Taken from
City of Refuge
by Pastor Tan
Why do bad things happen to good people? ... There are many other reasons. But one of the reasons is because the good people associate with the bad. Paul in I Cor. 5 advised the church to deal with the sinner very quickly or otherwise the whole church will be infested with that kind of immorality. If they don't deal with it then the entire church may be affected. Now it looks very hard it looks very cruel but it is required in order to preserve the holiness of the church.
Ps. 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked; nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Do you know there are some places where you are not to sit and stand? There are some places you are not to walk in. Your blessings are depends also on your walk. You have no compromise with people or situation, which displease God. Sometimes God can protect you from a situation. Sometimes God protect you through a situation. Jesus can still a storm when you sail across it. Sometimes Jesus protects you through the shipwreck like the apostle Paul. But whatever it is you are protected. Sometimes as a city of refuge you could withstand different things.
But there are other times when God said have no part. You remember in the book of Revelation the Lord said come out my people. So there is a time when nothing else protects. The city of refuge is in relationship to God. Now when something displeases God there is no protection. That is why in the wrath of the Lamb in the book of Revelation the sinners called on the mountain to cover them. Nothing can cover them; even the mountain could not help. Here God is saying that there are some situations where His wrath is at work. God is not obligated to protect the person who ignored His warnings to flee certain places.
Sometimes God can protect a city. Now Abraham was stretching his faith as much as he can to protect the city. Here are two opposing areas. If Abraham had come down to asking whether if there be one righteous person Sodom and Gomorrah may have been saved. Somehow his spiritual energy or prayer could not break through to that. He came to the minimum of 10 righteous persons. But there were not even 10 righteous persons. Do you notice the whole argument? If there were 10 righteous persons the thousands in Sodom and Gomorrah who were wicked would have been saved. Isn't that an amazing theology? _t is the salt of the earth theology. If there were 10 righteous persons the city of Sodom and Gomorrah may have existed until today and they would still think they existed because they are very good not realizing that is because of those 10 righteous people. That is why some good things happen to bad people and they don't know it. Sometimes you see God blessing a company and you look at the boss, you find that he is a crook. But somewhere in the back room is a godly guy. And the godly guy is living his life for God and his living comes from that company and for his sake God blesses that company. Sodom and Gomorrah are full of crooks and God said if 10 righteous persons could be found He will preserve the 2 cities and the people would have been saved because of 10. Don't you think the power of the city of refuge is powerful?
However there is a line you do not cross. There are certain things that the city of refuge cannot go beyond. Even Abraham cannot go beyond. There were no more 10 righteous persons found and the whole cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is destined for judgement in the wrath of God. God sent 2 angels to take out Lot and his family. Lot's wife began to look back and she was turned into a pillar of salt. There is a line when God says, "No more, move out. You can't even put your feet there. If you put your feet there, your feet will turn into a pillar of salt."
City of Refuge
by Pastor Tan
Why do bad things happen to good people? ... There are many other reasons. But one of the reasons is because the good people associate with the bad. Paul in I Cor. 5 advised the church to deal with the sinner very quickly or otherwise the whole church will be infested with that kind of immorality. If they don't deal with it then the entire church may be affected. Now it looks very hard it looks very cruel but it is required in order to preserve the holiness of the church.
Ps. 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked; nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Do you know there are some places where you are not to sit and stand? There are some places you are not to walk in. Your blessings are depends also on your walk. You have no compromise with people or situation, which displease God. Sometimes God can protect you from a situation. Sometimes God protect you through a situation. Jesus can still a storm when you sail across it. Sometimes Jesus protects you through the shipwreck like the apostle Paul. But whatever it is you are protected. Sometimes as a city of refuge you could withstand different things.
But there are other times when God said have no part. You remember in the book of Revelation the Lord said come out my people. So there is a time when nothing else protects. The city of refuge is in relationship to God. Now when something displeases God there is no protection. That is why in the wrath of the Lamb in the book of Revelation the sinners called on the mountain to cover them. Nothing can cover them; even the mountain could not help. Here God is saying that there are some situations where His wrath is at work. God is not obligated to protect the person who ignored His warnings to flee certain places.
Sometimes God can protect a city. Now Abraham was stretching his faith as much as he can to protect the city. Here are two opposing areas. If Abraham had come down to asking whether if there be one righteous person Sodom and Gomorrah may have been saved. Somehow his spiritual energy or prayer could not break through to that. He came to the minimum of 10 righteous persons. But there were not even 10 righteous persons. Do you notice the whole argument? If there were 10 righteous persons the thousands in Sodom and Gomorrah who were wicked would have been saved. Isn't that an amazing theology? _t is the salt of the earth theology. If there were 10 righteous persons the city of Sodom and Gomorrah may have existed until today and they would still think they existed because they are very good not realizing that is because of those 10 righteous people. That is why some good things happen to bad people and they don't know it. Sometimes you see God blessing a company and you look at the boss, you find that he is a crook. But somewhere in the back room is a godly guy. And the godly guy is living his life for God and his living comes from that company and for his sake God blesses that company. Sodom and Gomorrah are full of crooks and God said if 10 righteous persons could be found He will preserve the 2 cities and the people would have been saved because of 10. Don't you think the power of the city of refuge is powerful?
However there is a line you do not cross. There are certain things that the city of refuge cannot go beyond. Even Abraham cannot go beyond. There were no more 10 righteous persons found and the whole cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is destined for judgement in the wrath of God. God sent 2 angels to take out Lot and his family. Lot's wife began to look back and she was turned into a pillar of salt. There is a line when God says, "No more, move out. You can't even put your feet there. If you put your feet there, your feet will turn into a pillar of salt."
