What is God’s experience in the midst of the Great Controversy? Does He hurt when I hurt? Does He even care?

<p>What is God’s experience in the midst of the Great Controversy? Does He hurt when I hurt? Does He even care?</p>

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CORE Evangelism School

Dee Casper

Does God Care? - Part 2

Our topic this evening is on, does God care part 2?

So we're gonna pick up where we left off last week, this idea of when we're in situations where we're in a world that is full with brokenness and heartache and tragedy, and we just wonder, does God care?

Is He aware of what we're going through and is any of this on His heart and mind and does He care that we're hurting?

And so I hope and pray that what's shared this evening will be a blessing and helpful for you.

In my own studies, it's made a big difference for me just to kind of give some context to what's going on in the world.

And so without any further ado, I'm going to pray and then we'll begin our study again this evening.

God in heaven, I thank you for this privilege to come into your presence, that you long to speak into our brokenness and into our pain, and I believe that you have solutions for us.

And so I just pray that you would speak to us in clear, succinct fashion, and that hearing your side of the story, Lord, would help us to better contextualize our own sufferings on this earth.

We love you, Lord, and we thank you, and we ask these things now in Jesus' name.

All right, so we, our view of God is our largest primary hermeneutic.

Our means through which we interpret scripture or the way in which we interpret scripture is largely based upon our view of God.

And so if we have an unhealthy view of God, we may come to unhealthy conclusions about what God's Word says and what goes on in those circumstances.

So what I'd like to do today is just walk through some pictures specifically of the Old Testament God.

I know that we can look at Scripture and sometimes come to the wrong conclusion that we have God as love and Jesus as love in the New Testament, but the Old Testament like there's this God of fire and wrath and vengeance and so forth, and that isn't the way that scripture paints this story.

So I just want to make sure that's abundantly clear to you guys.

And this has been a very, very helpful study for me to kind of process some of these things.

So I want to begin in Ezekiel chapter 18, beginning in verse 23.

And we're just going to walk through a bunch of Old Testament references where God Himself is speaking, giving His side of the story in the midst of a world that's suffering.

Last week we addressed the issue that many times when people start a theodicy or an explanation about evil and so forth, We make the point that God didn't start it and God's going to put an end to it, and that Jesus has come to take all of the sin upon himself to ensure that we could be saved.

And that's all very good news, but there's still this massive intervening time where we suffer between, you know, when sin entered the world and until Jesus comes to put an end to it.

And I think that's the most compelling argument when it comes to this whole idea of the great controversy or a theodicy.

And so what I'll be sharing with you right now is addressing these very issues, God's side of the story on that particular topic.

So in Ezekiel chapter 18 and verse 23, this is what God says, do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

And in Ezekiel 33 in verse 11, it's a very similar theme.

Ezekiel 33 in verse 11 says this, says, "'Say to them, as I live, ' says the Lord God, which is from everlasting to everlasting, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

Turn, turn from your evil ways, for why should you die, O house of Israel?

God does not want that for us, and he's doing whatever he can to see people saved.

Okay, 2 Peter 3 9 alludes a very similar premise.

He says, "...the Lord is not slack concerning his promise.

He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God wants all to be saved, and last week we saw that God did what it took for all to be saved, but unfortunately not all will respond to that goodness of God.

So, God does not rejoice over the death of anyone.

We closed last week with the idea of God having to completely destroy the wicked.

And he doesn't take pleasure in this as he's already said.

No 1 creates something out of love and then takes enjoyment in destroying it.

That's just not how God operates and it's just not logical even.

But go to Isaiah chapter 5 And if anyone wants these slides for these references, we're going to have to move with a sense of purpose this evening, just message us, put something in the comment section, and I'm happy to send them to you.

This, I think, is a really, really, really helpful argument on God's behalf.

It says, Now let me sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard.

My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up and cleared out its stones and he planted it with the choicest vine, with the greatest potential to bear fruit.

He cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine.

He built a tower in its midst and he also made a winepress in it.

So you expected, obviously, it to bring forth good grapes, but instead it brought forth wild grapes.

But notice God is removing all the obstructions that would keep it from growing and he gives it the most potential bearing vine.

Some of us may wrestle with this idea of change in lifestyle or any of the reforms we may have in our movement or in the church in general and think, what's the big deal?

Is God just trying to crash the party and keep us from having fun?

The point of every reform in Scripture is to remove the things that would hinder our growth.

Because God wants us to grow into a lovely and beautiful plant.

And so, anyway, and he gives the vine that has the greatest potential to bear fruit, which means that he didn't put people on this planet that were just failures and had no potential.

No, no, he put good people in here with good potential to grow.

Then he says this, he put a wine press in it, a tower in its midst, and he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but again it brings forth poisonous fruit.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between me and my vineyard.

What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it?

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

And now please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned.

I will break down its wall, again its means of protection, and it should be trampled down.

It should not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briars and thorns.

And I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.

Then it says, For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help." Right?

God is asking, what more could I have done?

Like I removed the things that would hinder your growth.

I created you as something with great potential to grow.

And we'll refer back to this many times in our study.

So some of us may say, well, God could have stopped this from happening.

He should just plow in, grab hold of people, and keep these things from taking place.

But in Genesis chapter 2, whenever God created Adam and Eve, we dealt with this last week, He said, of all the trees you may freely eat, but then he said, of this tree you may not eat because in the day you eat of it you will surely die.

Not might, not maybe, you will surely die.

And notice that God didn't say in the day you eat of it, I will kill you.

If you partake of this tree, there are dire consequences and it's because I love you that I'm warning you beforehand not to do so.

God gave them clear directives and warnings, but remember, love requires freedom and freedom has the ability to choose wrongly.

And so God gave perfect freedom to Adam and Eve, but they used that freedom in a way that didn't help them and has hurt many for generations to come.

And so he gives that warning in love in Genesis chapter 2, 15 to 17.

But you can imagine after God gives this warning and then Adam and Eve fall, Him saying the same thing He says in Isaiah 5, what more could I have done?

If I tell someone that the bridge is out up ahead, and they continue to drive forward and drive off the precipice, am I to blame for that?

No, out of love I warn them because I don't want them to be hurt.

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Does God Care? - Part 2

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