Today, on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. When we speak of God, one of the most common questions and one of the most difficult. Questions to answer is this. If there is a God, why evil? This question of why that we all ask is often very personal and very penetrating.
How could God, if there is a God, allow my child, my sister, my spouse? My dear friend, to die. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Have you ever looked around at all the evil in the world and wondered, Where is God? If God is all-powerful and all-loving, then why is there such wickedness in the world?
Well, that's exactly what we're discussing today. As we continue our series, What Would You Ask God?
Now with part two of a lesson titled, Why Evil? Here's Pastor John Monroe. How do you reconcile the existence of evil in our world with an all-powerful God. If there is a God, why evil? Over the last several days we've been dealing with the greatest subject of all.
God. and the questions we would ask God. This question, if there is a God why evil, is, in my view, one of the most difficult questions of all. I certainly don't have all of the answers and I probably would be unable to make sense of any evil which you have experienced. But while I can't answer this question fully, There are certain attributes about God which we know are true.
So let's continue to consider this question together. Thanks for listening as we continue with this subject. If there is a God, why evil? Let me summarise what we've learned about. The problem of evil.
Evil exists. Evil is the absence of good. Human. Freedom is often used for evil purposes. There is a real enemy, Satan, who is the epitome of evil.
Now we have thought of the existence of evil, now I want to remind you. of the existence of God. And I've selected three basic truths about God. If you have your Bible, turn to Psalm 136. Because we want to see, first of all, As we think about evil, that God is Good.
Psalm 136. We'll just read the first Verse. The psalmist is exhorting us to worship God, to praise God, to give thanks to God.
Now, why would we do that? Why would we worship God? As we come together like this, for example. Here it is: Psalm 136, verse 1: Give thanks to To the Lord. For he is But Good.
He's good. His loving kindness is everlasting. His love endures forever. His mercies are everlasting. And the Bible instructs us that the goodness of God is central to who God is.
We cannot discuss God or think about God without very quickly reminding ourselves that God is good. And because God is good, He is not and cannot be the cause or the originator of evil, a holy being. Who is utterly pure, who is light, in whom there is no darkness at all, he cannot be the author of evil. That is an essential attribute of God. that our God is good.
Satan is always evil. And when there are evil acts which take the life of innocent people, we're apt to doubt the goodness of God, haven't we? But Who here has never doubted the goodness of God? when some tragedy or evil or devastating situation has come in. I want to remind you that God is Always.
Good. Turn to Romans chapter eight A well-known verse, perhaps If you're not too familiar with the Bible, you've never noticed this verse before. I want you to underline this verse in your Bible. More importantly, I want it to be underlined in your heart. Paul is writing as a mature Christian, but Paul wasn't always an apostle.
He was an evil man. He says that himself. He was a persecutor of the church. He was a blasphemer. He hated Christians.
He hated Jesus Christ. But now he's transformed. And he's writing to us these encouraging words in Romans 8, verse 28. Read them with me. He says, We know.
That is, we, the people of God, know this. that God causes Oh. all things. Not just some things Not just that which seems to be good to you. God causes All things to work together For what?
For good. Will you take this personally today?
Some of you are doubting it. God Who is good, who's always good? is at work, he's sovereign. and he is Working in such a way That he is causing all things to work together for good To those who Love God.
So, those who are called according to his purpose, you say, I love God.
Well, here is a wonderful promise. You may not feel this is true. You may be Tempted to doubt it, but I want to assure you that it is true that God, who loves you and you love Him, is causing everything without exception in your life to To work together for good. That God has a purpose for everything, including the things that He does not directly cause but permits. Let me give you an example.
from the Old Testament. Towards the end of the book of Genesis, we're introduced to a young man called Joseph. At the time we're introduced to him, he's the youngest of quite a large number of brothers and sisters. He's at the bottom of the line, but he's his father's favorite. And Joseph has certain dreams.
And when he shares these dreams with his brothers and you can understand this if you come from a family a large family as I do. I have five brothers. The brothers are not impressed. In fact, as the story unfolds, they are increasingly resentful of Joseph until. There comes the point where they conspire to sell their own brother into slavery, and they do that.
That was a very evil thing. thing to do. It's one thing not to like your brother, but can you imagine conspiring To sell him. to slavery. In fact, one of them wanted to kill him.
And so Joseph Is sold into slavery by his brothers. He ends up in Egypt. He's a teenager. But God's hand is on Joseph. He's a man who loves his God and who trusts his God even in this very difficult circumstance, even in that evil circumstance.
He gets a job, although he's a slave, he's not paid for it. He gets a job in a man's house, a man called Potiphar, who is very, very prosperous. Makes a lot of money. dealing with pyramids or something. And he's got a large home, and he puts Joseph in charge of the home.
But in the home there's a a very evil woman, Mrs. Potterfer. And she takes a look at young Joseph, and he's very handsome. Looks pretty good. She's lonely.
Got too much time on her hands. And so she tries to seduce Joseph Tries time and time again, but he always refuses. Why? Because he realizes how could he do that which is wicked in the sight of God, and so he does not succumb to her seduction. Until one day she gets so angry and frustrated with Joseph, this good man.
That she accuses him. of attempted rape. And Joseph This young man who had suffered so much finds himself in prison. Here is one evil thing after another happening to Joseph. But God is in control.
God is a work. I'm sure Joseph didn't know how it would turn out, but he continues to surrender his life to his God that he knew. And you know how the story unfolds. I'll take you right to the end of it, to Genesis chapter 50. Joseph is confronted with his brothers and he forgives his brothers.
And then he says, in that wonderful verse, in Genesis 50, verse 20, he says to his brothers as he thinks of their treachery and their hatred in selling him into slavery, he says to them, You meant evil against me. And they did. They couldn't dispute that. He says, You meant evil against me. But God meant it For what?
For good. For good. You say that's amazing. Of course, it's amazing. Only God can do that.
Only God is so powerful, so wise, so brilliant that when evil things happen to you, That are inexcusable, that are unspeakable in their evil and perversity, that you are the victim of something evil. Unfair, unjust. And you say this isn't fair. No, it's not fair. It's wrong.
Of course it's wrong. God is so good. that he can take even these evil things. and work them for your Good. When your life seems out of control, when it seems meaningless, when it seems chaotic.
Remember This good God is working out his perfect purposes in the lives of those who love him. Yes, God is good all the time. Therefore, His work and the life of His people is always for our good. God can only do that which is good. He can do evil.
He is always a good God. That's the first thing we want to say about God: that God is good. Secondly, And related to the first, God cares. for you. If you are the victim or have been the victim of an evil act or some random suffering, you may.
Now, feel that God is caring for you. You may feel that God doesn't care for you, that God has abandoned you. You may feel like the psalmist in Psalm 3 who cries out to the Lord and says, My soul is in anguish, O Lord. How long? How long?
I want to remind you from the Word of God today that God does. Care for you? God cares so much. For you that you can trust Him. to bring good I do evil.
Out of suffering. Psalm 103, verse 8 says, God is abounding in steadfast love. God doesn't love you just a little bit. He doesn't love you today and then maybe not tomorrow, like some friend does. No, he is abounding, he's lavish in his love, he is full of love for you.
And Peter Who knew what it was to suffer? Peter knew what it was to have evil men against him, as he writes in 1 Peter chapter 5, reminds us. As the people of God, to cast all of our cares, all of our anxieties on the Lord. Why would you do that? Because He cares for you.
He is a perfect Father who cares for you. A perfect father for you to trust, not a slave for you to command. It really bothers me when, in some preaching today, God is presented as a kind of So benign. Rather senile grandfather who is just there to give me everything that I want. God is not like that.
He's not a slave for me to command. No, he's a heavenly father for me to trust, even when I don't understand. Gee, your plans for your life. And God's purposes for your life may be very different. Haven't you found that?
I found that in my life. I thought my life was going to go one direction and God took me dramatically in another. But that was for my good. Therefore you are to trust him, you are to cast your cares upon him. If you're a parent, And you have children, you want your children.
To trust you? Even when they don't understand why they should trust you, and you tell them this. And they don't understand because they're young, and you say to them, in effect, listen, you must trust me. I love you, I care for you, I've got the situation under control, relax, it's going to work out. And so God is our perfect heavenly Father.
And you can trust God, this God who cares for you. Even when you don't understand What he's doing in a difficult situation. You know that he cares for you. You know. that he can be trusted.
God is a good God, God cares for you. The third. Which may be a shock to some of you, but it is this: God is a suffering. God. God is a God who suffers.
Do you think of God as a kind of remote Being Remote from the world, a kind of absentee landlord who's only mildly interested in what's going on, a kind of like some remote CEO living a Life In the ivory towers, with little understanding what's going on on the factory floor, and you say, you know, he's got no idea of what it means. To be down here. Is that what you think about God? That's not what God is like. The good news of the gospel, the essence of the Christian message is that this God who cares for you, who loves you, who's good, He comes to help us, to save us, to transform us.
In fact, He comes to deliver us from evil. That's why we pray to Him: deliver us from evil. What's God? really like he's a good god. He's a God who cares.
He's a God who suffers. When we see this amazing truth at the cross of Christ. Jesus, God incarnate, who's called The man of Laughter? The man of fun, the man of jokes? No.
He's called the man of Sorrows. Says Isaiah in Isaiah 53. He's the man of sorrows when a Messiah comes. He's going to come as the suffering servant, the man of sorrows, and the one who is acquainted with grief. He knows what it is to suffer.
He knows what sorrow is. He knows what it is to weep. He comes. to suffer for us To suffer on the cross, dying for our sins, dying for our evils.
So, Peter. Puts it so well in 1 Peter Chapter two, verse twenty one, he says to his readers These Christians who are suffering, who have had evil things done to them, he says, You have been called for this purpose, that is, to suffer, since Christ. Also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. Do you think Jesus Jesus knows about evil? Do you think he knows about suffering?
Of course. He does. Is God remote? Absolutely not. He is with us in our suffering.
Paul, in that most daring statement in 2 Corinthians 5:19, says that God was in Christ. Reconciling the world to himself. Where did that happen? At the cross. In Jesus Christ, God then has come to us, identifying with our suffering, dying for our sins, paying the price for our evil acts, dying our death, dying.
to solve the problem of evil. This is the only Solution. At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them, but some groups near the front talked heatedly, not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. Can God judge us?
How can he know about suffering? snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. We endured suffering, beatings and death. In another group, a boy lowered his collar.
What about this? he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. Lynched. For no crime but but But being black. In another crowd, there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes.
Why should I suffer? She murmured. It wasn't my fault. Far out across the plain there were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in this world.
How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.
So each of these groups sent forth their leader. chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a slave, A person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the center of the plane, they consulted with each other. At last, they were ready to present their case.
It was rather clever. Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live upon earth as man. A man. Let him be born a Jew.
Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.
At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then Let him die. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a host of witnesses to verify it. As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled.
And when the last had finished pronouncing sentence, There was a long Silence. No one uttered Another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had already served. It's sentence.
John Stott writes. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross, which symbolizes divine suffering. That's it. You see, the one who died on the cross is the one who rose on the third day, demonstrating that he is greater than evil, greater than suffering, greater than the devil, greater than death itself. You say, What's the answer to evil?
I can't answer that question fully, but I can't point you to the cross. At the cross there is victory over sin. At the cross there is victory over evil. At the cross there is victory over death. At the cross.
And only at the cross is there victory over Satan, the evil one. And what will God do about evil? He's done much about evil. The cross of Christ. What will he do about evil on a future day?
I don't know when that day is, but it's coming and it's coming soon. The living Christ will return as King of kings and Lord of lords. Then there will be perfect justice and goodness and righteousness and peace. In that great day, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes in the new heavens and the new earth. Then Suffering and evil and death are forever Gone.
Yeah, I ask you. What's your personal response to the problem of evil. Do you have the assurance in your heart that you're going to that place that we as Christians call heaven. Where there's no death. And there's no sin and there's no evil.
You say, How do I get right with God? You must admit that evil is not just out there, it's very easy for us. To look at others and say, There is evil. No, in the message of the gospel, there must be an understanding that evil isn't just out there, evil is in here. Evil is in your heart.
and my heart. And because of that, you need cleansing, you need a new beginning, you need a power which is greater than yourself, a power which is greater than sin. A power which is greater than evil and Satan. You know you can't beat sin by yourself. You're no match for the devil, and you certainly will never conquer death by yourself.
You'll never get into heaven by yourself. It's utterly impossible. But Christ has come, this God who suffers. The living Christ. who died for our sins, who rose again, and who indwells those who receive him as their Savior and Lord.
If you've never ever placed your faith in Jesus Christ, I invite you to do that this morning. Will you do that? Not just thinking of evil in an academic sense or the evil of the world, but bringing it very personally and say, Yes, there is evil in my life, and I need divine cleansing. I need Christ to come, this living Christ who's conquered evil. And through his Holy Spirit, yes, his Holy Spirit, his good spirit.
will indwell me. and enable me to live a life pleasing. to God. It's true, in the darkness of the evil around us, we don't understand everything that God is doing, but we do understand some things. We understand that God is good, we understand that He can be trusted.
We understand that God is at work even when life doesn't make sense. And we do know that one day, one great, glorious day, that perfect and good kingdom will come. And we who know Christ will reign with Him forever and ever in the face of evil. What can we say about God? He's a God of love.
He's a God you can trust. He's a God who comes to save us. He's a God who comes to forgive you. He's a god, yes. Who triumphs?
Over evil. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God.
To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at the verdict. org. While you're there, consider making an investment in this Bible teaching ministry.
Whether it's $5, $50, or more, your gift today helps cover the cost of sharing these gospel messages to listeners around the world. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Verdict Podcast, featuring John's weekly podcast exclusive called Avizandam. It's available wherever you get your podcasts, or simply go to our website. Again, that's theverdict.org. The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte.
We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Do you agree that God is good? that God cares for you, that God is a suffering God. At the cross we see the man of sorrows, the eternal God, crucified on the cross. This helps us in grappling with this question: if there is a God, why evil?
God not only created you, but God loves you. And Christ died for you.
So trust Him as your Saviour and Lord. Tune in next time as we think of our related question. If there is a God, why suffering? Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
