Dr. Kevin DeYoung | God's Plan in Our Pain

the Lord you are good and do good teach me teach us your statutes the insolent smear us with lies but with our whole hearts we keep your precepts their heart is unfeeling like fat but we delight in your law it is good for us that we were afflicted that we might learn your statutes the law of your mouth is better to us than thousands of gold and silver pieces we give thanks in Jesus name Amen I invite you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 9 as we continue with our series through John's Gospel as we have been doing for the last year and a half this morning we come to John chapter 9 it says verses 1 through 15 and your bulletins will just read through verse 12 this morning John chapter 9 as he passed by that is Jesus he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind jesus answered it was not that this man's sin or his parents but that the works of God might be displayed in him we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day night is coming when no one can work as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world having said these things he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him go wash in the pool of Siloam which means sent so he went and washed and came back seeing the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying is this not the man who used to sit in bed some said it is he others said no but he is like him he kept saying I am the man so they said to him then how were your eyes opened he answered the man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me go to Siloam and wash so I went and washed and received my sight they said to him where is he he said I do not know there are a number of ways that we can look at this familiar story and will Lord willing get to some of those next week when we read the remaining verses in chapter 9 we could look at this as the sixth of seven signs in John's Gospel you know that in John's Gospel there are seven miraculous signs there are seven I am statements and here we have the six of those signs first the water into wine the healing of the royal officials son those are in the Cana cycle and chapter two through four and then in this festival cycle in chapter five through ten the healing of the paralytic the feeding of the 5,000 walking on water and then healing this man born blind and then finally in chapter 11 will be the seventh sign of Lazarus Lazarus we could look at this as a unit in itself it is an exquisitely ordered story first you have the miracle and then as we see Jesus disappears for a time before coming back at the very end and in the intervening sections following the miracle are four conversations just look at your Bible quickly you can see this with the paragraph headings and most English Bibles so first there is a discussion between the neighbors and the man born blind that's verses 8 through 12 they have some questions for him we just read that and then in verses 13 through 17 a conversation between the Pharisees and the man born blind because of course they are hard-hearted toward Jesus and then beginning in verse 18 through 23 the next paragraph a conversation between the Jews and his parents they bring his poor mom and dad into the situation and then when they say well he can answer for himself there's a final conversation in verses 24 through 34 between the Jewish crowd and the man himself so a miracle and then four distinct conversations following which Jesus will re-enter the picture we could also look at this incident through the lens of several important themes faith unbelief the power of a changed life we'll get to some of that next week but I want to focus our attention this morning more narrowly in fact you could argue that the whole point of this sermon finds its anchor point in one little Greek word we'll get to that in a moment comes in verse 3 but first notice the context he passes by Jesus does and sees a man blind from birth we don't know the exact time or location or how closely this is connected to the Feast of Tabernacles and those seen we just departed in chapter 8 but somewhere in this festival sequence of events Jesus sees this man it's suggested I think that this is with some intentionality he's a beggar a man born blind in the ancient world would have little other recourse in life but to be a regular beggar and so perhaps Jesus wanted to take them by the certain spot where they always knew this man would be maybe Jesus was ready to make a lesson ready for it to perform the miracle or perhaps the disciples knew where he would be and pointed him out or maybe Jesus as he passed by sees him there and draws his attention to the disciples which prompts this question however it happened they go by and there's the man and the disciples ask a question it is a common question it's a sort of question that might be asked today and it certainly was a common sort of question among first century Jews it's a question that many of the rabbis were asking okay why do bad things happen to some people and good things happen to other people it's a contemporary question don't many of us without realizing it perhaps even as Christians we inhabit this morally mechanical universe bad things happen to bad people good things happen to good people and heaven is a place where good people get the good things they deserve and hell is a bad place where bad people get the bad things they deserve that's the default religion that many of us inhabit there's an old joke which is probably not worth repeating but here we go of a man who was in heaven and he was quite a plain man rather a sort of odd strange man nothing much to commend himself not very attractive not very successful but he was a good man and so we when he was in heaven his friends were noting well look at him look at our friend there he's received us a fabulous sports car and a massive mansion and look he has this beautiful wife upon his arm okay no marriage in heaven they're not theologically correct jokes but he has this beautiful wife upon his arm and someone you know one of the Angels relates well that was all that was his reward for living such a good life and another friend says well but I don't understand you know what about the woman well that was her punishment so yeah you get the joke that's how many of us view life you're gonna get to the great pearly gates and you get what you deserve and even more than that perhaps in this life you look around good people get good things bad people get bad things it's a sports contract you are a 20-something year old Slugger Bryce Harper Manny Machado and you look to have a bright future and you get 300 million dollars or you work hard you get a fantastic GPA you score very highly on your standardized tests you might get in to Wheaton maybe and you work hard and you are rewarded if you work very hard maybe you'll get a scholarship this is how we think life ought to operate on every plane and sometimes even spiritual people will suggest this as the way life operates remember job's so-called friends job for 7 they say remember who that was innocent was ever punished or where were the upright cut off that's what they say - job yes job your suffering would you just get on with it repent of your sins confess your wickedness before God for the upright are not cut off the righteous man is not persecuted surely you've done something wrong and so the disciples asked this very common question right Jesus we got two options for you here's a man born blind did he sin maybe they didn't know that he was born blind at this point so maybe they thought it was punishment at some point in his life or maybe they thought something even before he was born it's true that some of the rabbi's speculated that you may be able to sin even in the womb and so I'm affect the outcome of your birth life so Jesus option number one this man is blind did he sin or maybe more likely Jesus how about his parents the must this must be a punishment for these parents have a child like this right Jesus because after all we all know good parents have good healthy happy children bad parents have bad infirm children hopefully I don't need to tell you what errant thinking that is and yet every parent in this room we are tempted to believe those lies we understand that we shape our children we understand that we can do good or ill by shaping our children and yet it is often one of the great works of the devil to come at parents and say you see this you see this that's your fault that's you had a wise older mother once tell me most parents think their kids are the best or the worst in the world and both of those parents are wrong meaning your kids aren't the greatest thing and they're not the worst who have ever lived but many of us fall into that temptation and we think in fact we think we look at other people don't we and we think that the children are just a reflection it is a walking breathing report card on parents so we sometimes get over invested that's why Christians lose their salvation at soccer games sometimes it's why we behave the way that we do as we think well look at their children wow what great children let's have done something right and most of those godly parents who have godly children will be the first to tell you I don't know what in the world we did we prayed and prayed and prayed God's grace because we all know godly parents who end up with children that walk away but here the situation of course is a little different it's not spiritual departing but it's a physical ailment and yet the logic is the same the disciples are thinking a man born blind who said it's a common question bad things bad people Jesus however gives an uncommon answer Jesus says in verse three it was not that this man sinned or his parents to be sure there are plenty of biblical examples that do link personal sin and personal suffering it's not that the link is never present Adam and Eve Myriam's revolts then struck with leprosy korah's rebellion swallowed up in the earth made a banna by who unauthorized fire struck dead who'sa putting his hand on the ark is killed 1st Corinthians 11 some of you are sick and some have died because you partook of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner revelation 2 and 3 Jesus warns I throw some of you on a sick bed until you repent so yes the Bible has plenty of examples of reaping what you sow but Jesus here reminds us of something that we must never forget and that is that the link between personal sin and personal suffering is not absolute that is to say it is not always the case and who better more powerfully will exemplify that than the Lord Jesus Christ himself Jesus says look this is not the case that this man sinned or his parents some of us would never think to blame ourselves it's never crossed our minds that we might be chastised by the Lord but I'm sure there are others of you here by upbringing by temperament by personality you are very quick to assume that you failed God what's going on in my health I I've disappointed God what's happening at the workplace this this new diagnosis this disintegration in my family surely bad things are happening to me because I have been a bad person and so you make two fundamental mistakes you're too hard on yourself and you're too hard on God now ultimately we in one sense we can't be too hard on ourself and understanding our own depravity and sin but we can't be too hard in making the wrong sorts of connections and thinking that all of life works in this mechanical way and on Wednesday you put in obedience and on Thursday you get out blessing and if Friday you put in sin than Saturday you get out cursing and so if you are going through a season of difficulty it's because of something that you put in the wrong input to now get this accursed output Jesus says it does not always work that way now there are other things Jesus could have said when they asked the question why was this man born blind Jesus could have said well we live in a fallen world that would be true so though there may not be a personal connection between sin and suffering there is always a cosmic connection he could have made that but that's not the point I think in our day if this question were asked most people would gravitate toward an exclusively physiological explanation why if somebody just asks you why was this man born blind why was this child born with disability why was this child born with certain handicaps why was this child born with special needs the direction most of us go in our mind is an exclusively physical explanation well here's why it has something to do with a gene that was missing or there was an there was an extra chromosome here or we understand that when this gets out of order and this is rewired that then this happens and that's why this was malformed oh that's why this was not adjusted or that's why the person cannot hear correctly or see correctly we look for exclusively biological explanations this is not the point of the sermon but just as a parenthesis here there may be no bigger gap between the world of the Bible and the world we inhabit than this for them everything was spiritual metaphysical for us everything is natural and physical that's to say the world that they inhabited is a world that is animated by the spiritual there's demons and there's angels and there's devils and there's spiritual realities whereas we inhabit a world where everything should have a natural explanation it's something to do with your hardwiring with your jeans with your biology with your chemicals now certainly true that in the first century there were there are elements of spiritism and animism that we now know are false though devils and demons and angels are real and there are things that we have learned in science and medicine and physics that are immensely helpful to humankind and yet we must realize this huge gap that we tend to think there is a material physiological explanation for this sometimes there is sometimes there isn't and even when there may be God would say you can get the biological answer correct and miss the most important answer to the question some people would simply have answered the disciples question why was this man born blind and said no reason at all nothing but chance perhaps survival of the fittest may be an evolutionary male adaptation or there's a religious version of this deism God created the world and he stepped back and just this is what happened the laws of nature sometimes breakdown or perhaps he had the view of open theism that God doesn't really know all things he certainly doesn't control all things and so stuff just happens but what does Jesus say is the reason and here's where we come to the little Greek word that I think is the anchor point for this entire sermon and maybe an anchor point for your entire life it shows up very innocuously enough in English with the word that it was not that this man sinned or his parents but it's a Greek word Allah but adversative okay not this but and the little Greek word henna means in order that so that it is a purpose clause Jesus says not this not that the man sinned not that the parents sinned okay train going in that direction wrong direction we're gonna turn around we're gonna go this way on the tracks but Hinna in order that's why he gives the answer the works of God might be displayed in him that's why disciples yes there may be a physiological explanation yes suffering may be connected to cosmic sin suffering and yet Jesus says I want you to get this disciples I want you to get it absolutely clearly this man was born blind because God has a plan in it and not simply that God will respond to it in order that does not say that God looked down from heaven and said well they're problems I'm gonna turn those problems you know turns your lemons into lemonade I'm gonna turn your problems into see a letís no no it goes farther back than that into God's sovereign disposal of all things this was his plan remember the end of Genesis after Jacob dies and all the brothers are worried that Joseph is going to turn on them in Genesis 50:20 what you meant for evil God meant for good for the saving of many people alive you meant it for evil God meant it not God turned it God shaped it God used it he meant it from eternity past he meant it his plan Joseph says was that end up in the well I get sold off to traveling Ishmaelites Potiphar's wife would lie about me I'd end up in prison my prison mate would forget about me I'd come there'd be a famine you would be here all of that God meant in order that God's purpose his might his works would be displayed in him I remember there's no evidence that they had met Jesus before they may have never considered God's part to play in this plan we see in verse 11 he doesn't even know who the man is he just knows this guy I think his name is Jesus I don't know where he went and yet even if he had been ignorant of Jesus even that he had been ignorant of God's designs now he knows perhaps for the first time in his life that this was not ultimately an accident this man was not born blind simply because something didn't fire right when he went through the birth canal but God all along had a plan and a purpose it is a sign miracle to point people to the supremacy and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord Jesus goes on to explain this imagery again that he's the light of the world a darkness is coming he's thinking of the the darkness that will upon them literally and metaphysically in those days when he's in the tomb before his resurrection but he says I am light for this man literally and I'm light to all who have the eyes to see but night is coming for everyone who refuses to open their eyes and he tells the man to go to wash in the pool the pool aptly named since because this man is sent to it and what great faith you have you have mud on your eyes you've been blind your whole life this strange rabbi who you can't see comes up and he spits and he makes a mud pie and puts it on your eyes and says go to Siloam how does he get there somebody must lead him go wash there and he goes I don't think many little brothers would do that their brother slaps a mud pie in their face go yeah he'll go tell mom this man goes to Siloam maybe in a moment of desperation what have I got to lose maybe in an act of great faith okay if you say it I'll do it now you say well that's that's wonderful for the man born blind and I can see how God's power was displayed in him because he did a miracle he healed him I get it yes he was born blind that was God's plan so that God could heal him and bring glory to Jesus and people would believe in Jesus but where's my miracle well it's true not many of us get miracles like this but don't miss this fact you still can be a sign pointing people to the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ I just said not many of us get miracles but actually we all get miracles if you're born again and have gone from darkness to light dead in trespasses and sin alive together with Christ you're a miracle if you persevere through suffering that's a miracle if you endure in your faith in the midst of trial and difficulty that's God's sovereign miraculous work in your life so yes most of us do not get the miracle of sight when we are born blind but we can still be walking miracles pointing to the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ remember at the end of John 21 when Jesus is speaking about Peter's death he says when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go this he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God Peter you're gonna glorify me and your death how do you glorify God in death you glorify God and death by believing all the way to the end by giving him glory to the uttermost that shows the worth of Christ imagine you're on a vacation with your wife if you're a woman you can think of your husband but you're on a vacation with your wife and your way from the kids so you could be anywhere and it's a vacation you could be in the closet it's a vacation but you're someplace you got someplace planned it's gonna be a fabulous trip you go someplace warm dry sunny and everything goes wrong flights are delayed and delayed and canceled and you you spend the night on the floor and the airport and your rental car isn't there and you wait and you get it and it breaks down and somebody rear-ends you and you get to your hotel in the room isn't there that you wanted and you finally get a room and it's too small and you see cockroaches and you hear little rodents nibbling in the corner and the weather oh it turns out to be miserable no rain but snow and your luggage never shows up and just to throw in more disaster a snake bites you and your neighbors in the hotel next to you are filled with loud music and something you ate gave you montezuma's revenge and then when you get back your friends say how was the trip he said you know what it was rough it was hard but you know what I got to spend the whole week with my wife just the two of us we talked we held hands she made the whole trip worth it does that not bring honor and glory to your wife with all of that does not not speak of the immense treasure she is to you people would say Wow all of that and you're still giving thanks she must be amazing and how much more so with God but that verse three not this but that's do you believe God has a purpose in your pain maybe to heal you he could do it maybe to make your strength his strength perfect in your weakness maybe to show the world through you that though the fig tree should not blossom nor fruit be on the vines the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food though the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls yet you will rejoice in the Lord and you will take joy in the God of your salvation maybe through you to be a blessing to others maybe through your loved ones or through your children or through your friends with special needs you actually see more of Christ you see more of the joy of Christ you see more of dependence upon Christ maybe the purpose of your is to teach you something about God or to teach you something about yourself I know many of you saw this last summer when it came out on the gospel coalition websites from Joni Eareckson tada reflections on the 50th anniversary of my diving accident you know Johnny and ministry Johnny and Friends and some of you are a part of it here in Charlotte 50 years in a wheelchair it's one of TG C's top posts in the last two years over three hundred and twenty thousand page views it's well worth reading you should go find it here's just one paragraph if you have had the privilege of meeting Johnny you know that what she says here is not just putting on a good face but is a very depth of her heart she's amazing woman she writes the core of God's plan is to rescue me from sin and self and to keep rescuing me the Apostle Paul calls it the gospel by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you I'm in constant need of saving my displaced hip and scoliosis are sheepdogs that constantly snap at my heels driving me down the road to Calvary where I die to the sins Jesus died for sure I have a long way to go before I am whom God destined me to be in glory but thankfully my paralysis keeps pushing me to strive to reach for the heavenly prize the process is difficult but affliction isn't a killjoy I don't think you could find a happier follower of Jesus than me the more my paralysis helps me get in disentangled from sin the more joy bubbles up from within it's amazing you can read it you know that she didn't come to that the day after it happened or the week after the month after there's deep valleys and continued to be but 50 years on it is the Lord's work of Grace and her life and can be the lord's grace at your life there's a saying that God whispers to us in our pleasure and he shouts at us in our pain yes we need breaks yes vacations are good spring break is coming many of you will depart to one place or another but no doubt we will look back on our lives and that we give thanks for wasn't that a great break and wasn't it a wonderful time and to relax and to read a book and to sleep in no doubt when you look back on your life and you think of the times you really grew where God really showed you levels to yourself you did not know and Heights of his character you could not have imagined you will look back and I will look back and we will see those lessons came through trials through suffering listen suffering stinks it does physical pain inconveniences unknown maladies chronic illnesses never knowing when they're going to flare up emotional toil wayward children suffering hurts it's exhausting when you're in the throes of it you throw up your hands to God say God why I don't get it how is this helping me serve you more I'm just I'm tired all the time I can't do what I want to do I can't get up and around what wouldn't it make more sense to give me health and strength and energy and why suffering stinks but do not remove God from the equation it never occurred to job with all of his miserable comforters to take God out of the equation though he slay me he says yet I will trust in him yes the sabaeans came and they robbed him in the whirlwind came and the devil wasn't king there's all sorts of there's natural disasters there's sinful people there's the devil and yet job always new I I can't take God out of this equation now that's hard that can be hard on a theological level it can be hard when we want to do a theodicy that is absolved God from the problem of evil and suffering there's lots of difficulties there but I'm telling you and don't listen to what I say God is telling you the cost is much higher if you remove God from your moments of greatest pain and think that God had nothing to do with this and God has no purpose in it in his book therefore I have hope Cameron Cole talks about God's promises to him in the pain of losing his son at one point he tells the story about a woman who was lamenting her son's death in a car accident and as she was questioning why God did this to her a well-meaning chaplain replied ma'am God didn't have anything to do with your son's death to which the wailing woman replied don't you take away the only hope I have that's right the Heidelberg catechism is divided into 52 Lord's days and you're meant to do one each Sunday today as God's timing would have it is lord's day number 10 question and answer 27 and 28 grew up with it had to memorize it it's my favorite the Catechism asks what do you understand by the Providence of God answer god's providence is his almighty and ever-present power by which he upholds as with his hand heaven and earth and all creatures and so rules over them that leaf and blade rain and drought health and sickness food and drink prosperity and poverty all things in fact come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand brothers and sisters your pain is not random your suffering is not meaningless your trial is not without God's purpose and God's plan God is making all things new and God has a plan in your pain and Christ ought to change everything scholars wrestle with why mudpies Jesus Jesus is perfectly capable of saying open your eyes and he see why why go spit get some mud put it there go wash in the pool of siloam why and some people say well it's an act of recreation from dust we were created so he's sort of recreating the way his eyes ought to work that maybe other people say well Jesus is counteracting ancient notions that the ground was dirty and polluted in the saliva was somehow accursed and in God is using these things well maybe but I think there's a simpler explanation I think it's Jesus way of showing to us I'll take ordinary dirt I'll take ordinary water I'll take human spit if I have to and I will do something extraordinary nothing wasted in God's economy no accidents in God's universe Jesus way of saying nothing is the same now that I'm here I've transformed everything even dirt even mud pies even saliva I'll use it all anything and everyone can be an instrument for my glory even a man born blind do you believe that there is a henna somewhere in your suffering in order that suffering is made worse for us we believe that is absolutely without purpose without end without cause without origination without any hope of redemption at the bottom of your heartache there is a henna in order that and we may not know what it is we may not know when we see it we may not see it on this side of glory but it is there so let the master touch your eyes see what he sees do what he tells you to do and let us trust him that he has a purpose even in your pain let's pray our gracious Heavenly Father these are not mere academic things for most people in this room not merely a philosophical or theological problem to solve but a life filled with pain to be lived help us lord give us confidence in your all sustaining ever-present power and glory your providential care that you are not only sovereign but you are for us and so we can sing your praise and join with all the living creatures in giving you glory for you have a purpose we pray in Jesus amen

Channel: Christ Covenant Church

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Length: 41min 16sec (2476 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 13 2019