at Isaiah 5. I got there, okay? And we'll read something after this also in Isaiah 5 so you can stay there. Verse 11, woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may follow intoxicating drink, who continue until night till wine inflames them. The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute and wine are in their feast, but they do not regard the work of the Lord nor consider the operation of His hands. Therefore my people have gone into captivity because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Watch 14 carefully. It uses the Old Testament word for hell, which is sheo. Therefore sheo, watch, has enlarged itself. Hell added on, the devil added on to hell. Therefore sheo, God didn't do it, sheo has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure. Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, he who is jubilant shall descend into it. Hell was enlarged by necessity, not by design.

And we'll say that again, I'd love for you to never forget that. Hell was enlarged by necessity, not by design, and hell enlarged itself. Satan added on to it because he got a third of the angels to follow him and then he got people to follow him.

That's why. So we say, well, why would a loving God, you know, send anyone to hell? It's normally asked very rhetorically, very angrily, very, I had a really good word somewhere in my notes, accusingly, that was a good word, all right, y'all just edit that part there. Let me just give you three, the three major, there are many more stories of rejection of God in the Bible. We'll give you their three major stories of the rejection of God.

The first is in Isaiah 14 and Revelation 12, also Ezekiel 28. Lucifer was the worship leader in heaven. He led a third of the angels to rebel against God.

Here's what I want you to remember about that. They weren't born into a bad situation. God never abused them, never treated them bad, and a third of them rejected God. That's the first rebellious story, rejection of God. The second one is found in Genesis 3. God creates Adam and Eve, perfect bodies, perfect health, perfect garden, perfect marriage, perfect relationship with God, and perfect relationship with each other, and they rebel against God.

The third one's even worse than that. He sent his own son to this earth, who explained to them the scriptures, who did nothing but good for 33 and a half years, three and a half years in public ministry, killed people, raised people from the dead, loved on people, had dinner with sinners, never acted prideful or arrogant, and we rejected him so much that we tortured him to death. The inexcusable, rebellious rejection of a loving God. Okay, you want me to answer the question, why would a loving God send anyone to hell? That's a simple, simple answer. He wouldn't.

He wouldn't. People send themselves to hell. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and really listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, come visit us at pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. We hope that you've enjoyed this series. Next time, Pastor Robert is starting a powerful new series. Be sure to join us then. Have a great day.