Comforting Others Session 2

Overview

Comforting Those Who Wonder if God Is Good

How do we speak comfort to a friend, neighbor, or fellow believer who has come to doubt the goodness of God? The question is ancient, not modern. Even Jeremiah cried out under the weight of suffering, accusing the Lord of being "like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail" Jeremiah 15:15-18, and pressing his case before God: "Why does the way of the guilty prosper?" Jeremiah 12:1. The "double-barreled doubt"—is God truly good, and is He truly all-powerful?—has been wrestled with by saints and sufferers in every age. Some call this the Achilles heel of Christianity. It is not. The Scriptures meet the question head-on.

The discipline of theodicy—the justification of God's goodness in light of evil—begins with clear definitions. Evil is sin (Romans 3:10; Romans 7:19; Genesis 6:5). God forbids evil and does not will it Isaiah 1:16. God is not the author of evil, for "there is no unrighteousness in him" Psalm 92:15. Sometimes God prevents evil, as when He restrained Abimelech from sinning against Sarah Genesis 20:1-7. And yet, because God is sovereign—because there is "not one maverick molecule" in the universe—He must at times permit evil. He could have ended the angelic rebellion before it began, crushed the serpent in the garden, or made us incapable of sin. He did not. Why?

When God allows evil, He governs it according to His purpose. Joseph spoke this truth to the brothers who had betrayed him: "Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good" Genesis 50:20. Paul goes deeper still in Romans 9:22-23: God endures with patience the vessels of wrath in order "to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy." We would never grasp the depth of His holiness, the seriousness of His justice, or the wonder of His grace apart from the dark backdrop of evil. Our injustice serves to confirm His justice Romans 3:5. Why He prevents evil in some moments and permits it in others is, finally, beyond our pay grade.

So when someone is gripped by doubt about God's goodness, we do not pretend to explain every providence. We point them to what is certain: the cross. "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8. "He who did not withhold his own son but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?" Romans 8:31-33. "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" John 15:13. The suffering Servant was "wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities" Isaiah 53:3-6. God did not stay distant on a high throne with His hands to Himself. He stretched out His hands on the cross and bore the full weight of the world's evil. Amid all we cannot understand, this we know for sure: God is good.

Transcript

Well, welcome this this morning. We continue on this class and that is focusing on the subject of bringing comfort to others. 0s

Last week we looked at the subject of how do we bring comfort to people that are wondering about the very existence of God. 8s

And we took a look at how the Scripture says that God is revealed through creation. 20s

That we can simply look at creation and the complexity of it and we can infer that there is a creator behind it. 26s

To think that the complexity of creation and the beauty of creation is a result of some type of accident in the universe where the world is positioned as perfectly as it is, etc. etc. 35s

That is less to be burned up by the position of the Son to think that that is simply an accident or to think that we have evolved from an ape. 49s

That takes a lot of faith, doesn't it? It takes a lot of faith to believe that. 63s

So one of the Scripture arguments for the existence of God is to look at creation. 69s

Another argument is to look at the conscience. We see that there is incredible uniformity of the conscience across cultures, across time. 74s

And that is the natural law that God has written in our hearts that was then codified in the Ten Commandments. 85s

That natural law then points to a giver of that law. Now with the conscience, the conscience can become seared. 92s

The conscience can and is subject to false input. So that is when you wind up sometimes with people saying I just don't think it is wrong. 101s

And obviously it is totally opposed to God's word and God's will. 113s

That is more of a conscience that becomes seared or it is the result of false input that is given to it. 119s

And so one has to be very careful in terms of the input given to the conscience. 128s

But the fact that there is a conscience, the fact that there is natural law written on the hearts, the fact is false as the Gentiles who haven't been given a law, are doing that which the Jews are. 135s

That is that natural law in us. And so we can turn to creation as we study, we can turn to conscience. 147s

But turning inward to ourself will never reveal who God is. That is where one has to turn to the Scripture. 155s

So we can know that there is a God but who that God is is only revealed to us in the Scripture. 164s

So we talked about how we turn people into the Word and we unleash the Word and we trust that God will use the Word to His glory. 170s

Well today I want to do kind of a part two on last week. And that is how can we comfort someone who is wondering if God is good. 179s

How can we comfort someone who wonders if God is good or not? 190s

There is the human temptation to doubt the goodness of God and the power of God. 197s

It is sometimes referred to as a double barreled doubt. Where one wonders is God truly good and is God truly all powerful. 203s

I want to read to you a little section from the fellow from Netherlands. And I came across this quote in my study and I thought it was just, it really tied in I thought to this class. He wrote this. 213s

Say all you want about your God being a good and loving God but I know differently and I know by experience too. 229s

What I mean is I felt for myself the touch of your God's hand and as far as I'm concerned he can keep his hands to himself. 241s

You say God loves that God is good then he has a strange way of showing his love with fire and bombs and rape, rage and death. 252s

Now if God is real then he cannot be good or if he is good then he can't possibly be real. 267s

So if he's running things from his high throne he can just stay up there and keep his hands to himself. 279s

We've had enough of him down here. 289s

There is someone who wonders whether or not God is good. 294s

That question raised by that person in the Netherlands, that question is nothing new. We hear it in scripture. 300s

Let's go to the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. 308s

Good way to find that Jeremiah is to open up the Psalms that will be right in the middle of the Bible and then turn right. 313s

Proverbs, please, you ask these songs of Solomon, Isaiah and then you bump into Jeremiah. 321s

You hit the lamentations you've gone too far. Jeremiah chapter 15. 328s

So the question with regard to the goodness of God is a question that we hear not only from others but we also hear it echoed in the scriptures themselves as people are wrestling with that question. 336s

Jeremiah chapter 15 and we'll pick up in verse 15. 352s

Oh Lord, you know, remember me and visit me and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors. 359s

In your four barons do not take me away. 370s

Know that on your account I suffer insult. 374s

Your words were found and I ate them and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart for I am called by your name. 379s

Oh Lord, God of hosts. 389s

I did not sit in the company of Mary makers nor did I rejoice. 393s

Under the weight of your hand I sat alone for you had filled me with indignation. 398s

Why is my pain unseasing? 407s

My wound incurable refusing to be healed. 410s

Truly you are to me like a deceitful brook like waters that fail. 415s

The question of Jeremiah here is how is it if you are good God, how is it that evil can continue to go on? 426s

And if you are good God, why is it that your servants suffer? Why do they suffer? 436s

God was doing nothing as far as Jeremiah could see. 448s

To rectify this situation and so Jeremiah demands that God explain himself. 453s

Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 12 verse 1. 459s

Jeremiah 12 verse 1. 466s

You will be in the right, O Lord, when I lay charges against you. 476s

But let me put my case to you. 481s

Why does the way of the guilty prosper? 484s

Why do all who are treacherous thrive? 488s

You plant them and they take root. 493s

They grow and bring forth fruit. 495s

You are near in their mouths yet far from their hearts. 499s

But you will, Lord, know me. 504s

You see me and test me. My heart is with you. 507s

Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and set them apart for the day of slaughter. 511s

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither for the wickedness of those who live in it? 518s

The animals and the birds are swept away and because people say he is blind to our ways. 528s

Is God good? And how do we comfort someone who wonders about the goodness of God? 540s

Some say that this particular subject is the Achilles heel of Christianity. 548s

You remember the story of Achilles' Greek mythology, his mother, 554s

dips him in the river sticks to give him immortality, but his Achilles heel was not dipped in. 560s

So eventually he dies by an arrow to the heel in the Trojan War. 569s

And so some will say when it comes to Christianity, if you maintain that God is good, then why does he allow evil? 575s

And some will say that is the Achilles heel with regard to Christianity. 584s

Is it the Achilles heel of Christianity? No. Does Christianity have an Achilles heel? No. 590s

So let's study this. 596s

The subject here is what is called theotacy. 600s

And theotacy is the subject that if God is good, how can there be the existence of evil? 606s

Theotacy then is the justification for God's goodness and justice in light of suffering 617s

and evil. 625s

So let's begin with a definition of evil. 628s

Evil can simply be understood as sin. 631s

Now let's go to Romans the third chapter. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then Romans. 634s

Romans chapter 3, verse 10. 641s

Romans 3, verse 10. 646s

And there we read, there is no one who's righteous, not even one. 658s

There's no one who has understanding. There's no one who seeks God. 663s

Just a little aside there, there's a whole movement that was birthed several years ago in the church, the seeker movement for those that are seeking God. 669s

Well what's the problem with that? Nobody seeks for God. 680s

So at the heart of the seeker movement is to structure worship services that are appealing to the unbeliever. 685s

Now think through that one a little bit here. 692s

So if no one seeks for God and then you try and structure a worship service for the unbeliever, what then happens? 695s

Well you don't want to talk about sin, you don't want to talk about Jesus, you don't want to talk about anything like that. 704s

And so the whole seeker movement is absolutely opposed to Romans the third chapter. 710s

The worship service is for the believer who is then equipped to go forth and proclaim the gospel. 718s

The worship service is never an evangelistic enterprise in Orthodox Lutheran understanding. 726s

The worship service is geared to the equipping of the saints for the ministry that the word and sacrament is given. 733s

God commands us to be here because he has something to give us his word and then he sends us forth. 741s

And so our response then is in response to what he gives us. 748s

Worship then is sacramental and it is sacrificial but the sacramental component comes first. 754s

So it's not us coming here to give praise to God though that dimension is certainly part of worship. 762s

The praise to God the sacrificial dimension is born out of the sacramental dimension of God coming to us to his word and sacrament to have something to give us. 769s

So forming then a worship service based upon the guise of a seeker service where we are going to form a service or a meeting then that is appealing to the unbeliever is anithetical to Romans the third chapter and is anithetical to the biblical understanding of what is worship. 779s

Well I'm in a whole other topic and study right now. 800s

So let me get back to let me get back to the Odyssey. 803s

Let's go to Romans chapter 7 verse 19. 807s

Romans 7 verse 19. 811s

Here Paul writing under the inspiration of the Spirit says, 818s

For I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want is what I do. 821s

What is evil? Evil is sin. 827s

Let's go to Genesis the sixth chapter. 831s

Genesis chapter 6 verse 5. 833s

Genesis chapter 6 verse 5. 837s

Here we read and the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth and it grieved him to his heart. 851s

Those were it says in verse 5 because it shows you why there is a response there. 861s

The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 865s

That's bondage in sin. 877s

So what is evil then? Evil is sin. 880s

Does God forbid evil? Absolutely. He does. He does not will it. 884s

Let's go to Isaiah chapter 1 verse 16. 889s

Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, then Isaiah. 895s

Isaiah chapter 1 verse 16. 899s

So evil is sin. 908s

Second point God forbids evil. He does not will it. 910s

Let's go to chapter 1 verse 16. 915s

Wash yourselves. 918s

Make yourselves clean. 921s

Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes. 924s

Seize to do evil. 928s

Or Psalm 92 verse 15. 932s

Psalm 92 verse 15. 936s

The Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. 953s

There is no unrighteousness in him. 961s

So he forbids evil. 965s

He does not will it. He is not the author of evil. 967s

Sometimes God prevents evil. 974s

Let's go to Genesis chapter 20. 977s

So evil is sin. God forbids evil. He doesn't will it. 981s

Secondly, he is not the author of evil. 985s

He is perfect righteousness. 987s

Thirdly, sometimes God prevents evil. 991s

Genesis chapter 20. 995s

And we'll pick up in verse 1. 1001s

From there Abraham journeyed toward the region of the Nageb and settled between Kadesh and Shure. 1008s

While resting in Garara as an alien, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, she is my sister. 1017s

And King Abimelec of Garara sent and took Sarah. 1024s

The God came to Abimelec in a dream by night and said to him, 1030s

you are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken for she is a married woman. 1033s

Now Abimelec had not approached her, so he said, 1039s

Lord will you destroy an innocent people? 1043s

Did he not himself say to me she is my sister? 1046s

And she herself said he is my brother? 1050s

I did this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands. 1053s

Then God said to him in the dream, yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart furthermore. 1058s

It was I who kept you from sinning against me. 1064s

Therefore, I did not let you touch her. 1069s

Now then, return the man's wife for he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you shall live. 1072s

But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours. 1079s

Evil is sin, God forgives evil, he doesn't will it. 1088s

God is not the author of evil, God sometimes prevents evil. 1091s

But if God is sovereign, then he must allow it at times. 1095s

Because if you say that God is sovereign and then say he has no power with regard to evil, 1106s

then you have lost the sovereignty of God. 1116s

Let me borrow a phrase again from R.C. Spool, who says correctly so, 1119s

there is not one maverick molecule in all of the universe. 1124s

Because there is one maverick molecule in all of the universe doing its own molecule thing here, 1128s

that can change the course of history, literally. 1133s

So there is not one maverick molecule. 1138s

So if God is sovereign, then one must say that he must then allow for the existence of evil. 1140s

When the angelic rebellion occurred, could God have shut it down so that there would not have been a Satan? 1151s

Sure, sure, why? Because he is sovereign. He can do what he wants. 1158s

When Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent, could God have crushed the head of the serpent just right there, 1166s

destroyed Satan? Sure, absolutely. 1173s

Could God have created us without the capacity to sin? Sure, you can do what he wants. 1177s

Why did he act like he did? 1189s

Why not snuff out evil way back in the garden? Why not create us differently? 1192s

Why does God allow evil? Because that is at the heart of the question of so many, 1198s

that if God is good, then how is it that there is evil in the world? 1207s

To put it on a much simpler understanding. 1215s

Sometimes people will complain about the existence of God for even the most minor of inconveniences of life. 1222s

As if God exists simply to be as one author puts it, 1229s

a cosmic bellhop to us, where we simply ask the bellhop whatever it is we want, 1234s

and perhaps we will give him a tip for good service. 1242s

Those are cutting words. Are they not? 1250s

Yet it reveals our sinfulness in terms of how we can reveal, understand God. 1254s

But the whole understanding of the evil and the goodness of God, 1259s

that is the question for many. 1262s

Whenever God allows evil, God always uses evil and governs it according to his purpose. 1264s

He always governs it according to his purpose. 1275s

I think of the story of Joseph. He is thrown into the pit by his brothers. 1278s

He is sold into slavery. He winds up as the prime minister of Egypt eventually. 1282s

He goes through the whole false accusation of Potiphar's wife and all of this. 1289s

He is suffering. He is going through a hard time. 1296s

But he winds up as the prime minister of Egypt in charge of the distribution of the food during the grain. 1298s

And his family, the distribution of the grain during the famine. 1307s

And his family comes and he then distributes here the grain. 1311s

It is a beautiful story of forgiveness. 1318s

And God used the evil of his brothers originally as a way to get him into the position of the prime minister of Egypt. 1322s

So the people of God can be preserved. 1331s

Look please at Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. 1335s

Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. 1338s

Here Joseph is turning to his brothers and he says, 1356s

even though you intended to harm, to do harm to me, God intended it for good in order to preserve a numerous people as he is doing today. 1359s

So I have no fear. I myself will provide for you in your little ones. 1369s

And this way he reassured them speaking kindly to them. 1373s

Whenever God allows for evil, he always uses it to serve his purpose. 1380s

Let's go a little bit deeper here. 1389s

Let's go to Romans the ninth chapter. 1392s

Matthew Mark Luke John, Acts and then Romans. 1395s

Remember it's the subject of the Odyssey. 1401s

How is it that one can say that God is good while there is the existence of evil in the world? 1403s

How do you comfort someone with regard to that? 1410s

One of the sources of comfort is to say God will always use evil to accomplish his purpose. 1415s

He governs it. 1423s

Romans chapter 9 verse 22. 1424s

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, 1431s

has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction? 1441s

And what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, 1447s

which he has prepared beforehand for glory? 1456s

Let me read this again. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, 1461s

has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction? 1468s

And what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, 1474s

which he has prepared beforehand for glory? 1483s

Let's break it down. Verse 22. What if God, desiring, you can also translate that. 1488s

I also understood as determining here. 1494s

What if God determined to show his wrath and to make known his power, 1497s

has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction? 1501s

That's not made in the sense of created. That's made in the sense of they were fitted for it. 1509s

In other words, they are do it. They are ripe for it. 1516s

What is being talked about here, but it is those who reject Jesus Christ. 1520s

Rejects. So what if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, 1525s

has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are fitted for destruction? 1529s

Those that have rejected Christ. And what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy? 1536s

What we understand then from these two verses is that God desires to put his holiness on display. 1544s

God desires here to show indeed his wrath over sin. 1553s

He allows evil so that he can put his holiness on display. 1561s

He allows evil so that we will understand the depths of his mercy. 1571s

We only understand the depth of who he is, his grace, because of the existence of evil and our condemnation and what it is that we deserve. 1578s

God desired then to put on display his holiness, that wrath for sin, 1595s

again, back to 22, what if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, 1603s

has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction? 1612s

Those that reject Christ. And what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy? 1617s

We understand the goodness of God because God has allowed for the existence of evil. 1631s

We would never understand God in his mercy and his grace if there isn't evil. 1639s

Does God will evil? Nope. Does he allow it? Yes. 1649s

And in the allowance for the existence of evil, his holiness, his grace, his cut on display. 1656s

God, let's go to Romans chapter 3, verse 5. 1667s

Please, Romans 3, verse 5. 1671s

But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say that God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? 1681s

You see, our injustice confirms the justice of God. 1691s

We understand his perfection, we understand his holiness, and the fact that God is wrathful for sin is a just punishment upon us. 1699s

We understand then his holiness and his grace as he allows evil. 1709s

We will never understand, but we would never understand his mercy if it were not for that. 1716s

Why does he allow them evil in some situations but not others? 1725s

And to that, we must say the answer to that question is beyond our pay grade. 1732s

It's beyond a pay grade. 1738s

I'm it's that then we turn to what is it that we know and that is the goodness of the gospel. 1740s

Let's go to Romans chapter 5, verse 8. 1748s

Romans chapter 5, verse 8. 1752s

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us. 1757s

Let's go to Romans chapter 8, verse 31. 1765s

What then are we to say about these things? 1775s

If God is for us, who's against us? 1777s

He who did not withhold his own son but gave him up for all of us. 1780s

Will he not with him also give us everything else? 1785s

Who will bring any charge against God, elect, God's elect? 1790s

It is God who justifies. 1795s

Let's go to John chapter 15, Matthew, Mark, Luke, then John, John 15, verse 13. 1798s

No one has greater love than this to lay down one's life for one's friends. 1813s

Lastly, let's go to Isaiah 53. 1823s

Isaiah 53, Psalms, and then turn right. 1826s

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. 1831s

Isaiah 53, verse 3. 1835s

I reference in my sermon to the verse 6 and 7. 1848s

I want to reference verses 3 and 6 now for this class. 1851s

This is the prophecy about Jesus. 1855s

He was despised and rejected by others a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity as one from whom others hide their faces. 1857s

He was despised and we held him of no account. 1865s

Surely, he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. 1870s

He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our infirmities upon him was the punishment that made us whole and by his bruises we are healed. 1879s

Amidst the things we cannot understand, we appeal to that which we know for sure which is the goodness of God. 1893s

Amidst the existence of evil, we look and we see how the Scripture handle that and we see that God allows evil so that his goodness and his holiness and his mercy would be put on to display. 1900s

God did not stay in his, on his high throne and he didn't keep his hands to himself. 1916s

But he stretched out the hands on the cross, dealing with the evil of the world and we say clearly, God is good. 1927s