In this world, even the most righteous people sometimes suffer.

He’s secured, heir to a family fortune.

Owner of real estate holdings in Manhattan, including an elite hotel.

Revenues from inventions.

Seats on the board of directors more than twenty corporations—all contributed to a fortune estimated at between one hundred million and two hundred million dollars.

His future seemed secure.

When he married, he and his young bride honeymooned in Egypt and Europe.

For the return voyage to America, booking on the safest ship ever built—the SS Titanic pride of the White Star line.

Within days, John Jacob Astor was dead.

Titanic was believed to be unsinkable. But it sailed an ocean full of hazards, and when crew members made crucial mistakes, ignoring warnings of icebergs, the great ship went down.

At 26 a vice president, and the youngest partner in a major New York company dealing in international finance.

F. T.’s future seemed secure.

He was supposed to be driving to Hartford, Connecticut, for a business meeting that morning, but he stopped at his office for some reason.

A business partner contacted F. T. at his desk on the 105th

floor of the World Trade Center south tower on September 11, 2001, just minutes before the first plane hit.

Before the fateful morning, F. T. Aquilino had safely worked in the World Trade Center for years.

The building had withstood decades of storms and winds; the airliners that struck the buildings and brought them down did not malfunction.

F. T. Aquilino was dead.

At this point, you may be expecting me to say something like, “IF THESE MEN HAD PUT THEIR TRUST IN GOD, THEIR SECURITY WOULD HAVE BEEN ASSURED, AND THEY WOULD NOT SUFFER SUCH LOSS.”

Take for example, John the Baptist, of whom Jesus said, “’among those born of women there is no greater than John.” (Luke 7:28)

Surely his future was secured.

On the contrary, John never seemed secure.

He lived a life of privation in the desert on a subsistence diet of carob beans and wild honey.

Although his preaching gained him notoriety.

John earned the displeasure of Herod and especially Herod’s wife.

And in a memorable episode, Herod’s promise to his stepdaughter literally cost John his head!

Together, Astor and Aquilinohad blessings, character, fame, fortune, family, talent---yet none of that brought them security.

Everybody wants security.

Lots of people offer it.

Entire industries exist to give it.

Financial planners offer security for retirement.

Insurance companies offer security in case of property damage or loss, or security for the family in case of death.

Others offer alarm systems to give security from crime.

And government exist primarily as an effort to keep its citizen secure:

Secure from:

-foreign aggression, secure from crime, secure from disease, even secure in old age.

All of these companies and institutions do provide a limited measure of security.

Yet as long as we live in a broken world filled with broken people, nothing can guarantee us security.

Foolish men helped sink the Titanic. Angry men brought down the Twin Towers. An evil man and an evil woman killed John the Baptist.

But that is not the end. The Bible indicates that human evil affects the planet itself; that broken people have caused the broken world.

Genesis tells us that when Adam sinned, God cursed the ground(Genesis 3:17)

At creation, God gave Adam dominion—rulership—over the earth, over the planet itself.

So when Adam rebelled against God, the planet suffered.

Later, when men filled with violence, God brought a great flood, and the Bible tells us that disaster permanently altered the planet as well.

Ever since the Flood, this broken world has itself become dangerous place for the human race who broke it.

Throughout the ages of recorded history, drought, flood, volcanic eruption, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis have exacted planetary revenge, killing untold millions, giving the lie to humanity’s illusions of security in this world.

Today’s advanced technology tempts us to think that we can achieve a measure of security in this life -----

That everyone will live long and prosper without God.

-- Our prosperity, coupled with sophisticated financial instruments like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, allow us to accumulate money for our retirement, so we think we don’t need God to provide for our future.

Medicine can detect diseases early and can treat or cure conditions once considered fatal.

. Scientific instruments monitor the movements

of the earth’s crust. Satellites track the weather.

Our advance communications systems bring all of this together to warn us of impending danger.

. And our means of transportation can move us to places of safety, rescue us from dangerous situations, and rapidly take us to medical facilities for treatment – even in cases of trauma.

Increasingly, in this advanced world, people live without reference to God. It follows that if we don’t need God’s assistance to live the good life, then we don’t need His advice about how to live well.

We feel free to ignore all the codes of conduct and restrictions on behavior that God gave us.

Princess Diana, in the bloom of youth, dies suddenly in a car crash.

John Ritter, a TV actor with his own show, collapses and dies without warning of an undetected vascular disorder.

Planes and ships go down, taking with them the rich and the mighty.

A tsunami strikes in Indonesia, sweeping wealthy tourist’s as well as poor villagers to their deaths, many never to be found.

A bridge collapses in Minneapolis during rush hour.

The rich, the poor, the righteous, and the profane all die together.

These terrible events bring us face to face with the reality that despite all our advanced technology and institutions, security in this world remains an illusion for all.

Those who trust in God may die just as those who do not---suddenly, at an early age, without warning. But there is a difference…

Abraham was one of the richest men in the ancient world. At God’s direction, Abraham gave up the relative safety of his birthplace, setting out on a long pilgrimage.

Hebrews 11:8 “By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents.”

When Sarah died, Abraham had to pay an exorbitant price for a place to bury her.

Yet Abraham’s faith remained.

-- “Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations –the City designed and built by God.”--

In this world, we have no security. The forces of evil and of nature will continue to strike unpredictably and with fatal results. Our only security is in God, for this world---and the next.