What would you ask God if you could ask him one thing, one thing you're concerned about, you wonder about, you have problems with?
Well, the Barna Research Group did a survey several years ago, and they asked people that question.
If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
The number one response, why is there pain and suffering in the world?
That is the most commonly raised question or objection by unbelievers who explain why they don't believe.
I put it on your outline, something that John Stott, one of the most influential Christian writers over the past 50 years or more,
he agreed this is a very challenging question.
He stated it this way.
The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith and has been in every generation.
So, thinking people, and I'm going to assume all of us are thinking people, thinking people have always wondered,
if God is good, why is there so much evil and suffering in this world?
If God is sovereign, why doesn't he prevent all these tragedies from happening?
And if God loves his children, us Christians, why does he allow us to experience pain and suffering?
Those are not just questions that unbelievers ask.
We as Christians, if you've never asked out loud, talked about it out loud, you've at least thought about it at times.
And these kind of questions naturally arise from the study we did last week on the providence of God.
How God is sovereign, how God is sovereign, totally in control.
Well, tonight we're going to look at how the Bible answers some of these questions.
Some of them will not be answered until we get to heaven.
But look on your outline, number one.
Suffering was not part of God's original creation, nor will it be a part of God's final new creation.
The Bible begins, Genesis 1, God created the heavens and the earth.
And it goes on to describe the days of creation after each day.
It says it was good and it comes to the end in verse 31.
And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good.
Well, the Bible ends with God creating a new heaven and a new earth.
Revelation chapter 21, verse 1.
And the promise that in this new heaven and new earth, everything will be good.
Look at two examples.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them.
They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away.
And then verse 27.
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
We can conclude two things from the way God created everything in the beginning and the way he's going to recreate everything in the new heaven and a new earth.
Number one, God is not the source of sin, evil, and suffering.
It is absent from his original creation.
Everything was very good.
And it will be absent from the new creation, the new heaven and the earth, as he said.
Number two, sin, evil, and suffering are present only in this fallen sinful world.
Not a part of God's original creation.
It will not be a part of the way he recreates the new heaven and new earth where we'll spend eternity with him.
It's the only present.
Sin, evil, and suffering is the only present in this present fallen sinful world.
Let's look at what little bit we know about how it happened.
Number two, sin, evil, and suffering entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned.
In Genesis 3.
When it comes to the actual origin of evil, of sin, the Bible is silent.
But sometime between the end of creation, when he created everything and it was very good,
and the appearance of the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve that you read about in Genesis 3,
something happened.
Something happened that led to the existence of an evil being that the Bible refers to as Satan and sometimes the devil.
A few passages of Scripture indicate that rebellion against God took place in the, what we would call, angelic world.
Look at 2 Peter 2, 4, one verse.
And if God did not spare angels when they sinned.
Something that took place outside of what God reveals in his word.
And then Jude 6 is very similar to 2 Peter 2.
The book of Jude is very similar to the second chapter of 2 Peter.
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling.
He is kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.
Now that's about all I know about that.
And anyone else.
Many people think that this rebellion against God in heaven resulted in the fall of a very powerful angel who became Satan or the devil.
And the less powerful angels who followed him in rebellion became his demons.
Now the Bible does not really spell this out.
The Bible does not explicitly tell us anything about that.
But there's a few passages that imply it.
Two are found in Revelation.
Note that they describe Satan as that ancient serpent.
In Revelation 12, 9.
And the great dragon was thrown down that that ancient serpent,
who was called the devil and Satan and the deceiver of the world.
He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.
And then 22.
And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent,
who is the devil and Satan.
I want to emphasize in that he's called the serpent.
Because that's how he makes his first appearance in the Bible.
In Genesis 3, he's the serpent who tempted Eve and Adam to sin against God.
But there's no explanation as to where he came from.
God created everything and it was very good at the end of Genesis 1.
Genesis 2 describes God's special creation.
How he created Adam and then Eve.
Brought them together.
And then chapter 3.
There's the devil.
The ancient serpent.
There's no nothing
about why God allowed him
to come into existence
and then come into his garden,
his paradise.
The fact is that God has chosen
not to explain the original source of sin,
evil, and suffering.
There is no explanation.
There is no explanation of
why he allowed it.
How it came about
or anything like that.
But he does tell us
when and how sin, evil, and suffering
entered into this world
and the lives of human beings.
It's there in Genesis 3.
In the paradise of the Garden of Eden.
Perfection.
Perfect environment.
Adam and Eve created in the image of God
without sin.
They enjoyed perfect fellowship with God
and perfect fellowship with each other.
And it was in that environment
that Satan entered.
Came to them and tempted them.
He tempted them first to doubt God's word
and then to disobey God's word.
Doubt what God said.
And then disobey what God had clearly said.
Both Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan
and to disobey God.
Read that in Genesis 1,
beginning in Genesis 3,
beginning in verse 1.
On your handout there,
verses 13, 7 through 13 are listed.
We're going to look at some of those
in particular now.
We can describe the immediate result
of their sin
was broken relationships.
The immediate result
of their sin
was number one,
their relationship with God
was broken.
They both became afraid of God
and tried to hide from Him.
Look at verse 8.
And they heard the sound of the Lord
walking in the garden
in the cool of the day.
And the man and his wife
hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord
among the trees of the garden.
They sinned.
Their eyes were opened.
Not in a good way.
And the first thing that they did,
they hid from God.
Then Adam implied
that it was God's fault
that they'd sinned.
Look at verse 12.
The man said,
The woman whom you gave
to be with me,
she gave me the fruit
of the tree
and I ate.
The blame game
is one of the oldest,
is probably the oldest game
in existence, isn't it?
He's blaming God.
Number two,
it's not just their relationship
with God,
their close,
intimate relationship
with God
we're talking about.
Walked with God,
talked with God.
But their close,
intimate relationship
with each other
was broken.
After the fall,
they were no longer
comfortable being naked
before each other.
So they covered up
with fig leaves.
It says in verse 7,
Then the eyes of both
were opened
and they knew
that they were naked.
And naked's not good.
It's not bad.
It's good.
That's why
Genesis 2 ends.
They were both naked
and they felt no shame.
It was just
the way it's supposed to be.
They sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves
loincloths.
They covered up.
They also turned
against each other.
Adam,
specifically,
blamed Eve.
Look again at verse 12
with a different emphasis
this time.
The man said,
The woman
whom you gave
to be with me.
She gave me
the fruit
of the tree
and I ate.
You see,
Adam,
he's the real culprit
in it all.
He let
his wife
be deceived.
Why didn't he
not speak up
when the devil
tempted them
because they were together?
But he
was not
being
the leader,
the man
that he should have been,
the protector
that God made him to be.
And then
when he failed
and he
sinned as well
through the eating,
he turns around
and blames God
and then
blames his wife.
That's been
an eternal
temptation
for us as men
to not be
who God's
called us to be
and when we fail,
we look around
and we'll find
somebody else
to blame.
We can get
a good idea
of the nature
of sin
by looking
at the immediate
effects of Adam
and Eve
and their sin.
Number one,
sin is rebellion
against God.
That's what they did.
Sin is rebellion
against God.
It is the failure
to do
what God commands.
Or
it is the doing
of what God
forbids.
It can be active
or passive.
Omission
or commission.
Sin is number two,
is the source
of evil
and suffering
in this world
as seen
in what the
entrance of sin
introduced
into God's
good creation.
I want you to look
at this list here.
After they sinned,
there was death.
There was separation
from God.
There was fear
and hiding
from God.
There was shame,
a lack of transparency
and intimacy
between husband
and wife.
There was a refusal
to accept
personal responsibility,
accusation,
and blame.
It's all there
in Scripture.
They're listed there
for you.
Pain and suffering
and the normal
experiences of life
like childbirth,
marriage,
the breakdown
of unity
and oneness.
Work.
There was a curse
upon the earth.
Then the next chapter,
chapter four,
there was jealousy,
there was anger,
there was jealousy,
there was pride,
and the first murder.
Brother kills brother.
Now,
that's sort of
a little introduction
on how sin
and evil
and suffering
entered into this world.
But I want us
to look now
at how God
is still in control
and He can be trusted
to take care of us
in the midst
of a life
surrounded by sin,
evil,
and suffering.
Now,
I want everybody,
if you would,
to turn to
2 Corinthians 7,
2 Corinthians 12,
and we're going
to look at
verses 7 through 10
in particular.
And they're on
the back
of your outline.
2 Corinthians chapter 12.
You don't have
to turn there.
I forgot that
I put it on here.
I thought I wasn't
going to have room.
It's on that sheet.
Paul gives us
in 2 Corinthians 12
one of the best examples
of how God
works through
the evil actions
of Satan
and the suffering
of His people
to accomplish
His good purpose
in us
and through us.
Paul begins
2 Corinthians 12
describing a vision
of heaven
that he experienced
in the past.
But what he says
next
is surprising.
Let's just look at it.
Verse 7.
So to keep me
from becoming conceited
because of the surpassing
greatness of the revelations,
a thorn was given me
in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan
to harass me,
to keep me
from becoming conceited.
Three times
I pleaded with the Lord
about this,
that it should leave me.
But he said to me,
my grace is sufficient
for you
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness.
Therefore I will boast
all the more gladly
about of my weaknesses
so that the power
of Christ
may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ
then I am content
with weaknesses,
insults,
hardships,
persecutions,
and calamities.
For when I am weak,
then I am strong.
After Paul
had his vision of heaven,
he was given
a thorn in the flesh
for the purpose
that says there
in verse 7
of keeping him
from becoming conceited.
That phrase is repeated
a little bit later on.
The thorn in flesh,
we don't know what it was.
I think most
commentators,
scholars who try to
figure this thing out
would think
is something physical.
Maybe a problem
with his eyes.
He says something
in Galatians
about see what big,
at the end of Galatians,
he writes himself,
see what big letters
I'm writing with
as if he can't really,
he's having trouble
with his own vision.
Some people think
he suffered
the effects of malaria.
some think,
you know,
just a lot of different things.
Some people think,
though,
that it could be
something psychological,
emotional,
spiritual,
something he struggled with.
No one knows.
But it was some kind
of issue
that hurt him,
that caused personal
pain and suffering,
and he pleaded
with God
to take it away.
But God didn't.
God did not answer
Paul's prayer,
pleading three times,
remove this thorn
in the flesh,
but look on at verse 7.
A messenger of Satan.
God sometimes allows Satan
to inflict us
with pain and suffering,
but Satan is always
limited by God,
and can only do
what God allows.
What book of the Bible
drives that point home?
Job.
The devil
can inflict much harm
on people,
but only if God allows it,
and only according
to the level
that God allows.
Job helps us
to understand that.
And at the end of Job,
here's just sort of,
if you ever want
to read this,
Job's a hard book,
especially trying
to figure out
what his friends
were saying
and all that kind
of stuff,
but at the end,
Job, you know,
he asks him questions.
How does God
answer the questions
of Job
at the end of Job?
Basically,
God turns the tables
on him and says,
where were you
when I did
all these kind
of things?
And it's sort of like,
Job,
if you can answer
these questions
that I have for you,
I'll answer
your questions
from me,
you have for me.
God does not tell us
these kind of things
for whatever reason.
But look at what,
I sort of jumped
to go in,
look at what happened
in verses 8 through 9,
look at the back and forth.
Paul prayed
and asked God
to remove the thorn.
God answered
by saying no
and explained
why he said no.
Verse 9,
but he said to me,
my grace is sufficient
for you
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness.
Paul responded
by accepting
God's answer
and trusting
that God
would work
through his strength,
God's strength
through Paul's weaknesses.
Look at it,
verse 10 again,
the end of 9 and 10.
Therefore,
I will boast
all the more
about my weaknesses
so that the power
of Christ
may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ,
then I am content
with weaknesses,
insults,
hardships,
persecutions,
and calamities.
For when I am weak,
then I am strong.
Now,
I want us to understand
when Paul responds
this way,
it's not as if,
okay,
and he went on
and life was good.
He didn't have any issues.
He didn't have any struggles.
Paul had a horrible life.
Paul experienced
more physical,
emotional,
pain,
and we can imagine.
Just read some of the things
it says in 2 Corinthians
about what he went through
in chapter 10,
for an example.
Paul's sufferings
as an apostle,
beginning in verse 16.
It was hard for him to accept
what God said
and carry it out.
But he had to write
just a great attitude.
Paul's attitude was,
if God said,
my grace is sufficient
for you,
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness,
he so loved God
and trusted God
and wanted to be used
by God,
he was willing
to live most of his life
in pain
and suffering
and discomfort
in order to
do God's will,
which resulted in
preaching the gospel
and many people saved,
churches being planted,
gospel spreading
throughout the Mediterranean world
and in all of that,
God was glorified
and that was good enough
for him.
In all of that,
many people were saved,
churches started
that would impact
future generations
and that was good enough
for him.
He wasn't concerned
about himself.
He just wanted
to be used by God
but at the same time,
he knew that a better day
was coming.
He knew that his suffering
and pain
and disappointments,
heartaches,
it would all end one day
and he'd live in perfect
goodness,
comfort,
joy
in the new heavens
and new earth.
Think about this.
Suffering usually
makes people
better or bitter.
Paul's a great example
of someone
who became better.
Most of you
are familiar
with the story
of Johnny Erickson Tida.
She's been a faithful
servant of the Lord
in a wheelchair
for what,
50 years maybe now
and she truly
made the best
of her suffering.
Been an inspiration
to many people
who have gone
through heartaches.
Do you know someone
who has responded
like that
to suffering?
Somebody that
inspires you,
somebody who's just
a trophy of grace
in the way that they
have responded
like Paul
or like Johnny.
Maybe not their whole life
but in certain ways.
Anybody come to mind
in your life?
We won't call
anyone's name
who's become bitter
from life's suffering
but some of us
know people
who have.
Life's hardships
made them bitter.
Let's close this,
wind this up.
What are some
of the keys
to allowing
the sufferings
of life
to make us better
instead of bitter?
What can help us
be more like Paul,
more like Johnny
and be better
rather than bitter?
Well, number one,
look on the paper there
to believe
what God says,
what the Bible says
about God
using them
for good purposes
in our lives.
There's just a list.
You can read it.
We're going to run
out of time
so I'm not going
to read all of those
but one,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six.
Six different passages
just as an example
of things the Bible says
how God uses
sufferings,
difficulties,
trials
for our good
to develop
our character
to teach us
compassion
and empathy
for others
to prove
the genuineness
of our faith
to make us
more like Jesus
to bring glory
and honor to God.
Number two,
another key
to allow these
sufferings
to make us better
to trust
that God
is both great
and good
as Jerry Bridges
says in this quote,
look at it,
God in His love
always wills
what's best for us.
In His wisdom
He always knows
what is best
and in His sovereignty
He has the power
to bring it about.
But in order
sometimes,
we've got to accept this,
in order at times
for God
to be glorified
and His
big plan
accomplished,
we suffer.
He uses our suffering
for that ultimate good
and it's hard
and we shouldn't say
it's not hard.
Paul would never
just laugh
and carry on
about how his life
was wonderful,
his life was hard.
But he looked at it
as this is not the end.
He looked at it
from an eternal perspective.
Better days
were coming
for Him
and they'd be forever.
But in the meantime,
he was willing
to have less,
to suffer more
so that others
could have more
at least spiritually speaking.
Not suffer eternally.
That kind of thing.
Paul says all this better.
One of my favorite verses.
Romans 8, 28.
And we know that in all things,
God works for the good
of those who love Him,
who have been called
according to His purpose.
Any thoughts on this tonight?
You cannot answer
everybody's concerns
about why
there's sin, suffering,
and evil in this world.
I can't answer
all the questions I have.
about why these things are.
I don't know.
And there may be times
in your life
where a friend
or family member
have gone through
some kind of devastating loss
and they're Christians.
They look at you and say,
why would God
allow this to happen?
Why would God
cause this to happen?
And sometimes
the best answer
you can give them is,
I don't know.
And I don't think
anybody knows.
God knows.
And we may find out
when we get to heaven.
But we have to trust
that God does know
what He's doing.
You know,
in a much, much, much
smaller way,
our children,
when they're little,
they don't really understand
why we do things
that hurt them,
disappoint them,
tell them no.
But we know,
but maybe they're just,
they're just not at the age,
the ability
that they can understand it.
And we're just not,
our thoughts are not
like God's thoughts.
We just can't understand
everything.
And we have to accept that
because God's God
and we're not.
But He is good.
He created this world good.
He's going to recreate
everything good.
And He is working
in the midst of the mess now.
Still in control.
Working for ultimate good.
His purpose.
Other people's good.
And we just have to trust Him.