MAY 5, 2024

• Welcome and Announcements
• Blessed Assurance Jesus Is Mine
• Prayer of Invocation
• Redeemed
• In Christ Alone
• Scripture Reading and Prayer - Hebrews 1:1-4
• Missions Report - Melody Warford
• Glorious Day/Living He Loved Me
• Pastor's Message - A Good God and a Bad World (Part 2)
• Amazing Grace How Sweet The Sound

Hebrews 1:1-4
¹ God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
² in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
³ And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
⁴ having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

SERMON NOTES - A Good God and a Bad World (Part 2)

INTRODUCTION

• Last week we started thinking through what may be the number one objection that people have as their reason for not believing in God - the problem of evil and suffering.
• Instead of disproving the existence of God, the problem of evil and suffering points to God. If we humans can make judgments about right and wrong, what is ethical and what is not, what is moral and what is immoral, those choices point to an ultimate moral Agent and a moral standard outside of ourselves.
• But believing that God exists, and that He is perfectly good does not solve the problem of evil and suffering. Even if you accept the biblical view that evil is not the work of God but the result of human freedom of choice, the question of God's control over evil still exists.
• God cannot be both good and bad, or loving and unloving. His perfect nature does not allow inconsistency and irregularity in His character.
• What kind of power does the God of the Bible possess? He possesses eternal power which means the same God who creates is the same God who controls.
• So what do we do with an omnipotent God who we believe sustains His creation yet does not remove the existence of suffering and pain? How do we make sense of His love and goodness in the presence of evil?

THE MYSTERY OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY

• God's sovereignty means "...that all things are under God's rule and control, and that nothing happens without His direction or permission. It means that as ruler of the universe, God is free and has the right to do whatever He wants. He is not bound or limited by the dictates of His created beings. Further, He is in complete control over everything that happens here on Earth. God's will is the final cause of all things."
• Peter Kreeft explains, "A problem is solvable; a mystery is not. You can come to the end of a problem, but not of a mystery. Mystery remains mystery, but problem ceases to be problem and becomes solution."
• As it relates to the sovereignty of God, the existence of evil is a mystery because we human beings are finite in our understanding.
• "for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)
• The Bible reveals that our sovereign God is a good God, a loving God, a gracious, merciful, forgiving, holy, righteous, and just God. He is all knowing and all wise. And because He is, His sovereignty is not to be feared but to be embraced and trusted.

GOD'S PURPOSE IN EVIL AND SUFFERING

• The biblical concept of mystery is not something that we can discover on our own, but something that though previously hidden, God reveals to us.
• God does not create evil but He has control over evil and uses it for His purpose.
• God has his reasons for letting bad things happen to good people, but we need to be extremely cautious in coming to firm conclusions about why God allows evil and suffering in the lives of people. The problem for us is that we are often incapable of seeing or understanding the good that God makes out of evil.
• God can use all things to change us into the image of Christ including evil and suffering.
• The good which God brings out of evil is always for His glory.

CONCLUSION

• God is sovereign over evil and uses it for His glory and His purposes. Why doesn't God do something about evil? He has - through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus suffered the horrible death of crucifixion by the hands of evil men. God did not spare His own Son but gave Him as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
• Richard A. Hasler, a retired Presbyterian pastor wrote, "Calvary is judo. The enemy's own power is used to defeat him. Satan's craftily orchestrated plot, rolled along according to play by his agents Judas, Pilate, Herod, and Caiaphas, culminating in the death of God. And this very event, Satan's conclusion, was God's premise. Satan's end was God's means. It saved the world. Christians celebrate the greatest evil and the greatest tragedy of all time as Good Friday. In the symbolic language of Revelation, the meek little lamb (arnion) defeats the great and terrible Beast (qerion) in the last battle, the fight for the heavyweight championship of the universe, by shedding his own blood. Satan's bloody plan became the means of his own despoilment. God won Satan's captives - us - back to Himself by freely dying in our place."