1 00:00:00,780 --> 00:00:04,980 Hi, I am Kerry Duke, host of My God in My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee 2 00:00:04,980 --> 00:00:09,420 Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. 3 00:00:09,820 --> 00:00:13,670 Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to 4 00:00:13,670 --> 00:00:15,279 share what you've learned with others. 5 00:00:17,430 --> 00:00:21,480 What would you say if someone asked you, “Why did God create the world?” 6 00:00:21,550 --> 00:00:23,419 Why did he make us and put us here? 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,290 I've been asked that question several times. 8 00:00:26,580 --> 00:00:28,580 One time was in Russia, years ago. 9 00:00:29,139 --> 00:00:32,610 Two college students in Moscow wanted to talk with me about religion. 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,349 One of them said, “If there is a God, what purpose did he have for making 11 00:00:37,350 --> 00:00:41,640 all this? What was the reason?” So I took them to Acts chapter 17. 12 00:00:42,820 --> 00:00:46,930 Paul was speaking to a crowd of people who were mostly skeptics, and one 13 00:00:46,930 --> 00:00:51,989 of the first things he said was that God made the world and He made us. 14 00:00:52,279 --> 00:00:59,130 In Acts 17, verse 24, Paul said, “God who made the world and everything in it, 15 00:00:59,660 --> 00:01:04,479 since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, 16 00:01:04,739 --> 00:01:09,900 nor is He worshiped with men's hands as though He needed anything, since He 17 00:01:09,900 --> 00:01:16,930 gives to all life breath and all things, and He has made from one blood every 18 00:01:16,930 --> 00:01:22,320 nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their 19 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:27,150 preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should 20 00:01:27,150 --> 00:01:32,470 seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is 21 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:38,600 not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.” 22 00:01:38,690 --> 00:01:43,130 Now notice in verse 24 that the first thing that Paul does is to 23 00:01:43,130 --> 00:01:45,530 point out that God made the world. 24 00:01:45,559 --> 00:01:49,950 Now remember, he's talking to people who, for the most part, don't believe 25 00:01:49,950 --> 00:01:51,490 in the one true and living God. 26 00:01:51,710 --> 00:01:56,010 Athens was the intellectual center of the day, and it was full of idols. 27 00:01:56,289 --> 00:02:00,530 So Paul begins by talking about the fact that God is the Creator. 28 00:02:00,620 --> 00:02:06,800 He created everything and in verse 26, he talks about the fact that God made us. 29 00:02:07,010 --> 00:02:09,270 God created human beings. 30 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:11,009 Why did He do that? 31 00:02:11,490 --> 00:02:16,459 He says in verse 26,that God made from one blood every nation of men to 32 00:02:16,460 --> 00:02:18,260 dwell on all the face of the earth. 33 00:02:18,490 --> 00:02:20,350 God made us, and He put us here. 34 00:02:20,889 --> 00:02:23,540 Now, why did God put us on the earth? 35 00:02:23,579 --> 00:02:26,040 Why did he create us and place us here? 36 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,410 The answer is in verse 27: so that they should seek the Lord. 37 00:02:31,470 --> 00:02:32,600 It's just that simple. 38 00:02:33,290 --> 00:02:37,930 God made us and He put us on the earth that He made so 39 00:02:37,930 --> 00:02:39,940 that we should seek the Lord. 40 00:02:40,180 --> 00:02:41,210 That's the purpose. 41 00:02:41,579 --> 00:02:42,479 That's the reason. 42 00:02:43,020 --> 00:02:44,970 We're not here to live forever on earth. 43 00:02:45,500 --> 00:02:47,370 We're not here to please ourselves. 44 00:02:47,710 --> 00:02:53,400 We are here to seek God, to find him, and to glorify him by serving him. 45 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,564 Now, in order to seek God, we must choose to seek Him, and 46 00:02:58,859 --> 00:03:00,670 that means that we have a will. 47 00:03:01,270 --> 00:03:02,720 We have free will. 48 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,740 That's part of the nature that God gave us when He created us in his own image. 49 00:03:08,110 --> 00:03:10,780 Now, animals and trees don't seek God. 50 00:03:11,230 --> 00:03:13,959 They don't make a decision to give glory to the Creator. 51 00:03:14,250 --> 00:03:15,699 But you and I have a will. 52 00:03:16,279 --> 00:03:17,770 We choose what we do. 53 00:03:18,310 --> 00:03:23,150 God wants us to love and to obey him, but He won't force us to love him. 54 00:03:23,490 --> 00:03:28,589 Love is a choice, if anything is a choice and not forced it's love. 55 00:03:28,969 --> 00:03:33,950 But that means that a person can choose not to love God if he wants to. 56 00:03:34,690 --> 00:03:38,780 Human beings have a will, and we're not perfect like God. 57 00:03:39,260 --> 00:03:41,910 God's will is always pure and right. 58 00:03:42,410 --> 00:03:43,209 But we sin. 59 00:03:43,670 --> 00:03:45,940 We choose to go against the will of God. 60 00:03:46,490 --> 00:03:47,750 That's the starting point. 61 00:03:47,750 --> 00:03:51,609 As far as the question of why there's evil in the world is concerned, 62 00:03:51,839 --> 00:03:55,859 we've already mentioned the fact that Adam was not the first one to sin. 63 00:03:56,230 --> 00:04:00,150 He was the first human being to sin, but he was not the 64 00:04:00,150 --> 00:04:02,049 first being who committed sin. 65 00:04:02,630 --> 00:04:04,950 That being evidently was Satan. 66 00:04:05,370 --> 00:04:08,279 The Bible says that some of the angels sinned. 67 00:04:08,509 --> 00:04:12,389 Second Peter, chapter two, verse four, talks about the angels that sinned. 68 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,220 Jude verse six also goes into more detail about that, and judging from 69 00:04:17,220 --> 00:04:23,289 what Jesus said in Matthew 25, verse 41, it appears that Satan was the leader. 70 00:04:23,740 --> 00:04:29,600 That verse talks about the devil and his angels, but the same question arises. 71 00:04:30,090 --> 00:04:31,560 Why did the angels sin? 72 00:04:32,190 --> 00:04:34,450 How did evil get a start among them? 73 00:04:35,060 --> 00:04:38,549 And the same answer comes back: because they chose to sin. 74 00:04:38,849 --> 00:04:40,060 They had free will. 75 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,840 We are looking in this series at the question “Why.” Why is there 76 00:04:44,870 --> 00:04:50,390 evil in the world and why does the all-powerful, all-loving God allow it? 77 00:04:50,650 --> 00:04:53,330 And as we said before, there are two kinds of evil. 78 00:04:53,740 --> 00:04:58,969 There's moral evil, which is sin, and then there is natural evil, which is suffering. 79 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,119 Right now we're focusing on moral evil. 80 00:05:02,460 --> 00:05:03,420 That is sin. 81 00:05:03,730 --> 00:05:08,190 Lord willing, we'll talk in weeks to come about suffering and why God allows it. 82 00:05:08,700 --> 00:05:11,750 But we need to begin with the problem of moral evil or sin. 83 00:05:12,340 --> 00:05:15,600 God is not to blame for the evil of sin. 84 00:05:16,020 --> 00:05:20,590 James one verse 13 says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of 85 00:05:20,590 --> 00:05:26,600 God: because God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does He tempt any man.” 86 00:05:26,780 --> 00:05:32,070 So that verse of scripture says that God cannot even be tempted with evil. 87 00:05:32,410 --> 00:05:37,550 It's not simply that God cannot sin, it's that God cannot even be tempted to sin. 88 00:05:37,770 --> 00:05:41,740 And James goes on to explain that every man is tempted when 89 00:05:41,740 --> 00:05:44,880 he is drawn away of his own lust. 90 00:05:45,090 --> 00:05:48,090 That's James one, verse 13 and 14. 91 00:05:48,450 --> 00:05:51,030 The sin problem is man's fault. 92 00:05:51,590 --> 00:05:57,910 Ecclesiastes seven verse 29 says, “God made man upright, but they have found 93 00:05:57,929 --> 00:06:01,530 out many inventions.” That is mankind. 94 00:06:01,650 --> 00:06:05,440 We are responsible for the evil of sin in the world. 95 00:06:05,630 --> 00:06:08,390 So at this stage of the study [and remember, we're just getting 96 00:06:08,390 --> 00:06:12,900 started] we are looking at how man has abused his free will from the 97 00:06:12,900 --> 00:06:15,740 beginning, Adam and Eve disobeyed God. 98 00:06:16,190 --> 00:06:16,670 Why? 99 00:06:17,170 --> 00:06:18,369 Because they chose to. 100 00:06:18,860 --> 00:06:19,780 God warned them. 101 00:06:20,260 --> 00:06:22,760 They knew better, but they did it anyway. 102 00:06:22,990 --> 00:06:27,090 And as a result, they brought death, spiritual death, or 103 00:06:27,090 --> 00:06:29,530 separation from God into the world. 104 00:06:29,909 --> 00:06:36,789 12, the Bible says, “Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered the world and 105 00:06:36,790 --> 00:06:44,000 death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Now that 106 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,589 verse does not say that we inherited sin. 107 00:06:47,139 --> 00:06:49,060 In fact, it says just the opposite. 108 00:06:49,270 --> 00:06:53,659 If we read the whole verse, Paul said that this spiritual death 109 00:06:54,029 --> 00:06:59,860 came upon or was passed upon all mankind because all have sinned. 110 00:07:00,350 --> 00:07:06,460 Romans 6 23 says the wages of sin is death, so evil in the form of 111 00:07:06,469 --> 00:07:11,389 sin is in the world because Adam and Eve sinned and we follow in 112 00:07:11,389 --> 00:07:13,800 their footsteps and sin as well. 113 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:18,990 We are tempted in the same basic ways they were—through the lust of the flesh, 114 00:07:19,270 --> 00:07:23,959 the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life [I John chapter two, verse 16]. 115 00:07:24,460 --> 00:07:28,729 Now the specific form of temptation and the setting are different. 116 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,219 We're not in the Garden of Eden and the devil doesn't come to us in the 117 00:07:32,220 --> 00:07:36,600 form of the serpent, but the same basic feelings are at work when we sin. 118 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:41,290 Eve saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the 119 00:07:41,290 --> 00:07:47,010 eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise [Genesis three, verse six]. 120 00:07:47,559 --> 00:07:52,480 If we ask why God made the world knowing that man would sin, we can only know what 121 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,750 God has revealed in his Word, the Bible. 122 00:07:55,230 --> 00:07:58,400 We don't know and we can't comprehend all the mind of God. 123 00:07:58,780 --> 00:08:03,759 We can only go as far as his Word teaches, as far as our feeble minds can take us. 124 00:08:03,990 --> 00:08:10,000 But on a human level, the reason moral evil, that is, sin, is in the world is 125 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,719 because we as human beings choose to sin. 126 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:18,530 The answer to this problem of evil, even part of the answer, is not the doctrine 127 00:08:18,530 --> 00:08:21,490 of inherited depravity or original sin. 128 00:08:21,969 --> 00:08:25,660 The Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant denominations teach this. 129 00:08:26,140 --> 00:08:31,590 It means that all human beings from Adam are born without that state of grace that 130 00:08:31,610 --> 00:08:36,630 Adam and Eve had when they were created, and we are born deprived or depraved. 131 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:39,829 Now, this would mean that we have no choice in the matter. 132 00:08:40,219 --> 00:08:41,480 We're born sinners. 133 00:08:41,850 --> 00:08:46,170 Some put it this way: man is a sinner by nature and not by choice. 134 00:08:46,780 --> 00:08:49,790 That is their alleged answer to the problem of evil. 135 00:08:50,389 --> 00:08:54,430 They say that evil is in the world because we can't help it. 136 00:08:54,980 --> 00:08:58,090 We are destined to sin because we are born that way. 137 00:08:58,109 --> 00:09:03,460 In fact, this doctrine says that we are predestined to sin, that 138 00:09:03,460 --> 00:09:08,170 God ordained evil in the world so that he could send Jesus to save 139 00:09:08,179 --> 00:09:10,660 only those God chooses to be saved. 140 00:09:10,670 --> 00:09:12,900 Now this is the doctrine of Calvinism. 141 00:09:13,889 --> 00:09:17,499 It basically looks at the problem of evil and says there is no problem 142 00:09:18,010 --> 00:09:19,800 because God wanted it this way. 143 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:21,660 It was all in his plan. 144 00:09:22,050 --> 00:09:26,320 So evil in Calvinism is actually decreed by God. 145 00:09:26,820 --> 00:09:29,460 Now, there are many reasons why this teaching is false. 146 00:09:29,889 --> 00:09:35,019 In Joshua chapter 24, verse 15, the leader of Israel said, “And if it seems 147 00:09:35,049 --> 00:09:39,810 evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will 148 00:09:39,810 --> 00:09:43,800 serve, whether the gods which your father served, that were on the other 149 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:48,350 side of the river or the gods of the Amorites, and whose land you dwell, but 150 00:09:48,350 --> 00:09:53,589 as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Notice what he said: choose 151 00:09:53,590 --> 00:09:55,920 for yourselves whom you will serve. 152 00:09:56,110 --> 00:10:00,790 Here's what Moses said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse 19: 153 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:06,410 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set 154 00:10:06,410 --> 00:10:12,940 before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that 155 00:10:12,940 --> 00:10:15,260 both you and your descendants may live.” 156 00:10:16,020 --> 00:10:22,359 Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 23, verse 37, “O, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the 157 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:27,340 one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I 158 00:10:27,340 --> 00:10:31,930 wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under 159 00:10:31,930 --> 00:10:37,260 her wings, but you were not willing.” That means they chose what they did. 160 00:10:37,950 --> 00:10:42,280 In the book of Hebrews, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24 and 25, 161 00:10:42,590 --> 00:10:48,650 “By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's 162 00:10:48,650 --> 00:10:54,510 daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than 163 00:10:54,510 --> 00:10:56,790 to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.” 164 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,610 Then toward the close of the Bible, the scriptures say, “And 165 00:11:00,610 --> 00:11:04,600 the spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him who hears say, Come, 166 00:11:04,789 --> 00:11:06,869 and let him who is athirst come. 167 00:11:07,090 --> 00:11:10,750 Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely 168 00:11:10,750 --> 00:11:13,490 [Revelation chapter 22, verse 17]. 169 00:11:13,730 --> 00:11:15,920 Are babies born in sin? 170 00:11:16,139 --> 00:11:16,609 No. 171 00:11:17,179 --> 00:11:20,979 Are little children totally depraved because they descended from Adam? 172 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:21,720 No. 173 00:11:22,219 --> 00:11:26,360 In Matthew chapter 18, when the disciples ask Jesus, who is the 174 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:28,220 greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 175 00:11:28,540 --> 00:11:32,800 The Lord set a small child before them, and here's what he said: “Unless you 176 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,860 are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the 177 00:11:37,860 --> 00:11:43,529 kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is 178 00:11:43,540 --> 00:11:47,590 the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” That's Matthew 18 verses three and four. 179 00:11:48,210 --> 00:11:53,030 Now, in what way must we be like little children to enter the kingdom? 180 00:11:53,219 --> 00:11:55,580 We must be humble, not prideful. 181 00:11:55,830 --> 00:12:00,880 The nature of a child is humility, not pride and not sin. 182 00:12:01,510 --> 00:12:05,970 Jesus taught the same view of children in Matthew chapter 19, when some 183 00:12:05,970 --> 00:12:07,670 brought little children to Jesus. 184 00:12:08,020 --> 00:12:10,370 The Bible says that His disciples rebuked them. 185 00:12:10,730 --> 00:12:16,189 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for 186 00:12:16,219 --> 00:12:22,060 of such is the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew chapter 19, verse 14]. This same kind of 187 00:12:22,070 --> 00:12:27,860 innocence is taught in I Corinthians 14, verse 20: “Brethren, do not be children 188 00:12:27,969 --> 00:12:34,129 in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be men.” 189 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:38,219 In this book of I Corinthians, Paul rebukes the church at Corinth. 190 00:12:38,540 --> 00:12:41,790 He tells them to stop acting like babies and act like men. 191 00:12:42,260 --> 00:12:47,140 But here in I Corinthians 14, verse 20, he says to imitate children in 192 00:12:47,190 --> 00:12:51,630 another way, and that is in their attitude toward malice or evil. 193 00:12:52,010 --> 00:12:52,590 Why? 194 00:12:53,010 --> 00:12:57,200 Because children are pure and innocent when it comes to evil. 195 00:12:57,700 --> 00:13:01,580 Deuteronomy Chapter one, verse 39 is also a very important verse 196 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:03,040 on this topic we're looking at. 197 00:13:03,599 --> 00:13:09,010 In this part of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is recounting what the previous 198 00:13:09,010 --> 00:13:13,099 generation of Israelites did when they came to the border of the promised land. 199 00:13:13,100 --> 00:13:17,939 Forty years before they had disobeyed God because they didn't believe him. 200 00:13:18,540 --> 00:13:22,930 As a result, God said that they would die in the desert except for Joshua and 201 00:13:23,139 --> 00:13:25,400 Caleb, but what about the little ones? 202 00:13:26,020 --> 00:13:27,280 Now, here's what Moses said. 203 00:13:27,620 --> 00:13:29,919 This is Deuteronomy chapter one, verse 39. 204 00:13:30,230 --> 00:13:35,689 Moreover, your little ones and your children who you say will be victims, 205 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:41,430 who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there.” 206 00:13:41,910 --> 00:13:46,100 The infants and the little children were not held responsible for 207 00:13:46,100 --> 00:13:47,680 the rebellion of the adults. 208 00:13:47,850 --> 00:13:49,839 The adults chose unbelief. 209 00:13:50,370 --> 00:13:52,089 They chose to disobey. 210 00:13:52,510 --> 00:13:54,910 God punished them because they were accountable. 211 00:13:55,410 --> 00:13:57,260 But the children were not punished. 212 00:13:57,580 --> 00:13:58,140 Why? 213 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:00,849 Because they didn't choose to disobey. 214 00:14:01,090 --> 00:14:02,619 They were not knowledgeable enough. 215 00:14:02,650 --> 00:14:06,430 They did not have enough knowledge between good and evil to make that choice. 216 00:14:07,250 --> 00:14:11,530 Ezekiel, chapter 18 is another powerful chapter about free will. 217 00:14:11,540 --> 00:14:15,380 We're looking at the fact that evil is in the world in the form of moral 218 00:14:15,380 --> 00:14:18,420 evil because of the free will of man. 219 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,970 In verses five through nine of Ezekiel 18, the prophet describes a man who 220 00:14:23,970 --> 00:14:29,210 is just and does what he says is lawful and right, and he shuns evil. 221 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:34,670 But then in verses 10 through 13, that same good man has a son who 222 00:14:34,670 --> 00:14:36,680 is just the opposite of his father. 223 00:14:36,950 --> 00:14:37,570 He's evil. 224 00:14:38,559 --> 00:14:41,319 And he was not bad because he was born depraved. 225 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:46,290 He was evil by choice just like his father was good by choice. 226 00:14:46,770 --> 00:14:48,229 This evil son robbed. 227 00:14:48,710 --> 00:14:49,969 He committed adultery. 228 00:14:50,250 --> 00:14:51,500 He served idols. 229 00:14:52,170 --> 00:14:54,909 Babies and little children don't do these things. 230 00:14:55,309 --> 00:14:57,969 They don't even desire to do them, and they don't have an 231 00:14:57,969 --> 00:14:59,860 inherited propensity to sin. 232 00:15:00,070 --> 00:15:01,820 That's like a ticking time bomb. 233 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:06,480 This evil son was evil because he chose to do evil. 234 00:15:06,790 --> 00:15:08,510 That's what verse 13 means. 235 00:15:08,510 --> 00:15:14,589 When it says His blood shall be upon him, that is upon himself, he and he alone is 236 00:15:14,589 --> 00:15:17,079 responsible for his spiritual condition. 237 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:22,439 Then there's a third generation in Ezekiel chapter 18 verses 14 through 17. 238 00:15:22,450 --> 00:15:27,189 Now, remember, this is the son of the evil man in verses 10 through 239 00:15:27,190 --> 00:15:31,910 13, and the grandson of the good man in verses five through nine. 240 00:15:32,380 --> 00:15:35,110 What kind of man did this son become? 241 00:15:35,750 --> 00:15:38,839 He became what he chose to be just like all of us do. 242 00:15:39,550 --> 00:15:46,130 This son in verse 14, the Bible says, sees all the sins which his father has done 243 00:15:46,710 --> 00:15:50,760 and considers, but does not do likewise. 244 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,529 Now, this is the son of an evil man. 245 00:15:53,980 --> 00:15:57,250 He sees the sins of his evil father. 246 00:15:57,690 --> 00:16:01,510 He considers them, he thinks about them, but he decides that he's not 247 00:16:01,530 --> 00:16:03,120 going to do what his father has done. 248 00:16:03,429 --> 00:16:05,000 Now, this is an encouraging verse. 249 00:16:05,429 --> 00:16:09,189 It gives hope to children raised in bad homes by mean parents. 250 00:16:09,370 --> 00:16:14,400 The son in verse 14 saw what his father did and he thought about it. 251 00:16:14,700 --> 00:16:17,050 He decided not to be like his father. 252 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:21,780 So we have this old saying, “Like father, like son,” and that proverb is 253 00:16:21,790 --> 00:16:25,980 often true, but not always. So in all these verses, and there are many more, 254 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:32,360 we find that the answer to the problem “Why is there evil in the world?” is 255 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:34,630 not because people are born in sin. 256 00:16:34,860 --> 00:16:36,990 It's because people choose to sin. 257 00:16:37,270 --> 00:16:39,650 But what about Psalm 51 verse five? 258 00:16:40,170 --> 00:16:45,400 Does that mean that we are born sinners and we can't help but sin, and that's 259 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:47,719 the reason why evil is in the world? 260 00:16:48,070 --> 00:16:49,780 Is that what David was saying? 261 00:16:50,250 --> 00:16:52,520 Here's what he said in Psalm 51, verse five. 262 00:16:52,990 --> 00:16:57,320 In the King James version, we read, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, 263 00:16:57,690 --> 00:16:59,950 and in sin did my mother conceive me” 264 00:16:59,980 --> 00:17:01,979 The New King James Version is very similar. 265 00:17:02,210 --> 00:17:07,099 It says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 266 00:17:07,099 --> 00:17:11,680 conceive me” Now, there are many people who believe that this verse teaches 267 00:17:11,710 --> 00:17:15,910 original sin and that that's the reason why we have evil in the world. 268 00:17:16,270 --> 00:17:20,170 Now, in the first place, we need to remember that the emphasis in this 269 00:17:20,190 --> 00:17:23,359 passage is on David and his sin. 270 00:17:23,369 --> 00:17:25,120 It's not about his mother. 271 00:17:25,940 --> 00:17:29,660 There's nothing in the Scripture to support the idea that David's 272 00:17:29,660 --> 00:17:31,440 mother was a sinful woman. 273 00:17:31,980 --> 00:17:36,919 In the context, David talks about my transgressions in verse one. 274 00:17:37,330 --> 00:17:41,139 He talks about my iniquity and my sin in verse two. 275 00:17:41,330 --> 00:17:45,490 He talks about my transgressions in verse three, and then we have that 276 00:17:45,490 --> 00:17:50,899 famous statement “Against you, and you only have I sinned, Lord” [verse 277 00:17:50,900 --> 00:17:55,610 four]. So David is talking about his sinfulness not his mother’s. 278 00:17:55,900 --> 00:17:57,690 That's the first thing that we need to notice. 279 00:17:57,990 --> 00:18:01,240 In the second place, David is not talking about the 280 00:18:01,710 --> 00:18:03,490 sinfulness of mankind in general. 281 00:18:03,980 --> 00:18:07,030 He's not saying that he was born into a sinful environment. 282 00:18:07,340 --> 00:18:11,820 Now again, the emphasis through the context is on his sin, not the 283 00:18:12,250 --> 00:18:13,709 sinfulness of the human race in general. 284 00:18:14,030 --> 00:18:17,560 So he's not saying that he was simply born into a sinful world. 285 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:24,389 The title that the ancient Jews gave to Psalm 51 is a Psalm of David when 286 00:18:24,390 --> 00:18:28,499 Nathan, the prophet, came to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. 287 00:18:29,139 --> 00:18:31,439 Now, this was an ancient Jewish tradition. 288 00:18:31,950 --> 00:18:35,929 And if this Psalm is not specifically about this episode in David's 289 00:18:35,930 --> 00:18:39,130 life, it still shows his remorse about his sins in general. 290 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,060 On the other hand, if he did write this about his sin with 291 00:18:43,060 --> 00:18:47,340 Bathsheba, it's not surprising that he spoke in such strong terms. 292 00:18:47,679 --> 00:18:50,890 The guilt he felt must have seemed overwhelming. 293 00:18:51,420 --> 00:18:55,720 He had committed adultery with the wife of a soldier who was very loyal to David. 294 00:18:56,310 --> 00:18:58,040 Then he had that soldier killed. 295 00:18:58,590 --> 00:19:02,790 David had trouble in his family for the rest of his life because of this sin. 296 00:19:03,150 --> 00:19:07,270 The first tragedy was the death of the child that he had with Bathsheba. 297 00:19:07,790 --> 00:19:09,969 Then one of his sons raped David's daughter. 298 00:19:10,289 --> 00:19:12,680 Then another son of David killed that son. 299 00:19:12,910 --> 00:19:16,960 Then that son Absalom started a war that divided the nation. 300 00:19:17,590 --> 00:19:21,330 In the end, the head of David's army killed Absalom against 301 00:19:21,340 --> 00:19:22,979 the direct order of the king. 302 00:19:23,070 --> 00:19:28,389 Finally, toward the close of his life when he was old and feeble, David's 303 00:19:28,389 --> 00:19:30,840 son Adonijah tried to take the throne. 304 00:19:31,490 --> 00:19:36,230 Nathan the prophet had told David, “The sword will never depart from your house” 305 00:19:36,470 --> 00:19:38,520 [Second Samuel, chapter 12, verse 10]. 306 00:19:39,090 --> 00:19:43,250 And so in all that, we find that principle that is stated in Galatians 307 00:19:43,259 --> 00:19:47,840 six, verse seven and eight, that whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. 308 00:19:47,859 --> 00:19:52,070 And that is a very important principle to keep in mind when you ask: why is there 309 00:19:52,070 --> 00:19:54,140 so much evil in suffering in the world? 310 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,889 Oftentimes, we bring it on ourselves just like David brought 311 00:19:57,889 --> 00:19:59,250 this suffering on himself. 312 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:04,190 Not every time, not in every case, and we'll talk about that later, but in the 313 00:20:04,199 --> 00:20:06,530 case of sin, that's definitely true. 314 00:20:07,150 --> 00:20:11,540 Now those fateful words that Nathan told him—the sword will 315 00:20:11,540 --> 00:20:12,700 never depart from your house. 316 00:20:12,700 --> 00:20:14,140 In other words, you will have trouble. 317 00:20:14,309 --> 00:20:16,790 You will have division for the rest of your life. 318 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,220 Those words haunted David for the rest of his life. 319 00:20:20,639 --> 00:20:24,909 Nathan, the prophet, had told David that God had forgiven him, but he 320 00:20:24,910 --> 00:20:28,350 had to live with the consequences of his sin for the rest of his life. 321 00:20:29,110 --> 00:20:32,800 Now David oftentimes pours out his heart to God in this book of Psalms. 322 00:20:33,179 --> 00:20:37,840 These psalms are called penitential psalms because David shows 323 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:39,740 his deep regret for his sins. 324 00:20:39,849 --> 00:20:43,870 Now, Psalm 51 is a Psalm of deep remorse and repentance. 325 00:20:44,410 --> 00:20:48,780 The compliment to these psalms is another type of Psalm known 326 00:20:48,830 --> 00:20:50,950 as a Psalm of forgiveness. 327 00:20:51,210 --> 00:20:52,860 Psalm 32 is a good example. 328 00:20:53,059 --> 00:20:56,790 Psalm 51 has the same element of divine forgiveness. 329 00:20:56,820 --> 00:20:58,979 Now these psalms are very personal. 330 00:20:59,219 --> 00:21:00,419 They're very emotional. 331 00:21:01,020 --> 00:21:04,460 Now this brings us to another aspect of the Book of Psalms that 332 00:21:04,460 --> 00:21:08,720 we have to remember if we're going to understand Psalm 51, verse five. 333 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,350 The Book of Psalms is a book of Hebrew poetry. 334 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,139 Some of it is literal, but much of it is filled with figures of 335 00:21:17,139 --> 00:21:19,490 speech and symbols of all kinds. 336 00:21:19,510 --> 00:21:22,920 Now, one of these figures is known as a hyperbole. 337 00:21:23,570 --> 00:21:29,379 That is an intentional overstatement, a deliberate exaggeration for emphasis. 338 00:21:29,650 --> 00:21:31,990 Now, this figure is not to be taken literally. 339 00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:37,430 Now, for instance, in Psalm six, verse six, David's heart is breaking, which 340 00:21:37,430 --> 00:21:39,240 is a figure's speech in our times. 341 00:21:39,770 --> 00:21:47,379 He said, “I am weary with groaning all night. I make my bed swim. I drench 342 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:52,240 my couch with tears.” Now, would anybody say that David cried enough 343 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,740 tears to make his bed float and swim? 344 00:21:55,330 --> 00:21:58,600 We understand what he means when he says I'm crying so much 345 00:21:58,730 --> 00:22:00,330 that I make my bed to swim. 346 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:02,040 He's not being literal. 347 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,429 A good example of the same kind of language that is found in Psalm 348 00:22:07,429 --> 00:22:10,849 51:5 is in Psalm 58, verse three. 349 00:22:11,660 --> 00:22:18,310 There David said “The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon 350 00:22:18,310 --> 00:22:23,920 as they are born, speaking lies.” Now, does anyone who believes in original 351 00:22:23,929 --> 00:22:29,110 sin think this means that newborn infants are so evil that they start 352 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:31,149 lying the moment that they're born? 353 00:22:31,650 --> 00:22:32,880 This can't be literal. 354 00:22:33,340 --> 00:22:34,670 It has to be symbolic. 355 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:36,440 It is a hyperbole. 356 00:22:36,900 --> 00:22:38,610 Newborn babies don't lie. 357 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:40,109 They can't even talk. 358 00:22:40,650 --> 00:22:45,419 This is a figurative way of describing how evil these adult people are. 359 00:22:46,039 --> 00:22:51,260 They are so thoroughly sinful that their whole life is one of continual evil. 360 00:22:51,850 --> 00:22:55,520 It is as if they began to speak lies as soon as they were 361 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,250 born—figuratively speaking. 362 00:22:57,809 --> 00:23:01,229 It's even more obvious that Psalm 58 verse three is figurative 363 00:23:01,490 --> 00:23:02,839 when you look at the next verse. 364 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,970 It says, “Their poison”—that is the poison of these people—“is 365 00:23:06,970 --> 00:23:08,389 like the poison of a serpent. 366 00:23:08,780 --> 00:23:13,350 They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear.” That's verse four. 367 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,799 So if verse four is not literal, then neither is verse three. 368 00:23:17,020 --> 00:23:20,160 And if Psalm 58, verse three is figurative, then 369 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,149 so is Psalm 51, verse five. 370 00:23:22,570 --> 00:23:27,300 In Psalm 51, verse five, where the Bible says, “Behold, I was shapen in 371 00:23:27,300 --> 00:23:33,540 iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me” David is expressing deep feelings of 372 00:23:33,540 --> 00:23:36,129 remorse in the language of Hebrew poetry. 373 00:23:36,660 --> 00:23:41,879 Psalm 51 5 is not any more literal than Psalm 58, verse three. 374 00:23:42,209 --> 00:23:44,510 Both are cases of hyperbole. 375 00:23:44,850 --> 00:23:49,470 David was so overwhelmed with grief for his sin that he's saying in 376 00:23:49,470 --> 00:23:53,360 a highly figurative way that his whole life was stained by his sin. 377 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:58,189 It was as if he was sinful since the moment he was conceived, 378 00:23:58,449 --> 00:24:01,980 just like he spoke of the wicked in Psalm 58, verse three. 379 00:24:02,020 --> 00:24:07,370 In Psalm 51, verse five, David is poetically describing how he felt, not 380 00:24:07,390 --> 00:24:09,980 literally stating the history of his sin. 381 00:24:10,469 --> 00:24:15,060 So far, we've been looking at the view that the nature of man, spiritually 382 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:17,570 speaking, is what causes sin in the world. 383 00:24:17,959 --> 00:24:21,430 We are not sinners though, because we are born in sin. 384 00:24:21,670 --> 00:24:26,220 We're not sinners because we are born with inherited total depravity. 385 00:24:26,679 --> 00:24:31,350 It's not true that man is a sinner by this nature instead of by choice. 386 00:24:31,630 --> 00:24:35,220 This is what I would call the view of a spiritual nature 387 00:24:35,410 --> 00:24:37,000 causing the evil in the world. 388 00:24:37,290 --> 00:24:38,860 But let's look at a variant of that. 389 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:45,250 Another idea about the reason for evil in the world is that we can't help it 390 00:24:45,250 --> 00:24:48,040 because we are born that way genetically. 391 00:24:48,530 --> 00:24:54,380 This idea says that some people at least are biologically predetermined 392 00:24:54,490 --> 00:24:58,969 to do what they do, to have the lifestyle that they live in other words. 393 00:24:58,980 --> 00:25:00,320 It denies free will. 394 00:25:00,860 --> 00:25:05,740 Now, modern psychology and modern sociology are full of this kind of idea, 395 00:25:05,929 --> 00:25:07,759 and it goes directly against the Bible. 396 00:25:07,780 --> 00:25:10,130 It goes against the verses that we've already looked at. 397 00:25:10,539 --> 00:25:13,480 The Bible teaches that man chooses what he does. 398 00:25:13,950 --> 00:25:17,360 This idea says, for instance, that some people are homosexuals 399 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:18,699 because they're born that way. 400 00:25:19,150 --> 00:25:20,790 They inherited that condition. 401 00:25:21,010 --> 00:25:22,960 They don't choose to be homosexuals. 402 00:25:23,190 --> 00:25:27,120 They're just that way because of genetics, and that is false. 403 00:25:27,530 --> 00:25:31,800 Now, there may be things in the body that influence a person's behavior. 404 00:25:31,980 --> 00:25:35,840 There's no question about that, but influence and predetermination 405 00:25:36,670 --> 00:25:37,750 are two different things. 406 00:25:38,290 --> 00:25:42,189 The thing that does not enter into the thinking of many people in the 407 00:25:42,190 --> 00:25:47,209 field of psychology and sociology today is the idea of free will. 408 00:25:47,379 --> 00:25:49,210 Everything is either nature or nurture. 409 00:25:49,250 --> 00:25:52,790 Everything is either genetics or biology or the environment 410 00:25:52,790 --> 00:25:54,210 around the person in question. 411 00:25:54,740 --> 00:25:59,290 If you want to do something interesting, just pick up a college textbook on 412 00:25:59,349 --> 00:26:04,640 sociology or psychology and see if you can find one word about free will in it. 413 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,260 I'm not talking about specifically those very words, but see if you 414 00:26:08,260 --> 00:26:13,090 can find anything about the concept or the idea of free human choice. 415 00:26:13,260 --> 00:26:16,350 It's all about genetics or environment. 416 00:26:16,630 --> 00:26:21,099 And speaking of environment, that is being blown out of proportion, and 417 00:26:21,099 --> 00:26:25,980 it's being used to give an excuse to people for the sins that they commit. 418 00:26:26,540 --> 00:26:30,500 The idea of environment now is being used to say that the evil 419 00:26:30,500 --> 00:26:34,220 that is in the world is because of the environment of the world. 420 00:26:34,270 --> 00:26:35,720 Well, who made the environment? 421 00:26:36,050 --> 00:26:37,989 People are not even thinking about that question. 422 00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:42,309 They're not thinking at all about the question of how this arrived. 423 00:26:42,309 --> 00:26:45,050 At this point, they're not looking at Bible history at all. 424 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:46,760 Many times they don't even believe that. 425 00:26:46,770 --> 00:26:48,260 That doesn't enter into their thinking. 426 00:26:48,790 --> 00:26:52,919 But if you look at it from the Bible standpoint, you find that God created us 427 00:26:52,929 --> 00:26:55,530 with free will and we choose what we do. 428 00:26:56,110 --> 00:26:58,420 Now, the environment does have an effect on us. 429 00:26:58,440 --> 00:26:59,770 There's no doubt about that. 430 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:04,350 But still what we find in the Bible from beginning to end is that man, 431 00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:09,610 regardless of the environment that he is in—the home that he's raised in, the 432 00:27:09,610 --> 00:27:14,870 town that he lives in, the culture that he's a part of—man is able to choose 433 00:27:14,870 --> 00:27:19,460 his own way to either find God or to reject God, to do right or to do wrong. 434 00:27:19,630 --> 00:27:24,030 But man is always looking for someone or something to blame. 435 00:27:24,350 --> 00:27:27,250 He's always looking for a way to excuse himself. 436 00:27:27,610 --> 00:27:31,209 This idea that we're talking about is just one more idea. 437 00:27:31,450 --> 00:27:35,039 We're looking at two different basic ways that people use to try 438 00:27:35,039 --> 00:27:40,430 to say are the reasons or are the reason why evil is in the world. 439 00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:43,750 Some people say, “Well, that's just our nature.” Then there are 440 00:27:43,750 --> 00:27:47,220 other people that say it's because of the environment that we're in. 441 00:27:47,220 --> 00:27:48,380 We really can't help it. 442 00:27:48,950 --> 00:27:52,290 And this latter one is really quite old as well. 443 00:27:52,639 --> 00:27:56,680 I'm looking at a statement made in 1902 by a famous lawyer. 444 00:27:57,230 --> 00:28:02,100 He was at the Chicago County Jail, and here's what he said to the inmates there. 445 00:28:02,970 --> 00:28:06,820 “There is no such thing,” he said, “as a crime, as the 446 00:28:06,820 --> 00:28:08,740 word is generally understood. 447 00:28:09,250 --> 00:28:12,490 I do not believe there is any sort of distinction between 448 00:28:12,490 --> 00:28:16,260 the real moral condition of the people in and out of jail. 449 00:28:16,650 --> 00:28:19,300 One is just as good as the other. 450 00:28:19,850 --> 00:28:23,389 The people here can no more help being here than the people 451 00:28:23,410 --> 00:28:26,249 outside can avoid being outside. 452 00:28:26,759 --> 00:28:30,770 I do not believe that people are in jail because they deserve to be. 453 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:36,780 They are in jail simply because they cannot avoid it on account of 454 00:28:36,780 --> 00:28:41,960 circumstances which are in entirely beyond their control and for which 455 00:28:42,020 --> 00:28:44,469 they are in no way responsible.” 456 00:28:45,009 --> 00:28:50,110 Now that attorney was the one who later defended John T Scopes in 457 00:28:50,110 --> 00:28:55,350 the famous evolution or monkey trial in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. 458 00:28:55,540 --> 00:28:57,850 His name was Clarence Darrow. 459 00:28:58,400 --> 00:28:59,470 That was long ago. 460 00:28:59,470 --> 00:29:02,989 And it makes you sometimes wonder though what that man would've said 461 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,340 if a vicious criminal had broken into his house and beaten and killed 462 00:29:07,340 --> 00:29:09,010 his wife and murdered his children? 463 00:29:09,220 --> 00:29:13,200 Would he have said, “Well, you can't really blame that criminal because society 464 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,780 made him that way, so we don't even need to prosecute him. And I won't feel angry 465 00:29:16,780 --> 00:29:18,890 toward him because he couldn't help it.” 466 00:29:19,330 --> 00:29:22,950 But there's a story in the Bible long ago that refutes this kind of thinking. 467 00:29:22,980 --> 00:29:24,610 It's the story of Cain and Abel. 468 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,010 Cain murdered his brother Abel. 469 00:29:27,350 --> 00:29:30,730 The New Testament asks the question: why did he do that? 470 00:29:31,350 --> 00:29:35,720 In first John chapter three, verse 12 the Bible says we are not to 471 00:29:35,730 --> 00:29:40,020 be as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. 472 00:29:40,270 --> 00:29:42,690 And why did he murder him? 473 00:29:43,190 --> 00:29:47,000 That's the very question that we're talking about, and the Bible says that 474 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:52,560 the answer is this, because his works were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 475 00:29:52,639 --> 00:29:53,930 It was because of spite. 476 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,280 It was because of envy, and it was because of his choice. 477 00:29:57,469 --> 00:29:59,370 It wasn't because he was born a sinner. 478 00:29:59,969 --> 00:30:03,420 It wasn't because he was biologically predisposed to sin. 479 00:30:03,610 --> 00:30:06,340 It wasn't because he was raised in a bad environment. 480 00:30:06,780 --> 00:30:09,529 He sinned because he chose to sin. 481 00:30:09,690 --> 00:30:12,960 And that is the bottom line to the question, why is there 482 00:30:12,969 --> 00:30:15,060 moral evil in the world? 483 00:30:15,759 --> 00:30:18,059 Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. 484 00:30:18,180 --> 00:30:23,830 Stay connected with our podcast on our website, and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, 485 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,889 or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. 486 00:30:27,450 --> 00:30:30,750 Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 487 00:30:31,020 --> 00:30:34,980 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate 488 00:30:34,980 --> 00:30:37,149 programs study at your level. 489 00:30:37,630 --> 00:30:40,200 Aim higher and get in touch with us today.