old testament was really good today... here it is (formatting got a little messed up when i copied them)

Old Testament 9/9/2005

 

WHY GOD DOES WHAT HE
DOES IN HIS WORLD?

Today we are not talking about moral evil.

We are talking of living in a place where death can happen
in an instant.

 

WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE
END OF GOD’S EXISTANCE?

God create a people for himself                                                
-Isaiah 42:7

“for my glory”

God’s redemption of Israel at the exodus                                             
-Psalm
106:6-8

“for the sake of his name, that he might make his power known”

God’s demand for undivided allegiance                                    
-Exodus 20:3-6

            “for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God”

God’s not fully destroying his people through exile                                
-Isaiah 48:9-11

“for the sake of my name…for my praise…for my own sake, for my own sake,
I will act…my glory I will not give to another”

God’s restoration of Israel after exile                                                    
-Ezekiel
36:22-23,32

“for my name… I will vindicate the holiness of my great name… the
nations will know that I am LORD”

God’s sending of Christ                                                                       
-John
12:23,25,27-28

“to be glorified… for this purpose I came to this hour. Father glorify
your name”

God’s letting humans experience life on this earth                                  
-1
Corinthians 10:31

            “do all to the glory of God”

                                                                                                           
-2
Thes. 1:9-10

            “to be glorified …. To be marveled”

 

Conclusion:

-God’s ultimate goal in creation,
redemption, and judgment is to preserve and display his glory.

-What God has done in his world has
the ultimate goal of exalting God as God.

 

HOW SHOULD WE
UNDERSTAND DEATH, DISEASE, AND DISTRUCTION?

Evidence of God’s
control of natural evils

 

Life and Death

Job lost his ten children at the
instigation of satan but he would not attribute to satan the ultimate
causality. “the LORD gave and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of
the LORD”

Deuteronomy 32:39

“And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life
I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from
My hand.”

James 4:14-15

“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just
a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you
ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or
that."”

 

CONCLUSION:

-Life is a gift. To lost life is
never and injustice from God. whether he takes it at 5 or 95.

 

Disease

Exodus 4:11

“The LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him
mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”

Job 2:10

“Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"
In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

2 Corinthians 12:7

“to keep me from exalting myself,
there was given me a thorn in the flesh, messenger of Satan to torment me--to
keep me from exalting myself!”

 

CONCLUSION:

-Behind all disease and disability
is the ultimate will of God. while satan in probably always involved, his power
is not decisive. He cannot act without gods permission

 

Natural Disaster
Ps 104:4

“He makes winds his messengers, a flaming fire his ministers.”
Ps 105:16

“He summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread.”
Ps 135:7

“He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his
storehouses.”
Ps 147:18

“He makes his wind blow and the waters flow…. Fire and hail, snow and
mist; stormy wind fulfilling his word!”

 

Isaac watts wrote “There not a plant of a flower but makes
you glory known, and clouds arise and tempests blow by order from your throne”
–“I Sing The Mighty Power Of God”

 

CONCLUSION:

All the calamities of wind rain
flood and storm are owin to gods ultimate decree

 

All other kinds of
evil
Isaiah 45:7

God declares, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and
create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these.”

Amos 3:6

“Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD had done it?”

 

"I believe that every
particle of dust that dances
in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or
less than God wishes; that every particle of spray
that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit
as well as the sun in the heavens; that the chaff
from the hand of the winnower is steered as
surely as the stars in their courses; that the
creeping of an insect over a rosebud is as much
fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence;
and the fall of leaves from the poplar is as fully
ordained as the tumbling avalanche” –Charles Spurgeon

 

CONCLUSION:

All natural evils ultimately derive
from the decree of God and fit into his ultimate purpose

 

WHAT THEN IS THAT
ULTIMATE PURPOSE?
God does what he does in order to preserve and display his glory.

 

God’s intentions
through natural evil
-God has intentions in death disease and destruction. He humbles so that he
might in turn be exalted, whether thought judgment or mercy
-No one deserves a good life, everyone deserves death. Anything we get besides
death is a example of God’ wonderful grace.
-The biggest problem in the world is not the problem of evil, but the problem
of good. Why does God show us any favor at all?

 

The amazing mercy of
God:

-It is right here that god’s
passion for himself is shown to be expressed in his love.
In distress, humans recognize our real helplessness and hopelessness without
God. we turn to him for help and he is exalted. He is shown to be glorious
-God is the most valuable element in the entire universe, and he exists to proclaim
his great worth in all the word.

-It is therefore the greatest act
of love for him to make a way for a sinful people to enjoy and delight and find
how in that element of reality which is of greatest worth.
-Because God loves himself, he loves us. Through helping us recognize our need
for him, our need to exalt God rather than ourselves, he shows his excessive
and unswerving and unrestricted love for
us.