Why do bad things happen to Good People? John 16:33

Why do bad things happen to Good People? John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. The Greek reads like this, I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. It is a universal fact; we live in a world filled with misery and death. Each day brings new tragedy. A small child is diagnosed with leukemia and undergoes extensive medical treatment only to die in his mother s arms. A newly wed couple is killed by a drunk driver as they leave for their honeymoon. A faithful missionary family is attacked and killed by the very people they were ministering to. Thousands are killed in a terrorist attack. Hundreds drown in a tsunami, while scores of others are buried in an earthquake. And many times when we are confronted by intimidating situations and painful events, Satan uses those events of attack our faith and to question God s love, grace, and mercy. Man s usual response to tragedy is to blame God! Through the ages, human beings have sought to reconcile their understanding of an all-powerful, loving God with the seemingly endless suffering around them. One prominent example of this struggle is the media mogul Ted Turner. Turner was committed to Christ, but stumbled in his faith after his sister, who suffered from a painful disease for 5 years, died quite young, at the age of 17. Turner said, I was taught that God was love and God was powerful, and I couldn t understand how someone so innocent should be made or allowed to suffer so. After the death of his beloved daughter Annie, Charles Darwin, denied the Christian faith and took his stand as an unbeliever. 1

So today, we will look at the questions, Is God responsible for human suffering? Is God cruel, capricious, and vindictive, or is He too weak to prevent suffering? If God truly is sovereign, how can He let someone He loves suffer? What is our correct response to these questions? How are these things possible if God really loves and cares for us? If He is filled with grace and mercy, why does He allow these things to happen? To answer these questions one must have a correct view of history. Genesis 1:1 says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And Genesis 1:31 says at the end of His creative acts, God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. To be very good, God s creation must have been without blemish, defect, disease, suffering, or death. There was no survival of the fittest. Animals did not prey on each other, and the first two humans, Adam and Eve, did not kill animals for food. The original creation was a beautiful place, full of life and joy in the presence of the Creator. Both humans and animals were vegetarians at the time of creation. In Genesis 1:29 30 the Lord said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food. According to Moses in Deuteronomy 32:4, His work is perfect. Obviously, things have drastically changed! What happened to change all of that? Simply put it was rebellion and sin. The Bible tells us God placed Adam and Eve in a perfect paradise. As their Creator, God gave Adam and Eve power, authority, and a perfect environment. Genesis 2:17 tells us there was one simple rule, just one, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely 2

die. As time passed Lucifer, in the form of a beautiful serpent, continued to point out the beauty of the forbidden fruit, while questioning the reasoning for God s rule, until Eve gave in and ate of the fruit and then invited Adam to join her in her rebellious deed! The just Creator righteously kept His promise that punishment would follow their disobedience. In that instant Adam and Eve died spiritually instantly as well as physically gradually! Genesis 3:20-24 tells us after Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden of Eden, they began to have children. Each child inherited Adam s sinful nature, and each child rebelled against his or her Creator. Every human is a descendant of Adam and Eve, born with the same problem: a sinful nature. The world was no longer perfect but sincursed. Suffering and death now abounded in that once perfect creation. Sadly, the consequences for of man s sin - every man, woman and child experiences the physical detrition of death. But 1 Peter 1:15-21 reminds us God already had a plan for mankind s redemption, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Romans 5:15-19 gives us this insight, For if by the one man s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment, which came from one offense, resulted in condemnation, but the free gift that came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so 3

through one Man s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man s obedience many will be made righteous. Philippians 2:5-10 says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth. We need to realize that in spite of man s failure there is One who has overcome this problem of death and suffering - Jesus Christ. Jesus reminds us in today s text, I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. Notice the two truths in this verse: (1) Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. (2) But take heart, because I have overcome the world. Although sin and rebellion has caused us to live in a world of death and suffering: Jesus reminds us He has overcome the world. And that brings us to this awesome revelation in John 1:17, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Remember, we saw in 1 Peter 1:15-21 that Jesus was the Lamb of God foreordained (slain) before the foundation of the world. Ladies and gentlemen, God has always had a plan, as seen in Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Isaiah 53:3-5 gives us this prophetic insight into God s plan, He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet 4

we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Jesus Himself made this statement in Matthew 8:16-17, When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demonpossessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. 1 Peter 2:24 says, Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed. Ladies and gentlemen, the word for life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is called the Atonement! To understand the amazing depth of the Atonement it is necessary to look at it in three phases: the Stripes, the Dying, and the Resurrection. Phase one is the beating, as seen in 1 Peter 2:24, by whose stripes you were healed. Child of God, Jesus took the beating for our healing! Phase two is the dying, as seen in John 1:29, The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! The Lamb of God takes us back to the Old Testament and the Passover Lamb, which was offered on the Day of Atonement for the sins of God s people. The High Priest would kill a male lamb without blemish and pour the blood on the Alter, but Hebrews 10:10-14, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come - in the volume of the book it is written of Me - to do Your will, O God. Previously saying, Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them (which are offered according to the law), then He said, Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God. He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this 5

Man (Christ), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Philippians 2:5-8 says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, 1 John 1:9 simply reminds us, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. Phase three was the Resurrection, which has given us the power to live in the power of Christ, as seen in Romans 6:5-10, For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:45, The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. In the Biblical setting the Atonement means the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross appeased and turned away the wrath of God. It was Christ s sacrificial death on the Cross, as our substitute, which counts as atonement for our sins. Our sin debt has been paid and God s justice has now been satisfied. Psalm 85:10 puts it this way, Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Now watch how the Atonement of Christ has rescued and restored EVERYTHING Satan stole from humanity in the fall of Adam. Through His Beating we were healed! Through His Blood we were cleansed from all our sin! Through His Resurrection we now have the power to live the Victorious life. 6

Although you and I live in this fallen world filled with misery and death, Paul gives us these words of encouragement found in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Child of God, our fleeting years here on earth are but a minuscule portion of our journey. There is another whole realm of life beyond this sphere in which we now exist. It is a place where God will make right all the wrongs of this life. It is a place where we will know life in all its richness and fullness. It is a place called Heaven and it will be wonderful, beyond our wildest imaginations. Hebrews 11:13 and 1 Peter 2:11 remind us we are simply strangers and pilgrims journeying to our heavenly home. There are many things God has chosen not to reveal to us about Heaven, nevertheless, there are some things about heaven that we do know. God has revealed to us some very important truths about heaven, as seen in Revelation 21:1-5, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. One thing we do know about heaven is that it will be a place where there will be no sickness, sorrow, suffering, or sin, no heartache, tears, pain or death, as seen in Revelation 21:4, And God will wipe away 7

every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. We also know that Heaven will be a place of complete peace and happiness, Psalm 16:11, You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. But the greatest thing about Heaven is Jesus will be there, as seen in 1 John 3:2, Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Child of God, it is true, we live is a world filled with misery and suffering, but there is a better day coming! If you are not saved, why not today? Please stand for prayer. Father, Your Word is true. In spite of what I can see, fill, and touch, I know You are a God of unconditional love, great grace, and mercy, and by faith I look for that day I can see you face-to-face. In Jesus name. Amen. 8