Answering the Sceptic Series
Job 5:7; 14:1
Audio MP3
February 24,
2013 AM
Pastor Craig
Ledbetter
I.
Introduction (1Peter
3:15)
A.
The Bible says that
we must “Be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you”
B.
There is a great
Need today to have an Answer for Every Man
1.
Have answers once
again
2.
The modern person is
a sceptic. Doubts everything.
Questions the validity of everything, especially religious.
3.
Most churches and
pastors have ignored answering people’s questions, people’s problems
4.
Modern religious
leaders only talk about “mysteries” but not truth
5.
Ignorant of the
Bible
6.
Too lazy to study
C.
Evangelism means
more than talking about heaven
1.
It means helping
people know that they can know God
2.
Trust the Bible –
know the way to trust God
3.
Helping people seek
truth – not a fairy tale, or
D.
Not everyone has
deep, skeptical questions, but most do, and most are not answered anymore
E.
People Have Good
Questions
1.
Is there really a
good God?
2.
Why doesn’t He act?
3.
Can’t God control
evil?
4.
Without solid
answers, the issues of government and society will only go more out of control –
same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia…
F.
We have THE Answers
G.
This month we are
looking at several foundational questions that almost everyone has, but have
given up on finding out the answer to, like:
1.
Is there REALLY a
God?
2.
What happens when a
person dies?
3.
Is the Bible for
real?
4.
Why do we need God?
5.
Which God is the
Right God? The True God?
6.
Is the Bible
Perfectly True?
7.
Can a Person Change?
8.
What’s the
Difference Between Religion and God?
H.
This morning, I want
to give you some solid answers about why God allows evil in the world!
II.
Background – Why is
there Evil?
A.
Almost everyone asks
this question
B.
The curious as well
as the critics of Christianity ask this question. If God is all-powerful and all
loving, then why does He allow evil and suffering in the world?
1.
Why do children die
before their parents?
2.
Why was Hitler able
to murder 6 million Jews, 9 million Russians, and cause over 60 million deaths
in total during World War II?
3.
Why are there so
many divorces?
4.
Why are some
children born with major birth defects?
5.
Why do some of the
most wicked people have so much power?
6.
Why is there so much
hunger and poverty in the world?
C.
Many people have
tried to answer these questions, but it usually raises further questions.
D.
If God…
1.
Did not claim to be
good, then problem is solved. God would just be like the rest of His universe,
flawed, and sometimes evil. But God claims to be only good!
2.
Was not all
powerful, then that explains why evil cannot be defeated. But God claims to be
all-powerful.
3.
Did not claim to
care, then the problem is solved again. Evil is simply because God is not good
enough to care about those of us who are suffering and struggling with sin and
evil in our lives. But God claims to care deeply.
4.
The fact is, there
is a Bible claiming that there is a perfect and good God, who is all-powerful,
and cares about us in the smallest of details, and yet there is evil too.
E.
How do you explain
this?
1.
Well, I want to
examine and respond to what critics of the Bible and atheists are asking about
evil (and the suffering that accompanies it).
2.
My hope is that our
study will:
a.
Answer some of the
questions that you might have about this issue.
b.
Equip you to better
answer the questions about evil that nonbelievers raise.
c.
Encourage you if you
are suffering yourself.
III.
Message
A.
Let’s
Define Evil
1.
Evil is not a THING
(Gen 2:17)
a.
There are no “evil”
molecules out there floating around like poison gas that must not be breathed,
or you turn into a murdeting child-molester
b.
There are no evil
foods that you have to stay away from or you will turn into a raving maniac that
robs old peopler and turns you into policitians
2.
Evil is when
something is used other than it was intended; when something is done that breaks
one of God’s laws!
a.
Alcohol is a
medicine – used as a medicine it is fantastic. Used as a social drink, it is
evil
b.
Using a gun for
self-defence is right and just. Used for murder it is evil and wrong!
c.
Printing words and
pictures in Encyclopedeas is great for learning stuff, but printing pornographic
words and pictures is evil and wrong.
d.
A Stanley Knife is
great when used to open boxes, but it is evil when used to take over airplanes
so that they could be flown into tall buildings and kill over 3,000 people!
e.
Sex is not wrong,
but rape is, and so is any sex outside of marriage because it is used wrong!
f.
There was a tree in
the Garden of Eden. It was not an evil tree, with long, twisted branches. But a
tree with beautiful fruit. The fruit was not evil. Disobeying God’s rule about
eating from it… that was the evil!
g.
Staying up until 9pm
is not sinful and wrong for a 10 year old. Staying up 1 minute past 9pm when
your parents have told you to go to bed is sinful and wrong!
3.
No wonder God says
OBEY your parents, and stay away from wine, and flee from fornication!!!
4.
So, it is not the
things in this world that are wrong, but the wrong use of them – that makes
something evil.
5.
The breaking of
God’s laws, the changing of His design for something is evil (see Romans
1:21-27)
B.
Where Did
Evil Start? Where did it come from? (Genesis 1:31;
Ezek 28:14,15)
1.
God designed
everything as good (Gen 1:31). Everything!
a.
Tigers, lizards,
snakes, and dinosaurs
b.
Rocks, trees, dirt,
water
c.
Man, woman,
children, even teenagers!
2.
But God built into
this universe something called FREEDOM
a.
God did not seek a
toy train set that would just run on its track, round and round until He tired
of it
b.
God sought someone
to love Him as much as He loved them!
c.
And love requires
freedom to choose to love
1)
Forced love is rape!
2)
Freedom to love is
real!
3)
Without the freedom
to chose God, and choose to love and obey Him, there would be no real love.
3.
With that freedom
comes the opportunity to chose to NOT love God, to NOT obey Him. God took the
risk that His creation would NOT choose to love Him and do things His way!
4.
So where did sin and
evil begin?
a.
Evil began with
Lucifer (Ezek 28:14,15). He became Satan, that old serpent, the devil (Rev
12:9)!
b.
It was invited into
our world by Adam (Romans 5:12). Satan did not come barging into this world
taking over… he and his wicked ways were willingly invited into God’s paradise!
c.
It is now in all our
hearts (Mark 7:19-23)
C.
Why
Can’t Evil be Stopped?
1.
Sin has consequences
(Romans 6:23)
a.
Examples of the
Results of Wrong Choices:
1)
Use good feet to
walk across a good roof, and jump off a good ledge will result in death or
permanent bodily damage because of consequences of our choices!
2)
Smoke every day, and
your lungs will clog and die!
3)
Eat fried foods all
the time and your heart will choke and sputter and die!
4)
Watch hours and
hours of sin on TV and hours and hours of porn on the internet, and your
marriage will self-destruct, and your heart will harden, and your soul will die!
5)
a)
Thousands of years
ago a man who walked by the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah on his camel
and saw dead people all over the place and smoke rising from the two cities,
might have asked himself, “Why does God allow all this evil, this death and
destruction?”
b)
Well in reality, the
“disaster” he was seeing was not the result of some random natural occurrence.
Nor was it the result of evil men slaughtering innocent people. It was a direct
and righteous judgment of God on evil. The people of
c)
They had become a
dangerous cancer and threat to humanity; they would not repent, so after God
removed righteous
b.
If we want evil to
be stopped, then God would have to change the laws of nature and physics
1)
He would have to
remove the consequences of our actions
2)
We want cancers to
be stopped, but we want to keep right on smoking and drinking and eating wrong
3)
We want road deaths
to go away, but we still want to drink and drive!
c.
And to stop evil
would mean we would have to block freedom – and stop people from being able to
choose to follow the God who made them!
2.
Evil has a purpose
right now
a.
It causes
consequences (Gal 6:7).
1)
Without pains, we
would not know the cost of disobeying God
2)
Without
consequences, we would just live without any thought of right or wrong
3)
Evil in the world
shows us MAN’S fault, not God’s!
4)
Modern famines
usually are man’s doings
5)
Especially for
Christians – there is CHASTENING (Heb 12:6), which is evil purposefully
happening to US when we have done wrong.
b.
Pain gets our
attention. C.S. Lewis said “God
whispers in our pleasures; speakins in our conscience; but shouts in our pains.
Troubles are His megaphone to rouse a deaf world!”
c.
It prevents worse
evils
1)
A small amount of
pain usually stops a person from experiencing worse pain
2)
If you had no
feeling in your foot, then when you stepped on glass, you wouldn’t know that you
werte cutting into your flesh, and bleedng to death!
3)
None of us like evil
in our lives, but evils can be good for us, to keep us from worse evils
4)
If it takes a car
wreck and hospitalisation for a week to get a person to consider eternity and
the sins of their life and then repent and get born again so that they escape a
worse evil like HELL – well, the evil of broken bones is worth it!
5)
The tastless husks
of a pig-pen are GOOD enough to get a wayward son home! Don’t ask God to remove
all evils when they are good sometimes!
d.
It brings about
greater good
1)
Like with Joseph
(Gen 50:20)
2)
Like with Job (Job
23:10)
3)
Like with the
Apostle Paul (Philp 1:12-18; 2Cor 12)
4)
And like Jesus’
suffering and the cross – an infinite injustice for HIM, yet an infinite
forgiveness for US (Isa 53:5)!
D.
What
About God’s Foreknowledge?
1.
Yes, God knows
everything that will happen – He knows all things, past, present and future
2.
But that changes
nothing
a.
It is WE who chose
evil (James 1:14,15)
b.
We just cannot chose
the consequences! Those are pretty well fixed!
3.
God just knows how
to make it turn out right! Thank God!
a.
He is not invalid,
or powerless, but more powerful than you or I can ever imagine!
b.
What He waits for is
for someone to invite Him into our troubles, into our sorrows, and into our
disasters
1)
To make a way
through the
2)
To provide Manna for
40 years in the wilderness
3)
To restore what sin
has cost us
4)
To heal our broken
hearts
5)
To mend our broken
marriages
4.
That’s why a
Christian learns to PRAY about EVERYTHING (James 5:16).
5.
Bring God into your
day, into your decisions, asking HIM for wisdom, and for strength, and for
success instead of just “winging it” like most people do!
E.
What is God
Offering? What Can He Do Then? (Eccles 3:10)
1.
To work everything
out in your life for good (Romans 8:28,29) – real, lasting good!
2.
To intervene in your
life’s troubles as you pray and lean upon Him (Psalm 50:15)
3.
To build you and
transform you as you yield to doing things His way (Isaiah 55:8,9)
4.
To save you from the
wrath to come (Matthew 23:37)
5.
To ultimately defeat
all evil: death, sorrow (Revelation 21:4)
6.
At what price?
a.
He paid the entire
cost, and carried the entire burden of all evil
b.
He took
responsibility for all our wrongs
c.
He took the blame
for all evil that has ever occurred in history
d.
He was bruised,
beaten, tortured and punished
1)
First by Satan
himself for at least 3 hours in the
2)
Then by the Jewish
religious leaders for the next 6 hours
3)
Then
by the Romans for the next 6 hours
4)
And then worst of
all, by God for the last 3 hours, in darkness on the cross
IV.
Conclusion
A.
So, If God is
all-powerful and all loving, then why does He allow evil and suffering in the
world?
B.
How do you explain
this?
1.
Evil is
when something is used other than it was intended;
when something is done that breaks one of God’s laws! It is not the things in
this world that are wrong, but the wrong use of them – that makes something
evil.
a.
God designed
everything as good (Gen 1:31).
b.
But God built into
this universe something called FREEDOM
c.
With that freedom
comes the opportunity to chose to NOT love God, to NOT obey Him
2.
So
where did sin and evil begin?
a.
Evil began with
Lucifer. He became Satan, that old serpent, the devil!
b.
It was invited into
our world by Adam (Romans 5:12).
c.
It is now in all our
hearts (Mark 7:19-23)
3.
Why
Can’t Evil be Stopped?
a.
Because
Sin/Disobeying God has consequences (Romans 6:23)
b.
Evil has a purpose
right now
1)
It causes
consequences.
2)
It gets our
attention.
3)
It prevents worse
evils
4)
It brings about
greater good. Like Jesus’ suffering and the cross – an infinite injustice for
HIM, yet an infinite forgiveness for US (Isa 53:5)!
4.
What
About God’s Foreknowledge?
a.
God knows everything
that will happen
b.
But that changes
nothing
c.
God just knows how
to make it turn out right! Thank God!
d.
That’s why a
Christian learns to PRAY about EVERYTHING (James 5:16).
5.
What is God
Offering Everyone Still To This Day?
a.
To work everything
out in your life for good (Romans 8:28,29) – real, lasting good!
b.
To intervene in your
life’s troubles as you pray and lean upon Him (Psalm 50:15)
c.
To build you and
transform you as you yield to doing things His way (Isaiah 55:8,9)
d.
To save you from the
wrath to come (Matthew 23:37)
e.
To ultimately defeat
all evil: death, sorrow (Revelation 21:4)
6.
At what
price?
a.
He paid the entire
cost, and carried the entire burden of all evil
b.
He took
responsibility for all our wrongs
c.
He took the blame
for all evil that has ever occurred in history
d.
He was bruised,
beaten, tortured and punished
1)
First by Satan
himself for at least 3 hours in the
2)
Then by the Jewish
religious leaders for the next 6 hours
3)
Then
by the Romans for the next 6 hours
4)
And then worst of
all, by God for the last 3 hours, in darkness on the cross
e.
For you and for me,
the price is trusting God enough to obey Him
1)
That’s how He saves
a lost life
2)
And that is how he
gets a troubled life through any storm, and home to safety!