We need to know that GOD HATES HUMAN SUFFERING. He hates your suffering as much as you do. Always has – always will. He didn’t make humans to suffer. He made them to live in paradise forever. He didn’t make anything to suffer, not even Lucifer. He did, however, make them with the freedom to choose against His will and that is what has brought all this suffering. There was no suffering in Eden before sin came and there will be no suffering in the New Jerusalem – forever! God hates it and will not allow it in His presence. “In Your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.” (Ps.16:11)
When Jesus came He spent almost all of His ministry alleviating human suffering. He made the blind to see and the deaf to hear. He healed the lepers and cast out demons. He destroyed the works of the devil (1Jn.3:8). Just like Jesus, when the Spirit came upon the church they went about healing everyone. There was no suffering from poverty or sickness in the Jerusalem Church (Acts 4:343-35; 5:14-16). Jesus had commissioned them to heal the sick and cast out demons, and they did. Suffering comes from sin and Satan.
Who loves to see humans suffer? The devil and his hosts of demons do. They steal, kill and destroy; Jesus came to give life (Jn.10:10) and to destroy the works of the devil. “God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38) Satan delights to see humans suffer, but God hates suffering as much as you do.
God hates human suffering so much that in the gospel He took all our sufferings and pain, and placed them on Jesus so we wouldn’t have to suffer. Mt.8:16-17 says so. In bearing our sins, He also bore the consequences of our sins, all the pain and sorrow that comes with sicknesses, diseases, and natural disasters.
If God hates human suffering so much, why does He allow it? The answer to that comes in what theologians call “Original Sin.” God gave man dominion over everything on earth, natural and spiritual. That means he ruled over the devil, the original “creeping thing.” God told man there was one thing he must never do and if he did, he would die (and bring death on the earth). God did not stop Adam from disobeying Him, because He had given man the responsibility to rule over Satan the snake. Suffering came from the sin of man.
Here’s the way the Bible puts it: “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Rm.5:12) Human suffering does not necessarily come by any particular sin of any sufferer. By Adam’s sin his descendants are born sinners. The consequences of man’s choice in the beginning brought all this suffering. That does not mean our individual sins don’t have any consequences of suffering. I have buried too many smokers who died from cancer. Drunk drivers kill multitudes on our highways every year. Drugs kill even more. But mainly suffering does not come through particular sins.
Stay Connected with Grace Church!
Dive deeper into sermon notes and see how Christ is moving in our community by visiting our website: https://sites.google.com/view/gracehouseclinton/sermons
If you feel led to support our ministry, you can give securely here: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=674824c2-5d42-11ee-90fc-1260ab546d11
Thank you for being part of our ministry! #GraceChurch #FaithInAction #terrysimpson #terry #simpson #clintonar #sermons #pastor #ministry #discipleship
