If There Really is a God...? (radio broadcast)

The Perplexing Question: Why is the World in a Mess?

0:00 Welcome to today's broadcast of God's Word to Our Nation. In recent weeks, I have been challenging our listeners to consider with me some of life's most serious questions, questions which take us to the heart of the issues which really count. We have considered such questions as, What if we really do have souls that will never die? Who am I? Why am I here?

0:29 Can I truly know God? May I urge you to think seriously with me today as we address another such question. It is a question raised by some with biting sarcasm. Others raise it with a bitter cynicism, while others raise it with stunned perplexity.

0:54 And the question is this. If there is a God, a God of love, wisdom, and power, why is the world in the mess it is in? Bound up in this question are all the lesser questions such as, Why do innocent babies die? Why do multitudes starve in various countries of the world?

1:19 Why does the problem of drug abuse go on unchecked? Why do wicked men seem to triumph, and the righteous seem to be abused, and their influence, kept in check? Well, please give me your careful attention as I attempt to address this question. If there is a God, a God of infinite love, wisdom, and power, why are these things so?

Proposition 1: The World is Not What It Once Was

1:47 I would not insult you by attempting to answer such a question from the shallow little pool of my own mind, nor from the combined shallow pools of the minds of the greatest of men living or dead. Rather, we shall turn to the only source of divinely inspired and infallibly revealed answers to such questions, namely the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. Now when we pick up our Bibles and begin to read them with these questions in mind, what answer do we find? At the risk of seeming to appear simplistic, let me suggest that we should first look at the Bible's answer to these perplexing questions can be reduced to three major propositions. The first is this. This present world and all that happens in it is not what it once was.

2:52 Catch the significance of that termed phrase. This present world and all that happens in it is not what it once was. In the first two chapters of the book of Genesis, we read the account of God's creation of the world and of mankind. And after each thing that God created, the scripture tells us, and God saw that which he made, and it was good.

3:26 And it was good. And it was good. After each individual creation. After each creative act, the scripture tells us the result was that which was good.

3:40 There was no sickness, no pain, no death, no famine, no war, no pillage, no rape, no injustice, man to man, concerning everything that God had made. The scripture says, behold, it was very good. And so if you and I would even begin to understand. Answer this pressing question.

4:06 If there is a God, a God of love, a God of wisdom, and a God of power, why is the world in the mess it is? We must start with this fundamental element of biblical revelation that this present world and all that happens in it is not what it once was. This then brings us to the second proposition, which is. This present world and all that happens in it of a negative nature is the direct result of human sin.

Proposition 2: The World's Mess is the Result of Human Sin

4:47 May I repeat that? This present world and all that happens in it of a negative nature is the result of human sin. It is not the result of being human. But it is the result.

5:04 It is the result of human sin. For as surely as Genesis 1 and 2 teach us the wonderful account of God's creative activity over which these words were written, behold, all was very good. So in the third chapter of Genesis, we are confronted with the intrusion of this horrible moral reality of man's fall into a state of sin. And that fall brought with it death and sorrow and grief and bloodshed, so much so that the first child born of Adam and Eve became a murderer of the second child born of Adam and Eve. For the scripture gives us the detailed account of how Cain rose up and slew his brother Abel. We read on in the scriptures until we come to Jesus. We read on in the scriptures until we come to Jesus.

6:04 We read on in the scriptures until we come to Jesus. Genesis chapter 6, and there we have the account that violence, man's inhumanity to man had so filled the entire earth that it grieved God that he had made man, and God was determined to blot out the entirety of the then existing race with the exception of one man and his family. All of the sins that now plague humanity. All of the injustices.

6:34 All of the indifference and the lack of concern as well as the aggressive acts of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. The scripture tells us these things are not the inevitable result of creation as that creation develops into society and into the various structures within which men find themselves. No, these things are every one of them. The result of the intrusion of sin into the human experience.

7:11 They are the result of the intrusion of sin into the human race, and with that intrusion of sin, we find God himself declaring that a curse would be placed even upon the earth itself. It would not yield fruit as readily as it did before the intrusion of sin, but it would bring forth thorns and thistles, and man would not now merely work, work being a dimension of delightful worship, but that in the sweat of his brow he would bring forth from a relatively unyielding world. And there really is no answer for the present situation that we find ourselves in this present age with all of the complexity of the technological age in which we live. We find that man is essentially the same as he was way back in Genesis chapter 6. Violence filled the earth, man's inhumanity to his fellow man, man's irreligion, his placing of his own personal desires above his religious pursuits. There is indeed, as the wise man Solomon declared, no new thing under the sun.

8:34 And it is absolutely impossible to understand this present world and what is going on in this world unless we are prepared to take at face value the witness of the word of God to this second proposition that this present world and all that happens in it of a negative nature is the result of human sin. But when we ask the question, why is the world like it is, we need to come to grips not only with the truth that this present world is not what it once was, and that this present world is what it is because of sin, but there is a third proposition which the word of God forces upon us, and it is this. This present world will not always be what it presently was. This present world will not always be what it presently is. Both in the teaching of the prophets and apostles and our Lord Jesus Christ, again and again

Proposition 3: The World Will Not Always Be As It Is

9:50 we are told that human history will not go on forever and forever and forever, but that all of human history is heading to a culminating point. And that culminating point is what we're told to do. And that culminating point is what we're told to do. And that culminating point is what we're told to do.

10:04 point will not be found when man, through his own inhumanity, his own abuse of God's gifts of technology, and his own indifference to his fellow man, destroys himself. The Scripture teaches that the culminating point will be the return of Jesus Christ the Lord in power and in glory at the end of the age. I read now from 2 Peter chapter 3 concerning this very event. The Apostle Peter tells us that we as the people of God must look for and hasten the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning heat, and the elements will melt with intense heat. But according to his promise, we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. You see, this passage brings into sharp focus this overarching teaching found in both the Old and the New Testaments, that this present world will not always be what it presently is. At the return of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and in glory, we must remember that we must look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And we must look for a new heavens, that we must look for a new heavens, and a new überhaupt,

11:30 and in glory, this present world as we know it will undergo a purging by fire. Peter uses this language, the element shall melt with fervent heat. It is this present earth on which man was created. It is this present earth in which man sinned and fell and was alienated from God. It was on this present earth that the curse was pronounced. And blessed be God, it will be on this present earth that God will effect his mighty work of renovation at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that in the language of the Apostle Paul, while the whole creation now groans waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the bodies of believers at the second conference of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will be on this present earth that man will be coming. That passage in Romans 8 tells us that the creation itself shall be delivered from its

12:36 present bondage. And in a way that we cannot fully comprehend, faith is content to rest in God's declaration that this present world shall be renovated by the mighty power of God, purged of every last vestige of the influence of the curse of the Lord Jesus Christ. That God placed upon it, purged of every last influence of sinful man, no longer to abuse with impunity God's creation, no longer to treat with indifference the good gifts of God that the earth yields. But there will be a new earth. And yet Peter says there will also be a new heavens along with the new earth. And again, though we cannot be precisely in seeking to identify exactly what the new heavens will be, this much is clear, that everything that will pertain to the eternal abode of all of the redeemed of God will be such as to be utterly, forever, and finally purged of every influence of sin. For it will be a new heavens and a new earth

13:55 in which righteousness literally, have their home. When Peter said, a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness, the emphasis of that word dwell means to dwell permanently, to be at home. And in the new heavens and the new earth, there will be nothing but righteousness. The earth itself purged of all of the remnants of the curse, and every square inch upon which the earth dwells, will be a new heaven. And so, Peter says, we will be walking in perfect righteousness. There will be nothing but perfect love, one saint to another. Nothing but perfect interpersonal relationships between all of the people of God who will inhabit the new heavens and the new earth. And though the scripture again is very limited in telling us what our occupation will be, it will be a new heaven, and it will be a new earth. And so, Peter says, we will be walking in perfect righteousness. And so,

14:58 certainly not be one of sitting on a cloud and plunking upon a harp, ages without end. For the Scripture tells us that in the new heavens and the new earth we shall follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. And we will be given noble tasks to accomplish in which there will not only be the full realization of all of our redeemed potential as men and women, but there will be the cooperation with our fellow redeemed sinners, and the glory of our eternal inheritance will be that in the undimmed vision of God and of the Lamb, and unclouded and unfractured relationships with our fellow redeemed men and women, we shall through the endless ages of eternity carry on the glory of God. Without the will and the purpose of God and of the Lamb. So when we ask the question, perhaps some of you, having asked it with a bitter cynicism, if there is a God who is good, if there is a God who is wise and all-powerful, why is the world in the mess it is in? My friend, do you see that the Bible answers that question head on?

The Bible's Comprehensive Answer to Suffering

16:21 This present world is not in the condition in which God originally made it. When He made it, behold, all was very good, and that which is brought about the present injustice, the bloodshed, the death, the tears, the crying, the sadness, the pain, it is not that God has brought these things upon us, man has brought these things upon himself by himself. By his rebellion against God, but into this present veil of tears, into this present crucible and cauldron of bitterness and war and hatred and death and rape and pillage, God sends the message of the everlasting gospel, and he calls upon men and women to own the reality of their sinfulness, to own the reality of their alienation from him, and then to embrace the gospel. And then to embrace the gospel. And then to embrace the gospel. And then to embrace the gospel.

17:20 And then to embrace his Son, whom he sets before us in all the beauty of his person and in the perfection of his work as the crucified and risen Savior, and he says, here in my Son is the answer to your problem of human sin, your problem of bondage to your hatred, to your ill will to your neighbor, here in my Son is the answer to your guilt that causes you to have sleepless nights, your guilt that drives you to your pills and to the bottle and to your drugs, your guilt that causes you to feel in your own breast a preview of the day of judgment, God in grace sets before you his own beloved Son, and he says, my Son is yours if you will have him, and in him there is liberation from bondage to your sin, there is forgiveness. There is forgiveness for your guilt, there is life for your death, there is light for your darkness, here is my Son, listen to him, embrace him, believe upon him, and then while we yet must live out the rest of our days, and while there yet may be generations who

18:42 will be born and die after us, we may live out our days and go to our graves in the comfort of God's presence. That human history will have a culminating point. A day will come, an hour will come, a minute will arrive, a second will tick when Almighty God says, human history as we now know it is done, and there will be the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the parting heavens, and the returning Lord in clouds of glory and power, and he will come and renovate the existing order of things in that purifying fire, raise the dead from their graves, give to his saints a glorified body, and we with him shall forever dwell in the new heavens and in the new earth. I said at the expense of seeming simplistic that the Bible did indeed. I said at the expense of seeming simplistic that the Bible did indeed address this very vexing question head on, the question, if there is a God, if he is all-loving and all-wise

20:03 and all-powerful, why is the world in the mess it is in? And we have seen that the answer of the Scripture is to be found in these three simple propositions. This present world is not what it once was. This present world is what it is because of sin.

Questions for the Listener: Confronting Your Own Sin

20:26 This present world will not always be what it presently is. And in the few moments that remain to us today, may I now seek to turn some questions to you. Perhaps you have raised the question, why is the world in the mess it is in if God is what he claims to be? I've sought to answer that question from the only source whose answers are worth anything, even the word of God.

21:00 But I would ask you some questions. My question to you is, have you seen that your sin is your greatest problem? You may be one of these who considers himself quite benevolent and quite concerned and compassionate. Because you're involved in some local projects to clean up the drug problem or to relieve some of the physical sufferings of your fellow men.

21:30 And those things are good and right in their place. But my friend, listen, your greatest problem is not the pothead down the street, the junkie who's shooting heroin into his arm there in the streets of New York. Your greatest problem is the sin of your own heart. And you must come to grips with that problem.

21:52 You must be honest with your own sin and your own guilt and your own accountability to God. I would ask you the question, have you ever seen your sin as that which deserves the wrath and condemnation of Almighty God? Have you ever seen that were you to stand before God today, you would have no excuse and no grounds to claim acceptance with him? No.

Questions for the Listener: Embracing Christ as the Only Answer

22:20 Let me ask you another question. Have you come to see that God's only answer to the problem of human sin is in the person and work of his Son, Jesus Christ? Are you content to have religion as a little department in your life? A little bit of the church, a little bit of Christ, a little bit of prayer, a little bit of the Bible.

22:43 But you would not want to be thought a fanatic. You don't want to be one of these Bible-toting fanatics who believe, that all of life is to be centered in Christ. My friend, whatever good such religion may do you now, it will do you no good in death and in judgment. Unless Jesus Christ is to you the object of your supreme trust and religious affection, you do not have a relationship with him that will stand you in good stead in the day of death and in the day of judgment.

23:19 You must. You must repent of your self-centeredness, of your self-righteousness, of trusting in your own merits and virtue, and you must come as a naked, helpless, guilty sinner and cry like that poor, blind beggar recorded in the Gospels, Son of David, have mercy upon me. And then, seeing your sin as your greatest need and Christ as the only answer, you must, according to the Scripture, repent and believe the Gospel. Then, and only then, will you know what it is to come into personal, intimate fellowship with the living God and deal with the cosmos of your own individual world of sin. And then you will have that hope implanted in the heart of every true child of God while he makes his way through his allotted time in this present veil of tears, that the hour is coming in which the Lord Jesus will return again and usher in the new heavens and the new earth. May God grant that you shall be found among his own in that great day.