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All right, well, we are continuing on with the questions that you all asked. We began a few weeks ago with the question, why do we believe that God exists? The answer that we gave in a nutshell was that creation is evidence of a creator.
In the same way a painting is evidence of a painter or a building is evidence of a builder. Creation demonstrates to us that there is, in fact, a creator. The second week was, why do we believe our God is the right one?
That was last time. And the answer, and it's simple again, just a simple one sentence statement was because of the twofold testimony of the Bible and Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us about God and it has attributes which we believe to be divine, things like prophecy and divine consistency and those things which run throughout.
And also Jesus Christ literally lived, died, buried and was resurrected. And that is part or is most of which why we believe in the Christian faith because of Jesus Christ. That's why we call it Christianity.
All right. Well, today we move on to our third question. This is a question that the older group came up with, and it was on every one of their papers. And that was the question, why does God allow the devil to exist?
Why does God allow the devil to exist? It was asked in different ways, but that was sort of the one way it was sort of consistent. There was also asked like this, if God could destroy the devil, why doesn't he?
Why does God allow the devil to be evil and why doesn't God stop all evil? So that was those are all sort of similar ways of asking the same question. So for today, we'll simply say that the question that we're going to deal with is why does God allow the devil to exist?
And I want to begin by saying that of all the questions that we have dealt with so far, this one is going to be the most difficult to grasp, not just because the question of evil is a difficult question because it is, but because now we're moving away from the subject of God's existence to the subject of God's motivation.
Why does he do what he does? And we have to begin we have to be very careful, because when you start talking about motivation, you begin to speculate oftentimes further than what the Bible tells you, because we're saying, why does God do something?
Why does God do something? Let me ask this question and let's see how many of you have been to the catechism. Why or who created you? Why did God create or what else did God create? Why did God create you in all things?
For his own glory, right? For his own glory. That is an important part. Either way, those of you who don't do the catechism or haven't done it in a while, I do recommend it as a reminder. It's a good teaching tool.
It's a good it's I realize it's rote memorization, but it's a good teaching tool for the basics of the faith. And one of the questions is, why did God create you and all things? He did that for his glory.
Well, in the end, before we even go through the lesson, before we even get into why God allows the devil to exist, I want to begin with this simple statement. Anytime you ask the question, why, in regard to something that God has done, it will always come back to this answer.
Because everything that God does in the end is to glorify himself. This is what the scripture tells us, that that is God's purpose is to glorify himself. Why did God create the world? He created the world to glorify himself.
Why does God save men from their sins? He saves to glorify himself. The Bible is very clear that God does what he does for the glorification of his own name. And God is the only one. If that were a human being, we would say such a person is prideful.
But yet God, who is the creator of all things, he is the sustainer of all things. He is, in fact, the very reason for the being of all things. He has the right to receive glory. This is why it says to him, be ascribed glory forever and ever.
Amen. All right. This is what the Bible says. It's very, very clear that any time we ask the question, why, for instance, people ask all kinds of questions. Why did God send the Israelites into the land of Jericho to destroy all of the Canaanites?
Why did God send Saul to go destroy all of the people of Agag? Right, or all of the people under King Agag. Man, woman, children and animal. That's a difficult question. That's a very difficult question.
But you have to at least at some point say everything God does is ultimately to bring himself glory. It's hard, but that's the answer. That's the simple answer. But now let's go further, because I see some of you with confused looks and that's OK.
But in the end, we will come back to this and you'll see how it all makes sense. All right. So let's first begin. I want to, in my lesson today, I want to give some answers to the question about the devil by making some fairly obvious observations.
I like making obvious observations because oftentimes people are unwilling to state the obvious. When you ask the question, why does God allow the devil to exist? My answer comes this way. OK, number one, if you're writing that answer, if you want to look this up, God is sovereign and the devil is under his authority.
Everybody go to Job chapter one. We're going to read 12 verses. I'll let somebody who wants to read hands. OK, Christel and Courtney, I'll let you share. Courtney, read the verses. All right, read verse one through five and Christel, you can read it as well.
Nice and loud, please. Yeah. All right. So right off, Job is a rich man, both materially and familially. He's got a lot of stuff and he's got a lot of family. So he's a very rich man. We might today use the phrase he's a blessed man.
Right. That's a term that's often used to describe that condition. Job is a blessed man. Now, that's what's going on on earth. Now, the story of Job changes to what's going on in heaven. Go ahead, Christel.
Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has and himself? You have left your work in his hands and his condition and have increased it more. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse you.
The Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that...
Interesting. The Bible says that the sons of God were going to present themselves before the Lord and among them were or among them was Satan. In Hebrew, the word is adversary. The one who is the adversary of God, the one who is constantly trying to rebel.
And yet he still is presenting himself before the Lord, along with the other angels. This is one of the reasons why we believe that the type of being that the devil is, is an angelic being. He is an angel.
But not an angel in the positive way, which we normally think of an angel as being a positive being. But that he is the opposite of the positive angel, which we would call a fallen angel or a what? What's another word?
A demon or a devil, right? He is. But yet still maintains the characteristics of that angelic being. And he is presented before the Lord. And what does the Lord say? Consider my servant, Job. Here's this man.
He doesn't curse me. He does what is right. Here's a good man. And the devil says, well, the only reason he's good is because you won't let me touch him. If you lifted that hedge of protection that you have around him, if you would just let me get at him, he would curse you to your face.
So what does that tell us about Satan's relationship to God? Well, they talk to God. That's true. Well, he denies God. That's true. Thank you that he is under God's authority. Even in his rebellion, he cannot do that, which God does not allow him to do.
You see, that's the thing that people don't understand. You know what? What's the name of our church? You also sounds excited. So we really stress the sovereignty of God, not because we just want to stress that aspect, but because we believe that understanding the sovereignty of God helps us to understand our own lot in life.
It helps us understand God and his presence with us. It helps us understand our very being, that this world is not going about and things are not happening by accident, but that God is actually active in the world, that he is actually bringing things about in this world and that nothing happens in this world that is outside of God's control.
That is a key theological point that a lot of people don't believe. I heard a pastor one time on television, not the best place to find a good pastor as always, but I heard him and he said, God will not intervene in your life unless you invite him.
That was the way he said it. He will not intervene in your life unless you invite him. Hogwarts is a Greek word for that. It's baloney. God is constantly intervening in all of our lives. God is the sovereign of this world.
And to think for a moment that we have to invite him to intervene is foolishness. God is sovereign. And that's key when you start thinking about the devil, because, again, as I said, I'm going to tell you three things which to me are obvious that people often miss.
The first thing is that God is sovereign and the devil is under his authority. That's number one. That may sound simple, but that's profound because it leads to number two. God has chosen to allow the devil to continue to exist.
I'm going to write that down. I'm going to write that down. God has chosen to continue to allow the devil to exist. The Bible is clear that the devil exists right now, that he existed during the time of Scripture, that he existed all the way back in the garden.
In fact, what does the Bible tell us? The first form that Satan took? A serpent or a snake, which is why I still contest today. They are the most evil animal on the face of God's earth is the snake. We don't.
People say, oh, snake. I want a snake as a pet. Cody asked me for a snake as a pet. You are not bringing Satan into my home. No, no, no, sir. That ain't happening. But the reality is Satan has existed in all the Scripture.
I have four verses, so I need four readers. These are short, shorter this time. Matthew 4, 1. Noah. Who else? Who else? All right, Carly. First Corinthians 7, 5. Ashley, Romans 6, 20. And Cody, Revelation 20, 7 through 10.
He likes Revelation. Apparently. All right. Now, the reason why we're looking at these verses, these verses demonstrate to us that the devil exists and that he will exist until judgment. That's what we're looking at with these verses.
All right. So the Bible is clear that he exists. Take it away, Noah. Matthew 4, 1. Thank you. Everybody remember that story? And Satan was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. We remember that 40 days.
What? I'm just saying, not my bad. And Jesus was led into the wilderness. We know that he actually had to go out into the wilderness and face the temptations of Satan himself. So we believe from Scripture that Satan exists and he was there tempting Christ.
Who is the next person reading 1 Corinthians? Go ahead, Carly. 7, 5. It's just another example of Satan's temptation. That's an odd context. My bad. I was I was looking at verses about Satan's temptation.
That is not the one I thought it was. But but it's still it makes a point. Let's move on. Romans 16, 20. Romans 16, 20. 16, as in Romans 16, 19 says, you should know this. It's a whole song. But go ahead.
This thing, Romans 16, 20. You ran right past the part. The God of peace will soon crusade underneath your feet. OK, thank you. All right. Natalia, you said underneath your feet. And the God of peace will soon crusade underneath your feet.
So here there is this promise to believers that though we fight a battle with Satan, if we are excellent at what is good and innocent of what is evil, God will crush Satan under our feet. That's Romans 16, 19, 20.
All right, Cody, last one, brother. That's close enough. Revelation 20, 7, 10. Gog and Magog.
The fire. Where the beast and the false prophet were, and they were a beast, committing day and night, forever and ever.
OK, so what happens to Satan at judgment and he's there forever and ever. So only until then, only until judgment is Satan destroyed, right? Only at judgment is Satan destroyed. Up until then, God allows him to exist.
That's my point. Again, I told you I'm going to be making some fairly obvious observations because it's all going to make sense. God is sovereign and the devil is under his authority. That's number one.
Number two, God has chosen to continue to allow the devil to exist. That is number two. Number three, here's the creme de la creme. This is put it all in perspective. Now, this is going to blow your mind.
Everything God does is right. I told you it's going to blow your mind. But you don't look blown, you don't look mind blown. So let me let me let me bring you to a place where it might blow your mind somewhat.
God is sovereign and the devil is under his authority. Do we agree? God has chosen to continue to allow the devil to exist. We agree. The Bible says that everything God does is right. Well, let's see.
Let's see what the Bible says. Two places, Psalm 145, 17, everybody go there. I want everybody to look at it with Psalm 145, 17. Psalm is the biggest book of the Bible. If you're having trouble finding it, go to the middle.
Psalm 145, verse 17. Now, some of your books are going to read a little differently because you have different translations. But this is what the ESV says. Psalm 145, verse 17. The Lord is what? Righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.
He is righteous in all his ways. He is right in every single thing that he does. God is always right. Now, let me show you something else. Go to Romans eight and verse 28. Some of you may know this one already, especially adults quote this a lot.
I find, though, that a lot of people quote it without really understanding it. The Romans 8, 28. And we know some of you there, Romans 8, 28, say Amen when you're there. That's right. Amen. I like it.
I'm out of breath asking for amen. Romans 8 and 28 says,. And we know that for those who love God, who work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Now, let's just put this together.
We know these things are true. God is sovereign and the devil is under his authority. We know that is true. God has chosen to continue to allow the devil to exist. We know that is true. Everything God does is right.
We know that is true. So now we go to Romans 8, 28, and he says very simply that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him. Here's where people often misunderstand that.
And I've heard it quoted like this. People will say, Well, God works everything for good. Oh, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't use only half a verse. You don't have to have a brain, use the whole brain, use the whole verse.
God causes all things to work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. I can tell you there are many things in this world that are not good and many things that do not work out for the good of unbelievers who ultimately, in the end, will perish.
In fact, in the end, for an unbeliever, in the end, for somebody who ends up in hell, every aspect of this life is going to come into judgment. That's difficult to think about. But it is impossible for someone who is not of faith to please God.
Romans chapter eight tells us for apart from faith, it is impossible to please him. So the reality is, though the devil exists, the devil exists as part of God's plan. That's hard for people to accept sometimes.
But what is his what is he doing? He is bringing about. The judgment that will befall those who reject Jesus, let me let me paint your picture here. Turn, I'm showing you a lot of scripture, I want to show you what this is, what they say one more time, go to Proverbs 16.
And walk with me, talk with me, love with me, I mean, you know, Proverbs 16, Proverbs 16, verse four, I'll read it to you. Read it. Think on what these words mean. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the what?
The wicked, the wicked or what? What? What version? Version is somehow subject word there. Even the wicked for the day of evil. All right, or the day of trouble is how the ESV says some say the day of destruction, day of doom sounds very sinister for the day of doom.
Yes, I think Proverbs 16, four is a is an often overlooked verse when it comes to the subject of evil and the devil, because it clearly says here that God has made everything for a purpose. That means that even in this world, as weird as it sounds, there is a purpose for what the devil is doing.
I believe that that purpose is simple. I believe the devil is part of a threefold system that brings about the temptation on man. What are the other two things? If I say he's part of the threefold system, what's the other two things that bring about our temptation?
It's in scripture. The world, the flesh and the devil, you ever heard that the three things that we have to fight in the world, the flesh and the devil, right? The devil is part of the threefold, if you would say, system of temptation that everyone has to deal with.
When a believer overcomes temptation, we experience blessing. When an unbeliever gives in to temptation, they heap upon themselves judgment. That makes sense. Now, what happens when a believer gives in to temptation?
You want to say something about it? Not exactly. And I'll explain the difference. A believer experiences discipline, and it is different because Hebrews 12 tells us that God disciplines his own like a child.
But if you do not receive discipline, of which we have all experienced, then you are an illegitimate child, meaning you're not a true believer. So that's the difference. A unbeliever gets judgment from God and a believer gets discipline from God.
And it is different. That may come in the same way, but we know that in the end, ours is not going to be an ultimate condemnation. We will not experience the lake of fire. There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, right?
Romans chapter eight, verse one. So we don't experience judgment and condemnation, but if we give in to temptation, what do we experience? Discipline, just like our parents. When you do bad, what happens?
I'm looking right at you. What happens when you do bad? You get something taken away, you get spanked. Yeah, you get, huh? What? Time out, time out, how about a knockout? You get in trouble, but God is treating us like his children.
However, those who are not his children experience something different. Those who are not his children, though they may be allowed to sin with abandon in this life, in the life that is to come, they will experience the unfettered wrath of God, something the believer will never experience.
Satan will experience that one day. Satan will experience the unfettered wrath of God at one point in the future, God will let all of his wrath out on Satan. He will let all of his wrath out on demons.
And he will let all of his wrath out on those who have rejected his son. Understand? So even though God has allowed Satan to exist now, even though God is going to allow Satan to exist to Judgment Day, Satan will be responsible for everything that he has done and he will pay the penalty one day.
But in the meantime, God has a purpose for what he allows Satan to do. That's the key. And what is God's ultimate purpose in all things? God glorifies himself. And ultimately, he glorifies himself, even by allowing Satan to exist.
Now, you ask a tough question. I'm going to give it to you straight, and that's the straight answer, because that is a difficult question. The answer, the question of evil, the question of why the devil exists, that is a question that goes to the hearts and minds of even the most learned professors, even the most...
What? You don't like the way I use the word learned? That's a word. It is a word. And I used it appropriately. Oh, yes, I did. Even the most smart fellows, how about that? Even the smartest guys have to deal with this issue.
And I will tell you this, the question of evil has caused many people to abandon the Christian faith. Oh, the synopsis to the question. OK, well, the synopsis in this one is harder than just one sentence, but the synopsis is the three sentences together.
God is sovereign and Satan is under his authority. God has chosen to continue to allow the devil to exist. Everything God does is right. That's the answer. Everything that God does is right. If you want to just...
And God has done this, so it's right. He has a purpose. Yes.
I misbehave, there was a consequence. As a Christian, usually depending on what it is, we read what we sell, but all these things and have money and...
That is a little different. Well, that's a little different subject. Yes, it's hard to visualize the subject, because I had this question one time. I did this with adults once, the same scenario. I gave them all a piece of paper, had them write down questions.
And for like eight weeks, I answered questions. And one of the questions was, why do believers tend to have difficulty while unbelievers are living it up? I think it was my mother actually asked the question.
And it was that it was it was I think she said, why do believers, unbelievers seem to have everything they want or something to that effect? And my answer to that was actually that's not true, because the reality is there are believers who are doing quite well and there are believers who are not.
And there's unbelievers who are doing quite well and unbelievers who are living in ditches. So I mean, there is sort of a... The reality is we do live under what we call common grace. And Jesus said this, it does not the sun shine on the just and on the unjust.
So we all live under the idea of common grace and thereby there are some rules that are affixed to the world in which we live. You reap what you sow. If you spend your younger years getting a good education and working hard and being diligent, oftentimes that will translate into a life that is better than someone who spends their younger years being foolish and not getting a good education, not going to school, not doing those things that are important.
And then, you know, they end up not doing that. So there are there are built in judgments. But I actually thought when I was teaching that lesson, I said they're built in. God's got a built in system of good and bad.
If we do if you do drugs, what happens? If you do drugs, your body reacts with first sickness and then disease and then death. And that's the pattern of somebody who does drugs typically, even though very richest of the rich, if they are, you know, look at Heath Ledger and men like that who who were addicted to these things.
And even though they had all the money in the world, couldn't buy them help. So so there are built in judgments. However, we do see people who are not experiencing the judgment that we think maybe is appropriate, unbelievers who are getting what seems like the world handed to them.
And I have often said that those people are under the worst judgment of all. And here's why, because if I look at somebody who is very high up, who has all the power and all the authority, and yet they live without Christ, they are getting.
Thank you, Jim. They are getting all this blessing, but all it is doing is increasing their judgment because the Bible says to whom much is given, much will be required. And so I look at somebody, I say, I think some people get money as a blessing and some people get money as a judgment.
I think money itself can be our biggest judge, because when people get money and don't know how to handle it properly, they spoil themselves to the point of bringing about their own judgment. So that that's sort of off subject.
But that's what we're trying to do is the judgment isn't always immediate. No, it is a medium of what I want to get away with, but doing what he's doing, he will.
Be judged. Yes, he will ultimately be judged. And that maybe that's the that's the answer is that even though God is allowing the devil to do what he's doing, he will ultimately be judged. That is a promise from Scripture.
In fact, his judgment is pictured for us in Scripture. All right, well, that is that that is our lesson. That is our time. Next week, we're going to continue on with the questions that you guys have asked, and hopefully this is being a benefit to you all.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time to study together. We pray that your word has been taught and that you've been glorified and that you would encourage these young people and their parents to this lesson in Jesus name.
Amen.