Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to the Kingdom Perspective.

Where do you find confidence when trouble surrounds you on every side?

Remember that scene in The Lord of the Rings where Frodo is lamenting to Gandalf about the trouble caused by the Ring.

Frodo: “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened”

Gandalf replies: “So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”

Tolkien’s point, though subtle, is brilliant. Evil shall not have the final say, because there is an intention at work in our world that is higher than the intention of evil. Though the devil has the power to twist creation to our destruction, God has the power turn evil to our salvation.

How do we know this? Look to the cross. On the cross, the evil of our sin, the malice of humanity and the wickedness of the devil conspired to bring about the most twisted act of all time—the unjust murder of the Holy Son of God. But this was not the final word. The gospel is always the final word. The cross was not merely a conspiracy of evil; it was the conspiracy of God’s love. Listen to Scripture: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Such hope out of despair (good out of evil!) inherent in the gospel gives those who trust it undying confidence.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

~ Romans 5:1-8 (ESV)