God, Suffering, and Evil
Our Joy in Suffering
Concluding the series on God, Suffering, and Evil, this sermon looks at how we can cope with suffering as Christians. Not only can we endure suffering by the grace of God but we can rejoice in suffering since suffering: (1) deepens our faith and holiness; (2) causes us to rely on God; (3) weans us from the world so our hope is set on God alone; and (4) prepares us for the eternal weight of glory. Considering suffering and it’s…
Suffering and Missions
What does suffering have to do with missions? The Bible has much to say on this topic. Suffering is the cost of building the church, it’s the price of making others bold, it enforces the call to go, and it shows the supremacy of God as we suffer with joy for his sake and the gospel knowing our treasure is in heaven. We are forced to look at ourselves as we see the call of Jesus to “come and die.”…
If God, Why Evil?
What we see is that denying God or attributing evil to man’s free will is unsatisfactory experientially and unsatisfactory according to the Bible. Rather God has ordained evil and suffering to display his glory. We see this primarily in the death of Jesus Christ that was planned as a sacrifice for sin before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8; Eph 1:3-11; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Acts 2:22-23; 4:27-28; 1 Pet 1:18-20). This means that, incredibly, sin was part of God’s…