Charles Stanley - My Assurance, God Is in Control - Part 2
If God is in control and He is a good God, then why would he allow sin and pain and evil to enter the universe. Well, that question has been asked since the very beginning of time and people have had all kinds of answers. There have been hundreds and hundreds and thousands of volumes written about it. And so, some people have concluded, "Well, there is no God". So that settles that issue that we are just the products of evolutionary process. Some people would say, "Well, there is a God, but He is not a good God, because if He were He would not allow sin and suffering and pain and death". Others would say, "Well there is a God, but He certainly is not in control, because if He were He would destroy evil, suffering, pain, and death".
Now all of us would agree that there is evil, suffering, pain, and death in the world, but that does not mean that God didn't create this earth; does not mean that God is not good, and it does not mean that God is not in control. So, what we want to do in this message is to look at all this to see, according to the scripture, is God still in control in the light of all these things? So, I want you to turn if you will to the hundred and third Psalm. Just want us to read a few verses of this Psalm because here God states certainly His position in creation and above all creation.
When he says in verse nineteen of the hundred and third Psalm: "The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules overall. Bless the LORD, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD oh all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the LORD, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion; bless the LORD, O my soul"!
Now when the Bible talks about God's Sovereignty, the Bible speaks of God's control. What, what is He referring to here? God's Sovereignty is His Supreme, listen, His Supreme authority and control over all the universe including mankind. His supreme authority and control over all the universe. It simply means this. That everything and everybody is in His mind, in His sight, in His grasp, in His power, in His presence, and in His control. There's not anything that is beyond the control of Almighty God.
Now with that in mind there are lots of questions that people have. "Well if, if this is true, then why do these things happen"? So just to remind you a few moments, last time in the first message in this series, we talked about the fact all the way through the Old Testament and the New Testament it's very evident that God is sovereignly ruling and in control of the events in the lives of men of nature, for example of animals, of mankind and of nations. God is in control.
Well, the question comes, "Well, first of all, why all of this"? If He's in control, why didn't He do it some other way? So that's what I want to talk about in this message. And, I want to begin by simply saying this. There are several things about the creation that you and I could agree on without any question. First of all, that is if we do believe the Bible. That God created this world. Secondly, because He's a good God, He created it good. He says in fact in that first chapter after everything He created, he said, "And God saw that it was good". When He finished the creation, He saw that the whole creation was good.
The third thing we know about without any doubt is simply this, and that is there is evil in the world. So, the question is, how does this good God who created the world, and He is a good God who created everything good. How do we explain the presence of evil in the world? Is God an evil god? No, He's not. And so, we have to ask the question, well, if this is true, how is it that this good God has allowed evil in the world? Well, it is here by His permissive will. That is, if God did not allow evil in the world, that means that there was a power and a force greater than God Himself, and therefore it intruded into this perfect world that God had created.
If that's true then that means that God is not in control, and you and I do not have any assurance, and you might as well forget Romans eight, twenty-eight, "Knowing that all things work together for good to those who love God," because all things are not working together for good to those who love God because God's not in control. But if He is in control, then God had to permit, listen, God had to allow, He had to permit evil in the world. Now somebody says, "Where did it come from"? Well, let's think about evil in this way because we have to ask the question, well, did God create? Did He create evil?
And so, I want us to turn to a verse here. Turn if you will to Isaiah chapter forty-five for a moment and let's just deal with a verse that I'm sure some of you have probably read and you're thinking about right up front and so I want to clarify this right in the very beginning. Certainly, God allows evil in the world and God also uses evil in the world to accomplish His purpose which we will illustrate in a few moments. Isaiah chapter forty-five and I want you to notice a verse here. And just to explain that, first of all, I want to read this seventh verse. Well, let's begin with verse six. I want to read this verse in the New American Standard.
Some of you have a King James and I want to clear up something. Look at this. Beginning in verse six. He says, "That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one beside Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other," I am the Lord, there is no other. "The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these". Now, if you happen to be reading in a King James version, here's what it would say. It would say, "The one who is forming light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil," as if God creates evil.
Now the Hebrew word's a little two-letter word, "ra". And it does not mean evil but it does mean calamity. It means misfortune and adversity and hardship and so forth, which God does indeed create. There's no question about that. It's all through the scriptures that often times God has created calamity and difficulty and hardship and even persecution of His own people because of their sin. God does not create evil. Now let's look at evil if we might in this fashion. For example, let's say that if God created everything good, then did He create evil or is evil something else?
Think about it in this light. If I think in terms of blindness, what is blindness but the absence of light or the absence of sight? What is poverty but the absence of my needs? What is evil but the absence of righteousness and goodness and holiness? And so when we think in terms of God creating evil, God did not create evil. God has certainly allowed evil, and He has allowed something in the mind and the corruption of man's heart which we'll get to in a moment. So, having allowed evil in the world, we have to ask ourselves the question, "Why would God do that"?
Well, think about this. If He is in control, God has allowed evil in the world for a divine purpose. God has allowed evil, not that He created evil, He doesn't make anyone sin. We'll come to that in a few moments. But He has allowed evil in the world for a divine purpose. God doesn't do anything without purpose. He is either in control or He's not in control. If He's not in control, we have no assurance. If He is in control, we have assurance over the affairs no matter what is going on. We know that God is in control and ruling and reigning over every affair of man.
Now with that in mind, let's think about something else. Since He's this kind of God and He's allowed evil into the world, we have to ask ourselves the question, what avenue by... what avenue did it come? In other words, where did it start? Well, usually we want to think in terms of Genesis chapter three when the Bible says, "And Satan the serpent, tempted Eve". But that's not the beginning of evil in the earth. Go back to Genesis chapter two for a moment and let's look at this and I want you to just follow along here with me. And just follow with me now and I want to keep bringing us up-to-date of where we are so we'll see the continuity here.
If you'll go back to Genesis chapter two and I want you to notice something in this chapter. Beginning in verse fifteen, now God's created this wonderful world, and the scripture says that, beginning in verse fifteen, "Then the LORD God took the man put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it". Remember that everything that God has done now He says that it was good. In fact, chapter one and verse thirty-one of Genesis says, "And God saw all that He had made, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day". So, God says it's all good. But look what He says here now.
Verse sixteen: "The LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of," listen, He didn't say it was an evil tree. He says it is a "tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.'" Now this was a very specific command given to Adam very clear, no question about it. God told him, He says, "This is exactly what's going to happen if you eat of this tree".
Why was the tree there? The purpose of the tree is very clear. The purpose of the tree is that, that tree symbolizes God's absolute authority over all mankind and over all creation. That tree symbolized God's absolute control and authority. It symbolized who He was. He is the head of the whole human race and all of creation. So He placed it there and as a result of doing so, man finds himself at this point in this wonderful, wonderful environment, a God of love has placed him there. And now, we find that he's facing the possibility of sin. God does not cause him to sin. So, but I want you to see that God has placed the tree there and there is the possibility.
Then I want us to look at Satan for a moment. And you'll recall back in that third chapter, that Satan comes on the scene and He tempts Eve. Now, let's go if you will to the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah for a moment. And in this chapter, we have an account of Satan beginning in the verse twelve, the scripture says, "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations"! Verse thirteen: "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' Nevertheless, you will be thrust down to Sheol..."
If you turn to the twentieth chapter of the Book of the Revelation, and you look if you will in that tenth verse of almost the last chapter there, the twentieth chapter of the Revelation. You'll find God giving to John the final account of what's going to happen to Satan when he says in verse ten: "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever". Satan was a fallen angel whom, if you'll notice back in that passage, whom the Bible says that he was cast down. And if you'll notice he says in verse twelve, "You have been cut down to the earth".
Now listen carefully. There are two things the Bible does not answer. And if you will recall, we mention in Deuteronomy chapter twenty-nine in case you may have missed that. Deuteronomy twenty-nine, twenty-nine, everyone should take note of this verse because here's what it says. The scripture says, "The secret things of the Lord," of the Lord our God, "belong to Him, but the things revealed to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law". Which simply means that God made it known to His children in the very beginning there are some things that He will not tell us.
Now, God does not tell us anywhere in the Bible why and how Satan had a negative, evil thought and decided that he wanted to be like God. The Bible doesn't answer that. So, for me to try to give you some reason why I think He did is not even, is not even legitimate because the Bible doesn't answer that question. The second thing the Bible does not answer is, why God allowed him to be thrust to the earth. Now we may could say, "Well, in order that temptation, so forth". But the possibility of temptation was there even without the devil. And so God cast him to earth and He says, "Your final destination's gonna be the pit".
And He says in Second Peter chapter two verse four that all the other fallen angels who followed with him were cast into the pit and ultimately, they'll all end up in eternal fire and judgment at the end of the ages. Now, so Satan does play a part in a temptation. He certainly does tempt Eve here in the garden. And of course, as a result there is a fall. So, what I want you to see is that God's created a perfect world. He has said that everything in it was good. He is a good God. He has allowed evil, He has allowed the possibility of sin. He placed a tree there, the tree of good and evil, and the question is, "Why did God place the tree there"?
Well, that tree symbolizes God's ultimate authority over all mankind and over all humanity. And therefore, when Adam comes to face that tree, here's where we are. There is a testing ground. That is, the tree is the testing ground for Adam, for example, and Eve. Now somebody says, "Well, let's think about this for a moment because I got a question here. Why is it that God created the world in the first place? All these things are gonna happen. Why did He create it in the first place"?
Well, certainly God did not have to create the world. He could have created the world and just enjoyed waterfalls and beautiful mountains and fog in the morning, however He wanted to do it. He could have never let it rain if He didn't want to because He certainly created it so that it didn't have to. And so God had this awesome creation but He placed in this creation a man and a woman. So humanity's there. He didn't have to, He chose to. Why did He do it? Well, when I think of all the scripture teaches from Genesis to Revelation, my conclusion, this is my own personal conviction about it, that God created this world in order to express this awesome, great, powerful, good love that He is and that He has.
And so He created man in order to express His love toward mankind and to receive love in return. So therefore, if God wants to create a man to whom He can love, and a woman whom He can love and receive their love in return, then we have to ask ourselves the question, "What kind of person, what kind of man and woman could this be"? Well, in order for that love to be genuine and real, God must create them with the possibility of making choices. And so He created them with a possibility of choosing to love Him or choosing to disobey Him. Choosing to follow Him or not to choose to follow Him. For example, you chose your spouse because you loved that person and because that person loved you. They had the capacity to love you or not love you. It was not a forced issue.
And so, if man had not had a will, a choice, he would have been a robot and not a man. And so, God did not, create those kind of creatures. And so He created man with the capacity to make choices. And the first-choice man had to make was to either acknowledge that God is supreme and authoritative in the universe, that He is in control, He deserves man's love and devotion, or he does not believe that. And so, He created the capacity and the capability of disobeying God. So, what we have to say now, ask now is this, "What about this free will of man"? That is, does man have a free will? And often times people say, "Yes, I do believe that man has a free will".
And so, let me put it this way. There's no doubt in my mind that Adam and Eve, now listen carefully, had a perfectly free will. It was a will that was bent toward and inclined toward God. But it is a will that also had the capacity and the capability to move in the other direction. I believe they're the only two persons who've ever been created who had a free will. Your will and my will, our wills are not free. It is, they are free only up to a point.
So, when somebody says, "Well, I have a free will". No, you don't. If God created all mankind with a free will, there would be no safety, there would be no assurance, no peace because if every man could do or every woman could do anything they wanted to do any time they wanted to do it, can you imagine what kind of world this would be? And it's bad enough when man's will is limited. Man does not have a free will. It is a limited free will, limited to those things that don't interfere with God's purpose and God's plan in our life and in the lives of others.
So, we have a perfect earth, listen, a perfect universe, perfect people that God placed in a perfect environment with a capacity to love or disobey God. They chose to fall, as a result of their wrong choices. And their choice that they made, not a will like ours because we don't have a free will, they did. We no longer have a free will, we have a will that is contaminated and corrupted by an old sin nature and God absolutely is control of all things. If He did not, can you imagine what some people would be doing today in this world? So, our wills are limited.
Now, if God does evil, then that means He is not a righteous, holy God. So, while He does not commit evil acts, He indeed allows evil to happen, allows evil to take place, and in the process, God uses the evil for good no matter what. Now, you have to believe that or you can't believe Romans eight, twenty-eight when it says, "We know that all things work together for good to those who love Him". The truth is it really says, "For we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose". He didn't say He just caused everything to turn out good. He causes, He engineers, He governs, He rules, He reigns, He is sovereignly in control of every single thing of our life.
And, He says He will turn every single thing in our life to something good. That is, those of us who love Him, those who are called according to His purpose. He's talking about believers. You say, "Well, I know some things in my life that haven't turned out for good". Well, let's wait a minute now. Have you looked at it from God's perspective? Somebody says, "Well, look at the suffering and look at the sin, look at the pain and look at the sin in my life and look at the discouragement I have. Look at all the things that have befallen me that it, surely God's not in this". Who says He's not? What's God's ultimate purpose?
And I can say, from conviction and from experience, I can tell you. It doesn't make any difference what you have to go through. It doesn't make any difference how difficult. It doesn't make any difference how painful. It doesn't make any difference whether we understand it or not. You know what? If you and I will respond in the right fashion, you and I will see God's good handiwork in our pain, in our suffering, in our hurt, in our loss in life. God absolutely is working something good and there is no exception because He says He causes all things. Listen, what does all things include? It includes everything.
All things to work together for good. What about pain? Yes. What about suffering? Yes. What about hurt? Yes. What about wars and tribulation and trials? Do I understand how God works all these things to good all the time? No, I don't. I can understand how I see good in my own life at times. I can see how He works out good in other people's lives often times when they don't even see that it's good. But some things I don't understand. There's nobody who fully understands every reason why God allows certain things to happen. You and I wouldn't do it God's way, but my, my, my, how unwise we are about a lot of things.
God allows sin to run its course in some areas. God prevents it in some. Man fell in the garden and the whole earth has suffered the results of man's fall. And when you and I come to glory, there's not gonna be any of that. And so, people say, "Well, I just can't believe that God is a good God and allow this to happen". You know why? Because we don't understand God's viewpoint of how He's working things for good. I don't understand why certain things happen. I don't understand why they happen to certain people. But either God is in control, and if He's not in control of all things, I'm here to tell you we have a major problem. But listen, if He is not in full control, He is not in control.
Listen, you can't have partial obedience and obedience. Obedience is full obedience; partial obedience is disobedience. God's either in full control or there's something left out He's not in control of. If He's not in full control, He's not in control. And if He's not in full control, He's not sovereign. If He's not sovereign, we don't have any assurance. All our assurance is based on our own, on our own capacity to face life the best we can in a world that seems to be heading in the wrong direction very, very hard.
Now I can understand, my friend, if you're one of those persons who's hurting over something in your life and your husband walked out and left you or your wife walked out and left you and here you are going through pain and suffering and you said, "You mean to tell me that God did that"? Listen carefully, I never said God did it. Did God allow it? Yes, He did. Does God have a good purpose for allowing it? He always has a good purpose for everything He does. I may hurt, I may cry, I may weep, I may go through all kinds of pain and suffering and hurt. Does that mean that God is evil, that God's bad, that God's not in control? No, it doesn't. Because He says He causes all things to work together for good.
You know what? There are gonna be some things I may never see the good in till I get on the other side. But you know what? God's under no compulsion to give me full, absolute, total understanding of all His ways because does He not say, "My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are higher than your ways, My thoughts are higher than your thoughts". God is in absolute control of all things. Now where does that leave us? Thank God, this is where it leaves us.
Look at this. Here's a good God who created a good world and placed man and a woman in this perfect world. Gave them an absolute free will bent toward Him, but with a capacity to love or not to love, to obey or not to obey, so that they would not be robots, but they could become full persons with this free will, will limited naturally to some degree. But it was a free will to choose right and wrong. They made a wrong choice. In the process of that wrong choice they failed, the whole earth suffered the consequences. From that moment on, God's still in control. And He has governed all down through the centuries man's activities, nations that have risen, nature, animals, man, you name it, God has been in absolute total control.
And as you look at the scriptures and if you and I could see on the other side of some things that we don't see on this side we would see God's control and what His ultimate purpose is. Do we un, listen, does God say you'll always understand all the suffering, hurt, and pain that you go through? No, He did not, but here's what He said. We know, we can know this, that listen, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. Sometimes He'll use evil persons and evil people, evil things to accomplish His purpose. But God will accomplish His purpose. He is in full control.
Now if He's not, would you please tell me what assurance, what confidence, what hope you have apart from your own innate abilities and talents and possessions to live this life out with any peace, any joy, any assurance, any confidence, or any hope of eternal life? You don't have any. And so, I would say to you, my friend, if you're not a believer you have no assurance, no hope of anything whatsoever. This is why the wisest thing you could possibly do is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ who went to Calvary at the cross and died for your sin and mine. The wisest thing you can do is to accept the truth that He died at that cross and paid your sin-debt in full and the moment you're willing to say to Him:
I've sinned against You, Father. I do believe that Jesus died in my behalf, and I am accepting Him as my personal Savior and the confession of my sin. And I do accept, I do receive You as my Savior and my Lord and Master.
My friend, then the Spirit of God seals you as a child of God. You know what God begins to do? Then God begins to put the pieces of your life back together. Then He begins to work in your life in such a fashion that God's goodness can be expressed in you, through you, for you, to you. And you can begin to see this good, wonderful God who's been there all along begin to do what? Begin to work in your life His marvelous works of grace. That is His offer to every single person who will believe Him.