Why Would God Ordain Evil?

[Music] so what I'm going to do is pick it up I hope it doesn't feel hurried I I want you to get the sense of what the unit is about and how how each P fits in so we may leave out some details but I hope you feel like okay I got I got the big picture of how this works so here we are at 19- 23 you will say to me then why does he still find fault so he's he's with us he he he knows that what he's saying in he he has Mercy on whom he wills and he hardens whom he wills and yet he's going to find fault with pharoh yes he is and he asked why does he he do that for who can resist his will and the answer to that is nobody he's just taught that very clearly that is nobody can resist his will decisively ultimately you can you can say no to God all day long if he lets you but if he wants to move into your life and overcome that no with a great yes of New Birth he will and can verse 20 but who are you oh man to answer back to God now is that response to the question he just asked a shut up and don't ask God questions is is should we take it that way but who are you oh man to answer back to God I don't think so this word answer back a but my it's used one other time in the New Testament it's used in um I don't know if I wrote down the the actual text it's in Luke somewhere um but it what it means is uh Jesus told responded to the the Jewish leaders and it says they were not able to answer him in other words they couldn't come up with a way to contradict him they could they had nothing more to say he had he had answered their objections and and they couldn't answer back so I think answer back carries the connotation of show to be wrong contradict get in God's face you how can you do that let me give you an illustration do you remember the angel comes to Zechariah and Mary Mother of Jesus to Zachariah the angel says you and your wife Elizabeth are going to have a child and of course they're beyond years and this another miracle baby and and Zechariah says how can this be for we're old and the angel remember what he said I'm Gabriel I told you I that that's my tone of voice I but I think it's right because he said you're not talking for 9 months he was mad that question was not acceptable what was the question you just told me what's going to happen and I'm answering with the tone that says can't be now he comes to Mary and hers is even more amazing you a virgin are going to have a baby and what does Mary say she says how can this be for I am a virgin and I think she really means how not it can't be and so he answers her the how of the most high will overshadow you and the child will be conceived of the Holy Spirit and the child to be born in you will be called holy the son of God God he answers her and she goes on her face and says I am the Lord's handmaiden totally different attitude and so my my my sense is that there are lots of questions God is just fine with but not ones that call him into question that is doubt his word accuse him of wrong go God will suffer any how question almost just the question that says I don't think so that question he will he will say I'm God or I'm Gabriel so no I don't think that rules out all of our questions I think good good questions are in fact attractive to God he wants to help us with them and then he I think he goes to give some more help he says will what is molded say to the molder why has have you made me like this has the Potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use now what's his argument there is that just a shut up you're the pot answer or is he getting at something in the nature between potters and and pots and I I think he's saying um what is right for a Potter to do do Potters are right to make the kinds of vessels that it is the Fulfillment of their wise purposes to make there are purposes that a Potter has and if if the if the Potter is a right and good purposing Potter then all those things fit into that purpose and that's right that's what Potter should do make the range of pots that are in the Fulfillment of their purpose and the purpose would be here according to verse 17 uh to display my power and display display my name the full range of my attributes are on display in what I make and always keep in mind here the mystery no Potter I mean no pot is shattered or or thrown away that doesn't deserve to be thrown away as strange as that is to us we must keep that in mind verse 22 what if God now this is a sentence that in Greek is not finished at the end of verse 23 it just it just ends and it's it's just an if statement if God this and then there's no then Clause so to fix that in the English to it readable they put what if and that's okay provided we know the right answer to the what if so let's what's the right answer to the what if what if God so here we're trying to figure out what's the answer to that what if God Desiring to show his wrath and make known his power now what is that a reference back to that's a reference back to Pharaoh verse 17 I desire to show my name and my power through through you what if God Desiring to show his wrath and make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of Wrath prepared for Destruction endured with much patience have you ever asked why God suffered pharaoh to resist him nine times and then on the 10th one it's over because he planned for that when he was coming into town when Moses was coming into town God said to Moses I will multiply my wonders before you and I will harden his heart I plan to patiently endure this man's no no no no no no no no yes I plan to endure that so I think that's partly what's behind this endured with much patience here vessels of Wrath he had planned for this prepared for Destruction he drowned him in the in the Red Sea in order that and this is really really really important in order to what if God Desiring to show his wrath and make known his power has endured vessels of Wrath like that in order to make known The Riches of his glory for the vessels of Mercy which he prepared beforeand for Glory what's the answer what if I think the answer is then no legitimate fault against God can be raised no legitimate objection to God can be raised if God what if so leave off the what here if God Desiring to show his wrath and make known his power has done all that in order with this purpose to make known The Riches of his glory for the vessels of Mercy which he prepar for him for Glory then there's no unrighteousness with God and he is not wrong to find fall because he has acted in purposefulness for the display of the riches of his glory for the vessels of Mercy which raises this crucial question when you look at Verse 18 He hardens whom he wills and he has Mercy on whom he wills it it looks like they're kind of coordinate and parallel hardening and mercy hardening and mercy are they they're not they're both Sovereign they're both free but Mercy is Ultimate and hardening serves it and I see that in this word in order God Desiring to show his Wrath oops God Desiring to show his wrath and Desiring to make known his power to display his glory has done it in order to make known The Riches of his glory for the vessels of Mercy which he has prepared beforehand for Glory Mercy is Ultimate and Wrath is not Mercy is being served by wrath if if you were to ask me um what is the ultimate biblical answer to why evil exists what's the is there anything in the Bible that gives an ultimate answer to why evil exists remember I said I don't have an answer to how it exists I I don't know how Satan became evil I don't but that's not the question I'm asking I'm asking since God being God ordained that it happen without being a sinner in it why why does evil exist my answer would be Romans 923 I don't think there's any more ultimate answer given in the Bible than this in order that here in order to make known The Riches of his glory what what what is making known The Riches of his glory showing Wrath making known power enduring vessels of Wrath are all for making known The Riches of his glory for the vessels of Mercy now think that through Jonathan Edwards thought it through as profoundly as anybody I think and I think I want to read uh two paragraphs from Edwards and see what you think of this um an ultimate reason for Why God would ordain that there be such a thing as evil on which he then shows wrath and power why Edwards it is proper that The Shining forth of God's glory should be complete that is that all parts of his glory should shine forth and that every Beauty should be proportionately radiant that the beholder might have a proper notion of God so the point he's just made is all the glories of God all the attributes of God all the excellencies of God should be completely revealed in proportion to their reality now thus it is necessary that God's awful Majesty his authority and Dreadful greatness and Justice and Holiness should be manifested and this would not be this could not be except sin and Punishment were Creed there it is how could there be Dreadful greatness Justice Holiness revealed wrath revealed Desiring to make known his wrath his power how could this be if there were nothing so let me finish it otherwise the glory shining forth would be very imperfect because the glory of his goodness and love and Holiness would be faint without Justice and Holiness nay they would SC they could scarcely shine forth at all one more how does that relate to happiness as it is NE as it is necessary that there should be evil because the glory of God could not be could be could not but be imperfect and incomplete without it so it is necessary in order to the happiness of the creature in order to the completeness of that communication of God for which he made the world because the creatures happiness consists in the knowledge of God and the sense of his love and if the knowledge of him being imperfect the happiness must proportionably be imperfect so he is making known The Riches of his glory for the vessels of Mercy which they would not fully and perfectly see and enjoy if there were not such a thing as his wrath his power his Holiness his Justice and therefore evil is decreed in order that God might be fully known in his Holiness and his Justice and his wrath against it and he does all of that without being evil without committing sin one of the statements that that if it if it doesn't exist as a category in your mind you won't be able to process this is it is no sin in God to will that there be sin it is no sin in God to will that there be sin many people even just simple ordinary people have come up with analogies like a tapestry with the tangles at the bottom you turn it over and it's beautifully woven at the top or a canvas that a great artist is painting and he starts by making the whole thing Crimson or black just what are you doing that for and then he has his oranges and his yellows and his Reds and his greens and his blues and and then there's this magnificent beautiful landscape and you realize without all of that dark background it wouldn't work that's that's what I see in verse 23 and 22 what if God Desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power endured with much patience vessels of Wrath in order that the the yellows and the blues and greens would Shine proportionably for the vessels of Mercy which he has prepared beforehand for Glory and I say it one more time that will only work if you embrace the fact that in this mystery of election God never punishes anybody who doesn't deserve to be punished election is unconditional and final judgment is never unconditional but always deserved by sin

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 39,663

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism

Id: 5OpN6yfj4AE

Length: 19min 54sec (1194 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 11 2017