How Does God Answer Today’s Skeptics?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Did God just make me to punish me?
00:00:07.620 | And why did he create me in the first place?
00:00:09.540 | To what end?
00:00:11.120 | Huge, massive questions like these
00:00:13.240 | arrive every day in the inbox from you,
00:00:14.920 | our friends who are listening.
00:00:17.120 | Like this email from a podcast listener in New York City.
00:00:19.880 | Here's his email, it's a very heavy one,
00:00:21.580 | I wanna prepare you for that.
00:00:22.840 | It's a heavy question, and he writes this.
00:00:24.640 | Dear Pastor John, why did God create us?
00:00:28.560 | I grew up in the Bible Belt.
00:00:29.960 | In my 20s I moved to New York City.
00:00:31.800 | I've been here for over a decade
00:00:33.000 | and my beliefs have been challenged here.
00:00:35.480 | The past couple of years, life has been hard,
00:00:37.320 | not only for me, but for some of my closest friends.
00:00:40.360 | Only a few times in my life have I been mad at God.
00:00:43.200 | This past month, I was.
00:00:45.680 | I think I know why he created us,
00:00:47.400 | to serve and worship him and to love others.
00:00:49.800 | In New York City, I've met all sorts of people
00:00:51.880 | who reject God.
00:00:52.960 | I've heard things such as, God enjoys seeing others suffer.
00:00:57.000 | God isn't real because people suffer.
00:00:59.800 | God doesn't answer prayers.
00:01:01.480 | God doesn't talk to us.
00:01:03.040 | Look at the Bible, he allowed suffering,
00:01:04.720 | killing, polygamy.
00:01:06.240 | He is selfish and wants you all to himself.
00:01:08.720 | On and on it goes.
00:01:09.800 | In the past, I felt that even though I didn't understand
00:01:13.200 | why God allowed things, I still had faith
00:01:15.600 | to believe in him and to try to defend him.
00:01:18.240 | So why did he create us and why should I marvel at him
00:01:21.200 | coming to save me?
00:01:22.440 | He should have, shouldn't he?
00:01:23.640 | He created me.
00:01:25.340 | Or if he wasn't going to save me,
00:01:26.960 | why did he create me at all?
00:01:29.520 | I have repented of my thoughts and I do believe in him,
00:01:32.480 | but my faith remains shaken by these questions.
00:01:34.920 | Can you help me, Pastor John?
00:01:37.560 | - Well, I hope so.
00:01:38.760 | Sometimes it helps just to hear God
00:01:43.160 | respond to criticisms of God.
00:01:46.320 | And that's what we're gonna do in just a minute.
00:01:49.100 | This of course is one of the biggest questions
00:01:53.240 | that can possibly be asked.
00:01:56.080 | Why are we created?
00:01:58.440 | Why did he make the universe?
00:01:59.620 | Why did God do this?
00:02:01.640 | Why is there humankind?
00:02:04.440 | So have mercy on me as I dare, dare in 10 minutes
00:02:09.440 | to answer questions that have caused thousands
00:02:14.280 | of books to be read.
00:02:15.400 | Perhaps the clearest answer to why we were created,
00:02:20.600 | why this friend in New York was created,
00:02:25.080 | is Isaiah 43, seven.
00:02:27.320 | Bring my sons from afar,
00:02:29.120 | my daughters from the ends of the earth,
00:02:31.680 | everyone who is called by my name,
00:02:35.120 | whom I created for my glory.
00:02:39.320 | I think that's probably the simplest,
00:02:40.960 | straightforward sentence in the Bible
00:02:44.040 | in answer to the question, Isaiah 43, seven.
00:02:48.400 | Then he clarifies a few verses later, verse 20.
00:02:51.800 | The people whom I formed for myself,
00:02:56.760 | that they might declare my praise.
00:03:01.280 | And here's the way Peter puts it in 1 Peter 2, 9.
00:03:05.080 | That you may proclaim the excellencies
00:03:09.920 | of him who called you out of darkness
00:03:12.520 | into his marvelous light.
00:03:13.960 | We exist to reflect, to proclaim,
00:03:18.960 | to display the excellencies
00:03:23.320 | of our redeeming creator, God.
00:03:27.640 | So ultimately, God brought the universe into being
00:03:32.000 | and human beings into being
00:03:35.240 | so that God's glory, his greatness, beauty, and worth,
00:03:41.280 | that's my effort to fill out that term,
00:03:44.640 | glory a little bit, his greatness, his beauty, his worth,
00:03:49.640 | so that his glory might be on display
00:03:54.080 | in the objective realities of his work, like creation,
00:03:58.880 | and especially as that glory is magnified
00:04:05.040 | in the enjoyment that his people have in knowing him
00:04:10.920 | and reflecting him and praising him.
00:04:14.560 | That's my long answer to the question, why are we made?
00:04:19.560 | What seems to stand in the way of our friend,
00:04:22.880 | let's call him our New York friend,
00:04:24.800 | hard place, hard place.
00:04:27.640 | There are no easy places to stand for all that God tells us,
00:04:32.320 | but he's in a hard place.
00:04:35.040 | What seems to stand in the way for him affirming this
00:04:39.960 | is the sort of things that people have said to him
00:04:42.760 | about God and his world and his word.
00:04:46.400 | He mentions five things.
00:04:48.440 | So I'm going to give a brief biblical response to each one.
00:04:53.080 | That's what I meant a minute ago when I said,
00:04:55.440 | sometimes it helps just to hear God
00:04:57.960 | answer criticisms about God.
00:05:01.480 | So I'm gonna let God answer these five criticisms.
00:05:05.280 | Number one, God enjoys seeing others suffer.
00:05:10.280 | Two responses.
00:05:13.080 | First, no, he doesn't.
00:05:15.400 | Not the way the critic means it.
00:05:19.160 | Ezekiel 33, 11, as I live, declares the Lord,
00:05:24.160 | I do not have pleasure in the death of the wicked,
00:05:30.640 | but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
00:05:35.280 | Or Lamentations 3, 32.
00:05:38.200 | Though he cause grief, he will have compassion
00:05:42.560 | according to the abundance of his steadfast love,
00:05:45.880 | for he does not afflict from his heart
00:05:50.280 | or grieve the children of men.
00:05:53.640 | Second response to the statement,
00:05:55.920 | God enjoys seeing others suffer.
00:05:58.520 | When God finally judges the world with eternal punishment,
00:06:03.520 | when God finally judges the world,
00:06:06.800 | his judgment will be perfectly just,
00:06:10.960 | and he will not disapprove of his justice.
00:06:15.080 | So whatever joy there is in his final act,
00:06:21.440 | it will be owing to not the sadism of a mind
00:06:27.420 | or the sadism of a monster,
00:06:30.220 | but to the perfect justice of one who never wronged anyone
00:06:35.220 | and who gave his son to die for sinners.
00:06:40.220 | Second thing that they say about God,
00:06:44.340 | God isn't real because people suffer.
00:06:48.560 | Or look at the Bible.
00:06:50.620 | He allows suffering, killing, polygamy.
00:06:52.780 | Actually, he not only allowed it,
00:06:57.180 | he governs it.
00:06:58.980 | He's God.
00:07:00.860 | He is never cornered into doing or allowing anything
00:07:05.860 | that his wisdom and justice and mercy do not govern.
00:07:11.300 | Instead of saying God isn't real
00:07:16.300 | because he allowed suffering and sin,
00:07:18.860 | we ought to say what Genesis 50, 20 says,
00:07:22.860 | as for you sinners, you meant evil against me,
00:07:27.780 | but God meant it for good.
00:07:30.460 | I believe that is the banner over all sin in this world.
00:07:35.460 | God is God, not in spite of permitting sin,
00:07:40.780 | but because he constantly is turning sin
00:07:44.720 | for his wise and just and merciful purposes
00:07:48.400 | for those who trust him.
00:07:49.980 | Number three, they say, he hears in New York,
00:07:53.380 | people say God doesn't answer prayers.
00:07:57.700 | Well, this is their word against the word of Jesus,
00:08:02.420 | and you have to choose.
00:08:03.500 | Who are you gonna believe?
00:08:05.540 | Because Jesus says in Matthew 7,
00:08:08.940 | "Which of you, if his son asks him for bread,
00:08:12.180 | "will give him a stone?
00:08:13.280 | "Or if he asks for fish, would give him a serpent?
00:08:16.180 | "If you then, who are evil,
00:08:18.500 | "know how to give good gifts to your children,
00:08:21.380 | "how much more will your father, who is in heaven,
00:08:24.720 | "give good things to those who ask him?"
00:08:29.720 | In other words, a child may not get exactly
00:08:34.820 | what he asked for, but he will get good things
00:08:37.500 | because he asks, because he prays.
00:08:40.300 | That's what Jesus says, and if a New Yorker says otherwise,
00:08:44.520 | you gotta decide who to believe.
00:08:46.220 | Number four, God doesn't talk to us.
00:08:50.840 | Answer, yes, he does.
00:08:53.460 | He does.
00:08:54.820 | He communicates himself in nature and in scripture
00:08:59.260 | with immeasurable fullness, and I'll say it again,
00:09:02.940 | immeasurable fullness, way beyond what we deserve or need.
00:09:10.780 | Romans 1, 19, "For what can be known about God
00:09:15.600 | "is plain to them, because God has shown it to them,
00:09:19.700 | "for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power
00:09:22.860 | "and divine nature, have been clearly perceived
00:09:25.900 | "ever since the creation of the world
00:09:27.900 | "in the things that have been made,
00:09:29.840 | "so they are without excuse."
00:09:32.200 | That's his communication through nature.
00:09:36.240 | Here's 2 Timothy 3, 16.
00:09:39.280 | "All scripture is breathed out by God
00:09:43.540 | "and is profitable for teaching, for reproof,
00:09:46.560 | "for correction, and for training in righteousness."
00:09:49.720 | If you can read any of the thousand languages
00:09:54.040 | where the Bible is translated,
00:09:56.380 | you can hear the voice of God infallibly.
00:10:01.380 | Whether you will acknowledge that he is speaking
00:10:06.380 | is another matter, but he is speaking.
00:10:10.760 | And number five, they say, these New Yorkers say,
00:10:15.280 | "He's selfish and wants you all to himself."
00:10:20.280 | And my answer, God's answer, no, on both counts.
00:10:25.540 | First, it is not selfish for God to want you for himself
00:10:31.220 | because he is the greatest being that exists
00:10:36.140 | and to welcome you into his fellowship
00:10:38.400 | to enjoy him forever is not selfish.
00:10:41.740 | It is love.
00:10:42.740 | It is the apex of love.
00:10:45.360 | He himself is the greatest gift he can give to us
00:10:50.640 | and he does not hold back.
00:10:52.940 | He paid the price of his son to make it possible
00:10:55.760 | for people to be with him.
00:10:59.100 | And secondly, he does not keep us for himself alone.
00:11:04.360 | In the world to come, we will be the most social of beings.
00:11:09.360 | We will give, he will give, Jesus will give,
00:11:13.800 | God will give us to each other
00:11:18.000 | for everlasting mutual love and admiration.
00:11:22.240 | The biblical picture of Jesus that the Bible gives us
00:11:27.240 | is of him holding a great banquet
00:11:32.800 | with all his followers seated at a table
00:11:37.620 | in a great company, enjoying the food
00:11:42.020 | and enjoying each other.
00:11:43.100 | And he comes and he serves us with joy and power forever.
00:11:48.100 | You can see that in Luke 12.
00:11:50.360 | So I return to the question with this biblical answer
00:11:55.360 | for why we were created.
00:11:58.360 | Ultimately, God brought the universe into being
00:12:01.960 | and brought us humans into being
00:12:05.600 | so that God's glory might be on display
00:12:09.960 | in the objective realities of his work.
00:12:13.880 | And especially as that glory is magnified
00:12:18.880 | in the enjoyment that his people have
00:12:22.960 | in knowing him and reflecting him and praising him,
00:12:27.960 | especially for his grace.
00:12:31.520 | - Amen, yeah, it doesn't get much bigger than that.
00:12:33.800 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:12:34.680 | And thank you for the raw questions.
00:12:36.040 | So many of you send on us questions like these,
00:12:38.600 | and we deeply appreciate it.
00:12:40.280 | And thank you for listening.
00:12:41.120 | To search our archives, read transcripts of episodes,
00:12:43.560 | or ask us a question of your own,
00:12:45.800 | go to our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:12:50.480 | Well, God is loving and God is patient and God is kind,
00:12:55.480 | but is God also severe?
00:12:58.580 | Can we say that?
00:12:59.920 | That question about the severity of God
00:13:01.920 | is up next on the other side of the weekend.
00:13:04.360 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:13:05.520 | We'll see you back here on Monday.
00:13:07.160 | (upbeat music)
00:13:09.740 | (upbeat music)
00:13:12.320 | [BLANK_AUDIO]