Four-Part Bible Study Series

God, Why?

Part Two: WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

Synopsis of Bible Study November 11, 2020

1 Peter 4:12-13 NKJV
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

I. INTRODUCTION

A.     Many of us have asked why God lets bad things happen to good people. We could also reverse this question and ask why does God allow good things to happen to bad people? To tell the truth about it, the atheist is the only one that doesn’t have a problem with this question.

B.     Non-believers don’t have to ask this question. They don’t believe that God is omnipresent or all-knowing anyway. For us that believe, this question is very real. Why does God let bad things happen to good people?

C.     This brings us to another question. Is there really any good people in the world or do we just think we are good people?

II. HOW DO YOU EVALUATE “GOOD” OR “BAD”?

A.     What Makes Someone Good?

Isaiah 64:6 NKJV But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. – We think we do things that make us good, but Jesus judges us by what we are and not what we do. You can do all the right things, but still be as filthy rags.

B.     By Nature No One Is Good

James 2:10 NKJV For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. – There was only one time in history where a bad thing happened to a good person. That good person was Jesus. We don’t even stand in a place where we can say we are good. Only by the grace of God, do we exist.

1. The question still remains: Why do wicked people prosper?
2. Matthew 5:45 NKJV that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
3. Romans 3:10-12 NKJV As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” –
4. James 4:17 NKJV Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. -No one is good except God alone. We are naughty by nature. We all make mistakes and have flaws.
5. Romans 7:18 NKJV For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. – We all have stuff in us that is not right. In fact, instead of saying, “Why do bad things happen to good people”, we should instead say, “Why does bad things happen to us?”

C.     Because Of Christ, We Are Declared Good

1. We are only deemed good through Christ, because God has taken on all of our sins and he is transforming us.
2. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. – By nature, we really don’t even seek God the way we are supposed to.
3. Colossians 3:9-10 NKJV Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

III. WHY DO GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER?

A.     Pain Awakens Us To God

1. “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” ― C.S. Lewis
2. James 1:2-4 NKJV My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
3. Psalm 119:71 NKJV It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. – We wouldn’t have learned about God, if we hadn’t gone through what we did. No one asks for suffering, but when it happens, know that there is a benefit tied to it.
4. Romans 5:3-4 NKJV And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. – Faith in Christ is not a guarantee of a good life free of trouble.
5. Bad things do happen to good people. Because we have free will, pain can display God’s justice.

B.     Pain Can Display God’s Justice

1. Hebrews 12:7-11 NKJV If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. – Things happen that we hate, but we learn to appreciate it later. Its like dreading a whipping from our parents when we were younger and later finding out that it was for our own good.

C.     Drives Sinners To Repentance

1. Punishment makes wrong people, do right.
2. Psalm 119:71 NKJV It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. – Sometimes you have to have things happen to put you back in the proper place.

D.     Used To Advance The Kingdom Of God

1. Suffering has meaning. How many things in nature, besides us, complain about what they go through? How many trees are upset when a tsunami come? You think you are that until you suffer, but afterwards you realize who you really are.
2. Everything you go through has some purpose tied to it.
   1. 1 Peter 4:12-13 NKJV 12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
   1. Romans 5:3-5 NKJV And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. – Tribulation produce’s perseverance. Everything that we have to go through produces something in our lives.

IV. BIBLICAL EXAMPLES

A.     Abraham Intercedes For Sodom

1. Genesis 18:22-25 NKJV Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” – Abraham just kept pleading with God. Sometimes, the good have to suffer with the bad.

B.     Moses

1. Exodus 5:22-23 NKJV So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? – In Moses eyes, nothing could justify what they were going through. 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.” – Everything that happens bad, we must realize that there must be some purpose behind it.

C.     Job

1. Job 2:9-10 NKJV  9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? [a]Curse God and die!”But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. –– Job did nothing wrong. His wife says curse God and die, but Job didn’t. Through all of this, Job realized that though God sleighed him, he had to trust Him.

Ponder this: It’s all in how you see it. You can interpret a situation the wrong way. That’s why it is important to get revelation. Revelation will help you with your situation. It will help you get the proper perspective.

1. You interpret things a certain way sometimes, because you don’t have revelation.
2. Example: There are some people standing outside a hospital room. You can hear a woman screaming at the top of her lungs, while standing out in the hall. While the woman is screaming, the people outside her room was laughing. This guy walks up and hears the woman screaming and see the people laughing. He is furious with them for laughing and he asks, “Why are you laughing?” and “Why do you think her screaming is funny” ?

What he did not know was the woman was screaming, because she was having a baby. The people were smiling and laughing, because they knew that after all of this pain, there would be a blessing. That blessing would be her new born baby.

See the guy only saw the situation from his perspective. It is important to have the proper perspective when dealing with pain. This is why we must thank God for everything we go through. Stop asking why you have to go through this. Just learn to go through it with dignity and perspective.

When you trust the sovereignty of God, you know that He knows what’s best.