Why Does God Allow Suffering? | The Disease of Sin

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. God did not give us the gospel to hoard it. He gave us the gospel to share it.

And as you share it, you find that the Lord will bless you and use you, and it can be very exciting. During a recent hurricane, limits on prescription refills were suspended, so people had enough medicine to get them through the storm and any aftermath. So important was that medication.

They got creative in making sure it was available. Well, as believers, we have a remedy for a deadly disease, the disease of sin. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie says we need to get creative in delivering that remedy to the people who need it.

Some good counsel today on how to do that. This is the day, the day when life begins. Let's go now to John chapter 9 and we'll read a few verses together. As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?

And he was born blind. Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. Jesus worked the works of him who sent me while it is day.

The night is coming when no man can work, and as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he said these things, he spit on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and he said, Go washed in the pool of Siloam, which is translated, sent. So the man went and washed and came back, seeing. We'll stop there. And by the way, God's still in the healing business.

Did you know that? I always believe we should pray for healing. There's a promise of healing in Isaiah. Isaiah 53 says, Surely he took up our infirmities and carries our sorrows.

Yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But listen, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

Peter commenting on the same verse says in 1 Peter 2.24, He himself bore our sins and his body on the tree, that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds, or stripes, you have been healed. So in Isaiah's passage, it tells us you can be healed, and then Peter says, Hey, it's actually already happened. In the New Testament, when a word like this is used, it is speaking also of physical healing, so God can heal. Well, does God heal everyone?

Obvious answer, no. But he does heal some. So let's pray for that. So when I'm called to pray for somebody in a hospital room or facing some other physical challenge, even if the odds are against them and things are looking bleak, we pray for a miracle. And we've seen miracles. We've seen God answer amazing prayers, haven't we? Pray in faith and pray for God to heal.

We'll leave the results in his hand, because I do believe there could be some who are sick that don't have to be. And if they would just pray for God's touch, they would find it, because James 4-2 says, You have not because you ask not. Listen to this. I believe there are financial needs that could be met if maybe you would just pray about it. Maybe the Lord is actually waiting for you to say, I need help from God. I've tried everything I can to make this work myself. Lord, would you help me? Hey, you have not because you ask not.

Think of all the things that God may want to do in your life that he's simply waiting for you to ask him about. Okay, so this is what happened. And I love the way Jesus healed this guy.

It's just classic. Now before we consider it, let's review the way Jesus healed other people. Sometimes people would touch him. There was a woman who had some physical problem. We're not sure what it was. But she was always bleeding.

She couldn't stop the bleeding. And she reasoned, If I can touch the hem of his garment, I'll be healed. So one day Jesus is walking by and there's always a crowd around Jesus.

You know, paparazzi, people taking selfies, all that kind of thing. And this woman says, Just touch him and I'll be healed. And she manages to get her hand through and touch just the little edge of his robe. Just touched it. And all of a sudden Jesus comes and said, Who touched me? Who touched you? Everybody touched you. They're grabbing you, they're pushing you. No, someone touched me.

He says, I perceive power has gone out of me. And the crowd parts and there's that lady. Hi. Was that okay? Oh, it was more than okay. Jesus wanted to commend her for her faith. She touched him. But then other times, Jesus touched people. It would be his touch that would heal them, right? Sometimes he would just speak a word and they would be healed.

But this one is classic because we read that he spit in the dirt and wiped it in the guy's eyes. Can you imagine if someone came up for prayer? Greg, would you pray for me? Sure.

What are you doing? It's in the Bible. I'm not suggesting I did that, but here's my point. Why does the methodology of healing change from person to person? Why isn't it always Jesus touched them? Or why isn't it always they touched Jesus? Or why isn't it always go wash in the pool of Siloam? Or why isn't it always he just speaks the word?

He changed his methodology, if you will, so people would not focus on that but would focus on him. And so he spit in the dirt. Here's mud in your eye, buddy. And then he says go wash in the pool of Siloam. That's what the guy did. And for the first time in his life, he can see.

I mean, imagine that. This guy's been blind his whole life. Never had sight. And for the first time he sees the face of our Lord. He sees the blue sky. He sees flowers.

He sees beauty. Wow, what a moment. So what was the reaction? John 9, verse 10.

I'm reading from the New Living Translation. They asked him, who healed you? What happened? He said, well, the man they called Jesus made mud and smoothed it over my eyes and told me to go wash in the pool of Siloam and wash off the mud. I went and washed.

And now I can see. Yeah, well, where is he now? He says, I don't know. They took the man to the Pharisees and as it happened, Jesus healed the man on a Sabbath. The Pharisees asked the man all about it. He told them, look, he smoothed the mud over my eyes and when it was washed away, I could see. And some of the Pharisees said, this man Jesus is not from God for he's working on the Sabbath. Others said, how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?

And there was deep division among them. Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, this man who opened your eyes, who do you say he is? The man said, hey, I think he must be a prophet.

And so this is really interesting. He, you know, he doesn't even know what has fully happened. And he doesn't know if he'll ever see Jesus again. He could easily say, hey, I don't want to get into your religious debate, guys. I don't even know what I think about this guy.

No, he just owns it. Yeah, I think he's a prophet. He was effectively speaking up for the Lord. He knew they were angry. He knew he could incur their wrath and be banned from worship and effectively ostracized. See, back in this day, the whole life of the Jewish person revolved around the synagogue. So you didn't want to get thrown out of the synagogue. Because that was your life of worship. That was your social life. That was your family.

That was everything. And so he knew he could be disfellowshipped or thrown out and he could have been very careful. But he thought, well, you know, I can't deny what has actually happened to me. And I love this because he stood up for Jesus.

And you know what? God will bless you when you stand up for him. You stand up for him in your workplace. You stand up for him in your campus. You stand up for him in your family. You stand up for him wherever you are.

Why? Because he said, if you will acknowledge me before people, I'll acknowledge you before the Father and his angels. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. You know, there's nothing like hearing the word of God and worshiping the Lord together. I want to encourage you to join us for something we call Harvest at Home. It happens every Saturday and Sunday at Harvest.org. You can join Christians literally from around the world as we worship and we study the word of God together.

So join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well, we're in the Gospel of John today with our current series on A New Beginning, a series called Life. And Pastor Greg is discussing the healing of the blind man in his message called Why Does God Allow Suffering?

And I love what happens next. Go back to John 9. Look at verse 24. So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and told him, give glory to God by telling the truth because we know Jesus is a sinner. I love this guy. Hey, I don't know whether he's a sinner or not. All I know is once I was blind but now I see.

I love that verse. Yeah, well, what did he do? How did he heal you? Look, the guy said, I already told you. Didn't you listen? You want to hear it again?

Listen to this. Do you want to become his disciples too? No, he's kind of evangelizing. They cursed him. It said, you are his disciple. We are the disciples of Moses. This is such a classic statement on the part of the formerly blind man. Verse 25, one thing I know, once I was blind but now I see. Do you know that much?

I think a lot of times we're afraid to share our faith because, well, I'm not a theologian and I don't have the answers to all the hard questions. Yeah, maybe not. Let me ask you this. Could you say like this guy, hey, once I was blind but now I see? Or once I was lost but now I'm found? Or once I was filled with guilt and emptiness and now I have purpose and forgiveness? You see, you are the greatest authority on what has happened to you. No one's a greater authority on what took place in your life than you are and you may not have the answers to everyone's question but I would suggest you know more than you think you do. You're a theologian.

What's a theologian technically defined? It's a study of God. How many of you read your Bible today? Raise your hand up. How many of you read your Bible this week?

Raise your hand up. You are all theologians because you're studying God. In fact, you may know more than some of those folks in those academic institutions. So the point is we are a theologian of a sort and I think when we're under fire you might be amazed at how much you have acquired sitting in church all the times you've been here and studied God's Word on your own. And this is why evangelism is important for you as much as it is important for the people you're evangelizing, see. The people that are lost need to hear the gospel but you need to share the gospel because as you give it's given unto you, pressed down, shaken together and running over. And if you hang on to what God has given you and never share it that can be hurtful to your own spiritual life. God did not give us the gospel to hoard it. He gave us the gospel to share it.

And as you share it you find that the Lord will bless you and use you and it can be very exciting. Put yourself in this guy's shoes. He's completely blind. He's never seen the sky, cloud of sunset as I said. And now his eyes are open and the religious leaders just want to argue with him. But he stands up for his faith.

And now I love this. Because he stood up, look at what Jesus does for this guy. Even better than healing him of his blindness.

John 9, for the last time, verse 35. When Jesus heard what happened, someone told Jesus what happened. Hey Jesus, remember the guy healed of blindness? Yeah. Yeah well he's being harassed by the religious leaders and you know what he said to them?

No tell me. And they told Jesus that the guy said, Jesus says I got to go see this guy. So he tracks this guy down. Verse 35, when Jesus heard what happened. He found the man and said, do you believe in the name of the son of God? The man answered, who is he serving because I'd sure like to. Jesus said, you have seen him and he's speaking to you. Let's paraphrase, buddy you're talking to him.

Listen to what he says. Yes Lord, I believe and he worshiped Jesus. Jesus told him I have come to judge the world. I have come to give sight to the blind and show those who think they see that they are blind. The Pharisees that were standing there heard him and said, are you saying we are blind? Jesus replied, if you were blind you wouldn't be guilty but you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

I love how this worked out. Verse 35, Jesus heard. He was cast out. Religion turned him away.

Jesus took him in. Please know this is not about religion. I'm so not into religion.

Trust me when I tell you that. I don't want to be a religious person. I know you may think I'm religious.

I'm not. And I never plan on becoming a religious person because I think religious people are just weird. But I do want a relationship with God.

And I want it to be real. And I want other people to have a relationship with God. So if someone says that is religious, whatever. But to me it is all about a relationship with the Lord. Now in conclusion some of you have joined us here and maybe something has happened to you lately that has kind of gotten your attention. A wake up call of some kind. A close brush with death. Maybe someone you know died or something has happened and you don't know why it is happening.

Could it be God has allowed this in your life as a wake up call to get your attention? The lead singer of Linkin Park, Chester Bennington, committed suicide. He hung himself in his home in Follis Verdes at an estate. His estate home in L.A. County. He was married with six children and he killed himself.

This is tragic. Another rock star. Another lead singer. This is on the heels of Chris Cornell. The lead singer of Soundgarden. And as it turns out Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell were close friends. And Chester was devastated when Chris took his own life but then he goes and does the same thing. And we think, wait, wait, what?

I thought that was like the dream. You are a lead singer in a stinking rock band. And you are living in a beautiful home and you have tons of money.

And you have all the luxuries of life. Well both of them have struggled with depression and they use drugs. That is a bad combination. I mean if you are dealing with depression there can be clinical depression.

I will acknowledge that. But sometimes people are just depressed because they have no place for God in their life. And then you add drugs to that and that is like pouring gasoline on fire. And so now this guy takes his own life on the heels of his friend and he did it on the birthday of his friend. And he actually recorded his song and sang it after Chris died.

I am talking about Chester from Lincoln Park now. And the song was called One More Light. And in the song it asks the question who cares if one more light goes out. In a sky of a million stars it flickers.

Flickers. Who cares? And then he sings, well I do.

But then he went and committed suicide. I will tell you who cares if one light goes out. Jesus Christ. He cares about every person. Every man.

Every woman. He cares about every unborn baby. He cares about every person. He cares about that elderly person and the last moments of their life and that newborn and everyone in between. He cares for us. He loves us. He has a purpose and plan for our life. And he can change our life.

Think about this. This man who was born blind had his world rocked by Jesus. In a moment everything changed for him. And you know I said God is still in the healing business. Let me tell you something else.

God is still in the life changing business. And I don't know what your state is here tonight. I don't know if you are struggling with drugs or alcohol. I don't know if some of you are deeply depressed or some of you maybe have even contemplated suicide.

Some of you have possibly even attempted suicide. I just want you to know there is hope for you in a relationship with Jesus. Because the same Jesus that changed this man can change you. He can forgive you of all of your sin.

And what you need to do is come to him. This man believed in Jesus. Hey do you believe in the Son of God?

Yeah. Who is he? I am him. I believe. Jesus is here. He is asking you the same question. Do you believe in the Son of God?

You say well I don't know much about him but I want to know him. I want to believe Jesus will accept you and forgive you. And he will change you. You don't have to clean your life up and come to him.

You just come to him and he will clean your life up. It is not a 12 step program. It is a one step program.

There is not 12 steps or 25 steps or four steps. One step. Come to Christ. Repent and believe. That is a step. You watch what will happen for you.

God will do that for you. So we are going to pray and I want to extend an invitation to any of you that need Jesus here. Any of you watching right now or listening right now.

I know many do. I want you to know that this promise of forgiveness is to every person who will believe in Jesus. In a moment we are going to pray and I am going to extend an invitation for you to put your faith in Jesus Christ. Who died on that cross for you 2,000 years ago and took all of your sin upon himself. And then he rose again from the dead three days later. And if you will believe in him he will forgive you. But you must come to him.

Just like this guy in our story. Came to Jesus. You must come to Jesus. And you watch what the Lord will do for you.

Let's pray. Father thank you for loving us so much that you sent Jesus. And Lord Jesus thank you for coming. And I pray now for those that are here, those that are watching, listening, wherever they are.

If they don't know you Lord help them to come to you and believe right here, right now. I pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince them of their need for you and that this will be their moment of transformation. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer about coming to the Lord to find forgiveness of sins. And if you'd like to do that Pastor Greg will help you in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. You know Pastor Greg we often invite listeners to write to you. We invite them to let you know how these studies impact their lives.

We've mentioned your email address is simply Greg at harvest dot org. We talk to them each day but it's always nice when they talk to us. You enjoy that.

Yes I do. And listen this is so we can have a two-way conversation. So you can communicate with us as we continue to communicate with you.

And together like links in a chain we will all do our part to bring the gospel to our generation. So if you would prayerfully consider that I'd really appreciate it. Bottom line just write me a letter today. Dave will give you the address. I look forward to hearing from you. Yeah that's right our address is A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514. Drop us a note today and if you can include an investment so these daily studies can continue that would be great.

We are completely listener supported. You can also go online to harvest dot org. There you can make a donation and get the details on the resource we'd like to send you to thank you for your investment. It's a book called Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table written by Pastor Louie Giglio. He points out we're in a battle for the control of our minds and our enemy is trying to push a narrative that will lead to defeat.

The subtitle is It's Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind. And we'll send you this book to thank you for your investment. Again that's harvest dot org or call us at 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Greg you pointed out the importance of asking Jesus to forgive our sins a few moments ago.

Yes. Could you help those who want to do that very thing right now? Yeah you know the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ stands at the door of our life and he knocks. And if any man will hear his voice and open the door he will come in.

Maybe as you've heard me speak today well you've heard another voice speaking to you it's the voice of God. And you realize you need Christ in your life. You need your sin forgiven. You want the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die.

Well here's what you need to do. You need to pray. And I would like to lead you in a prayer right now where you will be saying to Jesus, Lord come into my life I choose to follow you.

So let's pray. Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. I turn from that sin now and I put my faith in you. Be my Lord, my Savior, and my God, and my friend. I choose to follow you Jesus from this moment forward.

Thank you for loving me and calling me and accepting me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Listen if you just prayed that prayer I want you to know on the authority of scripture that Christ himself has come into your life. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

If you just prayed that prayer and meant it you can know today you have eternal life. And may I be the first to say to you welcome to the family of God. Yet we want to help you grow as a believer. Let us send you our new believers growth packet. We'll send it free of charge if you prayed with Pastor Greg today. Just call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number 1-800-821-3300.

Or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside, CA 92514. Or go to harvest.org and click on Know God. You know in our fast paced impatient culture it's no wonder we grow impatient waiting on God's timing. But next time Pastor Greg points out that the Lord's timing is perfect. And we need to be perfectly content getting in step with his plan. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible Teacher Greg Laurie. Just go to harvest.org.