Gooding, David: 6 - God and the Problem of Pain

In this past week, we have been engaged on thinking of the glories and the wonders of the blessed and holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But tonight I want to speak of a problem that I find many people have, a problem that makes them seriously doubt whether there is any God at all. Or if there is such a God, then he cannot, they say, be a God of love, as the Bible claims he is. So tonight we'll begin our meditation by reading from the Epistle to the Romans and chapter eight. The Epistle to the Romans, chapter eight. beginning there to read in verse eighteen. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. What a man sees, why doth he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Verse twenty eight: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he, the Son, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The problem I wish to talk to you with to- about tonight is the problem of pain. One doesn't have to live very long before one discovers that this world of ours is full of pain. Not only the pain of individuals, physical pain of illness and disease, be it physical or mental. The pain of bereavement as we lose loved ones. But then there's the pain of the world at large, isn't there? Of the volcanoes and the earthquakes, the tidal waves that in one fell sloop- swoop can destroy thousands of people. Pain everywhere. And for some people, and many that I have met, the existence of pain on this scale suggests to them that there cannot be a God at all. You say, they object to me, you say, you Christians, that there is a God in heaven and a God who made this universe. Why then all this pain? If he's a God of love, as you say he is, why doesn't he organize things so that there isn't pain like this? I had a colleague in my university, mathematical physicist, and we used to talk from time to time about things. He said to me on one occasion, you know, David, said he, I believe there is an intelligence behind this universe, but I can't think that the intelligence is personal. I said, why not, Bernie? He said, you see, because look at all the natural disasters, volcanoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, and all the rest of it. How could there be a personal God behind all that? So many people think, don't they? When people raise to me the question of pain, I have to admit I don't have all the answers. I've suffered pain myself, but nowhere near what other folks have suffered. Don't pretend to have all the answers. But I see the problem. I was seated at dinner with a learned professor in Russia at one stage, and he, the head of the great s- psychiatry psychology institute in Moscow, head of it. I can well understand he'd seen a lot of pain in the course of his years in that institution. And gently and graciously, and in gentleman fashion, he said to me over the table, you see, how do you say there is a God when there is so much pain and suffering in the world? And I said to him, well, I acknowledge straight, sir, there is a problem. How can you reconcile a loving God with all this pain? I said, you as atheists will solve the problem, won't you? You'll get rid of the problem by saying there's no God. And to be sure, if there's no God, you don't have a problem with pain, do you? It's what you might expect. For if there's no God, no God who created this world, then this whole universe has come together by some colossal series of colossal accidents, and there's no intelligence behind it, no purpose, no plan, and ultimately no meaning. And that's something to be observed, isn't it? You see, you get rid of God in your thinking. You get rid of the problem. You don't get rid of the pain, do you? In fact, if we try to get rid of God, we make the pain ten thousand times worse. Because you see, good friends, not to be lugubrious, but if there's no God, then life for every one of us is ultimately, absolutely meaningless. It will end in death, the grave, and that'll be the end. And some folks say, well, never mind, let's, uh, uh, live and make merry, for tomorrow we die. It's an easy philosophy, sir. What about the folks who get a terminal illness when they're twenty or thirty? And that ruins even this life. And you will tell them, will you, there is no hope for them in this life and no hope in the life to come. Because there's no God. You are not get- you'll get rid of the problem, as you say, but you don't get rid of the pain. We'll see if there's a God, and there most certainly is. Then there is hope. I don't know how you find pain or you personally cope with it. I find that it is hope that strengthens ones to endure pain. For listen to the very words we read. Scripture is realist. It says, talking to believers who are already Christians, and we have the Holy Spirit, we groan within ourselves. Pain is a real thing, but before us lies that splendid hope that one day God will redeem our very bodies as he has redeemed our souls, and we shall have new bodies like to the body of the Lord Jesus, glorious bodies. And what is more, the very author of creation tells us that one day creation itself, the whole of creation, shall be delivered from the bondage to corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Oh, what a magnificent thing it is. For a believer, life does not en- end in corruption and the worm and the grave. A believer doesn't write off this universe as absolutely meaningless. This universe has a glorious future, and when it's done, God will make a new heavens and a new earth. And oh, for the joy of being there present when the Lord does that for his universe. There is, therefore, when we believe in God, there is hope. So what grounds have we for thinking that pain isn't absolutely meaningless? And this I find as I watch my fellow men and women, that we don't think that all pain is bad, do we? There are hefty folks who get together fifteen a side and play rugby. You may not approve of that, do you see? I had to play it at school, and they jolly well know that when they go to a game, they're going to get bruised, beaten, banged, and come out with I don't know what, sore knees and joints. They do it nonetheless, in spite of the pain. And if you ask them, whatever do you do that for? They'll say, for the fun of it, you see. Funny that, isn't it? As long as the pain isn't too bad, they enjoy doing it. And other people climb Everest just because it's there and risk their very lives doing it for the sheer joy and exhilaration of doing it, yes? And then we notice, for instance, take nurses and doctors who give their lives to tending the sick, and yet tending the folks with pain and suffering produces in them a certain quality of character, doesn't it? Whereas the person that's out to just enjoy themselves becomes selfish in the extreme, and we come near to despising them. Pain has its uses. But let's think a bit more deeply. You know, when God made our universe, the Bible tells us he saw everything he had made, and he pronounced it was very good, and so it was. That didn't mean that the universe was necessarily safe. The universe has to be treated with immense care and respect, doesn't it? What would you have God do? You're in an airplane, and it's going along nicely when its engines fail. What would you expect God to do? Destroy the law of gravity so the engine goes on flying and it doesn't fall to the ground. But wait a minute, if God destroyed gravity, the Earth's atmosphere would disappear, and we should be left without the atmosphere around the world. We should perish. And as we see from what God has done, the only way he could possibly invent a pa- a world like ours is the way he has done it, where gravity works. We must be very careful how we use it. And I come to the conclusion that the ordinary person's attitude to suffering is as follows. When it comes to man's harnessing of the forces of nature, like electricity, for instance, the discovery of electricity and learning how to harness it and use it has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. What would you say about it? That people ought ev- never had to have tried, uh, finding out about electricity and using it to boil their kettles and heat their fires and all sorts of other things. You don't, do you? You know, it's a pity it cost so many lives, but look at the benefits that have come from it. We ourselves seem to hold the view that if tremendous benefits come in spite of the pain that it involves, then the pain and suffering have been worthwhile. Isn't that the view you take? If you don't take it, what are you doing here sitting with the light on? When I read the Bible, I discover this, that if we ask God why has he built this universe and put us in it? What's it all about? The answer God will give is that he made this universe, and in his mind, when he made it, was an exceedingly glorious future for mankind, or those that would repent and trust him. And that future. Well, I'll put it first of all in, in, in Bible language, shall I, and then discuss what that means. God talks to us, our blessed Lord Jesus talked to us about the possibility of human beings becoming children of God by being born again of God's spirit. And that is the proposition that our God, our Creator, is putting to us, each one of us tonight. If it should be that any of us doesn't know what that means, then let's listen with special attention. What God is offering us you tonight is the possibility of being born again as a child of God. And then if a child, says the Bible, then an heir of God, inheritor of all that God has and is. And not only so, to be joint heirs with Christ. And when Christ comes to reign, to reign with him. When there comes a new heaven and earth, to be part of his administration. I nearly said, what fun it will be. Oh, what glory it will be to be with Christ when he comes to reign. And it is God's estimate of it that the glorious provision that he offers us is worth any and all of the pain that ever life on earth might involve for any one of us. So what is this being born again thing? And what is it to become a child of God? Well, here we need to do some careful thinking, because, you know, in popular language, a lot of people think they'll say in their more sentimental moments, oh, well, we're all children of God, aren't we? And we're not. That's what they think. Of course, it is true that God is the father of all mankind in the sense that he made everyone. And he looks after his creatures in what you might call a fatherly way. But when we come to the matter of the Christian gospel that our Lord taught us, then we have to get it straight in our heads, that in the sense that he meant it, not all people are children of God. All people are creatures of God. Not all are children of God. And you say, well, what is the difference between being a, a creature of God and a child of God? Well, let's take an illustration. Here is a computer buff, absolute expert in computers. In fact, such an expert he could build a s- computer from the first screw to the finished product. Knows all about computers, and there's a beautiful, complicated computer he has built. So he made that. And then the dear man gets married and has a son. I ask you to think of the difference between the son and the computer. What's the difference? Well, a child could see the difference, couldn't he? The computer was something the engineer made. He created it. He didn't make the sun. He had to generate, beget the sun, and that's altogether a different principle. The computer can do wonderful things, it doesn't have the engineer's life. When we are trust the Savior and are born again, then a veritable miracle happens, and God gives us, puts into us his own very life. The Bible says that our Lord, who was the creator of the universe, eventually came into our world. He was in the world, and the world received him not. Came to his own things, and his own people received him not. But then it adds, to as many as received him, to them he gave the authority and power to become children of God. And you're going to once see that if you're going to be a child of God, you've got to become one. You aren't that way automatically. But to as many as received him, he gave authority and power to become children of God, even to those who believe on his name, which were born and begotten, Go- uh, the Word says, not of the will of man, nor the will of the flesh, nor of blood, but of God. That is a miracle. And because it's real, we would do well to pause, shouldn't we, just this very moment. And say to ourselves, well, I am a creature of God, I didn't make myself. But have I become a child of God? Do I know what it means? For this, according to scripture, is the major purpose of our being on this planet. To miss it is eternal disaster. Being born of God, then, born again, entering the kingdom of God, becoming a child of God. And those who trust it know it, you know, because when we trust the Savior, God gives us his Holy Spirit, and we're told that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ. All the wonder of it. I met multitudes of people that would say, if I said that, they would nod their heads because they know what it means. The spirit within them testifies that they have passed from death to life. They have been begotten of God. They are children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, and looking forward to a glorious eternity to come. Have we all? You say, why do we have to become children of God? And how do we go about cu- becoming children of God? And what's wrong with us that we're not already children of God? Well, to ask that is to ask where our race, our human race, went wrong. It may sound extreme to you, but the Bible tells us that men and women outside of Christ are enemies of God. That doesn't mean they all go around blaspheming and cursing and swearing and murdering and everything else that's vile, but deep down in the heart, there is an opposition to God. And the Bible tells how it all started, you see. God made man, made a beautiful garden, a veritable paradise for him to be in, with every tree, delightful tree in it. Warned them that there was one tree that they must not try to take of without his permission, and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And along came Satan and began whispering ideas into the head of Eve. My dear, he said, I hear that you're not allowed to eat of any of these trees here in this garden. Oh no, she said, Satan, you've got that wrong. We're allowed to eat of them all, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ah, well, I thought it, said Satan. That's how God is, you see. God is mean, wants to keep you down, wants to destroy your enjoyment. Look at the tree, woman, said he. Looks, don't you think it's beautiful? The woman looked, and she saw the tree was marvelously good for food, the fruit on the tree, and it was beautiful to look at, and it was desirable to make one wise. Satisfaction. You see, aesthetic satisfaction, the artistry of it was delightful. And then, of course, the physical satisfaction, the fruit was good to taste. Marvelous. And then it was delight- uh, suitable to make you wise, intellectual satisfaction. And Satan said, my dear good woman, don't you take any notice of God. Go in for living, woman. This is life. Enjoyment of the aesthetics, enjoyment of the knowledge, enjoyment of the food. Satisfy your appetites, and you'll live, and don't take any notice of God who says you'll die. And the woman listened to Satan and took the fruit. And oh, my, I observe how many folks have yielded to that lie. Many folks who have sat in a meeting of this sort, brought up to know the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and their parents croon to them the very gospel of Christ from their babyhood onward. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. And they've heard the voice of the Son of God offering them eternal life, and Satan comes and whispers in their ears, oh, but there's a beautiful world out there. Don't you listen to all this preaching of the Bible? You want to go in for life. They go in for what they think is life. Not that God doesn't want us to enjoy life, of course he wants to enjoy life, us to enjoy life. But what they think they've got to do to enjoy life is to leave God behind and disobey his word, and they will find life. Multitudes have listened to that lie. They imagine that God is against them. They don't want to hear about God. They think he will spoil their fun. That reminds me of what our Lord, the parable our Lord told about the prodigal son, you know. And the prodigal son left home, and he went into the far country, and according to his elder brother, it was his elder brother that said so, he squandered his substance in riotous living and became a companion of prostitutes. I tell you now, that wasn't the most serious thing he did. The most sad and sorry and serious thing that prodigal son did was not what he did in the far country, it's what he did when he was still at home. He came to his father one day, while his father was still living, and he said, Father, I want you to divide the inheritance and give me the half that, uh, uh, that, that, uh, that falls to me. Because he had an elder brother, so when the father died, they would get half each. And of course, in the country and at the time when he was living, no one would ever think of demanding to have their share of the inheritance before the father died. They would, in all decency, wait till the man died and then put in for their share of the inheritance. Mark then the enormity of what that boy did and said. Came to his dad, said, Dad, I want it now. Dad, you old fogey, you're standing in my way. For want of you keep on living like this. I could have my share of the inheritance, and I'm demanding you give it to me now anyway. You're living too long. Get out of the way. So we're gonna have it and enjoy it. Our Lord who told them, uh, the parable, thereby was describing what multitudes of men and women have done and are doing with God. Some may be who have sat on these seats and heard the gospel many times. They don't say it with their lips, but they say it with their behavior. God, get out of the way. I want all there is for myself. The human heart, deceived by God's enemy, listens to the slander. I wonder if I speak to somebody tonight, that you've listened to the slander too. You know the gospel, but you listen to the world and you listen to his satanic majesty, and you really feel that if you listen to God and his word, it'll spoil your chances of enjoying life. That's a lie to start with. This is God's world, you know, anyway. But you can't enjoy this world and this universe and life in general as God intended to be enjoyed, by getting rid out of your life of God himself. I use a simple analogy, my friends will be tired of hearing it, but it's hard to think up analogies, isn't it? Joel say, suppose you notice one of your friends, dear young lady, twenty one or two, and one day you see her, and she's not trying to hide the fact that on a certain finger on the left hand there's a ring, you see. And being a gallant gentleman, you inquire what this ring is, you see, and you say, is this an engagement ring? Yes, she says, engagement ring. Oh, you say, do have a, have a look. Isn't that a beautiful? What is that now? Is that, is that gold then? No, that's, that's platinum. Marvelous. And diamonds, real diamonds in it, and oh, they sparkle, diamonds for life, and all this kind of thing. And she's very enthusiastic. And having praised the ring, you're saying, tell me, if I may ask, who is the young man? And she says, what young man? Well, the young man that gave you the ring. There isn't any young man, she says. I don't believe in young men. I don't want any young men. You don't? But that's an engagement ring, you said. Yes, it's an engagement ring, but you don't want any young man. What do you say next? What on earth is the sense of an engagement ring without a young man behind it. And all the lovely gifts of life given us by God are meant to draw our hearts to God. But if we reject the God who gave them, what then is the meaning of the good gift? If we go on rejecting God like that, the giver, we shall find that those gifts grow old and decrepit and decay and pass away. And our very bodies and powers of enjoyment will decay and grow old and pass away, and then without God, what? An An eternity eternity. of pain, frustration, distress, consciousness of the displeasure of God, and no end to the suffering of eternal perdition. Ah, this enmity in the human heart, this prejudice against God, this lie that if we trust the Savior and follow him and believe God, it will make life a misery. How can we get rid of the lie? How will God convince us that it is a lie? And the Bible puts it this way. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. And this is a marvelous story, that to counter that devilish lie and to show us what the truth of God's heart is, God himself became man, became incarnate. Mankind in the end not only rejected him, but nailed him to a tree, plunged their sort their spear through his side. And God loved them still. Our maker. He loves us. There's a story told in the Old Testament of the wise King Solomon. When he came to the throne, um two women were brought before him to his court of law. They were two prostitutes. Each one of them had had a child. They lived in the same house, they slept in the same room, one in one bed with her baby and the other in the other bed with her baby. In the middle of the night, one of the women rolled over in her sleep and suffocated her baby, and it died. And when she saw what had happened, she crept out of bed, took her dead babe, and went across to the other woman's bed, and gently took away the living baby from the other woman, and put her dead baby with that other woman, and went back to her bed. And in the morning, when the second woman woke up and looked at her baby, it was dead. Her shock was enormous. Then she looked at it again, and she said to herself, not my baby. This is the other woman's baby, and it's dead. And across the room, she went after the other woman, pulled back the sheets, and there was her own baby under this other woman, alive. Well, the case came to court. Who was the mother of the child? And one woman said, it's my child. And the other woman said, no, it isn't your child, it's my child. And the king was called upon to decide which was the true mother of the child. So presently the king called for an officer to bring in the executioner with his sword. And he said to the two women, I'm going to be utterly impartial and fair. If I give the child to this woman, the other woman will say that's unfair. If I give it to her, the other woman will say I'm unfair. So I'm going to be fair. Uh, he said to the executioner, take the baby and cut it in two and give one half to one and one to the other. Half. And the woman, one woman, she said, yes, you do that. And the other woman said, oh, king, don't do that, let her have it. Let her have it, don't kill the child. Anything to save the child. And the king said, that's the mother. That mother would do anything to save her child. Oh friend, how would you know who is the true God and who is the liar? You'll know it if you stand at Calvary. Raineri said, God would do anything to save you, that you wouldn't perish, for he made you, loves you with a creator's heart. Anything? When the Bible says that Jesus Christ, his son, bore our sins in his body on the tree. All we like sheep had gone astray, turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, rather than that we perish. But if we won't have him, if we still say no, then there is no alternative. The portion will be in the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Oh, listen to the story, what it means to become a child of God. We can be certain of it. Talking to believers, the apostle says, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God, and we are that, actually that. We know not what we shall be, but we know that when we see him, we shall be like him. Oh, what a future. Heirs of God, and all that his infinite ingenuity and love can provide for the countless ages of eternity. You say, does that mean that those who trust Christ never have any pain anymore? No, it doesn't mean that. This world is out of joint. Ever since Adam rebelled against God, by God's own providence, this world doesn't run out as it should. It's out of joint, everywhere out of joint. In one sense, that's a good thing too. If man could live in a paradise without God when he was on this world, perhaps he would never seek the Savior, and that would be disastrous, for we'd end up in perdition. This is a broken world. Let it remind us that life is but temporary. Here in this life, we must decide what our eternal destiny shall be. They who trust the Savior, they don't necessarily get freedom from pain, but what happens is that there comes a new slant, a new attitude to pain, even when that pain becomes almost unendurable, but in their hearts they know that it's not meaningless. For God says he can take the pains of this natural life and turn them for our eternal benefit, that we may be purified, our faith in the end strengthened, that we may be able to enjoy the joys of heaven even more. For our light affliction, said one of the early Christians, whose pain had been immense, particularly the pain that came from persecution for Christ's sake. He said, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And if you want to ask, uh, to know an opinion, ask some senior believer. Perhaps she's crippled with rheumatism, maybe, or arthritis or something, and has come through many sorrows of life. But ask them, you a believer? Yes. Going to heaven? Yes. What would you say about all this pain you've endured? Hm. As I, I, I raise that question, my mind goes to an elderly man, man in my home assembly. He could neither read nor write. He had a good voice and would sing for the Lord, sing the gospel, and occasionally he would rise in the assembly to pass on a word of encouragement and exhortation. And I remember him in his latest days struggling to get to his feet because of his arthritis. He had it very severely, poor man. It was a kind of torture. And he ended his remarks when he said, but brethren, he says, and sisters, in spite of all my pains, it will be worth it all when we see. Yes. That's the view that believers take. This pain is real and the suffering is real, but they've caught a glimpse of God's eternal purpose. They're children of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, heirs for the glories of eternity. And when we see it, the sufferings of this present time will have seemed a small thing in comparison, when we discover what God has done and prepared for those that love.