The Problem of Evil

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Well, it is the great joy of my life to spend week after week expositing the Scripture verse by verse.  But there are times when we come to a passage that introduces a far-reaching theological issue that the text itself doesn't address.  The passage I intended to preach to you this morning is such a passage. In Matthew 2, you remember Herod, and his efforts to assassinate Israel's Messiah, slaughters all of the infants two years of age and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas.  It was an unthinkable atrocity; and it raises a serious ethical question and that is, “Why did God allow the death of these children?”  Why didn't He simply kill Herod before he had the chance to act on his desires?  We know from history that Herod only lived about a year after this, so, why not simply shorten Herod's life by a handful of months and allow these, probably fifteen to twenty children two years of age and younger, allow them to live long and full and rich lives.  Why? 

This text ultimately raises a larger theological and philosophical issue.  It's the issue that's often called “The Problem of Evil”–why does God allow evil in the world?  If we're honest with ourselves, this is a common struggle in the hearts of many Christians.  It's a common question that unbelievers raise as we share the Gospel, and it is a common attack on the Christian faith that comes from its enemies.  I'd planned to deal with the problem of evil briefly as part of my exposition of Matthew, chapter 2, but as I thought about it, prayed about it, I decided that it would benefit us all to step away from Matthew for this week and to address the problem of evil.  It's something I've never done here in a full sermon from this pulpit.  Lord willing, next Sunday, we'll come back to Matthew 2 and work our way through the text.  But today I want us to look at “The Problem of Evil.”

Let me give you a roadmap for our study this morning.  First of all, we're going to define “The Moral Dilemma.”  What exactly is the problem of evil?  Secondly, we're going to look at “The Biblical Solution,” and then, thirdly, we'll consider “The Practical Application” of that solution to our own individual lives.  Let me begin by just making this overarching comment, “Although God doesn't answer all of our questions about the problem of evil, in Scripture He does explain enough about His character and His ways to properly silence His enemies and to strengthen the faith of us who believe in Him.”  So that's what I want us to see together this morning. 

Let's start, as I said, by defining “The Moral Dilemma.”  What exactly is the problem of evil?  Let's start with the word ‘evil’ itself.  Webster's defines it as two senses.  First of all, ‘something that is morally wrong or bad,’ that's the first sense.  And the second sense is ‘something that is harmful or injurious.’  Now those two senses or two definitions really introduce us to “The Two Categories of Evil.”  When it comes to the problem of evil, we're talking primarily about two kinds or categories of evil.  First of all, “Natural evil.”  By that we mean “evil that results from the natural world.”  Something harmful, injurious, that comes from the natural world.  It includes physical disasters such as famines and floods, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, etc.  It also includes personal disasters that result from the disorder in the natural world; things such as illness and disease, genetic defects, aging, death, etc.  All of those things that can be perceived as evil that occur in the natural world. 

The second category of evil is “Moral evil.”  This is “evil that results from the actions of moral agents, either human or at times demonic,” moral evil.  It includes every kind of evil that one person can commit against another.  Together, those two categories of evil really encompass the evil on this planet. 

So, with that understood, let's go then to consider “The Core of the Problem.”  What exactly is the problem?  Well, let's start with its “Popular Level Expression;” you've heard this, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Now the way that question is posed, it's an easy one to answer biblically.  The answer is “Bad things don't happen to good people because there are no good people.”  Romans, chapter 3, verse 10, “As it is written, THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE…THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE,” verse 12 says. You see that question implies that people's inherent goodness means that God shouldn't allow them to experience any natural or moral evil.  “Because I'm as good a person as I am, I shouldn't have to face these troubles, these difficulties.” 

That's absolutely backwards!  As human beings always do, we've completely reversed things because Jesus says that people don't deserve the goodness they receive from God.  In other words, the question isn't, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  The question is, “Why do good things happen to bad people?”  That's what Jesus says in in Matthew 5:45; He says, “God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good,” and He “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  And then in Luke 6:35, Jesus says, God, “He Himself,” listen to this, “is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”  You see, again, in the end, the question isn't, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The question is, “Why do good things happen to such bad people?  Why do we have all that we enjoy from God when we deserve nothing?”

But I understand the question, let's rephrase it in a better way.  The real question I think they're trying to ask is this, “Why do bad things happen to people who've done nothing to deserve that specific evil?”  That's the real question, right?  For example, why does God allow a person who has not physically harmed anyone else to suffer rape or murder?  Why does God allow children to be abused?  While the victims of these great evils are sinners, we are conceived as sinners, nevertheless, their sins are certainly not worse than those who committed the evil acts against them; or in many cases, their sins aren't worse than others who never suffer those same evils.  So why do these bad things happen?  

But let's be honest, this question isn't merely a philosophical one; it has very “Personal Implications,” very personal.  At some point in life, we all wrestle with the problem of evil at a very personal level.  We're faced with questions like, “Why did God allow that person to sin against me in that way?”  “Why did God allow someone to commit such a terrible evil against those I love?”  “Why did that story, that hit the news, why would God permit that kind of atrocity?”  “Why did God allow this excruciating trial in my life?”  “Why did God allow this genetic problem or this disease that threatens my health or perhaps my life?”  Very personal implications of the problem of evil.  But before we look at the solution, let's back up and make sure we understand the argument. 

The real problem of evil is “A Philosophical Argument.”  John Frame, in his book Apologetics to the Glory of God, presents the problem of evil in the form of the following, I think, very helpful syllogism.  If you get this, you get where people are coming from, alright?  Here's the argument as it goes. 

Premise 1:  If God were all-powerful, He would be able to prevent evil.

Premise 2:  If God were all-good, He would desire to prevent evil.

So, Conclusion:  So, if God were both all-powerful and all-good, there would be no evil. Premise 3: But there is evil.

So, the ultimate conclusion: they say, therefore, there must not be an all-powerful, all-good God.  Something is wrong with Christianity, they say, because logically, it's inherently self-contradictory. 

Well, we need to see that that's not true.  How should we, as believers, think about the problem of evil?  What does the Bible say about this moral dilemma?  

So that brings us, secondly, to “The Biblical Solution,” the Biblical solution.  Now, a biblical solution to the problem of evil is called a ‘theodicy,’ a theodicy. The word consists of two Greek words, ‘theos,’ which means God, and ‘dikē,’ which means ‘justice.’  So, a theodicy, then, ‘is a justification of God and His ways.’  It's like John Milton, in the beginning of his poem, “Paradise Lost,” says that he wrote to justify the ways of God to man; that's a theodicy.  Webster defines a theodicy as ‘a vindication of the divine attributes in allowing the existence of physical and moral evil.’  That's what I want us to do for the rest of our time together this morning, is to lay out a defense of God.  Now, prepare yourself, because as I've looked at it, I think Scripture sets forth at least “Nine key propositions in defense of God's decision to allow moral and physical evil in the world.”  So, let's look at them together; buckle up. 

Number one, and this is foundational. “God is not obligated to justify His moral governance of the universe to us,” God is not obligated to justify or defend Himself to me or to you.  In Job 1, God allows Satan to bring several, both moral and natural evils, into Job's life.  The things that happen there are natural in the sense that there's a great wind that destroys the house.  There are also marauders, moral agents, who come and commit moral evil against his family; but God never explains his reasons to Job.  Read the entire book; God never explains it.  He explains it to us after the fact, but he never explains it to Job.  Instead, in Job 38 to 41, God reminds Job of His power and His wisdom and simply demands that Job trust Him.  Turn over to Romans, chapter 9; Romans, chapter 9.  In the context here, Paul is talking about election, and he's talking about a defense of election, that God has a right to choose to whom to show mercy.  As demonstrated in the life of Moses, God has a right to choose who to pass by and to give justice, as demonstrated with Pharaoh in verses 17 and 18.  Verse 18 is the sort of conclusion, “So then He (God) has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”  It's God's right.  But in response to that, Paul talks about man's typical response to God.  His response is to question God, verse 19: 

You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault?  For who resists His will?”  (How does Paul respond to this?  Verse 20.)  On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?  The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?  Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

Now, don't misunderstand, Paul is not saying that God won't have anything to do with your honest questions.  If you have honest questions where you want to understand God and His ways, go to the Bible.  God has got the answers there; you will find the answers there.  What Paul is addressing is the hubris, the pride, of man who pulls himself up and sits in judgment on God, and God says to that person, “How dare you?  What right do you have to question me?”  Scripture doesn't set out to justify God's actions, because God is not morally obligated to defend Himself to us.  However, because our God is good and gracious and generous, He does help us understand His character and His ways, and that's the other eight propositions, alright, so let's go.

Number two, “God is perfect in His character and in His governance of the universe.”  You see, this is where often people start. When they encounter the problem of evil, one of the first places they go is to question something about God.  Years ago, Rabbi Kushner wrote a book called When Bad Things Happen to Good People, and his conclusion was the reason bad things happen to good people is because God is good, but he's not all-powerful, and He can't prevent it.  The Bible will have none of that!  The Bible says, “No, listen, ‘God is perfect in His character and His governance.’”  First of all, he is perfect “In Power,” He's perfect in power; He is, in power, reigning “Over all events.”  Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”  Proverbs 16:33, even with the smallest events in life, “The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the LORD.” Isaiah 46:10, God says, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.”  You say, “How far does God's purpose extend?” Ephesians 1:11, God “works all things after the counsel of His (own) will.”  So, God is perfect in power over all events. 

He's also perfect in power “Over all tragedy,” over all tragedy.  Ecclesiastes 7, verses 13 and 14, “Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what He has bent?  In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider–(this) God has made the one as well as the other;” the day of prosperity and the day of adversity.  Isaiah 45:7, God says, I am “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being (or peace, shalom) and creating calamity; I am the LORD (Yahweh) (am the One) who does all these.” God takes personal, personal responsibility for those actions.  Lamentations 3, verses 37 and 38, “Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the LORD has commanded it?  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?”  Amos 3:6, “…if a calamity occurs in a city,” how often do we go to our news source and hear about some calamity that's happened?  “If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?” 

God is also sovereign “Over all human decisions.”  And this is where the concept of moral evil comes from, human decisions.  Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.”  Proverbs 19:21, “Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand.”  Proverbs 21:1, “The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD.”  The picture is in the Middle East, to make sure your crops grow, you have to have irrigation canals, and when you want to move the water from one field to another, you would close one gate and open another gate and the water would flow down that canal.  God says the heart of the king is like that in My hand, I just close one gate and open another.  “He turns it wherever He wishes.”  So, listen, folks, the reason there is evil in the world is not because God lacks the power to keep it from happening–Kushner was wrong! 

It's also not because God lacks goodness; He is perfect “In Goodness.”  Psalm 25:8, “Good and upright is the LORD.”  Psalm 34:8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”  Last week, we looked at Psalm 100, verse 5, it says, “The LORD is good; His lovingkindness (steadfast love) is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”  So, the problem with evil in the world is not because God lacks the power to do anything about it.  It's not because He lacks the goodness and it's not because He lacks justice. 

He is perfect “In Justice.”  Deuteronomy 32:4, “The Rock!  His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness (Listen to this.)  and without injustice.”  God has zero injustice in His being and in His actions.  Job 34:12, “Surely God will not act wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.”  Psalm 89:14, “Righteousness,” I love this, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne.” In other words, God has built His entire sovereign rule on justice.  So, God lacks neither power, goodness nor justice.  Instead, His character and His governance are perfect in power, in goodness and in justice. So that's not the reason! 

Let's move on to number three, “God is not the source of evil.”  Scripture labors to make this point to us; evil isn't here because of God.  Job 34:10,”Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong.”  Psalm 92:15, “…the Lord is upright…there is no unrighteousness in Him.”  Habakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor.”  Listen, God has never looked, even a sideways glance, at anything evil with favor.  1 John 1:5, “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”  James 1:13, “Let no one say when he's tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”  God is not the source of evil. 

So that raises the question, then, “Who or what is?”  So, let's look, first of all, at the “Sources of Moral Evil,” the sources of moral evil.  Where does moral evil begin?  Historically, where did it begin?  The biblical answer is in the heart of the greatest angelic being God ever made, Lucifer, son of the morning, who becomes “Satan.”  I won't take you to Ezekiel 28, but in Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel begins by talking about the king of Tyre, a human king, but as he's talking about him, as the chapter unfolds, he begins to talk about the evil person behind the king of Tyre energizing him.  And he says this person, meaning Satan, was in the Garden of Eden.  He was the cherub that covered; he was this powerful, majestic being God created.  And where did evil begin?  It began in his heart.  Ezekiel 28, verse 17, describes the origin of evil, s­peaking about Satan, “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.”  Sin began, evil began, by spontaneous combustion in the heart of the greatest being God ever made, the prime minister of heaven, who, because of pride, sets himself against God.

But it didn't stop there.  Evil entered the human race through “Adam.”  You know the story, of course, in Genesis 3, Satan tempts Adam and Eve, Eve's deceived, Adam is not–he chooses to rebel against God, and Romans 5:12 says, “…through (by) one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death through (by) sin.”  That's how evil got here.  

But it didn't stop there.   “Sin passes down then by procreation” through what theologians call ‘Original Sin.’  Romans 5:12 goes on to say, “so death spread (passed) to all men, because (for) all sinned.”  In Adam, we all sinned, and because we were conceived with a sinful heart; we've each now chosen to sin as well, individually.  Psalm 51:5, David says, “And in sin my mother conceived me.”  So, it started with Satan, came through Adam, but then passed to all of us through our parents, through procreation, and now evil resides in “Every human heart.”

Jesus, in Mark 7:20-23, says the real problem with all the stuff that happens in the world is it comes up out of the heart of man.  That's where the problem comes; it's our hearts.  James 1:14 says we are “tempted when we are drawn away by our own lust and enticed” (Paraphrase).  So those are the sources of moral evil.  That's why there's moral evil in the world. 

But what about the “Sources of Natural Evil?”  Well, there's one primary source. This is the most common, and that is “God's just curse.”  In Genesis 3, you remember, in verses 17 to 19, God says to Adam, “I'm going to curse this planet; this is the consequence of your sin.  Your sin brought this” (Paraphrase).  We live on a cursed and decaying and dying planet and that's why there's natural evil.  That's why there are hurricanes and tornadoes and storms and all the things that happen.  It's God's just curse. 

Occasionally, the source of natural evil is also “God's just punishment.”  At times, not always, at times, God uses that cursed planet, and the curses that are consequence of human sin, to punish sin.  You see that throughout the book of Revelation, right?  God brings earthquakes and volcanoes and all kinds of natural disasters to judge humanity.  And there are occasions, even through Old Testament history, when you see that as well.  

And then a third source of natural evil is “Satan's malevolent hatred.”  Job 1 tells us that, at times, God allows Satan, again, to use the cursed planet on which we live to harm humanity, to bring it to bear against us.  So, God is not the source of evil, then Satan and human sin, along with the consequences of that sin, are the source of evil.

But number four, “God chose to allow evil in the universe rather than removing it because of a greater good,” God chose to allow evil in the universe rather than removing it because of a greater good.  You say, “What's the greater good?”  Well, there have been two options that have historically been answers offered to that question.  Option number 1:  is the greater good was “To preserve human free will.”  This argument goes like this.  God wanted mankind to love Him and to love Him freely out of His own free will.  And so, to create a situation where we can love Him freely, God also had to allow us the possibility of choosing to rebel, to disobey Him.  And so, the reason they would say there's evil in the world is because of this good, preserving human free will that God wanted to accomplish. Now, that sounds somewhat plausible on the surface, but the problem is, number one, there is no biblical evidence for it.  That's a big one.  In addition, it doesn't explain why God, knowing that man would choose evil, still created Him.  In the end, it doesn't solve the problem. 

A second possible good, and I think the one the Scriptures clearly teach, a reason God decided to allow evil was “To promote his own glory and the good of His people,” to promote His own glory and the good of His people.  According to Scripture, this is the greater good that motivates God's allowance of evil.  You see it in Romans 9, verses 22 and 23, where God talks about putting His character on display.  But you see it most highly exalted at the cross.  Think about this, God planned to bring about the greatest human good, our eternal salvation, and His greatest glory, but to do so through a number of evils.  You say, “What evils?”  Well, the envious plot of the Jewish leaders, Satan's tempting of Judas to betray Jesus, Judas actually betraying our Lord, the injustice of the Roman trials, the brutality of the soldiers in His mocking and crucifixion and death, and His death itself, His suffering and His death.  Through those evils, God was fulfilling His greatest promised good for His glory and for our redemption.  In Acts chapter 2, he talks about, you know, through the sin of these human beings, God was accomplishing His predetermined plan at the cross, both of them working together, in order to bring about the greater good of our salvation and God's glory, so, since that is the greater good that God has chosen.

Number five, “God now directs all the evil in the world to promote His own glory and the good of His creatures, especially His adopted children.”  This is what God does.  Now, let me show you this generally expressed.  Go back to Genesis; I'll start with a text that's not as well known.  Look at Genesis 45; Genesis 45, verse 4, “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come closer to me.’  And they came closer.  And he said, ‘I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.’”  You remember they hated him; they sold him into slavery, started thought about killing him, but then they decided not to do that.  Instead, they sold him into slavery.  Now, watch what Joseph says about that evil, verse 5, “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”  God is using the evil of their hatred, their violence toward him; He's using it for good. But God typically is using it for much greater good than even for one individual, He's doing it for many.  Now, watch how he goes on, verse 6, “the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which they'll be neither plowing nor harvesting.”  Verse 7, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.  Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here...”  He's not denying they sinned against him; he's saying there was a greater force at work–God was doing it as well.  And he says, “God sent me here.”  Now, go over to the more familiar text, chapter 50, verse 20; Genesis 50:20, he says this to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, (People make evil decisions intending to hurt others.) but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”  He's not denying the evil; he's not saying and God's not responsible for the evil, they're responsible for their evil decisions and God will hold them responsible for that.  But he's saying, “God is so good and so great and so powerful that He can bring good even out of evil to His own glory and for the good of His people” (Paraphrase). Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  

This principle that we're dealing with here is “Specifically illustrated” in a number of ways.  This is from this list is from Biblical Doctrines, the Master’s Seminary textbook on systematic theology.  And I'm not going to go through these in detail; you can look at them at your leisure. They'll be on the slides attached to this message online.  But look at the list.  God uses evil “To display divine grace and justice,” “To judge evil in the present and future,” “To redeem through Christ's suffering,” “To expand gospel witness through the suffering of Christ's people,” “To shock unbelievers, to get their attention, to call for a change of heart,” “To discipline believers,” and “To vindicate God.”  God uses evil for all of those purposes. 

A sixth proposition is that “God's actions in the past prove He always responds to evil with perfect justice.”  Read the Bible.  But God gave us the Bible as evidence of His nature and His ways.  In Genesis, chapter 3, one sin, the sin of eating a piece of fruit that they weren't supposed to eat, resulted in the fall, the curse of sin and death on Adam's entire progeny and his being thrown out of the Garden of Eden.  You doubt if God is a God of perfect justice who deals with evil?  Just think about that.  In Genesis 6, God responded to comprehensive human evil across the planet with a flood, destroying all human life but eight people.  In Genesis 18 and 19, God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin.  In 2 Kings 23, God sent His own people into seventy years of exile for their sin of idolatry.  Listen, read the Old Testament again and again and again; you see that our God is a God of perfect justice.  Examine God's past actions toward evil and you'll find a consistent pattern of perfect justice.  Now, don't misunderstand, God is patient and there's often a long gap between the sin and the judgment, but it always comes.  One of my favorite old sermons was called “Payday Someday,” talking about God's judgment on Ahab and Jezebel after their sin of killing Naboth for his vineyard.  It took a long time, twenty years, and the preacher said, “Listen, the judgments of God often travel very slowly, and they have leaden hills and travel very slowly, but they always have iron hands and crush completely.”  In the end, God's justice comes, and listen carefully, “Since He is immutable, what you read in your Bible is still true of Him and it will be His response to the sin of our generation.  Nobody gets away with anything!”  

Number seven, “God will vindicate His justice in the future by eternally punishing every unbeliever for every unrepentant evil.”  Listen, there's nobody who gets away.  You know, people look at what goes on in our world; sometimes they look at their own lives, they look at the evil done by people in their lives, and those people seem to get away with it.  Or, if they don't get away with it, they don't really get what they deserve.  They look on the headlines and say, “Where is God?  What is God doing about all the evil in our world?”  What's the biblical answer?  “He is storing up wrath.”  Turn to Romans, chapter 2; Romans, chapter 2, verse 4, Paul says, “Do you think lightly of the riches of His (God's) kindness and (His) tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”  You know, a lot of people celebrated Thanksgiving this week, maybe you did, you don't know Jesus Christ; you're thankful for the stuff you have. Do you realize that God has given you those things in His goodness to drive you to repentance?  What happens if you don't?  Verse 5, “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and (the) revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”  Verse 6, “WHO WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS?”  Listen, payday is coming.  God will vindicate His justice by eternally punishing every sin of every unrepentant unbeliever.  You see, when we see those who commit horrendous evils and they seem to get away with it, we have to remind ourselves, folks, that not one sin, not a single sin will ever go unpunished!  In Revelation chapter 20, the books are opened at the judgment of the Great White Throne where unbelievers are.  Those books are their deeds; they're judged according to their deeds.  God never misses one and His perfect justice will be administered to every unbeliever forever.  If you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ, that's your future.  God knows exactly what goes on in your heart, what goes on with your words, what goes on in your actions; and He's never forgotten a single sin you've ever committed. And one day, He will use that knowledge against you at the judgment, and you will get perfect justice.  Every sin will be punished, and it'll be punished forever unless you believe in Jesus Christ.  Now that brings us then to the reality believers. 

Number eight, “God fully judged every evil committed by every believer in Jesus' death on the cross.”  You see, God is the God of perfect justice.  Not a single sin in the universe will ever go unpunished.  Either you will be punished for it forever or you'll put your trust in Jesus Christ, and He will be punished for those sins; but every sin will be punished, and they were in Jesus Christ.  Romans, chapter 3, verses 25 and 26 say that “God publicly displayed Jesus as the propitiation” (Paraphrase).  That is, the satisfaction of His wrath against the sins of those who would believe in Jesus. Think about this, Christian, on the cross, that perfect knowledge God has of every sin you've ever committed, He took that list of sins and He credited it to the account of Jesus Christ.  And on the cross, Jesus Christ bore every drop of wrath your sins deserve, every single one of them, past, present, and future.  He paid it all and there's none left for you!  I love the way Peter puts it in 1 Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins,” plural.  He bore our sins “in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”  You see, Christ absorbed the wrath of God for every sin, every evil that I have or ever will commit, and the debt is paid. 

Number nine, “God's reason for allowing natural and moral evils in specific cases often can't be fully known.”  You see, God's not going to tell us just like he didn't tell Job (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3; 42:7-8).  So, don't try to sort it out; don't try to discern God's purposes in all of the moral and natural evils that happen to you.  That's not how you should respond.  So that brings the question, how should you respond? 

Let me briefly consider “The Practical Application,” the practical application.  What do you do with this?  God demands that all of us who have believed in His Son respond to the evil that's in the world, both natural and moral evil, in these ways.  Number one, I'm just going to touch on the number one, “Believe what Scripture teaches about God's character and His relationship to evil and be content with that.”  You see, God has told us all He wants us to know about His relationship to evil and how it works.  He's not evil; He's not the source of evil; He doesn't make anyone commit sin, but He directs it and shapes it to His own purposes for the good of His people and his own glory.  Be content with that.  Deuteronomy 29:29 is a verse you need to memorize.  You need to know, you need to understand, because it says “the secret things belong to the LORD, our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children.”  In other words, it's right to grapple with the things that have been revealed like we did this morning.  It's okay to ask your questions and go to the Bible to get those questions answered.  But that's where it needs to stop.  We need to be content that we can grapple with the things revealed, but there are things God has not chosen to reveal, and we need to be willing to trust Him and leave that with Him. 

Number two, “Never sit in judgment on God and His governance of the moral universe.”  Again, it's okay to ask your questions, okay to go to the Bible to get them answered; just don't get on your moral high horse and judge God, accuse God of not doing something right because He didn't march by your orders.  Don't accuse Him of unfairness; it's not your right.  What does God say to Job in Job 40:1-2?  He says, “Who do you think you are to question me, to make yourself righteous” (Paraphrase)?

Thirdly, “Love God enough to believe the best about Him,” love God enough to believe the best about Him.  You know, 1 Corinthians 13 says, “Love…believes all things.”  That means love is eager to believe the best until there's evidence to the contrary.  That's not only true with love of humans, that's true with love of God.  Love Him enough to believe the best about Him.  He's given you His Son; really, you want to question His goodness or His love?  He was wise enough to order the universe; really, you can't trust Him with your life”  Believe the best about God because you love Him.

Number four, “Trust God's sovereignty, His goodness, and justice to deal with evil in His time and His way.”  He's all of those things as we saw, so you can trust Him.  He's going to take care of it. 

And number five, “Worship God in wonder and amazement for His wisdom” as He has ordered and structured all of this for His glory and your good.  I love the way Paul ends Romans 11.  He says, “Look at God, think about God, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the knowledge and the wisdom of God…His ways are past finding out” (Paraphrase).  So, what do you do?  You just, like Paul, break out in doxology and you worship the God who is so good and so wise and so powerful that He can work all of this out in keeping with His own character for His glory, which means for your good, because His goodness is His glory–Worship Him! 

Let's pray together.  Our Father, we stand in awe of You.  Lord, like Job, we have heard of You, but now our eyes have seen You, and we repent in sackcloth and ashes.  Lord, forgive us for ever questioning You and Your ways.  Lord, help us to come to your Word to get our genuine questions answered.  But Father, help us to rest in the fact that there are secret things that belong to You that we can't sort out.  But we know who You are, we know what Your character is like, and we can trust You.  And Father, not only do we trust You, we worship You as our God; the good, all wise, all-powerful God Who is so good, He can bring good even out of evil.

Father, I pray for those here this morning who are hurting, who are suffering because of natural or moral evils committed against them.  Lord, help them to rest in the truth of Who You are.  But, Lord, I pray for those who are here this morning who don't know You, help them to see that Your perfect character will be their eternal undoing, that You are perfectly just, and You will give them exactly what they deserve forever unless they're willing to throw themselves on Your grace and trust in Your Son, in His life, death, and resurrection.  Even today, Lord, open their eyes to see; we pray it for the glory of Jesus and in His name, Amen.