Biblical Perspectives on Space Shuttle Challenger

Biblical Precedent for Addressing Current Tragedies

0:03 God, in a very sobering, dramatic, and captivating manner, has drawn the attention of our nation and much of the world to just how fragile and uncertain life is. He did this by the events clustered around the launch and then the sudden destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger this past Tuesday morning. Now, while we seldom allow current events of any nature to dictate the subject matter of our pulpit ministry in this assembly, but rather are committed to consecutive, expository ministry of the Word of God, there have been, over the history of our almost twenty years as a church, a few occasions when events of such magnitude, either within the church or within the world, have so captured our minds and our spirits as to demand that the teaching of the Word of God respecting those issues be brought to bear upon them in the future. In the assembly of God's people. Now, the precedent for doing this is clearly set by our Lord Himself,

1:34 who, according to Luke chapter 13, took as an occasion to underscore some vital biblical truths to shocking current events in His day. We read in Luke 13, in verse 1, that there were some people, present at that very season, who told Him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. We know nothing for certain about this incident, but apparently there was an incident involving some Galileans who were either as imposters or perhaps as innocent worshippers who had some political alliance, that were threatening to Pilate, were nonetheless, in the midst of offering up sacrifices in a place of worship, brutally slain so that their own life's blood was mingled with the blood of the sacrifices that were offered. It was the tragic, sudden, brutal death of some Galileans. And then, we read, we read in verse 2, that Jesus said,

3:00 Do you think that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans? Because they suffered these things? I tell you, no. But except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.

3:13 Or, and now He takes a second current event, or a recent event, in which there was the tragic death of eighteen people, crushed to death, when a tower in Siloam, in Siloam, fell upon them. Here was an event that caused a thrill of shock to go through Jerusalem, when people heard that a tower fell upon eighteen so-called innocent victims, and they were snuffed out in a moment of time. Here our Lord takes a second current event that captured the attention of men and women, and used it as the occasion to bring to bear, upon the living, some vital biblical principles of the moral government of Almighty God. And so, I have no reservations concerning the question as to whether or not what I am doing has biblical precedent. The precedent is set by our Lord Himself. And so, this morning, I propose to address you on the subject, some biblical perspectives on the tragedy of the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Two Axioms for Interpreting God's Works

4:37 And you will hear things this morning that were never once suggested by the network anchormen, things that Peter Jennings never said, Tom Brokaw never uttered, and surely Dan Rather would never speak. and I doubt would even think. You will hear things that Larry Speaks did not say from the White House, and I'm confident that some of you will hear many things that will strike a deep amen within your breasts, but I'm equally confident that some of you may hear things that will deeply offend you. But frankly, I do not care if I please or offend so long as I am true to the word of the living God. And as I take up this subject of some biblical perspectives on this tragic incident, you must understand with me that everything that I attempt to bring forth from the word of God under four major headings assumes this biblical,

5:54 biblical framework comprised of two basic axioms or spiritual laws. The first one is this. All that happens in God's universe, including this event, is decreed and executed by God's sovereign will. All that happens in God's universe, including this, this event is decreed and executed by God's sovereign will.

6:35 If the Bible makes anything plain, it makes plain that everything that transpires in human history, at any point in history, in any circumstances in history, happens because God decreed it and sovereignly executed it. And I give you quickly four texts which make this abundantly clear. In Ephesians 1 in verse 11 we read that God is the God who works all things after the counsel of His own will. All things.

7:21 Was this event a thing? Or an event comprised of many things? Things? People and rocket engines and fuel tanks?

7:33 Yes. Well, He works all things after the counsel of His own will. In Psalm 115, 3 we read, Our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever He has pleased.

7:56 Because He is in the heavens, enthroned above all things, He does according to His own will in every realm. And Daniel 4.35 is another classic statement of this. That God does according to His will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand and say unto Him, What?

8:29 What? What are you doing? What God wills in His heart and in His decree, He executes by His hand, and He never drops a stitch between His decree and the execution of that decree in sovereign power. Therefore, Paul can say at the end of that amazing treatment of the sovereignty of God in the disposition of nations, with reference to the salvation of individuals, Romans 11.36, For of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things to whom be glory forever and forever. Of Him in sovereign decree, through Him by powerful specific providence, and unto Him. That is, ultimately to the accomplishment of His purpose and the securing of His praise are all things, including the sickening ball of light, disintegration, space shuttle,

9:50 and its inhabitants. Now, if the Bible teaches anything, it teaches all things in God's universe, including this event, is decreed and executed, by His sovereign will. And then the second thing that it teaches that forms the framework of the four perspectives I want to bring before you is this. Who's with infallible certainty and exhaustive understanding His purposes in His works, including this event. God fully knows, with infallible certainty, and exhaustive understanding His purposes in His works, including this very event. Why did God decree and execute this particular event? Well, only God can, with infallible certainty and exhaustive understanding, answer that question.

11:17 Because it is an infinite God, with the entire plan of eternity before His mind, exercising infinite wisdom, in conjunction with infinite justice, and infinite love, and infinite mercy, and all of His attributes, and every single thread in the fabric of His purpose, in a sense, is embedded in eternity past, and stretches into the eternity to come. And therefore only the infinite mind of God can fully know the significance of any one thread in that fabric. This is why we read in both the Old and the New Testaments statements such as these, Isaiah 55, 8 and 9. My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts, and my ways above your ways. This is why Paul can say in Romans chapter 9, verses 33 and 34, these words, Romans 9, 33 and 4,

12:37 it's not Romans 9, I have the wrong passage, I want Romans 11, 33 and 34. Oh, the depth, having contemplated the sovereignty of God in the disposition of man, as that disposition impinged upon the salvation of individual men, oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, notice, how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out, for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been, His counselor, who sits God down and teaches Him what is right and good and wise and just? No one does. Only an infinite mind can understand the workings of an infinite mind. And so in that sense, God alone can encompass His own mind in all of His doings.

13:57 And when any creature rears back on his hind legs, and as it were, demands as a little worm of the dust, that God make an accounting of his ways to man the creature, you know how God responds to that? Now it's Romans 9 and verse 20, But, O man, who are you that you reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why did you make me thus? In other words, Paul says, Is the very fact that a creature would dare to even rear back in carnal impudence and ask questions as though God were accountable to man the creature, it's the height of impudence and of blasphemy. Nay, O man, who are you, the creature, to call God to account to you, the mighty Creator? And so as I seek to lay before you some biblical perspective, concerning this event, I am not taking the place of God. Only God knows with infallible certainty and exhaustive understanding all that He purposed in this event.

15:24 But because I cannot speak with infallible certainty and exhaustive understanding with reference to all that He purposes, does not mean that I can speak to you. mean that I cannot bring this event under the scrutiny of that which is revealed. And having done so, preach it to you as thus saith the Lord. For the scripture says the things that are hidden belong unto the Lord. The secret things belong unto the Lord, but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children. Now with those two fundamental principles or axioms from scripture acting as a bit and bridle to keep us from straying off either into arrogance or to ignorant despair. What can we learn? What ought we to learn from this tragic event in the light of the Word of God? What may God be saying to us?

Man's Inability to Control His Destiny

16:30 As he says, individuals, as a church, as a nation, as a world? Well, this is the first thing God is reminding us of. Number one, man does not, cannot, nor will he ever be able to control his own destiny. Very simple, isn't it? Man does not, cannot, nor will he ever be able to control his own destiny. Now, from the moment of the fall, when man attempted to take things into his own hands and play God, he has always been seeking to control his own destiny, to be the master of his own fate and the captain of his own soul. They said in the days of the Tower of Babel, let us make us a tower that will reach up to the heavens. God's purpose was to replenish and fill and scatter over the face of the earth. And man says, no, we will be the masters of our own fate, the captains of our own souls. And God came and

17:54 confused them and confounded them and caused them to speak in different languages that forced them into the world. And God said, no, we will be the masters of our own fate, the captains of our own into fragmented groups, that they might fulfill His purpose. The Scriptures tell us again and again, man does not, he cannot, nor will he ever be able to control his own destiny. Turn to the book of Proverbs with me for several clear statements of this truth.

18:26 Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 9.

18:32 Proverbs 16 and verse 9. A man's heart devises his ways, that is, men make their plans, and they ought to, they are responsible to. It is part of their privilege and responsibility as image bearers of God to be reflective, thoughtful, planning people, not living off the end of our noses, but living by principle and plan and wisely thought out purpose. That's not an indictment.

19:05 That's not an indictment about man devising his way. That's a description of how man ought to function. A man's heart devises his way, but Jehovah directs his steps.

19:21 All of man's planning cannot negate the sovereign power of God to turn his steps in a way utterly and totally different from the path that a man's heart devises. Proverbs 20 and verse 9. Proverbs 20 and verse 24. A man's goings are of Jehovah.

19:51 How then can man understand his way?

19:57 Jehovah is active in the direction of all of his creatures. How then can a man attempt to perceive the path by which he's come and the path by which he will go on in the future and disregard this most fundamental reality that a sovereign God is in control of his destiny? Proverbs 19 and verse 21. There are many devices in a man's heart, many plans, many purposes, the conception of what he ought to do and be and where he ought to go.

20:40 There are many devices in a man's heart, but... Regardless of the multiplicity of man's devices, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

20:53 There were proper devices in the hearts of the entire NASA community that that space shuttle should make its way into orbit, perform its experiments, send back its pictures of a classroom in space. Many devices! But God in his counsels from eternity had determined that man's heart should be in control of his destiny. That at the precise moment that that fireball...

21:29 That it should be so. And all of man's devices could not negate the counsel of God.

21:42 Turn to Psalm 33. This is not merely the assertion of the wise man Solomon, but this very truth is celebrated in the Psalms. Psalm 33, verses 10 and 11. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations.

22:03 He brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands fast forever. The thoughts of his heart to all generations.

22:19 What governs the world? What governs whether any given space shuttle shall accomplish its intended mission? The thought of God's heart laid up from eternity called the counsel of the Lord. That's what determines it.

22:37 Isaiah 14 and verse 27. And I pray you children, listen to these verses. You won't have a history course in school that will ever tell you this.

22:49 You won't have a secular history teacher ever tell you that there's a God in control. And Napoleon became who he was and fell into his destruction in the way that he did because Almighty God is the Lord of history. Now there are little rings. There are little wrinkles upon the blanket of chance.

23:09 One thing falls out one way, another way. But if we could have just changed the wrinkles, it would all be different. Isaiah 14 and verse 27. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who shall annul it?

23:26 And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Oh, I tell you honestly, I get goose flesh just reading that text here in the pulpit. Jehovah of hosts shall annul it.

23:48 His hand is stretched out. Who will grasp it and pull it back? Like a parent does the hand of a little child that reaches out to touch a forbidden object and grabs the hand and pulls it back. And God stretches out his hand to accomplish his sovereign will.

24:05 Anybody here big enough to put your hand on God's and pull it away? Are there enough computers to devise and conceive a way to pull his hand away? Listen. There could be a billion more computers and a thousand backup systems to every system on every shovel.

24:26 But if God has said it shall be a fireball before our eyes, none, none, none can take God's hand and pull it back.

24:37 That's what the Bible teaches.

24:41 And does not and cannot or will he ever be able to control his own destiny? That's why the exhortation, the scripture is clear. Proverbs 27. One.

25:01 Do not boast yourself of tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Why? Because if the day is likened to a womb of unseen and unknown activities, that which the day gives birth to is not determined by you, but by a sovereign, God.

25:30 And what is in the womb of each day is what he decreed from eternity. Do not boast, he says, of tomorrow for you do not know what a given day may bring forth. And this is why James says in chapter 4, Go to now you that say we'll go into such and such a city and buy and sell and get gain and be so long and have a business enterprise and built on that. We'll do this and contingent upon that.

26:02 We'll do this. He said, wait a minute. You're not in control. He said, what is your life?

26:10 It is a little vapor. It appears for a little time and then vanishes away for that. You ought to say if the Lord will, we shall both live and do this and do that. And in that saying, he doesn't mean you just pick up a little cliche and say, oh, I'll see you, Lord willing.

26:28 He means you have a mindset in which you live. There's one. Who really believes I do not, nor can I, nor will I ever be able to control my own destiny. And I say, my dear friends, we need desperately to hear this message from Scripture.

26:49 For in our day, the idea is that by technology, by data banks, by computer analysis, by chemical application, by physical force, we will gain control of everything in God's universe. We will control disease. Cancer will be blotted out in X number of years. We will control AIDS.

27:15 We will control this. We will control that. And sane, sensible men with Ph.D. degrees are talking about they're going to make men live for 100 years, 150, 200 years.

27:29 And in all of those impudent questions, what lay behind most of those questions, the assumption was somewhere the reason must be that we lost control of certain technology. Throw more technology, throw more money, throw more brains, then we'll be in control. We can guarantee post-flight, my friends, not until you can yank God off his throat. And does not man care?

28:08 Nor will he ever be able to control his own destiny. And you better learn that. You young people lay that to heart, because that's the truth.

28:21 You could lock yourself up in a cell three feet thick, reinforce concrete, put there your dried food, canned water, expert ventilating system, something that supposedly could protect you through a direct hit of a hydrogen bomb. And God could make you choke in your sleep over your own spittle.

God Humbles Arrogant Pride in Achievements

28:49 It wouldn't be the first time it happened. You don't control your destiny. And I say that's the first thing God is saying to us through the tragedy of this past Tuesday. But then there's a second thing God is saying in this man cannot boast with arrogant pride in his achievements without provoking God to humble him.

29:19 Man. Man cannot boast with arrogant pride in his achievements without provoking God to humble him. Now, there are many examples of this in the Old and the New Testaments. I'm taking only one classic example from the Old and a classic from the New.

29:41 Turn to Daniel, the book of Daniel, the prophet Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar, king over the vast, impressive. Empire of Babylon is to this place of influence by the sovereign will and power of God. Yet he is full of boastful, arrogant pride in what he regards to be his achievements.

30:13 And then God gives him a dream.

30:16 And in the interpretation of that dream by Daniel, this is what he is told that God has a purpose. He has something to teach him. Verse 34. And at the end of the days, Daniel 4, 34.

30:34 I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the most high and praised and honored him that lives forever and ever for his dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.

30:58 He doeth according to. His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. The verse I quoted earlier, none can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you doing? And at the same time, my understanding returned to me.

31:14 He had been like a beast of the field for several years. My understanding returned for the glory of my kingdom. My majesty and brightness returned in my counselors and my Lord sought me out and I was established in my kingdom and excellent greatness was. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven for all his works are truth in his ways.

31:40 Justice now notice. And those that walk in pride, he is able to abase.

31:51 Nebuchadnezzar was strutting like a peacock and praying the feathers of his own self-importance. This is mighty Babylon. Which my wisdom and my power. And God said, I'll make you like a beast of the field with your body wet with the dew.

32:13 And that's exactly what God did until his fingernails grew like the talons of an eagle. I've made him like an animal. Until he learned his lesson. Don't you strut in the presence of almighty God.

32:29 The closing note of the lesson he learned is those that walk in pride. He is able to abase. And he did the same. He did the same thing with his successor, Belshazzar.

32:43 You read it in chapter 5. No time to pause, but he did the same thing. And he humbled him. And struck at the very nerve centers of his pride.

32:56 But now in the New Testament, Acts chapter 12. Acts chapter 12. We read the record of a man who was given great ability as a leader and particularly as an orator. He could take words like a handful of diamonds.

33:14 And so hold them and turn them as to dazzle and sparkle. And cause people to sigh and to ooh and to aah. At his marvelous ability with words.

33:27 And in his arrogance and in his pride, he used his ability to bring to himself praise that belonged only to God. And you know what he did? He provoked God to humble him. Acts chapter 12 verse 20.

33:43 Now he was highly displeased with them. And they came with one accord to him. And having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, they asked for peace. Because their country was fed from the king's country.

33:58 And upon a set day, Herod arrayed himself in royal apparel. Oh, he was preening his feathers. Sat on the throne and made an oration unto them. He took all of his powers of oratory.

34:11 And he hurled them with tremendous concentration. Upon the altar. And the eyes and the ears of that auditory. Until it says the people shouted saying, The voice of a God and not of a man.

34:29 And at that point, Herod should have risen up from his throne and said, No! No!

34:37 The ability to draw breath into my lungs is from the living God. The ability to put one word on top of another to make any meaning. My sanity is a gift of God. The ability to move you with words is a gift of God.

34:52 Oh, when they said the voice of a God, one can only see him sitting there. Bucking in that praise like a dry sponge being plunged into a bucket of water. And God said, Enough! Enough!

35:09 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him. Why? Because he gave not the glory. And he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost.

35:28 Apparently, God did something. Something that it usually takes weeks and months to happen in the grave. For the maggots to multiply and consume the body. God apparently did it right in front of their eyes.

35:45 Their God crawling with maggots.

35:52 Why? He provoked God with his arrogant. I am not saying, and as carefully as I qualify it, Somebody is going to go out and break the ninth commandment and say I said it. But God will hold you.

36:13 He will hold you accountable in the day of judgment. He won't hold me accountable. I am not saying that every member of NASA is an unconverted, Herod-like, proud man. Who every time a shuttle goes up into orbit brings his feathers.

36:27 And when people ooh and ah and pour out their accolades. Sucks in the praise to his own heart in an idolatrous way. I am not saying that. I don't know the hearts of the vast NASA team.

36:40 I don't know the hearts of the astronauts. But what I am saying is that. What I am saying is this. The overall impression of the entire NASA program and its successes.

36:51 And of the average American is. Look what we have done. Look at our accomplishments. Look what our might and brains and skill and technology have accomplished.

37:07 There is no jealousy to give glory to God. The God who gives the minds clever enough. To penetrate the mysteries of the Lord. To penetrate the mysteries of the laws of God's universe.

37:17 To make the hardware and software in the computers. To make the various machines and to know the principles of aerodynamics. You don't find even anything that approaches a desire to magnify the God of heaven. From whom all these things come.

37:38 And I am convinced that what God was saying in that fireball was this. It is enough. We have been on a trip down the street now. Twenty seven successful launches.

37:55 We have got it in the bag man. We have got a hold now. We have got the glitches worked out. We have got such safety measures and backup measures.

38:05 And contingency plans. We have done it. And I say man cannot boast with arrogant pride in his achievements. Without provoking God to humble him.

National Disregard for God's Moral Law Invites Judgment

38:16 And I believe God humbled us as a nation before the whole world. Then there is a third thing that comes out of this entire tragedy. Not only do I set before you that God is saying to us. Man does not.

38:34 Man cannot nor will he ever be able to control his own destiny. Man cannot boast with arrogant pride in his achievements. Without provoking God to humble him. But now here is the heart of my burden this morning.

38:49 A nation cannot forever flagrantly disregard. God's moral law and not receive his judgments. A nation cannot forever flagrantly disregard. God's moral law and not receive his judgments.

39:10 Proverbs 1134 says righteousness. That is regard for the moral law of God exalts a nation. But sin is a reproach to any people. Galatians 6 8 and 9 be not deceived God is not mocked.

39:32 He is not snubbed whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Romans 1 18 says the wrath of God is revealed even now. Not only shall be in the day of judgment. But the wrath of God is even now revealed from heaven.

39:54 Against all ungodly. What is ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. What is ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness is not being like God.

40:05 And what is it to be like God it is to be righteous. What is it to be righteous it is to live by his law. The wrath of God is revealed against all those who flagrantly disregard his law. And a nation cannot forever flagrantly disregard God's moral law.

40:26 And not receive his judgments. Now I do not assert with the dogmatism with which I have made the first two points. Notice the change in my terminology in these subheadings. Can it be can it be that there's a relation between the national desecration of the sanctity of the Lord's day.

40:51 And the national humiliation of the challengers destruction.

41:00 Last Lord's day January 26 I led in prayer in this pulpit. That God would have mercy on a nation. That had been calculating for weeks. To spend the bulk of that day.

41:15 In the merriment and the booze and the partying surrounding Super Bowl 21. You remember I prayed God have mercy on us as a nation. For our flagrant open defiance of your right. To have a day that is peculiarly set apart unto yourself.

41:39 For the good of the creature and the glory of the Creator. Could it be that there is an umbilical cord of moral relationship between January 26 and Super Bowl madness. And January 28 and challenger sadness. And the irony is the sadness came through the same instrument as the madness.

42:10 The same tube to which people were glued on Sunday. They were glued to it on Tuesday. Is that your God that you'll worship.

42:24 I'll let your God say some strange things to you. Could it be could it be that there's a relation between the national desecration of the Lord's day. And the national humiliation of the challenger's destruction. Second question I ask under this heading.

42:49 Could it be could it be that there's a relation between the sudden destruction of seven adults. And the heartless destruction of millions year in and year out. Who never see the light of day. While those seven astronauts were blown to pieces in an instant.

43:15 And some of us reliving the scene in our minds. Find our spirits still shocked and numbed. Some of us have shed tears. We have felt the sting of the loss of husband friend wife mother.

43:33 And God knows I do not speak as a heartless man. But listen. All seven of those had a chance to grow up. And see the trees and the brooks as little children.

43:48 They had the chance to grow up and go to school and learn their ABC's. And choose their careers. They all came to adulthood. Some of them enjoyed the blessings of marriage and parenthood.

44:02 And another the elevated and elevating realm of classical music. The single woman with her PhD. They had a choice. But now listen.

44:13 Seven lives snuffed out in a moment. But I took my calculator out this morning. And from the time they were blown to pieces on Tuesday. To 1225 Sunday morning.

44:31 Do you know that somewhere between 22 and 24 thousand babies. Have been sucked out of mothers wounds. This is by the courage of the surgeon's knife. Why this hypocritical selective morning.

44:54 I ask you Mr. Rather. I ask you Mr. Brokaw.

45:00 I ask you Mr. Meese. Why the sad face over seven. And not a word for the helpless 22 thousand who have died.

45:16 In the past four days.

45:20 In the name of the God of heaven. What kind of compassion is that. So riddled with hypocrisy. If it's love for human life.

45:29 It's not that selective my friend. I didn't hear one newscaster suggest. That maybe Roe versus Wade. Is that which burst a few line.

45:50 Oh no the answer must be found only in technology. You see they got a closed universe. Well I tell you we don't live in a closed universe. You read your Bible.

45:59 The destruction of every nation. The destruction of individuals. According to the Bible has moral causes. And this is an open ended universe.

46:08 Where the sovereign God who's the moral governor of the universe. Can break in where and when he will. Whether it's opening up the heavens and the fountains of the deep. And bringing a flood to obliterate the whole generation.

46:21 Except one man and his family. Or whether according to the Bible. He moves a soldier to take a arrow at a venture. And say I'll just shoot somewhere somehow.

46:30 And Zango he gets the king disguised. And he hits him in the cheek of his arm. You children. They don't talk to you about that in school do they.

46:42 They don't tell you a sovereign God guides arrows in battle. They don't tell you that. That's why some of us are committed with every fiber of our being to a Christian school. We want to develop Christian minds.

46:56 With young people who think as Christians. Who think biblically about history and reality. And about the dignity of human life. I say.

47:08 The only consistent person who has any genuine mourning for the dignity of the life of those seven. Is the one who mourns for the life of the 23,000 that have been blotted out. Between Tuesday and this morning. 1.55 million every year.

47:30 Almost a hundred thousand alone in the state of California last year. They came out number one. Then could it be. Under this same heading.

47:48 The nation cannot forever flagrantly disregard God's moral law not receive his judgments. Could it be there's a relationship. Between Super Bowl mania and the humiliation of Tuesday. A relation between the constant destruction of the innocence by abortion upon demand.

48:09 Abortion as a cover-up for illicit sex. Among non consenting or non married partners. Or a cover-up for careless sex. Among married partners.

48:21 And it's a known fact to anyone who knows anything about the abortion glut. There isn't one abortion in a thousand that has anything to do with life threatening circumstances to the mother. It's become a convenient way for unbridled sexual activity. It's a form of birth prevention.

48:47 And if you don't believe that. You don't want to challenge me. Meet me at the door and I'll sit down and show you the facts. I'll give you the names of doctors who perform them and let them tell you.

49:00 And could it be. The third heading under this third heading. That there was a relation between the destruction of the central figure in this mission. And the rejection of God's order for the role of the mother.

Rejection of God's Order for Motherhood

49:20 And here's where I know some of you will be angry at me. But I don't care. I'm not saying there is. I'm asking the question.

49:29 Could it be. Who was the central figure of this whole space shuttle trip. So much so that some were saying unfair. It was Christy McCullough.

49:41 From the very town where I met my wife and married her. Concord, New Hampshire. The very town where my mother was born and reared. Where I spent all my vacations every summer.

49:55 And she was set forth as the fully liberated woman. She was married. Had a family. Had a consenting husband.

50:05 Had a career as a school teacher. And now she could even have a second temporary career as an astronaut. Anything you want baby you can get it if you want it bad enough. I'm not saying.

50:18 She was an outspoken feminist. Don't you say that I said that. I didn't. But she was set forth as such a model of virtue.

50:28 Even though pictures showed her little daughter. Lying when her mommy left. Leave me mommy. Oh she could have gone home weekends and chose not to.

50:43 And for four months left a six year old without a mother. Not in a path of duty. Not in a path of necessity. Could it be.

50:56 I only asked the question my friend. When my Bible says the older women are to train the younger women. To be workers at home. What is the great tragedy of this young generation.

51:11 Most of the very kids who would be sitting in the classrooms watching by the television. When that woman was tragically snuffed out with the others. Many of those kids did not go home that day to a mother or to a dad. Many of them had to wait for mom to come home from work.

51:35 They didn't come into school from the loving embrace. Of a mother through those development years. They were put in day care centers. Practically as soon as they come out of the womb.

51:49 The percentages are frightening. Of children who've never known what it is. To have a mother who's a keeper at home. Could it be that God is saying America enough.

52:03 You want to make heroines of people. Make them of the ones I make them. You know who the heroines are. You mothers here.

52:11 Willing to bury your mother. Willing to bury your life all during those developmental years of your children. Willing to live on a shoestring. Willing to do without.

52:20 Willing to say no to expensive vacations and expensive clothes. And willing to say no to a thousand things. That your sons and daughters may have a mother at home. Who buries herself in the development of their life and character.

52:39 You're the heroines of God's word. You're blessed as you are. But you're not the heroines of God's word.

53:02 You're afraid to die. You're afraid to do anything. Nobody's able to do anything. They have to do something about it.

53:16 You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it. You can't do anything about it.

53:28 will probably ever witness.

The Challenger as a Vivid Illustration of the Last Day

53:32 How does God describe the last day when it dawns? Turn to three passages with me quickly, please. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

53:47 Paul is speaking of the return of the Lord in chapter 4 and verse 13 with its reference to the people of God. And he ends with the words in verse 18, Comfort one another with these words. And what a joy it was this week to minister in one of our homes with this passage and to see the comfort of the Holy Ghost poured into the heart of grieving loved ones. Comfort one another with these words.

54:14 But now that same coming of Jesus has another side to it. Verse 1 of chapter 5. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that anything be written unto you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord, the second coming, the final day, so cometh as a thief in the night, when they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, and they shall in no wise escape.

54:58 When they are saying, Peace, safety, safety, peace, peace, safety, safety, peace, with no warning, destruction comes. And what kind of destruction? Inescapable. I hear the words going over in my mind.

55:21 104% power.

55:26 Back to 65%. Good burn in three engines.

55:32 All is well. Peace and safety in your launch seats. Peace. Safety on your way to orbit.

55:40 Then sudden destruction came. Quick as the flash.

55:47 There was no escape.

55:52 Did you see the fireball? Action.

55:59 The last day. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians 1. Our second passage, because it introduces the elements of the last day.

56:10 Verse 7 of 2 Thessalonians 1. To you that are afflicted, rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of His power. How? How?

56:21 Inflaming fire.

56:26 Rendering vengeance to them that know not God and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and the glory of His might. My friend, listen.

56:47 If 500,000 pounds, a half a million pounds, of, two of God's most elementary elements in His universe, a little thimble full of God's hydrogen and oxygen, half a million pounds in that central tank, if a fireball like that exploding can take that massive space shuttle and everything in it and disintegrate, what would it be when the creator of heaven and earth and all the galaxies, the fireball of the released energy of deity in this world, in its present state, and all His enemies?

57:40 You want a picture of the last day we had perhaps the most vivid we'll ever have in our lifetime?

57:48 The third passage, and with this I close. Because in this passage the exhortation with which I close is contained, 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. Peter speaking of the coming of the Lord, urging believers not to grow weary, remembering that God is patient, yearning for the salvation of men, delaying the return of His Son that others might yet be saved, says in verse 10, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up, seeing that these things are thus to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and out of that, that last fireball of the returning judgment and purifying grace of God, what will emerge? Blessed be God, not a little bit of debris

59:15 on the Florida shore, but verse 13, according to His promise, we look for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

59:29 What will emerge from God's final fireball is the new heavens, and the new earth, and in it and on it, all of those who've been made new creatures in Christ Jesus. That horrible fireball had only one result, horrible, irreversible, sudden destruction. God's final fireball will have two, the destruction of His enemies, but the purification of the heavens and the earth, and emerging out, our eternal glory, with all the redeemed humanity having been given their resurrection bodies, and so shall we ever be, together with the Lord, enjoying the blessings of the new creation. We ought to lay to heart, dear people, this most vivid illustration of the last day, which most of us will probably ever witness, unless we are present to witness the new creation, and we are present to witness the new creation, and we are present to witness the new creation, That final fireball of the coming Christ.

Call to Holy Living and Repentance

60:43 Oh, listen to Peter's words, believer. Give diligence to be found in Him. In a pattern of holy living. A pattern of godliness.

60:54 I fear for some of you, you've begun to make it. You've begun to climb the corporation ladder. You've begun to get your promotions. You don't have to eat at Burger King all the time now when you go out with the family.

61:07 You've begun to accumulate things. But oh, my young Christian friend, listen to me. Don't let your heart get entwined with anything that's going up in God's final fireball. Because it will.

61:24 It'll all go up. Don't let it get inside your heart. Whatever God entrusts, hold it with an open hand.

61:32 And my sinner friend, what can I say to you? You see what you're doing? You're strutting around as though you were piggybacked on that challenger. Space shuttle.

61:45 Saying, nah, this business about things being volatile and dangerous, that's just to scare people. Nothing will happen to me. Let it blow up. I'll make it.

61:54 No, no, my friend. If you'd been piggybacked, you'd be blown to pieces. And you will be at the coming of Christ.

62:03 Jesus Christ is going to take vengeance on you who won't obey His gospel. You who will not come to know God in the way of His revelation. May God grant that you'll not come hardened. And insensitive through another loud voice of God's mercy speaking to the horrible tragedy of this past Tuesday.

62:27 I end up where I began. Jesus said, when you see these human tragedies, are we to stand back and say, Oh, oh, look, look. Those people who were killed, whose blood was mingled by Herod at a sacrificial feast. They were terrible sinners.

62:43 Terrible that that should have happened to them. Or those who were crushed by the tower. That must have been God's judgment on them. They must have been secret hypocrites.

62:52 Secret thieves and adulterers and idolaters. Jesus said, no. Except you repent, you shall perish. My friend.

63:00 My friend, listen. These things are not meant that you may stand back and say, Oh, God wouldn't do that to me. I'm too good. No.

63:09 They're to remind you God is an angry God in the face of unforgiving. Unforgiven. And cleanse sin. Repent.

63:19 Repent. Flee to Christ. Seek a refuge. And when that day comes, the fire will not consume you.

63:27 But the one who brings it will gather you to himself. And that forever.

Prayer for Mercy and National Humility

63:43 Our Father, though our hearts are heavy when we think of grieving families this day.

63:54 Little boys and girls with no daddy, no mummy. Mothers and fathers who've lost a beloved son or daughter.

64:05 And though we pray that their grief may turn them to you if they do not know you.

64:11 Yet we do thank you that you have spoken in this event. Oh, may we not be deaf to your voice. Humble the pride and the arrogance of our nation. The pride and the arrogance of every impenitent sinner in this building.

64:29 Oh, gracious God. May the. May the principles and perspectives of your word that rightly interpret this event. May they be written upon our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost.

64:45 And may it result in the salvation of many. Oh, God, hear our cry. Don't let us go on in hardness and impenitence. Have mercy upon the leaders of our nation.

64:59 Have mercy upon these men who had access to millions. And never once introduce the real issues of this event. Have mercy upon our president who tried to talk those seven into heaven. Lord, have mercy.

65:17 Have mercy. Oh, God in wrath. Remember mercy. We plead these things for the glory of your beloved son.

65:28 Amen.