If God Ordains All Things, How Can He Be Angry When We Sin?

If God ordains all things, how can he be angry when we sin? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Our phone lines are open right now. We'll be taking your calls for the next 25 minutes or so. So give us a call at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. We're open to questions about doctrine, theology, maybe doubts you have about the Christian faith. Give us a call at 833-THE-CORE. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and of course you can always email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Annie. As Christians, why are there so many denominations? If we have one Holy Spirit, how come we can't all believe the same way when we read the word? Thank you very much.

Yeah, well, you know, I sympathize with your concern, Annie. I think about Jesus' high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, praying for the unity of the church. And certainly this is something that God has given to us. The reality is through baptism, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, there is one church, one body. Now that body is made up and the visible church is made up of all those who call upon the name of the Lord together with their children, I believe. So even though you have different denominations, different local churches, if you really think of the seven churches in the first two chapters or three chapters of the book of Revelation, there really is one body. And I think it's important for us to understand that those who are united to Jesus Christ by faith. Paul said in Ephesians chapter four, in verse four, there is one body and one spirit, as you said, Annie, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

And so that's the reality. We are united through the gospel in Jesus Christ and we are called as Christians to live in that unity, to embrace it. Now the issue is when it comes to scripture, as we're approaching scripture, it's not that the Bible isn't clear. We believe that the Bible is very clear. The problem is our minds and our hearts are clouded by sin, by sometimes a lack of understanding. And so I think that's one of the reasons why you have so many different expressions and interpretations of the Bible and people moving off into one church or another church.

The issue is our own hearts, our own inability to understand and to receive God's word. But the good news is, as I said, from heaven's perspective, from God's perspective, there's only one body, one body of Jesus Christ. And again, it's made up of all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with true faith. And we're a part of that one body. And one of the things we like to emphasize here at Core Christianity is that unity that we have, getting right to the core. I mean, that's why this broadcast is called Core Christianity. We want to talk about the fundamentals of the faith that unite us together as Christians, namely the triune God, the gospel. And that's where we want to focus. And so, yeah, and pray that the Lord does bring unity to his church, a deeper understanding of his word through the grace of the Holy Spirit, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. And so thank you for your question, Annie.

God bless you. You know, Adriel, I'm curious, as a pastor and as someone who has studied theology, do you believe that you mentioned sin kind of being at the core, but you also talked about our understanding being clouded. So how much do you think all these different denominations has to do with pride, my way or the highway, you know, my beliefs are right, versus just our limited understanding of God's word and our ability to fully interpret it clearly? Yeah, you know, I think both of those things can be a real issue. Now, pride, I think, is the more significant problem. And in fact, in the history of the church, when people would talk about heresy and schism, they would say at the root of it is pride, people wanting to go off and do their own thing and, you know, come up with their own interpretations of the Bible separate from everybody else.

And so pride can really be an issue. Sin really can be an issue. Part of it is, you know, the growing in our understanding of the scriptures. And so, I mean, both of those things are things that we need to look out for. And I think as Christians, we want to make sure that when we approach the Bible, we're doing so prayerfully with humility, asking God to give us understanding, reading scripture in the context of the church, both the local church and the universal church, thinking about how Christians throughout the last 2000 years have approached various passages and understood them. I think it's so important for us to do that. There's accountability there, and we also learn from each other.

And so, yeah, pride, lack of understanding. There are a number of things that we could point to for the many divisions in the church. And that's why we thank God for the clarity of the gospel and for the unity that we have in Jesus Christ.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, we'd love to hear from you. Here's the number.

It's 833-THE-CORE, 1-833-843-2673. Perhaps there's a Bible passage that has always confused you and you need some understanding on it, and Adriel would love to help you with that as well. Right now, let's go to Sheila calling in from Kansas City, Missouri. Sheila, what's your question for Adriel?

Well, thank you so much for taking my call. My question is, there's been so many people that have gone on to the mission, you know, field in other countries and, you know, have suffered, you know, and been tortured. Even today, obviously, we know that's going on today, but for the cause of Christ. And I would just pray that there's some kind of scripture that gives some kind of relief for these people when they're in the midst of that, that they're not suffering those, that pain while they're being tortured.

Is there anything in the Bible that gives reference to that? Yeah, Sheila, you know, Hebrews 13 tells us to remember those who are in prison, those who are persecuted for the faith, and so I love your question because it's a reminder for all of us as believers that we have brothers and sisters throughout the world who are suffering immensely for the name of Jesus Christ. Some of them are going to lose their lives today even. And so before I answer your question, and I do think that there is a passage that we can go to, let's just stop and do what the word of God says and remember our brothers and sisters who are persecuted and pray for them. Father God in heaven, we come before you right now as your people, and we remember our brothers and sisters who are suffering right now for the cause of Christ, for the cause of the gospel, and we ask that you would cause the light of your love, your countenance to shine upon them. God, we remember them as those who are in the body, as our brothers and sisters, and we pray that you would hear their cries, that you would draw them near to yourself, that you would use their service to you to advance your gospel, the gospel of your son Jesus Christ, that you would give them fruitful ministries, that you would strengthen their faith in the midst of adversity, in the midst of trial, that you would give them a sense of your presence and comfort, and that you would use them again, Lord, to bring many to your son Jesus, in whose name we pray.

Amen. Sheila, that question, as you were asking it, my mind went immediately to Acts chapter 7 and the stoning of Stephen. And this passage in particular has, I think, you know, it's a text that we oftentimes overlook, but I think it speaks directly to your question, to the comfort that believers who are suffering in this way can receive.

I'm going to start reading in verse 54. It says, when they had heard these things, as Stephen has just preached a sermon, when they had heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.

Now, I just want you to note that Jesus standing at the right hand of God, Acts chapter 7 verse 55, the text continues, and he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with the loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now, what's significant about this? You know, throughout the scriptures, throughout the New Testament, often when we have the language of Jesus at the right hand of God, at the right hand of the Father, he is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is, I think, the only place where Jesus is described as standing. Stephen, as he's being martyred, as he's being killed, has a vision of heaven, if you will, and he sees Jesus at the right hand of God, and he's not seated, Jesus is not sitting down, he's standing.

Now, why is that significant? Well, because to stand, right? He's attentive, he's watching. It's as if Stephen gets a picture of Jesus concerned for him, for his suffering church. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who doesn't have to move a finger for anyone, who doesn't need to stand for anyone, is roused, is standing, because of the suffering of his people.

He sees them, he takes note of them, and I think that's an immense comfort. Jesus, who doesn't have to move for anybody, stands there. Standing in the ancient Near East was also the position of prayer. You get the idea maybe that Jesus is here praying for Stephen in the moment of his trial, in the moment of his suffering, and the crowds, right? The people there who are stoning Stephen, they're angry, but here's the other comfort that I think that we can receive is who's there as Stephen is praying for their repentance. Saul is there, and we know Saul, you know, because he wrote a lot of the New Testament. He was converted by Jesus and became the Apostle Paul.

So two things. One, Jesus notices, sees, stands when his children suffer. If you're suffering right now in the Christian life, let me just say this to you.

Jesus knows, he sees, he stands to pray for his suffering children, and as Stephen is praying for his persecutors, and Saul is there, God answered Stephen's prayers, and Saul came to faith, and so God uses, God just comforts those who are in this situation, but he uses their faithfulness to advance his word, their prayers to change the hearts of their persecutors, and that's precisely what happened there in Acts chapter 7, and so Sheila, thank you for that question. May the Lord bless you and be with you today. God bless. Sheila, thanks so much for your question and for listening to Core Christianity. By the way, summer vacation rolling right around for many kids out of school already, some getting out of school here in the next couple of weeks, and for families, a lot of times you're wondering, man, what can we do on our long road trips this summer?

What can we do to keep our kids occupied? One of the great things you can do is read God's word together, and we have a free resource we'd like to offer you today. Yes, don't read it while you're driving on the road trip. I just want to say, Bill, because we got to be careful here, but you know when you take a stop at the Denny's or wherever you go to get lunch on the way to where you're going, maybe take a few moments to memorize scripture together, and we want to help you do that. That's why we created this resource, 10 verses to memorize as a family this summer. It's a free resource, and as I said before, what's great about this resource is it doesn't just give you verses to memorize, verses that we think you should hide away in your heart. You know the psalmist, what does he say?

Your word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you. We want to treasure God's word and store it up in our hearts, but we also give you with this resource some explanation of the various passages that we're encouraging you to memorize, and so get a hold of this free resource and take advantage of it this summer. You can get it at corechristianity.com.

Be a great thing for your family to get for this summer. Again, it's absolutely free. Just go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. That's corechristianity.com forward slash offers, and look for 10 verses to memorize as a family this summer. By the way, we've got some phone lines open right now. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, here's our phone number, 833-THE-CORE. We'll be taking calls for the next 10 minutes or so, so if you've been kind of considering a question about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine or theology, maybe some doubts you have about the Christian faith, we're open to your calls as well. Here's the number again, 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners.

This is Tommy in Longview, Texas. I have a question. I've been a Christian for a long time, over 30 years, and just recently I'm struggling with God's anger. I see anger as an element of surprise or an emotion that's expressed when things don't go as we planned. Yet, I also believe strongly in God's omniscience, his omnipotence, his omnipresence, and his inability to be surprised by anything, and that all things are under his authority and direction.

So the delta of my problem is that if God truly knows everything and ordains all things, how can he then be angry at anything? So if you could help me, man, I sure would appreciate it. Blessings to you guys. I listen to you all the time. You feed my spirit well.

Thank you so much. Tommy, thank you for that thoughtful question, and we're digging in here. This is some deep theology, if you will. One, when we talk about God's anger in scripture or quote-unquote emotions, it's really important that we understand that all of God's revelation is sort of like an analogy.

Sometimes it's referred to as being analogical. Think of it like this. God's revelation in the Bible is like God's baby talk to us, finite creatures. God is infinite. We can't even begin to wrap our minds around God as he is in his essence.

If we could, we would be God, but we can't. He's not just quantitatively different than we are. He's qualitatively different than we are, and so when we have the language of God being angry in the Bible, I mean, that's revealing to us something real and true about God, but we have to recognize that when scripture says God was angry, it's not the exact same thing as when you get angry because someone cuts you off on the road, this sort of outburst of rage, that kind of a thing where we can't control ourselves. God's anger is not like our anger.

Scripture uses this analogy to reveal this truth to us about the Lord, his response to sin, but we mustn't ever think of God as flying off the handles. He's perfectly in control. He's sovereign. He's righteous, and as you said, he's decreed all things from the very beginning. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 says that he's decreed all things according to the counsel of his will, his perfect wisdom.

That is to say that there isn't anything that happens in the world that doesn't fall under God's decree, and if that's the case, well, then how can God get angry when it comes to sin? Well, God's decree, I would say, and others would say, secures our freedom. He's decreed everything in such a way that we still have responsibility, that we still choose to do things, good or bad, to reject his truth, to reject his gospel, and we are culpable.

We're responsible for those decisions that we've made. This tension, I think, is held together in various places of the Bible. I think of Acts chapter 2 in verse 23 where we read, This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. This is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, and he's preaching to the Jews, and he says, look, this Jesus who went to the cross according to what? The definite plan, the foreknowledge of God, but God wasn't the one who was sinning in Jesus going to the cross. No, God is not the author of sin. Instead, you had people, murderers.

You killed him by the hands of lawless men. So you have here the sovereign will of God, the decree of God, and the responsibility of people, men and women, you know, held side by side. You see this also in Acts chapter 4, the disciples' prayer for boldness in verse 27, For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and all the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Now Herod and Pontius Pilate and many of the people of Israel and in the crucifixion of Christ were sinning, were committing great acts of wickedness, of evil, of sin, and yet somehow this all fit within God's decree. Not that God was sinning or God was immediately causing them to do that, but he gave them freedom within the decree to do these things, and God is using all things to work together for the good of his purposes, his sovereign purposes. I think about, you know, the discussion that Joseph has with his brothers who had sinned terribly against him and we left him for dead, and then do you remember what he says in Genesis chapter 50? He says, What you meant for evil, you were sinning, you're responsible, but what you meant for evil, God meant for good. And so, brother one, just to summarize, God is in complete control, you know, he's decreed all things according to the counsel of his will, and yet we're still responsible and he hasn't decreed things in such a way that he's the immediate cause of sin or our sins.

We're the ones who sin, not God, and we're responsible for that, but he's able to use all things, even the sinful acts of people, men and women, for his sovereign purposes, for the redemption of humanity in Jesus Christ, and so that's a great comfort that we have as we look to the scripture. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Marshall, calling in from Worcester, Oklahoma. Marshall, what's your question for Adriel? Well, it's from Poto, Oklahoma, instead of Worcester, but I have a question about the rapture. We were discussing stuff in our Sunday school class, and what happens to when everyone is called up and you have kids that are, say, past the age of accountability and not saved, are they just going to be left alone to fend for themselves or, you know, how is that going to work?

Hey, Marshall, thank you for that question. I mean, there's a few things here, right, that you're bringing up. One, this idea of the rapture, you know, and we've talked about the rapture on the broadcast before, right? There are some people that believe that Christians are going to be raptured, taken out of the world prior to the second coming of Jesus, and that that rapture is going to kick off a great time of tribulation and suffering, and so that would be terrifying, right? If you're thinking, man, I've confessed faith in Christ, I believe in Jesus, but my 10-year-old, my 12-year-old, I'm not quite sure about where they're at. What if I get raptured and they're left behind?

You know, what's going to happen? And there are others, and I'm in this camp, who believe that the passages that oftentimes people will point to when they're talking about the rapture are probably referring to the second coming, the second coming, one second coming of Jesus Christ. And so there's some differences there with how we understand this, but let me just say, with regard to our children, we should always be calling them to faith in Christ. I mean, Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapter 7, says that the children of even one believing parent are considered holy. That doesn't mean that they're saved, but it does mean that they're a part of the worshiping community, that the promises of God extend to them, that we should, you know, exhibit those promises to them continually through taking them to church, through what we sometimes call the means of grace, you know, the ordinances that Jesus talked about, the preaching of the word. And so I would say, you know, for us as parents, we work together with our kids and training them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord so that they can and will profess faith in Christ.

Now, of course, you know, I was just talking about the responsibility that all of us have. And our kids, they're not saved by our faith. They need to believe in Jesus as well. And so I think what we do, Marshall, what you should do as a father is pray, you know, you give the scriptures to your children because we know that faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of Christ. And we pray that God would use those scriptures to light a fire in our own hearts and in the hearts of those who we love, mostly, you know, in this case, our children. And so right now, I would say, don't stress about what's going to happen when or if I get raptured. Focus on with what God has given you, using your time to raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to expose them to the word of Jesus, to the gospel of Jesus, and pray, pray every day that the Lord would take that word and use it to do a mighty work in the lives of your children. And I think that's what God calls us to do.

It's so easy to be afraid about, you know, what, what if this or what if that or, you know, what's going to happen tomorrow. But right now, today, God calls us to raise our kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Let me just pray for you right now, quickly, brother, father, be with Marshall and with his family. And I pray that you would give him wisdom in your word to teach his children to walk with them and encourage them. And I pray that you would open their hearts to your son, Jesus, by faith. In Christ's name, we pray.

Amen. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-The-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.