David Asscherick DELIVER US FROM EVIL 01- SecondComing.org

okay anybody been to five yeah anybody been to all of them just one of you well great well I'm thrilled that you're here and we apologize that it's sort of tight but I have the privilege of traveling and when I go to places like Africa and other places I can assure you that they would fit many more people into this room than we now have so if it feels uncomfortable that's only because you're white and you're from the United States or Canada any African brothers and sisters can testify to that am i telling the truth tell me what is this look at all the space we have in here so we're thrilled to have you our presentation here we're going to have six sessions together which I'm so excited about and I noticed that ty Gibson just walked in so if I get stumbling on my words time gonna just kind of kind of call on you if that's all right well I just said you know I just noticed you walked in and if I say the wrong thing then yeah well I'll just I'll just ask you to come and talk I watched your presentation last night on the theodicy video is very good have you seen it yeah you did a good job anyway our presentation is titled broadly deliver us from evil or the great controversy now perhaps just a word of clarification is in order here and that is that we are not going to be going through a detailed explanation or exposition of the book the great controversy so if that's what you are hoping for I apologize perhaps the seminar title could have been a little bit more clear we're going to be looking at the great controversy from a broad sort of theological philosophical perspective now when I use that term the great controversy I'm not referring to the book proper the book is an instance of the great controversy and I believe details the climax of the great controversy but what we're going to be talking about in here are the questions that relate to the conflict between good and evil we're going to be asking questions like why did God permit evil could God have prevented evil and one that I think is particularly fascinating something that I find very interesting is the question how can we be sure how can God be absolutely sure that evil will not rise again how many people have wondered that before you know you think about it if we're going to be the same people in heaven that we are here and we're going to have free will if all of those things are going to be in place and we have every biblical reason to believe that they are I have spent quite a bit of time wondering and considering how can God absolutely guarantee that sin will not rise a second time and so those are the kinds of questions that we're going to be talking about why did God permit evil why has God permitted so much evil you might be able to make a case for the permission of some evil or or some amount of evil but but I think we can agree that we live in a very dark and and terrible world on many levels is that true yes or no now of course on many other levels the world is a beautiful happy wonderful joy filled place but for many people today their day is not like your day they didn't get a good meal they're not surrounded by friends they're not at a conference where they're staying in a nice hotel with clean sheets much of the world is not living in conditions anything like the conditions that most of us take for granted and we'll be talking about a little bit of that so the question is why did God permit evil what is God going to do to deliver us from evil that's the title of the presentation here deliver us from evil and of course this is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray so that's what we're going to be talking about is the question of evil from a broad philosophical theological perspective I think you'll find it fascinating and you might say well what's the practical value and I think that every presentation of this sort should be practical my response to that would be this I am persuaded that this question the question of suffering the question of evil is the preeminence and pressing objection the most preeminent and most pressing objection to religious belief by skeptically minded people are you with me on that in other words this is like this is sort of the evidence that is marshaled almost instantly almost reflexively when you announce to someone that skeptically minded or that's perhaps even hostile to organized religion or to Christianity you tell them you're a believer the the question that's almost the knee-jerk reaction is well if God is so good then and then it will be some variation of why is there so much evil why is there so much pain why is there so much suffering in the world is that true yes or no now here's here's my personal conviction about this and that is that if we as Christians and furthermore as seventh-day Adventist Christians if we don't have a compelling persuasive and believable answer to this question then we should probably close up shop in other words if we can't answer this question who cares about any other question we can answer okay this is really the preeminent I believe there are people out there that wonder about the Sabbath which day is the Sabbath what happens when you die no I'm not denying that these things are important I've dedicated my life to preaching these truths and others but the reality is is that for most skeptically minded secular minded people all of the proofs for God's existence all of the apologetic proofs that can be marshaled you could build what what appears to be an airtight case for the existence of God all of those things do not matter if we cannot provide a plausible and even persuasive answer the question of evil and suffering in the world are you with me yes or no now I am persuaded as you can probably imagine as you I assume are that there is a good answer and that there is a profound answer and an answer that is absolutely believable and absolutely compelling and we're going to be talking about that answer that's going to be what we're going to be discussing in our seminar here I'm a little loath to say this but I'll say that I I apologize for not providing handouts but what I will do if you're interested I can make all of the slides that I will be using available to you but you'll just have to sort of come up in a somewhat orderly fashion if that's possible if you have a little jump drive I'll be more than happy to give you the slides and that so that you can present this anywhere you might want to there's no copyright on the truth and so we'd be thrilled to have you get those materials so let's begin with the word of Prayer that's what we're going to be talking about and I'm really looking forward to it I've been spending a lot of time in prayer and thought about this and I think it's gonna be good I'm looking forward to our time together so let's pray together father in heaven we are preparing to open your word and we are aware well aware that spiritual things are spiritually discerned father we are aware that the carnal man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God because they're foolishness to him and so we've come in not desiring to be and believing by faith that we are not carnal Christians we are believers we are sanctified we are holy because Christ is holy and so father we come to your word believing that you as a father want to teach us as your children and father this morning we glory in the truth that we are your children we say with John the Apostle behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons and daughters of God so father we're proposing here to engage not only you but the world that we see around us and father many of us perhaps all of us in this room are greatly troubled by the condition of the world and father many of us find the condition of the world so discouragingly and despairingly dark that we wonder if any good could ever come of it and yet we believe so by faith but father we don't want to have a faith that is grounded on nothing that is that is just out in the air not not supported but merely suspended father we want to have a faith that is rooted in something and so we pray that as we come and as we as we engage this question of your interaction with evil the prayer of my heart father is that that my presentation will be marked by clarity and by biblical Fadel and that the hearts and minds of the people here would be open would be plastic would be malleable to receive this presentation these presentations not from a man but from the Bible Father we look forward to spending time with you now and we pray that you would give us an answer that we might heed the admonition of Peter to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and be ready always to give an answer to any man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us but that we might do so with as he says gentleness and meekness so please father help us now as we spend this time with you and with one another is our prayer in Jesus name let everyone say Amen so our presentation is titled deliver us from evil and this is what is sometimes referred to as the theodicy what's the word everyone theodicy okay now who knows what that word means who doesn't know what that word means raise your hand say theodicy what is he talking Greek what is he talking Latin okay the word theodicy it's it's it's a term that you'll come across and basically it comes from two words okay a juxtaposition of two words fails which is God and die K which is justice and basically it's the idea of justifying the ways of God to man in other words it's it's a defense of God's interaction with the world and that that's what it's referred to as of theodicy it's it's an attempted justification notice the key word here being attempted it's an attempted justification of God's goodness in the face of the world's evilness and badness that's a theodicy and that's what we're going to basically be doing here now before we get started with what I believe what two words that I say everyone with what I believe is God's reason for permitting evil notice permitting not promoting before we get started with what I believe the answer is I want to give a a tremendous point of clarification and that is that it is what I believe I'll a no claims to infallibility I'll a no I speak with authority only to the degree that I speak in harmony with God's Word so I'm liable to err God is not liable to earth so I may say something that is incorrect now I've labored and I've studied and I'm not planning on saying things that are inaccurate but it could happen I'm going to present to you what I believe is God's reason for permitting evil and permitting the quantity and the quality of evil that he has now if my answer is unpersuasive or uncompelled that does not mean that God doesn't exist or that God isn't good it only means that my presentation has been a poor one are we together in other words we need to make a very clear distinction right at the outset what I'm not trying to do is say this is why God has done this what I am trying to do is say this may be why God has done this do you hear the distinction yes or no I'm not privy to the thoughts of God I don't know exactly what God is doing in fact probably only God knows precisely what God is doing and so I'm going to try to present to you based upon God's revealed word right and on the Living Word God's thought made audible the logos Jesus what I believe God's reason is for permitting evil but if I fail if I fall short if I am NOT able to successfully vindicate the goodness of God in the face of the world's badness that is not a reflection on God that's a reflection on me I'll weigh together everyone yes you know and we need to be very clear that we are that we speak that way when we speak with people that are secularly minded because just because I cannot provide a good answer doesn't mean that there isn't one so far so good it's quite possible that God may have a reason that is not only not known to us but not knowable by us God is after all infinitely wise he is infinitely intelligent and the ways of God are not the ways of man his thoughts are not our thoughts his ways are not our ways as high as the heaven is above the year so are his ways and his thoughts higher than ours and so it's it's very modest and very appropriate for us at the outset to say this may be why God has permitted evil but we want to be careful that we don't say this is certainly why God has done it the only one qualified to speak on behalf of God would be God in this sense and Jesus Christ now I think we're going to be able to see that God has disclosed at least part of the reason at least what did I say everyone that God has disclosed at least part of the reason why he has permitted evil but we need to be very careful that we do not subject God and Justin did a good job of this last night I appreciated his his his point and I think Sebastian made a similar point this morning we need to be very careful that we do not make God subject to our rational understanding of God now this has been an ongoing debate in the in the history of theology and in the history of philosophy is it faith subject to reason or reasons subject to faith my point is simply this God is not rationally graspable in his fullness Amen I don't believe that God is illogical I don't believe that God is irrational but sometimes God is what we might call trans rational or trans logical in other wise in other words he can do things that we may not understand but which make perfect sense to him so far so good and I'll just say right at front I believe that there are dimensions to the evil problem that we do not understand and will not understand for many thousands of years to come ok but what we what we are with children groping in the dark right isn't that what the Apostle Paul says there in Acts chapter 7 17 he says it he says he's not far from any one of us and if we will we will grow for him we can but finds him and so my premise is actually very simple and that is that God has disclosed at least part of the reason what's the language everyone at least part of the reason that he has permitted evil and that he is interacting with evil in the way that he is now I guess in the interest of full disclosure and full transparency I can confess that I sometimes find God's dealings with evil unsatisfactory I freely confess that and I think that that we should be open that we sometimes wonder why God did not prove something that we ourselves would have prevented had we been in the same circumstance now someone might say are you going to be able to answer every single question the answer is no I don't even know if I'll be able to answer one question but the center of any theodicy the center of any successful theodicy in my perspective any biblical theater see has Jesus on the cross right at the center we're going to be talking about that and the significance of that not just in its salvific context I'm saved because of what Jesus has done but in its broader context what does the cross of Jesus represent to the onlooking universe and how does the cross somehow actually ensure guarantee that evil will not rise again how is the cross God's guarantor of evils non emergence in the future and so without further ado that's the direction that we're going to be headed we want to be somewhat modest in our attempt here now let's see my clicker was working just a moment ago we're going to start by looking at the nature of three things the nature of how many things everyone three things we're going to take a nature a look at the nature of God a look at the nature of evil and the nature of love okay so we're going to take a look at the nature of God the nature of love and the nature of evil okay so let's start by taking a look at the nature of God now once again we must say here that our understanding of God is that which is only available to us based on his self disclosure of himself in both scriptures special revelation and nature general revelation in other words if God had chosen not to reveal himself we could know nothing about him amen and so God has revealed himself God has disclosed himself and so we're going to be relying upon the Bible what I believe in no doubt what you believe is the disclosure that God has given to us of himself and of his interactions with humanity and with evil now the Bible teaches probably arguably three of the most profound words or perhaps the most profound words in all of Scripture are these words here God is one love so let's turn to that passage that phrase and that exact orientation is found in two places in the Bible both of them in first John chapter 4 so let's go there first John chapter 4 and we're going to notice verses 8 and 16 first John chapter 4 beginning in verse 8 we're going to be laying a very broad framework for our understanding of deliverance from evil and this great controversy this conflict in which God is engaged now perhaps I should just pause here for a moment and say that when Jesus was asked by his disciples teach us to pray part of what Jesus taught them to pray was deliver us from what deliver us from evil now my question is how many of us have prayed that prayer okay my question is what does it mean what does that mean when we are praying for deliverance from evil what are we asking for yeah what does that mean deliverance from evil is deliverance from evil primarily a geographical phenomenon is it like being delivered from Louisville right in other words what are we praying when we say to deliver us from evil what does that mean okay separate us from evil but but what to separate us from what is evil a location in other words is it like moving from is it like moving from Austin to Abilene is it like moving from Warsaw to Winnipeg but when we pray deliver us from you what do we pray deliver us from sin deliver us from a mindset yeah I think that's exactly right if deliverance from evil was merely a geographical phenomenon God would have solved the problem of evil long before this because all he would have to do is remove us from where evil is and put us in a place where evil isn't right but there is something ubiquitous about the nature of evil that's all we're going to be talking about right now evil is not a location evil is a perspective okay so when I'm praying for deliverance from evil that the difficulty is is that the person that I saw this morning when I brush my teeth did you brush your teeth this morning yeah the person that I saw in the mirror this morning when I brush my teeth is an evil by nature now that's not happy that's not and you know that doesn't that's not the kind of thing that you know pop psychologists or others that want to increase your self-esteem or your sense of self value would say but biblically speaking the unregenerate david eric is a is an evil person and there's still a whole lot of unregenerate David - Rick that's warring for the mastery now fortunately praise God there is regenerate David - Rick and there's a struggle going on anyone here can relate to that struggle okay so so deliverance from evil then in a sense is deliverance from myself its deliverance from a fuller perspective or what I hope one day will be a former perspective and so let's see if we can get an answer to the question of how exactly does God intend to deliver us from evil and we're in first John chapter 4 and we're going to notice verse eight first John chapter four verse 8 it says he who does not love does not what everyone does not know God say it with me now for god is love very good in verse 16 and we have known to believe the love that God has for us say it with me god is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him God is love now there are many passages that could be marshaled here there are just a few here many of us know John 3:16 of course for God so loved the world now you will notice a distinction between first John 4:8 and John 3:16 you'll notice that there is a difference here in in 1st John chapter 4 verses 1816 John says that God is love in John 3:16 Jesus says for God so loved the world in John 3:16 love is an action right God is doing something God is committing to a loving action or a loving behavior John's claim in 1st John chapter 4 verses 8 and 16 is a far less modest claim than simply that God does loving things he's making the very robust claim that God is himself love that God is himself what everyone loved now I want you to think about that for just a moment how many of us in this room are at least occasionally loving right most of us most of us can treat those that treat us with kindness also we can reciprocate kindness we can we can reciprocate love we can reciprocate people that treat us nicely we can treat them nicely and so so there's no question that in a mutual situation many of us can be loving people you and I might glance across a room and we might see a mother who's you know cradling and cuddling and cooing with her little baby and you might remark to me or I might remark to you that that mother is a loving mother do you hear the language yes or no and that would be an appropriate use of the word that's a loving mother but what we're saying is the actions exhibited by that woman indicate that she has love for that child you would not remark to me nor I to you that that woman is loved do you hear the difference yes or no the love Ving is an adjective describing a behavior she is loving loving is an adjective describing a behavior this is a very modest claim you could say David Eric is loving right you could say that rose is loving you could say that Violetta my wife is loving all of us at some level are loving John does not say merely that God is loving he makes a far more robust and and I believe sublime claim he says that God is what's the word love not merely loving an adjective describing a behavior but love unknown he seems to be suggesting that love is part of the very fiber and fabric and essential makeup of what it means to be God are you with me God is love not merely loving that could be said about almost any jesus himself said that that the Pharisees and others greet those that greet them so so loving is a very modest claim but but but John stretches the the envelope has that where he pushes the ball a little bit further and he says that God in His essential nature in his essential makeup is love now what does that mean God is love well that's statement God is love will have meaning provided that we all have an agreed-upon definition of who God is that statement will have meaning precisely to the degree that we accurately define what word yeah love right because you have here a grammatical equivalence right you have a functional grammatical equivalence god is love okay and is communicating the equivalence here so whatever love is what God is so so what does this statement mean well this statement has meaning and it has accurate meaning truthful meaning precisely to the degree that we accurately define the word what the word love like it would be like saying God is snickerdoodle right you might look at me a little quizzically and say what does that mean what's he talking about God is snickerdoodle and and you that statement would have meaning just to the point just to the degree that we would define what word snickerdoodle well love is a little bit like that in fact love is almost worse than snickerdoodle because when I say snickerdoodle many of you look crosswise at one another and say you know what does that word mean you know I don't know what that word means but now the problem is is that when I say the word love all of us in this room come prepackaged with what we think what we think love is yeah and we come from a culture and from a society that has so abused and misused the word love that when we hear the phrase God is love it can be difficult to even know what is being said yes or no so the only safe thing to do then would be to allow God himself in his word to give us a definition of love right rather than bringing our culturally conditioned individualistic perhaps inaccurate perspectives to that word let's say what does the Bible say love is right because all we have here is an equivalence a grammatical equivalence God is love and our second question is what does the word love mean we together everyone yes or no now we have instances here for God so loved the world that He gave and so we can derive from that that love gives gives of itself we'll talk about that more in just a moment Jesus said in John 16 27 the father himself loves you if he's in chapter 2 verse 4 his great love wherewith he loved us Paul seems almost at a loss for words here first John chapter 3 verse 1 we've courted this already behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God and then romans chapter 8 verses verse 39 nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus now what I'd like to do is take you in light of these passages and others that could be given to a single passage a single verse in fact just a single phrase within a single verse that gives us the center the nucleus of what love is okay and Bible students just what chapter do you think we might go to yeah we're talking about love we're talking about the definition of love or where might we go we'd go to probably go to first Corinthians 13 there are many passages but go with me to first Corinthians chapter 13 a chapter that is often referred to colloquially referred to as the love chapter very good so go with me there first John chapter or parney first John first Corinthians chapter 13 and here we find what is in arguably one of the most beautiful and touching and in its context rebuffing and rebuking beautiful pieces of literature ever written I mean it's just glorious first Corinthians chapter 13 Illinois it says it will be well for us to read it every day and there's just something special here there's something sublime here there's something just absolutely aesthetically pleasing about this chapter but rather than going through the whole chapter I want to just look at a single verse and that's verse 5 first Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5 okay and notice what it says it says love does not behave rudely does not seek its own is not provoked thinks no what's the next word evil now I mentioned that we were going to look at just one phrase but we'll just make a comment on a second phrase the main phrase that we're after here is this phrase Paul is describing love he's defining what he's telling us what love is like and as he's sort of going through the attributes the characteristics of love he inserts this one that's absolutely fascinating he says love seeks not its own love does not seek its own now that raises the question if love is not seeking its own right if love is not seeking its own good if love is not seeking its own desires if love is not seeking its own happiness if love is not seeking its own ambitions then what would it be seeking yeah the answer is it would be seeking the desire the happiness the it would be seeking the good of others okay love does not seek its own what then is it seeking its seeking others and here from this single phrase in a single verse in a single chapter in Scripture we don't need to read through the whole chapter we could but in this one phrase we can derive this very powerful biblical principle and that biblical principle is this love true love biblical love is the principle because it's not an emotion it's not a flight it's not a feeling it's not a fancy it's the principle it's the what word everyone love is the principle of putting others first right love is the principle of putting others needs others hopes others dreams others ambitions before your own love is the principle of putting others first this does not mean that there are not emotions involved I wouldn't deny that I think goddess is an intensely emotional being we can talk about what that means this is not this is not disregarding or displacing the emotional significance but it's saying that love can exist independently of emotions love is based on principle love is based on the very character of God and and true love is the principle of putting others what was the word everyone first love is the principle of putting others first now look like they're just the other little phrase that we want to just mention there it says love thinks no what's the word that's interesting isn't it that's very interesting it's going to become very significant for us a little bit later in our seminar because the objection going back to the preeminence and pressing objection that was raised against religious belief many people say is God somehow responsible for evil in fact some would say skeptics would say atheistic Allah minded people would insist that if God does exist that he is possible for evil that God is somehow culpable that the the responsibility lies at his door right and so to me it's very fascinating that the Apostle Paul here says that love doesn't even think evil not only does it not give birth to it not only does it not originate it it doesn't think it there's one particularly fascinating passages and I think Jeremiah chapter 19 where God is describing the abominable practice of offering children in the burning flames to the god Moloch and in this one particularly poignant and powerful and just emotive passage God says this never even came to my mind love thinks no evil God how did you come up with this love thinks no evil love puts others first now let's take this to another level still love is the principle of putting others first and God is one love now if our definition is correct and I believe it is then in order to have love definitionally what must you have you must have God okay but just follow this through love is the principle of putting others first in order to have love then you must have what you must have others does that make sense okay love cannot exist in a vacuum love must have an object upon which to bestow itself can I use you as a prop said okay love must have an object it's law if God is alone in the most emphatic sense of aloneness and oneness and singularity then in what meaningful sense could God be loved love needs to have an object upon which to bestow itself if love does not have an object upon which to bestow itself then love doesn't exist because love definitionally is the principle of putting what was our word others first okay so what then might this tell us about the very nature of God yeah yeah it seems to suggest the poor of God doesn't it here's why it imagine here that we have a line okay which we do actually so it's easy for me to imagine we have a line here and this line is going to separate God God's creation and God himself after the creation of the first sentient moral beings we'll say that's that side and this is God before the creation of the first moral being okay for our illustration here we'll say that that being was Lucifer right may event may well have been Lucifer so we'll just say for for sake of illustration here that that this is God post Lucifer and this is God pre Lucifer are we together and not just Lucifer but all of us anymore sentient beings there are billions of them but this is God pre and this is God post so far so good everyone yes or no now here's the question is god love this side of the line yeah is God love this side of the Lucifer line yes or no yeah the answer is yes because because wait a minute God is what I would love notice he did not say God is loving loving describing an adjective no no no no as YouTube describing a behavior he says that God is love which which suggests that this is something that God is in its very essence now this is quite fascinating if before there's a Lucifer or before there's a mark or a Tracy or a Violetta or a David or a John before there are any of these other sentient beings if God is love over here and love is the principle of putting others and in order to have love you must have then what does that tell us almost certainly about the nature of God that there are others in God's nature in what meaningful sense can God be loved if he is rigidly singular now this is the view that many people in the world take they take a view of God as oneness in the emphatic the most emphatic sense of oneness who would be who would be some of these people that take this view okay the Jews the Jews might take this view certainly at Orthodox Judaism who else yeah the Muslims the Jehovah's Witnesses oneness pentecostals there's a basically you have over here this idea that God in fact this is the central tenets of Islam is that God is one and those of us at least somewhat familiar with the history of Islam know that that Islam was an reaction to Meccan polytheism basically it was a reaction to the polytheism of the Meccan peninsula medina peninsula there and muhammad reacts against that and the battle cry literally of muhammad ism of islam is God is one okay now that's fine you can have that view of God but the biblical view of God is that God is love God is what everyone love and love is the principle of putting others first in order to have love you must have now you just told me that God did not become loving but he was loved so far so good well what does this seem to demand about the very nature of God that there are others within the very fiber and fabric of godness and not surprisingly at least not from a Christian perspective an Orthodox Christian perspective that is exactly the picture that is presented of God that God is how do we say at the baptismal certificate how do we say it in the baptismal vows God is a unity of three does anyone know this how many of us are baptized 7-day evidence so you all agreed to this you all assent it to this at least at some level ok see if you can finish it god is a unity of three Co eternal persons okay might want to go back and read those baptismal covenants again that God is a unity of three Co eternal persons now let's see if I've got my quotation here Miller J Erickson follow president of the evangelical theological Society writes if reality is fundamentally what's the word physical okay that's the materialist view the materialist worldview that is to say there is no God there is nothing supernatural all that exists is matter and energy matter and energy it's called materialism or naturalism okay so so what what Erickson is saying is that if reality is fundamentally physical at the rock-bottom foundation of reality that you have matter okay notice what he says then the primary force binding it together is what is electromagnetic right that's the force that keeps molecules together and atoms together it keeps the material universe intact he goes on if however reality is fundamentally what's that word social if reality is fundamentally social now what might that mean we'll come back to that then the most powerful constituting force is that which binds persons together namely what now what does he mean by that if reality is fundamentally social what does he mean by that any guesses based on what let me just ask you this question what is the ultimate reality from a Christian perspective you're making me very nervous let me help you God be together on that there's this book it's called Genesis it's kind of at the front of your Bible and it sort of starts this way in the beginning and then there's this word that comes after that God okay in other words God antedates everything God is before everything God is the ultimate reality if if God did not will you to exist in this room to exist and everything that these things would not exist God is the ultimate reality are we together everyone okay so what Erickson is saying it's absolutely brilliant he's saying that if reality is fundamentally physical and that's what our friends the materialists tell us right they say if I can't touch it if I can't if it's not tangible if it's not Material if it's not concrete it doesn't exist right this is classic methodological materialism this is the world you're living in my friends this is scientism par excellence we're gonna be talking about that tomorrow night not tonight so so if that view of reality is correct then the most powerful constituting force is that which binds material objects together namely electromagnetism he says Bob if reality is fundamentally not Material but social then the most powerful constituting force would be that which binds persons together and what is that force what do we call that force we call that force love so in what sense is ultimate reality social yeah God and God is what love and love is the principle of putting others and in order to have love you must have which strongly suggests that God is not a singularity but a plurality right a plurality and so what do we have we have before Lucifer right this is the Lucifer line before there's a Lucifer before there's a Leone before there's a Lennie before there's any of that there is God and God is presented to us in Scripture progressively I believe in other words I don't think the Trinity doctrine is just announced right at the outset well in a sense it actually is but the the the Trinity doctrine the plurality of God is progressively revealed for example Jesus shows up and he says really radical things like I let's do the math here I that's one that's one subject I and that would be plus my father right I won and my father won so you'd I mean come on we all went to school what's the answer here one plus one is ya right see Jesus says some things that are really radical try this one in the beginning was the word there's what there's there's one that's that's an entity that's an agent in the beginning was the word and the word was with another agent with god and the word what was God okay so one plus one is one right isn't this what isn't that's what scripture says one plus one is one in other words Jesus shows up and he starts introducing this radical concept he doesn't actually introduce it he clarifies this radical concept that God in his very nature God in his very essence is not a rigid singularity but a plurality are you with me on that so what do we have what do we have well the mature presentation that is to say the whole of scripture gives this presentation gives this perspective of God as three-in-one not just Jesus and the father but Jesus the father and who's the third member of the Godhead the Holy Spirit and so what you would have before there was ever a Lucifer on the other side of the Lucifer line you would have the heart of the father going out to the heart of the son and the spirit from eternity past and you would have the heart of the Spirit going out to the heart of the father and the son and you would have the heart of the son going out to the father and the spirit existing as a kind of I don't know help me a word here what's a word what might we call this we might call this a Godhead that's okay that's a how about how about a really simple word a Trinity okay how about a family now go with me in your Bibles to Genesis one isn't it interesting that when God sets out to make mankind not just men not just males when God sets out to make mankind in His image he makes them how huh let's see how he makes them yeah take a look at this 26 Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 then God said let and what do we have here us which is the plural pronoun right let us know in my Bible new King James Version that I've got here this morning it's capital u but that's a that's a that's an interpretive capitalization so you can't use that as evidence but but it's correct actually it's actually correct let us make man in what do we have now plural possessive pronoun our image again capitalized but again that's interpretive according to what do we have now our image let what's the next word let our likeness let them does everyone see that have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over the cattle over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him male and female he created them then God blessed them and God said to them what's the very first thing that God says to them in this context yeah be fruitful and multiply translation make another right make another be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth now check this out absolutely fascinating alright we're sort of asking the question what about evil but before we're getting into that what about God what about the nature of God and we're learning some fascinating things here about God let's just quickly review God is love love is the principle of putting others first in order to have love we must have others which suggests that God is not a singularity but rather a plurality Jesus shows up and says I and my father are one John says in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God in the Word was God so we ask the question is there any other biblical evidence for this idea of the plurality of God and the answer is yes the Bible is filled with evidence to this effect and to me I'll be honest with you to me the most persuasive evidence are the two evidences that I'm presenting here first John four and Genesis wot because Genesis 1 because when God sets out to make mankind in His image how does he make it how does he make mankind he makes a family yes or no he doesn't just make males there appears to be something about the reproductive process there appears to be something about the procreative process that strongly suggests the nature of God God does not just make a man in His image I mean he could have made the reproductive mechanism he could have made us a sexual being so we could have all been men we could have all been women we could have all been some other you know unit gender but God makes a man and he makes a woman and the very first thing he says to them is make another make a family and it is the family that is the fullest manifestation and fullest representation of who God is are you tracking with me yes or no now I don't happen to have a mirror here but let's just say that that this was a mirror okay now if I look in a mirror I see me okay but let's say that you're not looking in the mirror head-on let's say that you're looking in the mirror from the side right but the mirror is facing me and you see me okay so when you look in the mirror you see me now this is a very simple illustration but if you see in the mirror me right here then what do you know is here you know it's me right so when you look at the reflection you know you've got the original article does that make sense so when God says hey here's the mirror of me what do we see what do we see in the mirror we see a family isn't that right we see a family so what does that tell us what does that strongly suggest I'm being very modest I'm trying not to use the word proof but what does this strongly suggest that God is a kind of divine what family so far so good now check this out she says let them write let us make man in our image after our likeness let them let what everyone them them is also a plural pronoun only of them could represent in us in an hour right he could not represent in us and she cannot represent in us but of them can represent in us does that make sense so let them have dominion etc etc and so God as a kind of family makes a family in His image and no wonder that John can then come many thousands of years later or more than a thousand years later and can say God is what not merely loving which would merely be an action describing us be a behavior but God is what in his very nature God is love and check this out if we go back to the view here that God is rigidly singular let's say that we reject this view which by the way is not uncommon in Adventism when I travel to certain areas of the world there are places where this notion of God's plurality is rejected out of hand as as a product of catholicity as all this is Catholic ah this is pagan and Alan why didn't believe it the Pioneers didn't believe it the Bible doesn't teach it and and there are places where you go where this is like cutting-edge stuff just going on right now and there are there are many hundreds unfortunately in thousands perhaps even if seventh-day Adventist who are rejecting the Trinity doctrine because they think it's a byproduct of catholicity now that all sounds fine and good on one level and especially when you string a bunch a bunch of quotations together but but there's huge philosophical and theological problems with this understanding of God and here's one of them one of dozens but one of them is if God is rigidly singular right in the Muslim sense in the in the Judaic that the traditional Judaic sense then at what point does God become loving you can't say that God is loving in his nature right God could become loving once he creates an object upon which to bestow love so once God gets on this side of the Lucifer line once he's created a free moral agent or in the view of son that it was Jesus and he wasn't made he wasn't created you can have these discussions you know but the point is is that at some point and many of our pioneers believe this and I understand that I fully understand that but but that Jesus sort of came forth from the father proceeded forth was begotten etc and so so now God loves the Son and the son loves the father but my question is how was God before the son see in this view God becomes loving do you hear the difference yes or no this is not the claim that John makes notice this in terms of his essential nature and perfect character God is not becoming anything God is not becoming he is what's our word he is being which fascinatingly is exactly how God described himself to Moses at the burning bush who shall I say sent me I am okay I am it's very interesting that I am is the Hebrew word hi-yaa hi-yaa I am and it's it's very similar to what many believe is the actual proper name of God right which is the name Yahweh you hear the similarity hai-yah that's Hebrew I am Yahweh Moses says who shall I say sent me and God says I am am as the present tense of the verb to be to exist in other words I am the one who has always been are we together I am the one who has always been God is not becoming something he is being something he is the I am a master singular present tense of the verb to be which means to exist God then is the eternally existent one he ever has been and ever will be nothing preceded him nothing could outlast him he is thus God did not become loving when he created the first moral being he already was what's the one loving because God is love God created because he is loved not in order to become loving this is the way I like to say it God's love made free moral creatures so far so good free loyal creatures did not make God loving do you hear the distinction there okay now there are some creative Christians and well-meaning who would say that God had to create maybe some of you believe that I think that's entirely incorrect God did not have to create nothing compelled God externally God chose to create as an act of love as an act of kindness as an active to bestow in the same way that couples have children my wife and I we have two beautiful boys land in a table ages seven eight we left the lavish our love and affection upon them we we chose to have children God chose to create he was not compelled externally to create amen okay so let's let's just quickly review and then we'll take a short break we're trying to give an answer to the question of evil the question of what everyone who remembers what's this call justifying the ways of God to man what's that word it's called a theodicy right two words God justice and we're asking the question why did God permit evil but not just for medieval in the sort of innocuous sense or in the the harmless sense but why is God permitted so much evil and this is the preeminent and most pressing question that faces really Christianity today the Sabbath question is important the nature of Christ important the the state of the Dead important the health message all of these things are born but all of them have a context which to secular Minds even if you could provide the most airtight case if we cannot give the beginnings of a compelling answer to the question of evil most people are not going to find anything else we have too many people are not gonna find anything else we have to say particularly persuasive okay now am I here giving you the reason why God permitted evil yes or no no I can't do that because I'm not God and I'm not privy to God's thoughts but I'm trying to give you a reason why I think God has permitted the existence of evil what I am persuaded is the biblical answer do you hear the distinction there yes or no so we're asking the question well how are we going to how are we going to go about this we're going to lay a broad found and our broad foundation starts by looking at the nature of three things how many things three things the nature of God the nature of evil and love and the nature of love three things the nature of God the nature of evil in the nature of love and we've taken a look now at the nature of God and God is love love is the principle of putting others first in order to have love we must have others love cannot exist in a vacuum and this strongly suggests that God is not a rigid singularity but actually a plurality and when God set out to make an entity an agent in his image how did he make that entity how did he make that he made a family he made a family and this strongly suggests that God as a family makes a family in his image as the best representation and manifestation of who he is on earth so far so good now when we come back I'm gonna take about a 10 minute break when we come back we're gonna start taking a look at the nature of love right we've got the nature of God right at least preliminarily we've not talked about his omnipotence or his omniscience or that but we're talking about his character love and then the next question is what is what does that mean what is love and so let's close with prayer and then we'll take a 10-minute break father in heaven we just pause here briefly before you you are the Great Creator God you are the one to whom we come you are the one that we need and we call on you even now father and Lord it is a great delight for us to call you father we think of Romans chapter 8 there where it says the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God and father today we sense by the self-authenticating witness of the Spirit that we are the sons and daughters of God father if there's a person or persons here today that doesn't yet have that experience father give them that experience here at GYC may they leave saying I am a son of God I am a daughter of God and father bring us back as we continue to learn about this beautiful picture of you and this troubling picture of what has gone awry in your universe this is our prayer in Jesus name let everyone say Amen okay we'll be back in ten minutes put something on your seat or it may not be there someone will steal your crown and your seat you

Channel: SecondComing.org

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Keywords: second coming, SecondComing.org, David Asscherick, Deliver Us From Evil, Religion, Religious Videos, Christian Videos, asscherick, deliver, evil, david asscherick sermons, david asscherick deliver us from evil, deliver us, asscherick david, deliver us from evil david asscherick, christian, david assherick, david, sda, adventist, god, the great controversy, sermon, The Evil, part1

Id: mHc52w6dMwM

Length: 56min 42sec (3402 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 21 2017